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http://www.archive.org/details/darwinismstatedb00darwuoft

DARWINISM

“STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

CHARACTERISTIC PASSAGES
FROM THE WRITINGS OF CHARLES DARW. J.

SELECTED AND ARRANGED

BY

NATHAN SHEPPARD,

AUTHOR OF
“SHUT UP IN PARIS,” EDITOR OF “TIE DICKENS READER,” “CHARACTER READINGS
FEOM GEORGE ELIOT,” AND “GEORGE ELIOT'S ESSAYS.”

“ There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been
originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one ; and that, while
_ this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so
simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been
and are being evolved.” —The Origin of Species, page 429.

NEW YORK: ad

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
1, 3, asp 5 BOND STREET.

1884.

QH
305

ZA96

Copyriant, 1884,
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.

PREFACE.

WHILE these selections can not but be useful to those
who are perfectly familiar with the writings of Darwin,
they are designed especially for those who know little,
or nothing, about his line of research and argument,
and yet would like to obtain a general idea of it in a
form which shall be at once authentic, brief, and inex-
pensive.

This volume contains, of course, only an outline of
the contents of the twelve volumes from which it is
compiled, and for which it is by no means intended as
a substitute. It will, on the contrary, we should hope,
create an appetite which can be satisfied only by a care-
ful reading of the works themselves.

Darwin’s repetitions, necessitated by his method of
investigation and publication, and his unexampled can-
_ dor in controversy, have been something of an embar-
_rassment in the classification of these passages; so that
we have been obliged in some instances to sacrifice con-
tinuity to perspicuity. But, as one object of this book
is to correct misrepresentations by giving Darwin’s views

iv PREFACE.

in his own language, some of his own repetitions must
be given also, in order to leave no doubt as to precisely
what he said and did not say. It will probably be a
long while before the dispute over the theory that he
advocated will cease, but there is certainly no excuse
for a difference of opinion with regard to the language
that he used, and the meaning he attached to it. That
language and that meaning will be found in these
pages. Darwinism stated by its opponents is one thing,
Darwinism stated by Darwin himself will be found to
be quite another thing, for, to use his own exclamation,
‘‘ reat is the power of steady misrepresentation |”

The order followed in the arrangement of these ex-
tracts is not that of the books, but the one naturally
suggested by our plan, which is designed to conduct the
reader through the vegetable up to the animal kingdom,
and up from the lowest to the highest animal, man,
‘the wonder and glory of the universe.”

The references are to the American edition of Dar-
win’s works published by D. Appleton & Co., New
York.

It is no part of our purpose to discuss the theory
expounded here, but we can not refrain from joining
in the general expression of admiration for its illustrious
expounder. Lord Derby says, ‘‘ He was one of half a
dozen men of this century who will be remembered a
century hence”; and yet his friends were ‘‘more im-
pressed with the dignified simplicity of his nature than
by the great work he had done.” Professor Huxley

PREFACE. Vv

compares him to Socrates in wisdom and humility ; and,
there could be no better authority than Mr. A. R. Wal-
lace for the statement that ‘‘there are none to stand
beside him as equals in the whole domain of science.”
He has been extolled, since his death, by a host of re-
ligious leaders in press and pulpit (some of whose utter-
ances will be found on another page), and we concur
with them in the opinion that science never had a
champion whose temper and behavior were more nearly
in accord with the practical injunctions of the Christian
religion. Whatever we or any one may think of Dar-
win’s scientific theories, no one can gainsay the value
of his personal example, and few can be so prejudiced
as to resist the fascination that will always be felt at the
mention of his name.

New York, February 1, 1884.

INTRODUCTORY PASSAGES QUOTED BY DARWIN IN
HIS “ORIGIN OF SPECIES.”

“ Bur with regard to the material world, we can at least go so
far as this—we can perceive that events are brought about not
by insulated interpositions of divine power, exerted in each par-
ticular case, but by the establishment of general laws.”—Wue-
wetL: Bridgewater Treatise.

“The only distinct meaning of the word ‘natural’ is stated,
Sized, or settled ; since what is natural as much requires and pre-
supposes an intelligent agent to render it so, i. e., to effect it con-
tinually or at stated times, as what is supernatural or miraculous
does to effect it for once.’—Buttzr: Analogy of Revealed Re-
ligion.

“ To conclude, therefore, let no man out of a weak conceit of
sobriety, or an ill-applied moderation, think or maintain, that a
man can search too far or be too well studied in the book of God’s
word, or in the book of God’s works; divinity or philosophy ;
but rather let men endeavor an endless progress or proficience in
both.”—Baocon: Advancement of Learning.

——<——_ ._ —— ae

ve

ee a epee a Pee Cay

DARWIN AND HIS THEORIES FROM A RELIGIOUS
POINT OF VIEW.

“ Surely in such a man lived that true charity which is the very
essence of the true spirit of Christ.”—-Canon Proruero.

“The moral lesson of his life is perhaps even more valuable
than is the grand discovery which he has stamped on the world’s
history.”— The Observer (London).

“ Darwin's writings may be searched in vain for an irreverent
or unbelieving word.”—The Church Review.

“The doctrine of evolution with which Darwin’s name would
always be associated lent itself at least as readily to the old promise
of God as to more modern but less complete explanations of the
universe.”—Canon Barry.

“The fundamental doctrine of the theist is left precisely as it
was. The belief in the great Creator and Ruler of the Universe
is, as we have seen, confessed by the author of these doctrines.
The grounds remain untouched of faith in the personal Deity who
is in intimate relation with individual souls, who is their guide
and helper in life, and who can be trusted in regard to the great
hereafter."— The Church Quarterly Review.

“Tt appears impossible to overrate the gain we have won in the
stupendous majesty of this (Darwin’s) idea of the Creator and
creation.” —Sunday-School Chronicle.

“Tt is certain that Mr. Darwin’s books contain a marvelous
store of patiently accumulated and most interesting facts. Those
facts seem to point in the direction of the belief that the Great
Spirit of the Universe has wrought slowly and with infinite pa-
tience, through innumerable ages, rather than by abrupt interven-

vili DARWIN FROM A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW.

tion and by means of great catastrophes, in the production of the
results, in the animate and inanimate world, which now offer to
the student of nature boundless scope for observation and inquiry.”
—The Christian World.

‘Let us see, in the funeral honors paid within these holy pre-
cincts to our greatest naturalist, a happy trophy of the reconcilia-
tion between faith and science.”—The Guardian.

“ That there is some truth in the theory of evolution, however,
most scientists, including those of Christian faith, believe, and
Mr. Darwin certainly has done much to make the facts plain; but
no scientific principle established by him ever has undermined any
truth of the Gospel.”—The Congregationalist.

‘“‘ Christian believers are found among the ranks of evolution-
ists without apparent prejudice to their faith. Professor Mivart,
the zodlogist; Professor Asa Gray, the botanist; Professor Le
Conte and Professor Winchell, the geologists, may be named as
among these.— The Presbyterian.

‘Tn all his simple and noble life Mr. Darwin was influenced
by the profoundly religious conviction that nothing was beneath
the earnest study of man which had been worthy of the mighty
hand of God.”—Canon Farrar.

“ He has not one word to say against religion; ... by-and-by
it may be seen that he has done much to put religious faith as
well as scientific knowledge on a higher plane.” —Jndependent.

“A celebrated author and divine has written to me that ‘he
has gradually learned to see that it is just as noble a conception
of the Deity to believe that he created a few original forms capable
of self-development into other and needful forms, as to believe
that he required a fresh act of creation to supply the voids caused
by the action of his laws.’”— Origin of Species, page 422.

“Tam at the head of a college where to declare against it
[evolution] would perplex my best students, They would ask me
which to give up, science or the Bible. . . . It is but the evolu-
tion of Genesis when each ‘brings forth after its kind.’ Science
tells the same story. But what is the limit of the fixedness of the
law? I believe that the evolution of new species is a question in
science, and not of religion. It should be left to scientific men.”
—President McOosu.

CONTENTS.

I.

Tur Movements anp Hasits or PLanrts.

The Movement of Plants in Relation to their Wants.
The Power of Movement in Animal and Plant compared.
Advantages of Cross-Fertilization . 4 ‘
Potency of the Sexual Elements in Plants
Experiments in Crossing ‘
The Struggle for Existence among Seeds é
Practical Application of these Views.
Marriages of First Cousins PF
Development of the Two Sexes in Plants
Why the Sexes have been reseparated .
Comparative Fertility of Male and Female Plants
- ’\ Effect of Climate on Reproduction
_ Causes of Sterility among Plants.
_. An “Ideal Type” or Inevitable Modification
special Adaptations to a Changing Purpose .
An Illustration
As interesting on the Theory of Tarsiocaacd as on that of Direct
Interposition ; : - Z 4
The Sleep of the Plants
Self-Protection during Sleep .
Influence of Light upon Plants .
_ Influence of Gravitation upon Plants. ‘ 3
- The Power of Digestion in Plants
Diverse Means by which Plants gain their Subaiatence
How a Plant preys upon Animals

PAGE

———

* CONTENTS.

Il.

PAGE
Tur Part PLAYED By WorMS IN THE HIIsToRY OF THIS PLANET.

They preserve Valuable Ruins ; 5 ; ; 2 4
They prepare the Ground for Seed ; ; Aas oe 43 ~
Intelligence of Worms ° : . A ; - 45

Il.

Tare Laws or VARIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO ANIMALS AND PLANTS. |
Inherited Effect of Changed Habits ; ‘ ; ‘ 48 |
Effects of the Use and Disuse of Parts j : K - 50
Vague Origin of our Domestic Animals . ; ; , 52
Descent of the Domestic Pigeon ; : ; : . 58
Origin of the Dog. : . S : F ; 5S
Origin of the Horse . ‘ , é ‘ . 57
Causes of Modifications in the Horse. : ‘ et Be

@ <“Making the Works of God a mere Moc ts ee oe 59
Variability of Cultivated Plants . : ey ex ‘ 61
Savage Wisdom in the Cultivation of Plants . ; - - 62

4 v Unknown Laws of Inheritance . F : 64
‘ Laws of Inheritance that are fairly well catablidheds é » 66
“Inherited Peculiarities in Man. : ” ; ‘ 67
Inherited Diseases. : . ; : : . 68
Causes of Non-Inheritance ; - : 69
Steps by which Domestic Races have eee senses ‘ Signe
Unconscious Selection . A 3 : 73
Adaptation of Animals to the Paniies of Mis F ¢ - 4
Doubtful Species . . . ' 4 : ; 75
Species an Arbitrary Term . 5 ‘ é i eat)

* (_The True Plan of Creation 2 Sale ee
IV.
Tue SrruGcLE For EXISTENCE.

Death inevitable in the Fight for Life : : 2 . 82
“Tnexplicable on the Theory of Creation” : 4 e 84
Obscure Checks to Increase . : : ‘ . . 85
Climate as a Check to Increase . 3 . 86
Influence of Insects in the Struggle for Esistonce é ‘ . 88

No such Thing as Change in the Result of the Struggle . me 90

CONTENTS. xi

Ms . PAGE Z
Natura SELection; on, THE SURVIVAL OF THE Frrrest.

Invented Hypothesis a - r a - 93
4 _How far the Theory may be attanied e : . : 94
Is there any Limit to what Selection can effect? . 5 - 96
Has Organization advanced ? ‘ ‘ . ; $ 97
A Higher Workmanship than Man’s . ~ 3 e - 99
Why Habits and Structure are not in Agreement 4 102
No Modification in one Species designed for the Good of Mintle - 103
ustrations of the Action of Natural Selection . A 106
Divergence of Character - ¥ . : . - 108

\. Evolution of the Human Eye. . . : - 110

VI.
GrocrapHicaL DistrrsuTion or OrGanic Benes,
Isolated Continents never were united ; 3 . - 115
Means of Dispersal : ~ : . 116
These Means of Transport not sbehdendal: 5 2 ~ . 118
; Pape rer Glacial Period « - ‘ 119
5 Theory of Creation inadequate . —«. P - St. We <
q Causes of a Glacial Climate : E - oe Aa
Difficulties not yet removed . = . 124
Identity of the Species of Islands with ren of the Mainland ex-
plained only by this Theory . é = . - 125
Vil.

_Evimwence or tHe Descent or Man rrom some Lower Form.

‘oints of Correspondence between Man and the other Animals . 129
The facts of Embryology and the Theory of — P 131

t explain the Facts : . 184,
Embryology against Abrupt Changes. ; 135
Rudimentary Organs only to be ae on the Theory of De-
velopment i . , . 137
“No other Explanation has ever ae ete A : . 139
ld of Type explained by Relationship. . d . 140
explicable on the Ordinary View of Creation . : 2 142 <

Descent with Modification the only Explanation . J . 143

sik CONTENTS.

PAGE
The History of Life on the Theory of Descent with Modification . 144
Letters retained in the Spelling but Useless in Pronunciation . 146
Man’s Deficiency in Tail . ; : : 147
Points of Resemblance between Man ak Monies ’ : . 149
Variability of Man ; ; : 5 152
‘Causes of Variability in ibsirenibestod Man : ; : . 158
Action of Changed Conditions . 155
The Inherited Effects of the Increased son Diminished Use of Parts: 156 .
Reversion as a Factor in the Development of Man F 2 158
Reversion in the Human Family ; ‘ z . 160
Prepotence in the Transmission of Dias : ‘ : 162 |
Natural Selection in the Development of Man : r - 168
How Man became upright ; : ; 165
The Brain enlarges as the Mental Faculties develop: ; - 167
Nakedness of the Skin . ‘ ; ; 169
1s Man the most helpless of the idigeie! Bitton ‘ : sg Gt)

VIII.
Mentat Powers or Man anp THE LOWER ANIMALS COMPARED.

lo leriantat Intuitions the same in Man and the other Animals. 175

Man and the Lower Animals excited by the same Emotions . Bs yor
All Animals possess some Power of Reasoning . 3 ; 179
The Power of Association in Dog and Savage : : . 181
The Lower Animals progress in Intelligence ; ! é 182 ;
The Power of Abstraction . : . . < . 183 i
The Evolution of Language — . : e 185
Development of Languages and Species cnehinaed = “ . 188
The Sense of Beauty " “ 3 2 - 191
Development of the Ear for Music : d F > . 192
IX.
> ~ DeveLopment or THE Morat SENSE.
me the Social Instincts to the Moral Sense. ; : 195
~Human Sympathy among Animals. ; : , . 197
The Love of Approbation . : : 2 4 2 199
Fellow-Feeling for our Fellow-Animals : : ; . 200

Development of the Golden Rule . n : r 3 201

“Thy

CONTENTS.

- “Regret peculiar to Man, and why
; explained é : : :

Development of Self-Control . F : ;

Variability of Conscience . A ; -

Progress not an Invariable Rule -

ZAI Civilized Nations are the Descendants of Gactabiaas

X.
Tae GENEALOGY oF Man
Man a Sub-Order . : A =
The Birthplace of Man ‘ g ;
Origin of the Vertebrata .
From no Bone to Backbone .
Bids Mankind conciet of Several Bpecies ?
The Races graduate into each other . : -
Was the First Man a Speaking Animal? . ‘ 2
The Theory of a Single Pair . E -
Kivilized out of Existence. : :
es F

BETWEEN THE Races or Man.

Struggle of the Males for the Possession of the Females
Courtship among the Lower Animals.

Why the Male plays the more Active Part in Conriing
Transmission of Sexual Characteristics

An Objection answered =

Difference between the Sexes Sainte by Secini Selection

“Characteristic Selfishness of Man” - F
No Universal Standard of Beauty among Mankind
Development of the Beard . x
Development of the Marriage-Tic

Unnatural Selection in Marriage . - :
Modifying Influences in Both Sexes . 3 :

_s“ Grounds that will never be shaken” . F ‘

How Woman could be made to reach the Standard of Man .

Sexuat SELECTION aS AN AGENCY TO ACCOUNT FOR THE DIFFERENCES

. 236
237
- 239
240
. 242
243
. 246
247
. 248
249
. 250
252
. 254
256

xiv CONTENTS.

XII.
PAGE
Tue Expression or THE Exorions in Man AND OTHER ANIMALS.

The Principle of Associated Habit . . ‘ . 258
The Principle of Antithesis 5 é : : a 261
Origin of the Principle of Antithesis . 5 . 263
The Principle of the Action of the Excited Neevose Grates on the

Body . ‘ m4 a a ‘. : A 265

XII.
Means oF THE Expression or THE Emorions.
Vocal Organs . ; ; ; Z : 3 . 268
Erection of the Hair j 3 ; ; ‘ ; 269
Erection of the Ears . ‘ “ : , F . 270
A Startled Horse . : : : * : A 271
Monkey-Shines > 5 : : . : ey (|
Weeping of Man and Brute ; 3 : ; ° 272
The Grief-Muscles . : - ; - 275
Voluntary Power over the Grief-Muscles ‘ - 4 : 276
“Down in the Mouth ” ; é . ; ‘ . 278
Laughter . ; : ; : : 279
Expression of the Devout Ratorioas : ; 3 : . 282
Frowning . : - . ° Z ; . 284
Pouting ; ; : : : Z . 285
Decision at the Mouth 5 : : ; ; = 287
Anger. ; ; a " s : rs . 287
Sneering . : 3 : ~ : ; : 288
Disgust . : : é : . . 289.
Shrugging the hoalters ; . : 2 : 4 290
Blushing : ‘ F - 291
Blushing not nceeeierily an icprenion of Guilt . : ” 293
Blushing accounted for A > ‘ : . 294
A New Argument for a Single Barentsitalk : . - 296
XIV.
Tue ProvisionaL Hyporuests or PANGENESIS.

Functional Independence of the Units of the Body . art ees 208

Necessary Assumptions . 4 . ; ‘ ; 802

CONTENTS.

Effect of Morbid Action . ° ° “ °

. ee S : z :

3 of Time and Extent of Area . . :
Why the Higher Forms have not supplanted the canes :
The Amount of Life must have a Limit $ - .
The Broken Branches of the Tree of Life 3 :
Why we do not find Transitional Forms : 2

‘How could the Transitional Form have subsisted ? :
Why Nature takes no Sudden Leaps . 2 a

Contrivances of Nature accounted for - y
Instincts as a Difficulty 2 - 3 ;
Rcaiiacin datsalved’ anil’peané dont 7 i F
Innumerable Links necessarily lost ; er ~

Plenty of Time for the Necessary Saale” ‘ :
Wide Intervals of Time between the Geological Formations .
en Appearance of Groups of Allied Species - :
w little we know of Former Inhabitants of the World. |
Extinction of Species involved in Mystery - .
Dead Links between Living Species . : ; :
Living Descendants of Fossil Species

. 306

Oss=cTIONS TO THE TuEoRY oF DESCENT wiTH MODIFICATION CONSIDERED.

310
- 3ll

< 313

- 316

: 317

- 319
. 322
- 323

° 324

- 343

DARWINISM

STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

L
THE MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF PLANTS.

ge a, THE most widely prevalent movement is
na Plants, essentially of the same nature as that of the
page 1.- stem of a climbing plant, which bends suc-
cessively to all points of the compass, so that the tip
reyolyes. This movement has been called by Sachs “‘re-
yolying nutation”; but we have found it much more
conyenient to use the terms circumnutation and cir-
cumnutate. As we shall have to say much about this
movement, it will be useful here briefly to describe its
nature. If we observe a circumnutating stem, which
happens at the time to be bent, we will say toward the
north, it will be found gradually to bend more and more
easterly, until it faces the east; and so onward to the
south, then to the west, and back again to the north. If
the movement had been quite regular, the apex would
have described a circle, or rather, as the stem is always
growing upward, a circular spiral. But it generally de-
scribes irregular elliptical or oval figures ; for the apex,
after pointing in any one direction, commonly moves
back to the opposite side, not, however, returning along

2 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN IOIMSELF.

the same line. Afterward other irregular ellipses or ovals
are successively described, with their longer axes directed
to different points of the compass. While describing
such figures, the apex often travels in a zigzag line, or
makes small subordinate loops or triangles. In the case
of leaves the ellipses are generally narrow.

Even the stems of seedlings before they
have broken through the ground, as well as
their buried radicles, circumnutate, as far as the pressure
of the surrounding earth permits. In this universally
present movement we have the basis or groundwork for
the acquirement, according to the requirements of the
plant, of the most diversified movements.

Page 3.

THE MOVEMENT OF PLANTS IN RELATION TO THEIR
WANTS.

Cle The most interesting point in the natural
Habits of history of climbing plants is the various kinds
saad of movement which they display in manifest
page 202. + relation to their wants. The most different
organs—stems, branches, flower-peduncles, petioles, mid-
ribs of the leaf and leaflets, and apparently aérial roots—
all possess this power.

1. The first action of a tendril is to place itself in a
proper position. For instance, the tendril of Cobea first
rises vertically up, with its branches divergent and with
the terminal hooks turned outward ; the young shoot at
the extremity of the stem is at the same time bent to one
side, so as to be out of the way. The young leaves of
clematis, on the other hand, prepare for action by tem-
porarily curving themselves downward, so as to serve as
grapnels.

2. If a twining plant or a tendril gets by any accident
into an inclined position, it soon bends upward, though

ee

THE MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF PLANTS. 3

secluded from the light. The guiding stimulus no doubt
is the attraction of gravity, as Andrew Knight showed to
be the case with germinating plants. Ifa shoot of any
ordinary plant be placed in an inclined position in a glass
of water in the dark, the extremity will, in a few hours,
bend upward ; and, if the position of the shoot be then
reversed, the downward-bent shoot reverses its curvature ;
but if the stolon of a strawberry, which has no tendency
to grow upward, be thus treated, it will curve downward
in the direction of, instead of in opposition to, the force
of gravity. As with the strawberry, so it is generally with
the twining shoots of the Hibbertia dentata, which climbs
laterally from bush to bush ; for these shoots, if placed
in a position inclined downward, show little and some-
times no tendency to curve upward.

3. Climbing plants, like other plants, bend toward
the light by a movement closely analogous to the incurv-
ation which causes them to revolve, so that their revoly-
ing movement is often accelerated or retarded in travel-
ing to or from the light. On the other hand, ina few
instances tendrils bend toward the dark.

4. We have the spontaneous revolving movement
which is independent of any outward stimulus, but is
contingent on the youth of the part, and on vigorous
health ; and this again, of course, depends on a proper
temperature and other favorable conditions of life.

5. Tendrils, whatever their homological nature may
be, and the petioles or tips of the leaves of leaf-climbers,
and apparently certain roots, all have the power of move-
ment when touched, and bend quickly toward the touched
side. Extremely slight pressure often suffices. If the
pressure be not permanent, the part in question straight-
ens itself and is again ready to bend on being touched.

6. Tendrils, soon after clasping a support, but not

4 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

after a mere temporary curvature, contract spirally. If
they have not come into contact with any object, they
ultimately contract spirally, after ceasing to revolve ; but
in this case the movement is useless, and occurs only after
a considerable lapse of time.

With respect to the means by which these various
movements are effected, there can be little doubt, from
the researches of Sachs and H. de Vries, that they are
due to unequal growth ; but, from the reasons already
assigned, I can not believe that this explanation applies to
the rapid movements from a delicate touch.

Finally, climbing plants are sufficiently numerous to
form a conspicuous feature in the vegetable kingdom,
more especially in tropical forests. America, which so
abounds with arboreal animals, as Mr. Bates remarks,
likewise abounds, according to Mohl and Palm, with
climbing plants ; and, of the tendril-bearing plants exam-
ined by me, the highest developed kinds are natives of
this grand continent, namely, the several species of Big-
nonia, Eccremocarpus, Cobea, and Ampelopsis. But even
in the thickets of our temperate regions the number of
climbing species and individuals is considerable, as will
be found by counting them.

THE POWER OF MOVEMENT IN ANIMAL AND PLANT
COMPARED.

It has often been vaguely asserted that
plants are distinguished from animals by not
having the power of movement. It should rather be said
that plants acquire and display this power only when it is
of some advantage to them ; this being of comparatively
rare occurrence, as they are affixed to the ground, and
food is brought to them by the air and rain. We see
how high in the scale of organization a plant may rise,

Page 206.

— ae

THE MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF PLANTS. 5

when we look at one of the more perfect tendril-bearers.
It first places its tendrils ready for action, as a polypus
places its tentacula. If the tendril be displaced, it is
acted on by the force of gravity and rights itself. It is
acted on by the light, and bends toward or from it, or
disregards it, whichever may be most advantageous. Dur-
ing several days the tendrils or internodes, or both, spon-
taneously revolve with a steady motion. The tendril
strikes some object, and quickly curls round and firmly
grasps it. In the course of some hours it contracts into
@ spire, dragging up the stem, and forming an excellent
spring. All movements now cease. By growth the tis-
sues soon become wonderfully strong and durable. The
tendril has done its work, and has done it in an admirable
manner.

= tet : It is impossible not to be struck with the
in a resemblance between the foregoing movements
page 571. of plants and many of the actions performed
unconsciously by the lower animals. With plants an as-
tonishingly small stimulus suffices ; and even with allied
plants one may be highly sensitive to the slightest con-
tinued pressure, and another highly sensitive to a slight
momentary touch. The habit of moving at certain pe-
riods is inherited both by plants and animals ; and several
other points of similitude have been specified. But the
most striking resemblance is the localization of their
sensitiveness, and the transmission of an influence from
the excited part to another which consequently moves.
Yet plants do not, of course, possess nerves or a central
neryous system; and we may infer that with animals
such structures serve only for the more perfect transmis-
sion of impressions, and for the more complete intercom-
munication of the several parts.

6 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF,

ADVANTAGES OF CROSS-FERTILIZATION,

The Effects There are two important conclusions which
crm may be deduced from my observations : 1.
zation inthe That the advantages of cross-fertilization do
Kiesdom not follow from some mysterious virtue in the
page 443. mere union of two distinct individuals, but
from such individuals haying been subjected during pre-
vious generations to different conditions, or to their having
varied in a manner commonly called spontaneous, so that
in either case their sexual elements have been in some de-
gree differentiated ; and, 2. That the injury from self-
fertilization follows from the want of such differentiation
in the sexual elements. These two propositions are fully
established by my experiments. Thus, when plants of
the Ipomea and of the Mimulus, which had been self-
fertilized for the seven previous generations, and had been
kept all the time under the same conditions, were inter-
crossed one with another, the offspring did not profit in
the least by the cross.

The curious cases of plants which can fer-
tilize and be fertilized by any other individual
of the same species, but are altogether sterile with their
own pollen, become intelligible, if the view here pro-
pounded is correct, namely, that the individuals of the
same species growing in a state of nature near together
have not really been subjected during several previous
generations to quite the same conditions.

- Page 451.

POTENCY OF THE SEXUAL ELEMENTS IN PLANTS.

It is obvious that the exposure of two sets
of plants during several generations to differ-
ent conditions can lead to no beneficial results, as far as

Page 446.

THE MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF PLANTS. 7

crossing is concerned, unless their sexual elements are
thus affected. That every organism is acted on to a cer-
tain extent by a change in its environment will not, I pre-

sume, be disputed. It is hardly necessary to advance
_ evidence on this head ; we can perceive the difference be-
tween individual plants of the same species which have
grown in somewhat more shady or sunny, dry or damp
places. Plants which have been propagated for some gen-
_ erations under different climates or at different seasons
of the year transmit different constitutions to their seed-
lings. Under such circumstances, the chemical consti-
_ tution of their fluids and the nature of their tissues are
often modified. Many other such facts could be adduced.
In short, every alteration in the function of a part is
probably connected with some corresponding, though
often quite imperceptible, change in structure or compo-
sition.

Whatever affects an organism in any way, likewise
tends to act on its sexual elements. We see this in the
inheritance of newly acquired modifications, such as those
from the increased use or disuse of a part, and even from
mutilations if followed by disease. We have abundant
_ evidence how susceptible the reproductive system is to
_ changed conditions, in the many instances of animals ren-
_ dered sterile by confinement ; so that they will not unite,
or, if they unite, do not produce offspring, though the
confinement may be far from close ; and of plants ren-
dered sterile by cultivation. But hardly any cases afford
more striking evidence how powerfully a change in the
_ conditions of life acts on the sexual elements than those
_ already given, of plants which are completely self-sterile
in one country, and, when brought to another, yield, even
in the first generation, a fair supply of self-fertilized
seeds.

8 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

But it may be said, granting that changed conditions
act on the sexual elements, How can two or more plants
growing close together, either in their native country or
in a garden, be differently acted on, inasmuch as they
appear to be exposed to exactly the same conditions ?

EXPERIMENTS IN CROSSING.

In my experiments with Digitalis pur-
purea, some flowers on a wild plant were self-
fertilized, and others were crossed with pollen from
another plant growing within two or three feet distance.
The crossed and self-fertilized plants raised from the
seeds thus obtained produced flower-stems in number as
100 to 47, and in average height as 100 to 70. Therefore,
the cross between these two plants was highly beneficial ;
but how could their sexual elements have been differen-
tiated by exposure to different conditions ? If the progeni-
tors of the two plants had lived on the same spot during
the last score of generations, and had never been crossed
with any plant beyond the distance of a few feet, in all
probability their offspring would have been reduced to
the same state as some of the plants in my experiments
—such as the intercrossed plants of the ninth generation
of Ipomea, or the self-fertilized plants of the eighth gen-
eration of Mimulus, or the offspring from flowers on the
same plant ; and in this case a cross between the two
plants of Digitalis would have done no good. But seeds
are often widely dispersed by natural means, and one of
the above two plants, or one of their ancestors, may have
come from a distance, from a more shady or sunny, dry
or moist place, or from a different kind of soil containing
other organic seeds or inorganic matter.

Page 447.

.

THE MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF PLANTS. 9

THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE AMONG SEEDS.

Page 449. ‘Seeds often lie dormant for several years
in the ground, and germinate when brought
near the surface by any means, as by burrowing ani-
mals. They would probably be affected by the mere cir-
-cumstance of haying long lain dormant ; for gardeners
believe that the production of double flowers, and of
fruit, is thus influenced. Seeds, moreover, which were
_ matured during different seasons will have been subjected
_ during the whole course of their development to differ-
_ ent degrees of heat and moisture.
It has been shown that pollen is often carried by
insects to a considerable distance from plant to plant.
Therefore, one of the parents or ancestors of our two
plants of Digitalis may have been crossed by a dis-
tant plant growing under somewhat different condi-
tions. Plants thus crossed often produce an unusually
_ large number of seeds; a striking instance of this fact
' is afforded by the Bignonia, which was fertilized by
_ Fritz Miller with pollen from some adjoining plants
4 and set hardly any seed, but, when fertilized with pollen
| from a distant plant, was highly fertile. Seedlings from
_ across of this kind grow with great vigor, and trans-
| mit their vigor to their descendants. These, therefore,
_ in the struggle for life, will generally beat and exterminate

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THESE VIEWS.

Page 458, Under a practical point of view, agricult-
| urists and horticulturists may learn something

from the conclusions at which we have arrived. Firstly,
2

*.

10 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

we see that the injury from the close breeding of animals
and from the self-fertilization of plants does not neces-
sarily depend on any tendency to disease or weakness of
’ constitution common to the related parents, and only in-
directly on their relationship, in so far as they are apt to
resemble each other in all respects, including their sexual
nature. And, secondly, that the advantages of cross-
fertilization depend on the sexual elements of the parents
having become in some degree differentiated by the ex-

ee ee

posure of their progenitors to different conditions, orfrom

their having intercrossed with individuals thus exposed;

-or, lastly, from what we call in our ignorance spontaneous —

variation. He therefore who wishes to pair closely related.

animals ought to keep them under conditions as different —

as possible.

As some kinds of plants suffer much more
from self-fertilization than do others, so it
probably is with animals from too close interbreeding.
The effects of close interbreeding on animals, judging
again from plants, would be deterioration in general vigor,
including fertility, with no necessary loss of excellence
of form ; and this seems to be the usual result.

It is a common practice with horticulturists to obtain
seeds from another place having a very different soil, so

Page 459.

as to avoid raising plants for a long succession of genera- —
tions under the same conditions; but, with all the species —

which freely intercross by the aid of insects or the wind,
it would be an incomparably better plan to obtain seeds
of the required variety, which had been raised for some
generations under as different conditions as possible, and
sow them in alternate rows with seeds matured in the old

garden, The two stocks would then intercross, with a

thorough blending of their whole organizations, and with

oe vee

ee

4
3

PT ARs tae,

-

THE MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF PLANTS. 11

‘no loss of purity to the variety ; and this would yield far
more fayorable results than a mere exchange of seeds.
‘We have seen in my experiments how wonderfully the
offspring profited in height, weight, hardiness, and fer-
tility, by crosses of this kind. For instance, plants of
Ipomea thus crossed were to the intercrossed plants of
the same stock, with which they grew in competition, as
100 to 78 in height, and as 100 to 51 in fertility ; and
plants of Zschscholizia similarly compared were as 100 to
45 in fertility. In comparison with self-fertilized plants
the results are still more striking ; thus cabbages derived
from a cross with a fresh stock were to the self-fertilized
as 100 to 22 in weight.

Florists may learn, from the four cases which have
been fully described, that they have the power of fixing
each fleeting variety of color, if they will fertilize the
_ flowers of the desired kind with their own pollen for
_ half a dozen generations, and grow the seedlings under
the same conditions. But a cross with any other in-
_ dividual of the same variety must be carefully prevented,
_ as each has its own peculiar constitution. After a dozen
' generations of self-fertilization, it is probable that the
new variety would remain constant even if grown under
_ somewhat different conditions; and there would no longer
| be any necessity to guard against intercrosses between
_ the individuals of the same variety.

MARRIAGES OF FIRST COUSINS.

Page 460 With respect to mankind, my son George

has endeavored to discover by a statistical in-
vestigation whether the marriages of first cousins are at
_ all injurious, although this is a degree of relationship
which would not be objected to in our domestic animals ;
_ and he has come to. the conclusion from his own re-

12 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

searches, and those of Dr. Mitchell, that the evidence as
to any evil thus caused is conflicting, but on the whole
points to its being very small. From the facts given in
this volume we may infer that with mankind the mar-
riages of nearly related persons, some of whose parents
and ancestors had lived under very different conditions,
would be much less injurious than that of persons who
had always lived in the same place and followed the same
habits of life. Nor can I see reason to doubt that the
widely different habits of life of men and women in
civilized nations, especially among the upper classes,
would tend to counterbalance any evil from marriages
between healthy and somewhat closely related persons.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE TWO SEXES IN PLANTS.

Under a theoretical point of view it is some
gain to science to know that numberless struct-
ures in hermaphrodite plants, and probably in hermaph-
rodite animals, are special adaptations for securing an
occasional cross between two individuals ; and that the
advantages from such a cross depend altogether on the
beings which are united, or their progenitors, having
had their sexual elements somewhat differentiated, so
that the embyro is benefited in the same manner as is a
mature plant or animal by a slight change in its condi-
tions of life, although in a much higher degree.

Another and more important result may be deduced
from my observations. Eggs and seeds are highly ser-
viceable as a means of dissemination, but we now know
that fertile eggs can be produced without the aid of the
male. ‘There are also many other methods by which
organisms can be propagated asexually. Why then have —
the two sexes been developed, and why do males exist

Page 461.

THE MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF PLANTS. 13

which can not themselves produce offspring? The an-
swer lies, as I can hardly doubt, in the great good which
is derived from the fusion of two somewhat differentiated
individuals ; and with the exception of the lowest organ-
isms this is possible only by means of the sexual elements,
these consisting of cells separated from the body, con-
taining the germs of every part, and capable of being
_ fused completely together.

It has been shown in the present volume that the
ofispring from the union of two distinct individuals,
especially if their progenitors have been subjected to very
different conditions, have an immense advantage in height,
weight, constitutional vigor and fertility over the self-
fertilized offspring from one of the same parents. And
this fact is amply sufficient to account for the develop-
ment of the sexual elements, that is, for the genesis of
the two sexes.

Té is a different question why the two sexes are some-
_ times combined in the same individual, and are sometimes
separated. As with many of the lowest plants and ani-
mals the conjugation of two individuals, which are either
quite similar or in some degree different is a common
phenomenon, it seems probable, as remarked in the last
chapter, that the sexes were primordially separate. The
individual which receives the contents of the other, may
be called the female ; and the other, which is often smaller
and more locomotive, may be called the male; though
_ these sexual names ought hardly to be applied as long as
the whole contents of the two forms are blended into
one. The object gained by the two sexes becoming united
in the same hermaphrodite form probably is to allow of
occasional or frequent self-fertilization, so as to insure
the propagation of the species, more especially in the
ease of organisms affixed for life to the same spot.

14 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

There does not seem to be any great difficulty in under-
standing how an organism, formed by the conjugation
of two individuals which represented the two incipient
sexes, might have given rise by budding first to a mone-
cious and then to an hermaphrodite form ; and in the
case of animals even without budding to an hermaphro-
dite form, for the bilateral structure of animals perhaps
indicates that they were aboriginally formed by the fusion
of two individuals.

WHY THE SEXES HAVE BEEN RESEPARATED.

It is a more difficult problem why some
plants; and apparently all the higher animals,
after becoming hermaphrodites, have since had their sexes
reseparated. This separation has been attributed by some
naturalists to the advantages which follow from a division
of physiological labor. The principle is intelligible when
the same organ has to perform at the same time diverse
functions ; but it is not obvious why the male and female
glands, when placed in different parts of the same com-
pound or simple individual, should not perform their
functions equally well as when placed in two distinct in-
dividuals. In some instances the sexes may have been
reseparated for the sake of preventing too frequent self-
fertilization ; but this explanation does not seem prob-
able, as the same end might have been gained by other
and simpler means, for instance, dichogamy. It may be
that the production of the male and female reproductive
elements and the maturation of the ovules was too great
a strain and expenditure of vital force for a single in-
dividual to withstand, if endowed with a highly complex
organization ; and that at the same time there was no
need for all the individuals to produce young, and conse-

Page 463.

THE MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF PLANTS. 15

quently that no injury, on the contrary, good, resulted
from half of them, or the males, failing to produce off-
spring.
COMPARATIVE FERTILITY OF MALE AND FEMALE
PLANTS.

The Differ- Thirteen bushes (of the spindle-tree) grow-
pdt ga ing near one another in a hedge consisted of
page 290. eight females quite destitute of pollen, and
of five hermaphrodites with well-developed anthers. In
the autumn the eight females were well covered with
fruit, excepting one which bore only a moderate number.
Of the five hermaphrodites, one bore a dozen or two
fruits, and the remaining four bushes several dozen ;
but their number was as nothing compared with those
on the female bushes, for a single branch, between two
and three feet in length, from one of the latter, yielded
more than any one of the hermaphrodite bushes. The
_ difference in the amount of fruit produced by the two
sets of bushes is all the more striking, as from the
sketches above given it is obvious that the stigmas of the

_ polleniferous flowers can hardly fail to receive their own
_ pollen; while the fertilization of the female flowers de-

pends on pollen being brought to them by flies and the
smaller Hymenoptera, which are far from being such effi-
__ Gient carriers as bees.
I now determined to observe more carefully during
_ successive seasons some bushes growing in another place
about a mile distant. As the female bushes were so
highly productive, I marked only two of them with the
letters A and B, and five polleniferous bushes with the
letters C to G. I may premise that the year 1865 was
_ highly favorable for the fruiting of all the bushes, espe-
cially for the polleniferous ones, some of which were

16 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

quite barren, except under such favorable conditions.
The season of 1864 was unfavorable. In 1863 the female
A produced ‘‘some fruit”; in 1864 only nine; and in
1865 ninety-seven fruit. The female B in 1863 was
‘‘covered with fruit”; in 1864 it bore twenty-eight ;
and in 1865 ‘‘ innumerable very fine fruits.” I may add
that three other female trees growing close by were ob-
served, but only during 1863, and they then bore abun-
dantly. With respect to the polleniferous bushes, the one
marked C did not bear a single fruit during the years
1863 and 1864, but during 1865 it produced no less than
ninety-two fruit, which, however, were very poor. I se-
lected one of the finest branches with fifteen fruit, and
these contained twenty seeds, or on an average 1°33 per
fruit. I then took by hazard fifteen fruit from an ad-
joining female bush, and these contained forty-three
seeds ; that is, more than twice as many, or on an aver-
age 2°86 per fruit. Many of the fruits from the female
bushes included four seeds, and only one had a single
seed ; whereas, not one fruit from the polleniferous
bushes contained four seeds. Moreover, when the two
lots of seeds were compared, it was manifest that those
from the female bushes were the larger. The second
polleniferous bush, D, bore in 1863 about two dozen
fruit, in 1864 only three very poor fruit, each containing
a single seed; and in 1865, twenty equally poor fruit.
Lastly, the three polleniferous bushes, E, F', and G, did
not produce a single fruit during the three years 1863,
1864, and 1865.

EFFECT OF CLIMATE ON REPRODUCTION.

A tendency to the separation of the sexes
in the cultivated strawberry seems to be much
more strongly marked in the United States than in Eu-

Page 293.

— ee

—— ss le

le it te et bie Bi bn,

Le se es

a ee ee EY

Sn

THE MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF PLANTS. 17

rope ; and this appears to be the result of the direct action
of climate on the reproductive organs. In the best ac-
count which I have seen, it is stated that many of the
varieties in the United States consist of three forms,
namely, females, which produce a heavy crop of fruit;
of hermaphrodites, which ‘‘seldom produce other than
avery scanty crop of inferior and imperfect berries” ; and
of males, which produce none. The most skillful cul-
tivators plant ‘‘seven rows of female plants, then one
row of hermaphrodites, and so on throughout the field.”
The males bear large, the hermaphrodites mid-sized, and
the females small flowers. The latter plants produce few
runners, while the two other forms produce many ; con-
sequently, as has been observed both in England and in
the United States, the polleniferous forms increase rapidly
and tend to supplant the females. We may therefore
infer that much more vital force is expended in the pro-
_ duction of ovules and fruit than in the production of
pollen.

CAUSES OF STERILITY AMONG PLANTS,

_ The Differ- If the sexual elements belonging to the ~
= Sag same form are united, the union is an illegiti-
_ page 845. mate one, and more or less sterile. With di-
_ morphic species two illegitimate unions, and with trimor-
_ phic species twelve are possible. There is reason to be-

_ lieve that the sterility of these unions has not been spe-

cially acquired, but follows as an incidental result from the

_ sexual elements of the two or three forms having been
_ adapted to act on one another in a particular manner,
_ so that any other kind of union is inefficient, like that
_ between distinct species. Another and still more remark-
_ able incidental result is that the seedlings from an ille-

_ gitimate union are often dwarfed and more or less com-

18 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

pletely barren, like hybrids from the union of two widely
distinct species.

AN ‘‘ IDEAL TYPE” OR INEVITABLE MODIFICATION ?

Fertilization It is interesting to look at one of the mag-
oF leew nificent exotic species (orchids), or, indeed, at
page 245. one of our humblest forms, and observe how
profoundly it has been modified, as compared with all
ordinary flowers—with its great labellum, formed of one
petal and two petaloid stamens ; with its singular pollen-
masses, hereafter to be referred to; with its column
formed of seven cohering organs, of which three alone
perform their proper function, namely, one anther and
two generally confluent stigmas; with the third stigma
modified into the rostellum and incapable of being fer-
tilized ; and with three of the anthers no longer function-
ally active, but serving either to protect the pollen of the
fertile anther or to strengthen the column, or existing
as mere rudiments, or entirely suppressed. What an
amount of modification, cohesion, abortion, and change
of function do we here see! Yet hidden in that column,
with its surrounding petals and sepals, we know that
there are fifteen groups of vessels, arranged three within
three, in alternate order, which probably have been pre-
served to the present time from being developed at a very
early period of growth, before the shape or existence of
any part of the flower is of importance for the well-being
of the plant.

Can we feel satisfied by saying that each orchid was
created, exactly as we now see it, on a certain “ideal
type ” ; that the omnipotent Creator, having fixed on one
plan for the whole order, did not depart from this plan ;
that he, therefore, made the same organ to perform di-

THE MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF PLANTS. 19

verse functions—often of trifling importance compared
with their proper function—converted other organs into
mere purposeless rudiments, and arranged all as if they
had to stand separate, and then made them cohere? Is
it not a more simple and intelligible view that all the
Orchidee owe what they have in common to descent
from some monocotyledonous plant, which, like so many
other plants of the same class, possessed fifteen organs,
arranged alternately, three within three, in five whorls;
and that the now wonderfully changed structure of the
flower is due to a long course of slow modification—each
modification having been preserved which was useful to
the plant, during the incessant changes to which the or-
. ganic and inorganic world has been exposed ?

SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS TO A CHANGING PURPOSE.

Fertilization It has, I think, been shown that the Or-
of Orchids, c¢hidee exhibit an almost endless diversity of
Page 282. beautiful adaptations. When this or that part
has been spoken of as adapted for some special purpose, it
must not be supposed that it was originally always formed
for this sole purpose. The regular course of events seems
to be, that a part which originally served for one pur-
pose becomes adapted by slow changes for widely differ-
ent purposes. To give an instance: in all the Ophree,
the long and nearly rigid caudicle manifestly serves for
the application of the pollen-grains to the stigma, when
the pollinia are transported by insects to another flower ;
and the anther opens widely in order that the pollinium
should be easily withdrawn ; but, in the Bee ophrys, the
caudicle, by a slight increase in length and decrease in its
thickness, and by the anther opening a little more widely,
becomes specially adapted for the very different purpose

20 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

of self-fertilization, through the combined aid of the
weight of the pollen-mass and the vibration of the flower
when moved by the wind. Every gradation between
these two states is possible—of which we have a partial
instance in O. aranifera.

Again, the elasticity of the pedicel of the pollinium
in some Vande is adapted to free the pollen-masses from
their anther-cases ; but, by a further slight modification,
the elasticity of the pedicel becomes specially adapted to
shoot out the pollinium with considerable force, so as to
strike the body of the visiting insect, The great cavity
in the labellum of many Vandew is gnawed by insects,
and thus attracts them; but in Mormodes ignea it is
greatly reduced in size, and serves in chief part to keep
the labellum in its new position on the summit of the
column. From the analogy of many plants we may in-
fer that a long, spur-like nectary is primarily adapted to
secrete and hold a store of nectar ; but in many orchids
it has so far lost this function that it contains fluid only
in the intercellular spaces. In those orchids in which
the nectary contains both free nectar and fluid in the
intercellular spaces, we can see how a transition from the
one state to the other could be effected, namely, by less
and less nectar being secreted from the inner membrane,
with more and more retained within the intercellular
spaces. Other analogous cases could be given.

Although an organ may not have been originally
formed for some special purpose, if it now serves for this
end, we are justified in saying that it is specially adapted
for it. On the same principle, if a man were to make a
machine for some special purpose, but were to use old
wheels, springs, and pulleys, only slightly altered, the
whole machine, with all its parts, might be said to be
specially contrived for its present purpose. Thus through-

ee ee ee ree Oe eae, ere ee ae ee ee ee iy eee oe ne

THE MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF PLANTS. 21

out nature almost every part of each living being has
probably served, in a slightly modified condition, for
diverse purposes, and has acted in the living machinery
of many ancient and distinct specific forms.

In my examination of orchids, hardly any fact has
struck me so much as the endless diversities of structure
—the prodigality of resources—for gaining the very same
end, namely, the fertilization of one flower by pollen
from another plant. This fact is to a large extent in-
telligible on the principle of natural selection. As all
the parts of a flower are co-ordinated, if slight variations
in any one part were preserved from being beneficial to
the plant, then the other parts would generally have to
be modified in some corresponding manner. But these
latter parts might not vary at all, or they might not vary
in a fitting manger, and these other variations, whatever
their nature might be, which tended to bring all the parts
into more harmonious action with one another, would be
preserved by natural selection.

AN ILLUSTRATION.

ao To give a simple illustration: in many
ase ** orchids the ovarium (but sometimes the foot-
stalk) becomes for a period twisted, causing the labellum
to assume the position of a lower petal, so that insects
can easily visit the flower ; but from slow changes in the
form or position of the petals, or from new sorts of in-
sects visiting the flowers, it might be advantageous to
the plant that the labellum should resume its normal
position on the upper side of the flower, as is actually
the case with Malazis paludosa, and some species of
Catasetum, etc. This change, it is obvious, might be
simply effected by the continued selection of varieties
which had their ovaria less and less twisted ; but, if the

22 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

plant only afforded varieties with the ovarium more
twisted, the same end could be attained by the selection
of such variations, until the flower was turned com-
pletely round on its axis. This seems to have actually
occurred with Malazis paludosa, for the labellum has ac-
quired its present upward position by the ovarium being
twisted twice as much as is usual.

Again, we have seen that in most Vandew@ there is a
plain relation between the depth of the stigmatic chamber
and the length of the pedicel, by which the pollen-masses
are inserted; now, if the chamber became slightly less
deep from any change in the form of the column, or.
other unknown cause, the mere shortening of the pedicel
would be the simplest corresponding change; but, if the
pedicel did not happen to vary in shortness, the slightest
tendency to its becoming bowed from elasticity, as in
Phalenopsis, or to a backward hygrometric movement,
as in one of the Mazillarias, would be preserved, and the
tendency would be continually augmented by selection ;
thus the pedicel, as far as its action is concerned, would
be modified in the same manner as if it had been short-
ened. Such processes carried on during many thousand
generations in various ways, would create an endless di-
versity of co-adapted structures in the several parts of
the flower for the same general purpose. This view
affords, I believe, the key which partly solves the prob-

lem of the vast diversity of structure adapted for closely
analogous ends in many large groups of organic beings.

AS INTERESTING ON THE THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT AS
ON THAT OF DIRECT INTERPOSITION.
The more I study nature, the more I be-
come impressed, with ever-increasing force,
that the contrivances and beautiful adaptations slowly

Page 285.

THE MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF PLANTS. 23

acquired through each part occasionally varying in a
slight degree but in many ways, with the preservation of
those variations which were beneficial to the organism
under complex and ever-varying conditions of life, tran-
scend in an incomparable manner the contrivances and
adaptations which the most fertile imagination of man
could invent.

The use of each trifling detail of structure is far from
a barren search to those who believe in natural selection.

_ - When a naturalist casually takes up the study of an or-

ganic being, and does not investigate its whole life (im-
perfect though that study will ever be), he naturally
doubts whether each trifling point can be of any use, or,
indeed, whether it be due to any general law. Some
naturalists believe that numberless structures have been
created for the sake of mere variety and beauty—much
as @ workman would make different patterns. I, for
one, have often and often doubted whether this or that
detail of structure in many of the Orchidee and other
plants could be of any service ; yet, if of no good, these
structures could not have been modeled by the natural
preservation of useful variations ; such details can only
be vaguely accounted for by the direct action of the con-
ditions of life, or the mysterious laws of correlated growth.
Fertilization This treatise affords me also an opportunity
of Orchids, of attempting to show that the study of or-
Pege 2. ganic beings may be as interesting to an ob-
server who is fully convinced that the structure of each
is due to secondary laws as to one who views every trifling
detail of structure as the result of the direct interposition
of the Creator.

24 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

THE SLEEP OF THE PLANTS.

The Power The so-called sleep of leaves is so conspicu-
ot Pm et* ous a phenomenon that it was observed as early
page 280. as the time of Pliny ; and since Linneus pub-
lished his famous essay, “‘Somnus Plantarum,” it has
been the subject of several memoirs. Many flowers close
at night, and these are likewise said to sleep ; but we are
not here concerned with their movements, for although
effected by the same mechanism as in the case of young
leaves, namely, unequal growth on the opposite sides (as
first proved by Pfeffer), yet they differ essentially in being
excited chiefly by changes of temperature instead of light ;
and in being effected, as far as we can judge, for a differ-
ent purpose. Hardly any one supposes that there is any
real analogy between the sleep of animals and that of
plants, whether of leaves or flowers. It seems, therefore,
advisable to give a distinct name to the so-called sleep-
movements of plants. These have also generally been con-
founded, under the term “‘ periodic,” with the slight daily
rise and fall of leaves, as described in the fourth chapter ;
and this makes it all the more desirable to give some dis-
tinct name to sleep-movements. Nyctitropism and nycti-
tropic, i. e., night-turning, may be applied both to leaves
and flowers, and will be occasionally used by us; but it
would be best to confine the term to leaves.

Leaves, when they go to sleep, move either
upward or downward, or, in the case of the
leaflets of compound leaves, forward, that is, toward the
apex of the leaf, or backward, that is, toward its base; or,
again, they may rotate on their own axis without mov-
ing either upward or downward. But in almost every
case the plane of the blade is so placed as to stand nearly

Page 281.

THE MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF PLANTS. 25

or quite vertically at night. Therefore the apex, or the
base, or either lateral edge, may be directed toward the
zenith. Moreover, the upper surface of each leaf, and
more especially of each leaflet, is often brought into
close contact with that of the opposite one ; and this is
sometimes effected by singularly complicated movements.
This fact suggests that the upper surface requires more
protection than the lower one. For instance, the ter-
minal leaflet in trifolium, after turning up at night so as
to stand vertically, often continues to bend over until the
upper surface is directed downward, while the lower sur-
face is fully exposed to the sky ; and an arched roof is
thus formed over the two lateral leaflets, which have their
upper surfaces pressed closely together. Here we have
the unusual case of one of the leaflets not standing verti-
cally, or almost vertically, at night.

Considering that leaves in assuming their nyctitropic
positions often move through an angle of 90° ; that the
moyement is rapid in the evening ; that in some cases it
is extraordinarily complicated ; that with certain seed-
lings, old enough to bear true leaves, the cotyledons move
vertically upward at night, while at the same time the
leaflets move vertically downward ; and that in the same
genus the leaves or cotyledons of some species move
upward, while those of other species move downward—
from these and other such facts, it is hardly possible to
doubt that plants must derive some great advantage from
such remarkable powers of movement.

SELF-PROTECTION DURING SLEEP.

The fact that the leaves of many plants
place themselves at night in widely different
positions from what they hold during the day, but with

Page 284.

26 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

the one point in common, that their upper surfaces avoid

facing the zenith, often with the additional fact that

they come into close contact with opposite leaves or leaf-

lets, clearly indicates, as it seems to us, that the object
gained is the protection of the upper surfaces from being
chilled at night by radiation. There is nothing improb-

able in the upper surface needing protection more than

the lower, as the two differ in function and structure.

All gardeners know that plants suffer from radiation. It
is this, and not cold winds, which the peasants of South-

ern Europe fear for their olives. Seedlings are often pro-
tected from radiation by a very thin covering of straw ;

and fruit-trees on walls by a few fir-branches, or even by
a fishing-net, suspended over them. There is a variety

of the gooseberry, the flowers of which, from being pro-
duced before the leaves, are not protected by them from

radiation, and consequently often fail to yield fruit. An

excellent observer has remarked that one variety of the
cherry has the petals of its flowers much curled back-
ward, and after a severe frost all the stigmas were killed ;

while, at the same time, in another variety with incurved
petals, the stigmas were not in the least injured.

We are far from doubting that an ad-
ditional advantage may be thus gained ; and
we have observed with several plants, for instance, Des-
modium gyrans, that while the blade of the leaf sinks
vertically down at night, the petiole rises, so that the
blade has to move through a greater angle in order to
assume its vertical position than would otherwise have
been necessary ; but with the result that all the leaves
on the same plant are crowded together, as if for mutual
protection.

We doubted at first whether radiation would affect in

Page 285.

THE MOVEMEMTS AND HABITS OF PLANTS. 27

any important manner objects so thin as are many cotyle-
dons and leaves, and more especially affect differently
their upper and lower surfaces ; for, although the tem-
perature of their upper surfaces would undoubtedly fall
when freely exposed to a clear sky, yet we thought that
they would so quickly acquire by conduction the temper-
ature of the surrounding air, that it could hardly make
any sensible difference to them whether they stood hori-
zontally, and radiated into the open sky, or vertically,
and radiated chiefly in a lateral direction toward neigh-
boring plants and other objects. We endeavored, there-
fore, to ascertain something on this head, by preventing
the leaves of several plants from going to sleep, and by
exposing to a clear sky, when the temperature was be-
neath the freezing-point, these as well as the other leaves
on the same plants, which had already assumed their
nocturnal vertical position. Our experiments show that
leayes thus compelled to remain horizontal at night suf-
fered much more injury from frost than those which were
allowed to assume their normal vertical position. It may,
however, be said that conclusions drawn from such ob-
servations are not applicable to sleeping plants, the inhab-
itants of countries where frosts do not occur. But in
every country, and at all seasons, leaves must be exposed
to nocturnal chills through radiation, which might be in
some degree injurious to them, and which they would es-
cape by assuming a vertical position.

The Power Any one who had never observed continu-
of Movement :

in Plants, OUslya sleeping plant would naturally suppose
page 403. that the leaves moved only in the evening
when going to sleep, and in the morning when awaking ;
but he would be quite mistaken, for we have found no

exception to the rule that leaves which sleep continue to

28 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

move during the whole twenty-four hours ; they move,
however, more quickly when going to sleep and when
awaking than at other times.

INFLUENCE OF LIGHT UPON PLANTS.

The Power The extreme sensitiveness of certain seed-
Phat lings to light is highly remarkable. ‘The
page 565. cotyledons of Phalaris became curved toward
a distant lamp, which emitted so little light that a pen-
cil held vertically close to the plants did not cast any
shadow which the eye could perceive on a white card.
These cotyledons, therefore, were affected by a difference
in the amount of light on their two sides, which the eye
could not distinguish. The degree of their curvature
within a given time toward a lateral light did not cor-
respond at all strictly with the amount of light which
they received ; the light not being at any time in excess.
They continued for nearly half an hour to bend toward a
lateral light, after it had been extinguished. They bend
with remarkable precision toward it, and this depends on
the illumination of one whole side, or on the obscuration
of the whole opposite side. The difference in the amount
of light which plants at any time receive in comparison
with what they have shortly before received seems in all
cases to be the chief exciting cause of those movements
which are influenced by light. Thus seedlings brought
out of darkness bend toward a dim lateral light, sooner
than others which had previously been exposed to day-
light. We have seen several analogous cases with the
nyctitropic movements of leaves. A striking instance
was observed in the case of the periodic movements of
the cotyledons of a cassia: in the morning a pot was
placed in an obscure part of a room, and all the cotyle-
dons rose up closed ; another pot had stood in the sun-

THE MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF PLANTS. 29

light, and the cotyledons of course remained expanded ;
both pots were now placed close together in the middle
of the room, and the cotyledons which had been exposed
to the sun immediately began to close, while the others
opened ; so that the cotyledons in the two pots moved in
exactly opposite directions while exposed to the same
degree of light.

We found that if seedlings, kept in a dark place, were
laterally illuminated by a small wax-taper for only two
or three minutes at intervals of about three quarters of
an hour, they all became bowed to the point where the
taper had been held. We felt much surprised at this
fact, and, until we had read Wiesner’s observations, we
attributed it to the after-effects of the ight; but he has
shown that the same degree of curvature in a plant may
be induced in the course of an hour by several interrupt-
ed illuminations lasting altogether for twenty minutes as
by a continuous illumination of sixty minutes. We be-
lieve that this case, as well as our own, may be explained
by the excitement from light being due not so much to
its actual amount, as to the difference in amount from
that previously received ; and in our case there were re-
peated alternations from complete darkness to light. In
this and in several of the above-specified respects, light
seems to act on the tissues of plants almost in the same

” manner as it does on the nervous system of animals.

INFLUENCE OF GRAVITATION UPON PLANTS.

Gravitation excites plants to bend away
from the center of the earth, or toward it, or
to place themselves in a transverse position with respect
to it. Although it is impossible to modify in any direct
manner the attraction of gravity, yet its influence could
be moderated indirectly, in the several ways described in

Page 567.

30 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF,

the tenth chapter; and under such circumstances the
same kind of evidence as that given in the chapter on
heliotropism showed in the plainest manner that apo-
geotropic and geotropic, and probably diageotropic move-
ments, are all modified forms of cireumnutation.

Different parts of the same plant and different species
are affected by gravitation in widely different degrees and
manners. Some plants and organs exhibit hardly a trace
of its action. Young seedlings, which, as we know, cir-
cumnutate rapidly, are eminently sensitive ; and we have
seen the hypocotyl of Beta bending upward through 109°
in three hours and eight minutes. The after-effects of
apogeotropism last for above half an hour; and horizon-
tally-laid hypocotyls are sometimes thus carried tempo-
rarily beyond an upright position. The benefits derived
from geotropism, apogeotropism, and diageotropism, are
generally so manifest that they need not be specified.
With the flower-peduncles of Ozalis, epinasty causes them
to bend down, so that the ripening pods may be pro-
tected by the calyx from the rain. Afterward they are
carried upward by apogeotropism in combination with
hyponasty, and are thus enabled to scatter their seeds
over a wider space. The capsules and flower-heads of
some plants are bowed downward through geotropism,
and they then bury themselves in the earth for the pro-
tection and slow maturation of the seeds. This burying
process is much facilitated by the rocking movement due
to circumnutation.

In the case of the radicles of several, probably of all
seedling plants, sensitiveness to gravitation is confined to
the tip, which transmits an influence to the adjoining
upper part, causing it to bend toward the center of the
earth, That there is transmission of this kind was proved
in an interesting manner when horizontally extended

ee eee

ee

THE MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF PLANTS. 31

radicles of the bean were exposed to the attraction of
gravity for an hour or an hour and a half, and their tips
were then amputated. Within this time no trace of cur-
yature was exhibited, and the radicles were now placed
pointing vertically downward ; but an influence had al-
ready been transmitted from the tip to the adjoining
_ part, for it soon became bent to one side, in the same
manner as would have occurred had the radicle remained
horizontal and been still acted on by geotropism. Radi-
cles thus treated continued to grow out horizontally for
two or three days, until a new tip was reformed ; and
this was then acted on by geotropism, and the radicle
became curved perpendicularly downward.

THE POWER OF DIGESTION IN PLANTS.

Recs: As we have seen that nitrogenous fluids act
ous Plants, very differently on the leavesof Drosera from

non-nitrogenous fluids, and as the leaves re-
main clasped for a much longer time over various organic
bodies than over inorganic bodies, such as bits of glass, cin-
der, wood, etc., it becomes an interesting inquiry whether
they can only absorb matter already in solution, or ren-
der it soluble ; that is, have the power of digestion. We
shall immediately see that they certainly have this power,
and that they act on albuminous compounds in exactly
+ the same manner as does the gastric juice of mammals ;
_ the digested matter being afterward absorbed. This fact,
which will be clearly proved, is a wonderful one in the

_ physiology of plants.

Page 86. It may be well to premise, for the sake of
any reader who knows nothing about the di-

- gestion of albuminous compounds by animals, that this
is effected by means of a ferment, pepsin, together with

32 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF,

weak hydrochloric acid, though almost any acid will
serve. Yet neither pepsin nor an acid by itself has
any such power. We have seen that when the glands
of the disk are excited by the contact of any object, es-
pecially of one containing nitrogenous matter, the outer
tentacles and often the blade become inflected ; the leaf
being thus converted into a temporary cup or stomach.
At the same time the discal glands secrete more copiously,
and the secretion becomes acid. Moreover, they trans-
mit some influence to the glands of the exterior tentacles,
causing them to pour forth a more copious secretion,
which also becomes acid or more acid than it was before.

As this result is an important one, I will give the
evidence. The secretion of many glands on thirty leaves,
which had not been in any way excited, was tested with
litmus-paper ; and the secretion of twenty-two of these
leaves did not in the least affect the color, whereas that of
eight caused an exceedingly feeble and sometimes doubt-
ful tinge of red. Two other old leaves, however, which
appeared to have been inflected several times, acted much
more decidedly on the paper. Particles of clean glass
were then placed on five of the leaves, cubes of albumen
on six, and bits of raw meat on three, on none of which
was the secretion at this time in the least acid. After
an interval of twenty-four hours, when almost all the
tentacles on these fourteen leaves had become more or
less inflected, I again tested the secretion, selecting glands
which had not as yet reached the center or touched any
object, and it was now plainly acid. The degree of
acidity of the secretion varied somewhat on the glands
of the same leaf. On some leaves a few tentacles did
not, from some unknown cause, become inflected, as
often happens; and in five instances their secretion was
found not to be in the least acid ; while the secretion of

THE MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF PLANTS. 33

the adjoining and inflected tentacles on the same leaf was
decidedly acid. With leaves excited by particles of glass
placed on the central glands, the secretion which collects
on the disk beneath them was much more strongly acid
than that poured forth from the exterior tentacles, which
were as yet only moderately inflected. When bits of al-
bumen (and this is naturally alkaline) or bits of meat
were placed on the disk, the secretion collected beneath
them was likewise strongly acid. As raw meat moistened
with water is slightly acid, I compared its action on lit-
mus-paper before it was placed on the leayes, and after-
ward when bathed in the secretion ; and there could not
| be the least doubt that the latter was very much more
acid. I have indeed tried hundreds of times the state of
the secretion on the disks of leaves which were inflected
over various objects, and never failed to find it acid. We
“may, therefore, conclude that the secretion from unex-
cited leaves, though extremely viscid, is not acid or
only slightly so, but that it becomes acid, or much more
strongly so, after the tentacles have begun to bend over
_ any inorganic or organic object; and still more strongly
acid after the tentacles have remained for some time
closely clasped over any object.
_ I may here remind the reader that the secretion ap-
ears to be to a certain extent antiseptic, as it checks the
appearance of mold and infusoria, thus preventing for a
_ time the discoloration and decay of such substances as the
white of an egg, cheese, etc. It therefore acts like the
astric juice of the higher animals, which is known to

ares putrefaction by destroying the microzymes.

F Pies os Cubes of about one twentieth of an inch
_ ~~ (427 millimetre) of moderately roasted meat
_ Were placed on five leaves, which became in twelve hours
3

34 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

closely inflected. After forty-eight hoursI gently opened —
one leaf, and the meat now consisted of a minute central —
sphere, partially digested, and surrounded by a thick en-
velope of transparent viscid fluid. The whole, without —
being much disturbed, was removed and placed under the ~
microscope. In the central part the transverse striae on
the muscular fibers were quite distinct ; and it was inter-
esting to observe how gradually they disappeared, when
the same fiber was traced into the surrounding fluid.
They disappeared by the strie being replaced by trans-

verse lines formed of excessively minute dark points, —
which toward the exterior could be seen only under a —
very high power ; and ultimately these points were lost. —

Finally, the experiments recorded in this ©
chapter show us that there is a remarkable —
accordance in the power of digestion between the gastric —
juice of animals, with its pepsin and hydrochloric acid,
and the secretion of Drosera with its ferment and acid be- —
longing to the acetic series. We can, therefore, hardly —
doubt that the ferment in both cases is closely similar. .

Page 134.

DIVERSE MEANS BY WHICH PLANTS GAIN THEIR SUB- —
SISTENCE,

Insectivor- Ordinary plants of the higher classes pro~ _
— arr cure the requisite inorganic elements from the —
my yt “poll by means of their roots, and absorb carbonic —
acid from the atmosphere by means of their leaves and —
stems. But we have seen in a previous part of this work ~
that there is a class of plants which digest and afterward —
absorb animal matter, namely, all the Droseracee, Pingui- —
cula, and, as discovered by Dr. Hooker, Nepenthes, and 4
to this class other species will almost certainly soom be

THE MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF PLANTS. 35

added. These plants can dissolve matter out of certain
vegetable substances, such as pollen, seeds, and bits of
leaves. No doubt their glands likewise absorb the salts
_ of ammonia brought to them by the rain. It has also
been shown that some other plants can absorb ammonia
by their glandular hairs; and these will profit by that
brought to them by the rain. There is a second class of
plants which, as we have just seen, can not digest, but
absorb, the products of the decay of the animals which
they capture, namely, Utricularia and its close allies ;
and, from the excellent observations of Dr. Mellichamp
and Dr. Canby, there can scarcely be a doubt that Sar-
| racenia and Darlingtonia may be added to this class,
though the fact can hardly be considered as yet fully
proved. There isa third class of plants which feed, as
_ is now generally admitted, on the products of the decay
_ of vegetable matter, such as the bird’s-nest orchis (Veot-
tia), etc. Lastly, there is the well-known fourth class
of parasites (such as the mistletoe), which are nourished
_by the juices of living plants. Most, however, of the
plants belonging to these four classes obtain part of their
carbon, like ordinary species, from the atmosphere. Such
_ are the diversified means, as far as at present known, by
_ which higher plants gain their subsistence.

HOW A PLANT PREYS UPON ANIMALS.
The genus described is Genlisea ornata.

_ Inseetivor- The utricle is formed by a slight enlarge-

— Plants, ment of the narrow blade of the leaf. A hol-
. low neck, no less than fifteen times as long as
the utricle itself, forms a passage from the transverse slit-
like orifice into the cavity of the utricle. A utricle which
easured #, of an inch (°795 millimetre) in its longer

36 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

diameter had a neck 4§ (10°583 millimetres) in length,
and ;4, of an inch (254 millimetre) in breadth. On
each side of the orifice there is a long spiral arm, or tube ;
the structure of which will be best understood be the fol- —
lowing illustration : Take a narrow ribbon and wind it —
spirally round a thin cylinder, so that the edges come
tnto contact along its whole length ; then pinch up the two
edges so as to form a little crest, which will, of course,
wind spirally round the cylinder, like a thread round a
screw. If the cylinder is now removed, we shall have a
tube like one of the spiral arms. The two projecting edges
are not actually united, and a needle can be pushed in easily
between them. They are indeed in many places a little
separated, forming narrow entrances into the tube; but
this may be the result of the drying of the specimens.
The lamina of which the tube is formed seems to be a
lateral prolongation of the lip of the orifice; and the
spiral line between the two projecting edges is continuous
with the corner of the orifice. If a fine bristle is pushed
down one of the arms, it passes into the top of the hollow
neck. Whether the arms are open or closed at their ex-
tremities could not be determined, as all the specimens
were broken ; nor does it appear that Dr. Warming ascer-
tained this point.

So much for the external structure. Internally the
lower part of the utricle is covered with spherical papille,
formed of four cells (sometimes eight, according to Dr.
Warming), which evidently answer to the quadrifid pro-
cesses within the bladders of Utricularia. These papille
extend a little way up the dorsal and ventral surfaces
of the utricle; and a few, according to Warming may
be found in the upper part. This upper region is coy-
ered by many transverse rows, one above the other, of
short, closely approximate hairs, pointing downward.

THE MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF PLANTS. 37

These hairs haye broad bases, and their tips are formed
by a separate cell. They are absent in the lower part of
the utricle where the papille abound. The neck is like-
wise lined throughout its whole length with transverse
rows of long, thin, transparent hairs, having broad bulb-
ous bases, with similarly constructed sharp points. They
arise from little projecting ridges, formed of rectangular
epidermic cells. The hairs vary a little in length, but
their points generally extend down to the row next be-
_ low; so that, if the neck is split open and laid flat, the
inner surface resembles a paper of pins—the hairs repre-
_ senting the pins, and the little transverse ridges repre-
senting the folds of paper through which the pins are
thrust. These rows of hairs are indicated in the previous
figure by numerous transverse lines crossing the neck.
_ The inside of the neck is also studded with papille;
those in the lower part are spherical and formed of four
_ cells, as in the lower part of the utricle ; those in the
_ upper part are formed of two cells, which are much elon-
_ gated downward beneath their points of attachment.
These two-celled papille apparently correspond with the
bifid process in the upper part of the bladders of U¢ricu-
_ laria. The narrow transverse orifice is situated between
the bases of the two spiral arms. No valve could be
_ detected here, nor was any such structure seen by. Dr.
Warming. The lips of the orifice are armed with many
short, thick, sharply pointed, somewhat incurved hairs
_ or teeth.

The two projecting edges of the spirally-wound lamina,
_ forming the arms, are provided with short incurved hairs
or teeth, exactly like those on the lips. These project
‘inward at right angles to the spiral line of junction be-
tween the two edges. The inner surface of the lamina
supports two-celled, elongated papills, resembling those

38 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

in the upper part of the neck, but differing slightly from
them, according to Warming, in their footstalks being
formed by prolongations of large epidermic cells ; where-
as the papille within the neck rest on small cells sunk
amid the larger ones. These spiral arms form a conspic-
uous difference between the present genus and Utricu-
laria.

Lastly, there is a bundle of spiral vessels which, run-
ning up the lower part of the linear leaf, divides close
beneath the utricle. One branch extends up the dorsal
and the other up the ventral side of both the utricle and
neck. Of these two branches, one enters one spiral arm,
and the other branch the other arm.

The utricles contained much dédris, or dirty matter,
which seemed organic, though no distinct organisms could
be recognized. It is, indeed, scarcely possible that any
object could enter the small orifice and pass down the
long, narrow neck, except a living creature. Within the
necks, however, of some specimens, a worm, with retracted
horny jaws, the abdomen of some articulate animal, and
specks of dirt, probably the remnants of other minute
creatures, were found. Many of the papillw within both
the utricles and necks were discolored, as if they had ab-
sorbed matter.

From this description it is sufficiently obvious how
genlisea secures its prey. Small animals entering the
narrow orifice—but what induces them to enter is not
known any more than in the case of Utricularia—would
find their egress rendered difficult by the sharp incurved
hairs on the lips, and, as soon as they passed some way
down the neck, it would be scarcely possible for them to
return, owing to the many transverse rows of long, straight,
downward-pointing hairs, together with the ridges from
which these project. Such creatures would, therefore,

THE MOVEMENTS AND HABITS OF PLANTS. 39

perish either within the neck or utricle ; and the quadrifid
and bifid papillz would absorb matter from their decayed
remains. The transverse rows of hairs are so numerous
_ that they seem superfluous merely for the sake of pre-
venting the escape of prey, and, as they are thin and
delicate, they probably serve as additional absorbents, in
the same manner as the flexible bristles on the infolded
_ margins of the leaves of aldrovanda. The spiral arms,
no doubt, act as accessory traps. Until fresh leaves are
_ examined, it can not be told whether the line of junc-
tion of the spirally-wound lamina is a little open along
its whole course or only in parts, but a small creat-
_ure which forced its way into the tube at any point
_ would be prevented from escaping by the incurved hairs,

and would find an open path down the tube into the
neck, and so into the utricle. If the creature perished
_ within the spiral arms, its decaying remains would be ab-
_ sorbed and utilized by the bifid papille. We thus see
_ that animals are captured by genlisea, not by means of
an elastic valve, as with the foregoing species, but by a
_ contrivance resembling an eel-trap, though more complex.

Il.

THE PART PLAYED BY WORMS IN THE
HISTORY OF THIS PLANET.

The Forma- Worms have played a more important part
tion of Vese- in the history of the world than most persons
through the would at first suppose. In almost all humid
Action °f countries they are extraordinarily numerous,
worms, ; eae"

page 305. and for their size possess great muscular
power. In many parts of England a weight of more than
ten tons (10,516 kilogrammes) of dry earth annually
passes through their bodies and is brought to the surface
on each acre of land; so that the whole superficial bed
of vegetable mold passes through their bodies in the
course of every few years. From the collapsing of the
old burrows the mold is in constant though slow moyve-
ment, and the particles composing it are thus rubbed to-
gether. By these means fresh surfaces are continually

exposed to the action of the carbonic acid in the soil, —
and of the humus-acids which appear to be still more
efficient in the decomposition of rocks. The generation
of the humus-acids is probably hastened during the diges-
tion of the many half-decayed leaves which worms con-
sume. Thus the particles of earth, forming the super-
ficial mold, are subjected to conditions eminently favor-
able for their decomposition and disintegration. More-

THE PART PLAYED BY WORMS. 41

| over, the particles of the softer rocks suffer some amount
of mechanical trituration in the muscular gizzards of
_ worms, in which small stones serve as mill-stones.
The finely levigated castings, when brought to the
_ surface in a moist condition, flow during rainy weather
_ down any moderate slope; and the smaller particles are
washed far down even a gently inclined surface. Cast-
ings when dry often crumble into small pellets, and these
_ are apt to roll down any sloping surface. Where the
_ land is quite level and is covered with herbage, and where
the climate is humid so that much dust can not be blown
"away, it appears at first sight impossible that there should
_ be any appreciable amount of subaérial denudation ; but
| worm-castings are blown, especially while moist and vis-
_ cid, im one uniform direction by the prevalent winds
| which are accompanied by rain. By these several means
_ the superficial mold is prevented from accumulating toa
great thickness; and a thick bed of mold checks in many
_ ways the disintegration of the underlying rocks and frag-
_ ments of rock. ;
: The removal of worm-castings by the above means
_ leads to results which are far from insignificant. It has
| been shown that a layer of earth, -2 of an inch in thick-
_ ness, is in many places annually brought to the surface
' peracre; and if a small part of this amount flows, or
_ rolls, or is washed, even for a short distance down every
_ inclined surface, or is repeatedly blown in one direction,
a great effect will be produced in the course of ages. It
was found by measurements and calculations that on a
_ surface with a mean inclination of 9° 26’, 2°4 cubic inches
of earth which had been ejected by worms crossed, in the
course of a year, a horizontal line one yard in length ; so
that 240 cubic inches would cross a line a hundred yards
in length. This latter amount in a damp state would

42 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

weigh eleven and a half pounds. Thus a considerable
weight of earth is continually moving down each side of
every valley, and will in time reach its bed. Finally, this
earth will be transported by the streams flowing in the
valleys into the ocean, the great receptacle for all matter
denuded from the land. It is known from the amount
of sediment annually delivered into the sea by the Missis-
sippi, that its enormous drainage-area must on an average
be lowered °00263 of an inch each year; and this would
suffice in four and a half million years to lower the whole
drainage-area to the level of the sea-shore. So that, if a
small fraction of the layer of fine earth, ‘2 of an inch in
thickness, which is annually brought to the surface by
worms, is carried away, a great result can not fail to be
produced within a period which no geologist considers
extremely long.

THEY PRESERVE VALUABLE RUINS.

Archeologists ought to be grateful to
worms, as they protect and preserve for an
indefinitely long period every object, not liable to decay,
which is dropped on the surface of the land, by burying
it beneath their castings. Thus, also, many elegant and
curious tesselated pavements and other ancient remains
have been preserved ; though no doubt the worms have
in these cases been largely aided by earth washed and
blown from the adjoining land, especially when culti-
vated. The old tesselated pavements have, however,
often suffered by having subsided unequally from being
unequally undermined by the worms. Even old massive
walls may be undermined and subside; and no building
is in this respect safe, unless the foundations lie six or
seven feet beneath the surface, at a depth at which worms

Page 308.

THE PART PLAYED BY WORMS. 43

can not work. It is probable that many monoliths and
some old walls have fallen down from having been under-
mined by worms.

THEY PREPARE THE GROUND FOR SEED.

Worms prepare the ground in an excellent
manner for the growth of fibrous-rooted plants
and for seedlings of all kinds. They periodically expose
the mold to the air, and sift it so that no stones larger
than the particles which they can swallow are left in it.
They mingle the whole intimately together, like a gar-
dener who prepares fine soil for his choicest plants. In
this state it is well fitted to retain moisture and to absorb
all soluble substances, as well as for the process of nitrifi-
cation. The bones of dead animals, the harder parts of
insects, the shells of land-mollusks, leaves, twigs, etc.,
are before long all buried beneath the accumulating cast-
ings of worms, and are thus brought in a more or less
decayed state within reach of the roots of plants. Worms
likewise drag an infinite number of dead leaves and other
parts of plants into their burrows, partly for the sake of
plugging them up and partly as food.

The leaves which are dragged into the burrows as
food, after being torn into the finest shreds, partially di-
gested, and saturated with the intestinal and urinary se-
cretions, are commingled with much earth. This earth
forms the dark-colored, rich humus which almost every-
where covers the surface of the land with a fairly well-
defined layer or mantle. Von Hensen placed two worms
in a vessel eighteen inches in diameter, which was filled
with sand, on which fallen leaves were strewed; and
these were soon dragged into their burrows to a depth of
three inches. After about six weeks an almost uniform
layer of sand, a centimetre (-4 inch) in thickness, was

Page 309.

44 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

converted into humus by having passed through the ali-
mentary canals of these two worms. It is believed by
some persons that worm-burrows, which often penetrate
_ the ground almost perpendicularly to a depth of five or
six feet, materially aid in its drainage ; notwithstanding
that the viscid castings piled over the mouths of the bur-
rows prevent or check the rain-water directly entering
them. They allow the air to penetrate deeply into the
ground. ‘They also greatly facilitate the downward pas-
sage of roots of moderate size ; and these will be nourished
by the humus with which the burrows are lined. Many
seeds owe their germination to having been covered by cast-
ings; and others buried to a considerable depth beneath
accumulated castings lie dormant, until at some future
time they are accidentally uncovered and germinate.

When we behold a wide, turf-covered ex-
‘ panse, we should remember that its smooth-
ness, on which so much of its beauty depends, is mainly
due to all the inequalities having been slowly leveled by
worms. It is a marvelous reflection that the whole of
the superficial mold over any such expanse has passed,
and will again pass, every few years through the bodies
of worms. The plow is one of the most ancient and most
valuable of man’s inventions ; but long before he existed
the land was in fact regularly plowed, and still continues
to be thus plowed, by earth-worms. It may be doubted
whether there are many other animals which have played
so important a part in the history of the world as have
these lowly organized creatures. Some other animals,
however, still more lowly organized, namely corals, have
done far more conspicuous work in haying constructed
innumerable reefs and islands in the great oceans; but
these are almost confined to the tropical zones.

Page 313

THE PART PLAYED BY WORMS. 45

INTELLIGENCE OF WORMS.

We can hardly escape from the conclusion
5 that worms show some degree of intelligence
in their manner of plugging up their burrows. Each
particular object is seized in too uniform a manner, and
from causes which we can generally understand, for the
_ result to be attributed to mere chance. That every ob-
_ ject has not been drawn in by its pointed end, may be
accounted for by labor having been saved through some
being inserted by their broader or thicker ends. No
_ doubt worms are led by instinct to plug up their burrows ;
_ and it might have been expected that they would have
| been led by instinct how best to act in each particular

case, independently of intelligence. We see how difficult
it is to judge whether intelligence comes into play, for
even plants might sometimes be thought to be thus di- ~
_ rected ; for instance, when displaced leaves redirect their
_ upper surfaces toward the light by extremely complicated
- movements and by the shortest course. With animals,
| actions appearing due to intelligence may be performed
__ through inherited habit without any intelligence, although
_ aboriginally thus acquired. Or the habit may have been
| acquired through the preservation and inheritance of
beneficial variations of some other habit; and in this
case the new habit will have been acquired independently

Page 91.

fe of intelligence throughout the whole course of its devel-

_ opment. There is no @ priori improbability in worms
having acquired special instincts through either of these

_ two latter means. Nevertheless, it is incredible that in-

_ stincts should have been developed in reference to objects,

_ such as the leaves or petioles of foreign plants, wholly un-
known to the progenitors of the worms which act in the
described manner. Nor are their actions so unvarying

| or inevitable as are most true instincts.

46 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

As worms are not guided by special instincts in each
particular case, though possessing a general instinct to
plug up their burrows, and, as chance is excluded, the
next most probable conclusion seems to be that they try
in many different ways to draw in objects, and at last sue-
ceed in some one way. But it is surprising that an ani-
mal so low in the scale as a worm should have the capacity
for acting in this manner, as many higher animals have
no such capacity.

Mr. Romanes, who has specially studied the
’ minds of animals, believes that we can safely
infer intelligence only when we see an individual profit-
ing by its own experience. Now, if worms try to drag
objects into their burrows first in one way and then in
another, until they at last succeed, they profit at least in
each particular instance by experience.

Page 95

One alternative alone is left, namely, that
worms, although standing low in the scale of
organization, possess some degree of intelligence. This
will strike every one as very improbable ; but it may be
doubted whether we know enough about the nervous sys-
tem of the lower animals to justify our natural distrust
of such aconclusion. With respect to the small size of
the cerebral ganglia, we should remember what a mass of
inherited knowledge, with some power of adapting means
to an end, is crowded into the minute brain of a worker-
ant.

Page 98.

Il.

‘THE LAWS OF VARIABILITY WITH RESPECT
TO ANIMALS AND PLANTS.

_ The Varia- I SHALL in this volume treat, as fully as my

oh Mirela materials permit, the whole subject of varia-
| Plantsunder tion under domestication. We may thus hope
- on sai, to obtain some light, little though it be, on the
page 3. causes of variability, on the laws which govern
it—such as the direct action of climate and food, the
_ effects of use and disuse, and of correlation of growth—

and on the amount of change to which domesticated or-
| ganisms are liable.

Although man does not cause variability and can not
eyen prevent it, he can select, preserve, and accumulate
__ the variations given to him by the hand of Nature almost

_ in any way which he chooses ; and thus he can certainly
_ produce a great result. Selection may be followed either
' methodically and intentionally, or unconsciously and unin-
_ tentionally. Man may select and preserve each successive
_ Yariation, with the distinct intention of improving and

_ altering a breed, in accordance with a preconceived idea ;
_ and by thus adding up variations, often so slight as to
_ be imperceptible by an uneducated eye, he has effected
_ wonderful changes and improvements. It can, also, be
| clearly shown that man, without any intention or thought

48 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

of improving the breed, by preserving in each successive
generation the individuals which he prizes most, and

by destroying the worthless individuals, slowly, though

surely, induces great changes. As the will of man thus
comes into play, we can understand how it is that do-
mesticated breeds show adaptation to his wants and pleas-
ures. We can further understand how it is that domestic
races of animals and cultivated races of plants often ex-
hibit an abnormal character, as compared with natural
species ; for they have been modified not for their own
benefit, but for that of man.

INHERITED EFFECT OF CHANGED HABITS.

Origin of When we compare the individuals of the
Sorlenivane same variety or subvariety of our older culti-

%e vated plants and animals, one of the first points
which strikes us is, that they generally differ more from
each other than do the individuals of any one species or
variety in a state of nature. And if we reflect on the
vast diversity of the plants and animals which have been
cultivated, and which have varied during all ages under
the most different climates and treatment, we are driven to
conclude that this great variability is due to our domestic
productions having been raised under conditions of life
not so uniform as, and somewhat different from, those to
which the parent species had been exposed under nature.

Changed habits produce an inherited effect,
as in the period of the flowering of plants
when transported from one climate to another. With
animals the increased use or disuse of parts has had a
more marked influence ; thus I find in the domestic duck
that the bones of the wing weigh less and the bones of
the leg more, in proportion to the whole skeleton, than

Page 8.

~~ ee es

— - S

ee a

ee ee ee

THE LAWS OF VARIABILITY. 49

| do the same bones in the wild-duck ; and this change may
_ be safely attributed to the domestic duck flying much less,
_and walking more, than its wild parents. The great and
inherited development of the udders in cows and goats in
_ countries where they are habitually milked, in comparison
_ with these organs in other countries, is probably another
instance of the effects of use. Not one of our domestic
animals can be named which has not in some country
_ drooping ears; and the view which has been
_ that the drooping is due to the disease of the muscles of
_ the ear, from the animals being seldom much alarmed,
seems probable.

Page 9 From facts collected by Heusinger, it ap-
1a * pears that white sheep and pigs are injured
| by certain plants, while dark-colored individuals escape,
_ Professor Wyman has recently communicated to me a
good illustration of this fact: on asking some farmers in
_ Virginia how it was that all their pigs were black, they
| informed him that the pigs ate the paint-root (Lach-
_ nanthes), which colored their bones pink, and which
' eaused the hoofs of all but the black varieties to drop
| off; and one of the “crackers” (i. e., Virginia squatters)
_ added, “‘ We select the black members of a litter for rais-
ing, as they alone have a good chance of living.” Hair-
_ less dogs have imperfect teeth ; long-haired and coarse-
haired animals are apt to have, as is asserted, long or
_ many horns ; pigeons with feathered feet have skin be-
_ tween their outer toes; pigeons with short beaks have
_ small feet, and those with long beaks large feet. Hence,
_ if man goes on selecting, and thus agmenting, any pe-
_ culiarity, he will almost certainly modify unintentionally
_ other parts of the structure, owing to the mysterious laws
__ of correlation.

50 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

EFFECTS OF THE USE AND DISUSE OF PARTS.

Origin of From the facts alluded to in the first chap-
Species, ter, I think there can be no doubt that use in
page 108. our domestic animals has strengthened and
enlarged certain parts, and disuse diminished them, and
that such modifications are inherited. Under free nature
we have no standard of comparison by which to judge of
the effects of long-continued use or disuse, for we know
not the parent forms ; but many animals possess structures
which can be best explained by the effects of disuse. As
Professor Owen has remarked, there is no greater anomaly
in nature than a bird that can not fly; yet there are sey-
eral in this state. The logger-headed duck of South
America can only flap along the surface of the water, and
has its wings in nearly the same condition as the domestic
Aylesbury duck: it is a remarkable fact that the young
birds, according to Mr. Cunningham, can fly, while the
adults have lost this power. As the larger ground-feeding
birds seldom take flight, except to escape danger, it is
probable that the nearly wingless condition of several
birds, now inhabiting or which lately inhabited several
oceanic islands, tenanted by no beast of prey, has been
caused by disuse. The ostrich, indeed, mhabits conti-
nents, and is exposed to danger from which it can not
escape by flight, but it can defend itself by kicking its
enemies as efficiently as many quadrupeds. We may be-
lieve that the progenitor of the ostrich genus had habits
like those of the bustard, and that, as the size and weight
of its body were increased during successive generations,
its legs were used more, and its wings less, until they be-
came incapable of flight.

THE LAWS OF VARIABILITY. 51

Page 109. The insects in Madeira which are not
ground-feeders, and which, as certain flower-
feeding Coleoptera and Lepidoptera, must habitually use
_ their wings to gain their subsistence, have, as Mr. Wol-
laston suspects, their wings not at all reduced, but even
This is quite compatible with the action of
natural selection. For, when a new insect first arrived on
_ the island, the tendency of natural selection to enlarge or
_ to reduce the wings would depend on whether a greater
number of individuals were saved by successfully battling
with the winds, or by giving up the attempt and rarely
or never flying. As with mariners shipwrecked near a
coast, it would have been better for the good swimmers if
they had been able to swim still farther, whereas it would
have been better for the bad swimmers if they had not
been able to swim at all and had stuck to the wreck.

The eyes of moles and of some burrowing rodents are
rudimentary in size, and in some cases are quite covered
_ by skin and fur. This state of the eyes is probably due
_ to gradual reduction from disuse, but aided, perhaps, by
_ natural selection. In South America a burrowing rodent
—the tuco-tuco, or ctenomys—is even more subterranean
in its habits than the mole ; and I was assured by a Span-
| iard, who had often caught them, that they were fre-
' quently blind. One which I kept alive was certainly in
| this condition, the cause, as appeared on dissection, hay-
_ ing been inflammation of the nictitating membrane. As
_ frequent inflammation of the eyes must be injurious to
_ any animal, and as eyes are certainly not necessary to ani-
_ mals having subterranean habits, a reduction in their size,
with the adhesion of the eyelids and growth of fur over
_ them, might in such case be an advantage ; and, if so,

natural selection would aid the effects of disuse.

52 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

VAGUE ORIGIN OF OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

In the case of most of our anciently do-

Origin of é anc
Species, mesticated animals and plants, it is not pos-
page 13. sible to come to any definite conclusion whether

they are descended from one or several wild species. The

argument mainly relied on by those who believe in the

multiple origin of our domestic animals is, that we find
in the most ancient times, on the monuments of Egypt,
and in the lake-habitations of Switzerland, much diver-
sity in the breeds ; and that some of these ancient breeds
closely resemble or are even identical with, those still
existing. But this only throws far backward the history
of civilization, and shows that animals were domesticated
at a much earlier period than has hitherto been supposed.
The lake-inhabitants of Switzerland cultivated several
kinds of wheat and barley, the pea, the poppy for oil, and
flax ; and they possessed several domesticated animals.
They also carried on commerce with other nations. All
this clearly shows, as Heer has remarked, that they had
at this early age progressed considerably in civilization ;
and this again implies a long-continued previous period
of less advanced civilization, during which the domes-
ticated animals, kept by different tribes in different
districts, might have varied and given rise to distinct
races. Since the discovery of flint tools in the superficial
formations of many parts of the world, all geologists be-
lieve that barbarian man existed at an enormously remote
period ; and we know that at the present day there is
hardly a tribe so barbarous as not to have domesticated at
least the dog.

The origin of most of our domestic animals will prob-
ably forever remain vague. .

BICEP ee

eae
a or

THE LAWS OF VARIABILITY. — 53

In attempting to estimate the amount of
structural difference between allied domestic
_ races, we are soon involved in doubt, from not knowing
_ -whether they are descended from one or several parent
_ species. This point, if it could be cleared up, would be
interesting ; if, for instance, it could be shown that the
_ greyhound, bloodhound, terrier, spaniel, and bull-dog,
_ which we all know propagate their kind truly, were the
_ offspring of any single species. Then such facts would
| have great weight in making us doubt about the immu-
_ tability of the many closely allied natural species—for
_ instance, of the many foxes—inhabiting different quar-
| ters of the world.

Page 12.

DESCENT OF THE DOMESTIC PIGEON.

P Origin of Great as are the differences between the
Species, breeds of the pigeon, I am fully convinced that
| Pagel7. the common opinion of naturalists is correct,
_ namely, that all are descended from the rock-pigeon
_ (Columba livia), including under this term several geo-
_ graphical races or subspecies, which differ from each
_ other in the most trifling respects. As several of the rea-
_ sons which have led me to this belief are in some degree
_ applicable in other cases, I will here briefly give them.
__ If the several breeds are not varieties, and have not pro-
_ ceeded from the rock-pigeon, they must have descended
- from at least seven or eight aboriginal stocks ; for it is
_ impossible to make the present domestic breeds by the
crossing of any lesser number: how, for instance, could
_ apouter be produced by crossing two breeds unless one
_ of the parent-stocks possessed the characteristic enormous

_erop? The supposed aboriginal stocks must all have been
_ rock-pigeons—that is, they did not breed or willingly
_ perch on trees. But besides C. livia, with its geographical

54 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

sub-species, only two or three other species of rock-pigeons
are known, and these have not any of the characters of
the domestic breeds. Hence the supposed aboriginal
stocks must either still exist in the countries where they
were originally domesticated, and yet be unknown to or-
nithologists—and this, considering their size, habits, and
remarkable characters, seems improbable—or they must
haye become extinct in the wild state. But birds breed-
ing on precipices, and good fliers, are unlikely to be ex-
terminated ; and the common rock-pigeon, which has the
same habits with the domestic breeds, has not been exter-
minated even on several of the smaller British islets, or
on the shores of the Mediterranean. Hence the supposed
extermination of so many species having similar habits
with the rock-pigeon seems a very rash assumption. More-
over, the several above-named domesticated breeds have
been transported to all parts of the world, and therefore
some of them must have been carried back again into
their native country; but not one has become wild or
feral, though the dovecot-pigeon, which is the rock-pigeon
in a very slightly altered state, has become feral in several
places. Again, all recent experience shows that it is diffi-
cult to get wild animals to breed freely under domestica-
tion ; yet, on the hypothesis of the multiple origin of our
pigeons, it must be assumed that at least seven or eight
species were so thoroughly domesticated in ancient times
by half-civilized man as to be quite prolific under confine-
ment.

An argument of great weight, and applicable in sey-
eral other cases, is, that the above-specified breeds, though
agreeing generally with the wild rock-pigeon in constitu-
tion, habits, voice, coloring, and in most parts of their
structure, yet are certainly highly abnormal in other parts ;
we may look in vain through the whole great family of

PS

eet ee ee ee ee eee

ey ee a

THE LAWS OF VARIABILITY. 55

Oolumbide for a beak like that of the English carrier, or
_ that of the short-faced tumbler, or barb; for reversed

_ feathers like those of the Jacobin ; for a crop like that of

the pouter; for tail-feathers like those of the fantail.
Hence it must be assumed not only that half-civilized
man succeeded in thoroughly domesticating several spe-
cies, but that he intentionally or by chance picked out
extraordinarily abnormal species ; and, further, that these
_ very species have since all become extinct or unknown.
So many strange contingencies are improbable in the

highest degree.

ORIGIN OF THE DOG.

es oom The first and chief point of interest in this
Domestica- Chapter is, whether the numerous domesticated
| tion, vol.i, -yarieties of the dog have descended from a sin-

_ Pagel. gle wild species, or from several. Some au-
_ thors believe that all have descended from the wolf, or
_ from the jackal, or from an unknown and extinct species.
| Others again believe, and this of late has been the favor-
ite tenet, that they have descended from several species,
' extinct and recent, more or less commingled together.

_ We shall probably never be able to ascertain their origin

_ with certainty. Paleontology does not throw much light
| on the question, owing, on the one hand, to the close
| similarity of the skulls of extinct as well as living wolves
_ and jackals, and owing, on the other hand, to the great
_ dissimilarity of the skulls of the several breeds of the
_ domestic dogs. It seems, however, that remains have
been found in the later tertiary deposits more like those
of a large dog than of « wolf, which favors the belief of
De Blainyille that our dogs are the descendants of a
_ Single extinct species. On the other hand, some authors
_ go so far as to assert that every chief domestic breed must

56 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF,

have had its wild prototype. This latter view is extremely
improbable: it allows nothing for variation; it passes
‘over the almost monstrous character of some of the
breeds ; and it almost necessarily assumes that a large
number of species have become extinct since man domes-
ticated the dog; whereas we plainly see that wild mem-
bers of the dog-family are extirpated by human agency
with much difficulty ; even so recently as 1710 the wolf
existed in so small an island as Ireland.

At a period between four and five thousand
years ago, various breeds—viz., pariah dogs,
greyhounds, common hounds, mastiffs, house-dogs, lap-
dogs, and turnspits—existed, more or less closely resem-
bling our present breeds. But there is not sufficient evi-
dence that any of these ancient dogs belonged to the same
identical sub-varieties with our present dogs. As long as
man was believed to have existed on this earth only about
six thousand years, this fact of the great diversity of the
breeds at so early a period was an argument of much
_ weight that they had proceeded from several wild sources,
for there would not have been sufficient time for their di-
vergence and modification. But now that we know, from
the discovery of flint tools imbedded with the remains of
extinct animals, in districts which have since undergone
great geographical changes, that man has existed for an
incomparably longer period, and bearing in mind that
the most barbarous nations possess domestic dogs, the
argument from insufficient time falls away greatly in
value.

Page 18,

From this resemblance of the half-domes-
ticated dogs in several countries to the wild
species still living there—from the facility with which
they can often be crossed together—from even half-tamed

Page 26.

Py See! ee ee ee ee

ey Bi date On eee Ee ne ee

THE LAWS OF VARIABILITY. 57

) animals being so much valued by savages—and from the

other circumstances previously remarked on which favor
their domestication, it is highly probable that the domes-—
_tic dogs of the world are descended from two well-defined
‘species of wolf (viz., C. Jupus and C. latrans), and from
two or three other doubtful species (namely, the Euro-
pean, Indian, and North African wolves) ; from at least
one or two South American canine species ; from several
races or species of jackal; and perhaps from one or more
extinct species.

ORIGIN OF THE HORSE.

| @ — red The history of the horse is lost in antiquity.

“Domestica- emains of this animal in a domesticated con-
tion, vol. i, dition have been found in the Swiss lake-dwell-
‘Page ® ings, belonging to the Neolithic period. At
the present time the number of breeds is great, as may
” be seen by consulting any treatise on the horse. Looking
only to the native ponies of Great Britain, those of the
Shetland Isles, Wales, the New Forest, and Devonshire
_ are distinguishable ; and so it is, among other instances,
_ with each separate island in the great Malay Archipelago.
Some of the breeds present great differences in size, shape |
_ of ears, length of mane, proportions of the body, form of
_ the withers and hind-quarters, and especially in the head.
‘Compare the race-horse, dray-horse, and a Shetland pony
_ in size, configuration, and disposition ; and see how much
_ greater the difference is than between the seven or eight
other living species of the genus Zguus.

Ri. 6 Horses have often been observed, accord-
a ing to M. Gaudry, to possess a trapezium and

udiment of a fifth metacarpal bone, so that ‘‘one sees
¢ oa

58 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

appearing by monstrosity, in the foot of the horse, struct- —
ures which normally exist in the foot of the hipparion ”—
an allied and extinct animal. In various countries horn- —
like projections haye been observed on the frontal bones
of the horse : in one case described by Mr. Percival they —
arose about two inches above the orbital processes, and —
were “‘ very like those in a calf from five to six months ©
old,” being from half to three quarters of an inch in —
length.

CAUSES OF MODIFICATIONS IN THE HORSE.

With respect to the causes of the modifica- —
tions which horses haye undergone, the con- —
ditions of life seem to produce a considerable direct effect. —
Mr. D. Forbes, who has had excellent opportunities of
comparing the horses of Spain with those of South ~
America, informs me that the horses of Chili, which ~
have lived under nearly the same conditions as their —
progenitors in Andalusia, remain unaltered, while the -
Pampas horses and the Puno ponies are considerably —
modified. There can be no doubt that horses become —
greatly reduced in size and altered in appearance by liv- —
ing on mountains and islands; and this apparently is —
due to want of nutritious or varied food. Every one ©
knows how small and rugged the ponies are on the ©
northern islands and on the mountains of Europe. Cor- —
sica and Sardinia have their native ponies; and there —
were, or still are, on some islands on the coast of Vir- —
ginia, ponies like those of the Shetland Islands, which ~
are believed to have originated through exposure to un- —
favorable conditions. The Puno ponies, which inhabit —
the lofty regions of the Cordillera, are, as I hear from %
Mr. D. Forbes, strange little creatures, very unlike their —
Spanish progenitors. Farther south, in the Falkland

Page 54.

THE LAWS OF VARIABILITY. 59

‘Islands, the offspring of the horses imported in 1764
have already so much deteriorated in size and strength,
that they are unfitted for catching wild cattle with the
lasso ; so that fresh horses have to be brought for this
purpose from La Plata at a great expense. ‘The reduced
size of the horses bred on both southern and northern
_ islands, and on several mountain-chains, can hardly have
been caused by the cold, as a similar reduction has oc-
curred on the Virginian and Mediterranean islands.

Page 56 It is scarcely possible to doubt that the
long-continued. selection of qualities service-
} able to man has been the chief agent in the formation of

the several breeds of the horse. Look at a dray-horse,
and see how well adapted he is to draw heavy weights,
| and how unlike in appearance to any allied wild animal.
_ The English race-horse is known to be derived from the
_ commingled blood of Arabs, Turks, and Barbs ; but selec-
| tion, which was carried on during very early times in
” England, together with training, have made him a very
| different animal from his parent stocks.

_ **¥fAKING THE WORKS OF GOD A MERE MOCKERY.”
> Oxigin of We see several distinct species of the horse-
Species, genus becoming, by simple variation, striped
pee 130. on the legs like a zebra, or striped on the
_ shoulders like an ass. In the horse we see this tendency
_ strong whenever a dun tint appears—a tint that ap-
} proaches to that of the general coloring of the other spe-
cies of the genus. The appearance of the stripes is not
_ accompanied by any change of form or by any other new

‘character. We see this tendency to become striped most
‘strongly displayed in hybrids from between several of the

60 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

most distinct species. Now observe the case of the sev-
eral breeds of pigeons: they are descended from a pigeon —
(including two or three sub-species or geographical races) —
of a bluish color, with certain bars and other marks; and, ~
when any breed assumes by simple variation a bluish tint, ©
these bars and other marks invariably reappear ; but with- —
out any other change of form or character. When the —
oldest and truest breeds of various colors are crossed, we
see a strong tendency for the blue tint and bars and marks ~
to reappear in the mongrels. I have stated that the most —
probable hypothesis to account for the reappearance of —
very ancient characters is—that there is a tendency in
the young of each successive generation to produce the —
long-lost character, and that this tendency, from unknown ~
causes, sometimes prevails. And we have just seen that —
in several species of the horse-genus the stripes are either —
plainer or appear more commonly in the young thanin |
the old. Call the breeds of pigeons, some of which have —

bred true for centuries, species ; and how exactly parallel —
is the case with that of the species of the horse-genus! —

For myself, I venture confidently to look back thousands ~

on thousands of generations, and I see an animal striped ~
like a zebra, but perhaps otherwise very differently con-—
structed, the common parent of our domestic horse —

(whether or not it be descended from one or more wild —

stocks), of the ass, the hemionus, quagga, and zebra.
He who believes that each equine species was inde- —

pendently created, will, I presume, assert that each spe- —

cies has been created with a tendency to vary, both under —
nature and under domestication, in this particular man- —

ner, so as often to become striped like the other species of _

the genus ; and that each has been created with a strong
tendency, when crossed with species inhabiting distant _
quarters of the world, to produce hybrids resembling in —

‘their stripes, not their own parents, but ‘ther species of
_the genus. To admit this view is, as it seems to me, to
reject a real for an unreal, or at least for an unknown,
cause. It makes the works of God a mere mockery and
- deception ; I would almost as soon believe with the old
and ignorant cosmogonists, that fossil shells had never
' lived, but had been created in stone so as to mock the

— VARIABILITY OF CULTIVATED PLANTS.

“Animals and __ Shall not enter into so much detail on
| Plants, vol. the variability of cultivated plants as in the
i, page 822. case of domesticated animals. The subject is
involved in much difficulty. Botanists have generally
| neglected cultivated varieties, as beneath their notice. In
_ seyeral cases the wild prototype is unknown or doubtfully
known ; and in other cases it is hardly possible to distin-
| guish between escaped seedlings and truly wild plants, so
' that there is no safe standard of comparison by which to
| judge of any supposed amount of change. Not a few
| botanists believe that several of our anciently cultivated
| plants have become so profoundly modified that it is not
| possible now to recognize their aboriginal parent-forms.
| Equally perplexing are the doubts whether some of them
_ are descended from one species, or from several inextrica-
bly commingled by crossing and variation. Variations
often pass into, and can not be distinguished from, mon-
_ strosities ; and monstrosities are of little significance for
our purpose. Many varieties are propagated solely by
grafts, buds, layers, bulbs, etc., and frequently it is not
cnown how far their peculiarities can be transmitted by

shells living on the sea-shore. —

THE LAWS OF VARIABILITY. pe"

|
)

|

62 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

From innumerable experiments made

Page 325, throu gh dire necessity by the savages of every

land, with the results handed down by tradition, the nu- —

tritious, stimulating, and medicinal properties of the
most unpromising plants were probably first discovered.

It appears, for instance, at first an inexplicable fact that —

untutored man, in three distant quarters of the world,
should have discovered, among a host of native plants,
that the leaves of the tea-plant and mattee, and the ber-
ries of the coffee, all included a stimulating and nutritious

essence, now known to be chemically the same. Wecan

also see that savages suffering from severe constipation
would naturally observe whether any of the roots which

they devoured acted as aperients. We probably owe our |

knowledge of the uses of almost all plants to man having

originally existed in a barbarous state, and having been —

often compelled by severe want to try as food almost
everything which he could chew and swallow.

SAVAGE WISDOM IN THE CULTIVATION OF PLANTS.

The savage inhabitants of each land, hay-
ing found out by many and hard trials what
plants were useful, or could be rendered useful by various
cooking processes, would after a time take the first step
in cultivation by planting them near their usual abodes.
Livingstone states that the savage Batokas sometimes left
wild fruit-trees standing in their gardens, and occasion-
ally even planted them, “a practice seen nowhere else
among the natives.” But Du Chaillu saw a palm and
some other wild fruit-trees which had been planted ; and
these trees were considered private property. ‘The next

Page 326.

step in cultivation, and this would require but little fore- f

thought, would be to sow the seeds of useful plants ; and,

THE LAWS OF VARIABILITY. 63

as the soil near the hovels of the natives would often be
in some degree manured, improved varieties would sooner
_or later arise. Or a wild and unusually good variety of a
“native plant might attract the attention of some wise old
“savage; and he would transplant it, or sow its seed.
‘That superior varieties of wild fruit-trees occasionally are
found is certain, as in the case of the American species of
_hawthorns, plums, cherries, grapes, and hickories, speci-
_ fied by Professor Asa Gray.

Page 336. We now know that man was sufficiently
Ne civilized to cultivate the ground at an im-
| mensely remote period ; so that wheat might have been
improved long ago up to that standard of excellence
which was possible under the then existing state of agri-
culture. One small class of facts supports this view of
_ the slow and gradual improvement of our cereals. In the
_ most ancient lake-habitations of Switzerland, when men
| employed only flint-tools, the most extensively cultivated
_ wheat was a peculiar kind, with remarkably small ears
_ and grains. <“‘ While the grains of the modern forms are
insection from seven to eight millimetres in length, the
larger grains from the lake-habitations are six, seldom
‘Seyen, and the smaller ones only four. The ear is thus
‘much narrower, and the spikelets stand out more hori-
| zontally, than in our present forms.” So again with bar-
_ ley, the most ancient and most extensively cultivated
‘kind had small ears, and the grains were “smaller,
shorter, and nearer to each other, than in that now
grown ; without the husk they were two and one half
Times long, and scarcely one and one half broad, while
_ those now grown have a length of three lines, and almost
‘the same in breadth.” These small-grained varieties of

eat and barley are believed by Heer to be the parent-

64 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

forms of certain existing allied varieties, which have sup-
planted their early progenitors.

UNKNOWN LAWS OF INHERITANCE.

Oricin of The laws governing inheritance are for the
Species, most part unknown. No one can say why the
page 10. same peculiarity in different individuals of the
same species, or in different species, is sometimes inherited
and sometimes not so; why the child often reverts in cer-
tain characters to its grandfather or grandmother or more
remote ancestor ; why a peculiarity is often transmitted
from one sex to both sexes, or to one sex alone, more com-
monly but not exclusively to the like sex. It is a fact of
some importance to us that peculiarities appearing in the
males of our domestic breeds are often transmitted either
exclusively, or in a much greater degree, to the males
alone. A much more important rule, which I think may
be trusted, is that, at whatever period of life a peculiarity
first appears, it tends to reappear in the offspring at a
corresponding age, though sometimes earlier. In many
cases this could not be otherwise : thus the inherited pe-
culiarities in the horns of cattle could appear only in the
offspring when nearly mature ; peculiarities in the silk-
worm are known to appear at the corresponding cater-
pillar or cocoon stage. But hereditary diseases and some
other facts make me believe that the rule has a wider ex-
tension, and that, when there is no apparent reason why
a peculiarity should appear at any particular age, yet that
it does tend to appear in the offspring at the same period
at which it first appeared in the parent. I believe this
rule to be of the highest importance in explaining the
laws of embryology. These remarks are, of course, con-
fined to the first appearance of the peculiarity, and not

THE LAWS OF VARIABILITY. ' 65

to the primary cause which may have acted on the ovules
- or on the male element; in nearly the same manner as
_ the increased length of the horns in the offspring from a

_ short-horned cow by a long-horned bull, though appear-
ing late in life, is clearly due to the male element.

_ Variation of | If animals and plants had never been do-
4 erage mesticated, and wild ones alone had been ob-
_ i, page445. served, we should probably never have heard
_ thesaying that ‘‘like begets like.” The proposition would
have been as self-evident as that all the buds on the same
tree are alike, though neither proposition is strictly true.
For, as has often been remarked, probably no two indi-
viduals are identically the same. All wild animals recog-
| nize each other, which shows that there is some difference
| between them; and, when the eye is well practiced, the
_ shepherd knows each sheep, and man can distinguish a
fellow-man out of millions on millions of other men.

The whole subject of inheritance is won-
derful. When a new character arises, what-
ever its nature may be, it generally tends to be inherited,
_ at least ina temporary and sometimes in a most persistent
manner. What can be more wonderful than that some
_ trifling peculiarity, not primordially attached to the spe-
cies, should be transmitted through the male or female
_ sexual cells, which are so minute as not to be visible
_ to the naked eye, and afterward through the incessant
changes of a long course of development, undergone either
_ inthe womb or in the egg, and ultimately appear in the
offspring when mature, or even when quite old, as in the

ease of certain diseases? Or, again, what can be more
| wonderful than the well-ascertained fact that the minute
| ovule of a good milking-cow will produce a male, from

Page 446.

66 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

whom a cell, in union with an ovule, will produce a
female, and she, when mature, will have large mammary
glands, yielding an abundant supply of milk, and. even
milk of a particular quality ? Nevertheless, the real sub-
ject of surprise is, as Sir H. Holland has well remarked,
not that a character should be inherited, but that any
should ever fail to be inherited.

LAWS OF INHERITANCE THAT ARE FAIRLY WELL ESTAB-
LISHED.

Animals and Lhough much remains obscure with respect
Plants, vol. to inheritance, we may look at the following
Hi, page 61. Jaws as fairly well established : Firstly, a tend-
ency in every character, new and old, to be transmitted
by seminal and bud generation, though often counteracted
by various known and unknown causes. Secondly, re-
version or atavyism, which depends on transmission and
development being distinct powers: it acts in various
degrees and manners through both seminal and bud gener-
ation. Thirdly, prepotency of transmission, which may be
confined to one sex, or be common to both sexes. Fourth-
ly, transmission, as limited by sex, generally to the same
sex in which the inherited character first appeared ; and
this in many, probably most cases, depends on the new
character haying first appeared at a rather late period of
life. Fifthly, inheritance at corresponding periods of
life, with some tendency to the earlier development of the
inherited character. In these laws of inheritance, as dis-
played under domestication, we see an ample provision for
the production, through variability and natural selection,
of new specific forms.

ae i

THE LAWS OF VARIABILITY. 67

INHERITED PECULIARITIES IN MAN.

heals tind Gait, gestures, voice, and general bearing,
_ Plants, vol. are all inherited, as the illustrious Hunter and
_ 4 page 400. <i> A. Carlisle have insisted. My father com-
municated to me some striking instances, in one of which
a man died during the early infancy of his son, and my
father, who did not see this son until grown up and out
of health, declared that it seemed to him as if his old
friend had risen from the grave, with all his highly pe-
culiar habits and manners. Peculiar manners pass into
tricks, and several instances could be given of their in-
heritance ; as in the case, often quoted, of the father who
generally slept on his back, with his right leg crossed over
the left, and whose daughter, while an infant in the
cradle, followed exactly the same habit, though an at-
tempt was made to cure her. I will give one instance
which has fallen under my own observation, and which is
curious from being a trick associated with a peculiar state
of mind, namely, pleasurable emotion. A boy had the
singular habit, when pleased, of rapidly moving his fin-
_ gers parallel to each other, and, when much excited, of
_ raising both hands, with the fingers still moving, to the
_ sides of his face on a level with the eyes: when this boy
_ was almost an old man, he could still hardly resist this
_ trick when much pleased, but from its absurdity concealed
| it. He had eight children. Of these, a girl, when
i pleased, at the age of four and a half years, moved her
fingers in exactly the same way, and, what is still odder,
_ when much excited, she raised both her hands, with her
fingers still moving, to the sides of her face, in exactly
_ the same manner as her father had done, and sometimes
even still continued to do so when alone. I never heard
of any one, excepting this one man and his little daugh-

68 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

ter, who had this strange habit ; and certainly imitation
was in this instance out of the question.

INHERITED DISEASES,

Aashble anid Large classes of diseases uusally appear at
Plants, vol. certain ages, such as St. Vitus’s dance in youth,
5 gies consumption in early mid-life, gout later, and
apoplexy still later ; and these are naturally inherited at
the same period. But, even in diseases of this class, in-
stances haye been recorded, as with St. Vitus’s dance,
showing that an unusually early or late tendency to the dis-
ease is inheritable. In most cases the appearance of any
inherited disease is largely determined by certain critical
periods in each person’s life, as well as by unfavorable
conditions. There are many other diseases, which are
not attached to any particular period, but which certainly
tend to appear in the child at about the same age at which
the parent was first attacked. An array of high authori-
ties, ancient and modern, could be given in support of
this proposition. The illustrious Hunter believed in it ;
and Piorry cautions the physician to look closely to the
child at the period when any grave inheritable disease
attacked the parent. Dr. Prosper Lucas, after collecting
facts from every source, asserts that affections of all kinds,
though not related to any particular period of life, tend
to reappear in the offspring at whatever period of life nis
first appeared in the progenitor.

Esquirol gives several striking instances of
insanity coming on at the same age as that of
a grandfather, father, and son, who all committed suicide
near their fiftieth year. Many other cases could be given,
as of a whole family who became insane at the age of

Page 55

a.

THE LAWS OF VARIABILITY. 69

forty. Other cerebral affections sometimes follow the
_ same rule—for instance, epilepsy and apoplexy. A woman
_ died of the latter disease when sixty-three years old ; one
of her daughters at forty-three, and the other at sixty-
_ seyen : the latter had twelve children, who all died from
_ tubercular meningitis. I mention this latter case because
it illustrates a frequent occurrence, namely, a change in
_ the precise nature of an inherited disease, cpa: & still
_ affecting the same organ.

ie Two eticts, their father, their paternal uncles, seven
_ cousins, and their paternal grandfather, were all simi-
| larly affected by a skin-disease, called pityriasis versicolor ;
_ **the disease, strictly limited to the males of the family
| (though transmitted through the females), usually ap-
_ peared at puberty, and disappeared at about the age of
_ forty or forty-five years.” The second case is that of four
brothers, who, when about twelve years old, suffered
_ almost every week from severe headaches, which were
relieved only by a recumbent position in a dark room.
_ Their father, paternal uncles, paternal grandfather, and
grand-uncles all suffered in the same way from headaches,
_ which ceased at the age of fifty-four or fifty-five in all
_ those who lived so long. None of the females of the
_ family were affected.

CAUSES OF NON-INHERITANCE.

; Rutile and A large number of cases of non-inheritance
Plants, oe are intelligible on the principle that a strong
4, page * tendency to inheritance does exist, but that it

N one would expect that our improved pigs, if forced
during several generations to travel about and root in the

70 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

ground for their own subsistence, would transmit, as truly
as they now do, their short muzzles and legs, and their
tendency to fatten. Dray-horses assuredly would not
long transmit their great size and massive limbs, if com-
pelled to live in a cold, damp, mountainous region ; we
have, indeed, evidence of such deterioration in the horses
which have run wild on the Falkland Islands. European
dogs in India often fail to transmit their true character.
Our sheep in tropical countries lose their wool in a few
generations. There seems also to be a close relation be-

tween certain peculiar pastures and the inheritance of an

enlarged tail in fat-tailed sheep, which form one of the
most ancient breeds in the world. With plants, we have
seen that tropical varieties of maize lose their proper
character in the course of two or three generations, when
cultivated in Europe; and conversely so it is with Euro-
pean varieties cultivated in Brazil. Our cabbages, which
here come so true by seed, can not form heads in hot
countries. According to Carriére, the purple-leafed beech
and barberry transmit their character by seed far less
truly in certain districts than in others. Under changed
circumstances, periodical habits of life soon fail to be
transmitted, as the period of maturity in summer and
winter wheat, barley, and vetches. So it is with animals:
for instance, a person, whose statement I can trust, pro-
cured eggs of Aylesbury ducks from that town, where
they are kept in houses, and are reared as early as possible
for the London market ; the ducks bred from these eggs
in a distant part of England, hatched their first brood on
January 24th, while common ducks, kept in the same yard
and treated in the same manner, did not hatch till the
end of March ; and this shows that the period of hatch-
ing was inherited. But the grandchildren of these Ayles-
bury ducks completely lost their habit of early incuba-

THE LAWS OF VARIABILITY. 71

tion, and hatched their eggs at the same time with the
common ducks of the same place.
Many cases of non-inheritance apparently result from
the conditions of life continually inducing fresh varia-
_ bility. We have seen that when the seeds of pears, plums,
_ apples, etc., are sown, the seedlings generally inherit some
_ degree of family likeness. Mingled with these seedlings,
_ a few, and sometimes many, worthless, wild-looking plants
_ commonly appear, and their appearance may be attributed
_ tothe principle of reversion. But scarcely a single seed-
__ ling will be found perfectly to resemble the parent-form ;
and this may be accounted for by constantly recurring
_ yariability induced by the conditions of life.

_ STEPS BY WHICH DOMESTIC RACES HAVE BEEN PRODUCED, ~

" Origin be Some effect may be attributed to the direct
_ Species, and definite action of the external conditions
_ Page 22. of life, and some to habit ; but he would be a
_ bold man who would account by such agencies for the
| differences between a dray and race horse, a greyhound

and blood-hound, a carrier and tumbler pigeon. One of
_ the most remarkable features in our domesticated races is
_ that we see in them adaptation, not, indeed, to the ani-
_ mal’s or plant’s own good, but to man’s use or fancy.
_ Some variations useful to him have probably arisen sud-
_denly, or by one step; many botanists, for instance, be-
lieve that the fuller’s teasel, with its hooks, which can not
_ berivaled by any mechanical contrivance, is only a variety
Of the wild Dipsacus ; and this amount of change may

have suddenly arisen in a seedling. So it has probably
been with the turnspit-dog ; and this is known to have
been the case with the ancon sheep. But when we compare
the dray-horse and race-horse, the dromedary and camel,

72 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

the various breeds of sheep fitted either for cultivated
land or mountain-pasture, with the wool of one breed
good for one purpose, and that of another breed for an-
other purpose; when we compare the many breeds of
dogs, each good for man in different ways ; when we com-
pare the game-cock, so pertinacious in battle, with other
breeds so little quarrelsome, with ‘‘ everlasting layers”
which never desire to sit, and with the bantam, so small
and elegant ; when we compare the host of agricultural,
culinary, orchard, and flower-garden races of plants, most
useful to man at different seasons and for different pur-
poses, or so beautiful in his eyes—we must, I think, look
further than to mere variability. We can not suppose
that all the breeds were suddenly produced as perfect and
as useful as we now see them ; indeed, in many cases,
we know that this has not been their history. The key
is man’s power of accumulative selection: Nature gives
successive variations ; man adds them up in certain direc-
tions useful to him. In this sense he may be said to have
made for himself useful breeds.

If selection consisted merely in separating
some very distinct variety, and breeding from
it, the principle would be so obvious as hardly to be worth
notice ; but its importance consists in the great effect
produced by the accumulation in one direction, during
successive generations, of differences absolutely inappre-
ciable by an uneducated eye—differences which I for one
have vainly attempted to appreciate. Not one man in a
thousand has accuracy of eye and judgment sufficient to
become an eminent breeder. If gifted with these quali-
ties, and he studies his subject for years, and devotes his
lifetime to it with indomitable perseverance, he will suc-
ceed, and may make great improvements; if he wants

Page 23.

ss

THE LAWS OF VARIABILITY. 3

any of these qualities, he will assuredly fail. Few would
readily believe in the natural capacity and years of prac-
tice requisite to become even a skillful pigeon-fancier.

UNCONSCIOUS SELECTION.

4 Origin of A man who intends keeping pointers nat-

Species, urally tries to get as good dogs as he can, and
_ page 25. afterward breeds from his own best dogs, but
_ he has no wish or expectation of permanently altering the
breed. Nevertheless, we may infer that this process, con-
_ tinued during centuries, would improve and modify any
breed, in the same way as Bakewell, Collins, etc., by this
_yery same process, only carried on more methodically, did
greatly modify, even during their lifetimes, the forms
and qualities of their cattle. Slow and insensible changes
_ of this kind can never be recognized unless actual meas-
-urements or careful drawings of the breeds in question
_ have been made long ago, which may serve for compari-
son. In some cases, however, unchanged cr but little
| changed individuals of the same breed exist in less civil-
ized districts, where the breed has been less improved.
_ There is reason to believe that King Charles’s spaniel has
_ been unconsciously modified to a large extent since the
| time of that monarch. Some highly competent authori-
_ ties are convinced that the setter is directly derived from

the spaniel, and has probably been slowly altered from it.
Tt is known that the English pointer has been greatly
changed within the last century, and in this case the
change has, it is believed, been chiefly effected by crosses
ith the fox-hound ; but what concerns us is, that the
ange has been effected unconsciously and gradually,
and yet so effectually, that, though the old Spanish
_ pointer certainly came from Spain, Mr. Borrow has not

a

%4 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF,

seen, as I am informed by him, any native dog in Spain
like our pointer.

By a similar process of selection, and by careful train-
ing, English race-horses have come to surpass in fleetness
and size the parent Arabs, so that the latter, by the regu-
lations for the Goodwood races, are favored in the weights
which they carry. Lord Spencer and others have shown
how the cattle of England have increased in weight and
in early maturity, compared with the stock formerly kept
in this country.

If there exist savages so barbarous as never
to think of the inherited character of the off-
spring of their domestic animals, yet any one animal par-
ticularly useful to them, for any special purpose, would
be carefully preserved during famines and other acci-
dents, to which savages are so liable, and such choice
animals would thus generally leave more offspring than
the inferior ones; so that in this case there would be a
kind of unconscious selection going on. We see the
value set on animals even by the barbarians of Tierra del
Fuego, by their killing and devouring their old women,
in times of dearth, as of less value than their dogs.

Page 26.

ADAPTATION OF ANIMALS TO THE FANCIES OF MAN.

On the view here given of the important
part which selection by man has played, it be-
comes at once obvious how it is that our domestic races

Page 28.

show adaptation in their structure or in their habits to _
man’s wants or fancies. We can, I think, further under- —
stand the frequently abnormal character of our domestic —
races, and likewise their differences being so great in ex-
ternal characters, and relatively so slight in internal parts _

THE LAWS OF VARIABILITY. | vis)

or organs. Man can hardly select, or only with much
difficulty, any deviation of structure excepting such as
is externally visible; and, indeed, he rarely cares for
_ what is internal. He can never act by selection, except-
ing on variations which are first given to him in some
_ slight degree by nature. No man would ever try to make

a fantail till he saw a pigeon with a tail developed in
_ some slight degree in an unusual manner, or a pouter till
; _ he saw a pigeon with a crop of somewhat unusual size;
' and the more abnormal or unusual any character was
_ when it first appeared, the more likely it would be to
_ eatch his attention. But to use such an expression as
b trying to make a fantail is, I have no doubt, in most
| cases, utterly incorrect. The man who first selected a
_ pigeon with a slightly larger tail, never dreamed what
| the descendants of that pigeon would become through
| long-continued, partly unconscious and partly methodi-
' cal, selection. Perhaps the parent-bird of all fantails
_ had only fourteen tail-feathers somewhat expanded, like
i _ the present Java fantail, or like individuals of other and
_ distinct breeds, in which as many as seventeen tail-feath-
ers have been counted. Perhaps the first pouter-pigeon
did not inflate its crop much more than the turbit now
_ does the upper part of its wsophagus—a habit which is
disregarded by all fanciers, as it is not one of the points
__ of the breed.

Sli cee eral

DOUBTFUL SPECIES.

in of The forms which possess in some consider-
able degree the character of species, but which
are so closely similar to other forms, or are so
oly —— to them by intermediate gradations, that
nat s do not like to rank them as distinct species,

are in boveral respects the most important for us. We

Z — at
| page 36.
page

76 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF. .

haye every reason to believe that many of these doubtful
and closely allied forms have permanently retained their
characters for a long time ; for as long, as far as we know,
as have good and true species. Practically, when a nat-
uralist can unite by means of intermediate links any two
forms, he treats the one as a variety of the other; rank-
ing the most common, but sometimes the one first de-
scribed, as the species, and the other as the variety. But
cases of great difficulty, which I will not here enumerate,
sometimes arise in deciding whether or not to rank one
form as a variety of another, even when they are closely
connected by intermediate links ; nor will the commonly-
assumed hybrid nature of the intermediate forms always
remove the difficulty. In very many cases, however, one
form is ranked as a variety of another, not because the
intermediate links have actually been found, but because
analogy leads the observer to suppose either that they do
now somewhere exist, or may formerly have existed ; and
here a wide door for the entry of doubt and conjecture is
opened.

Hence, in determining whether a form should be
ranked as a species or a variety, the opinion of naturalists
haying sound judgment and wide experience seems the
only guide to follow. We must, however, in many cases,
decide by a majority of naturalists, for few well-marked
and well-known varieties can be named which have not

been ranked as species by at least some competent -

judges.

That varieties of this doubtful nature are far from
uncommon can not be disputed. Compare the several
floras of Great Britain, of France, or of the United States,
drawn up by different botanists, and see what a surprising
number of forms have been ranked by one botanist as
good species, and by another as mere varieties. Mr. H.

THE LAWS OF VARIABILITY. 7

©. Watson, to whom I lie under deep obligation for as-

sistance of all kinds, has marked for me one hundred and
_ eighty-two British plants, which are generally considered
"as varieties, but which have all been ranked by botanists
"as species ; and in making this list he has omitted many
_ trifling varieties, but which nevertheless have been ranked
_ by some botanists as species, and he has entirely omitted
' several highly polymorphic genera. Under genera, in-
_ eluding the most polymorphic forms, Mr. Babington gives
_ two hundred and fifty-one species, whereas Mr. Bentham
gives only one hundred and twelve—a difference of one
hundred and thirty-nine doubtful forms !

SPECIES AN ARBITRARY TERM,

Certainly no clear line of demarkation has
Page4l. as yet been drawn between species and sub--
_ species—that is, the forms which in the opinion of some
_ naturalists come very near to, but do not quite arrive at,
_ the rank of species; or, again, between sub-species and
_ well-marked varieties, or between lesser varieties and in-
_ dividual differences. These differences blend into each
_ other by an insensible series ; and a series impresses the
‘mind with the idea of an actual passage.

Hence I look at individual differences, though of
small interest to the systematist, as of the highest impor-
tance for us, as being the first steps toward such slight
_ yarieties as are barely thought worth recording in works

on natural history. And I look at varieties which are in
‘any degree more distinct and permanent as steps toward
‘more strongly-marked and. permanent varieties ; and at
the latter, as leading to sub-species, and then to species.
_ The passage from one stage of difference to another may,
‘in many cases, be the simple result of the nature of the

78 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

organism, and of the different physical conditions to
which it has long been exposed ; but with respect to the —
more important and adaptive characters, the passage from
one stage of difference to another may be safely attrib- —
uted to the cumulative action of natural selection, here- —
after to be explained, and to the effects of the increased —
use or disuse of parts. A well-marked variety may there- —
fore be called an incipient species; but whether this be- —
lief is justifiable must be judged by the weight of the —
various facts and considerations to be given throughout —
this work. 4

It need not be supposed that all varieties or incipient *
species attain the rank of species. They may become ex- —
tinct, or they may endure as varieties for very long pe- —
riods, as has been shown to be the case by Mr. Wollaston ©
with the varieties of certain fossil land-shells in Madeira, —
and with plants by Gaston de Saporta. Ifa variety were —
to flourish so as to exceed in numbers the parent species,
it would then rank as the species, and the species as the ~
variety ; or it might come to supplant and exterminate
the parent species ; or both might coexist, and both rank |
as independent species. But we shall hereafter return to —
this subject.

From these remarks it will be seen that I look at the —
term species as one arbitrarily given, for the sake of con-—
venience, to a set of individuals closely resembling each
other, and that it does not essentially differ from the
term variety, which is given to less distinct and more —
fluctuating forms. The term variety, again, in compari-
son with mere individual differences, is also applied arbi- —
trarily, for convenience’ sake.

THE LAWS OF VARIABILITY. 79

THE TRUE PLAN OF CREATION.
F Origin of When the views advanced by me in this
Species, volume, and by Mr. Wallace, or when analo-
im Pee? 425. —_ gous views on the origin of species are generally
admitted, we can dimly foresee that there will be a consid-
ie erable revolution in natural history. Systematists will be
_ able to pursue their labors as at present ; but they will not
_ be incessantly haunted by the shadowy doubt whether
_ this or that form be a true species.

Page 426. Hereafter we shall be compelled to acknowl-
4 edge that the only distinction between species
‘and well-marked varieties is, that the latter are known, or
| believed, to be connected at the present day by interme-
| diate gradations, whereas species were formerly thus con-
| nected. Hence, without rejecting the consideration of the
_ present existence of intermediate gradations between any
_ two forms, we shall be led to weigh more carefully and to
_ yalue higher the actual amount of difference between them.
It is quite possible that forms now generally acknowledged
ae tc be merely varieties may hereafter be thought worthy of
pecific names ; and in this case scientific and common
language will come into accordance. In short, we shall
have Be treat species in the same manner as those natural-
ists treat genera who admit that genera are merely arti-
combinations made for convenience. This may not
- 2 a cheering prospect ; but we shall at least be freed
from the vain search for the undiscovered and undiscoy-
sable essence of the term species.

q “Shae other and more general departments of natural
story | will rise greatly in interest. The terms used by
a ists, of affinity, relationship, community of type,
baternity, morphology, adaptive characters, rudimentary

ima ae
'

80 - DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

and aborted organs, etc., will cease to be metaphorical,
and will have a plain signification. When we no longer —
look at an organic being as a savage looks at a ship, as
something wholly beyond his comprehension ; when we
regard every production of nature as one which has had
a long history; when we contemplate every complex —
structure and instinct as the summing up of many con-
trivances, each useful to the possessor, in the same way
as any great mechanical invention is the summing up of
the labor, the experience, the reason, and even the blun- |
ders of numerous workmen; when we thus view each
organic being, how far more interesting—I speak from
experience—does the study of natural history become !

A grand and almost untrodden field of inquiry will be
opened, on the causes and laws of variation, on correla-
tion, on the effects of use and disuse, on the direct ac-
tion of external conditions, and so forth. The study of
domestic productions will rise immensely in value. A
new variety raised by man will be a more important and
interesting subject for study than one more species added
to the infinitude of already recorded species. Our classi- -
fications will come to be, as far as they can be so made, —
genealogies, and will then truly give what may be called _
the plan of creation.

; *
tr

IV.

THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE.

~ Origin of A STRUGGLE for existence inevitably fol-
_ Species, lows from the high rate at which all organic
pe Pese °°. beings tend to increase. Every being, which
_ during its natural lifetime produces several eggs or seeds,
must suffer destruction during some period of its life,
and during some season or occasional year, otherwise, on
' the principle of geometrical increase, its numbers would
. quickly become so inordinately great that no country
_ could support the product. Hence, as more individuals
_ are produced than can possibly survive, there must in
3 every case be a struggle for existence, either one indi-
oe with another of the same species, or with the in-
iduals of distinct species, or with the physical condi-
ions of life. It is the doctrine of Malthus applied with
mifold force to the whole animal and vegetable king-
oms ; for in this case there can be no artificial increase
af food, and no prudential restraint from marriage. Al-
though some species may be now increasing, more or less
apidly, in numbers, all can not do so, for the world
yould not hold them.
& _ There is no exception to the rule that every organic
ing naturally increases at so high a rate, that, if not
troyed, the earth would soon be covered with the
5

_ room for his progeny. Linneus has calculated that if an

, Hence we may confidently assert*that all plants and ani-

all would rapidly stock every station in which they could |
_ anyhow exist, and that this geometrical tendency to in-

-_

82 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

progeny of a single pair. Even slow-breeding man has
doubled in twenty-five years, and at this rate, in less than ©
a thousand years, there would literally not be standing-

annual plant produced only two seeds—and there is no
plant so unproductive as this—and their seedlings next
year produced two, and so on, then in twenty years there
would be a million plants. The elephant is reckoned the
slowest breeder of all known animals, and I have taken
some pains to estimate its probable minimum rate of
natural increase ; it will be safest to assume that it begins
breeding when thirty years old, and goes on breeding till
ninety years old, bringing forth six young in the interval,
and surviving till one hundred years old; if this be so,
after a period of from seven hundred and forty to seven
hundred and fifty years, there would be nearly nineteen
million elephants alive, descended from the first -pair.

DEATH INEVITABLE IN THE FIGHT FOR LIFE.

In a state of nature almost every full- |
grown plant anhually produces seed, and among |
animals there are very few which do not annually pair. —

Page 52.

mals are tending to increase at a geometrical ratio, that

crease must be checked by destruction at some period of
life. Our familiarity with the larger domestic animals
tends, I think, to mislead us : we see no great destruction
falling on them, but we do not keep in mind that thou
sands are annually slaughtered for food, and that in
state of nature an equal number would have somehow
be disposed of.

THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. . 83

__ The only difference between organisms which annually
produce eggs or seeds by the thousand and those which
produce extremely few is, that the slow breeders would
_ require a few more years to people, under favorable con-
_ ditions, a whole district, let it be ever so large. The con-
_ dor lays a couple of eggs and the ostrich a score, and yet
in the same country the condor may be the more numer-
_ ous of the two ; the Fulmar petrel lays but one egg, yet
it is believed to be the most numerous bird in the world.
One fly deposits hundreds of eggs, and another, like the
| Hippobosca, a single one; but this difference does not
determine how many individuals of the two species can
be supported in a district. A large number of eggs is of
some importance to those species which depend on a fluc-
tuating amount of food, for it allows them rapidly to in-
crease in number. But the real importance of a large
“number of eggs or seeds is to make up for much destruc-
tion at some period of life ; and this period in the great
Majority of cases is an early. dno, If an animal can in
| any way protect its own eggs or young, a small number
‘may be produced, and yet the average stock be fully kept
up; but, if many eggs or young are destroyed, many must
| be produced, or the species will become extinct. It would
_ suffice to keep up the full number of a tree, which lived
_ on an average for a thousand years, if a single seed were
| produced once in a thousand years, supposing that this
seed were never destroyed, and could be insured to ger-
minate in a fitting place. So that, in all cases, the aver-
we number of any animal or plant depends only indi-
rectly on the number of its eggs or seeds.
In looking at Nature, it is most necessary to keep the
oregoing considerations always in mind—never to forget
at every single organic being may be said to be striving
» the utmost to increase in numbers ; that each lives by

84 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

a struggle at some period of its life ; that heavy destruc-
tion inevitably falls either on the young or old during
each generation or at recurrent intervals. Lighten any —
check, mitigate the destruction ever so little, and the
number of the species will almost instantaneously increase —
to any amount.

‘*TNEXPLICABLE ON THE THEORY OF CREATION.”

Origin of As each species tends by its geometrical
Species, rate of reproduction to increase inordinately
page 413. in number, and as the modified descendants ©
of each species will be enabled to increase by as much as
they become more diversified in habits and structure, so
as to be able to seize on many and widely different places
in the economy of nature, there will be a constant tend-
ency in natural selection to preserve the most divergent
offspring of any one species. Hence, during a long-con- ©
tinued course of modification, the slight differences charac-
teristic of varieties of the same species tend to be aug-
mented into the greater differences characteristic of the
species of the same genus. New and improved varie-
ties will inevitably supplant and exterminate the older, —
less improved, and intermediate varieties ; and thus spe-
cies are rendered to a large extent defined and distinct
objects. Dominant species belonging to the larger groups”
within each class tend to give birth to new and dominant
forms; so that each large group tends to become still
larger, and at the same time more divergent in character.
But, as all groups can not thus go on increasing in size,
for the world would not hold them, the more dominant
groups beat the less dominant. This tendency in the
large groups to go on increasing in size and diverging in

cee

character, together with the inevitable contingency of
:

o

\

THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. 85

much extinction, explains the arrangement of all the

_ forms of life in groups subordinate to groups, all within

_ @ few great classes, which has prevailed throughout all

time. This grand fact of the grouping of all organic

beings under what is called the Natural System is utterly
inexplicable on the theory of creation.

OBSCURE CHECKS TO INCREASE.

" Origin of The causes which check the natural tend-
_ Species, ency of each species to increase are most ob-
page 58. — scure. Look at the most vigorous species; by
' as much as it swarms in numbers, by so much will it
_ tend to increase still further. We know not exactly what
_ the checks are even in a single instance. Nor will this
_ surprise any one who reflects how ignorant we are on this
_ head, even in regard to mankind, although so incompar-
ably better known than any other animal.

| Eggs or very young animals seem generally to suffer
_ most, but this is not invariably the case. With plants
_ there is a vast destruction of seeds, but, from some obser-
tions which I have made it appears that the seedlings
suffer most from germinating in ground already thickly
stocked with other plants. Seedlings, also, are destroyed
in yast numbers by various enemies ; for instance, on a
'piece of ground three feet long and two wide, dug and
cleared, and where there could be no choking from other
plants, I marked all the seedlings of our native weeds as
they came up, and out of 357 no less than 295 were de-
troyed, chiefly by slugs and insects. If turf which has
‘long been mown, and the case would be the same with
‘turf closely browsed by quadrupeds, be let to grow, the
@ vigorous plants gradually kill the less vigorous,

4

86 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF,

though fully grown plants ; thus out of twenty species
growing on a little plot of mown turf (three feet by four)
nine species perished, from the other species being allowed
to grow up freely.

The amount of food for each species, of course, gives
the extreme limit to which each can increase ; but very
frequently it is not the obtaining food, but the serving as
prey to other animals, which determines the average
number of a species. Thus, there seems to be little doubt
that the stock of partridges, grouse, and hares on any
large estate depends chiefly on the destruction of vermin.
If not one head of game were shot during the next twenty

years in England, and, at the same time, if no vermin —

. were destroyed, there would, in all probability, be less

game than at present, although hundreds of thousands of —

game animals are now annually shot. On the other hand,

in some cases, as with the elephant, none are destroyed —
by beasts of prey ; for even the tiger in India most rarely —

dares to attack a young elephant protected by its dam.

CLIMATE AS A CHECK TO INCREASE.

Climate plays an important part in deter-
mining the average numbers of a species, and
periodical seasons of extreme cold or drought seem to be

Page 54.

the most effective of allchecks. I estimated (chiefly from i

the greatly reduced numbers of nests in the spring) that —
the winter of 1854~55 destroyed four fifths of the birds —

in my own grounds; and this is a tremendous destruc-

tion, when we remember that ten per cent is an extraordi-_
narily severe mortality from epidemics with man. The

action of climate seems at first sight to be quite inde-

pendent of the struggle for existence ; but, in so far .
h

climate chiefly acts in reducing food, it brings on t

EE m

THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. 87

‘most severe struggle between the individuals, whether of
the same or of distinct species, which subsist on the same
kind of food. Even when climate—for instance, extreme
cold—acts directly, it will be the least vigorous individu-
ls, or those which have got least food through the advanc-
' ing winter, which will suffer most. When we travel from
south to north, or from a damp region to a dry, we in-
_ variably see some species gradually getting rarer and rarer,
and finally disappearing ; and, the change of climate be-
_ ing conspicuous, we are tempted to attribute the whole
' effect to its direct action. But this is a false view: we
_ forget that each species, even where it most abounds, is
constantly suffering enormous destruction at some period
: of its life, from enemies or from competitors for the same
place and food ; and, if these enemies or competitors be
n the least degree favored by any slight change of climate,
they will increase in numbers ; and, as each area is already
fully stocked with inhabitants, the other species must
‘decrease. When we travel southward and see a species
decreasing in numbers, we may feel sure that the cause
ies quite as much in other species being favored as in
" this one being hurt. So it is when we travel northward,
- but in a somewhat lesser degree, for the number of spe-
| 4 2 of all kinds, and therefore of competitors, decreases
rthward ; hence, in going northward, or in ascending a
‘ Suntain, we far oftener meet with stunted forms, due
. the directly injurious action of climate, than we do
on n proceeding southward or in descending a mountain.
hen we reach the Arctic regions, or snow-capped sum-
“Mits, or absolute deserts, the struggle for life is almost
xclusively with the elements.

88 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

INFLUENCE OF INSECTS IN THE STRUGGLE FOR EXIST-
ENCE.

In several parts of the world insects deter- —
mine the existence of cattle. Perhaps Paraguay
offers the most curious instance of this ; for here neither —
cattle nor horses nor dogs have ever run wild, though they
swarm southward and northward in a feral state; and
Azara and Rengger have shown that this is caused by the
greater number in Paraguay of a certain fly, which lays its
eggs in the navels of these animals when first born, The
increase of these flies, numerous as they are, must be ha-
bitually checked by some means, probably by other para- —
sitic insects. Hence, if certain insectiyorous birds were to —
decrease in Paraguay, the parasitic insects would probably ~
increase; and this would lessen the number of the nayel- —
frequenting flies ; then cattle and horses would become —
feral, and this would certainly greatly alter (as indeed I ©
have observed in parts of South America) the vegetation :
this again would largely affect the insects, and this, as we _
have just seen in Staffordshire, the insectivorous birds, ~
and so onward in ever-increasing circles of complexity. —
Not that under nature the relations will ever be as simple —
as this. Battle within battle must be continually recur- |
) ring with varying success ; and yet in the long. run the
forces are so nicely balanced that the face of Nature re-—
_ mains for long periods of time uniform, though assuredly —
the merest trifle would give the victory to one organic
‘ being over another. Nevertheless, so profound is our
ignorance, and so high our presumption, that we marvel —
when we hear of the extinction of an organic being ; and, —
as we do not see the cause, we invoke cataclysms to deso- —
late the world, or invent laws on the duration of the
forms of life !

Page 56.

2) ae

THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. 89

Page 57 Nearly all our orchidaceous plants abso-

lutely require the visits of insects to remove
their pollen-masses and thus to fertilize them. I find
from experiments that humble-bees are almost indispensa-
ble to the fertilization of the heart’s-ease ( Viola tricolor),
for other bees do not visit this flower. I have also found
that the visits of bees are necessary for the fertilization of
some kinds of clover: for instance, 20 heads of Dutch
clover ( Trifolium repens) yielded 2,290 seeds, but 20 other
heads protected from bees produced not one. Again, 100
heads of red clover (7. pratense) produced 2,700 seeds,

_ but the same number of protected heads produced not a

single seed. Humble-bees alone visit red clover, as other
bees can not reach the nectar. It has been suggested that
moths may fertilize the clovers ; but I doubt whether they
could do so in the case of the red clover, from their weight
not being sufficient to depress the wing-petals. Hence we

_ may infer as highly probable that, if the whole genus of

humble-bees became extinct or very rare in England, the
heart’s-ease and red clover would become very rare, or
wholly disappear. The number of humble-bees in any

_ district depends in a great measure on the number of

field-mice, which destroy their combs and nests; and
Colonel Newman, who has long attended to the habits

_ of humble-bees, believes that ‘‘ more than two thirds

of them are thus destroyed all over England.” Now,

_ the number of mice is largely dependent, as every one
- . knows, on the number of cats; and Colonel Newman
says, “Near villages and small towns I have found
_ the nests of humble-bees more numerous than else-
_ where, which I attribute to the number of cats that
_ destroy the mice.” Hence it is quite credible that the
_ presence of a feline animal in large numbers in a district
| might determine, through the intervention first of mice

90 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

and then of bees, the frequency of certain flowers in
that district !

NO SUCH THING AS CHANCE IN THE RESULT OF THE
_ STRUGGLE,

When we look at the plants and bushes
clothing an entangled bank, we are tempted to
attribute their proportional numbers and kinds to what
we call chance. But how false a view is this! Every
one has heard that, when an American forest is cut down,
a very different vegetation springs up; but it has been
observed that ancient Indian ruins in the Southern United
States, which must formerly have been cleared of trees,
now display the same beautiful diversity and proportion
of kinds as in the surrounding virgin forest. What a
struggle must have gone on during long centuries between
the several kinds of trees, each annually scattering its
seeds by the thousand ; what war between insect and in-
sect—between insects, snails, and other animals with birds
and beasts of prey—all striving to increase, all feeding on
each other, or on the trees, their seeds and seedlings, or
on the other plants which first clothed the ground and
thus checked the growth of the trees! Throw upa hand-
ful of feathers, and all fall to the ground according to
definite laws ; but how simple is the problem where each
shall fall compared to that of the action and reaction of
the innumerable plants and animals which have deter-
mined, in the course of centuries, the proportional num-
bers and kinds of trees now growing on the old Indian
ruins !

Page 58.

It is good thus to try in imagination to give
to any one species an advantage over another,
Probably in no single instance should we know what to —

Page 61.

THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. 91

do. This ought to convince us of our ignorance on the
_ mutual relations of all organic beings—a conviction as
_ necessary as it is difficult to acquire. All that we can
_ do is to keep steadily in mind that each organic being is
_ striving to increase in a geometrical ratio; that each at
some period of its life, during some season of the year,
_ during each generation or at intervals, has to struggle for
_ life and to suffer great destruction. When we reflect on
this struggle, we may console ourselves with the full be-
- lief that the war of nature is not incessant, that no fear
is felt, that death is generally prompt, and that the vigor-
ous, the healthy, and the happy survive and multiply.

~

Vs

NATURAL SELECTION: OR, THE SURVIVAL
OF THE FITTEST.

Variation of THE preservation, during the battle for
Animals and life, of varieties which possess any advantage
ead in structure, constitution, or instinct, I have
tion, vol.i, called Natural Selection; and Mr. Herbert
page 6. Spencer has well expressed the same idea by
the Survival of the Fittest. The term ‘natural selec-
tion” is in some respects a bad one, as it seems to imply
conscious choice ; but this will be disregarded after a little
familiarity. No one objects to chemists speaking of
‘elective affinity”; and certainly an acid has no more
choice in combining with a base than the conditions of
life have in determining whether or not a new form be
selected or preserved. The term is so far a good one as
it brings into connection the production of domestic races
by man’s power of selection and the natural preservation
of varieties and species in a state of nature. For brevity

sake I sometimes speak of natural selection as an intelli-

gent power ; in the same way as astronomers speak of the ;
attraction of gravity as ruling the movements of the

planets, or as agriculturists speak of man making domes- —

tic races by his power of selection. In the one case, as in —

NATURAL SELECTION. 93

_ the other, selection does nothing without variability, and
this depends in some manner on the action of the sur-
rounding circumstances in the organism. I have, also,
_ often personified the word Nature ; for I have found it
difficult to avoid this ambiguity ; but I mean by nature

_ only the aggregate action and product of many natural

; laws, and by laws only the ascertained sequence of events.

AN INVENTED HYPOTHESIS.
Animal In scientific investigations it is permitted
Plants, voli, to invent any hypothesis, and if it explains
ie eee 9. various large and independent classes of facts
it rises to the rank of a well-grounded theory. The un-
_ dulations of the ether and even its existence are hypo-
_thetical, yet every one now admits the undulatory theory
_ of light. The principle of natural selection may be looked
_at as a mere hypothesis, but rendered in some degree
_ probable by what we positively know of the variability of
organic beings in a state of nature—by what we positively
_know of the struggle for existence, and the consequent
_ almost inevitable preservation of favorable variations—
_ and from the analogical formation of domestic races.
Now, this hypothesis may be tested—and this seems to me
the only fair and legitimate manner of. considering the
hole question — by trying whether it explains several
ze and independent classes of facts ; such as the geo-
logical succession of organic beings, their distribution in
_ past and present times, and their mutual affinities and

explain these and other large bodies of facts, it ought to
_ bereceived. On the ordinary view of each species hay-
ing been independently created, we gain no scientific ex-
nation of any one of these facts. We can only say that

94 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

it has so pleased the Creator to command that the past
and present inhabitants of the world should appear in a
certain order and in certain areas ; that he has impressed
on them the most extraordinary resemblances, and has
classed them in groups subordinate to groups. But by
such statements we gain no new knowledge; we do not
connect together facts and laws; we explain nothing.

These facts have as yet received no explana-
tion on the theory of independent creation ;
they can not be grouped together under one point of view,
but each has to be considered as an ultimate fact. As the
first origin of life on this earth, as well as the continued ~
life of each individual, is at present quite beyond the ~
scope of science, I do not wish to lay much stress on the —
greater simplicity of the view of a few forms or of only —
one form having been originally created, instead of in- —
numerable miraculous creations having been necessary ©
at innumerable periods; though this more simple view ©
accords well with Maupertuis’s philosophical axiom of —
“‘ Jeast action.”

Page 12.

HOW FAR THE THEORY MAY BE EXTENDED.

In considering how far the theory of natu- }{
ral selection may be extended—that is, in de- |
termining from how many progenitors the inhabitants of /
the world have descended—we may conclude that at least/—
all the members of the same class have descended from q |
single ancestor. A number of organic beings are included ©
in the same class, because they present, independently of —
their habits of life, the same fundamental type of struct- —
ure, and because they graduate into each other. More- —
over, members of the same class can in most cases be p
shown to be closely alike at an early embryonic age. —

Page 13.

a

NATURAL SELECTION. 95

_ These facts can be explained on the belief of their de-
_ scent from a common form; therefore it may be safely
; admitted that all the members of the same class are
descended from one progenitor. But as the members
of quite distinct classes have something in common in
_ structure and much in common in constitution, analogy
_ would lead us one step further, and to infer as probable
_ that all living creatures are descended from a single pro-

geek

iilencent of Thus a large yet undefined extension may
¢ pee ret L, safely be given to the direct and indirect re-
| Page Sl. sults of natural selection; but I now admit,
i after reading the essay by Nageli on plants, and the re-
| marks by various authors with respect to animals, more
| especially those recently made by Professor Broca, that in
_ the earlier editions of my ‘‘ Origin of Species” I perhaps
' attributed too much to the action of natural selection or
_ the survival of the fittest. I have altered the fifth edition
of the *‘ Origin ” so as to confine my remarks to adaptive

_ changes of structure ; but I am convinced, from the light
gained during even ‘the last few years, that very many
structures which now appear to us useless will here-
: be proved to be useful, and will therefore come
| within the range of natural selection. Nevertheless, I
did not formerly consider sufficiently the existence of |
Structures, which, as far as we can at present judge, are
neither beneficial nor injurious ; and this I believe to be
one of the greatest oversights as yet detected in my work.
[ may be permitted to say, as some excuse, that I had
bWo distinct objects in view : firstly, to show that species
had not been separately created ; and, secondly, that natu-
Tal selection had been the chief agent of change, though
_ Targely aided by the inherited effects of habit, and slightly

Pee yTKeS TS

96 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

by the direct action of the surrounding conditions. I
was not, however, able to annul the influence of my
former belief, then almost universal, that each species —
had been purposely created ; and this led to my tacit
assumption that every detail of structure, excepting rudi-
ments, was of some special, though unrecognized, service.
Any one with this assumption in his mind would natu-
rally extend too far the action of natural selection, either —
during past or present times. Some of those who admit —
the principle of evolution, but reject natural selection,
seem to forget, when criticising my book, that I had the
above two objects in view ; hence if I have erred in giving ©
to natural selection great power, which I am very far
from admitting, or in having exaggerated its power, —
which is in itself probable, I have at least, as I hope,
done good service in aiding to overthrow the dogma of —
separate creations.

IS THERE ANY LIMIT TO WHAT SELECTION CAN EFFECT ?

Animals and The foregoing discussion naturally leads to
Plants, vol. the question, What is the limit to the possible —
il, page 228. ues - ; %

amount of variation in any part or quality, |
and, consequently, is there any limit to what selection —
can effect ? Will a race-horse ever be reared fleeter than
Eclipse ? Can our prize cattle and sheep be still further —
improved ? Will a gooseberry ever weigh more than that —
produced by ‘‘ London” in 1852? Will the beet-root in
France yield a greater percentage of sugar? Will future —
varieties of wheat and other grain produce heavier crops —
than our present varieties? ‘These questions can not be
positively answered ; but it is certain that we ought to —
be cautious in answering them by a negative. In some —
lines of variation the limit has probably been reached. —

NATURAL SELECTION. 97

Youatt believes that the reduction of bone in some.of our
_ sheep has already been carried so far that it entails great
| delicacy of constitution.

y No doubt there is a limit beyond which

Page 229. the organization can not be modified compati-
bly with health or life. The extreme degree of fieetness,
for instance, of which a terrestrial animal is capable,
_ may have been acquired by our present race-horses ; but,
as Mr. Wallace has well remarked, the question that in-
terests us “is not whether indefinite and unlimited change
_ in any or all directions is possible, but whether such
| differences as do occur in nature could have been pro-
| duced by the accumulation of varieties by selection.”
_ And in the case of our domestic productions, there can
_ be no doubt that many parts of the organization, to
_ which man has attended, have been thus modified to a
greater degree than the corresponding parts in the natural
_ species of the same genera or even families. We see this
_ in the form and size of our light and heavy dogs or
horses, in the beak and many other characters of our
_ pigeons, in the size and quality of many fruits, in com-
parison with the species belonging to the same natural

HAS ORGANIZATION ADVANCED ?

Origin of The problem whether organization on the
: 7 page whole has advanced is in many ways excess-
-_ ively intricate. The geological record, at all

times imperfect, does not extend far enough back to
show with unmistakable clearness that within the known
history of the world organization has largely advanced.

Even at the present day, looking to members of the same
_ Class, naturalists are not unanimous which forms ought

98 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

to be ranked as highest : thus, some look at the selaceans
or sharks, from their approach in some important points
of structure to reptiles, as the highest fish ; others. look
at the teleosteans as the highest. The ganoids stand
intermediate between the selaceans and teleosteans ; the
latter at the present day are largely preponderant in
number ; but formerly selaceans and ganoids alone ex-
isted ; and in this case, according to the standard of
highness chosen, so will it be said that fishes have ad-
vanced or retrograded in organization. To attempt to
compare members of distinct types in the scale of high-
ness seems hopeless; who will decide whether a cuttle-
fish be higher than a bee—that insect which the great
Von Baer believed to be “‘in fact more highly organized
than a fish, although upon another type”? In thecom- —
plex struggle for life it is quite credible that crustace-
ans, not very high in their own class, might beat ceph-
alopods, the highest mollusks; and such crustaceans,
though not highly developed, would stand very high in
the scale of invertebrate animals, if judged by the most —
decisive of all trials—the law of battle. Besides these —
inherent difficulties in deciding which forms are the most _
advanced in organization, we ought not solely to compare ~
the highest members of aclass at any two periods—though —
undoubtedly this is one and perhaps the most important a
element in striking a balance—but we ought to compare _

I

all the members, high and low, at the two periods. At
an ancient epoch the highest and lowest molluscoidal ani-
mals, namely, cephalopods and brachiopods, swarmed in
numbers; at the present time both groups are greatly
reduced, while others, intermediate in organization, have
largely increased ; consequently some naturalists main-
tain that mollusks were formerly more highly developed
than at present; but a stronger case can be made out on F

NATURAL SELECTION. 99

ne opposite side, by considering the vast reduction of
_ brachiopods, and the fact that our existing cephalopods,

‘though few in number, are more highly organized than
_ their ancient representatives. We ought also to compare
_ the relative proportional numbers at any two periods of
ts the high and low classes throughout the world ; if, for
instance, at the present day fifty thousand kinds of ver-
_tebrate animals exist, and if we knew that at some for-
_ mer period only ten thousand kinds existed, we ought
to look at this increase in number in the highest class,
' p which implies a great displacement of lower forms, as a
sided advance in the organization of the world. We
hy Ries see how hopelessly difficult it is to compare with per-

fect fairness, under such extremely complex relations, the
standard of organization of the imperfectly-known faunas
of successive periods.

Origin of There may truly be said to be a constant
I ge struggle going on between, on the one hand,
4 ‘the tendency to reversion to a less perfect
state, as well as an innate tendency to new variations,

‘and, on the other hand, the power of steady selection to

keep the breed true. In the long run selection gains the

day, and we do not expect to fail so completely as to
breed bird as coarse as a common tumbler-pigeon from a
_ good short-faced strain. But, as long as selection is rapidly
_ going on, much variability in the parts undergoing modi-
fication may always be expected.

A HIGHER WORKMANSHIP THAN MAN’S.

tn of As man can produce, and certainly has
produced, a great result by his methodical and
unconscious means of selection, what may not

selection affect ? Man can act only on external

100 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

and visible characters: Nature, if I may be allowed to
personify the natural preservation or survival of the fit-
test, cares nothing for appearances, except in so far as
they are useful to any being. She can act on every inter- —
nal organ, on every shade of constitutional difference, on —
the whole machinery of life. Man selects only for his —
own good: Nature only for that of the being which she —

tends. Every selected character is fully exercised by her, —

as is implied by the fact of their selection. Man keeps —
‘the natives of many climates in the same country; he —
seldom exercises each selected character in some peculiar —
and fitting manner; he feeds a long and a short beaked
pigeon on the same food; he does not exercise a long-
backed or long-legged quadruped in any peculiar manner; —

he exposes sheep with long and short wool to the same —

climate. He does not allow the most vigorous males to
struggle for the females. He does not rigidly destroy all
inferior animals, but protects during each varying season, |
as far as lies in his power, all his productions. He often —
begins his selection by some half-monstrous form ; or at ©
least by some modification prominent enough to catch —
the eye or to be plainly useful to him. Undernature, the —
slightest differences of structure or constitution may well
turn the nicely-balanced scale in the struggle for life, and
so be preserved. How fleeting are the wishes and efforts —
of man ! how short his time! and consequently how poor —
will be his results, compared with those accumulated by —
Nature during whole geological periods! Can we won- —
der, then, that Nature’s productions should be far “‘ truer” —
in character than man’s productions; that they should be —
infinitely better adapted to the most complex conditions —
of life, and should plainly bear the stamp of far higher ©
workmanship ? :

NATURAL SELECTION. 101

_ It may metaphorically be said that natural selection is
daily and hourly scrutinizing, throughout the world, the
slightest variations: rejecting those that are bad, pre-
_ serying and adding up all that are good; silently and
insensibly working, whenever and wherever opportunity
_ offers, at the improvement of each organic being in rela-
tion to its organic and inorganic conditions of life. We
see nothing of these slow changes in progress, until the
- hand of Time has marked the lapse of ages, and then so

imperfect is our view into long-past geological ages that
2 see only that the forms of life are now different from
what they formerly were.

b oll Although natural selection can act only
—_— through and for the good of each being, yet
| characters and structures, which we are apt to consider
as of very trifling importance, may thus be acted on.
Vhen we see leaf-eating insects green and bark-feeders
ttled-gray, the Alpine ptarmigan white in winter, the
red-grouse the color of heather, we must believe that
’ hese tints are of service to these birds and insects in
preserving them from danger. Grouse, if not destroyed
at some period of their lives, would increase in countless
umbers; they are known to suffer largely from birds of
: ; and hawks are guided by eye-sight to their prey—
anabh so, that on parts of the Continent persons are
med not to keep white pigeons, as being the most
liable to destruction. Hence natural selection might be
effective in giving the proper color to each kind of grouse,
and in keeping that color, when once acquired, true and
constant. Nor ought we to think that the occasional
destruction of an animal of any particular color would
produce little effect : we should remember how essential

102 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

it is in a flock of white sheep to destroy a lamb with the —
faintest trace of black.

WHY HABITS AND STRUCTURE ARE NOT IN AGREEMENT. §

Origin of He who believes that each being has been —
Species, created as we now see it must occasionally —
page 142. have felt surprise when he has met with an —
animal haying habits and structure not in agreement. ©
What can be plainer than that the webbed feet of ducks
and geese are formed for swimming? Yet there areupland —
geese with webbed feet which rarely go near the water; —
and no one except Audubon has seen the frigate-bird, —
which has all its four toes webbed, alight on the surface

of the ocean. On the other hand, grebes and coots are

eminently aquatic, although their toes are only bordered —
by membrane. What seems plainer than that the long —
toes, not furnished with membrane, of the Grallatores, i
are formed for walking over swamps and floating plants? —
—the water-hen and land-rail are members of this order, —
yet the first is nearly as aquatic as the coot, and the ~

second nearly as terrestrial as the quail or partridge. In —
such cases, and many others could be given, habits have
changed without a corresponding change of structure. ©

The webbed feet of the upland goose may be said to have
become almost rudimentary in function, though not in ~
structure. In the frigate-bird, the deeply-scooped mem- ~
brane between the toes shows that structure has begun to ~
change.

He who believes in separate and innumerable acts of —
creation may say that in these cases it has pleased the ©
Creator to cause a being of one type to take the place of —
one belonging to another type; but this seems to me only ©
restating the fact in dignified language. He who believes —

NATURAL SELECTION. 103

in the struggle for existence and in the principle of natu-
ral selection, will acknowledge that every organic being
is constantly endeavoring to increase in numbers; and
that if any one being varies ever so little, either in habits
or structure, and thus gains an advantage over some
other inhabitant of the same country, it will seize on the
place of that inhabitant, however different that may be
from its own place. Hence it will cause him no surprise
that there should be geese and frigate-birds with webbed
feet, living on the dry land and rarely alighting on the
water ; that there should be long-toed corn-crakes, living
in meadows instead of in swamps; that there should be
_ woodpeckers where hardly a tree grows ; that there should
be diving thrushes and diving Hymenoptera, and petrels
with the habits of auks.

“NO MODIFICATION IN ONE SPECIES DESIGNED FOR THE
3 GOOD OF ANOTHER.

Origin of Natural selection can not possibly produce
Speci any modification in a species exclusively for
‘Page 162. the good of another species ; though through-
out nature one species incessantly takes advantage of, and
_ profits by, the structures of others. But natural selection
ean and does often produce structures for the direct in-
jury of other animals, as we see in the fang of the adder,
_and in the ovipositor of the ichneumon, by which its eggs
are deposited in the living bodies of other insects. If it
could be proved that any part of the structure of any one
_ species had been formed for the exclusive good of another
Species, it would annihilate my theory, for such could not
have been produced through natural selection. Although
many statements may be found in works on natural his-
tory to this effect, I can not find even one which seems to

104 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN IIMSELF.

me of any weight. It is admitted that the rattlesnake
has a poison-fang for its own defense, and for the de-
struction of its prey; but some authors suppose that at

the same time it is furnished with a rattle for its own in- © J

jury, namely, to warn its prey. I would almost as soon —
believe that the cat curls the end of its tail when prepar- _
ing to spring, in order to warn the doomed mouse. Itis —
a much more probable view that the rattlesnake uses its _
rattle, the cobra expands its frill, and the puff-adder —
swells while hissing so loudly and harshly, in order to —
alarm the many birds and beasts which are known to

attack even the most venomous species. Snakes act on :
the same principle which makes the hen ruffle her feath- _

ers and expand her wings when a dog approaches her

chickens ; but I have not space here to enlarge on the ~
many ways by which animals endeavor to frighten away ~

their enemies.

Natural selection will never produce in a being any
structure more injurious than beneficial to that being, for
natural selection acts solely by and for the good of each. —
No organ will be formed, as Paley has remarked, for the —

purpose of causing pain or for doing an injury to its pos- |
' sessor. Ifa fair balance be struck between the good and |
evil caused by each part, each will be found on the whole —

advantageous. After the lapse of time, under changing
conditions of life, if any part comes to be injurious, it
will be modified ; or, if it be not so, the being will become _
extinct as myriads have become extinct.

Natural selection tends only to make each organic —
being as perfect as, or slightly more perfect than, the ©
other inhabitants of the same country with which it comes —
into competition. And we see that this is the standard
of perfection attained under nature. The endemic pro- —
ductions of New Zealand, for instance, are perfect one —

NATURAL SELECTION. 105

| compared with another; but they are now rapidly yield-
‘ing before the advancing legions of plants and animals
introduced from Europe. Natural selection will not pro-
_ duce absolute perfection, nor do we always meet, as far
as we can judge, with this high standard under nature.
The correction for the aberration of light is said by Mil-
" ler not to be perfect even in that most perfect organ, the
human eye.

Natural selection will modify the structure
of the young in relation to the parent, and of
‘ the parent in relation to the young. In social animals it
_will adapt the structure of each individual for the benefit
of the whole community, if the community profits by
the selected change. What natural selection can not do
is, to modify the structure of one species, without giving
it any advantage, for the good of another species ; and,
though statements to this effect may be found in works
of natural history, I can not find one case which will bear
inyestigation. A structure used only once in an animal’s
life, if of high importance to it, might be modified to any
extent by natural selection ; for instance, the great jaws
_ possessed by certain insects, used exclusively for opening
the cocoon, or the hard tip to the beak of unhatched
birds, used for breaking the egg. It has been asserted
that, of the best short-beaked tumbler-pigeons, a greater
number perish in the egg than are able to get out of it,
‘so that fanciers assist in the act of hatching. Now, if
Nature had to make the beak of a full-grown pigeon very
short for the bird’s own advantage, the process of modifi-
cation would be very slow, and there would be simultane-
ously the most rigorous selection of all the young birds
within the egg, which had the most powerful and hardest

xs, for all with weak beaks would inevitably perish ;
6

Page 67.

106 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF,
or, more delicate and more easily broken shells might be _
selected, the thickness of the shell being known to vary —

like every other structure. :|

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE ACTION OF NATURAL SELECTION, ;

In order to make it clear how, as I believe, —

Origin of : bok
Species, natural selection acts, I must beg permission —
page 70. to give one or two imaginary illustrations. —

Let us take the case of a wolf, which preys on various ;
animals, securing some by craft, some by strength, and
some by fleetness; and let us suppose that the fleetest —
prey, a deer for instance, had from any change in the ©
country increased in numbers, or that other prey had de- ~
creased in numbers, during that season of the year when i
the wolf was hardest pressed for food. Under such cir- ©
cumstances the swiftest and slimmest wolves would have ©
the best chance of surviving, and so be preserved or se- |
lected—provided always that they retained strength to ~
master their prey at this or some other period of the year, ©
when they were compelled to prey on other animals. I

can see no more reason to doubt that this would be the ©

result, than that man should be able to improve the fleet- —
ness of his greyhounds by careful and methodical selec- —
tion, or by that kind of unconscious selection which fol- —
lows from each man trying to keep the best dogs without —
any thought of modifying the breed. I may add that, ©
according to Mr. Pierce, there are two varieties of the —
wolf inhabiting the Catskill Mountains in the United —
States, one with a light greyhound-like form, which pur- —
sues deer, and the other more bulky, with shorter legs, —
which more frequently attacks the shepherd’s flocks.

NATURAL SELECTION. . eee

3 Page 73 Certain plants excrete sweet juice, appar-
4 ently for the sake of eliminating something in-
3 arious from the sap: this is effected, for instance, by
glands at the base of the stipules in some Leguminosea,
a at the backs of the leaves of the common laurel.
This juice, though small in quantity, is greedily sought
by insects ; but their visits do not in any way benefit the
‘plant. Now, let us suppose that the juice or nectar was
excreted from the inside of the flowers of a certain num-
ser of plants of any species. Insects in seeking the nectar
would get dusted with pollen, and would often transport
it from one flower to another. The flowers of two dis-
tinct individuals of the same species would thus get
crossed ; and the act of crossing, as can be fully proved,
gives rise to vigorous seedlings, which consequently would
have the best chance of flourishing and surviving. The

slants which produced flowers with the largest glands or
nectaries, excreting most nectar, would oftenest be visited
y insects, and would oftenest be crossed ; and so in the
1 ong run would gain the upper hand aid form a local
ariety. The flowers, also, which had their stamens and
pistils placed, in relation to the size and habits of the
‘icular insect which visited them, so as to favor in any

jegree the transportal of the pollen, would likewise be
| fayored. We might have taken the case of insects visit-

ing flowers for the sake of collecting pollen instead of

nectar ; and, as pollen is formed for the sole purpose of
fertilization, its destruction appears to be a simple loss
to the plant; yet if a little pollen were carried, at first
occasionally and then habitually, by the pollen-devour-
ing imsects from flower to flower, and a cross thus
éfiected, although nine tenths of the pollen were de-
Stroyed, it might still be a great gain to the plant to
be thus robbed; and the individuals which produced

108 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

more and more pollen, and had larger anthers, would —
be selected. a

When our plant, by the above process long continued, —
had been rendered highly attractive to insects, they would, —
unintentionally on their part, regularly carry pollen from |
flower to flower.

DIVERGENCE OF CHARACTER.

Page 86. According to my view, varieties are species —
called’ them, incipient species. How, then, does the ©
lesser difference between varieties become augmented into _
the greater difference between species? That this does —
habitually happen, we must infer from most of the in- ©
numerable species throughout nature presenting well- |
marked differences ; whereas varieties, the supposed pro-
totypes and parents of future well-marked species, pre-
sent slight and ill-defined differences. Mere chance, as
we may call it, might cause one variety to differ in some
character from its parents, and the offspring of this va- —
riety again to differ from its parent in the very same —
character and in a greater degree ; but this alone would ©
never account for so habitual and large a degree of |
difference as that between the species of the same —
genus. 7
As has always been my practice, I have sought light ©
on this head from our domestic productions. We shall —
here find something analogous. It will be admitted that
the production of races so different as short-horn and ~
Hereford cattle, race and cart horses, the several breeds —
of pigeons, etc., could never have been effected by the ©
mere chance accumulation of similar variations during ©
many successive generations. In practice, a fancier is, —

in the process of formation, or are, as I have

NATURAL SELECTION. 109

_ for instance, struck by a pigeon having a slightly shorter
beak; another fancier is struck by a pigeon having a
rather longer beak ; and, on the acknowledged principle
that ‘‘fanciers do not and will not admire a medium
‘standard, but like extremes,” they both go on (as has
actually occurred with the sub-breeds of the tumbler-
pigeon) choosing and breeding from birds with longer
and longer beaks, or with shorter and shorter beaks.
Again, we may suppose that, at an early period of history,
2 men of one nation or district required swifter horses,
while those of another required stronger and bulkier
horses. The early differences would be very slight ; but,
in the course of time, from the continued selection of
ifter horses in the one case, and of stronger ones in the
other, the differences would become greater, and would
be noted as forming two sub-breeds. Ultimately, after
the lapse of centuries, these sub-breeds would become
converted into two well-established and distinct breeds.
As the differences became greater, the inferior animals
with intermediate characters, being neither very swift
nor very strong, would not have been used for breeding,
and will thus have tended to disappear. Here, then, we
See in man’s productions the action of what may be called
the principle of divergence, causing differences, at first
ely appreciable, steadily to increase, and the breeds to
diverge in character, both from each other and from their
common parent.
But how, it may be asked, can any analogous prin-
ciple apply in nature? I believe it can and does apply
: nost efficiently (though it was a long time before I saw
how), from the simple circumstance that the more diver-
‘sified the descendants from any one species become in
‘Structure, constitution, and habits, by so much will they
de better enabled to seize on many and widely diversified

110 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

places in the polity of nature, and so be enabled to in-
crease in numbers.

The advantage of diversification of struct-—
ure in the inhabitants of the same region is,
in fact, the same as that of the physiological division of —
labor in the organs of the same individual body—a sub- —
ject so well elucidated by Milne-Edwards. No physiolo-
gist doubts that a stomach adapted to digest vegetable —
matter alone, or flesh alone, draws most nutriment from —
these substances. So in the general economy of any land, —
the more widely and perfectly the animals and plants are —
diversified for different habits of life, so will a greater
- number of individuals be capable of there supporting
themselves. A set of animals, with their organization
but little diversified, could hardly compete with a set more
perfectly diversified in structure. It may be doubted,
for instance, whether the Australian marsupials, which _
are divided into groups differing but little from each
other, and feebly representing, as Mr. Waterhouse and ~
others have remarked, our carnivorous, ruminant, and ~
rodent mammals, could successfully compete with these _
well-developed orders. In the Australian mammals, we ~
see the process of diversification in an early and incom- |
plete stage of development. |

Page 89.

EVOLUTION OF THE HUMAN EYE.

Origin of To suppose that the eye with all its inim-_
rien F itable contrivances for adjusting the focus —
page 143.

to different distances, for admitting different —
amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and ©
chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural ©
selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest —

NATURAL SELECTION. 111

degree. When it was first said that the sun stood still
and the world turned round, the common sense of man-
_ kind declared the doctrine false ; but the old saying of
_ Vox populi vox Dei, as every philosopher knows, can not
_be trusted in science.

Page 145. Within the highest division of the animal
kingdom, namely, the Vertebrata, we can start
from an eye so simple that it consists, as in the lancelet,
of a little sac of transparent skin, furnished with a nerve
and lined with pigment, but destitute of any other ap-
_ paratus. In fishes and reptiles, as Owen has remarked,
“the range of gradations of dioptric structures is very
great.” It is a significant fact that even in man, ac-
' cording to the high authority of Virchow, the beau-
tiful crystalline lens is formed in the embryo by an ac-
cumulation of epidermic cells, lying in a sac-like fold
of the skin ; and the vitreous body is formed from em-
_ bryonic subcutaneous tissue. To arrive, however, at a
_ just conclusion regarding the formation of the eye, with
all its marvelous yet not absolutely perfect characters, it
is indispensable that the reason should conquer the im-
_agination ; but I have felt the difficulty far too keenly
to be surprised at others hesitating to extend the prin-
ciple of natural selection to so startling a length.
It is scarcely possible to avoid comparing the eye with
-atelescope. We know that this instrument has been per-
fected by the long-continued efforts of the highest human
intellects ; and we naturally infer that the eye has been
formed by a somewhat analogous process. But may not
this inference be presumptuous? Have we any right to
assume that the Creator works by intellectual powers like
those of man? If we must compare the eye to an optical
instrument, we ought in imagination to take a thick

112 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

layer of transparent tissue, with spaces filled with fluid,
and with a nerve sensitive to light beneath, and then sup-
pose every part of this layer to be continually changing
slowly in density, so as to separate into layers of different
densities and thicknesses, placed at different distances
from each other, and with the surfaces of each layer slowly
changing in form. Further, we must suppose that there
is a power, represented by natural selection or the sur-
vival of the fittest, always intently watching each slight
alteration in the transparent layers; and carefully pre-
serving each which, under varied circumstances, in any
way or in any degree, tends to produce a distincter image.
We must suppose each new state of the instrument to be
multiplied by the million ; each to be preserved until a
better one is produced, and then the old ones to be all
destroyed. In living bodies, variation will cause the
slight alterations, generation will multiply them almost
infinitely, and natural selection will pick out with unerr-
ing skill each improvement. Let this process go on for
millions of years; and during each year on millions of

_ individuals of many kinds; and may we not believe that
a living optical instrument might thus be formed as su-

perior to one of glass as the works of the Creator are to

_ those of man ?

4

VI.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANIC
BEINGS.

Origin of WE are thus brought to the question which
_ Speci has been largely discussed by naturalists, name-
perce 520. ly, whether species have been created at one or
more points of the earth’s surface. Undoubtedly there
are many cases of extreme difficulty in understanding how
the same species could possibly have migrated from some
one point to the several distant and isolated points where
now found. Nevertheless the simplicity of the view that
each species was first produced within a single region
captivates the mind. He who rejects it rejects the vera
_ causa of ordinary generation with subsequent migration,
and calls in the agency of a miracle. It is universally
admitted that in most cases the area inhabited by a
‘Species is continuous ; and that, when a plant or animal
inhabits two points so distant from each other, or with an
interval of such a nature, that the space could not have
been easily passed over by migration, the fact is given as
something remarkable and exceptional. The incapacity
_ of migrating across a wide sea is more clear in the case of
terrestrial mammals than perhaps with any other organic
beings; and, accordingly, we find no inexplicable in-
_Stances of the same mammals inhabiting distant points

114 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

of the world. No geologist feels any difficulty in Great
Britain possessing the same quadrupeds with the rest of
Europe, for they were no doubt once united. But, if the
same species can be produced at two separate points, why _
do we not find a single mammal common to Europe and
Australia or South America? The conditions of life are
nearly the same, so that a multitude of European animals
and plants have become naturalized in America and Aus-
tralia; and some of the aboriginal plants are identically
the same at these distant points of the northern and

southern hemispheres. ‘The answer, as I believe, is, that

mammals have not been able to migrate, whereas some
plants, from their varied means of dispersal, have mi-
grated across the wide and broken interspaces. The
great and striking influence of barriers of all kinds is
intelligible only on the view that the great majority of
species have been produced on one side, and have not been
able to migrate to the opposite side. Some few families,
many sub-families, very many genera, and a still greater
number of sections of genera, are confined to a single

region: and it has been observed by several naturalists ;

that the most natural genera, or those genera in which
the species are most closely related to each other, are

generally confined to the same country, or, if they have ~

a wide range, that their range is continuous. What a
strange anomaly it would be, if a directly opposite rule
were to prevail, when we go down one step lower in the
series, namely, to the individuals of the same species, and
these had not been, at least at first, confined to some one
region !

Hence it seems to me, as it has to many other natu- —
ralists, that the view of each species having been produced ~
in one area alone, and having subsequently migrated from _
that area as far as its powers of migration and subsistence _

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANIC BEINGS. 115

_ under past and present conditions permitted, is the most
_ probable. Undoubtedly many cases occur, in which we
_ ean not explain how the same species could have passed
_ from one point to the other. But the geographical and
climatal changes, which have certainly occurred within

recent geological times, must have rendered discontinuous

_ the formerly continuous range of many species. So that
we are reduced to consider whether the exceptions to con-
_ tinuity of range are so numerous and of so grave a nature

_ that we ought to give up the belief, rendered probable

__ by general considerations, that each species has been pro-

_ duced within one area, and has migrated thence as far as
it could.

ISOLATED CONTINENTS NEVER WERE UNITED.

~ Origin of Whenever it is fully admitted, as it will
_ Species, some day be, that each species has proceeded
. 824. from a single birthplace, and when in the
- course of time we know something definite about the
_ means of distribution, we shall be enabled to speculate
with security on the former extension of the land. But
_ Ido not believe that it will ever be proved that within
_ the recent period most of our continents which now
_ stand quite separate have been continuously, or almost
continuously, united with each other, and with the many
_ existing oceanic islands. Several facts in distribution,
_ such as the great difference in the marine faunas on the
opposite sides of almost every continent, the close rela-
_ tion of the tertiary inhabitants of several lands and even
_ seas to their present imhabitants, the degree of affinity
_ between the mammals inhabiting islands with those of
_ the nearest continent, being in part determined (as we
_ shall hereafter see) by the depth of the intervening ocean,
_ these and other such facts are opposed to the admission

116 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

of such prodigious geographical revolutions within the
recent period as are necessary on the view advanced by
Forbes and admitted by his followers. The nature and
relative proportions of the inhabitants of oceanic islands
are likewise opposed to the belief of their former con-
tinuity with continents. Nor does the almost universally
volcanic composition of such islands favor the admission
that they are the wrecks of sunken continents; if they
had originally existed as continental mountain-ranges,
some at least of the islands would have been formed, like
other mountain-summits, of granite, metamorphic schists,
old fossiliferous and other rocks, instead of consisting of
mere piles of volcanic matter.

MEANS OF DISPERSAL.

Living birds can hardly fail to be highly
effective agents in the transportation of seeds.
T could give many facts showing how frequently birds of
many kinds are blown by gales to vast distances across
the ocean. We may safely assume that under such cir-
cumstances their rate of flight would often be thirty-five
miles an hour ; and some authors have given a far higher
estimate. I have never seen an instance of nutritious
seeds passing through the intestines of a bird ; but hard
seeds of fruit pass uninjured through even the digestive
organs of a turkey. In the course of two months I
picked up in my garden twelve kinds of seeds out of the
excrement of small birds, and these seemed perfect, and
some of them, which were tried, germinated. But the
following fact is more important : the crops of birds do
not secrete gastric juice, and do not, as I know by trial,
injure in the least the germination of seeds; now, after
a bird has found and devoured a large supply of food, it

Page 326,

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANIC BEINGS. 117

is positively asserted that all the grains do not pass into
_ the gizzard for twelve or even eighteen hours. A bird in
this interval might easily be blown to the distance of five
_ hundred miles, and hawks are known to look out for
tired birds, and the contents of their torn crops might
_ thus readily get scattered. Some hawks and owls bolt
their prey whole, and, after an interval of from twelve
_ to twenty hours, disgorge pellets, which, as I know from
_ experiments made in the Zodlogical Gardens, include
seeds capable of germination. Some seeds of the oat,
wheat, millet, canary, hemp, clover, and beet germinated
_ after having been from twelve to twenty-one hours in the
stomachs of different birds of prey; and two seeds of
beet grew after having been thus retained for two days
and fourteen hours. Fresh-water fish, I find, eat seeds
of many land and water plants: fish are frequently de-
youred by birds, and thus the seeds might be transported
_ from place to place. I forced many kinds of seeds into
the stomachs of dead fish, and then gave their bodies to
fishing-eagles, storks, and pelicans ; these birds, after an
interval of many hours, either rejected the seeds in pel-
lets or passed them in their excrement; and several of
these seeds retained the power of germination. Certain
seeds, however, were always killed by this process.

Locusts are sometimes blown to great distances from
the land ; I myself caught one three hundred and seventy
miles from the coast of Africa, and have heard of others
_ caught at greater distances.

Page 228. As icebergs are known to be sometimes
. loaded with earth and stones, and have even
_ carried brushwood, bones, and the nest of a land-bird, it
can hardly be doubted that they must occasionally, as

suggested by Lyell, have transported seeds from one part

118 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

to another of the Arctic and Antarctic regions, and during
the Glacial period from one part of the now temperate
regions to another. In the Azores, from the large num-
ber of plants common to Europe, in comparison with the
species on the other islands of the Atlantic, which stand
nearer to the mainland, and (as remarked by Mr. H. OC.
Watson) from their somewhat northern character in
comparison with the latitude, I suspected that these
islands had been partly stocked by ice-borne seeds during
the Glacial epoch.

THESE MEANS OF TRANSPORT NOT ACCIDENTAL.

These means of transport are sometimes
called accidental, but this is not strictly cor-
rect ; the currents of the sea are not accidental, nor is
the direction of prevalent gales of wind. It should be
observed that scarcely any means of transport would carry
seeds for very great distances: for seeds do not retain
their vitality when exposed for a great length of time to
the action of sea-water; nor could they be long carried
in the crops or intestines of birds. These means, how-
ever, would suffice for occasional transport across tracts
of sea some hundred miles in breadth, or from island to
island, or from a continent to a neighboring island, but
‘not from one distant continent to another. The floras of
distant continents would not by such means become min-
gled ; but would remain as distinct as they noware. The
currents, from their course, would never bring seeds from
North America to Britain, though they might and do bring
seeds from the West Indies to our western shores, where,
if not killed by their very long immersion in salt-water,
they could not endure our climate. Almost every year,
one or two land-birds are blown across the whole Atlantic

Page 329.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANIC BEINGS. 119

Ocean, from North America to the western shores of Ire-
land and England ; but seeds could be transported by these

_ rare wanderers only by one means, namely, by dirt ad-

hering to their feet or beaks, which is in itself a rare acci-
dent. Even in this case, how small would be the chance
of a seed falling on favorable soil and coming to maturity !
But it would be a great error to argue that, because a well-
stocked island, like Great Britain, has not, as far as is
known (and it would be very difficult to prove this), re-
ceived within the last few centuries, through occasional

' means of transport, immigrants from Europe or any

other continent, a poorly-stocked island, though standing
more remote from the mainland, would not receive col-
onists by similar means. Out of a hundred kinds of seeds
or animals transported to an island, even if far less well-
stocked than Britain, perhaps not more than one would
be so well fitted to its new home as to become natural-
ized. But this is no valid argument against what would
be effected by occasional means of transport, during the
long lapse of geological time, while the island was being
upheayed, and before it had become fully stocked with
inhabitants. On almost bare land, with few or no de-
_ structive insects or birds living there, nearly every seed
_ which chanced to arrive, if fitted for the climate, would

germinate and survive.

DISPERSAL DURING THE GLACIAL PERIOD.

Page 434. The Glacial period is defined ‘‘as a period
of great cold and of enormous extension of ice
_ upon the surface of the earth. It is believed that glacial
_ periods have occurred repeatedly during the geological
history of the earth, but the term is generally applied to

the close of the Tertiary epoch, when nearly the whole of
_ Europe was subjected to an Arctic climate.”

120 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

Origin of The identity of many plants and animals,
Species, on mountain-summits, separated from each
page 380. other by hundreds of miles of lowlands, where
Alpine species could not possibly exist, is one of the most
striking cases known of the same species living at distant
points, without the apparent possibility of their having
migrated from one point to the other. It is indeed a
remarkable fact to see so many plants of the same species
living on the snowy regions of the Alps or Pyrenees, and
in the extreme northern parts of Europe; but it is far
more remarkable that the plants on the White Mountains,
in the United States of America, are all the same with
those of Labrador, and nearly all the same, as we hear
from Asa Gray, with those on the loftiest mountains of
Europe. Even as long ago as 1747 such facts led Gmelin
to conclude that the same species must have been inde-
pendently created at many distinct points ; and we might
have remained in this same belief, had not Agassiz and
others called vivid attention to the Glacial period, which,
as we shall immediately see, affords a simple explanation
of these facts. We have evidence of almost every con-
ceivable kind, organic and inorganic, that, within a very
recent geological period, Central Europe and North Amer-
ica suffered under an Arctic climate. The ruins of a
house burned by fire do not tell their tale more plainly
than do the mountains of Scotland and Wales, with their
scored flanks, polished surfaces, and perched bowlders,
of the icy streams with which their valleys were lately
filled. So greatly has the climate of Europe changed,
that in Northern Italy gigantic moraines, left by
old glaciers, are now clothed by the vine and maize.
Throughout a large part of the United States erratic
bowlders and scored rocks plainly reveal a former cold
period.

Be eet ee eee ee

err gi,

Beh,

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANIC BEINGS. 121

, The former influence of the glacial climate on the dis-_
_ tribution of the inhabitants of Europe, as explained by
_ Edward Forbes, is substantially as follows. But we shall
_ follow the changes more readily by supposing a new gla-
r cial period slowly to come on, and then pass away, as
_ formerly occurred. As the cold came on, and as each
more southern zone became fitted for the inhabitants of
_ the north, these would take the places of the former in-
habitants of the temperate regions. The latter, at the
_ same time, would travel farther and farther southward,
_ unless they were stopped by barriers, in which case they
would perish. The mountains would become covered
with snow and ice, and their former Alpine inhabitants
would descend to the plains. By the time that the cold
had reached its maximum, we should have an Arctic fauna
and flora, covering the central parts of Europe, as far
south as the Alps and Pyrenees, and even stretching into
Spain. The now temperate regions of the United States
would likewise be covered by Arctic plants and animals,
_ and these would be nearly the same with those of Europe ;
_ for the present circumpolar inhabitants, which we suppose
_ to have everywhere traveled southward, are remarkably
uniform round the world.

As the warmth returned, the Arctic forms would re-
treat northward, closely followed up in their retreat by the
productions of the more temperate regions. And, as the
_snow melted from the bases of the mountains, the Arctic
forms would seize on the cleared and thawed ground,
always ascending, as the warmth increased and the snow
still further disappeared, higher and higher, while their
_ brethren were pursuing their northern journey. Hence,
when the warmth had fully returned, the same species,
which had lately lived together on the European and

North American lowlands, would again be found in the

122 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

Arctic regions of the Old and New Worlds, and on many
isolated mountain-summits far distant from each other.

Thus we can understand the identity of many plants
at points so immensely remote as the mountains of the
United States and those of Europe.

THE THEORY OF CREATION INADEQUATE,

As on the land, so in the waters of the sea,
a slow southern migration of a marine fauna,
which, during the Pliocene or even a somewhat earlier
period, was nearly uniform along the continuous shores of
the Polar Circle, will account, on the theory of modifica- /
tion, for many closely allied forms now living in marine
areas completely sundered. Thus, I think, we can under-
stand the presence of some closely allied, still existing and
extinct tertiary forms on the eastern and western shores
of temperate North America ; and the still more striking
fact of many closely allied crustaceans (as described in
Dana’s admirable work), some fish and other marine ani-
mals, inhabiting the Mediterranean and the seas of Japan
—these two areas being now completely separated by the
breadth of a whole continent and by wide spaces of ocean.

These cases of close relationship in species either now
or formerly inhabiting the seas on the eastern and west-
ern shores of North America, the Mediterranean and
Japan, and the temperate lands of North America and
Europe, are inexplicable on the theory of creation. We
can not maintain that such species have been created
alike, in correspondence with the nearly similar physical
conditions of the areas; for, if we compare, for instance,
certain parts of South America with parts of South Africa
or Australia, we see countries closely similar in all their ~
physical conditions, with their inhabitants utterly dis- _
similar. .

Page 334.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANIC BEINGS. 123

CAUSES OF A GLACIAL CLIMATE.

ing Mr. Croll, in a series of admirable memoirs,
Page 886. has attempted to show that a glacial condition
of climate is the result of various physical causes, brought

_ into operation by an increase in the eccentricity of the

_ earth’s orbit. All these causes tend toward the same end ;
~ but the most powerful appears to be the indirect influence
_ of the eccentricity of the orbit upon oceanic currents.
_ According to Mr. Croll, cold periods regularly recur every
ten to fifteen thousand years ; and these at long intervals
_ are extremely severe, owing to certain contingencies, of
_ which the most important, as Sir C. Lyell has shown, is
the relative position of the land and water. Mr. Croll
believes that the last great Glacial period occurred about
two hundred and forty thousand years ago, and endured
with slight alterations of climate for about one hundred
and sixty thousand years. With respect to more ancient
Glacial periods, several geologists are convinced from di-
rect evidence that such occurred during the Miocene and
Eocene formations, not to mention still more ancient for-
mations, But the most important result for us, arrived
at by Mr. Croll, is that, whenever the northern hemisphere
_ passes through a cold period, the temperature of the
_ southern hemisphere is actually raised, with the winters
_ rendered much milder, chiefly through changes in the
_ direction of the ocean-currents. So conversely it will be
_ with the northern hemisphere, while the southern passes

_ through a glacial period. This conclusion throws so
' much light on geographical distribution that I am strong-

ly inclined to trust in it.

124 -DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

DIFFICULTIES NOT YET REMOVED.

I am far from supposing that all the diffi-
culties in regard to the distribution and affini-
ties of the identical and allied species, which now live so
widely separated in the north and south, and sometimes
on the intermediate mountain-ranges, are removed on the
views above given. ‘The exact lines of migration can not
be indicated. We can not say why certain species and
not others have migrated ; why certain species have been
modified and have given rise to new forms, while others
have remained unaltered. We can not hope to explain
such facts, until we can say why one species and not an-
other becomes naturalized by man’s agency in a foreign
land; why one species ranges twice or thrice as far, and
is twice or thrice as common, as another species within
their own homes.

Various special difficulties also remain to be solved ;
for instance, the occurrence, as shown by Dr. Hooker, of
the same plants at points so enormously remote as Ker-
guelen Land, New Zealand, and Fuegia ; but icebergs, as
suggested by Lyell, may have been concerned in their
dispersal. The existence at these and other distant points
of the southern hemisphere of species which, though
distinct, belong to genera exclusively confined to the
south, is a more remarkable case. Some of these species
are so distinct that we can not suppose that there has
been time since the commencement of the last Glacial
period for their migration and subsequent modification to
the necessary degree. The facts seem to indicate that
distinct species belonging to the same genera have mi-
grated in radiating lines from a common center; and I
am inclined to look in the southern, as in the northern
hemisphere, to a former and warmer period, before the

Page 341.

a
"
i4
NM
k
i

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANIC BEINGS. 125

- commencement of the last Glacial period, when the Ant-
arctic lands, now covered with ice, supported a highly
peculiar and isolated flora. It may be suspected that, be-
fore this flora was exterminated during the last Glacial
epoch, a few forms had been already widely dispersed to
_ Yarious points of the southern hemisphere by occasional

_ means of transport, and by the aid, as halting-places, of

e now sunken islands. ‘Thus the southern shores of Amer-

. ] ica, Australia, and New Zealand, may have become slight-
_ ly tinted by the same peculiar forms of life.

IDENTITY OF THE SPECIES OF ISLANDS WITH THOSE OF
THE MAINLAND EXPLAINED ONLY BY THIS THEORY.

. Origin of The most striking and important fact for

Species, us is the affinity of the species which inhabit
page $53. islands to those of the nearest mainland, with-
_ out being actually the same. Numerous instances could
_ be given. The Galapagos Archipelago, situated under
the equator, lies at the distance of between five hundred

_ and six hundred miles from the shores of South America.

_ Here almost every product of the land and of the water
_ bears the unmistakable stamp of the American Continent.

_ ‘There are twenty-six land-birds ; of these, twenty-one or
_ perhaps twenty-three are ranked as distinct species, and
_ would commonly be assumed to have been here created ;
_ yet the close affinity of most of these birds to American
species is manifest in every character, in their habits,
gestures, and tones of voice. So it is with the other ani-
_ mals, and with a large proportion of the plants, as shown
_ by Dr. Hooker in his admirable Flora of this archipelago.
_ The naturalist, looking at the inhabitants of these vol-
_ canic islands in the Pacific, distant several hundred miles
from the continent, feels that he is standing on American

126 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF, ,

land. Why should this be so? why should the species
which are supposed to have been created in the Galapagos
Archipelago, and nowhere else, bear so plainly the stamp
of affinity to those created in America? There is nothing
in the conditions of life, in the geological nature of the
islands, in their height or climate, or in the proportions
in which the several classes are associated together, which
closely resembles the conditions of the South American
coast ; in fact, there is a considerable dissimilarity in all
these respects. On the other hand, there is a consider-
able degree of resemblance in the volcanic nature of the
soil, in the climate, height, and size of the islands, be-
tween the Galapagos and Cape de Verd Archipelagos ;
but what an entire and absolute difference in their inhab-
itants! The inhabitants of the Cape de Verd Islands
are related to those of Africa, like those of the Galapagos
to America. Facts such as these admit of no sort of ex-
planation on the ordinary view of independent creation ;
whereas, on the view here maintained, it is obvious that
the Galapagos Islands would be likely to receive colonists
from America, whether by occasional means of transport

or (though I do not believe in this doctrine) by formerly —

continuous land, and the Cape de Verd Islands from
Africa ; such colonists would be liable to modification,

the principle of inheritance still betraying their original ;

birthplace.

Many analogous facts could be given: indeed, it is an ;
almost universal rule that the endemic productions of —

islands are related to those of the nearest continent, or of

the nearest large island. The exceptions are few, and ~

most of them can be explained. ‘Thus, although Ker-
guelen Land stands nearer to Africa than to America, the

plants are related, and that very closely, as we know from %
Dr. Hooker’s account, to those of America: but, on the ©

a ee

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANIC BEINGS. 127

_yiew that this island has been mainly stocked by seeds
brought with earth and stones on icebergs, drifted by the
_ prevailing currents, this anomaly disappears. New Zea-
_ land in its endemic plants is much more closely related
to Australia, the nearest mainland, than to any other re-
| gion: and this is what might have been expected ; but
' it is also plainly related to South America, which, al-
' though the next nearest continent, is so enormously re-

_ mote that the fact becomes an anomaly. But this diffi-
culty partially disappears on the view that New Zealand,
South America, and the other southern lands have been
_ stocked in part from a nearly intermediate though distant

_ point, namely, from the Antarctic islands, when they were
_ clothed with vegetation, during a warmer tertiary period,
- before the commencement of the last Glacial period. The
affinity, which, though feeble, Iam assured by Dr. Hooker
is real, between the flora of the southwestern corner of
Australia and of the Cape of Good Hope, is a far more
remarkable case; but this affinity is confined to the
plants, and will, no doubt, some day be explained.

VII.

EVIDENCE OF THE DESCENT OF MAN FROM
SOME LOWER FORM.

The Descent HE who wishes to decide whether man is
of Man, the modified descendant of some pre-exist- —
page ©. ing form would probably first inquire whether
man varies, however slightly, in bodily structure and in
mental faculties; and, if so, whether the variations are —
transmitted to his offspring in accordance with the laws
which prevail with the lower animals. Again, are the —
variations the result, as far as our ignorance permits us to
judge, of the same general causes, and are they governed J
by the same general laws, as in the case of other organ- —
isms ; for instance, by correlation, the inherited effects of —

use and disuse, etc. ? Is man subject to similar malcon- —

formations, the result of arrested development, of redu- —
plication of parts, etc., and does he display in any of his

anomalies reversion to some former and ancient type of
structure ? It might also naturally be inquired whether
man, like so many other animals, has given rise to vari- —
eties and sub-races, differing but slightly from each other,
or to races differing so much that they must be classed
as doubtful species. How are such races distributed —
over the world ; and how, when crossed, do they react on —
each other in the first and succeeding generations ? And
so with many other points.

DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 129

_ The inquirer would next come to the important point
' whether man tends to increase at so rapid a rate as to lead
_ to occasional severe struggles for existence ; and conse-
| quently to beneficial variations, whether in body or mind,
being preserved, and injurious ones eliminated. Do the
_ races or species of men, whichever term may be applied,
' encroach on and replace one another, so that some finally
_ become extinct ? We shall see that all these questions, as
indeed is obvious in respect to most of them, must be
answered in the affirmative, in the same manner as with
_ the lower animals.

_ POINTS OF CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN MAN AND THE
OTHER ANIMALS.

"The Descent It is notorious that man is constructed on
of Man, the same general type or model as other mam-
panes °. mals. All the bones in his skeleton can be
compared with corresponding bones in a monkey, bat, or
seal. So it is with his muscles, nerves, blood-vessels, and
_ internal viscera. The brain, the most important of all
the organs, follows the same law, as shown by Huxley and
other anatomists. Bischoff, who is a hostile witness, ad-
mits that every chief fissure and fold in the brain of man
_has its analogy in that of the orang ; but he adds that at
“no period of development do their brains perfectly agree ;
nor could perfect agreement be expected, for otherwise
their mental powers would have been the same.

__ Man is liable to receive from the lower animals, and
to communicate to them, certain diseases, as hydropho-
bia, yariola, the glanders, syphilis, cholera, herpes, ete. ;
_ and this fact proves the close similarity of their tissues
and blood, both in minute structure and composition, far
more plainly eas does their comparison under the best

130 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

microscope, or by the aid of the best chemical analysis.
Monkeys are liable to many of the same non-contagious
diseases as we are; thus Rengger, who carefully observed
for a long time the Cebus Azare@ in its native land, found
it liable to catarrh, with the usual symptoms, and which,
when often recurrent, led to consumption. These mon-
keys suffered also from apoplexy, inflammation of the
bowels, and cataract in the eye. The younger ones when
shedding their milk-teeth often died from fever. Medi-
cines produced the same effect on them as onus. Many
kinds of monkeys have a strong taste for tea, coffee, and
spirituous liquors: they will also, as I have myself seen,
smoke tobacco with pleasure. Brehm asserts that the

natives of Northeastern Africa catch the wild baboons by —
exposing vessels with strong beer, by which they are made ~

drunk. He has seen some of these animals, which he
kept in confinement, in this state ; and he gives a laugha-

ble account of their behavior and strange grimaces. On —

the following morning they were very cross and dismal ;

they held their aching heads with both hands, and wore ~
a most pitiable expression : when beer or wine was offered —

them, they turned away with disgust, but relished the

juice of lemons. An American monkey, an Ateles, after —

getting drunk on brandy, would never touch it again, and
thus was wiser than many men. These trifling facts

prove how similar the nerves of taste must be in monkeys _
and man, and how similarly their whole nervous system

is affected,

Man is infested with internal parasites, sometimes —
causing fatal effects; and is plagued by external para- —
sites, all of which belong to the same genera or families —
as those infesting other mammals, and in the case of ©
scabies to the same species. Man is subject, like other —
mammals, birds, and even insects, to that mysterious law

DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 131

which causes certain normal processes, such as gestation,
_ as well as the maturation and duration of various dis-
eases, to follow lunar periods. His wounds are repaired
_ by the same process of healing ; and the stumps left after
_ the amputation of his limbs, especially during an early
_ embryonic period, occasionally possess some power of re-
generation, as in the lowest animals.

Page 9 Man is developed from an ovule, about the
( * 125th of an inch in diameter, which differs in

_ no respect from the ovules of other animals. The embryo
itself at a very early period can hardly be distinguished
_ from that of other members of the vertebrate kingdom.
_ At this period the arteries run in arch-like branches, as if
_ to carry the blood to branchiw which are not present in
the higher vertebrata, though the slits on the side of the
neck still remain, marking their former position. Ata
_ somewhat later period, when the extremities are developed,

_ **the feet of lizards and mammals,” as the illustrious Von
Baer remarks, ‘‘ the wings and feet of birds, no less than
_ the hands and feet of man, all arise from the same funda-
‘mental form.” It is, says Professor Huxley, “quite in
_ the later stages of development that the young human
being presents marked differences from the young ape,
while the latter departs as much from the dog in its de-
_velopments as the man does. Startling as this last asser-
_tion may appear to be, it is demonstrably true.”

THE FACTS OF EMBRYOLOGY AND THE THEORY OF DE-

VELOPMENT.

© Origin of This is one of the most important subjects
Species, (embryology) in the whole round of natural

gam history. The metamorphoses of insects, with

_ which every one is familiar, are generally effected abruptly

ae

132 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

by a few stages; but the transformations are in reality
numerous and gradual, though concealed. A certain
ephemerous insect (Chiéeon), during its development,
molts, as shown by Sir J. Lubbock, above twenty times,
and each time undergoes a certain amount of change ;
and in this case we see the act of metamorphosis per-
formed in a primary and gradual manner. Many insects,
and especially certain crustaceans, show us what wonder-
ful changes of structure can be effected during develop-
ment. Such changes, however, reach their climax in the
so-called alternate generations of some of the lower ani-
mals. It is, for instance, an astonishing fact that a deli-
cate branching coralline, studded with polypi and attached
to a submarine rock, should produce, first by budding
and then by transverse division, a host of huge floating
jelly-fishes ; and that these should produce eggs, from
which are hatched swimming animalcules, which attach
themselves to rocks, and become developed into branch-
ing corallines; and so on in an endless cycle. The belief
in the essential identity of the process of alternate gen-
eration and of ordinary metamorphosis has been greatly
strengthened by Wagner’s discovery of the larva or mag-
got of a fly, namely, the Cecidomyia, producing asexually
other larve, and these others, which finally are developed
into mature males and females, propagating their kind in
the ordinary manner by eggs.

It has been already stated that various parts —
in the same individual, which are exactly alike *
during an early embryonic period, become widely different
and serve for widely different purposes in the adult state.
So, again, it has been shown that generally the embryos
of the most distinct species belonging to the same class are
closely similar, but become, when fully developed, widely

Page 387.

DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 133

dissimilar. A better proof of this latter fact can not be
given than the statement by Von Baer that “the em-
bryos of mammalia, of birds, lizards, and snakes, prob-
ably also of chelonia, are in their earliest states exceed-
ingly like one another, both as a whole and in the mode
of development of their parts ; so much so, in fact, that
we can often distinguish the embryos only by their size,
In my possession are two little embryos in spirit, whose
names I have omitted to attach, and at present I am
quite unable to say to what class they belong. They may
be lizards or small birds, or very young mammalia, so
complete is the similarity in the mode of formation of
the head and trunk in these animals. The extremities,
however, are still absent in these embryos. But, even if
they had existed in the earliest stage of their develop-
_ ment, we should learn nothing, for the feet of lizards and
_ mammals, the wings and feet of birds, no less than the

hands and feet of man, all arise from the same funda-
mental form.” The larve of most crustaceans, at corre-
sponding stages of development, closely resemble each
_ other, however different the adults may become ; and so
_ itis with very many other animals. A trace of the law of
_ embryonic resemblance occasionally lasts till a rather late
age: thus birds of the same genus, and of allied genera,
often resemble each other in their immature plumage ; as
we see in the spotted feathers in the young of the thrush
group. In the cat tribe, most of the species when adult
are striped or spotted in lines; and stripes or spots can
_ be plainly distinguished in the whelp of the lion and the
puma. We occasionally though rarely see something of
_ the same kind in plants ; thus the first leaves of the ulex
_ or furze, and the first leaves of the phyllodineous acacias,
are pinnate or divided like the ordinary leaves of the
_ Leguminose.

134 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

TWO PRINCIPLES THAT EXPLAIN THE FACTS.

How, then, can we explain these several
facts in embryology—namely, the very general,
though not universal, difference in structure between the
embryo and the adult ; the various parts in the same in-
dividual embryo, which ultimate become very unlike and
serve for diverse purposes, being at an early period of
growth alike; the common, but not invariable, resem-
blance between the embryos or larve of the most distinct
species in the same class; the embryo often retaining,
while within the egg or womb, structures which are of no
service to it, either at that or at a later period of life;
on the other hand, larve, which have to provide for their
own wants, being perfectly adapted to the surrounding
conditions ; and, lastly, the fact of certain larve stand-
ing higher in the scale of organization than the mature
animal into which they are developed ? I believe that all
these facts can be explained as follows :

It is commonly assumed, perhaps from monstrosities
affecting the embryo at a very early period, that slight
variations or individual differences necessarily appear at
an equally early period. We have little evidence on this
head, but what we have certainly points the other way ;
for it is notorious that breeders of cattle, horses, and
various fancy animals, can not positively tell, until some
time after birth, what will be the merits or demerits of
their young animals. We see this plainly in our own chil-
dren ; we can not tell whether a child will be tall or short,
or what its precise features will be. The question is not,
at what period of life each variation may have been
caused, but at what period the effects are displayed. The

Page 390.

cause may have acted, and I believe often has acted, on —
one or both parents before the act of generation. It de- —

ete Te ee !

Ra eerie,

DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 135

serves notice that it is of no importance to a very young
animal, as long as it remains in its mother’s womb or in
the egg, or as long as it is nourished and protected by its
_ parent, whether most of its characters are acquired a
little earlier or later in life. It would not signify, for in-
stance, to a bird which obtained its food by having a
_ much-curyed beak whether or not while young it pos-
sessed a beak of this shape, as long as it was fed by its
_ parents.

a I have stated in the first chapter that at whatever age
_ ayariation first appears in the parent, it tends to reappear
_ atacorresponding age in the offspring. Certain varia-
_ tions can only appear at corresponding ages ; for instance,
_ peculiarities in the caterpillar, cocoon, or imago states
_ of the silk-moth ; or, again, in the full-grown horns of
cattle. But variations, which, for all that we can see,
_ might have first appeared either earlier or later in life,
likewise tend to reappear at a corresponding age in the
_ offspring and parent. I am far from meaning that this
_ is inyariably the case, and I could give several exceptional
_ cases of variations (taking the word in the largest sense)
_ which have supervened at an earlier age in the child than
in the parent.

These two principles, namely, that slight variations
_ generally appear at a not very early period of life, and are
_ inherited at a corresponding not early period, explain, as
_ I believe, all the above specified leading facts in embry-
ology.

EMBRYOLOGY AGAINST ABRUPT CHANGES.

Origin of Unless we admit transformations as pro-
pence, digious as those advocated by Mr. Mivart, such
as the sudden development of the wings of
_ birds or bats, or the sudden conversion of a Hipparion

136 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF,

into a horse, hardly any light is thrown by the belief in
abrupt modifications on the deficiency of connecting links
in our geological formations. But against the belief in
such abrupt changes embryology enters a strong protest.
It is notorious that the wings of birds and bats, and the
legs of horses or other quadrupeds, are undistinguishable
at an early embryonic period, and that they become differ-
entiated by insensibly fine steps. Kmbryological resem-
blances of all kinds can be accounted for, as we shall
hereafter see, by the progenitors of our existing species
having varied after early youth, and having transmitted
their newly acquired characters to their offspring at a
corresponding age. The embryo is thus left almost un-
affected, and serves as a record of the past condition of
the species. Hence it is that existing species during the
early stages of their development so often resemble an-
cient and extinct forms belonging to the same class. On
this view of the meaning of embryological resemblances,
and indeed on any view, it is incredible that an animal
should have undergone such momentous and abrupt trans-
formations as those above indicated, and yet should not
bear even a trace in its embryonic condition of any sud-
den modification, every detail in its structure being de- |
veloped by insensibly fine steps.

He who believes that some ancient form was trans-
formed suddenly through an internal force or tendency
into, for instance, one furnished with wings, will be al-
most compelled to assume, in opposition to all analogy,
that many individuals varied simultaneously. It can not
be denied that such abrupt and great changes of struct-
ure are widely different from those which most species
apparently have undergone. He will further be com-
pelled to believe that many structures beautifully adapted

to all the other parts of the same creature and to the ©

DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 137

surrounding conditions, have been suddenly produced ;
and of such complex and wonderful coadaptations he
will not be able to assign a shadow of an explanation.
He will be forced to admit that these great and sudden
transformations have left no trace of their action on the
embryo. To admit all this is, as it seems to me, to enter
into the realms of miracle, and to leave those of science.

RUDIMENTARY ORGANS ONLY TO BE EXPLAINED ON THE
THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT.

Descent of Not one of the higher animals can be
ian, page named which does not bear some part in a

rudimentary condition ; and man forms no ex-
ception to the rule. Rudimentary organs must be dis-
tinguished from those that are nascent, though in some
cases the distinction is not easy. The former are either
absolutely useless, such as the mammez of male quadru-
peds, or the incisor teeth of ruminants which never cut
through the gums; or they are of such slight service to
their present possessors that we can hardly suppose that
they were developed under the conditions which now ex-
ist. Organs in this latter state are not strictly rudiment-
ary, but they are tending in this direction. Nascent
organs, on the other hand, though not fully developed,
are of high service to their possessors, and are capable of
further development. Rudimentary organs are eminently
variable ; and this is partly intelligible, as they are use- ~
less, or nearly useless, and consequently are no longer
subjected to natural selection. They often become wholly
suppressed. When this occurs, they are nevertheless
liable to occasional reappearance through reversion—a
circumstance well worthy of attention.

138 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

Rudiments of various muscles have been
observed in many parts of the human body ;
and not a few muscles which are regularly present in
some of the lower animals can occasionally be detected in
man in a greatly reduced condition. Every one must
have noticed the power which many animals, especially
horses, possess of moving or twitching their skin; and
this is effected by the panniculus carnosus. Remnants
of this muscle in an efficient state are found in various
parts of our bodies: for instance, the muscle on the fore-
head, by which the eyebrows are raised.

Page 12.

Some few persons have the power of con-
tracting the superficial muscles on their scalps ;
and these muscles are in a variable and partially rudiment-
ary condition. M. A. de Candolle has communicated
to me a curious instance of the long-continued persistence
or inheritance of this power, as well as of its unusual
development. He knows a family in which one member,
the present head of the family, could, when a youth,
pitch several heavy books from his head by the movement
of the scalp alone; and he won wagers by performing
this feat. His father, uncle, grandfather, and his three
children possess the same power to the same unusual de-
gree. This family became divided eight generations ago
into two branches; so that the head of the above-men-
tioned branch is cousin in the seventh degree to the head
of the other branch. This distant cousin resides in an-
other part of France ; and, on being asked whether he
possessed the same faculty, immediately exhibited his
power. This case offers a good illustration how persist-
ent may be the transmission of an absolutely useless
faculty, probably derived from our remote semi-human
progenitors, since many monkeys have, and frequently

Page 138.

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DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 139

use, the power of largely moving their scalps up and
down.

Page 23 It is well known that in the males of all

mammals, including man, rudimentary mam-

mz exist. These in several instances have become well

developed, and have yielded a copious supply of milk.

Their essential identity in the two sexes is likewise shown

by their occasional sympathetic enlargement in both dur-
ing an attack of the measles.

*‘NO OTHER EXPLANATION HAS EVER BEEN GIVEN.”

Page 24. The homological construction of the whole

frame in the members of the same class is
intelligible, if we admit their descent from a common
progenitor, together with their subsequent adaptation to
diversified conditions. On any other view, the similarity
of pattern between the hand of a man or monkey, the
foot of a horse, the flipper of a seal, the wing of a bat,
etc., is utterly inexplicable. It is no scientific explana-
tion to assert that they have all been formed on the same
ideal plan. With respect to development, we can clearly
understand, on the principle of variations supervening at
a rather late embryonic period, and being inherited at a
corresponding period, how it is that the embryos of won-
derfully different forms should still retain, more or less
perfectly, the structure of their common progenitor. No
other explanation has ever been given of the marvelous
fact that the embryos of a man, dog, seal, bat, reptile,
etc., can at first hardly be distinguished from each other.
In order to understand the existence of rudimentary
organs, we have only to suppose that a former progenitor
possessed the parts in question in a perfect state, and that

140 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

under changed habits of life they became greatly reduced,
either from simple disuse or through the natural selection
of those individuals which were least encumbered with a
superfluous part, aided by the other means previously
indicated.

Thus we can understand how it has come to pass that
man and all other vertebrate animals have been con- —
structed on the same general model, why they pass
through the same early stages of development, and why
they retain certain rudiments in common. Consequently
we ought frankly to admit their community of descent;
to take any other view is to admit that our own struct-
ure, and that of all the animals around us, is a mere snare
laid to entrap our judgment. This conclusion is greatly
strengthened, if we look to the members of the whole
animal series, and consider the evidence derived from —
their affinities or classification, their geographical distri- —
bution, and geological succession. It is only our natural
prejudice and that arrogance which made our forefathers
declare that they were descended from demi-gods which
leads us to demur to this conclusion. But the time will
before long come when it will be thought wonderful that
naturalists, who were well acquainted with the compara-
tive structure and development of man and other mam-
mals, should have believed that each was the work of a |
separate act of creation.

UNITY OF TYPE EXPLAINED BY RELATIONSHIP.

Origin of We have seen that the members of the same
Species, class, independently of their habits of life, re-
page 882. semble each other in the general plan of their
organization. This resemblance is often expressed by the |
term “unity of type”; or by saying that the several _

DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 141

parts and organs in the different species of the class are
_ homologous. The whole subject is included under the
_ general term of Morphology. This is one of the most in-
| teresting departments of natural history, and may almost
_ be said to be its very soul. What can be more curious
_ than that the hand of a man, formed for grasping, that
_ -of a mole for digging, the leg of the horse, the paddle of
_ the porpoise, and the wing of the bat, should all be con-
_ structed on the same pattern, and should include similar
| bones, in the same relative positions ? How curious it is,
_ to give a subordinate though striking instance, that the
_ hind-feet of the kangaroo, which are so well fitted for
_ bounding over the open plains, those of the climbing,
leaf-eating koala, equally well fitted for grasping the
__ branches of trees, those of the ground-dwelling, insect or
_ root eating, bandicoots, and those of some other Austra-
lian marsupials, should all be constructed on the same ex-
traordinary type, namely, with the bones of the second
_ and third digits extremely slender and enveloped within
_ the same skin, so that they appear like a single toe fur-
_ nished with twoclaws! Notwithstanding this similarity
_ of pattern, it is obvious that the hind-feet of these several
_ animals are used for as widely different purposes as it is
_ possible to conceive. The case is rendered all the more
_ striking by the American opossums, which follow nearly
_ the same habits of life as some of their Australian rela-
_ tives, having feet constructed on the ordinary plan. Pro-
_ fessor Flower, from whom these statements are taken,
_ remarks in conclusion, “ We may call this conformity to
_ type, without getting much nearer to an explanation of
_ the phenomenon”; and he then adds, “‘ but is it not
powerfully suggestive of true relationship, of inheritance
from a common ancestor ?”

142 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

INEXPLICABLE ON THE ORDINARY VIEW OF CREATION.

How inexplicable are the cases of serial
homologies on the ordinary view of creation !
Why should the brain be inclosed in a box composed of
such numerous and such extraordinarily shaped pieces of
bone, apparently representing vertebrae ? As Owen has re-

Page 384.

marked, the benefit derived from the yielding of thesepa- —

rate pieces in the act of parturition by mammals will by
no means explain the same construction in the skulls of ©
birds and reptiles. Why should similar bones have been ~
created to form the wing and the leg of a bat, used as
they are for such totally different purposes, namely, fly-
ing and walking? Why should one crustacean, which ©
has an extremely complex mouth formed of many parts,
consequently always have fewer legs ; or conversely, those —
with many legs have simpler mouths? Why should the ©
sepals, petals, stamens, and pistils, in each flower, though
fitted for such distinct purposes, be all constructed on the ©
same pattern ?

On the theory of natural selection, we can, to a cer-
tain extent, answer these questions. We need not here —
consider how the bodies of some animals first became di- —

vided into a series of segments, or how they became di- |

vided into right and left sides, with corresponding organs, —
for such questions are almost beyond investigation. It is,
however, probable that some serial structures are the re-
sult of cells multiplying by division, entailing the multi- —
plication of the parts developed from such cells. It must —
suffice for our purpose to bear in mind that an indefinite —
repetition of the same part or organ is the common char- _
acteristic, as Owen has remarked, of all low or little spe- _
cialized forms ; therefore the unknown progenitor of the ©
Vertebrata probably possessed many vertebre; the un- *

DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 143

_ known progenitor of the Articulata, many segments ; and
' the unknown progenitor of flowering plants, many leaves
arranged in one or more spires. We have also formerly
- seen that parts many times repeated are eminently liable
_ to vary, not only in number, but in form. Consequently
_ such parts being already present in considerable numbers,
and being highly variable, would naturally afford the
_ materials for adaptation to the most different purposes ;
_ yet they would generally retain, through the force of in-
_ heritance, plain traces of their original or fundamental
_ resemblance. They would retain this resemblance all the
_ more, as the variations, which afforded the basis for their
subsequent modification through natural selection, would
_ tend from the first to be similar, the parts being at an
if early stage of growth alike, and being subjected to nearly
_ the same conditions. Such parts, whether more or less
_ modified, unless their common origin became wholly ob-
; scured, would be serially homologous.

DESCENT WITH MODIFICATION THE ONLY EXPLANATION,

In works on natural history, rudimentary
organs are generally said to have been created
‘*for the sake of symmetry,” or in order ‘“‘ to
a. the scheme of Nature.” But this is not an ex-
_ planation, merely a restatement of the fact. Nor is it
consistent with itself: thus the boa-constrictor has rudi-
ments of hind-limbs and of a pelvis, and if it be said that
these bones have been retained “to complete the scheme
of Nature,” why, as Professor Weismann asks, have they
not been retained by other snakes, which do not possess
_ eyen a vestige of these same bones? What would be
thought of an astronomer who maintained that the satel-

lites revolve in elliptic courses round their planets ‘for

144 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

the sake of symmetry,” because the planets thus revolve
round the sun? An eminent physiologist accounts for
the presence of rudimentary organs, by supposing that
they serve to excrete matter in excess, or matter injurious |
to the system; but can we suppose that the minute pa- ~
pilla, which often represents the pistil in male flowers, ~
and which is formed of mere cellular tissue, can thus act?
Can we suppose that rudimentary teeth, which are subse-
quently absorbed, are beneficial to the rapidly growing ©
embryonic calf by removing matter so precious as phos- —
phate of lime? When a man’s fingers have been ampu- —
tated, imperfect nails have been known to appear on the |
stumps, and I could as soon believe that these vestiges of ©
nails are developed in order to excrete horny matter, as
that the rudimentary nails on the fin of the manatee have
been developed for this same purpose. !
On the view of descent with modification, the origin”
of rudimentary organs is comparatively simple ; and we —
can understand to a large extent the laws governing their ©
imperfect development. |

THE HISTORY OF LIFE ON THE THEORY OF DESCEN
WITH MODIFICATION.’

Origin of Organs in a rudimentary condition plainl
Species, show that an early progenitor had the orga
page 424. in a fully-developed condition ; and this
some cases implies an enormous amount of modification
in the descendants. Throughout whole classes various
structures are formed on the same pattern, and at a very
early age the embryos closely resemble each other. There-
fore I can not doubt that the theory of descent with modi-
fication embraces all the members of the same great clas
or kingdom. I believe that animals are descended

DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 145

at most only four or five progenitors, and plants from an
_ equal or lesser number.

_. Analogy would lead me one step further, namely, to
the belief that all animals and plants are descended from
‘some one prototype. But analogy may be a deceitful
_ guide. Nevertheless, all living things have much in com-
_ mon, in their chemical composition, their cellular struct-
ure, their laws of growth, and their liability to injurious
influences. We see this even in so trifling a fact as that
* the same poison often similarly affects plants and ani-
_ mals; or that the poison secreted by the gall-fly produces
e monstrous growths on the wild-rose or oak-tree. With
all organic beings, excepting, perhaps, some of the very
g lowest, sexual reproduction seems to be essentially simi-
© Yar. With all, as far as is at present known, the germinal
i vesicle is the same; so that all organisms start from a
- common origin. If we look even to the two main divis-
ions—namely, to the animal and vegetable kingdoms—
_ certain low forms are so far intermediate in character
that naturalists have disputed to which kingdom they
should be referred. As Professor Asa Gray has re-
marked, “the spores and other reproductive bodies of
many of the lower alge: may claim to have first a charac-
- teristically animal, and then an unequivocally vegetable
existence.” Therefore, on the principle of natural selec-
tion with divergence of character, it does not seem in-
credible that, from some such low and intermediate form,
both animals and plants may have been developed ; and,
if we admit this, we must likewise admit that all the
| organic beings which have ever lived on this earth may
| be descended from some one primordial form. But this
‘Inference is chiefly grounded on analogy, and it is imma-
terial whether or not it be accepted.

146 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

On the view of each organism with all its
separate ‘parts having been specially created,
how utterly inexplicable is it that organs bearing the
plain stamp of inutility, such as the teeth in the embry-
onic calf, or the shriveled wings under the soldered wing- —
covers of many beetles, should so frequently occur! Na-
ture may be said to have taken pains to reveal her scheme
of modification, by means of rudimentary organs, of em-
bryological and homologous structures, but we are too
blind to understand her meaning.

Page 420.

LETTERS RETAINED IN THE SPELLING BUT USELESS IN ~

PRONUNCIATION.
Origin of There remains, however, this difficulty.
Species After an organ has ceased being used, and has
page °

can it be still further reduced in size until the merest
vestige is left ; and how can it be finally quite obliterated ?
It is scarcely possible that disuse can go on producing any
further effect after the organ has once been rendered
functionless. Some additional explanation is here requi-
site which I can not give. If, for instance, it could be
proved that every part of the organization tends to vary
in a greater degree toward diminution than toward aug-
mentation of size, then we should be able to understand
how an organ which has become useless would be ren-
dered, independently of the effects of disuse, rudimentary,
and would at last be wholly suppressed ; for the variations
toward diminished size would no longer be checked by
natural selection. The principle of the economy of
growth, explained in a former chapter, by which the ma-
terials forming any part, if not useful to the possessor,
are saved as far as is possible, will perhaps come into play

become in consequence much reduced, how ~

\/ ;
DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 147

im rendering a useless part rudimentary. But this prin-
ciple will almost necessarily be confined to the earlier
‘stages of the process of reduction ; for we can not sup-
pose that a minute papilla, for instance, representing in
a male flower the pistil of the female flower, and formed
merely of cellular tissue, could be further reduced or
_ absorbed for the sake of economizing nutriment.
_ Finally, as rudimentary organs, by whatever steps
they may have been degraded into their present useless
condition, are the record of a former state of things, and
have been retained solely through the power of inherit-
ance, we can understand, on the genealogical view of
- classifica tion, how it is that systematists, in placing or-
‘ganisms in their proper places in the natural system,
have often found rudimentary parts as useful as, or even
' sometimes more useful than, parts of high physiological
importance. Rudimentary organs may be compared with
the letters in a word, still retained in the spelling, but
| become useless in the pronunciation, but which serve as
_ aclew for its derivation. On the view of descent with
modification, we may conclude that the existence of organs
in a rudimentary, imperfect, and useless condition, or
quite aborted, far from presenting a strange difficulty, as
they assuredly do on the old doctrine of creation, might
-eyen have been anticipated in accordance with the views
here explained.

MAN’S DEFICIENCY IN TAIL.

According to a popular impression, the ab-
sence of a tail is eminently distinctive of man ;
but, as those apes which come nearest to him
¢ destitute of this organ, its disappearance does not
2 exclusively to man. The tail often differs remark-

Descent
of Man,

148 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF,

ably in length within the same genus: thus in some spe-
cies of Macacus it is longer than the whole body, and is’
formed of twenty-four vertebre ; in others it consists of
a scarcely visible stump, containing only three or four
vertebre. In some kinds of baboons there are twenty-five,
while in the mandrill there are ten very small stunted cau-
dal vertebrex, or, according to Cuvier, sometimes only five. ©
The tail, whether it be long or short, almost always tapers
toward the end; and this, I presume, results from the
atrophy of the terminal muscles, together with their ar-_
teries and nerves, through disuse, leading to the atrophy

of the terminal bones. But no explanation can at present —

be given of the great diversity which often occurs in its
length. Here, however, we are more specially concerned ~
with the complete external disappearance of the tail.
Professor Broca has recently shown that the tail in all
quadrupeds consists of two portions, generally separated
abruptly from each other ; the basal portion consists of
vertebra, more or less perfectly channeled and furnished _
with apophyses like ordinary vertebree; whereas those
of the terminal portion are not channeled, are almost
smooth, and scarcely resemble true vertebra. A tail,
though not externally visible, is really present in man
and the anthropomorphous apes, and is constructed on
exactly the same pattern in both. In the terminal por-
tion the vertebra, constituting the os coccyx, are quite
rudimentary, being much reduced in size and number.
In the basal portion, the vertebre are likewise few, are
united firmly together, and are arrested in development ;
but they have been rendered much broader and flatter
than the corresponding vertebre in the tails of other ani-
mals; they constitute what Broca calls the accessory
sacral vertebre. These are of functional importance by
supporting certain internal parts and in other ways; and

DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 149

| their modification is directly connected with the erect or
‘semi-erect attitude of man and the anthropomorphous
‘apes. This conclusion is the more trustworthy, as Broca
: pearly held a different view, which he has now aban-
oned. The modification, therefore, of the basal caudal
_yertebre in man and the higher apes may have been ef-
fected, directly or indirectly, through natural selection.
But what are we to say about the rudimentary and
iable vertebre of the terminal portion of the tail,
forming the os coccyx? A notion which has often been,
d will no doubt again be ridiculed, namely, that fric-
tion has had something to do with the disappearance of
the SD astacnal portion of the tail, is not so ridiculous as it
at first appears. Dr. Anderson states that the extremely
short tail of Macacus brunneus is formed of eleven ver-
tebre, including the imbedded basal ones. The extremity
is tendinous and contains no vertebre ; this is succeeded
by five rudimentary ones, so minute that together they
| are only one line and a half in length, and these are per-
' Manently bent to one side in the shape of ahook. The
| free part of the tail, only a little above an inch in length,
Includes only four more small vertebre. This short tail
is carried erect ; but about a quarter of its total length is
doubled on to itself to the left ; and this terminal part,
yhich includes the hook-like portion, serves “to fill up
the interspace between the upper divergent portion of the
‘callosities ” ; so that the animal sits on it, and thus renders
it rough and callous.

POINTS OF RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN MAN AND MONKEY.
= As small unimportant points of resem-
of Man, blance between man and the Quadrumana are
Page 150. not commonly noticed in systematic works,

nd as, when numerous, they clearly reveal our relation-

150 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

ship, I will specify a few such points. The relative posi-_
tion of our features is manifestly the same ; and the vari-
ous emotions are displayed by nearly similar movements |
of the muscles and skin, chiefly above the eyebrows and

round the mouth. Some few expressions are, indeed, ©

almost the same, as in the weeping of certain kinds of
monkeys and in the laughing noise made by others, dur-
ing which the corners of the mouth are drawn backward, -
and the lower eyelids wrinkled. The external ears are
curiously alike. In man the nose is much more prominent —
than in most monkeys ; but we may trace the commence-
ment of an aquiline curvature in the nose of the Hoolock
Gibbon ; and this in the Semnopithecus nasica is carried
to a ridiculous extreme.

The faces of many monkeys are ornamented with ~

beards, whiskers, or mustaches. The hair on the head
grows to a great length in some species of Semnopithe-
cus; and in the Bonnet monkey (Macacus radiatus) it
radiates from a point on the crown, with a parting down
the middle. It is commonly said that the forehead gives
to man his noble and intellectual appearance; but the
thick hair on the head of the Bonnet monkey terminates
downward abruptly, and is succeeded by hair so short and
fine that at a little distance the forehead, with the excep-
tion of the eyebrows, appears quite naked. It has been
erroneously asserted that eyebrows are not present in any
monkey. In the species just named the degree of naked-
ness of the forehead differs in different individuals; and
Eschricht states that in our children the limit between
the hairy scalp and the naked forehead is sometimes not
well defined ; so that here we seem to have a trifling case
of reversion to a progenitor, in whom the forehead had
not as yet become quite naked.

p iti is well known that the hair on our arms tends to.

DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 151

converge from above and below to a point at the elbow.
‘This curious arrangement, so unlike that in most of the
lower mammals, is common to the gorilla, chimpanzee,
orang, some species of Hylobates, and even to some few
_ American monkeys. But in Hylobates agilis the hair on
_ the fore-arm is directed downward or toward the wrist in
_the ordinary manner; and in JZ. dar it is nearly erect,
with only a very slight forward inclination ; so that in
this latter species it is in a transitional state. It can
hardly be doubted that with most mammals the thickness
of the hair on the back and its direction are adapted to
_ throw off the rain ; even the transverse hairs on the fore-
legs of a dog may serve for this end when he is coiled
up asleep. Mr. Wallace, who has carefully studied the
| habits of the orang, remarks that the convergence of the
_hair toward the elbow on the arms of the orang may be
_ explained as serving to throw off the rain, for this animal
_ during rainy weather sits with its arms bent, and with
_ the hands clasped round a branch or over its head. Ac-

cording to Livingstone, the gorilla also “sits in pelting
rain with his hands over his head.” If the above ex-
anation is correct, as seems probable, the direction of
the hair on our own arms offers a curious record of our
former state ; for no one supposes that it is now of any
use in throwing off the rain; nor, in our present erect
_ condition, is it properly directed for this purpose.

a Page 152. It must not be supposed that the resem-
. blances between man and certain apes in the
aboye and many other points—such as in having a naked
forehead, long tresses on the head, etc.—are all necessarily
the result of unbroken inheritance from a common pro-
genitor, or of subsequent reversion. Many of these re-
semblances are more probably due to analogous variation,

152 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF,

which follows, as I have elsewhere attempted to show,
from co-descended organisms haying asimilar constitution,
and having been acted on by like causes inducing similar
modifications. With respect to the similar direction of
the hair on the fore-arms of man and certain monkeys,
as this character is common to almost all the anthropo-
morphous apes, it may probably be attributed to inherit-
ance ; but this is not certain, as some very distinct Ameri-
can monkeys are thus characterized.

VARIABILITY OF MAN.

Heisas It is manifest that man is now subject to
of Man, much yariability. No two individuals of the
page 26. same race are quite alike. We may compare
millions of faces, and each will be distinct. There is an’
equally great amount of diversity in the proportions and
dimensions of the various parts of the body, the length
of the legs being one of the most variable points. Al-
though in some quarters of the world an elongated skull,
and in other quarters a short skull prevails, yet there is
great diversity of shape even within the limits of the
same race, as with the aborigines of America and South
Australia—the latter a race ‘‘ probably as pure and ho-
mogeneous in blood, customs, and language as any in
existence ”’—and even with the inhabitants of so confined
an area as the Sandwich Islands. An eminent dentist
assures me that there is nearly as much diversity in the
teeth as in the features. The chief arteries so frequently
run in abnormal courses, that it has been found useful
for surgical purposes to calculate from 1,040 corpses how
often each course prevails. The muscles are eminently
variable : thus those of the foot were found by Professor
Turner not to be strictly alike in any two out of fifty

DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 153

‘bodies; and in some the deviations were considerable.
‘He adds that the power of performing the appropriate
moyements must have been modified in accordance with
the several deviations. Mr. J. Wood has recorded the
scurrence of 295 muscular variations in thirty-six sub-
_ jects, and in another set of the same number no less than
| 58 variations, those occurring on both sides of the body
being only reckoned as one. In the last set, not one body
~ out of bar thirty-six was ‘‘ found totally wanting in de-
-partures from the standard descriptions of the muscular
system given in anatomical text-books.” A single body
pres ented the extraordinary number of twenty-five dis-
| tix ct abnormalities. The same muscle sometimes varies
ir og ways : thus Professor Macalister describes no
less than twenty distinct variations in the palmaris ac-
é peSSOTLUs.
4 /

‘
— ay

3 _ CAUSES OF VARIABILITY IN DOMESTICATED MAN.

Des With respect to the causes of variability,
ofMan, we are in all cases very ignorant ; but we can
eee’ 78. see that in man, as in the lower animals, they

ste nd in some relation to the conditions to which each

yecies has been exposed during several generations. Do-

mesticated animals vary more than those in a state of

nature ; and this is apparently due to the diversified and
changing nature of the conditions to which they have
geen subjected. In this respect the different races of
man resemble domesticated animals, and so do the indi-
viduals of the same race, when inhabiting a very wide
rea, like that of America. \ We see the influence of di-
a ified conditions in the more civilized nations ; for the
a belonging to different grades of rank, and fol-

= different occupations, present a greater range of
8

cent

154 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

character than do the members of barbarous nations,
But the uniformity of savages has often been exaggera

ed, and in some cases can hardly be said to exist. It is,
nevertheless, an error to speak of man, even if we look

only to the conditions to which he has been exposed, as —
‘‘far more domesticated” than any other animal. Some —
sayage races, such as the Australians, are not exposed to

more diversified conditions than are many species which

haye a wide range. In another and much more impor- —
tant respect, man differs widely from any strictly domes-
ticated animal ; for his breeding has never long been con-

trolled, either by methodical or unconscious selection,
No race or body of men has been so completely subjugat-

ed by other men as that certain individuals should be
preserved, and thus unconsciously selected, from some-

how excelling in utility to their masters. Nor have cer-
tain male and female individuals been intentionally picked

out and matched, except in the well-known case of the
Prussian grenadiers; and in this case man obeyed, as

might have been expected, the law of methodical selec-
tion ; for it is asserted that many tall men were reared
in the villages inhabited by the grenadiers and their tall
wives. In Sparta, also, a form of selection was followed,
for it was enacted that all children should be examined
shortly after birth ; the well-formed and vigorous being
preserved, the others left to perish.

If we consider all the races of man as forming a sin

species, his range is enormous; but some separate races,
as the Americans and Polynesian, have very wide ranges.
It is a well-known Jaw that widely-ranging species are
much more variable than species with restricted ranges ;

and the variability of man may with more truth be com- ~

pared with that of widely-ranging species thanrwith that

of domesticated animals, .

AL A ce A ee ae er ei es

DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 155

_ Not only does variability appear to be induced in man
and the lower animals by the same general causes, but in
' both the same parts of the body are affected in a closely

analogous manner.

ACTION OF CHANGED CONDITIONS.

This is a most perplexing subject. It can
not be denied that changed conditions pro-
_ duce some, and occasionally a considerable, effect on or-
gunisms of all kinds; and it seems at first probable that
_ if sufficient time were allowed this would be the invariable
| result. But I have failed to obtain clear evidence in favor
| of this conclusion ; and valid reasons may be urged on
the other side, at least as far as the innumerable struct-
_ ures are concerned, which are adapted for special ends.
_ There can, however, be no doubt that changed conditions
| induce an almost indefinite amount of fluctuating varia-
bility, by which the whole organization is rendered in
_ some degree plastic.

{ In the United States, above one million soldiers,
_ who served in the late war, were measured, and the States
‘Im which they were born and reared were recorded.
From this astonishing number of observations it is
“proved that local influences of some kind act directly on
tature ; and we further learn that ‘‘the State where

the physical growth has in great measure taken place, and
he State of birth, which indicates the ancestry, seem to
exert a marked influence on the stature.” For instance,
it is established that ‘‘residence in the Western States,
during the years of growth, tends to produce increase of
ature.” On the other hand, it is certain that, with

_ Sailors, their life delays growth, as shown “by the great
_ difference between the statures of soldiers and sailors at

Page 30.

156 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

the ages of seventeen and eighteen years.” Mr. B. A.
Gould endeavored to ascertain the nature of the influences
which thus act on stature ; but he arrived only at nega- ©
tive results, namely, that they did not relate to climate, —

the elevation of the land, soil, nor even ‘‘in any control- ©

ling degree” to the abundance or the need of the comforts

of life. This latter conclusion is directly opposed to that

arrived at by Villermé, from the statistics of the height

of the conscripts in different parts of France. When we ~
compare the differences in stature between the Polynesian —

chiefs and the lower orders within the same islands, or
between the inhabitants of the fertile volcanic and low
barren coral islands of the same ocean, or, again, between
the Fuegians on the eastern and western shores of their
country, where the means of subsistence are very differ-

ent, it is scarcely possible to avoid the conclusion that , |
better food and greater comfort do influence stature. But

the preceding statements show how difficult it is to arrive _

at any precise result. Dr. Beddoe has lately proved that,

with the inhabitants of Britain, residence in towns and
certain occupations have a deteriorating influence on
height ; and he infers that the result is to a certain extent
inherited, as is likewise the case in the United States.
Dr. Beddoe further believes that, wherever a *‘ race attains
its maximum of physical development, it rises highest in —
energy and moral vigor.”

THE INHERITED EFFECTS OF THE INCREASED AND DI-—
MINISHED USE OF PARTS.

It is well known that use strengthens the !

Descent

of Man, muscles in the individual, and complete dis- __

page 82. use, or the destruction of the proper nerve,
weakens them. When the eye is destroyed, the optic

DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 157

nerve often becomes atrophied. When an artery is tied,
_ the lateral channels increase not only in diameter, but in
_ the thickness and strength of their coats. When one
. kidney ceases to act from disease, the other increases in

_ size, and does double work. Bones increase not only in
_ thickness, but in length, from carrying a greater weight.
Different occupations, habitually followed, lead to changed
proportions in various parts of the body. Thus it was
ascertained by the United States commission that the
legs of the sailors employed in the late war were longer
_ by 0-217 of an inch than those of the soldiers, though the
_ sailors were on an average shorter men ; while their arms
' were shorter by 1°09 of an inch, and therefore, out of
| proportion, shorter in relation to their lesser height. This
_ shortness of the arms is apparently due to their greater
_ use, and is an unexpected result ; but sailors chiefly use
_ their arms in pulling, and not in supporting weights.
| With sailors, the girth of the neck and the depth of the
' instep are greater, while the circumference of the chest,
| waist, and hips is less, than in soldiers.

_ Whether the several foregoing modifications would
_ become hereditary, if the same habits of life were fol-
_ lowed during many generations, is not known, but it is
_ probable.

Page 83 In infants, long before birth, the skin on
q * the soles of the feet is thicker than on any
other part of the body ; and it can hardly be doubted that
this is due to the inherited effects of pressure during a
_ a long series of generations.

__Itis familiar to every one that watchmakers and en-
_ gravers are liable to be short-sighted, while men living
‘much out-of-doors, and especially savages, are generally
long-sighted. Short-sight and long-sight certainly tend

158 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF,

to be inherited. The inferiority of Europeans, in com- —

parison with savages, in eye-sight and in the other senses,
is no doubt the accumulated and transmitted effect of
lessened use during many generations.

Although man may not have been much
modified during the latter stages pf his exist-
ence through the increased or decreased use of parts, the
facts now given show that his liability in this respect has

Page 35.

not been lost ; and we positively know that the same law

holds good with the lower animals. Consequently we

may infer that when at a remote epoch the progenitors

of man were in a transitional state, and were changing
from quadrupeds into bipeds, natural selection would
probably have been greatly aided by the inherited effects

of the increased or diminished use of the different parts —

of the body.

REVERSION AS A FACTOR IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MAN.

Descent

page 40.

in the Melanian races, especially the Australian. The
canine is more deeply implanted, and by a stronger fang

than the incisors.” Nevertheless, this tooth no longer
serves man as a special weapon for tearing his enemies
or prey; it may, therefore, as far as its proper function
is concerned, be considered as rudimentary. In every
large collection of human skulls some may be found, as_

In man, the canine teeth are perfectly ef-
of Man, ficient instruments for mastication. But their —
true canine character, as Owen remarks, “is
indicated by the conical form of the crown, which termi- —
nates in an obtuse point, is convex outward and flat or ©
sub-concave within, at the base of which surface there is {
a feeble prominence. The conical form is best expressed

*

te Ss lente wary aneyte sr een meme nye

DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 159

_ Hiackel observes, with the canine teeth projecting consid-
erably beyond the others in the same manner as in the
_ anthropomorphous apes, but in a less degree. In these
cases, open spaces between the teeth in the one jaw are
left for the reception of the canines of the opposite jaw.
An interspace of this kind in a Caffre skull, figured by
Wagner, is surprisingly wide. Considering how few are
the ancient skulls which have been examined, compared
to recent skulls, it is an interesting fact that in at least
_ three cases the canines project largely ; and in the Nau-
_ lette jaw they are spoken of as enormous.
_. Of the anthropomorphous apes the males alone have
_ their canines fully developed ; but in the female gorilla,
and in a less degree in the female orang, these teeth pro-
| ject considerably beyond the others : therefore the fact,
_ of which I have been assured, that women sometimes
_ have considerably projecting canines, is no serious objec-
tion to the belief that their occasional great development
_ in man is a case of reversion to an ape-like progenitor.
_ He who rejects with scorn the belief that the shape of his
_ own canines and their occasional great development in
_ other men are due to our early forefathers having been
_ provided with these formidable weapons, will probably
_ reyeal, by sneering, the line of his descent. For, though
he no longer intends, nor has the power, to use these
_ teeth as weapons, he will unconsciously retract his “‘ snarl-
- ing muscles” (thus named by Sir C. Bell), so as to expose
_ them ready for action, like a dog prepared to fight.”
_ Many muscles are occasionally developed in man,
which are proper to the Quadrumana or other mammals.
Professor Vlacovich examined forty male subjects, and
_ found a muscle, called by him the ischio-pubic, in nine-
teen of them ; in three others there was a ligament which
_ represented this muscle; and in the remaining eighteen

160 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

no trace of it. In only two out of thirty female subjects
was this muscle developed on both sides, but in three
others the rudimentary ligament was present. This
muscle, therefore, appears to be much more common in
the male than in the female sex ; and on the belief in the
descent of man from some lower form the fact is intelli-
gible ; for it has been detected in several of the lower —
animals, and in all of these it serves exclusively to aid the
male in the act of reproduction.

That this unknown factor is reversion to a
former state of existence may be admitted as
in the highest degree probable. It is quite incredible that —
a man should through mere accident abnormally resemble
certain apes in no less than seven of his muscles, if there
had been no genetic connection between them. On the
other hand, if man is descended from some ape-like crea-
ture, no valid reason can be assigned why certain muscles
should not suddenly reappear after an interval of many
thousand generations, in the same manner as with horses,
asses, and mules, dark-colored stripes suddenly reappear
on the legs and shoulders, after an interval of hundreds,
or more probably of thousands, of generations.

Page 43.

REVERSION IN THE HUMAN FAMILY.

Animals and When the child resembles either grand-
Plants, Vol. parent more closely than its immediate parents,
H, page |. our attention is not much arrested, though in
truth the fact is highly remarkable ; but when the child
resembles some remote ancestor or some distant member
in a collateral line—and in the last case we must attribute
this to the descent of all the members from a common
progenitor—we feel a just degree of astonishment. When ~

DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 161

_ one parent alone displays some newly-acquired and gener-
ally inheritable character, and the offspring do not in-
herit it, the cause may lie in the other parent having the
_ power of prepotent transmission. But when both parents
"are similarly characterized, and the child does not, what-
| ever the cause may be, inherit the character in question,
| but resembles its grandparents, we have one of the sim-
cases of reversion. We continually see another
- and even more simple case of atavism, though not gen-
erally included under this head, namely, when the son
more closely resembles his maternal than his paternal
_ grandsire in some male attribute, as in any peculiarity in
t the beard of man, the horns of the bull, the hackles or
i comb of the cock, or, as in certain diseases necessarily
_ confined to the male sex ; for, as the mother can not pos-
_ sess or exhibit such male attributes, the child must in-
herit them, through her blood, from his maternal grand-

The cases of reversion may be divided into two main
sses, which, however, in some instances, blend into one
_ another ; namely, first, those occurring in a variety or race
_ which has not been crossed, but has lost by variation some
character that it formerly possessed, and which afterward
reappears. The second class includes all cases in which
a individual with some distinguishable character, a race,
or species, has at some former period been crossed, and
charactor derived from this cross, after having disap-
peared during one or several generations, suddenly reap-

. Pb ise 21. From these facts we may perhaps infer that
<2 the degraded state of so many half-castes is in
part due to reversion to a primitive and savage condition,

duced by the act of crossing, even if mainly due to the

162 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

unfavorable moral conditions under which they are gener-
ally reared. ;

~

PREPOTENCE IN THE TRANSMISSION OF CHARACTER,

‘Knimals and When individuals, belonging to the same
Plants, Vol. family, but distinct enough to be recognized,
Il, page 49. Gy when two well-marked races, or two spe-
cies, are crossed, the usual result, as stated in the pre-
vious chapter, is, that the offspring in the first genera-
tion are intermediate between their parents, or resemble
one parent in one part and the other parent in another
part. But this is by no means the invariable rule, for in
many cases it is found that certain individuals, races, and
species, are prepotent in transmitting their likeness. This
subject has been ably discussed by Prosper Lucas, but is
rendered extremely complex by the prepotency sometimes —
running equally in both sexes, and sometimes more
strongly in one sex than in the other ; it is likewise com-_
plicated by the presence of secondary sexual characters,
which render the comparison of crossed breeds with their
parents difficult.

It would appear that in certain families some one an-
cestor, and after him others in the same family, have had
great power in transmitting their likeness through the -
male line ; for we can not otherwise understand how the
same features should so often be transmitted after mar-_
riages with many females, as in the case of the Austrian —
emperors ; and so it was, according to Niebuhr, with the
mental qualities of certain Roman families. The famous
bull Favorite is believed to have had a prepotent influ-—
ence on the short-horn race. It has also been observed
with English race-horses that certain mares have generally
transmitted their own character, while other mares of

e

DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 163

equally pure blood have allowed the character of the sire
to prevail. A famous black greyhound, Bedlamite, as I
_ hear from Mr. C. M. Brown, “invariably got all his pup-
pies black, no matter what was the color of the bitch” ;
but then Bedlamite “‘had a preponderance of black in
his blood, both on the sire and dam side.”

elie OES oh ae

re Hans at Ste

NATURAL SELECTION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MAN.

4 eRe Man in the rudest state in which he now
__ of Man, exists is the most dominant animal that has
| Page 48. ever appeared on this earth. He has spread
| more widely than any other highly organized form ; and
| all others have yielded before him. He manifestly owes
_ this immense superiority to his intellectual faculties, to
his social habits, which lead him to aid and defend his
fellows, and to his corporeal structure. The supreme
_ importance of these characters has been proved by the
final arbitrament of the battle for life. Through his
_ powers of intellect, articulate language has been evolved ;
and on this his wonderful advancement has mainly de-
| pended. As Mr. Chauncey Wright remarks: ‘‘ A psy-
_ chological analysis of the faculty of language shows that
_ eyen the smallest proficiency in it might require more

_ brain-power than the greatest proficiency in any other
direction.” He has invented and is able to use various
' weapons, tools, traps, etc., with which he defends him-
self, kills or catches prey, and otherwise obtains food.
_ He has made rafts or canoes for fishing or crossing over to
_ neighboring fertile islands. He has discovered the art of

_ making fire, by which hard and stringy roots can be ren-
dered digestible, and poisonous roots or herbs innocuous.
_ This discovery of fire, probably the greatest ever made by
_ man, excepting language, dates from before the dawn of

164 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN IIIMSELF.

history. These several inventions, by which man in the ©
rudest state has become so pre-eminent, are the direct
results of the development of his powers of observation, —
memory, curosity, imagination, and reason.

Archeologists are convinced that an enor-
mous interval of time elapsed before our an-
cestors thought of grinding chipped flints into smooth
tools. One can hardly doubt that a man-like animal
who possessed a hand and arm sufficiently perfect to
throw a stone with precision, or to form a flint into a
rude tool, could, with sufficient practice, as far as me-
chanical skill alone is concerned, make almost anything —
which a civilized man can make. The structure of the
hand in this respect may be compared with that of the
vocal organs, which in the apes are used for uttering
various signal-cries, or, as in one genus, musical cadences ;
but in man the closely similar vocal organs haye become ~
adapted through the inherited effects of use for the utter-
ance of articulate language.

Turning now to the nearest allies of men, and there-
fore to the best representatives of our early progenitors,
we find that the hands of the Quadrwmana are constructed
on the same general- pattern as our own, but are far less
perfectly adapted for diversified uses. ‘Their hands do
not serve for locomotion so well as the feet of a dog; as
may be seen in such monkeys as the chimpanzee and
orang, which walk on the outer margins of the palms, or
on the knuckles. Their hands, however, are admirably
adapted for climbing trees. Monkeys seize thin branches
or ropes, with the thumb on one side and the fingers and
palm on the other, in the same manner as we do. They —
can thus also lift rather large objects, such as the neck of —
a bottle, to their mouths. Baboons turn over stones and

Page 50.

DESDENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 165

_ seratch up roots with their hands. They seize nuts, in-
_ sects, or other small objects with the thumb in opposition
to the fingers, and no doubt they thus extract eggs and
_ the young from the nests of birds). American monkeys
_ beat the wild oranges on the branches until the rind is
cracked, and then tear it off with the fingers of the two
_ hands. In a wild state they break open hard fruits with
_ stones. Other monkeys open mussel-shells with the two
thumbs. With their fingers they pull out thorns and
_ burs, and hunt for each other’s parasites. They roll
_ down stones, or throw them at their enemies ; neverthe-
less, they are clumsy in these various actions, and, as I
have myself seen, are quite unable to throw a stone with
precision.

HOW MAN BECAME UPRIGHT.

Ss Déacent Tf it be an advantage to man to stand firm-
| of Man, ly on his feet and to have his hands and arms
Page 52. —_—‘free, of which, from his pre-eminent successin /’
_ the battle of life, there can be no doubt, then I can see

_ no reason why it should not have been advantageous to
_ the progenitors of man to have become more and more

_ erect or bipedal. They would thus have been better able

_ to defend themselves with stones or clubs, to attack their

_ prey, or otherwise to obtain food. The best built indi- |
yiduals would in the long run have succeeded best, and

_ have survived in larger numbers. If the gorilla and a few
allied forms had become extinct, it might have been ar-

_ gued, with great force and apparent truth, that an ani-
mal could not have been gradually converted from a

_ quadruped into a biped, as all the individuals in an inter-

_ mediate condition would have been miserably ill-fitted

_ for progression. But we know (and this is well worthy

—

166 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

of reflection) that the anthropomorphous apes are now

actually in an intermediate condition ; and no one doubts

that they are on the whole well adapted for their condi-
tions of life. Thus the gorilla runs with a sidelong,
shambling gait, but more commonly progresses by resting
on its bent hands. ‘The long-armed apes occasionally use
their arms like crutches, swinging their bodies forward
between them, and some kinds of Hylobates, without
having been taught, can walk or run upright with toler-
able quickness ; yet they move awkwardly, and much less
securely than man. We see, in short, in existing monk-
eys a manner of progression intermediate between that
of a quadruped and a biped; but, as an unprejudiced
judge insists, the anthropomorphous apes approach in
structure more nearly to the bipedal than to the quad-
rupedal type.

As the progenitors of man became more and more
erect, with their hands and arms more and more modified
for prehension and other purposes, with their feet and legs
at the same time transformed for firm support and pro-
gression, endless other changes of structure would have
become necessary. The pelvis would have to be broad-
ened, the spine peculiarly curved, and the head fixed in
an altered position, all which changes have been attained
by man.

The free use of the arms and hands, partly
the cause and partly the result of man’s erect
position, appears to have led in an indirect manner to
other modifications of structure. The early male fore-
fathers of man were, as previously stated, probably fur-
nished with great canine teeth; but, as they gradually
acquired the habit of using stones, clubs, or other weap-
ons, for fighting with their enemies or rivals, they would

Page 53.

DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 167

_ use their jaws and teeth less and less. In this case, the
jaws, together with the teeth, would become reduced in
size, as we may feel almost sure from innumerable analo-
gous cases.

THE BRAIN ENLARGES AS THE MENTAL FACULTIES
DEVELOP.

D As the various mental faculties gradually
of Man, developed themselves the brain would almost
_ Page 54. — certainly become larger. No one, I presume,
doubts that the large proportion which the size of man’s
brain bears to his body, compared to the same proportion
in the gorilla or orang, is closely connected with his
higher mental powers. We meet with closely analogous
facts with insects, for in ants the cerebral ganglia are of
extraordinary dimensions, and in all the Hymenoptera
these ganglia are many times larger than in‘the less in-
telligent orders, such as beetles. On the other hand, no
one supposes that the intellect of any two animals or of
any two men can be accurately gauged by the cubic con-
tents of their skulls. It is certain that there may be
extraordinary mental activity with an extremely small
absolute mass of nervous matter: thus the wonderfully
diversified instincts, mental powers, and affections of ants
are notorious, yet their cerebral ganglia are not so large
‘as the quarter of a small pin’s head. Under this point of
view, the brain of an ant is one of the most marvelous
atoms of matter in the world, perhaps more so than the
brain of a man.

Page 65, _ ‘The gradually increasing weight of the
2 brain and skull in man must have influenced
_ the development of the supporting spinal column, more

168 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

especially while he was becoming erect. As this change
of position was being brought about, the internal pressure
of the brain will also have influenced the form of the
skull ; for many facts show how easily the skull is thus
affected. Ethnologists believe that it is modified by the
kind of cradle in which infants sleep. Habitual spasms
of the muscles and a cicatrix from a severe burn have
permanently modified the facial bones. In young persons
whose heads have become fixed either sideways or back-
ward, owing to disease, one of the two eyes has changed
its position, and the shape of the skull has been altered
apparently by the pressure of the brain in a new direction.
I have shown that with long-eared rabbits even so trifling
a cause as the lopping forward of one ear drags forward
almost every bone of the skull on that side; so that the
bones on the opposite side no longer strictly correspond.
Lastly, if any animal were to increase or diminish much
in general size, without any change in its mental powers,
or if the mental powers were to be much increased or
diminished, without any great change in the size of the
body, the shape of the skull would almost certainly be
altered. I infer this from my observations on domestic
rabbits, some kinds of which have become very much
larger than the wild animal, while others haye retained
nearly the same size, but in both cases the brain has been
much reduced relatively to the size of the body. Now, I
was at first much surprised on finding that in all these
rabbits the skull had become elongated or dolichocepha-
lic ; for instance, of two skulls of nearly equal breadth,
the one from a wild rabbit and the other from a large
domestic kind, the former was 3°15 and the latter 4°3
inches in length. One of the most marked distinctions
in different races of men is that the skull in some is elon-

*

ve — a

gated, and in others rounded ; and here the explanations =

DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 169

suggested by the case of the rabbits may hold good ; for
_ Welcker finds that short “‘men incline more to brachy-
_ cephaly, and tall men to dolichocephaly” ; and tall men
_ may be compared with the larger and longer-bodied rab-
bits, all of which have elongated skulls, or are dolicho-
cephalic.

From these several facts we can understand, to a cer-
tain extent, the means by which the great size and more
or less rounded form of the skull have been acquired by
man ; and these are characters eminently distinctive of
him in comparison with the lower animals.

NAKEDNESS OF THE SKIN.

ae Another most conspicuous difference be-
of Man, tween man and the lower animals is the
_ Page 56. = nakedness of the skin. Whales and porpoises
_ (Cetacea), dugongs (Sirenia), and the hippopotamus are
"naked ; and this may be advantageous to them for gliding

through the water; nor would it be injurious to them
from the loss of warmth, as the species, which inhabit the
colder regions, are protected by a thick layer of blubber,
serving the same purpose as the fur of seals and otters.
Elephants and rhinoceroses are almost hairless ; and, as
certain extinct species, which formerly lived under an
Arctic climate, were covered with long wool or hair, it
would almost appear as if the existing species of both
_ genera had lost their hairy covering from exposure to
heat. This appears the more probable, as the elephants
in India, which live on elevated and cool districts, are
more hairy than those on the lowlands. May we then
infer that man became divested of hair from having abo-
riginally inhabited some tropical land? That the hair
is chiefly retained in the male sex on the chest and face,

170 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

and in both sexes at the junction of all four limbs with
the trunk, favors this inference—on the assumption that
the hair was lost before man became erect ; for the parts
which now retain most hair would then have been most
protected from the heat of the sun. The crown of the
head, however, offers a curious exception, for at all times
it must have been one of the most exposed parts, yet it is
thickly clothed with hair. The fact, however, that the
other members of the order of Primates, to which man
belongs, although inhabiting various hot regions, are well
clothed with hair, generally thickest on the upper sur-
face, is opposed to the supposition that man became naked
through the action of the sun.

Descent © +L he different races differ much in hairiness ;
of aan, and in the individuals of the same race the
page 18.

hairs are highly variable, not only in abun-
dance, but likewise in position: thus in some Europeans
the shoulders are quite naked, while in others they bear
thick tufts of hair. There can be little doubt that the
hairs thus scattered over the body are the rudiments of
the uniform hairy coat of the lower animals. This view
is rendered all the more probable, as it is known that
the fine, short, and pale-colored hairs on the limbs and
other parts of the body occasionally become developed
into *‘thick-set, long, and rather coarse dark hairs,”
when abnormally nourished near old-standing inflamed
surfaces.

Iam informed by Sir James Paget that often several
members of a family have a few hairs in their eyebrows
much longer than the others; so that even this slight
peculiarity seems to be inherited. These hairs, too, seem
to have their representatives ; for in the chimpanzee, and
in certain species of Macacus, there are scattered hairs of

a

eo eS ee ee ee

Pee nd

DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 171

onsiderable length rising from the naked skin above the
_ eyes, and corresponding to our eyebrows; similar long
hairs project from the hairy covering of the superciliary
ges in some baboons.

IS MAN THE MOST HELPLESS OF THE ANIMALS ?

. It has often been objected to such views as
of Man, the foregoing, that man is one of the most
» Page 63. helpless and defenseless creatures in the world ;
and that during his early and less well-developed condi-
tion he would have been still more helpless. The Duke
of Argyll, for instance, insists that “‘the human frame
_has diverged from the structure of brutes, in the direction
of greater physical helplessness and weakness. That is
to say, it is a divergence which of all others it is most
impossible to ascribe to mere natural selection.” He ad-
duces the. naked and unprotected state of the body, the
absence of great teeth or claws for defense, the small
strength and speed of man, and his slight power of dis-
covering food or of avoiding danger by smell. To these
deficiencies there might be added one still more serious,
namely, that he can not climb quickly, and so escape from
enemies. The loss of hair would not have been a great
injury to the inhabitants of a warm country. For we
know that the unclothed Fuegians can exist under a
wretched climate. When we compare the defenseless
state of man with that of apes, we must remember that
the great canine teeth with which the latter are provided
are possessed in their full development by the males alone,
_and are chiefly used by them for fighting with their rivals ;
_ yet the females, which are not thus provided, manage to
survive.
_ In regard to bodily size or strength, we do not know

172 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF,

whether man is descended from some small species, like
the chimpanzee, or from one as powerful as the gorilla ;
and, therefore, we can not say whether man has become
larger and stronger, or smaller and weaker, than his

ancestors. We should, however, bear in mind that an —

animal possessing great size, strength, and ferocity, and
which, like the gorilla, could defend itself from all ene-
mies, would not perhaps have become social; and this
would most effectually have checked the acquirement of
the higher mental qualities—such as sympathy and the
love of his fellows. Hence it might have been an im-
mense advantage to man to have sprung from some com-
paratively weak creature.

The small strength and speed of man, his want of
natural weapons, etc., are more than counterbalanced,
firstly, by his intellectual powers, through which he has
formed for himself weapons, tools, etc., though still re-
maining in a barbarous state, and, secondly, by his social
qualities, which lead him to give and receive aid from his
fellow-men. Nocountry in the world abounds in a greater
degree with dangerous beasts than Southern Africa ; no
country presents more fearful physical hardships than the
Arctic regions; yet one of the puniest of races, that of
the Bushmen, maintains itself in Southern Africa, as do
the dwarfed Esquimaux in the Arctic regions. The an-
cestors of man were, no doubt, inferior in intellect, and
probably in social disposition, to the lowest existing say-
ages; but it is quite conceivable that they might have
existed, or even flourished, if they had advanced in intel-
lect, while gradually losing their brute-like powers, such
as that of climbing trees, etc. But these ancestors would
not have been exposed to any special danger, even if far
more helpless and defenseless than any existing savages,
had they inhabited some warm continent or large island,

DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 173

such as Australia, New Guinea, or Borneo, which is now
the home of the orang. And natural selection arising
from the competition of tribe with tribe, in some such

ree area as one of these, together with the inherited
effects of habit, would, under favorable conditions, have
mfficed to raise man to his present high position in the

VIL.

MENTAL POWERS OF MAN AND THE LOWER
ANIMALS COMPARED.

Tinian’ No doubt the difference in this respect is
of Man, enormous, even if we compare the mind of one —
~-*- of the lowest savages, who has no words to
express any number higher than four, and who uses
hardly any abstract terms for common objects or for the
affections, with that of the most highly organized ape.
The difference would, no doubt, still remain immense,
even if one of the higher apes had been improved or ciy-
ilized as much as a dog has been in comparison with its
parent-form, the wolf or jackal. The Fuegians rank
among the lowest barbarians; but I was continually
struck with surprise how closely the three natives on
board H. M. 8. Beagle, who had lived some years in Eng-
land, and could talk a little English, resembled us in dis-
position and in most of our mental faculties. If no
organic being excepting man had possessed any mental —
power, or if his powers had been of a wholly different
nature from those of the lower animals, then we should
never have been able to convince ourselves that our high
faculties had been gradually developed. But it can be —
shown that there is no fundamental difference of this
kind. We must also admit that there isa much wider —

MENTAL POWERS OF MAN AND LOWER ANIMALS. 175

interval in mental power between one of the lowest fishes,
' asa lamprey or lancelet, and one of the higher apes than
between an ape and man ; yet this interval is filled up by
_ numberless gradations.
' Nor is the difference slight in moral disposition be-
tween a barbarian, such as the man described by the old
| navigator Byron, who dashed his child on the rocks for
dropping a basket of sea-urchins, and a Howard or Clark-
' son ; and in intellect between a savage, who uses hardly
' any abstract terms, and a Newton or Shakespeare. Dif-
ferences of this kind between the highest men of the
highest races and the lowest savages, are connected by
_the finest gradations. Therefore it is possible that they
might pass and be developed into each other.

Page 66 In what manner the mental powers were |

* first developed in the lowest organisms is as |
hopeless an inquiry as how life itself first originated. |
These are problems for the distant future, if they are ever |
to be solved by man.

FUNDAMENTAL INTUITIONS THE SAME IN MAN AND
; THE OTHER ANIMALS.

Page 66. As man possesses the same senses as the

lower animals, his fundamental intuitions must
be the same. Man has also some few instincts in com-
mon, as that of self-preservation, sexual love, the love of
the mother for her new-born offspring, the desire pos-
sessed by the latter to suck, and so forth. But man, per-
_ haps, has somewhat fewer instincts than those possessed
‘by the animals which come next to him in the series.
‘The orang in the Eastern islands and the chimpanzee in

176 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

Africa build platforms on which they sleep ; and, as both
species follow the same habit, it might be argued that
this was due to instinct, but we can not feel sure that it
is not the result of both animals having similar wants,
and possessing similar powers of reasoning. ‘These apes, —
as we may assume, avoid the many poisonous fruits of the
tropics, and man has no such knowledge: but, as our do-
mestic animals, when taken to foreign lands, and when
first turned out in the spring, often eat poisonous herbs,
which they afterward avoid, we can not feel sure that
the apes do not learn from their own experience or from —
that of their parents what fruits to select. It is, how-
ever, certain, as we shall presently see, that apes have an
instinctive dread of serpents, and probably of other dan- —
gerous animals.

The fewness and the comparative sinealbnily of the
instincts in the higher animals are remarkable in contrast —
with those of the lower animals. Cuvier maintained that
instinct and intelligence stand in an adverse ratio to each
other ; and some have thought that the intellectual facul-
ties of the higher animals have been gradually developed —
from their instincts. But Pouchet, in an interesting
essay, has shown that no such inverse ratio really exists.
Those insects which possess the most wonderful instincts
are certainly the most intelligent, In the vertebrate —
series, the least intelligent members, namely, fishes and
amphibians, do not possess complex instincts ; and among —
mammals the animal most remarkable for its instincts, —
namely, the beaver, is highly intelligent, as will be ad- —
mitted by every one who has read Mr. ‘Morgan’ s excellent
work.

MENTAL POWERS OF MAN AND LOWER ANIMALS. 177

7 MAN AND THE LOWER ANIMALS EXCITED BY THE SAME
EMOTIONS.

Page 69. The fact that the lower animals are excited
t by the same emotions as ourselves is so well
’ established that it will not be necessary to weary the
_ reader by many details. Terror acts in the same manner
on them as on us, causing the muscles to tremble, the
| heart to palpitate, the sphincters to be relaxed, and the
' hair to stand on end. Suspicion, the offspring of fear,
_ is eminently characteristic of most wild animals. It is, I
_ think, impossible to read the account given by Sir E.
Tennent, of the behavior of the female elephants, used
as decoys, without admitting that they intentionally prac-
tice deceit, and well know what they are about. Courage
and timidity are extremely variable qualities in the indi-
_yiduals of the same species, as is plainly seen in our dogs.
Some dogs and horses are ill-tempered, and easily turn ‘ i
sulky ; others are good-tempered ; and these qualities are \
certainly inherited. Every one knows how liable animals
are to furious rage, and how plainly they show it. Many,
and probably true, anecdotes have been published on the
long-delayed and artful revenge of various animals. The
accurate Rengger and Brehm state that the American
and African monkeys which they kept tame certainly
reyenged themselves. Sir Andrew Smith, a zodlogist
whose scrupulous accuracy was known to many persons,
told me the following story of which he was himself an
eye-witness: At the Cape of Good Hope an officer had
often plagued a certain baboon, and the animal, seeing
_him approaching one Sunday for parade, poured water
_ into a hole and hastily made some thick mud, which he
skillfully dashed over the officer as he passed by, to the
amusement of many by-standers. For long afterward
7 9

178 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

the baboon rejoiced and triumphed whenever he saw his
victim.

The love of a dog for his master is noto-
rious; as an old writer quaintly says, ‘“‘A
dog is the only thing on this earth that luvs you more
than he luys himself.”

In the agony of death a dog has been known to caress
his master, and every one has heard of the dog suffering
under vivisection, who licked the hand of the operator ;
this man, unless the operation was fully justified by an

Page 70.

increase of our knowledge, or unless he had a heart of

stone, must have felt remorse to the last hour of his life.

Most of the more complex emotions are
common to the higher animals and ourselves.
Every one has seen how jealous a dog is of his master’s
affection, if lavished on any other creature ; and I have
observed the same fact with monkeys. This shows that
animals not only love, but have desire to be loved. Ani-

Page 71.

mals manifestly feel emulation. ‘They love approbation —
or praise ; and a dog carrying a basket for his master ex- —

hibits in a high degree self-complacency or pride. There
can, I think, be no doubt that a dog feels shame, as dis-

tinct from fear, and something very like modesty when —

begging too often for food. A great dog scorns the snarl-
ing of a little dog, and this may be called magnanimity.

Several observers have stated that monkeys certainly dis-

like being laughed at ; and they sometimes invent imagi- _
nary offenses. In the Zodlogical Gardens I saw a baboon ~
who always got into a furious rage when his keeper took —
out a letter or book and read it aloud to him; and his ©

rage was so violent that, as I witnessed on one occasion,
he bit his own leg till the blood flowed.

4

MENTAL POWERS OF MAN AND LOWER ANIMALS. 179

All animals feel wonder, and many exhibit curiosity.
| They sometimes suffer from this latter quality, as when
_ the hunter plays antics and thus attracts them ; I have

| witnessed this with deer, and so it is with the wary cha-

mois, and with some kinds of wild-ducks. Brehm gives
a curious account of the instinctive dread which his
monkeys exhibited for snakes ; but their curiosity was so
great that they could not desist from occasionally satiat-
| ing their horror in a most human fashion, by lifting up
| the lid of the box in which the snakes were kept. I was

' so much surprised at his account, that I took a stuffed

and coiled-up snake into the monkey-house at the Zoé-
logical Gardens, and the excitement thus caused was one
of the most curious spectacles which I ever beheld.

ALL ANIMALS POSSESS SOME POWER OF REASONING.

Page 1. Of all the faculties of the human mind,

it will, I presume, be admitted that reason
stands at the summit. Only a few persons now dispute
that animals possess some power of reasoning. Animals
may constantly be seen to pause, deliberate, and resolve.
It is a significant fact that the more the habits of any
_ particular animal are studied by a naturalist, the more
he attributes to reason and the less to unlearned instincts.
In future chapters we shall see that some animals ex-
tremely low in the scale apparently display a certain
amount of reason. No doubt it is often difficult to dis-
tinguish between the power of reason and that of instinct.
For instance, Dr. Hayes, in his work on ‘The Open
Polar Sea,” repeatedly remarks that his dogs, instead of
- continuing to draw the sledges in a compact body, di-
verged and separated when they came to thin ice, so that
_ their weight might be more evenly distributed. This

180 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

was often the first warning which the travelers received
that the ice was becoming thin and dangerous. Now,
did the dogs act thus from the experience of each indi-
vidual, or from the example of the older and wiser dogs,
or from an inherited habit, that is, from instinct ? This
instinct may possibly have arisen since the time, long
ago, when dogs were first employed by the natives in
drawing their sledges; or the Arctic wolves, the’ parent-
stock of the Esquimau dog, may have acquired an in-
stinct, impelling them not to attack their prey in a close
pack, when on thin ice.

Archbishop Sumner formerly maintained
that man alone is capable of progressive im-
provement. That he is capable of incomparably greater
and more rapid improvement than is any other animal,
admits of no dispute ; and this is mainly due to his power
of speaking and handing down his acquired knowledge.
With animals, looking first to the individual, every one
who has had any experience in setting traps knows that
young animals can be caught much more easily than old
ones; and they can be much more easily approached by
anenemy. Even with respect to old animals, it is im-
possible to catch many in the same place and in the same
kind of trap, or to destroy them by the same kind of
poison ; yet it is improbable that all should have partaken
of the poison, and impossible that all should have been
caught in a trap. They must learn caution by seeing
their brethren caught or poisoned.

Page 79

Our domestic dogs are’ descended from
wolves and jackals, and though they may not
have gained in cunning, and may have lost in wariness
and suspicion, yet they have progressed in certain moral

Page 80.

MENTAL POWERS OF MAN AND LOWER ANIMALS. 18]

qualities, such as in affection, trustworthiness, temper,
and probably in general intelligence.

-

THE POWER OF ASSOCIATION IN DOG AND SAVAGE.

seisent The savage and the dog have often found
of Man, water at a low level, and the coincidence under
page 77. such circumstances has become associated in
their minds. A cultivated man would perhaps make
some general proposition on the subject; but from all
that we know of savages it is extremely doubtful whether
they would do so, and a dog certainly would not. Buta
savage, as well as a dog, would search in the same way,
though frequently disappointed ; and in both it seems to
be equally an act of reason, whether or not any general
proposition on the subject isconsciously placed before the
mind. The same would apply to the elephant and the
bear making currents in the air or water. The savage
would certainly neither know nor care by what law the
desired movements were effected ; yet his act would be
guided by a rude process of reasoning, as surely as would
a philosopher in his longest chain-of deductions. There
would no doubt be this difference between him and one
of the higher animals, that he would take notice of much
slighter circumstances and conditions, and would observe
any connection between them after much less experience,
and this would be of paramount importance. I kepta
daily record of the actions of one of my infants, and
when he was about eleven months old, and before he
- could speak a single word, I was continually struck with
the greater quickness with which all sorts of objects and
sounds were associated together in his mind, compared
_ with that of the most intelligent dogs I ever knew. But
the higher animals differ in exactly the same way in this

182 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF,

power of association from those low in the scale, such as
the pike, as well as in that of drawing inferences and of
observation.

THE LOWER ANIMALS PROGRESS IN INTELLIGENCE.

To maintain, independently of any direct
evidence, that no animal during-the course of
ages has progressed in intellect or other mental faculties,
is to beg the question of the evolution of species. ° We
have seen that, according to Lartet, existing mammals
belonging to several orders have larger brains than their
ancient tertiary prototypes.

It has often been said that no animal uses any tool ;
but the chimpanzee, in a state of nature, cracks a native
fruit, somewhat like a walnut, with a stone. Rengger
easily taught an American monkey thus to break open
hard palm-nuts ; and afterward, of its own accord, it used
stones to open other kinds of nuts, as well.as boxes. It
thus also removed the soft rind of fruit that had a dis-
agreeable flavor. Another monkey was-taught.to open
the lid of a large box with a stick, and afterward it used
the stick as a lever to move heavy bodies ; and I have my-
self seen a young orang put astick into a crevice, slip
his hand to the other end, and use it in the proper man-
ner as a lever. The tamed elephants in India are well
known to break off branches of trees and use them to
drive away the flies ; and this same act has been observed
in an elephant in a state of nature.

Page 81.

The Duke of Argyll remarks that the fash-
ioning of ‘an’ implement for a special purpose
is absolutely peculiar to man ; and he considers that this
forms an immeasurable gulf between him and the brutes.

Page 82.

MENTAL POWERS OF MAN AND LOWER ANIMALS. 183

This is no doubt a very important distinction ; but there
_ appears to me much truth in Sir J. Lubbock’s suggestion
that, when primeval man first used flint-stones for any
purpose, he would have accidentally splintered them, and
would then have used the sharp fragments. From this
step it would be a small one to break the flints on pur-
_ pose, and not avery wide step to fashion them rudely.
This latter advance, however, may have taken long ages,
if we may judge by the immense interval of time which
elapsed before the men of the neolithic period took to
grinding and polishing their stone tools. In breaking
the flints, as Sir J. Lubbock likewise remarks, sparks
would have been emitted, and in grinding them heat
would have been evolved ; thus the two usual methods of
“‘ obtaining fire may have originated.” The nature of fire
would have been known in the many volcanic regions
where lava occasionally flows through forests.

THE POWER OF ABSTRACTION.

Page 83. If one may judge from various articles
which have been published lately, the greatest
| stress seems to be laid on the supposed entire absence in
| animals of the power of abstraction, or of forming gen-
_ eral concepts. But when a dog sees another dog at a dis-
tance, it is often clear that he perceives that it is adog in
_ the abstract ; for when he gets nearer his whole manner
suddenly changes, if the other dog be a friend. A recent
writer remarks that in all such cases it is a pure assump-
tion to assert that the mental act is not essentially of the
_ same nature in the animal as in man. If either refers
_ what he perceives with his senses to a mental concept,
_ then so do both. When I say to my terrier, in an eager
_ yoice (and I have made the trial many times), “‘ Hi, hi,

184 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

where is it?” she at once takes it asa sign that some-
thing is to be hunted, and generally first looks quickly
all around, and then rushes into the nearest thicket, to
scent for any game, but, finding nothing, she looks up
into any neighboring tree for a squirrel. Now, do not
these actions clearly show that she had in her mind a gen-
eral idea or concept that some animal is to be discovered
and hunted ?

It may be freely admitted that no animal is self-con-
scious, if by this term it is implied that he reflects on
such points as whence he comes or whither he will go, or
what is life and death, and so forth. But how can we
feel sure that an old dog with an excellent memory and
some power of imagination, as shown by his dreams,
never reflects on his past pleasures or pains in the chase ?
And this would be a form of self-consciousness. On the
other hand, as Biichner has remarked, how little can the
hard-worked wife of a degraded Australian savage, who
uses very few abstract words, and can not count above
four, exert her self-consciousness, or reflect on the nature
of her own existence! It is generally admitted that the
higher animals possess memory, attention, association,
and even some imagination and reason. If these powers,
which differ much in different animals, are capable of
improvement, there seems no great improbability in more
complex faculties, such as the higher forms of abstraction,
and self-consciousness, etc., having been evolved through
the development and combination of the simpler ones.
It has been urged against the views here maintained that
it is impossiblé to say at what point in the ascending
scale animals become capable of abstraction, etc. ; but
who can say at what age this occurs in our young chil-
dren? We see at least that such powers are developed in
children by imperceptible degrees.

gr

a we

si al.

MENTAL POWERS OF MAN AND LOWER ANIMALS. 185

THE EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE.

Page 84. This faculty (language) has justly been
ra considered as one of the chief distinctions be-
| tween man and the lower animals. But man, asa highly
_ competent judge, Archbishop Whately, remarks, ‘is not
_ the only animal that can make use of language to express
what is passing in his mind,andcan-understand, more
or less, what is so expressed by another.” In Paraguay

' the Cebus azare when excited utters at least six distinct

_ sounds, which excite in other monkeys similar emotions.
_ The movements of the features and gestures of monkeys
are understood by us, and they partly understand ours,
as Rengger and others declare. It is a more remarkable
fact that the dog, since being domesticated, has learned
to bark in at least four or five distinct tones. Although
barking is a new art, no doubt the wild parent-species of
the dog expressed their feelings by cries of various kinds.
With the domesticated dog we have the bark of eager-
ness, as in the chase ; that of anger, as well as growling;
the yelp or how] of despair, as when shut up ; the baying
at night; the bark of joy, as when starting on a walk
with his master ; and the very distinct one of demand or
supplication, as when wishing for a door or window to be
opened. According to Houzeau, who paid particular at-
tention to the subject, the domestic fowl utters at least a
dozen significant sounds.

The habitual use of articulate language is, however,
_ peculiar to man ; but he uses, in common with the lower
animals, inarticulate cries to express his meaning, aided
by gestures and the movements of the muscles of the
face. This especially holds good with the more simple
and vivid feelings, which are but little connected with
| our higher intelligence. Our cries of pain, fear, surprise,

186 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

anger, together with their appropriate actions, and the
murmur of a mother to her beloved child, are more ex-
pressive than any words. That which distinguishes man
from the lower animals is not the understanding of artic-
ulate sounds, for, as every one knows, dogs understand
many words and sentences. In this respect they are at
the same stage of development as infants, between the
ages of ten and twelve months, who understand many
words and short sentences, but can not yet utter a single
word. Itis not the mere articulation which is our distin-
guishing character, for parrots and other birds possess this
power. Nor is it the mere capacity of connecting definite
sounds with definite ideas; for it is certain that some
parrots, which have been taught to speak, connect unerr-
ingly words with things, and persons with events. The
lower animals differ from man solely in his almost infi-
nitely larger power of associating together the most diver-
sified sounds and ideas; and this obviously depends on
the high development of his mental powers.

As Horne Tooke, one of the founders of the noble
science of philology, observes, language is an art, like
brewing or baking ; but writing would have been a better
simile. It certainly is not a true instinct, for every lan-
guage has to be learned. It differs, however, widely from
all ordinary arts, for man has an instinctive tendency to
speak, as we see in the babble of our young children ;
while no child has an instinctive tendency to brew, bake,
or write. Moreover, no philologist now supposes that
any language has been deliberately invented ; it has been
slowly and unconsciously developed by many steps. The
sounds uttered by birds offer in several respects the near-
est analogy to language, for all the members of the same
species utter the same instinctive cries expressive of their
emotions ; and all the kinds which sing exert their power

MENTAL POWERS OF MAN AND LOWER ANIMALS. 187

instinctively ; but the actual song, and even the call-

_ notes, are learned from their parents or foster-parents.
_ ‘These sounds, as Daines Barrington has proved, ‘‘are no

more innate than language isin man.” The first attempts
to sing ‘‘may be compared to the imperfect endeavor in
a child to babble.” The young males continue practic-
ing, or, as the bird-catchers say, ‘‘ recording,” for ten or
eleven months. Their first essays show hardly a rudi-
ment of the future song; bnt as they grow older we can
perceive what they are aiming at; and at last they are
said ‘‘to sing their song round.” Nestlings which have
learned the song of a distinct species, as with the canary-
birds educated in the Tyrol, teach and transmit their new
song to their offspring. The slight natural differences of
song in the same species inhabiting different districts may
be appositely compared, as Barrington remarks, ‘‘ to pro-
vincial dialects” ; and the songs of allied though distinct
species may be compared with the languages of distinct
races of man. I have given the foregoing details to show
that an instinctive tendency to acquire an art is not pe-
culiar to man.

With respect to the origin of articulate language,
after having read on the one side the highly interesting
works of Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood, the Rev. F. Farrar,
and Professor Schleicher, and the celebrated lectures of
Professor Max Miiller on the other side, I can not doubt
that language owes its origin to the imitation and modifi-
cation of various natural sounds, the voices of other ani-
mals, and man’s own instinctive cries, aided by signs and

gestures.

It is, therefore, probable that the imitation
of musical cries by articulate sounds may have
given rise to words expressive of various complex emo-

Page 87.

188 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

tions. The strong tendency in our nearest allies, the
monkeys, in microcephalous idiots, and in the barbarous
races of mankind, to imitate whatever they hear, deserves
notice, as bearing on the subject of imitation. Since
monkeys certainly understand much that is said to them
by man, and, when wild, utter signal-cries of danger to
their fellows ; and since fowls give distinct warnings for
danger on the ground, or in the sky from hawks (both,
as well as a third cry, intelligible to dogs), may not some
unusually wise ape-like animal have imitated the growl
of a beast of prey, and thus told his fellow-monkeys the
nature of the expected danger? ‘This would have been
a first step in the formation of a language.

As the voice was used more and more, the vocal organs
would have been strengthened and perfected through the
principle of the inherited effects of use ; and this would
_ have reacted on the power of speech.

The fact of the higher apes not using their
vocal organs for speech no doubt depends on
their intelligence not having been sufficiently advanced.
The possession by them of organs, which with long-con-
tinued practice might have been used for speech, although
not thus used, is paralleled by the case of many birds
which possess organs fitted for singing, though they never
sing. Thus, the nightingale and crow have vocal organs
similarly constructed, these being used by the former for
diversified song, and by the latter only for croaking.

Page 89

DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGES AND SPECIES COMPARED.
Tascénk The formation of different languages and
of Man, of distinct species and the proofs that both
page 90. have been developed through a gradual pro-
cess are curiously parallel. But we can trace the forma-

MENTAL POWERS OF MAN AND LOWER ANIMALS. 189

tion of many words further back than that of species,
for we can perceive how they actually arose from the imi-
tation of various sounds. We find in distinct languages
striking homologies due to community of descent, and
analogies due to a similar process of formation. The
_ manner in which certain letters or sounds change when
others change is very like correlated growth. We have
in both cases the reduplication of parts, the effects of

_ long-continued use, and so forth. The frequent presence

_ of rudiments, both in languages and in species, is still
_ more remarkable. The letter m in the word am means
_ I; so that, in the expression J am, a superfluous and use-
_ less rudiment has been retained. In the spelling also of
words, letters often remain as the rudiments of ancient
forms of pronunciation. Languages, like organic beings,
can be classed in groups under groups; and they can be
classed either naturally according to descent, or artificially
_ by other characters. Dominant languages and dialects
_ spread widely, and lead to the gradual extinction of other
tongues. A language, like a species, when once extinct,

_ never, as Sir C. Lyell remarks, reappears. The same
_ language never has two birthplaces. Distinct languages

_ may be crossed or blended together. We see variability
in every tongue, and new words are continually cropping
up; but, as there is a limit to the powers of the memory,
single words, like whole languages, gradually become ex-
tinct. As Max Miiller has well remarked: ‘‘ A struggle
for life is constantly going on among the words and gram-
matical forms in each language. The better, the shorter,
the easier forms are constantly gaining the upper hand,
and they owe their success to their own inherent virtue.”
_ To these more important causes of the survival of certain
_ words, mere novelty and fashion may be added ; for there
_ isin the mind of man a strong love for slight changes

190 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

in all things. The survival or preservation of certain
fayored words in the struggle for existence is natural
selection. pees

The perfectly regular and wonderfully complex con-

struction of the languages of many barbarous nations has —

often been advanced as a proof, either of the divine ori-
gin of these languages, or of the high art and former

civilization of their founders. Thus F. von Schlegel

writes: ‘‘In those languages which appear to be at the
lowest grade of intellectual culture, we frequently ob-
serve a very high and elaborate degree of art in their
grammatical structure. This is especially the case with
the Basque and the Lapponian, and many of the Ameri-
can languages.” But it is assuredly an error to speak of
any language as an art, in the sense of its having been
elaborately and methodically formed. Philologists now
admit that conjugations, declensions, etc., originally ex-
isted as distinct words, since joined together ; and, as such
words express the most obvious relations between objects
and persons, it is not surprising that they should have
been used by the men of most races during the earliest
ages. With respect to perfection, the following illustra-
tion will best show how easily we may err: a crinoid
sometimes consists of no less than one hundred and fifty
thousand pieces of shell, all arranged with perfect sym-
metry in radiating lines; but a naturalist does not con-
sider an animal of this kind as more perfect than a bi-
lateral one with comparatively few parts, and with none
of these parts alike, excepting on the opposite sides of
the body. He justly considers the differentiation and
specialization of organs as the test of perfection. So with
languages ; the most symmetrical and complex ought not
to be ranked above irregular, abbreviated, and bastard-

ized languages.

MENTAL POWERS OF MAN AND LOWER ANIMALS. 191

THE SENSE OF BEAUTY.

Wasicent This sense has been declared to be peculiar
of Man, to man. I refer here only to the pleasure
_ Page 92. given by certain colors, forms, and sounds,
and which may fairly be called a sense of the beautiful ;
with cultivated men such sensations are, however, inti-
| mately associated with complex ideas and trains of
' thought. When we behold a male bird elaborately dis-
playing his graceful plumes or splendid colors before the

female, while other birds, not thus decorated, make no
such display, it is impossible to doubt that she admires
_ the beauty of her male partner. As women everywhere
_ deck themselves with these plumes, the beauty of such
_ ornaments can not be disputed. As we shall see later,
_ the nests of humming-birds and the playing passages of
_ bower-birds are tastefully ornamented with gayly-colored
_ objects ; and this shows that they must receive some kind
of pleasure from the sight of such things. With the
great majority of animals, however, the taste for the
beautiful is confined, as far as we can judge, to the at-
_tractions of the opposite sex. The sweet strains poured
forth by many male birds during the season of love are
certainly admired by the females, of which fact evidence
will hereafter be given. If female birds had been incapa-
ble of appreciating the beautiful colors, the ornaments,
| and voices of their male partners, all the labor and anx-

_ iety exhibited by the latter in displaying their charms
_ before the females would have been thrown away ; and
this it is impossible to admit. Why certain bright colors
should excite pleasure can not, I presume, be explained,
_ any more than why certain flavors and scents are agree-
_ able ; but habit has something to do with the result, for

192 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

that which is at first unpleasant to our senses, ultimately
becomes pleasant, and habits are inherited.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE EAR FOR MUSIC.

Dascsdk A critic has asked how the ears of man,
of Man, and he ought to have added of other animals,
page 68. could have been adapted by selection so as —
to distinguish musical notes. But this question shows
some confusion on the subject; a noise is the sensation
resulting from the co-existence of several aérial ‘‘ simple
vibrations” of various periods, each of which intermits
so frequently that its separate existence can not be per-
ceived. It is only in the want of continuity of such
vibrations, and in their want of harmony inter se, that a
noise differs from a musical note. Thus an ear to be
capable of discriminating noises—and the high impor-
tance of this power to all animals is admitted by every
one—must be sensitive to musical notes. We have evi-
dence of this capacity even low down in the animal scale ;
thus crustaceans are provided with auditory hairs of dif-
ferent lengths, which have been seen to vibrate when the
proper musical notes are struck. As stated in a previous
chapter, similar observations have been made on the hairs
of the antenne of gnats. It has been positively asserted
by good observers that spiders are attracted by music. It
is also well known that some dogs howl when hearing
particular tones. Seals apparently appreciate music, and
their fondness for it ‘‘ was well known to the ancients,
and is often taken advantage of by the hunters at the
present day.”

Therefore, as far as the mere perception of musical
notes is concerned, there seems no special difficulty in the
case of man or of any other animal.

MENTAL POWERS OF MAN AND LOWER ANIMALS. 193

But if it be further asked why musical tones in a
certain order and rhythm give man and other animals
pleasure, we can no more give the reason than for the
pleasantness of certain tastes and smells. That they do
give pleasure of some kind to animals we may infer from
their being produced during the season of courtship by
many insects, spiders, fishes, amphibians, and birds ; for,
unless the females were able to appreciate such sounds
and were excited or charmed by them, the persevering
efforts of the males and the complex structures often
possessed by them alone would be useless ; and this it is
impossible to believe.

Ix,

DEVELOPMENT OF THE MORAL SENSE.

Wenn’ I FULLY subscribe to the judgment of those
of Man, writers who maintain that, of all the differences
er: between man and the lower animals, the moral
sense or conscience is by far the most important. This
sense, as Mackintosh remarks, ‘‘ has a rightful supremacy
over every other principle of human action” ; itissummed —
up in that short but imperious word ought, so full of high
significance. It is the most noble of all the attributes of

' man, leading him without a moment’s hesitation to risk
_ his life for that of a fellow-creature ; or, after due delib-

eration, impelled simply by the deep feeling of right or
duty, to sacrifice it in some great cause.

A moral being is one who is capable of
comparing his past and future actions or mo-
tives, and of approving or disapproving of them. We
have no reason to suppose that any of the lower animals
have this capacity ; therefore, when a Newfoundland dog
drags a child out of the water, or a monkey faces danger
to rescue its comrade, or takes charge of an orphan monk-
ey, we do not call its conduct moral. But in the case of
man, who alone can with certainty be ranked as a moral
being, actions of a certain class are called moral.

Page 111.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE MORAL SENSE. 195

. _ FROM THE SOCIAL INSTINCTS TO THE MORAL SENSE,

ty Page 98. The following proposition seems to me in
My. a high degree probable—namely, that any ani-
mal whatever, endowed with well-marked social instincts,
e parental and filial affections being here included,
_ would inevitably acquire a moral sense or conscience, as
soon as its intellectual powers had become as well, or
' nearly as well, developed as in man. For, firstly, the
social instincts lead an animal to take pleasure in the 2
| society of its fellows, to feel a certain amount of sym-
' pathy with them, and to perform various services for
them. ‘The services may be of a definite and evidently
‘instinctive nature; or there may be only a wish and
_ readiness, as with most of the higher social animals, to
aid their fellows in certain general ways. But these feel-
_ ings and services are by no means extended to all the in-
dividuals of the same species, only to those of the same
association. Secondly, as soon as the mental faculties had
‘become highly developed, images of all past actions and
motives would be incessantly passing through the brain
of each individual ; and that feeling of dissatisfaction, or
even misery, which invariably results, as we shall hereafter
see, from any unsatisfied instinct, would arise, as often as
_it was perceived that the enduring and always present
social instinct had yielded to some other instinct, at the
time stronger, but neither enduring in its nature, nor
_ leaving behind it a very vivid impression. It is clear that
many instinctive desires, such as that of hunger, are in
their nature of short duration ; and, after being satisfied,
are not readily or vividly recalled. Thirdly, after the
_ power of language had been acquired, and the wishes of
_ the community could be expressed, the-common opinion
_ how each member ought to act for the public good would

196 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

naturally become in a paramount degree the guide to
action. But it should be borne in mind that, however
great weight we may attribute to public opinion, our re- _
gard for the approbation and disapprobation of our fellows _
depends on sympathy, which, as we shall see, forms an
essential part of the social instinct, and is, indeed, its
foundation-stone. Lastly, habit in the individual would
ultimately play a very important part in guiding the con-
duct of each member ; for the social instinct, together
- with sympathy, is, like any other instinct, greatly strength-
ened by habit, and so consequently would be obedience to —
the wishes and judgment of the community. These sey-
eral subordinate propositions must now be discussed, and
some of them at considerable length.
It may be well first to premise that I do not wish to
maintain that any strictly social animal, if its intellectual
faculties were to become as active and as highly developed
as in man, would acquire exactly the same moral sense as
ours. In the same manner as various animals have some
sense of beauty, though they admire widely different ob-
jects, so they might have a sense of right and wrong, ©
though led by it to follow widely different lines of con- ©
duct. If, for instance, to take an extreme case, men were
reared under precisely the same conditions as hiye-bees,
there can hardly be a doubt that our unmarried females

would, like the worker-bees, think it a sacred duty to kill ©

their brothers, and mothers would strive to kill their fer-
tile daughters ; and no one would think of interfering. —
Nevertheless, the bee, or any other social animal, would
gain in our supposed Case, as it appears to me, some feel-
ing of right or wrong, or a conscience. For each indi-
vidual would have an inward sense of possessing certain
stronger or more enduring instincts, and others less strong
or enduring ; so that there would often be a struggle as

- DEVELOPMENT OF THE MORAL SENSE. 197

to which impulse should be followed ; and satisfaction,
dissatisfaction, or even misery would be felt, as past im-
pressions were compared during their incessant passage ~
through the mind. In this case an inward monitor would
tell the animal that it would have been better to have
'. ‘ollowed the one impulse rather than the other. The one

course ought to have been followed, and the other ought
; the one would have been right and the other wrong.

HUMAN SYMPATHY AMONG ANIMAIS.,

Page 102. Who can say what cows feel when they sur-
_ ~ round and stare intently on a dying or dead
companion? Apparently, however, as Houzeau remarks,
they feel no pity. That animals sometimes are far from
feeling any sympathy is too certain ; for they will expel a
wounded animal from the herd, or gore or worry it to
death. This is almost the blackest fact in natural history,
unless, indeed, the explanation which has been suggested
is true, that their instinct or reason leads them to expel
‘an injured companion, lest beasts of prey, including
_ man, should be tempted to follow the troop. In this case
their conduct is not much worse than that of the North
_ American Indians, who leave their feeble comrades to
perish on the plains; or the Feejeeans, who, when their
parents get old, or fall ill, bury them alive.

Several years ago a keeper at the Zodlogical
, Gardens showed me some deep and scarcely

healed wounds on the nape of his own neck, inflicted on
_ him, while kneeling on the floor, by a fierce baboon. The
_ little American monkey, who was a warm friend of this
keeper, lived in the same large compartment, and was
- dreadfully afraid of the great baboon. Nevertheless, as

Page 103.

198 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

soon as he saw his friend in peril, he rushed to the rescue,
and by screams and bites so distracted the baboon that
the man was able to escape, after, as the surgeon thought,
running great risk of his life. ;

Besides love and sympathy, animals exhibit othe
qualities connected with the social instincts, which in us
would be called moral; and I agree with Agassiz that
dogs possess something very like a conscience.

With mankind, selfishness, experience, and
imitation, probably add, as Mr. Bain has
shown, to the power of sympathy ; for we are led by the
hope of receiving good in return to perform acts of sym-
pathetic kindness to others; and sympathy is much
strengthened by habit. In however complex a manner this
feeling may have originated, as it is one of high impor-—
tance to all those animals which aid and defend one an-
other, it will have been increased through natural selec-—
tion ; for those communities which included the greatest —
number of the most sympathetic members would flourish
best and rear the greatest number of offspring.

It is, however, impossible to decide. in many cases —
whether certain social instincts have been acquired ©
through natural selection, or are the indirect result of ©
other instincts and faculties, such as sympathy, reason, —
experience, and a tendency to imitation; or, again, —
whether they are simply the result of long-continued ©
habit. So remarkable an instinct as the placing sentinels _
to warn the community of danger can hardly have been ~
the indirect result of any of these faculties; it must, —
therefore, have been directly acquired. On the other —
hand, the habit followed by the males of some social —
animals of defending the community, and of attacking —
their enemies or their prey in concert, may perhaps have —

Page 107.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE MORAL SENSE. 199

| originated from mutual sympathy ; but courage, and in

most cases strength, must have been previously acquired,
probably through natural selection.

THE LOVE OF APPROBATION. Cocaise )

| Page 109 Although man has no special instincts to
i. ’ tell him how to aid his fellow-men, he still
has the impulse, and with his improved intellectual facul-
ties would naturally be much guided in this respect by
reason and experience. Instinctive sympathy would also
~ cause him to value highly the approbation of his fellows ;
| for, as Mr. Bain has clearly shown, the love of praise and
” the strong feeling of glory, and the still stronger horror of
scorn and infamy, ‘“‘are due to the workings of sym-
| pathy.” Consequently, man would be influenced in the
highest degree by the wishes, approbation, and blame of
his fellow-men, as expressed by their gestures and lan-
_ guage. Thus the social instincts, which must have been
i acquired by man in a very rude state, and probably even
_ by his early ape-like progenitors, still give the impulse to
, some of his best actions ; but his actions are in a higher
‘degree determined by the expressed wishes and judgment
_ of his fellow-men, and unfortunately very often by his
' own strong selfish desires. But as love, sympathy, and
_ self-command become strengthened by habit, and as the
‘power of reasoning becomes clearer, so that man can
yalue justly the judgments of his fellows, he will feel
himself impelled, apart from any transitory pleasure or
pain, to certain lines of conduct. He might then declare
—not that any barbarian or uncultivated man could thus
_ think—I am the supreme judge of my own conduct, and,
in the words of Kant, I will not in my own person violate
the dignity of humanity.

200 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

- FELLOW-FEELING FOR OUR FELLOW-ANIMALS.

Page 123. Sy mpathy beyond the confines of. man,
that is, humanity to the lower animals, seems

to be one of the latest moral acquisitions. It is appar-

ently unfelt by savages, except toward their pets. How
little the old Romans knew of it is shown by their abhor-
rent gladiatorial exhibitions. The very idea of humanity,
as far as I could observe, was new to most of the Gauchos ~
of the Pampas. This virtue, one of the noblest with
which man is endowed, seems to arise incidentally from —
our sympathies becoming more tender and more widely
diffused, until they are extended to all sentient beings. —
As soon as this virtue is honored and practiced by some
few men, it spreads through instruction and example to
the young, and eventually becomes incorporated in public —
opinion.

The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we
recognize that we ought to control our thoughts, and
‘not even in inmost thought to think again the sins that
made the past so pleasant to us.” Whatever makes any ~
bad action familiar to the mind renders its performance —
by so much the easier. As Marcus Aurelius long ago
said: ‘‘ Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will
be the character of thy mind ; for the soul is dyed by the —
thoughts.” i

Page 125. Looking to future generations, there is no —
weaker, and we may expect that virtuous habits will grow
stronger, becoming perhaps fixed by inheritance. In this —
case the struggle between our higher and lower impulses
will be less severe, and virtue will be triumphant,

cause to fear that the social instincts will grow ~

DEVELOPMENT OF THE MORAL SENSE. 201

DEVELOPMENT OF THE GOLDEN RULE.

7 There can be no doubt that the difference
_ Page 125.
°: the highest animal isimmense. An anthropomorphous
ape, if he could take a dispassionate view of his own case,
would admit that though he could form an artful plan to
plunder a garden, though he could use stones for fight-
ing or for breaking open nuts, yet that the thought of
fashioning a stone into a tool was quite beyond his scope.
Still less, as he would admit, could he follow out a train
of metaphysical reasoning, or solve a mathematical prob-
) lem, or reflect on God, or admire a grand natural scene.
Some apes, however, would probably declare that they
ould and did admire the beauty of the colored skin and
| fur of their partners in marriage. They would admit
| that, though they could make other apes understand by
tries some of their perceptions and simpler wants, the
notion of expressing definite ideas by definite sounds had
" never crossed their minds. They might insist that they
ere ready to aid their fellow-apes of the same troop in
many ways, to risk their lives for them, and to take charge
of their orphans; but they would be forced to acknowl-
edge that disinterested love for all living creatures, the
_ most noble attribute of man, was quite beyond their com-

prehension.
Nevertheless, the difference in mind between man and

the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree
and not of kind. We have seen that the senses and in-
tuitions, the various emotions and faculties, such as love,
nemory, attention, curiosity, imitation, reason, etc., of
which man boasts, may be found in an incipient, or even
sometimes in a well-developed condition, in the lower
animals. They are also capable of some inherited im-

10 .

between the mind of the lowest man and that |

202 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

provement, as we see in the domestic dog compared with
the wolf or jackal. If it could be proved that certain —
high mental powers, such as the formation of general
concepts, self-consciousness, etc., were absolutely peculiar
to man, which seems exicemely doubtful, it is not im- ~
probable that these qualities are merely the incidental
results of other highly-advanced intellectual faculties ;
and these again mainly the result of the continued use of -
a perfect language. At what age does the new-born
infant possess the power of abstraction, or become self-—
conscious, and reflect on its own existence? We can not —

answer ; nor can we answer in regard to the ascending ~

organic scale. The half-art, half-instinct of language still
bears the stamp of its gradual evolution. The ennobling ~

belief in God is not universal with man ; and the belief

in spiritual agencies naturally follows from other mental — )
. powers. The moral sense perhaps affords the best and ~
highest distinction between man and the lower animals ;
but I need say nothing on this head, as I have so lately
endeavored to show that the social instincts—the prime
principle of man’s moral constitution—with the aid of ©
active intellectual powers and the effects of habit, natu-
rally lead to the golden rule, “‘As ye would that men
- should do to you, do ye to them likewise”; and this lies
at the foundation of morality.

REGRET PECULIAR TO MAN, AND WHY.

Tiehene ' Why does man regret, even though trying
of Man, to banish such regret, that he has followed the
page 112. one natural impulse rather than the other?
and why does he further feel that he ought to regret his
conduct ? Man in this respect differs profoundly from —
the lower animals. Nevertheless we can, I think, see —

DEVELOPMENT OF THE MORAL SENSE. 203

ag some degree of clearness the reason of this differ-
g Men, from the activity of his mental faculties, can

I not avoid reflection: past impressions and images are
s cesse atly and clearly passing through his mind. Now,
with those animals which live permanently in a body, the
social instincts are ever present and persistent. Such
Sin als are always ready to utter the danger-signal, to
a efend the community, and to give aid to their fellows in
cordance with their habits ; they feel at all times, with-
t the stimulus of any special passion or desire, some
| a Jegree of love and sympathy for them ; they are unhappy
e long separated from them, and always happy to be
| again in their company. So it is with ourselves. Even
when we are quite alone, how often do we think with
i ae or pain of what others think of us—of their
ppseined approbation or disapprobation !—and this all
follows from sympathy, a fundamental element of the
4 ocial instincts. A man who possessed no trace of such
instincts would be an unnatural monster. On the other
hand, the desire to satisfy hunger, or any passion such as
yengeance, is in its nature temporary, and can for a time
be fully satisfied. Nor is it easy, perhaps hardly pos-
' sible, to call up with complete vividness the feeling, for
| = ance, of hunger; nor, indeed, as has often been re-
arked, of any suffering. The instinct of self-preserva-
tion is not felt except in the presence of danger; and
many a coward has thought himself brave until he has
met his enemy face to face. The wish for another man’s
Pp peperty is perhaps as persistent a desire as any that can
eee but even in this case the satisfaction of actual
SSeSs sion is generally a weaker feeling than the desire :
Ss any a thief, if not an habitual one, after success has
4 rondered why he stole some article.

204 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

REMORSE EXPLAINED.

Several critics have objected that though ~
some slight regret or repentance may be ex-
plained by the view advocated in this chapter, it is impos-
sible thus to account for the soul-shaking feeling of ©
remorse. But I can see little force in this objection. My
critics do not define what they mean by remorse, and I
can find no definition implying more than an overwhelm-
ing sense of repentance. Remorse seems to bear the
same relation to repentance as rage does to anger, or agony
to pain. It is far from strange that an instinct so strong
and so generally admired as maternal love should, if dis-
obeyed, lead to the deepest misery, as soon as the impres-
sion of the past cause of disobedience is weakened. Even
when an action is opposed to no special instinct, merely
to know that our friends and equals despise us for it is
enough to cause great misery. Who can doubt that the
refusal to fight a duel through fear has caused many men
an agony of shame? Many a Hindoo, it is said, has been
stirred to the bottom of his soul by having partaken of
unclean food. Here is another case of what must, I
think, be called remorse. Dr. Landor acted as a magis-
trate in West Australia, and relates that a native on his
farm, after losing one of his wives from disease, came and
said that ‘“‘he was going to a distant tribe to spear a
woman, to satisfy his sense of duty to his wife.” I told
him that if he did so I would send him to prison for life.
He remained about the farm for some months, but got
exceedingly thin, and complained that he could not rest
or eat, that his wife’s spirit was haunting him because he |
had not taken a life for hers. I was inexorable, and
assured him that nothing should save him if he did.
Nevertheless, the man disappeared for more than a year,

Page 114.

En

-

DEVELOPMENT OF THE MORAL SENSE. 205

and then returned in high condition ; and his other wife
told Dr. Landor that her husband had taken the life of a
‘woman belonging to a distant tribe ; but it was impossi-
ble to obtain legal evidence of the act. The breach of a
tule held sacred by the tribe will thus, as it seems, give
ae to the deepest feelings, and this quite apart from the
social instincts, excepting in so far as the rule is grounded
on the judgment of the community. How so many
strange superstitions have arisen throughout the world
: we know not; nor can we tell how some real and great
‘crimes, such as incest, have come to be held in an abhor-
rence (which is not, however, quite universal) by the
' lowest savages. It is even doubtful whether in some
tribes incest would be looked on with greater horror than
would the marriage of a man with a woman bearing the
same name, though not arelation. ‘‘ To violate this law
‘is a crime which the Australians hold in the greatest ab-
J horrence, in this agreeing exactly with certain tribes of
a North America. When the question is put in either
"district, is it worse to kill a girl of a foreign tribe, or to
' Marry a girl of one’s own, an answer just opposite to
‘ours would be given without hesitation.”” We may,
herefore, reject the belief, lately insisted on by some
iters, that the abhorrence of incest is due to our pos-
ssing a special God-implanted conscience.

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DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-CONTROL.

Man, prompted by his conscience, will
through long habit acquire such perfect self-
command, that his desires and passions will at last yield
ai nstantly and without a struggle to his social sympathies
‘and instincts, including his feeling for the judgment of
his fellows. The still hungry or the still revengeful

_ Page 115.

206 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

man will not think of stealing food, or of wreaking his
vengeance. It is possible, or, as we shall hereafter see,
even probable, that the habit of self-command may, like

other habits, be inherited. Thus at last man comes to ©

feel, through acquired and perhaps inherited habit, that —
it is best for him to obey his more persistent impulses.
The imperious word ought seems merely to imply the
consciousness of the existence of a rule of conduct, how-
ever it may have originated. Formerly it must have been
often vehemently urged that an insulted gentleman ought
to fight a duel. We even say that a pointer ought to
point, and a retriever to retrieve game. If they fail to
do so, they fail in their duty and act wrongly.
If any desire or instinct leading to an action opposed ~
to the good of others still appears, when recalled to mind, —
as strong as, or stronger than, the social instinct, a man
will feel no keen regret at having followed it ; but he will ©

be conscious that, if his conduct were known to his fel- ©

lows, it would meet with their disapprobation ; and few
are so destitute of sympathy as not to feel discomfort
when this is realized. If he has no such sympathy, and
if his desires leading to bad actions are at the time strong, —
and when recalled are not overmastered by the: persistent
social instincts and the judgment of others, then he is |
essentially a bad man; and the sole restraining motive
left is the fear of punishment, and the conviction that_
in the long run it would be best for his own selfish inter-—
ests to regard the good of others rather than his own.

It is obvious that every one may with an easy con-
science gratify his own desires, if they do not interfere
with his social instincts, that is, with the good of others 5°
but in order to be quite free from self-reproach, or at least
of anxiety, it is almost necessary for him to avoid the
disapprobation, whether reasonable or not, of his fellow-—

' DEVELOPMENT OF THE MORAL SENSE. 207

men. Nor must he break through the fixed habits of his
' life, especially if these are supported by reason ; for, if
_ he does, he will assuredly feel dissatisfaction. He must
_ likewise avoid the reprobation of the one God or gods

_in whom, according to his knowledge or superstition, he
_ may believe ; but in this case the additional fear of divine
_ punishment often supervenes.

VARIABILITY OF CONSCIENCE.

Suicide during former times was not gen-
erally considered as a crime, but rather, from
| the courage displayed, as an honorable act ; and it is still

_ practiced by some semi-civilized and savage nations with-
out reproach, for it does not obviously concern others of

__ Page 117.

_ the tribe. It has been recorded that an Indian thug

' conscientiously regretted that he had not robbed and
_ strangled as many travelers as did his father before him.
In a rude state of civilization the robbery of strangers is,

| indeed, generally considered as honorable.

_ Slavery, although in some way beneficial during an-
_ cient times, is a great crime ; yet it was not so regarded

_ until quite recently, even by the most civilized nations.

_ And this was especially the case because the slaves be-

_ longed in general to a race different from that of their

| _ masters. As barbarians do not regard the opinion of
_ their women, wives are commonly treated like slaves.

How so many absurd rules of conduct, as

Page 122. Sire =
well as so many absurd religious beliefs, have
' originated, we do not know ; nor how it is that they have
_ become, in all quarters of the world, so deeply impressed
_ on the minds of men; but it is worthy of remark that a
_ belief constantly inculcated during the early years of life,

2908 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

while the brain is impressible, appears to acquire almost —

the nature of an instinct; and the very essence of an
instinct is that it is followed independently of reason.
Neither can we say why certain admirable virtues, such
as the love of truth, are much more highly appreciated

by some savage tribes than by others; nor, again, why

similar differences prevail even among highly civilized
nations. Knowing how firmly fixed many strange cus-
toms and superstitions have become, we need feel no sur-

prise that the self-regarding virtues, supported as they —

are by reason, should now appear to us so natural as to
be thought innate, although they were not valued by
man in his early condition.

The wishes and opinions of the members
of the same community, expressed at first
orally, but later by writing also, either form the sole

Page 121.

guides of our conduct, or greatly re-enforce the social in- —
- stincts; such opinions, however, have sometimes a tend- —
ency directly opposed to these instincts., This latter —

fact is well exemplified by the law of honor, that is,,the
law of the opinion of our equals, and not of all our coun-
trymen. The breach of this law, even when the breach
is known to be strictly accordant with true morality, has
caused many a man more agony than areal crime. We
recognize the same influence in the burning sense of shame

which most of us have felt, even after the interval of -

years, when calling to mind some accidental breach of a
trifling, though fixed, rule of etiquette.

en eee ee ee

DEVELOPMENT OF THE MORAL SENSE. 209

PROGRESS NOT AN INVARIABLE RULE.

Bienes: We must remember that progress is no in-
of Man, - yariable rule. It is very difficult to say why
-— one civilized nation rises, becomes more pow-
erful, and spreads more widely, than another ; or why the
same nation progresses more quickly at one time than at
mother. We can only say that it depends on an increase
in the actual number of the population, on the number
of the men endowed with high intellectual and moral
faculties, as well as on their standard of excellence. Cor-
: al structure appears to have little influence, except
o far as vigor of body leads to vigor of mind.

| It has been urged by several writers that, as high in-
ellectual powers are advantageous to a nation, the old
| Greeks, who stood some grades higher in intellect than

any race that has ever existed, ought, if the power of
natural selection were real, to have risen still higher in
she scale, increased in number, and stocked the whole of
Europe. Here we have the tacit assumption, so often
made with respect to corporeal structures, that there is
"some innate tendency toward continued development in

mind and body. But development of all kinds depends
| On many concurrent favorable circumstances. Natural
selection acts only tentatively. Individuals and races
nay have acquired certain indisputable advantages, and
ret have perished from failing in other characters. The
Greeks may have retrograded from a want of coherence
between the many small states, from the small size of
‘their whole country, from the practice of slavery, or
from extreme sensuality ; for they did not succumb until
“they were enervated and corrupt to the very core.”
The Western nations of Europe, who now so immeasura-
ly surpass their former savage progenitors, and stand at

210 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

the summit of civilization, owe little or none of their
superiority to direct inheritance from the old Greeks,
though they owe much to the written works of that won-—
derful people.

The remarkable success of the English as
colonists, compared to other European nations, —
has been ascribed to their ‘‘ daring and persistent ener-—
gy”; a result which is well illustrated by comparing the
progress of the Canadians of English and French ex-—
traction ; but who can say how the English gained their —
energy ? There is apparently much truth in the belief
that the wonderful progress of the United States, as well
as the character of the people, is the result of natural —
selection ; for the more energetic, restless, and coura-
geous men from all parts of Europe have emigrated during
the last ten or twelve generations to that great country,
and have there succeeded best. |

Page 142.

ALL CIVILIZED NATIONS ARE THE DESCENDANTS OF
BARBARIANS.

The evidence that all civilized nations are —
the descendants of barbarians consists, on the |
one side, of clear traces of their former low condition in —
still-existing customs, beliefs, language, etc. ; and, on the ©
other side, of proofs that savages are independently able —
to raise themselves a few steps in the scale of civilization, ©
and have actually thus risen. The evidence on the first”
head is extremely curious, but can not be here given: I
refer to such cases as that of the art of enumeration, —
which, as Mr. Tylor clearly shows by reference to the —
words still used in some places, originated in counting
the fingers, first of one hand and then of the other, and |

Page 144.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE MORAL SENSE. 211

_ lastly of the toes. We have traces of this in our own
_ decimal system, and in the Roman numerals, where, after
_the V, which is supposed to be an abbreviated picture of
a human hand, we pass on to VI, etc., when the other
_ hand no doubt was used. So again, ‘‘ when we speak of
threescore and ten, we are counting by the vigesimal sys-
_ tem, each score thus ideally made standing for 20—for
' ‘one man’ asa Mexican or Carib would putit.” Accord-
_ ing to a large and increasing school of philologists, every
' language bears the marks of its slow and gradual eyolu-
tion. So it is with the art of writing, for letters are ru-
_ diments of pictorial representations. It is hardly possible
| toread Mr. McLennan’s work and not admit that almost
all civilized nations still retain traces of such rude habits
' asthe forcible capture of wives. What ancient nation,
_ as the same author asks, can be named that was originally
monogamous? The primitive idea of justice, as shown
__ by the law of battle and other customs of which vestiges
_ still remain, was likewise most rude. Many existing su-
_ perstitions are the remnants of former false religious be-
_ liefs. The highest form of religion—the grand idea of
_ God hating sin and loving righteousness—was unknown
_ during primeval times.

Turning to the other kind of evidence: Sir J. Lub-
_ bock has shown that some savages have recently improved
_ a little in some of their simpler arts. From the extremely
_ curious account which he gives of the weapons, tools, and
_ arts in use among savages in various parts of the world,
_ itcan not be doubted that these have nearly all been in-
_ dependent discoveries, excepting perhaps the art of making
_ fire. The Australian boomerang is a good instance of one
_ such independent discovery. The Tahitians when first
_ visited had advanced in many respects beyond the inhab-
_ itants of most of the other Polynesian islands. There

20 RE Fe Oe Carer ee gegen a
F ° ie - ps el
- pi aah Mt .

212 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

are no just grounds for the belief that the high culture ~
of the native Peruvians and Mexicans was derived from

abroad ; many native plants were there cultivated, and a
few native animals domesticated. We should bear in
mind that, judging from the small influence of most mis-
sionaries, a wandering crew from some semi-civilized land,

if washed to the shores of America, would not have pro- 3
duced any marked effect on the natives, unless they had _
already become somewhat advanced. Looking toa very ~

remote period in the history of the world, we find, to use
Sir J. Lubbock’s well-known terms, a paleolithic and neo-
lithic period ; and no one will pretend that the art of
grinding rough flint tools was a borrowed one. In all

parts of Europe, as far east as Greece, in Palestine, |

India, Japan, New Zealand, and Africa, including Egypt,
flint tools have been discovered in abundance; and of
their use the existing inhabitants retain no tradition.
There is also indirect evidence of their former use by the
Chinese and ancient Jews. Hence there can hardly be a
doubt that the inhabitants of these countries, which in-
clude nearly the whole civilized world, were once in a
barbarous condition. To believe that man was aborigi-
nally civilized and then suffered utter degradation in so
many regions is to take a pitiably low view of human
nature. It is apparently a truer and more cheerful view
that progress has been much more general than retro-
gression ; that man has risen, though by slow and inter-
rupted steps, from a lowly condition to the highest stand-
ard as yet attained by him in knowledge, morals, and
religion.

Oe: le Oe See a ea

en a th hell tis
we ee pen 3

— i

por

DEVELOPMENT OF THE MORAL SENSE. 213

‘©THE ENNOBLING BELIEF IN GOD.”

: a There is no evidence that man was aborigi-
¢ chap nally endowed with the ennobling belief in |
Page 98. the existence of an Omnipotent God. On the
| ieicary, there is ample evidence, derived not from hasty
| travelers, but from men who have long resided with say-
ages, that numerous races have existed, and still exist,
who have no idea of one or more gods, and who have no
words in their languages to express such an idea.. The
- question is, of course, wholly distinct from that higher
- one, whether there exists a Creator and Ruler of the uni-
| verse; and this has been answered in the affirmative by
some of the highest intellects that have ever existed.
gis however, we include under the term “religion”
the belief in unseen or spiritual agencies, the case is
wholly different ; for this belief seems to be universal
_ with the less civilized races. Nor is it difficult to com-
-prehend how it arose. As soon as the important facul-
ties of the imagination—wonder and curiosity, together
with some power of reasoning—had become partially de-
veloped, man would naturally crave to understand what
was passing around him, and would have vaguely specu-
lated on his own existence. As Mr. McLennan has re-
_ marked : ‘* Some explanation of the phenomena of life a
_ man must feign for himself ; and, to judge from the uni-
versality of it, the simplest hypothesis, and the first to
occur to men, seems to have been that natural phenom-
ena are ascribable to the presence in animals, plants,
and things, and in the forces of nature, of such spirits
_ prompting to action as men are conscious they themselves
possess.” It is also probable, as Mr. Tylor has shown,
‘that dreams may have first given rise to the notion of
spirits; for savages do not readily distinguish between

214 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

subjective and objective impressions. When a savage
dreams, the figures which appear before him are believed
to have come from a distance, and to stand over him; or
‘‘the soul of the dreamer goes out on its travels, and
comes home with a remembrance of what it has seen.”
_ But, until the faculties of imagination, curiosity, reason,
. ete., had been fairly well developed in the mind of man,
| his dreams would not have led him to believe in spirits,
any more than in the case of a dog.

The tendency in savages to imagine that natural ob-
jects and agencies are animated by spiritual or living
essences is, perhaps, illustrated by a little fact which I
once noticed. My dog, a full-grown and very sensible ani-
mal, was lying on the lawn during a hot and still day ;
but at a little distance a slight breeze occasionally moved
an open parasol, which would have been wholly disre-
garded by the dog had any one stood near it. As it was,
every time that the parasol slightly moved, the dog
‘growled fiercely and barked. He must, I think, have
reasoned to himself, in a rapid and unconscious manner,
that movement, without any apparent cause, indicated
the presence of some strange living agent, and that no
stranger had a right to be on his territory.

The belief in spiritual agencies would easily pass into
. the belief in the existence of one or more gods. For say-
ages would naturally attribute to spirits the same pas-
sions, the same love of vengeance, or simplest form of
justice, and the same affections, which they themselves
feel. The Fuegians appear to be in this respect in an
intermediate condition, for, when the surgeon on board
the Beagle shot some young ducklings as specimens,
York Minster declared, in the most solemn manner,
‘Oh, Mr. Bynoe, much rain, much snow, blow much” ;
and this was evidently a retributive punishment for

_ DEVELOPMENT OF THE MORAL SENSE. 215

5 F wasting human food. So, again, he related how, when

his brother killed a ‘‘wild man,” storms long raged,
much rain and snow fell. Yet we could never discover

_ that the Fuegians believed in what we should call a God,
' or practiced any religious rites ; and Jemmy Button, with
| justifiable pride, stoutly maintained that there was no
devil in his land. This latter assertion is the more re-
' markable, as with savages the belief in bad spirits is far

_ more common than that in good ones.

4 The feeling of religious devotion is a highly complex
one, consisting of love, complete submission to an exalted
and mysterious superior, a strong sense of dependence,

| fear, reverence, gratitude, hope for the future, and per-

haps other elements. No being could experience so com-
plex an emotion until advanced in his intellectual and
moral faculties to at least a moderately high level. Nev-
ertheless, we see some distant approach to this state of
mind in the deep love of a dog for his master, associ-
ated with complete submission, some fear, and perhaps
other feelings. The behavior of a dog, when returning
_to his master after an absence, and, as I may add, of a
monkey to his beloved keeper, is widely different from
that toward their fellows. In the latter case, the trans-
ports of joy appear to be somewhat less, and the sense of
equality is shown in every action. Professor Braubach
goes so far as to maintain that a dog looks on his master
as on a god.

The same high mental faculties which first led man
to believe in unseen spiritual agencies, then in fetichism,
polytheism, and ultimately in monotheism, would infal-
libly lead him, as long as his reasoning powers remained
poorly developed, to various strange superstitions and cus-
toms. Many of these are terrible to think of—such as the
sacrifice of human beings to a blood-loving god ; the trial

:

216 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

of innocent persons by the ordeal of poison or fire ; witch-
craft, ete.—yet it is well occasionally to reflect on these
superstitions, for they show us what an infinite debt of
gratitude we owe to the improvement of our reason, to
science, and to our accumulated knowledge. As Sir J.
Lubbock has well observed, ‘‘It is not too much to say

_ that the horrible dread of unknown evil hangs like a

thick cloud over savage life, and embitters every pleas-
ure.” These miserable and indirect consequences of our
highest faculties may be compared with the incidental
and occasional mistakes of the instincts of the lower ani-
mals.

x.

THE GENEALOGY OF MAN.

Diecut Some naturalists, from being deeply im-
of Man, pressed with the mental and spiritual powers
Page 146. of man, have divided the whole organic world
into three kingdoms, the human, the animal, and the vege-
table, thus giving to man a separate kingdom. Spiritual
‘powers can not be compared or classed by the natural-
‘ist : but he may endeavor to show, as I have done, that
the mental faculties of man and the lower animals do not
differ in kind, although immensely in degree. A differ-
ence in degree, however great, does not justify us in
‘placing man in a distinct kingdom, as will perhaps be
best illustrated by comparing the mental powers of two
‘insects, namely, a coccus or scale-insect and an ant,
which undoubtedly belong to the same class. The differ-
ence is here greater than, though of a somewhat different
_kind from, that between man and the highest mammal.
The female coccus, while young, attaches itself by its
proboscis to a plant; sucks the sap, but never moves
again; is fertilized and lays eggs; and this is its whole
history. On the other hand, to describe the habits and

- mental powers of worker-ants would require, as Pierre

Huber has shown, a large volume; I may, however,
briefly specify a few points. Ants certainly communi-

218 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

cate information to each other, and several unite for
the same work, or for games of play. They recognize
their fellow-ants after months of absence, and feel
sympathy for each other. They build great edifices,
keep them clean, close the doors in the evening, and
post sentries. ‘They make roads as well as tunnels under
rivers, and temporary bridges over them, by clinging
together. They collect food for the community, and,
when an object, too large for entrance, is brought to the
nest, they enlarge the door, and afterward build it up
again. ‘They store up seeds, of which they prevent the
germination, and which, if damp, are brought up to the
surface to dry. They keep aphides and other insects as
milch-cows. They go out to battle in regular bands, and

freely sacrifice their lives for the common weal. They —

emigrate according to a preconcerted plan. They cap-
ture slaves. They move the eggs of their aphides, as
well as their own eggs and cocoons, into warm parts of
the nest, in order that they may be quickly hatched ;
and endless similar facts could be given. On the whole,
the difference in mental power between an ant and a coc-
cus is immense ; yet no one has ever dreamed of placing —
these insects in distinct classes, much less in distinct
kingdoms. No doubt the difference is bridged over by
other insects ; and this is not the case with man and the ©
higher apes. But we have every reason to believe that
the breaks in the series are simply the results of many
forms having become extinct.

MAN A SUB-ORDER.

The greater number of naturalists who
have taken into consideration the whole struct-
ure of man, including his mental faculties, have followed

Page 149.

THE GENEALOGY OF MAN. 219

-Blumenbach and Cuvier, and have placed man in a sepa-
rate order, under the title of the Bimana, and therefore
on an equality with the orders of the Quadrumana, Car-
nivora, ete. Recently many of our best naturalists have
recurred to the view first propounded by Linnzus, so re-
markable for his sagacity, and have placed man in the
same order with the Quadrumana, under the title of the
Primates. The justice of this conclusion will be ad-
_ mitted: for, in the first place, we must bear in mind the
comparative insignificance for classification of the great
development of the brain in man, and that the strongly-
_ marked differences between the skulls of man and the
Quadrumana (lately insisted upon by Bischoff, Aeby, and
others) apparently follow from their differently developed
_ brains. In the second place, we must remember that
nearly all the other and more important differences be-
tween man and the Quadrumana are manifestly adaptive
in their nature, and relate chiefly to the erect position of
_ man ; such as the structure of his hand, foot, and pel-
vis, the curvature of his spine, and the position of his
head. The family .of seals offers a good illustration of
_ the small importance of adaptive characters for classifica-
tion. These animals differ from all other Carnivora in
_ the form of their bodies and in the structure of their
_ limbs, far more than does man from the higher apes ;
yet in most systems, from that of Cuvier to the most re-
cent one by Mr. Flower, seals are ranked as a mere family
in the order of the Carnivora. If man had not been his
own classifier, he would never have thought of founding
a separate order for his own reception.

Page 152. As far as differences in certain important
points of structure are concerned, man may
"no doubt rightly claim the rank of a sub-order; and this

220 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

rank is too low, if we look chiefly to his mental faculties.
Nevertheless, from a genealogical point of view, it appears
that this rank is too high, and that man ought to form
merely a family, or possibly even only a sub-family. If
we imagine three lines of descent proceeding from a com-
mon stock, it is quite conceivable that two of them might
after the lapse of ages be so slightly changed as still to
remain as species of the same genus, while the third line
might become so greatly modified as to deserve to rank
as a distinct sub-family, family, or even order. But in
this case it is almost certain that the third line would
still retain through inheritance numerous small points
of resemblance with the other two. Here, then, would
occur the difficulty, at present insoluble, how much
weight we ought to assign in our classifications to strong-
ly-marked differences in some few points—that is, to the
amount of modification undergone—and how much to
close resemblance in numerous unimportant points, as
indicating the lines of descent of genealogy. To attach
much weight to the few but strong differences is the most
obvious and perhaps the safest course, though it appears
more correct to pay great attention to the many small
resemblances, as giving a truly natural classification.

In forming a judgment on this head with reference to
man, we must glance at the classification of the Simiade.
This family is divided by almost all naturalists into the
Catarrhine group, or Old World monkeys, all of which
are characterized (as their name expresses) by the peculiar
structure of their nostrils, and by having four premolars
in each jaw ; and into the Platyrrhine group or New World
monkeys (including two very distinct sub-groups), all of
which are characterized by differently constructed nos-
trils, and by having six premolars in each jaw. Some
other small differences might be mentioned. Now man

THE GENEALOGY OF MAN. 221

unquestionably belongs in his dentition, in the structure
of his nostrils, and some other respects, to the Catarrhine
or Old World division ; nor does he resemble the Platyr-
_ rhines more closely than the Catarrhines in any charac-
ters, excepting in a few of not much importance and
| apparently of an adaptive nature. It is, therefore, against
all probability that some New World species should have
formerly varied and produced a man-like creature, with

all the distinctive characters proper to the Old World
- division, losing at the same time all its own distinctive
_ characters. There can, consequently, hardly be a doubt
that man is an offshoot from the Old World Simian

' stem, and that, under a genealogical point of view, he

~ must be classed with the Catarrhine division.

And, as man from a genealogical point of
- view belongs to the Catarrhine or Old World
_ stock, we must conclude, however much the conclusion
_ may revolt our pride, that our early progenitors would
_ have been properly thus designated. But we must not
fall into the error of supposing that the early progeni-

Page 155.

tor of the whole Simian stock, including man, was identi-
_ cal with, or even closely resembled, any existing ape or

monkey.
THE BIRTHPLACE OF MAN.

We are naturally led to inquire, where was
the birthplace of man at that stage of descent
__ when our progenitors diverged from the Catarrhine stock ?
The fact that they belonged to this stock clearly shows
_ that they inhabited the Old World; but not Australia

Page 155.

nor any oceanic island, as we may infer from the laws of

_ geographical distribution. In each great region of the
_ world the living mammals are closely related to the ex-

9992 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

tinct species of the same region. It is, therefore, prob-
able that Africa was formerly inhabited by extinct apes
closely allied to the gorilla and chimpanzee ; and, as these
two species are now man’s nearest allies, it is somewhat
more probable that our early progenitors lived on the
African Continent than elsewhere. But it is useless to
speculate on this subject; for two or three anthropomor-
phous apes, one the Dryopithecus of Lartet, nearly as
large as a man, and closely allied to Hylobates, existed
in Europe during the Miocene age; and since so remote
a period the earth has certainly undergone many great
revolutions, and there has been ample time for migration
on the largest scale.

At the period and place, whenever and wherever it
was, when man first lost his hairy covering, he probably
' inhabited a hot country; a circumstance favorable for
_ the frugiferous diet on which, judging from analogy, he
_ subsisted. We are far from knowing how long ago it
* was when man first diverged from the Catarrhine stock ;
but it may have occurred at an epoch as remote as the
Eocene * period ; for that the higher apes have diverged
from the lower apes as early as the Upper Miocene period
is shown by the existence of the Dryopithecus. We are
also quite ignorant at how rapid a rate organisms, whether
high or low in the scale, may be modified under favorable
circumstances; we know, however, that some have re-
tained the same form during an enormous lapse of time.
From what we see going on under domestication, we learn
that some of the co-descendants of the same species may
be not at all, some a little, and some greatly changed, all
within the same period. Thus it may have been with

* Eocene.—The earliest of the three divisions of the Tertiary epoch of
geologists. Rocks of this age contain a small proportion of shells identi-
cal with species now living.

F - i lalla ae
“ae aa uni tS a

THE GENEALOGY OF MAN. 223

nan , who has undergone a great amount of modification
n certain characters in comparison with the higher apes.
_ The great break in the organic chain between man
i his nearest allies, which can not be bridged over by
any extinct or living species, has often been advanced as
_ agraye objection to the belief that man is descended from
some lower form; but this objection will not appear of
much weight to those who, from general reasons, believe
in the general principle of evolution. Breaks often occur
in all parts of the series, some being wide, sharp, and
defined, others less so in various degrees ; as between the
orang and its nearest allies—between the Tarsius and the
} ner Lemuride—between the elephant, and in a more
| st iking manner between the Ornithorhynchus or Echidna,
and all othermammals. But these breaks depend merely
on the number of related forms which have become ex-
tinct. At some future period, not very distant as meas-
ured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost
certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races
throughout the world. At the same time the anthro-
pomorphous apes, as Professor Schaaffhausen has re-
marked, will no doubt be exterminated. The break be-
tween man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for
pel interyene between man in a more civilized state,
is we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape
s low as a baboon, instead of as now between the negro
or Australian and the gorilla.
4 With respect to the absence of fossil remains, serving
9 connect man with his ape-like progenitors, no one will
1: ay much stress on this fact who reads Sir C. Lyell’s dis-
cussion, where he shows that in all the vertebrate classes
the discovery of fossil remains has been a very slow and
i fortuitous process. Nor should it be forgotten that those
Tegions which are the most likely to afford remains con-

DOE 8 NN Ee TE ATS

224 j+$DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

necting man with some extinct ape-like creature, have

not as yet been searched by geologists.

In attempting to trace the genealogy of the Mammalia, —

and therefore of man, lower down in the series, we be-

come involved in greater and greater obscurity ; but as a

most capable judge, Mr. Parker, has remarked, we have

good reason to believe that no true bird or reptile inter- —

venes in the direct line of descent.

ORIGIN OF THE VERTEBRATA,

Page 158.

numerous joints or vertebre, which constitutes the cen-
ter of the skeleton and at the same time supports and
protects the central parts of the nervous system.”]

Every evolutionist will admit that the five great ver-
tebrate classes, namely, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibi-
ans, and fishes, are descended from some one prototype ;
for they have much in common, especially during their
embryonic state. As the class of fishes is the most lowly
organized, and appeared before the others, we may con-
clude that all the members of the vertebrate kingdom are
derived from some fish-like animal. The belief that ani-
mals so distinct as a monkey, an elephant, a humming-
bird, asnake, a frog, and a fish, etc., could all have sprung
from the same parents, will appear monstrous to those
who haye not attended to the recent progress of natural

history. For this belief implies the former existence of _

links binding closely together all these forms, now so ut-
terly unlike.

Nevertheless, it is certain that groups of animals have
existed, or do now exist, which serve to connect sevy-

[The Vertebrata are defined as “‘ the highest —
division of the animal kingdom, so called from _
the presence in most cases of a backbone composed of

THE GENEALOGY OF MAN. 225

ral of the great vertebrate classes more or less closely.
fe have seen that the Ornithorhynchus graduates toward
reptiles; and Professor Huxley has discovered, and is
' confirmed by Mr. Cope and others, that the Dinosaurians
are in many important characters intermediate between
ertain reptiles and certain birds—the birds referred to
ing a ostrich-tribe (itself evidently a widely-diffused
remnant of a larger group) and the Archeopteryx, that
strange Secondary bird, with a long, lizard-like tail.
Again, according to Professor Owen, the Ichthyosaurians
-great sea-lizards furnished with paddles—present many
| affinities with fishes, or rather, according to Huxley,
ith amphibians ; a class which, including in its highest
division frogs and toads, is plainly allied to the Ganoid
fishes. These latter fishes swarmed during the earlier
| geological periods, and were constructed on what is called
ageneralized type, that is, they presented diversified affini-
ies with other groups of organisms. The Lepidosiren is
also so closely allied to amphibians and fishes that natural-
ists long disputed in which of these two classes to rank it ;
it, and also some few Ganoid fishes have been preserved
om utter extinction by inhabiting rivers, which are har-
bors of refuge, and are related to the great waters of the
ocean in the same way that islands are to continents,
_ - Lastly, one single member of the immense and diver-
' sified class of fishes, namely, the lancelet or amphioxus,
is so different from all other fishes, that Hackel main-
tains that it ought to form a distinct class in the verte-
brate kingdom. This fish is remarkable for its negative
aracters ; it can hardly be said to possess a brain, ver-
‘ column, or heart, etc., so that it was classed by
the older naturalists among the worms. Many years ago
Professor Goodsir perceived that the lancelet presented

some affinities with the Ascidians, which are invertebrate,
it

226 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

hermaphrodite, marine creatures permanently attached t
a support. They hardly appear like animals, and con-
sist of a simple, tough, leathery sack, with two small pro
jecting orifices. They belong to the Molluscoida oj
Huxley—a lower division of the great kingdom of the
Mollusca ; but they have recently been placed by some
naturalists among the Vermes or worms. Their larva
somewhat resemble tadpoles in shape, and have the powe1

of swimming freely about. M. Kovalevsky has lately ob-
served that the larve of Ascidians are related to the Ver-
tebrata, in their manner of development, in the relative
position of the nervous system, and in possessing a struct-_
ure closely like the chorda dorsalis of vertebrate animals ;_
and in this he has been since confirmed by Professor
Kupffer.

Thus, if we may rely on embryology, ever —
the safest guide in classification, it seems that
we have at last gained a clew to the source whence the
Vertebrata were derived. We should then be justified in
believing that at an extremely remote period a group of
animals existed, resembling in many respects the larve o
our present Ascidians, which diverged into two great
branches—the one retrograding in development and pro- |
ducing the present class of Ascidians, the other rising to
the crown and summit of the animal kingdom by giving
birth to the Vertebrata. |

Page 160.

FROM NO BONE TO BACKBONE.

The most ancient progenitors in the king
dom of the Vertebrata, at which we are able
to obtain an obscure glance, apparently consisted of a
group of marine animals, resembling the larve of exist-

Page 164.

THE GENEALOGY OF MAN. 227

ing Ascidians. These animals probably gave rise toa
rroup of fishes, as lowly organized as the lancelet ; and
_ from these the Ganoids, and other fishes like the Lepido-
siren, must have been developed. From such fish a
yery small advance would carry us on to the Amphibians.
We have seen that birds and reptiles were once intimately.
nnected together; and the Monotremata now connect
ammals with reptiles inaslight degree. But no one can
at present say by what line of descent the three higher
: “separa classes, namely, mammals, birds, and reptiles,
‘were derived from the two lower vertebrate classes,
namely, amphibians and fishes. In the class of mammals
sant are not difficult to conceive which led from the
| ent Monotremata to the ancient Marsupials; and
from these to the early progenitors of the placental mam-
We may thus ascend to the Lemuride ; and the
interval is not very wide from these to the Simiade. The
Simiade then branched off into two great stems, the New
World and Old World monkeys; and from the latter,
| at a remote period, Man, the wonder and glory of the
niverse, proceeded.
_ Thus, we have given to man a pedigree of prodigious
- length, but not, it may be said, of noble quality. The
_ world, it has often been remarked, appears as if it had
- long been preparing for the advent of man: and this, in
‘one sense, is strictly true, for he owes his birth to a long
line of progenitors. If any single link in this chain had
never existed, man would not have been exactly what he
| nowis. Unless we willfully close our eyes, we may, with
our present knowledge, approximately recognize our par-
-entage ; nor need we feel ashamed of it. The most hum-
dle organism is something much higher than the inor-
ganic dust under our feet ; and no one with an unbiased
mind can study any living creature, however humble,

228 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

without being struck with enthusiasm at its marvelous
structure and properties. —

DOES MANKIND CONSIST OF SEVERAL SPECIES? __

Dak The question whether mankind consists of ©
of Man, one or several species has of late years been
page 176. much disenssed by anthropologists, who are
divided into the two schools of monogenists and polygen-
ists. Those who do not admit the principle of evolution
must look at species as separate creations, or asin some
manner as distinct entities ; and they must decide what
forms of man they will consider as species by the analogy
of the method commonly pursued in ranking other or- —
ganic beings as species. But it is a hopeless endeavor —
to decide this. point, until some definition of the term —
‘* species” is generally accepted ; and the definition must —
not include an indeterminate element such as an act of
creation. We might as well attempt without any defini-
tion to decide whether a certain number of houses should
be called a village, town, or city. We have a practical
illustration of the difficulty in the never-ending doubts
whether many closely-allied mammals, birds, insects, and
plants, which represent each other respectively in North
America and Europe, should be ranked as species or geo-
graphical races ; and the like holds true of the produc-
tions of many islands situated at some little distance from
the nearest continent.

Those naturalists, on the other hand, who admit the
principle of evolution, and this is now admitted by the
majority of rising men, will feel no doubt that all the
races of man are descended from a single primitive stock 3
whether or not they may think fit to designate the races
as distinct species, for the sake of expressing their amount —

THE GENEALOGY OF MAN. 229

of difference. With our domestic animals, the question

_ whether the various races have arisen from one or more
pecies is somewhat different. Although it may be ad-
mitted that all the races, as well as all the natural species
within the same genus, have sprung from the same primi-
tive stock, yet it is a fit subject for discussion whether
all the domestic races of the dog, for instance, have ac-
uired their present amount of difference since some one
species was first domesticated by man ; or whether they
' owe some of their characters to inheritance from distinct
ecies which had already been differentiated in a state
of nature. With man no such question can arise, for he
can not be said to have been domesticated at any particu-

| lar period.

_. During an early stage in the divergence of the races
| of man from a common stock, the differences between the
“races and their number must have been small; conse-
quently, as far as their distinguishing characters are con-
_ cerned, they then had less claim to rank as distinct spe-
| cies than the existing so-called races. Nevertheless, so

arbitrary is the term of species, that such early races
_ would, perhaps, have been ranked by some naturalists as
' distinct species, if their differences, although extremely
_ slight, had been more constant than they are at present,
and had not graduated into each other.

THE RACES GRADUATE INTO EACH OTHER.

_ But the most weighty of all the arguments
4 against treating the races of man as distinct
species is, that they graduate into each other, independ-
_ ently, in many cases, as far as we can judge, of their having
intercrossed. Man has been studied more carefully than
any other animal, and yet there is the greatest possible di-

- Page 174.

230 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

versity among capable judges whether he should be classed
as a single species or race, or as two (Virey), as three (Jac-
quinot), as four (Kant), five (Blumenbach), six (Buffon),
seven (Hunter), eight (Agassiz), eleven (Pickering), fif-_
teen (Bory St. Vincent), sixteen (Desmoulins), twenty-two
(Morton), sixty (Crawfurd), or as sixty-three, according
to Burke. ‘This diversity of judgment does not prove
that the races ought not to be ranked as species, but it
shows that they graduate into each other, and that it is”
hardly possible to discover clear, distinctive characters be-.
tween them.
Every naturalist who has had the misfortune to under-
take the description of a group of highly-varying organ-
isms, has encountered cases (I speak after experience)

precisely like that of man ; and, if of a cautious disposi- —

tion, he will end by uniting all the forms which graduate
into each other under a single species ; for he will say to
himself that he has no right to give names to objects
which he can not define. Cases of this kind occur in the ©
order which includes man, namely, in certain genera of
monkeys; while in other genera, as in Cercopithecus,
most of the species can be determined with certainty. In
the American genus Cebus, the various forms are ranked —

by some naturalists as species, by others as mere geo- |

graphical races. Now, if numerous specimens of Cebus —
were collected from all parts of South America, and those -
forms which at present appear to be specifically distinct —
were found to graduate into each other by close steps,
they would usually be ranked as mere varieties or races; _
and this course has been followed by most naturalists —
with respect to the races of man.

THE GENEALOGY OF MAN. 231

WAS THE FIRST MAN A SPEAKING ANIMAL?

“Page 180 From the fundamental differences between
= * certain languages, some philologists have in-
ferred that when man first became widely diffused, he was
not a speaking animal; but it may be suspected that
Ta zuages, far less perfect than any now spoken, aided
by gestures, might have been used, and yet have left no
‘traces on subsequent and more highly-developed tongues.
Without the use of some language, however imperfect, it
appears doubtful whether man’s intellect could have risen
to the standard implied by his dominant position at an
early period.
Whether primeval man, ee he possessed but few
arts, and those of the rudest kind, and when his power
of language was extremely imperfect, would have de-
| served to be called man, must depend on the definition
which we employ. Ina series of forms graduating in-
sensibly from some ape-like creature to man as he now
exists, it would be impossible to fix on any definite point
when the term “man” ought to be used. But this isa
| matter of very little importance. So, again, it is almost
a matter of indifference whether the so-called races of
man are thus designated, or are ranked as species or sub-
“species; but the latter term appears the more appro-
_ priate. Finally, we may conclude that, when the prin-
ciple of evolution is generally accepted, as it surely will
be before long, the dispute between the monogenists and
the polygenists will die a silent and unobserved death.

THE THEORY OF A SINGLE PAIR.

One other question ought not to be passed over with-
out notice, namely, whether, as is sometimes assumed,
_ each sub-species or race of man has sprung from a single

232 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

pair of progenitors. With our domestic animals a new
race can readily be formed by carefully matching the
varying offspring from a single pair, or even from a single
individual possessing some new character; but most of

our races have been formed, not intentionally from a

selected pair, but unconsciously, by the preservation of
many individuals which have varied, however slightly, in ~
some useful or desired manner. If in one country stronger
and heavier horses, and in another country lighter and
fleeter ones were habitually preferred, we may feel sure
that two distinct sub-breeds would be produced in the

course of time, without any one pair having been sepa-
rated and bred from in either country. Many races have
been thus formed, and their manner of formation is
closely analogous to that of natural species. We know,
also, that the horses taken to the Falkland Islands have,
during successive generations, become smaller and weaker,

while those which have run wild on the Pampas have ac-

quired larger and coarser heads; and such changes are
manifestly due, not to any one pair, but to all the indi-
viduals having been subjected to the same conditions,
aided, perhaps, by the principle of reversion. The new
sub-breeds in such cases are not descended from any sin-
gle pair, but from many individuals which have varied in
different degrees, but in the same general manner ; and
we many conclude that the races of man have been simi-
larly produced, the modifications being either the direct
result of exposure to different conditions, or the indirect —
result of some form of selection.

THE GENEALOGY OF MAN. 233

CIVILIZED OUT OF EXISTENCE.

When Tasmania was first colonized the na-
of Man, tives were roughly estimated by some at seven
Page 183. thousand and by others at twenty thousand.
I Their number was soon greatly reduced, chiefly by fight-
_ ing with the English and with each other. After the

famous hunt by all the colonists, when. the remaining
natives delivered themselves up to the government, they
consisted only of one hundred and twenty individuals,
_ who were in 1832 transported to Flinders Island. This
island, situated between Tasmania and Australia, is forty
_ miles long, and from twelve to eighteen miles broad : it
| seems healthy, and the natives were well treated. Never-
_ theless, they suffered greatly in health. In 1834 they
- consisted (Bonwick, p. 250) of forty-seven adult males,
| forty-eight adult females, and sixteen children, or in all
_ of one hundred and eleven souls. In 1835 only one hun-
_ dred were left. As they continued rapidly to decrease,
| and as they themselves thought that they should not

Descent

_ perish so quickly elsewhere, they were removed in 1847

_ to Oyster Cove in’ the southern part of Tasmania. They
then consisted (December 20, 1847) of fourteen men,

_ twenty-two women, and ten children. But the change of

_ site did no good. Disease and death still pursued them,
- and in 1864 one man (who died in 1869) and three
elderly women alone survived. The infertility of the
women is even a more remarkable fact than the liability
of all to ill-health and death. At the time when only
nine women were left at Oyster Cove, they told Mr. Bon-
_ wick (p. 386), that only two had ever borne children :
_ and these two had together produced only three children !
_ ___ With respect to the cause of this extraordinary state
_ of things, Dr. Story remarks that death followed the at-

+

234 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF,

tempts to civilize the natives. ‘‘If left to themselves to
roam as they were wont and undisturbed, they would
have reared more children, and there would have been
less mortality.” Another careful observer of the natives,
Mr. Davis, remarks: ‘‘ The births have been few and the
deaths numerous. ‘This may have been in a great meas-
ure owing to their change of living and food ; but more
so to their banishment from the mainland of Van Die-
men’s Land, and consequent depression of spirits” (Bon-
wick, pp. 388, 390).

Although the gradual decrease and ulti-
mate extinction of the races of man is a highly
complex problem, depending on many causes which differ
in different places and at different times, it is the same
problem as that presented by the extinction of one of the
higher animals—of the fossil horse, for instance, which
disappeared from South America, soon afterward to be
replaced, within the same districts, by countless troops
of the Spanish horse. The New-Zealander seems con-
scious of this parallelism, for he compares his future fate
with that of the native rat, now almost exterminated by
the European rat. Though the difficulty is great to our
imagination, and really great, if we wish to ascertain the
precise causes and their manner of action, it ought not

Page 191.

__ to be so to our reason, as long as we keep steadily in mind

that the increase of each species and each race is con-
stantly checked in various ways; so that, if any new
check, even a slight one, be superadded, the race will
surely decrease in number; and decreasing numbers will
sooner or later lead to extinction ; the end, in most cases,
being promptly determined by the inroads of conquering
tribes.

XL.

SEXUAL SELECTION AS AN AGENCY TO AC-
COUNT FOR THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
THE RACES OF MAN.

Didsbent We have thus far been baffled in all our
of Meo, attempts to account for the differences be-
page 198. tween the races of man; but there remains
one important agency, namely, sexual selection, which ap-
pears to haye acted powerfully on man, as on many other
animals. I do not intend to assert that sexual selection
will account for all the differences between the races. An
unexplained residuum is left, about which we can only
say, in our ignorance, that as individuals are continually
born with, for instance, heads a little rounder or nar-
rower, and with noses a little longer or shorter, such
slight differences might become fixed and uniform, if the
unknown agencies which induced them were to act in a
more constant manner, aided by long-continued inter-
crossing. Such variations come under the provisional ©
class, alluded to in our second chapter, which for the
want of a better term are often called spontaneous. Nor
do I pretend that the effects of sexual selection can be
indicated with scientific precision ; but it can be shown
that it would be an inexplicable fact if man had not been
modified by this agency, which appears to have acted

236 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

powerfully on innumerable animals. It can further be
shown that the differences between the races of man, as
in color, hairiness, form of features, etc., are of a kind
which might have been expected to come under the in-
fluence of sexual selection.

STRUGGLE OF THE MALES FOR THE POSSESSION OF THE

FEMALES.
Dosen’ There can be no doubt that with almost
of Man, all animals, in which the sexes are separate,

page 218. there is a constantly recurrent struggle be-

tween the males for the possession of the females.

Our difficulty in regard to sexual selection lies in un-
derstanding how it is that the males which conquer other
males, or those which prove the most attractive to the
females, leave a greater number of offspring to inherit
their superiority than their beaten and less attractive
rivals. Unless this result does follow, the characters
which give to certain males an advantage over others
could not be perfected and augmented through sexual se-
lection. When the sexes exist in exactly equal numbers,
the worst-endowed males will (except where polygamy
prevails) ultimately find females, and leave as many off-
spring, as well fitted for their general habits of life, as
the best-endowed males. From various facts and con-
siderations, I formerly inferred that with most animals,
in which secondary sexual characters are well developed,
the males considerably exceeded the females in number ;
but this is not by any means always true. If the males
were to the females as two to one, or as three to two, or
even in a somewhat lower ratio, the whole affair would
be simple ; for the better-armed or more attractive males
would leave the largest number of offspring. But, after

SEXUAL SELECTION. 237

‘investigating, as far as possible, the numerical proportion
_ of the sexes, I do not believe that any great inequality in
number commonly exists. In most cases sexual selection
appears to have been effective in the following manner :

_ Let us take any species, a bird for instance, and di-
yide the females inhabiting a district into two equal bod-
_ ies, the one consisting of the more vigorous and better-
_ nourished individuals, and the other of the less vigor-
ous and healthy. ‘The former, there can be little doubt,
_ would be ready to breed in the spring before the others ;
and this is the opinion of Mr. Jenner Weir, who has
carefully attended to the habits of birds during many
_ years. There can also be no doubt that the most vigor-
_ ous, best-nourished, and earliest breeders would on an
_ average succeed in rearing the largest number of fine off-
' spring. The males, as we have seen, are generally ready
to breed before the females; the strongest, and with
some species the best armed of the males, drive away the
weaker ; and the former would then unite with the more
vigorous and better-nourished females, because they are
_ the first to breed. Such vigorous pairs would surely
rear a larger number of offspring than the retarded fe-
males, which would be compelled to unite with the con-
quered and less powerful males, supposing the sexes to be
numerically equal ; and this is all that is wanted to add,
in the course of successive generations, to the size, strength,

| and courage of the males, or to improve their weapons.

COURTSHIP AMONG THE LOWER ANIMALS.

Page 214. But in very many cases the males which
conquer their rivals do not obtain possession

of the females, independently of the choice of the latter.
The courtship of animals is by no means so simple and

238 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

short an affair as might be thought. The females are
most excited by, or prefer pairing with, the more orna-
mented males, or those which are the best songsters, or
play the best antics; but it is obviously probable that
they would at the same time prefer the more vigorous
and lively males, and this has in some cases been con-
firmed by actual observation. Thus, the more vigorous
females, which are the first to breed, will have the choice
of many males; and, though they may not always select
the strongest or best armed, they will select those which
are vigorous and well armed, and in other respects the
most attractive. Both sexes, therefore, of such early
pairs would, as above explained, have an advantage over
others in rearing offspring; and this apparently has suf-
ficed, during a long course of generations, to add not
only to the strength and fighting powers of the males,
but likewise to their various ornaments or other attrac-
tions.

In the converse and much rarer case, of the males se-
lecting particular females, it is plain that those which
were the most vigorous, and had conquered others, would
have the freest choice ; and it is almost certain that they
would select vigorous as well as attractive females. Such
pairs would have an advantage in rearing offspring, more
especially if the male had the power to defend the female
during the pairing-season, as occurs with some of the
higher animals, or aided her in providing for the young.
The same principles would apply if each sex preferred
and selected certain individuals of the opposite sex ; sup-
posing that they selected not only the more attractive
but likewise the more vigorous individuals.

SEXUAL SELECTION. 239

WHY THE MALE PLAYS THE MORE ACTIVE PART IN
COURTING.

We are naturally led to inquire why the
male, in so many and such distinct classes,
has become move eager than the female, so that he
_ searches for her, and plays the more active part in court-
_ ship. It would be no advantage, and some loss of power,
if each sex searched for the other; but why should the
_ male almost always be the seeker? The ovules of plants
after fertilization have to be nourished for a time ; hence
the pollen is necessarily brought to the female organs—
being placed on the stigma by means of insects or the
wind, or by the spontaneous movements of the stamens ;
and, in the Alga, etc., by the locomotive power of the
antherozodids. With lowly-organized aquatic animals,
permanently affixed to the same spot, and having their
sexes separate, the male element is invariably brought to
the female ; and of this we can see the reason, for even
if the ova were detached before fertilization, and did
not require subsequent nourishment or protection, there
would yet be greater difficulty in transporting them than
the male element, because, being larger than the latter,
they are produced in far smaller numbers. So that many
of the lower animals are, in this respect, analogous with
plants. The males of affixed and aquatic animals, haying
been led to emit their fertilizing element in this way, it
is natural that any of their descendants, which rose in
the scale and became locomotive, should retain the same
habit; and they would approach the female as closely as
possible, in order not to risk the loss of the fertilizing
element in a long passage of it through the water. With
some few of the lower animals, the females alone are
fixed, and the males of these must be the seekers. But

Paze 222..

240 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

it is difficult to understand why the males of species,
of which the progenitors were primordially free, should
invariably have acquired the habit of approaching the
females, instead of being approached by them. But, in
all cases, in order that the males should seek efficiently,
it would be necessary that they should be endowed with
strong passions; and the acquirement of such passions
would naturally follow from the more eager leaving a
larger number of offspring than the less eager.

TRANSMISSION OF SEXUAL CHARACTERISTICS, _

Why certain characters should be inherited
by both sexes, and other characters by one sex
alone, namely, by that sex in which the character first ap-
peared, is in most cases quite unknown. We can not even
conjecture why, with certain sub-breeds of the pigeon,
black striz, though transmitted through the female,
should be developed in the male alone, while every other
character is equally transferred to both sexes. Why,
again, with cats, the tortoise-shell color should, with rare
exceptions, be developed in the female alone. The very
same character, such as deficient or supernumerary digits,
color-blindness, etc., may with mankind be inherited by
the males alone of one family, and in another family by
the females alone, though in both cases transmitted
through the opposite as well as through the same sex.
Although we are thus ignorant, the two following rules
seem often to hold good: that variations which first ap-
pear in either sex at a late period of life tend to be de-
veloped in the same sex alone; while variations which
first appear early in life in either sex tend to be devel-
oped in both sexes. I am, however, far from supposing
that this is the sole determining cause.

Page 232.

SEXUAL SELECTION. 241

oe Page 238 An excellent case for investigation is af-
-- forded by the deer family. In all the species,
but one, the horns are developed only in the males,
_ though certainly transmitted through the females, and
capable of abnormal development in them. In the rein-
deer, on the other hand, the female is provided with
horns ; so that, in this species, the horns ought, accord-
ing to our rule, to appear early in life, long before the
_ two sexes are mature, and have come to differ much in

constitution. In all the other species the horns ought to
appear later in life, which would lead to their develop-
_ ment in that sex alone in which they first appeared in
the progenitor of the whole family. Now, in seven spe-
cies, belonging to distinct sections of the family, and in-
_ habiting different regions, in which the stags alone bear
horns, I find that the horns first appear at periods vary-
ing from nine months after birth in the roebuck, to ten,
twelve, or even more months in the stugs of the six other
aud larger species. But with the reindeer the case is
widely different ; for, as I hear from Professor Nilsson,
who kindly made special inquiries for me in Lapland, the
horns appear in the young animals within four or’ five

weeks after birth, and at the same time in both sexes. .,

So that here we have a structure developed at a most
unusually early age in one species of the family, and like-
wise common to both sexes in this one species alone.

Finally, from what we have now seen of
the relation which exists in many natural spe-
cies and domesticated races, between the period of the
_ development of their characters and the manner of their

_ transmission—for example, the striking fact of the early
_ growth of the horns in the reindeer, in which both sexes
bear horns, in comparison with their much later growth

Page 239.

242 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

in the other species in which the male alone bears horns
—we may conclude that one, though not the sole cause of
characters being exclusively inherited by one sex, is their
development at a late age. And, secondly, that one,
though apparently a less efficient cause of characters be-
ing inherited by both sexes, is their development at an
early age, while the sexes differ but little in constitution.
It appears, however, that some difference must exist
between the sexes even during a very early embryonic
period, for characters developed at this age not rarely
become attached to one sex.

AN OBJECTION ANSWERED.

Descent Several writers have objected to the whole
of et theory of sexual selection, by assuming that
page 49>. with animals and savages the taste of the fe-
male for certain colors or other ornaments would not re-
main constant for many generations ; that first one color
and then another would be admired, and consequently
that no permanent effect could be produced. We may
admit that taste is fluctuating, but it is not quite arbi-
trary. It depends much on habit, as we see in mankind ;
and we may infer that this would hold good with birds
and other animals. Even in our own dress, the general
character lasts long, and the changes are to a certain ex-
tent graduated. Abundant evidence will be given in two
places in a future chapter, that savages of many races
have admired for many generations the same cicatrices on
the skin, the same hideously perforated lips, nostrils, or
ears, distorted heads, etc. ; and these deformities present
some analogy to the natural ornaments of various animals.
Nevertheless, with savages such fashions do not endure
forever, as we may infer from the differences in this re-

SEXUAL SELECTION. 243

spect between allied tribes on the same continent. So
again the raisers of fancy animals certainly have admired
for many generations and still admire the same breeds ;
they earnestly desire slight changes, which are considered
as improvements, but any great or sudden change is
looked at as the greatest blemish. With birds in a state
of nature we have no reason to suppose that they would
admire an entirely new style of coloration, even if great
and sudden variation often occurred, which is far from
being the case. We know that dovecot pigeons do not
willingly associate with the variously colored fancy
breeds ; that albino birds do not commonly get partners
in marriage ; and that the black ravens of the Feroe Isl-
_ands chase away their piebald brethren. But this dis-
like of a sudden change would not preclude their appre-
ciating slight changes, any more than it does in the case
of man. Hence with respect to taste, which depends on
many elements, but partly on habit and partly on a love
_ of novelty, there seems no improbability in animals ad-
miring for a very long period the same general style of or-
namentation or other attractions, and yet appreciating
slight changes in colors, form, or sound.

_ DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SEXES CREATED BY SEXUAL

SELECTION.

Page 563. There can be little doubt that the great-
er size and strength of man, in comparison

with woman, together with his broader shoulders, more
developed muscles, rugged outline of body, his greater
courage and pugnacity, are all due in chief part to in-
heritance from his half-human male ancestors. These
_ characters would, however, have been preserved or even
augmented during the long ages of man’s savagery, by

244 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

the success of the strongest and boldest men, both in the
general struggle for life and in their contest. for wives; a
success which would have insured their leaying a more
numerous progeny than their less favored brethren. It is
not probable that the greater strength of man was primari-
ly acquired through the inherited effects of his having
worked harder than woman for his own subsistence and
that of his family ; for the women in all barbarous na-
tions are compelled to work at least. as hard as the men.
With civilized people the arbitrament of battle for the
possession of the women has long ceased ; on the other
hand, the men, as a general rule, have to work harder
than the women for their joint subsistence, and thus their
greater strength will have been kept up.

With respect to differences of this nature between
man and woman, it is probable that sexual selection has
- played a highly important part. Iam aware that some
writers doubt whether there is any such inherent differ-
ence; but this is at least probable from the analogy of
the lower animals which present other secondary sexual
characters. No one disputes that the bull differs in dis-
position from the cow, the wild-boar from the sow, the
stallion from the mare, and, as is well known to the keep-
ers of menageries, the males of the larger apes from the
females. Woman seems to differ from man in mental dis-
position, chiefly in her greater tenderness and less selfish-
ness ; and this holds good even with savages, as shown
by a well-known passage in Mungo Park’s “ Travels,” and
by statements made by many other travelers. Woman,
owing to her maternal instincts, displays these qualities
toward her infants in an eminent degree ; therefore it. is
likely that she would often extend them toward her fel-
low-creatures. Man is the rival of other men; he de-

SEXUAL SELECTION. — 245

lights in competition, and this leads to ambition which
_ passes too easily into selfishness. These latter qualities
seem to be his natural and unfortunate birthright. It is
_ generally admitted that with woman the powers of intui-
tion, of rapid perception, and perhaps of imitation, are
_ morestrongly marked than in man ; but some, at least, of
these faculties are characteristic of the lower races, and
_ therefore of a past and lower state of civilization.

_ The chief distinction in the intellectual powers of the .
two sexes is shown by man’s attaining to a higher emi-
nence, in whatever he takes up, than can woman—wheth-
er requiring deep thought, reason, or imagination, or
merely the use of the senses and hands. If two lists were
made of the most eminent men and women in poetry,

| painting, sculpture, music (inclusive both of composition

and performance), history, science, and philosophy, with
half a dozen names under each subject, the two lists would
not bear comparison. We may also infer, from the law
of the deviation from averages, so well illustrated by Mr. .
Galton, in his work on “ Hereditary Genius,” that if men
are capable of a decided pre-eminence over women in
many subjects, the average of mental power in man must
be above that of woman.

Among the half-human progenitors of man, and
among savages, there have been struggles between the
males during many generations for the possession of the
females. But mere bodily strength and size would do
little for victory, unless associated with courage, persever-
ance, and determined energy. With social animals, the
young males have to pass through many a contest before
they win a female, and the older males have to retain
their females by renewed battles. They have, also, in the
ease of mankind, to defend their females, as well as their
young, from enemies of all kinds, and to hunt for their

246 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

joint subsistence. But to avoid enemies or to attack them —
with success, to capture wild animals, or to fashion —
weapons, requires the aid of the higher mental faculties, —
namely, observation, reason, invention, or imagination.

These various faculties will thus have been continually ¢

put to the test and selected during manhood ; they will, —
moreover, have been strengthened by use during this same
period of life. Consequently, in accordance with the
principle often alluded to, we might expect that they
would at least tend to be transmitted chiefly to the male
offspring at the corresponding period of manhood.

HOW WOMAN COULD BE MADE TO REACH THE STAND-
ARD OF MAN.

It must be borne in mind that the tenden-
cy in characters acquired by either sex late in
life, to be transmitted to the same sex at the same age,
and of early acquired characters to be transmitted to both
sexes, are rules which, though general, do not always

hold. If they always held good, we might conclude (but
I here exceed my proper bounds) that the inherited ef-
fects of the early education of boys and girls would be
transmitted equally to both sexes; so that the present
inequality in mental power between the sexes would not
be effaced by a similar course of early training ; nor can
it have been caused by their dissimilar early training. In
order that woman should reach the same standard as man,
she ought, when nearly adult, to be trained to energy and
perseverance, and to have her reason and imagination
exercised to the highest point ; and then she would prob-
ably transmit these qualities chiefly to her adult daugh-
ters. All women, however, could not be thus raised, un-
less during many generations those who excelled in the

Page 565.

SEXUAL SELECTION. 247

above robust virtues were married, and produced offspring
‘in larger numbers than other women. As before re-
marked of bodily strength, although men do not now
fight for their wives, and this form of selection has
_ passed away, yet during manhood they generally under-
_ go asevere struggle in order to maintain themselves and
their families; and this will tend to keep up or even
increase their mental powers, and, as a consequence, the
present inequality between the sexes.

** CHARACTERISTIC SELFISHNESS OF MAN.”

In most, but not all parts of the world, the
men are more ornamented than the women,
and often in a different manner; sometimes, though
rarely, the women are hardly at all ornamented. As the
women are made by savages to perform the greatest share
of the work, and as they are not allowed to eat the best
kinds of food, so it accords with the characteristic selfish-
_ ness of man that they should not be allowed to obtain or
| _use the finest ornaments. Lastly, it is a remarkable fact,
, as proved by the foregoing quotations, that the same
fashions in modifying the shape of the head, in ornament-
ing the hair, in painting, tattooing, in perforating the
nose, lips, or ears, in removing or filing the teeth, etc.,
now prevail, and have long prevailed, in the most distant
quarters of the world. It is extremely improbable that
these practices, followed by so many distinct nations,
should be due to tradition from any common source.
They indicate the close similarity of the mind of man, to
_ whatever race he may belong, just as do the almost uni-
_ versal habits of dancing, masquerading, and making rude
pictures.

Page 577.

248 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

NO UNIVERSAL STANDARD OF BEAUTY AMONG MAN-
KIND.

The senses of man and of the lower animals
seem to be so constituted that: brilliant colors
and certain forms, as well as harmonious and rhythmical
sounds, give pleasure and are called. beautiful; but why
this should be so we know not. It is certainly not true
that there is in the mind of man any universal standard
of beauty with respect to the human body. It is, how-
ever, possible that certain tastes may in the course of
time become inherited, though there is no evidence in
favor of this belief ; and if so each race would possess its
“own innate ideal standard of beauty. It has been argued

Page 584.

that ugliness consists in an approach to the structure of —

the lower animals, and. no doubt this is partly true with
thé more civilized nations, in which intellect is highly
appreciated ; but this explanation Will hardly apply to all
forms of ugliness. The men of each race prefer what
they are accustomed to; they can not endure any great
change ; but they like variety, and admire each charac-
teristic carried to a moderate extreme. Men accustomed
to a nearly oval face, to straight and regular features,
and to bright colors, admire, as we Europeans know,
these points when. strongly developed. On the other
hand, men accustomed to a broad face, with high cheek-
bones, a depressed nose, and a black skin, admire these
peculiarities when strongly marked. No doubt charac-
ters of all kinds may be too much developed for beauty.
Hence a perfect beauty, which implies many characters
modified in a particular manner, will be in every race a
prodigy. As the great anatomist Bichat long ago said,
if every one were cast in the same mold, there would
be no such thing as beauty. If all our women were

SEXUAL SELECTION. _ 249

to become as beautiful as the Venus de’ Medici, we should
for a time be charmed ; but we should soon wish for va-
Tiety ; and, as soon as we had obtained variety, we should
wish to see certain characters a little exaggerated beyond
_ the then existing common standard.

Page 578. It is well known that with many Hotten-
tot women the posterior part of the body
projects in a wonderful manner ; they are steatopygous ;
_ and Sir Andrew Smith is certain that this peculiarity is
_ greatly admired by the men. He once saw a woman who
_ was considered a beauty, and she was so immensely de-
veloped behind, that when seated on level ground she
could not rise, and had to push herself along until she
came toaslope. Some of the women in the various ne-
gro tribes have the same peculiarity ; and, according to
' Burton, the Somal men “are said to choose their wives
_ byranging them in a line, and by picking her out who
projects farthest a tergo. Nothing can be more hateful
_to a negro than the opposite form.”

DEVELOPMENT OF THE BEARD.

With respect to the beard in man, if we
turn to our best guide, the Quadrumana, we
_ find beards equally developed in both sexes of many spe-
cies, but in some, either confined to the males, or more
developed in them than in the females. From this fact
and from the curious arrangement, as well as the bright
colors of the hair about the head of many monkeys, it is

highly probable, as before explained, that the males first

_ acquired their beards through sexual selection as an orna-

_ ment, transmitting them in most cases, equally or nearly

_ 80, to their offspring of both sexes. We know from
12

Page 602.

250 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

Eschricht that, with mankind, the female as well as the ©
male foetus is furnished with much hair on the face, —
especially round the mouth ; and this indicates that we —
are descended from progenitors of whom both sexes are ©
bearded. It appears therefore at first sight probable that —
man has retained his beard from a very early period,
while woman lost her beard at the same time that her —
body became almost completely divested of hair. Even —

the color of our beards seems to have been inherited from —

an ape-like progenitor ; for, when there is any difference
in tint between the hair of the head and the beard, the
latter is lighter colored in all monkeys and in man. In ~
those Quadrumana in which the male has a larger beard —
than that of the female, it is fully developed only at ma- —
turity, just as with mankind ; and it is possible that —
only the later stages of development have been retained —
by man. In opposition to this view of the retention of —
the beard from an early period, is the fact of its great ta- —

riability in different races, and even within the same race; _

for this indicates reversion—long-lost characters being 2
ge apt to vary on reappearance.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE MARRIAGE-TIE.

Descent : uve .
of Man, of the marriage-tie is an obscure subject, as —

page 590. we may infer from the divergent opinions on
several points between the three authors who have studied
it most closely, namely, Mr. Morgan, Mr. McLennan, and
Sir J. Lubbock, yet, from the foregoing and several other —
lines of evidence, it seems probable that the habit of mar-
riage, in any strict sense of the word, has been gradually
developed ; and that a!most promiscuous, or very loose,
intercourse was once extremely common throughout the

Although the manner of the development

SEXUAL SELECTION. 251

orld. Nevertheless, from the strength of the feeling of
jealousy all through the animal kingdom, as well as from
the analogy of the lower animals, more particularly of
those which come nearest to man, I can not believe that
absolutely promiscuous intercourse prevailed in times
past, shortly before man attained to his present rank in
the zodlogical scale. Man, as I have attempted to show,
_is certainly descended from some ape-like creature. With
| the existing Quadrumana, as far as their habits are known,
_ the males of some species are monogamous, but live dur-
ing only a part of the year with the females ; of this the
orang seems to afford an instance. Several kinds, for
_ example, some of the Indian and American monkeys, are
strictly monogamous, and associate all the year round
with their wives. Others are polygamous, for example,
| the gorilla and several American species, and each family
_ lives separate.

Therefore, looking far enough back in the
stream of time, and judging from the social
| habits of man as he now exists, the most probable view
| is that he aboriginally lived in small communities, each
| with a single wife, or, if powerful, with several, whom

_ he jealously guarded against all other men. Or he may
not have been a social animal, and yet have lived with
_ several wives, like the gorilla; for all the natives “‘ agree
that but one adult male is seen in a band; when the
_ young male grows up, a contest takes place for mastery,
and the strongest, by killing and driving out the others,
_ establishes himself as the head of the community.” The
younger males, being thus expelled and wandering about,
would, when at last successful in finding a partner, pre-
_ vent too close interbreeding within the limits of the same

family.

Page 591.

252 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

Although savages are now extremely licentious, and
although communal marriages may formerly have largely

prevailed, yet many tribes practice some form of mar- —

riage, but of a far more lax nature than that of civilized
nations. Polygamy, as just stated, is almost universally
followed by the leading men in every tribe. Neverthe-
less, there are tribes, standing almost at the bottom of
the scale, which are strictly monogamous. This is the
case with the Veddahs of Ceylon ; they have a saying,
according to Sir J. Lubbock, that “death alone can sepa-
rate husband and wife.” An intelligent Kandyan chief,
of course a polygamist, ‘‘ was perfectly scandalized at the
utter barbarism of living with only one wife, and never
parting until separated by death.” It was, he said, ‘just
like the Wanderoo monkeys.” Whether savages who now
enter into some form of marriage, either polygamous or
monogamous, have retained this habit from primeval
times, or whether they have returned to some form of
marriage, after passing through a stage of promiscuous
intercourse, I will not pretend to conjecture.

UNNATURAL SELECTION IN MARRIAGE,

Hesoont Man scans with scrupulous care the char-
of Man, acter and pedigree of his horses, cattle, and
neae 012. dogs before he matches them ; but, when he
comes to his own marriage, he rarely or never takes any
such care. He is impelled by nearly the same motives as
the lower animals, when they are left to their own frée
choice, though he is in so far superior to them that he
highly values mental charms and virtues. On the other
hand, he is strongly attracted by mere wealth or rank.
Yet he might by selection do something not only for the
bodily constitution and frame of his offspring, but for

SEXUAL SELECTION. 253

their intellectual and moral qualities. Both sexes ought
to refrain from marriage, if they are in any marked de-
gree inferior in body or mind; but such hopes are Uto-
pian, and will never be even partially realized until the
laws of inheritance are thoroughly known. Every one
_ does good service who aids toward this end. When the
principles of breeding and inheritance are better un-
derstood, we shall not hear ignorant members of our

- Legislature rejecting with scorn a plan for ascertaining
| whether or not consanguineous marriages are injurious
to man.

+7 The advancement of the welfare of mankind is a most

intricate problem: all ought to refrain from marriage
_ who can not avoid abject poverty for their children ; for
poverty is not only a great evil, but tends to its own in-
crease by leading to recklessness in marriage. On the
other hand, as Mr. Galton has remarked, if the prudent
ayoid marriage, while the reckless marry, the inferior
members tend to supplant the better members of society.
Man, like every other animal, has no doubt advanced to

| his present high condition through a struggle for exist-

ence consequent on his rapid multiplication ; and, if he

| is to advance still higher, it is to be feared that he must

remain subject to a severe struggle. Otherwise he would
sink into indolence, and the more gifted men would not
be more successful in the battle of life than the less
_ gifted. Hence our natural rate of increase, though lead-

E ing to many and obvious evils, must not be greatly dimin-

ished by any means. There should be open competition
for all men ; and the most able should not be prevented
by laws or customs from succeeding best, and rearing the
largest number of offspring. Important as the struggle
for existence has been, and even still is, yet, as far as the
highest part of man’s nature is concerned, there are

254 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

other agencies more important. For the moral qualities —
are advanced, either directly or indirectly, much more ©

through the effects of habit, the reasoning powers, in-

struction, religion, etc., than through natural selection;

though to this latter agency may be safely attributed the
social instincts which afforded the basis for the develop-
ment of the moral sense. -

MODIFYING INFLUENCES IN BOTH SEXES.

With animals in a state of nature, many

Page 596. :
7" characters proper to the males, such as size,

strength, special weapons, courage, and pugnacity, have ©

been acquired through the law of battle. The semi-
human progenitors of man, like their allies the Quadrn-
mana, will almost certainly have been thus modified ;

and, as savages still fight for the possession of their
women, a similar process of selection -has probably gone
on in a greater or less degree to the present day. Other
characters proper to the males of the lower animals, such
as bright colors and various ornaments, have been ac-
quired by the more attractive males having been preferred
by the females. There are, however, exceptional cases

in which the males are the selectors, instead of having .

been the selected. We recognize such cases by the fe-
males being more highly ornamented than the males—

their ornamental characters having been transmitted ex-

clusively or chiefly to their female offspring. One such
case has been described in the order to which man belongs,
that of the Rhesus monkey.

Man is more powerful in body and sits than woman,
and in the savage state he keeps her in a far more abject
state of bondage than does the male of any other animal ;
therefore it is not surprising that he should have gained

ch Sa cn ase fy en ol ee et

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=
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:
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|
|
|

SEXUAL SELECTION. 255

_ the power of selection. Women are everywhere conscious
of the value of their own beauty; and, when they have
the means, they take more delight in decorating them-
selves with all sorts of ornaments than do men. They
borrow the plumes of male birds, with which nature has
decked this sex in order to charm the females. As women
have long been selected for beauty, it is not surprising
that some of their successive variations should have been
transmitted exclusively to the same sex; consequently
that they should have transmitted beauty in a somewhat
higher degree to their female than to their male offspring,
and thus have become more beautiful, according to gen-
eral opinion, than men. Women, however, certainly
transmit most of their characters, including some beauty,
to their offspring of both sexes; so that the continued
preference by the men of each race for the more attractive
women, according to their standard of taste, will have
tended to modify in the same manner all the individuals
of both sexes belonging to the race.

He who admits the principle of sexual se-
lection will be led to the remarkable conclusion
that the nervous system not only regulates most of the
existing functions of the body, but has indirectly influ-
enced the progressive development of various bodily
structures and of certain mental qualities. Courage,
pugnacity, perseverance, strength and size of body, weap-
ons of all kinds, musical organs, both vocal and instru-
mental, bright colors and ornamental appendages, have
all been indirectly gained by the one sex or the other,
through the exertion of choice, the. influence of love and
jealousy, and the appreciation of the beautiful in sound, -
color, or form ; and these powers of the mind manifestly
depend on the development of the brain.

Page 617.

256 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

**GROUNDS THAT WILL NEVER BE SHAKEN.”

Descent Many of the views which have been ad-
of Man vanced are highly speculative
page 606. Smuy sp , and some no

doubt will prove erroneous; but I have in
every case given the reasons which haye led me to one
view rather than to another. It seemed worth while to
try how far the principle of evolution would throw light
on some of the more complex problems in the natural
history of man. False facts are highly injurious to the
progress of science, for they often endure long ; but false
views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm, for
every one takes a salutary pleasure in proving their false-
ness ; and, when this is done, one path toward error is
closed and the road to truth is often at the same time
opened.

The main conclusion here arrived at, and now held
by many naturalists who are well competent to form a
sound judgment, is that man is descended from some less
highly organized form. The grounds upon which this
conclusion rests will never be shaken, for the close simi-
larity between man and the lower animals in embryonic
development, as well as in innumerable points of structure
and constitution, both of high and of the most trifling
importance—the rudiments which he retains, and the
abnormal reversions to which he is occasionally liable—
are facts which can not be disputed. They have long
been known, but until recently they told us nothing with
respect to the origin of man. Now, when viewed by the
light of our knowledge of the whole organic world, their
meaning is unmistakable. The great principle of evolu-
tion stands up clear and firm, when these groups of facts
are considered in connection with others, such as the
mutual affinities of the members of the same group, their

SEXUAL SELECTION. 257

geographical distribution in past and present times, and
their geological succession. It is incredible that all these
facts should speak falsely. He who is not content to
look, like a savage, at the phenomena of nature as dis-
connected, can not any longer believe that man is the
work of a separate act of creation. He will be forced to
admit that the close resemblance of the embryo of man
to that, for instance, of a dog—the construction of his
skull, limbs, and whole frame on the same plan with that
of other mammals, independently of the uses to which
the parts may be put—the occasional reappearance of
yarious structures, for instance of several muscles, which
man does not normally possess, but which are common
to the Quadrumana—and a crowd of analogous facts—all
point in the plainest manner to the conclusion that man
is the co-descendant with other mammals of a common

progenitor.

XI.

THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS IN
MAN AND OTHER ANIMALS.

The subject is treated under three Principles: the Prin-
ciple of Associated Habit ; the Principle of Antithesis ;
and the Principle of the direct action of the nervous
system independent of Will and Habit.

THE PRINCIPLE OF ASSOCIATED HABIT.

Expression of It is notorious how powerful is the foree
the Emotions, of habit. The most complex and difficult
page 29.
the least effort or consciousness. It is not positively
known how it comes that habit is so efficient in facilitat-
ing complex movements ; but physiologists admit that
‘* the conducting power of the nervous fibers increases with
the frequency of their excitement.” This applies to the
nerves of motion and sensation, as well as to those con-
nected with the act of thinking. That some physical
change is produced in the nerve-cells or nerves which are
habitually used can hardly be doubted, for otherwise it is
impossible to understand how the tendency to certain ac-
quired moyements is inherited.

It is known to every one how difficult or
even impossible it is, without repeated trials,
to move the limbs in certain opposed directions which

Page 31

|
4
c|
i
7
.

movements can in time be performed without

te

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: Tears hidnia can

EXPRESSION OF EMOTIONS IN MAN AND ANIMALS. 259

haye never been practiced. Analogous cases occur with
sensations, as in the common experiment of rolling a
marble beneath the tips of two crossed fingers, when it
feels exactly like two marbles. Every one protects himself
when falling to the ground by extending his arms, and as
Professor Alison has remarked, few can resist acting thus
_ when voluntarily falling on a soft bed. A man when
going out-of-doors puts on his gloves quite unconsciously ;
_ and this may seem an extremely simple operation, but he
who has taught a child to put on gloves knows that this
is by no means the case.
When our minds are much affected, so are the move-
_ ments of our bodies.

To those who admit the gradual evolution
_ of species, a most striking instance of the per-
fection with which the most difficult consensual move-
ments can be transmitted, is afforded by the humming-
bird Sphinx-moth (Macroglossa) ; for this moth, shortly
after its emergence from the cocoon, as shown by the
bloom on its unruffied scales, may be seen poised station-
ary in the air, with its long, hair-like proboscis uncurled
and inserted into the minute orifices of flowers ; and no
one, I believe, has ever seen this moth learning to per-
form its difficult task, which requires such unerring aim.

A vulgar man often scratches his head
when perplexed in mind ; and I believe that

\ Page 30.

Page 32.

he acts thus from habit, as if he experienced a slightly

uncomfortable bodily sensation, namely, the itching of
his head, to which he is particularly liable, and which he
thus relieves. Another man rubs his eyes when perplexed,
or gives a little cough when embarrassed, acting in either
case as if he felt a slightly uncomfortable sensation in his
eyes or windpipe.

260 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

From the continued use of the eyes, these organs are
especially liable to be acted on through association under
various states of the mind, although there is manifestly
nothing to be seen. A man, as Gratiolet remarks, who
vehemently rejects a proposition, will almost certainly
shut his eyes or turn away his face ; but, if he accepts the
proposition, he will nod his head in affirmation and open
his eyes widely. The man acts in this latter case as if he
clearly saw the thing, and in the former case as if he did
not, or would not, see it. I have noticed that persons in
describing a horrid sight often shut their eyes moment-
arily and firmly, or shake their heads, as if not to see or
to drive away something disagreeable ; and I have caught -
myself, when thinking in the dark of a horrid spectacle,
closing my eyes firmly.

There are other actions which are com-
monly performed under certain circumstances,
independently of habit, and which seem to be due to imi-
tation or some sort of sympathy. Thus persons cutting _
anything with a pair of scissors may be seen to moye ~
their jaws simultaneously with the blades of the scissors.

‘Page 34.

Children learning ‘to write often twist about their tongues ~ 5

as their fingers move, in a ridiculous fashion. When a
public singer suddenly becomes a little hoarse, many of
those present may be heard, as I have been assured by a
gentleman on whom I can rely, to clear their throats ;
but here habit probably comes into play, as we clear our
own throats under similar circumstances.

Reflex actions, in the strict sense of the
term, are due to the excitement of a peripheral
nerve, which transmits its influence to certain nerve-cells,
and these, in their turn, excite certain muscles or glands

Page 35.

EXPRESSION OF EMOTIONS IN MAN AND ANIMALS. 261

_ into action ; and all this may take place without any sen-
_ sation or consciousness on our part, though often thus
accompanied. As many reflex actions are highly ex-
_ pressive, the subject must here be noticed at some little

length. We shall also see that some of them graduate
_ into, and can hardly be distinguished from, actions which
haye arisen through habit. Coughing and sneezing are

familiar instances of reflex actions.

The conscious wish to perform a reflex ac-
tion sometimes stops or interrupts its perform-
ance, though the proper sensory nerves may be stimulated.
For instance, many years ago I laid a small wager with a
dozen young men that they would not sneeze if they took
snuff, although they all declared that they invariably did
so; accordingly, they all took a pinch, but, from wishing
much to succeed, not one sneezed, though their eyes
watered, and all, without exception, had to pay me the

Page 37.

Dogs, when they wish to go to slecp on a ear-
pet or other hard surface, generally turn round
and round and scratch the ground with their fore-paws in
a senseless manner, as if they intended to trample down
the grass and scoop out a hollow, as, no doubt, their wild
parents did, when they lived on open, grassy plains or in
the woods.

Page 42.

THE PRINCIPLE OF ANTITHESIS.

aria a Certain states of the mind lead, as we have
; seen in the last chapter, to certain habitual
page 50. movements which were primarily, or may still
be, of service ; and we shall find that, when a directly op-

262 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

; Insists, especially along the neck and back; the pricked

“

posite state of mind is induced, there is a strong and in- —
voluntary tendency to the performance of movements of —
a directly opposite nature, though these have never been

of any service. 5

When a dog approaches a strange dog or man in a
savage or hostile frame of mind, he walks upright and
very stiffly ; his head is slightly raised, or not much low- _
ered ; the tail is held erect and quite rigid; the hairs ~

ears are directed forward; and the eyes have a fixed stare.
These actions follow from the dog’s intention to attack
his enemy, and are thus to a large extent intelligible.
As he prepares to spring with a savage growl on his
enemy, the canine teeth are uncovered, and the ears are
pressed close backward on the head ; but with these lat-
ter actions we are not here concerned. Let us now sup-
pose that the dog suddenly discovers that the man whom
he is approaching is not a stranger, but his master; and
let it be observed how completely and instantaneously his
whole bearing is reversed. Instead of walking upright,
the body sinks downward or even crouches, and is thrown
into flexuous movements ; his tail, instead of being held
stiff and upright, is lowered and wagged from side to
side; his hair instantly becomes smooth ; his ears are
depressed and drawn backward, but not closely to the
head ; and his lips hang loosely. From the drawing back
of the ears, the eyelids become elongated, and the eyes
no longer appear round and staring. It should be added
that the animal is at such times in an excited condition
from joy; and nerve-force will be generated in excess,
which naturally leads to action of some kind. Not one
of the above movements, so clearly expressive of affection,
are of the least direct service to the animal. They are

EXPRESSION “OF EMOTIONS IN MAN AND ANIMALS, 263

explicable, as far as I can see, solely from being in com-
_ plete opposition or antithesis to the attitude and move-
ments which, from intelligible causes, are assumed when

a dog intends to fight, and which consequently are ex-
_ pressive of anger.

ORIGIN OF THE PRINCIPLE OF ANTITHESIS.

i We will now consider how the principle of

a a antithesis in expression has arisen. With so-
cial animals, the power of intercommunication between
the members of tie same community—and, with other
_ species, between the opposite sexes, as well as between the
_ young and the old—is of the highest importance to them.
This is generally effected by means of the voice, but it is
certain that gestures and expressions are to a certain ex-
_ tent mutually intelligible. Man not only uses inarticu-
_ late cries, gestures, and expressions, but has invented
_ articulate language ; if, indeed, the word invented can be
applied toa process completed by innumerable steps, half-
consciously made. Any one who has watched monkeys
will not doubt that they perfectly understand each other’s
gestures and expression, and toa large extent, as Rengger
asserts, those of man. An animal when going to attack
another, or when afraid of another, often makes itself
appear terrible, by erecting its hair, thus increasing the
apparent bulk of its body, by showing its teeth, or bran-
dishing its horns, or by uttering fierce sounds.

As the power of intercommunication is certainly of
high service to many animals, there is no a priori improb-
_ ability in the supposition that gestures manifestly of an
opposite nature to those by which certain feelings are
already expressed should at first have been voluntarily
employed under the influence of an opposite state of feel-

264 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

ing. The fact of the gestures being now innate would
be no valid objection to the belief that they were at first
intentional ; for, if practiced during many generations,
they would probably at last be inherited. Nevertheless,
it is more than doubtful, as we shall immediatély see,

whether any of the cases which come under our present:

head of antithesis have thus originated.

With conventional signs which are not innate, such
as those used by the deaf and dumb and by savages, the
principle of opposition or antithesis has been partially
brought into play. The Cistercian monks thought it sin-
ful to speak, and, as they could not avoid holding some
communication, they invented a gesture language, in
which the principle of opposition seems to haye been em-
ployed. Dr. Scott, of the Exeter Deaf and Dumb Insti-
tution, writes to me that ‘‘ opposites are greatly used in
teaching the deaf and dumb, who have a lively sense of
them.” Nevertheless I have been surprised how few une-
quivocal instances can be adduced. This depends partly
on all the signs having commonly had some natural
origin ; and partly on the practice of the deaf and dumb
and of savages to contract their signs as much as possible
for the sake of rapidity. Hence their natural source or
origin often becomes doubtful, or is completely lost ; as
is likewise the case with articulate language.

When a cat, or rather when some early pro-
genitor of the species, from feeling affection-
ate, first slightly arched its back, held its tail perpen-
dicularly upward and pricked its ears, can it be believed
that the animal consciously wished thus to show that
its frame of mind was directly the reverse of that when,
from being ready to fight or to spring on its prey, it as-
sumed a crouching attitude, curled its tail from side to

Page 64.

ee =

at TLL Saale Hh whee TEE

Oise eae

EXPRESSION OF EMOTIONS IN MAN AND ANIMALS. 265

ide, and depressed its ears ? Even still Jess can I believe
that my dog voluntarily put on his dejected attitude and
“ hot-house face,” which formed so complete a contrast
(0 his previous cheerful attitude and whole bearing. It
can not be supposed that he knew that I should under-
stand his expression, and that he could thus soften my -
heart and make me give up visiting the hot-house.
Hence, for the development of the movements which
come under the present head, some other principle, dis-
_ tinct from the will and consciousness, must have inier-
yened. This principle appears to be that every move-
_ ment which we have voluntarily performed throughout
our lives has required the action of certain muscles ; and,
when we have performed a directly opposite movement,
an opposite set of muscles has been habitually brought
‘into play—as in turning to the right or to the left, in
| pushing away or pulling an object toward us, and in lift-
’ ing or lowering a weight.

THE PRINCIPLE OF THE ACTION OF THE EXCITED NERV-
OUS SYSTEM ON THE BODY.

, ag maal The most striking case, though a rare and
| oe abnormal one, which can be adduced of the
page 66. direct influence of the nervous system, when
strongly affected, on the body, is the loss of color in the
| hair, which has occasionally been observed after extreme
_ terror or grief. One authentic instance has been record-
ed, in the case of a man bronght out for execution in
India, in which the change of color was so rapid that it
was perceptible to the eye.
_ Another good case is that of the trembling of the
muscles, which is common to man and to many, or most,
of the lower animals. Trembling is of no service, often

266 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

of much disservice, and can not have been at first ac-~
quired through the will, and then rendered habitual in —
association with any emotion. I am assured by an emi- —
nent authority that young children do not tremble, but —
go into convulsions, under the circumstances which would
induce excessive trembling in adults. Trembling is ex- ©
cited in different individuals in very different degrees, —

and by the most diversified causes—by cold to the surface,

before fever-fits, although the temperature of the body is —
then above the normal standard ; in blood-poisoning, de- —
lirium tremens, and other diseases ; by general failure of —
power in old age ; by exhaustion after excessive fatigue; —
locally from severe injuries, such as burns ; and, in an ©

especial manner, by the passage of a catheter. Of all
emotions, fear notoriously is the most apt to induce
trembling ; but so do occasionally great anger and joy.
I remember once seeing a boy who had just shot his first
snipe on the wing, and his hands trembled to such a de-
gree from delight that he could not for some time reload

his gun; and I have heard of an exactly similar case —

with an Australian savage, to whom a gun had been lent.
Fine music, from the vague emotions thus excited, causes
a shiver to run down the backs of some persons.

When animals suffer from an agony of
pain, they generally writhe about with fright-
ful contortions ; and those which habitually use their
voices utter piercing cries or groans. Almost every mus-
cle of the body is brought into strong action. With man
the mouth may be closely compressed, or, more com-
monly, the lips are retracted, with the teeth clinched or
ground together.

Page 69.

LA CRS LIE ee

EXPRESSION OF EMOTIONS IN MAN AND ANIMALS. 267

Page 75. The heart will be all the more readily
affected through habitual associations, as it
is not under the control of the will. A man when mod-
erately angry, or even when enraged, may command the
movements of his body, but he can not prevent his heart
from beating rapidly. His chest will, perhaps, give a few
heaves, and his nostrils just quiver, for the movements of
respiration are only in part voluntary. In like manner,
those muscles of the face which are least obedient to the
will will sometimes alone betray a slight and passing
emotion. The glands, again, are wholly independent of
the will, and a man suffering from grief may command
his features, but can not always prevent the tears from
coming into his eyes. A hungry man, if tempting food
is placed before him, may not show his hunger by any
outward gesture, but he can not check the secretion of
| saliva.
a. Page "7. With all, or almost all, animals, even with
: birds, terror causes the body to tremble. The -
skin becomes pale, sweat breaks out, and the hair bris-
tles.

A physician once remarked to me, as a
proof of the exciting nature of anger, that a
_ man when excessively jaded will sometimes invent imagi-
nary offenses, and put himself into a passion, unconscious-
ly, for the sake of reinvigorating himself ; and, since hear-
| ing this remark, I have occasionally recognized its full
| truth.

Page 79.

Exertion stimulates the heart, and this re-
3 acts on the brain, and aids the mind to bear
its heavy load.

Page 81.

XIII.

MEANS OF THE EXPRESSION OF THE
EMOTIONS. *

VOCAL ORGANS.

Expression Wirtu many kinds of animals, man included,

of the Emo- the vocal organs are efficient in the highest de-
? .

page 83. gree as a means of expression. We have seen

in the last chapter that, when the sensorium is strongly
excited, the muscles of the body are generally thrown

into violent action ; and, as a consequence, loud sounds ~

are uttered, however silent the animal may generally be,
and although the sounds may be of no use. Hares and
rabbits, for instance, never, I believe, use their vocal
organs, except in the extremity of suffering ; as, when a
wounded hare is killed by the sportsman, or when a
young rabbit is caught by a stoat. Cattle and horses
suffer great pain in silence, but when this is excessive,
and especially when associated with terror, they utter
fearful sounds.

That animals utter musical notes is fa-
miliar to every one, as we may daily hear in
the singing of birds. It is a more remarkable fact that
an ape, one of the Gibbons, produces an exact octave of
musical sounds, ascending and descending the scale by

Page 87.

MEANS OF THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS. 269

-tones ; so that this monkey, ‘‘alone of brute mam-
may be said to sing.” From this fact, and from
the analogy of other animals, I have been led to infer
that the progenitors of man probably uttered musical
tones before they had acquired the power of articulate
speech ; and that, consequently, when the voice. is used
under any strong emotion, it tends to assume, through the
principle of association, a musical character.

ERECTION OF THE HAIR.

The enraged lion erects his mane. The
bristling of the hair along the neck and back
of the dog, and over the whole body of the cat, especially
on the tail, is familiar to every one. With the cat it ap-
parently occurs only under fear; with the dog, under
anger and fear; but not, as far as I have observed, under
abject fear, as when a dog is going to be flogged by a
severe gamekeeper. If, however, the dog shows fight, as
sometimes happens, up goes his hair. I have often no-
ticed that the hair of a dog is particularly liable to rise
if he is half angry and half afraid, as on beholding some
object only indistinctly seen in the dusk.

Page 96.

Page 97. Birds belonging to all the chief orders ruf-

fle their feathers when angry or frightened.
Every one must have seen two cocks, even quite young
birds, preparing to fight with erected neck-hackles ; nor
can these feathers when erected serve as a means of de-
fense, for cock-fighters have found by experience that it
is advantageous to trim them. The male Ruff (Machetes
pugnaz) likewise erects its collar of feathers when fight-
ing. When a dog approaches a common hen with her
chickens, she spreads out her wings, raises her tail, ruf-

270 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

fles all her feathers, and, looking as ferocious as possible,

dashes at the intruder.

Several kinds of snakes inflate themselves

Ree os: tangas coat hei fig puff-adder (Olotho arie-

tans) is remarkable in this respect; but, I believe, after —

carefully watching these animals, that they do not act

thus for the sake of increasing their apparent bulk, but

simply for inhaling a large supply of air, so as to pro-

duce their surprisingly loud, harsh, and prolonged hiss- —

ing sound,

ERECTION OF THE EARS.

Page 111. as 2 -
ly expressive in many animals; but in some,

such as man, the higher apes, and many ruminants, they

fail in this respect. A slight difference in position serves 2
to express in the plainest manner a different state of

mind, as we may daily see in the dog; but we are here
concerned only with the ears being drawn closely back-
ward and pressed to the head. A savage frame of mind

is thus shown, but only in the case of those animals which

fight with their teeth ; and the care which they take to
prevent their ears being seized by their antagonists ac-
counts for this position. Consequently, through habit
and association, whenever they feel slightly savage, or
pretend in their play to be savage, their ears are drawn
back. That this is the true explanation may be inferred
from the relation which exists in very many animals be-
tween their manner of fighting and the retraction of their
ears.

All the Carnivora fight with their canine teeth, and
all, as far as I have observed, draw their ears back when
feeling savage.

The ears through their movements are high- —

MEANS OF THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS. 271

A STARTLED HORSE.

Expressions The actions of a horse when much startled
Sa Emo are highly expressive. One day my horse was
‘page 130. much frightened at a drilling-machine, covered
by a tarpaulin, and lying on an open field. He raised
his head so high that his neck became almost perpen-
‘dicular ; and this he did from habit, for the machine lay
on a slope below, and could not have been seen with more
distinctness through the raising of the head ; nor, if any
' sound had proceeded from it, could the sound have been
more distinctly heard. His eyes and ears were directed
intently forward ; and I could feel through the saddle
the palpitations of his heart. With red, dilated nostrils
‘he snorted violently, and, whirling round, would have
dashed off at full speed, had I not prevented him. The
distention of the nostrils is not for the sake of scenting
” the source of danger, for, when a horse smells carefully
» at any object and is not alarmed, he does not dilate his
‘nostrils. Owing to the presence of a valve in the throat,
a horse when panting does not breathe through his open
mouth, but through his nostrils ; and these consequently
haye become endowed with great powers of expansion.
| This expansion of the nostrils, as well as the snorting,
and the palpitations of the heart, are actions which have
‘become firmly associated during a long series of genera-
') tions with the emotion of terror ; for terror has habitually
| led the horse to the most violent exertion in dashing away
at full speed from the cause of danger.

MON KEY-SHINES.

Page 142. Many years ago, in the Zodlogical Gardens,
I placed a looking-glass on the floor before
two young orangs, who, as far as it was known, had never

‘O72 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN IIMSELF.

before seen one. At first they gazed at their own images |
with the most steady surprise, and often changed their ~

point of view. They then approached close and protruded
‘their lips toward the image, as if to kiss it, in exactly the
same manner as they had previously done toward each
other, when first placed, a few days before, in the same
room. They next made all sorts of grimaces, and put
themselves in various attitudes before the mirror; they
pressed and rubbed the surface ; they placed their hands
at different distances behind it ; looked behind it; and
finally seemed almost frightened, started a little, became
cross, and refused to look any longer.

When we try to perform some little action which is
difficult and requires precision, for instance, to thread a
needle, we generally close our lips firmly, for the sake, I
presume, of not disturbing our movements by breathing ;

a ee Te ee ee

and I noticed the same action ina young orang. The ~

poor little creature was sick, and was amusing itself by
trying to kill the flies on the window-panes with its
’ knuckles; this was difficult as the flies buzzed about, and
at each attempt the lips were firmly compressed, and at
the same time slightly protruded.

WEEPING OF MAN AND BRUTE.

tee ies Infants while young do not shed tears or
a. mo- weep, as is well known to nurses and medical

page 153. men. This circumstance is not exclusively
due to the lachrymal glands being as yet incapable of se-
creting tears. I first noticed this fact from having acci-
dentally brushed with the cuff of my coat the open eye
of one of my infants, when seventy-seven days old, causing
this eye to water freely ; and, though the child screamed
violently, the other eye remained dry, or was only slightly

MEANS OF THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS. 273

_ suffused with tears. A similar slight effusion occurred
ten days previously in both eyes during a screaming-fit.
‘he tears did not run over the eyelids and roll down the
_ cheeks of this child, while screaming badly, when one
| hundred and twenty-two days old. This first happened
| seventeen days later, at the age of one hundred and
' thirty-nine days. A few other children have been ob-

served for me, and the period of free weeping appears to
” be very variable. In one case, the eyes became slightly
| suffused at the age of only twenty days; in another, at
sixty-two days. With two other children, the tears did
‘not run down the face at the ages of eighty-four and
one hundred and ten days ; but in a third child they did
Tun down at the age of one hundred and four days. In
one instance, -as I was positively assured, tears ran down
at the unusually early age.of forty-two days. It would
‘appear as if the lachrymal glands required some practice
‘in the individual before they are easily excited into action,
in somewhat the same manner as various inherited con-
sensual movements and tastes require some exercise be-
fore they are fixed and perfected. This is all the more
likely with a habit like weeping, which must have been
acquired since the period when man branched off from
the common progenitor of the genus Homo and of the
non-weeping anthropomorphous apes.

A woman, who sold a monkey to the Zoé-
logical Society, believed to have come from
Borneo (Macacus maurus or M. inornatus of Gray), said
hat it often cried; and Mr. Bartlett, as well as the
keeper Mr. Sutton, have repeatedly seen it, when grieved, _
or even when much pitied, weeping so copiously that the
ears rolled stn its cheeks.

Page 135.

274 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF, .

A New Zealand chief ‘‘cried like a child
because the sailors spoiled his fayorite cloak
by powdering it with flour.” I saw in Tierra del Fuego
a native who had lately lost a brother, and who alternately —
cried with hysterical violence, and laughed heartily at_
anything which amused him. With the civilized nations —
of Europe there is also much difference in the frequency ~
of weeping. Englishmen rarely cry, except under the ©
pressure of the acutest grief; whereas, in some parts of —
the Continent, the men shed tears much more readily and _
freely.
The insane notoriously give way to all their emotions
with little or no restraint ; and I am informed by Dr. Ji |
Crichton Browne that scthaing is more characteristic of _
simple melancholia, even in the male sex, than a tendency |
to weep on the slightest occasions, or from no cause. —
They also weep disproportionately on the occurrence of —
any real cause of grief. The length of time during which _
some patients weep is astonishing, as well as the amount —
of tears which they shed.

Page 155.

The Indian elephant is known sometimes —
to weep. Sir E. Tennent, in describing those _
which he saw captured and bound in Ceylon, says some |
‘‘lay motionless on the ground, with no other indication _
of suffering than the tears which suffused their eyes and
flowed incessantly.” Speaking of another elephant he
says: ‘‘ When overpowered and made fast, his grief was
most affecting; his violence sank to utter prostration, ©
and he lay on the ground, uttering choking cries, with
tears trickling down his cheeks.”

Page 167.

MEANS OF THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS. 275

THE GRIEF-MUSCLES.

Expressionof With respect to the eyebrows, they may
the Emotions, occasionally be seen to assume an oblique po-
page 180. sition in persons suffering from deep dejection
or anxiety ; for instance, I have observed this movement
in a mother while speaking about her sick son ; and it is
sometimes excited by quite trifling or momentary causes

_ of real or pretended distress. The eyebrows assume this

position owing to the contraction of certain muscles
(namely, the orbiculars, corrugators, and pyramidals of
the nose, which together tend to lower and contract the
eyebrows) being partially checked by the more powerful
action of the central fasciz of the frontal muscle. These
latter fascia, by their contraction, raise the inner ends
alone of the eyebrows; and, as the corrugators at the
same time draw the eyebrows together, their inner ends
become puckered into a fold or lump. The eyebrows are
at the same time somewhat roughened, owing to the hairs
being made to project. Dr. J. Crichton Browne has also
often noticed, in melancholic patients who keep their eye-
brows persistently oblique, ‘‘a peculiar acute arching of
_ the upper eyelid.” The acute arching of the eyelids de-
_ pends, I believe, on the inner end alone of the eyebrows
being raised ; for, when the whole eyebrow is elevated
and arched, the upper eyelid follows in a slight degree the
same movement.

But the most conspicuous result of the opposed con-
traction of the above-named muscles is exhibited by the
peculiar furrows formed on the forehead. These muscles,
when thus in conjoint yet opposed action, may be called,
for the sake of brevity, the grief-muscles. When’a per-
son elevates his eyebrows by the contraction of the whole
frontal muscle, transverse wrinkles extend across the

276 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

whole breadth of the forehead ; but, in the present case,
the middle fascia alone are contracted ; consequently,
transverse furrows are formed across the middle part alone
of the forehead. The skin over the exterior parts of both
eyebrows is at the same time drawn downward and
smoothed by the contraction of the outer portions of the
orbicular muscles. The eyebrows are likewise brought
together through the simultaneous contraction of the
corrugators ; and this latter action generates vertical fur-
rows, separating the exterior and lowered part of the skin
of the forehead from the central and raised part. The
union of these vertical furrows with the central and trans-
verse furrows produces a mark on the forehead which has
been compared to a horseshoe; but the furrows more
strictly form three sides of a quadrangle. They are often
conspicuous on the foreheads of adult, or nearly adult,
persons, when their eyebrows are made oblique; but with
young children, owing to their skin not easily wrinkling,
they are rarely seen, or mere traces of them can be de-
tected.

VOLUNTARY POWER OVER THE GRIEF-MUSCLES.

Few persons, without some practice, can
voluntarily act on their grief-muscles; but,
after repeated trials, a considerable number succeed, while
others never can. The degree of obliquity in the eye-
brows, whether assumed voluntarily or unconsciously, dif-
fers much in different persons. With some who apparently
have unusually strong pyramidal muscles, the contraction
of the central fascie of the frontal muscle, although it
may be energetic, as shown by the quadrangular furrows
on the forehead, does not raise the inner ends of the eye-
brows, but only prevents their being so much lowered as

Page 183.

ome papitata paige de m2

Se Beats

a ee

et

MEANS OF THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS. 277

they otherwise would have been. As far as I have been
able to observe, the grief-muscles are brought into action
‘much more frequently by children and women than by
men. They are rarely acted on, at least with grown-up
_ persons, from bodily pain, but almost exclusively from
mental distress. Two persons, who, after some practice,
succeeded in acting on their grief-muscles, found by look-
ing at a mirror that, when they made their eyebrows
oblique, they unintentionally at the same time depressed
the corners of their mouths; and this is often the case
when the expression is naturally assumed.

The power to bring the grief-muscles freely into play
appears to be hereditary, like almost every other human
faculty. A lady belonging to a family famous for having
produced an extraordinary number of great actors and
actresses, and who can herself give this expression “‘ with
singular precision,” told Dr. Crichton Browne that all
her family had possessed the power in a remarkable de-
gree. The same hereditary tendency is said to have ex-
tended, as I likewise hear from Dr. Browne, to the last

descendant of the family, which gave rise to Sir Walter
Scott’s novel of “‘Red Gauntlet”; but the hero -is de-
scribed as contracting his forehead into a horseshoe mark
from any strong emotion. I have also seen a young
woman whose forehead seemed almost habitually thus
contracted, independently of any emotion being at the
time felt.

The grief-muscles are not very frequently brought
into play; and, as the action is often momentary, it
easily escapes observation. Although the expression, when
observed, is universally and instantly recognized as that
_ of grief or anxiety, yet not one person ont of a thousand
who has never studied the subject.is able to say precisely
_ what change passes over the sufferer’s face. Hence proba-

978 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

bly it is that this expression is not even alluded to, as far
as I have noticed, in any work of fiction, with the excep-
tion of ‘‘ Red Gauntlet” and of one other novel ; and the
authoress of the latter, as I am informed, belongs to the
famous family of actors just alluded to; so that her
attention may have been specially called to the subject.

‘“DOWN IN THE MOUTH.”

To say that a person ‘‘is down in the
mouth” is synonymous with saying that he is
out of spirits. The depression of the corners may often
be seen, as already stated on the authority of Dr. Crich-
ton Browne and Mr. Nicol, with the melancholic insane,
and was well exhibited in some photographs, sent to me
by the former gentleman, of patients with a strong tend-
ency to suicide. It has been observed with men belong-
ing to various races, namely, with Hindoos, the dark hill-
tribes of India, Malays, and, as the Rev. Mr. Hagenauer
informs me, with the aborigines of Australia.

When infants scream they firmly contract the muscles
round their eyes, and this draws up the upper lip ; and,
as they have to keep their mouths widely open, the de-
pressor muscles running to the corners are likewise
brought into strong action. This generally, but not in-
variably, causes a slight angular bend in the lower lip on
both sides, near the corners of the mouth.

Page 194.

It is remarkable how small a depression of
the corners of the mouth gives to the counte-
nance an expression of low spirits or dejection, so that an
extremely slight contraction of these muscles would be
sufficient to betray this state of mind.

Page 195.

MEANS OF THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS. 279

_. I may here mention a trifling observation, as it will
serve to sum up our present subject. An old lady with
a comfortable but absorbed expression sat nearly oppo-
site to me in a railway-carriage. While I was looking at
her I saw that her depressores anguli oris became very
slightly yet decidedly contracted ; but, as her counte-
nance remained as placid as ever, I reflected how mean-
ingless was this contraction, and how easily one might be
deceived. The thought had hardly occurred to me when
' I saw that her eyes suddenly became suffused with tears
) almost to overflowing, and her whole countenance fell.
There could now be no doubt that some painful recollec-
tion, perhaps that of a long-lost child, was passing
_ through her mind. As soon as her sensorium was thus
affected, certain nerve-cells from long habit instantly
_ transmitted an order to all the respiratory muscles, and
_ to those round the mouth, to prepare for a fit of crying.
But the order was countermanded by the will, or rather
by a later acquired habit, and all the muscles were obedi-
ent, excepting in a slight degree the depressores anguli
oris. ‘The mouth was not even opened ; the respiration
was not hurried ; and no muscle was affected except those
which draw down the corners of the mouth.

LAUGHTER.
ae: Many curious discussions have been writ-
= ten on the causes of laughter with grown-up

_ page 200. persons. The subject is extremely complex.
Something incongruous or unaccountable, exciting sur-
prise and some sense of superiority in the laugher, who
must be in a happy frame of mind, seems to be the com-
monest cause. The circumstances must not be of a mo-
mentous nature ; no poor man would laugh or smile on

280 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF,

suddenly hearing that a large fortune had been bequeathed
to him.

The imagination is sometimes said to be
tickled by a ludicrous idea ; and this so-called
tickling of the mind is curiously analogous with that of
the body. Every one knows how immoderately children
laugh and how their whole bodies are conyulsed when
they are tickled. The anthropoid apes, as we have seen,
likewise utter a reiterated sound, corresponding with our
laughter, when they are tickled, especially under the arm-
pits. I touched with a bit of paper the sole of the foot
of one of my infants, when only seven days old, and it
was suddenly jerked away and the toes curled about, as
in an older child. Such movements, as well as laughter
from being tickled, are manifestly reflex actions; and
this is likewise shown by the minute unstriped muscles,
which serve to erect the separate hairs on the body, con-
tracting near a tickled surface. Yet laughter from a
ludicrous idea, though involuntary, can not be called a
strictly reflex action. In this case, and in that of laugh-
ter from being tickled, the mind must be in a pleasura-
ble condition ; a young child, if tickled by a strange man,
would scream from fear. The touch must be light, and
an idea or event, to be ludicrous, must not be of grave
import. The parts of the body which are most easily
tickled are those which are not commonly touched, such
as the armpits or between the toes, or parts such as the
soles of the feet, which are habitually touched by a broad
surface ; but the surface on which we sit offers a marked
exception to this rule.

Page 201.

The sound of laughter is produced by a
deep inspiration followed by short, interrupted,
spasmodic contractions of the chest, and especially of the

Page 202.

a ee OO ee en ed Se ee

ANI ap SOE Rt ORR

LAD PRET TL ee_S GAT, SN

—-

MEANS OF THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS. 28]

diaphragm. Hence we hear of “‘ laughter holding both
his sides.” From the shaking of the body, the head
nods to and fro. ‘The lower jaw often quivers up and
down, as is likewise the case with some species of baboons,
_ when they are much pleased.

_ During laughter the mouth is opened more or less
widely, with the corners drawn much backward, as well
as a little upward ; and the upper lip is somewhat raised.
The drawing back of the corners is best seen in moderate
laughter, and especially in a broad smile—the latter epi-
thet showing how the mouth is widened.

Page 208. Although we can hardly account for the
. shape of the mouth during laughter, which
leads to wrinkles being formed beneath the eyes, nor for
the peculiar reiterated sound of laughter, nor for the
quivering of the jaws, nevertheless we may infer that all
these effects are due to some common cause ; for they are
all characteristic and expressive of a pleased state of mind
in various kinds of monkeys.

It is scarcely possible to point out any difference be-
tween the tear-stained face of a person after a paroxysm
of excessive laughter and after a bitter crying-fit. It is
probably due to the close similarity of the spasmodic
movements caused by these widely different emotions
that hysteric patients alternately cry and laugh with vio-
lence, and that young children sometimes pass suddenly
from the one to the other state. Mr. Swinhoe informs
me that he has often seen the Chinese, when suffering
from deep grief, burst out into hysterical fits of laughter.
_. I was anxious to know whether tears are freely shed

during excessive laughter by most of the races of men,
and I hear from my correspondents that this is the case.

282 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF,

One instance was observed with the Hindoos, and they
themselves said that it often occurred. So it is with
the Chinese. The women of a wild tribe of Malays in
the Malacca Peninsula sometimes shed tears when they
laugh heartily, though this seldom occurs. With the
Dyaks of Borneo it must frequently be the case, at least
with the women, for I hear from the Rajah C. Brooke
that it is a common expression with them to say, ‘“‘ We
nearly made tears from laughter.”

Expression Young orangs, when tickled, grin and
of the Emo- . Pree
tions, make a chuckling sound; and Mr. Martin

page 133. — says that their eyes grow brighter. As soon as
their laughter ceases, an expression may be detected pass-
ing over their faces, which, as Mr. Wallace remarked to
me, may be called a smile. I have also noticed some-
thing of the same kind with the chimpanzee. Dr. Du-
chenne—and I can not quote a better authority—informs
me that he kept a very tame monkey in his house for a
year ; and, when he gave it during meal-times some choice
delicacy, he observed that the corners of its mouth were
slightly raised ; thus an expression of satisfaction, partak-
ing of the nature of an incipient smile, and resembling
that often seen on the face of man, could be plainly per-
ceived in this animal.

EXPRESSION OF THE DEVOUT EMOTIONS,

With some sects, both past and present,
religion and love have been strangely com-
bined ; and it has even been maintained, lamentable as
the fact may be, that the holy kiss of love differs but
little from that which a man bestows on a woman, or a
woman ona man. Devotion is chiefly expressed by the

Page 220,

MEANS OF THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS. 283

face being directed toward the heavens, with the eyeballs
upturned. Sir C. Bell remarks that, at the approach of
sleep, or of a fainting-fit, or of death, the pupils are
drawn upward and inward ; and he believes that “‘ when
_ we are rapt in devotional feelings, and outward impres-
sions are unheeded, the eyes are raised by an action nei-
ther taught nor acquired” ; and that this is due to the
same cause as in the above cases. That the eyes are
upturned during sleep is, as I hear from Professor Don-
ders, certain. With babies, while sucking their mother’s
_ breast, this movement of the eyeballs often gives to them
an absurd appearance of ecstatic delight; and here it
may be clearly perceived that a struggle is going on
against the position naturally assumed during sleep. But
Sir C. Bell’s explanation of the fact, which rests on the
assumption that certain muscles are more under the con-
trol of the will than others, is, as I hear from Professor
Donders, incorrect. As the eyes are often turned up in
prayer, without the mind being so much absorbed in
thought as to approach to the unconsciousness of sleep,
the movement is probably a conventional one—the result
of the common belief that Heaven, the source of Divine
power to which we pray, is seated above us.

A humble kneeling posture, with the hands upturned
and palms joined, appears to us, from long habit, a ges-
ture so appropriate to devotion, that it might be thought
to be innate; but I have not met with any evidence to
this effect with the various extra-European races of man-
kind. During the classical period of Roman history it
does not appear, as I hear from an excellent classic, that
the hands were thus joined during prayer. Mr. Hens-
leigh Wedgwood has apparently given the true explana-
tion, though this implies that the attitude is one of slay-
ish subjection. ‘‘ When the suppliant kmeels and holds

284 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

up his hands with the palms joined, he represents a cap-
tive who proves the completeness of his submission by
offering up his hands to be bound by the victor. It is
the pictorial representation of the Latin dare manus, to
signify submission.” Hence it is not probable that either
the uplifting of the eyes or the joining of the open hands,
under the influence of devotional feelings, is an innate or
a truly expressive action ; and this could hardly have been
expected, for it is very doubtful whether feelings such as
we should now rank as devotional affected the hearts of
‘men while they remained during past ages in an uncivil-
ized condition.

FROWNING.
Epiroeeion We may now inquire how it is that a frown
fins Should express the perception of something

page 225. _— difficult or disagreeable, either in thought or
action. In the same way as naturalists find it advisable
to trace the embryological development of an organ in
order fully to understand its structure, so with the move-
ments of expression it is advisable to follow as nearly as
possible the same plan. The earliest and almost sole ex-

pression seen during the first days of infancy, and then

often exhibited, is that displayed during the act of
screaming ; and screaming is excited, both at first and
for some time afterward, by every distressing or displeas-
ing sensation and emotion—by hunger, pain, anger, jeal-
ousy, fear, etc. At such times the muscles round the
eyes are strongly contracted ; and this, as I believe, ex-
plains to a large extent the act of frowning during the
remainder of our lives, I repeatedly observed my own
infants, from under the age of one week to that of two
or three months, and found that, when a screaming-fit
came on gradually, the first sign was the contraction of

es

MEANS OF THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS. 285

the corrugators, which produced a slight frown, quickly
followed by the contraction of the other muscles round
the eyes.

Screaming or weeping begins to be volun-
tarily restrained at an early period of life,
whereas frowning is hardly ever restrained at any age.
It is perhaps worth notice that, with children much given
to weeping, anything which perplexes their minds, and
which would cause most other children merely to frown,
readily makes them weep. So with certain classes of the
insane, any effort of mind, however slight, which with
an habitual frowner would cause a slight frown, leads to
their weeping in an unrestrained manner. It is not more
surprising that the habit of contracting the brows at the
first perception of something distressing, although gained
during infancy, should be retained during the rest of our
_ lives, than that many other associated habits acquired at
an early age should be permanently retained both by man
and the lower animals. For instance, full-grown cats,
when feeling warm and comfortable, often retain the
habit of alternately protruding their fore-feet with ex-
tended toes, which habit they practiced for a definite
_ purpose while sucking their mothers.

~ Page 226.

POUTING.

Page 232. With young children sulkiness is shown
by pouting, or, as it is sometimes called,
“making a snout.” When the corners of the mouth are
much depressed, the lower lip is a little everted and pro-
truded ; and this is likewise called a pout. But the
_ pouting here referred to consists of the protrusion of
both lips into a tubular form, sometimes to such an ex-

ed

286 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

tent as to project as far as the end of the nose, if this be

short. Pouting is generally accompaniel by frowning,
and sometimes by the utterance of a booing or whooing
noise. This expression is remarkable, as almost the sole
one, as far as I know, which is exhibited much more ~
plainly during childhood, at least with Europeans, than |
during maturity. There is, however, some tendency to
the protrusion of the lips with the adults of all races
under the influence of great rage. Some children pout
when they are shy, and they can then hardly be called
sulky.

Young orangs and chimpanzees protrude

Page 234. x Ales 2
a their lips to an extraordinary degree, when

they are discontented, somewhat angry, or sulky; also —

when they are surprised, a little frightened, and even
when slightly pleased. Their mouths are protruded ap-
parently for the sake of making the various noises proper
to these several states of mind; and its shape, as I ob-
served with the chimpanzee, differed slightly when the
cry of pleasure and that of anger were uttered. As soon
as these animals become enraged, the shape of the mouth
wholly changes, and the teeth are exposed. The adult —
orang when wounded is said to emit ‘‘a singular cry, —
consisting at first of high notes, which at length deepen
into a low roar. While giving out the high notes he
thrusts out his lips into a funnel shape, but in uttering
the low notes he holds his mouth wide open.” With the
gorilla, the lower lip is said to be capable of great elonga-
tion. If, then, our semi-human progenitors protruded
their lips when sulky or a little angered, in the same
manner as do the existing anthropoid apes, it is not an
anomalous, though a curious fact, that our children

should exhibit, when similarly affected, a trace of the . ]

MEANS OF THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS. 287

same expression, together with some tendency to utter
anoise. For it is not at all unusual for animals to re-
tain, more or less perfectly, during early youth, and sub-
sequently to lose, characters which were aboriginally pos-
sessed by their adult progenitors, and which are still
retained by distinct species, their near relations.

DECISION AT THE MOUTH.

Page 236. No determined man probably ever had an

habitually gaping mouth. JHence, also, a
small and weak lower jaw, which seems to indicate that
the mouth is not habitually and firmly closed, is com-
_ monly thought to be characteristic of feebleness of char-

acter. A prolonged effort of any kind, whether of body
or mind, implies previous determination ; and if it can
be shown that the mouth is generally closed with firmness
before and during a great and continued exertion of the
muscular system, then, through the principle of associa-
_ tion, the mouth would almost certainly be closed as soon
as any determined resolution was taken.

ANGER.

chapel The lips are sometimes protruded during
of the Emo-
- tions, rage in a manner the meaning of which I do
page 243. not understand, unless it depends on our de-
scent from some ape-like animal. Instances have been
observed, not only with Europeans, but with the Austra-
_ lians and Hindoos. The lips, however, are much more
commonly retracted, the grinning or clinched teeth being
thus exposed. This has been noticed by almost every
one who has written on expression. The appearance is
_ asif the teeth were uncovered, ready for seizing or tear-

288 DARWINISM STATED he DARWIN HIMSELF.

ing an enemy, though there may be no mielbae of acting
in this manner, Mr. Dyson Lacy has seen this grinning
expression with the Australians, when quarreling, and
so has Gaika with the Caffres of South Africa, Dickens, —
in speaking of an atrocious murderer who had just been —
caught, and was surrounded by a furious mob, describes
“the people as jumping up one behind another, snarling
with their teeth, and making at him like wild beasts.”
Every one who has had much to do with young children
must have seen how naturally they take to biting, when
in a passion. It seems as instinctive in them as in young
crocodiles, who snap their little jaws as soon as they
emerge from the egg.

SNEERING.
Expression The expression here considered, whether
of the Emo- r :
tions, that of a playful sneer or ferocious snarl, is

page 258. one of the most curious which occurs in man.
It reveals his animal descent ; for no one, even if rolling
on the ground in a deadly grapple with an enemy, and
attempting to bite him, would try to use his canine teeth
more than his other teeth. We may readily believe from
our affinity to the anthropomorphous apes that our male
semi-human progenitors possessed great canine teeth, and
men are now occasionally born having them of unusually
large size, with interspaces in the opposite jaw for their
reception. We may further suspect, notwithstanding
that we have no support from analogy, that our semi-hu-
man progenitors uncovered their canine teeth when pre-
pared for battle, as we still do when feeling ferocious, or
when merely sneering at or defying some one, without
any intention of making a real attack with our teeth.

‘

MEANS OF THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS. 289

4

- | DISGUST. ae
_ Expression Extreme disgust is expressed by move-
Sa Emo- ‘nents round the mouth identical with those
“page 258. preparatory to the act of vomiting. The
mouth is opened widely, with the upper lip strongly
retracted, which wrinkles the sides of the nose, and with
the lower lip protruded and everted as much as possible.
This latter movement requires the contraction of the
_ muscles which draw downward the corners of the mouth.
It is remarkable how readily and instantly retching or
actual vomiting is induced in some persons by the mere
idea of having partaken of any unusual food, as of an
animal which is not commonly eaten ; although there is
nothing in such food to cause the stomach to reject it.
When yomiting results, as a reflex action, from some real
cause—as from too rich food, or tainted meat, or from an
emetic—it does not ensue immediately, but generally
_ after a considerable interval of time. Therefore, to ac-
count for retching or vomiting being so quickly and easi-
ly excited by a mere idea, the suspicion arises that our
progenitors must formerly have had the power (like that
‘possessed by ruminants and some other animals) of vol-
_ untarily rejecting food which disagreed with them, or
which they thought would disagree with them ; and now,
though this power has been lost, as far as the will is con-
| cerned, it is called into involuntary action, through the
force of a formerly well-established habit, whenever the -
mind revolts at the idea of having partaken of any kind
of food, or at anything disgusting. This suspicion re-
_ceives support from the fact, of which I am assured by
_ Mr. Sutton, that the monkeys in the Zodlogical Gardens
_ often vomit while in perfect health, which looks as if the
act were voluntary. We can see that as man is able to

pee =

290 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

communicate, by language to his children and others, the
knowledge of the kinds of food to be avoided, he would
haye little occasion to use the faculty of voluntary rejec-
tion ; so that this power would tend to be lost through
disuse.

SHRUGGING THE SHOULDERS.

os he We may now inquire why men in all parts
cn ™° of the world, when they feel—whether or not

page 271. they wish to show this feeling—that they can-
not or will not do something, or will not resist’ something
if done by another, shrug their shoulders, at the same time

often bending in their elbows, showing the palms of their

hands with extended fingers, often throwing their heads

a little on one side, raising their eyebrows, and opening ~

their mouths. These states of the mind are either simply
passive, or show a determination not toact. None of the
above movements are of the least service. The explana-
tion lies, I can not doubt, in the principle of unconscious
antithesis. This principle here seems to come into play as
clearly as in the case of a dog, who, when feeling savage,
puts himself in the proper attitude for attacking and for
making himself appear terrible to his enemy ; but, as soon
as he feels affectionate, throws his whole body into a di-
rectly opposite attitude, though this is of no direct use
to him.

Let it be observed how an indignant man who resents
and will not submit to some injury holds his head erect,
squares his shoulders, and expands his chest. He often
clinches his fists, and puts one or both arms in the proper
position for attack or defense, with the muscles of his
limbs rigid. He frowns—that is, he contracts and low-
ers his brows—and, being determined, closes his mouth,

;

Tae eetTy wer

_ MEANS OF THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS. 291

2 actions and attitude of a helpless man are, in every
e of these respects, exactly the reverse.

BLUSHING.

human of all expressions. Monkeys redden
from passion, but it would require an over-
whelming amount of evidence to make us be-
| e that any animal could blush. The reddening of the
“face from a blush is due to the relaxation of the muscular
“coats of the small arteries, by which the capillaries be-
come filled with blood ; and this depends on the proper
yaso-motor center being affected. No doubt, if there be
t the same time much mental agitation, the general cir-
culation will be affected ; but it is not due to the action
of the heart that the net-work of minute vessels covering
| the face becomes, under a sense of shame, gorged with
‘blood. We can cause laughing by tickling the skin;

weeping or frowning, by a blow; trembling, from a fear
pain, and so forth ; but we can not cause a blush, as
Dr. Burgess remarks, by any physical means—that is, by
any action on the body. It is the mind which must be
affected. Blushing is not only involuntary, but the wish
| to restrain it, by leading to self-attention, actually in-
| oa eases the tendency.

age 310.

The tendency to blush is inherited. Dr.
Burgess gives the case of a family, consisting
of a father, mother, and ten children, all of whom, with-
out exception, were prone to blush to a most painful de-
gree. The children were grown up; ‘‘and some of them
were sent to travel, in order to wear away this diseased
sensibility, but nothing was of the slightest avail.” Even

_ Page 312.

292 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

peculiarities in blushing seem to be inherited. Sir James
Paget, while examining the spine of a girl, was struck at
her singular manner of blushing: a big splash of red ap-
peared first on one cheek, and then other splashes vari- —
ously scattered over the face and neck. He subsequently
asked the mother whether her daughter always blushed
in this peculiar manner, and was answered, ‘‘ Yes, she
takes after me.” Sir J. Paget then perceived that, by |
asking this question, he had caused the mother to blush ; _
and she exhibited the same peculiarity as her daughter. —

Mr. Washington Matthews has often seen
a blush on the faces of the young squaws be-_
longing to various wild Indian tribes of North America.
At the opposite extremity of the continent, in Tierra del ©
Fuego, the natives, according to Mr. Bridges, ‘‘ blush ©
much, but chiefly in regard to women; but they cer-_
tainly blush also at their own personal appearance.”
This latter statement agrees with what I remember of ©
the Fuegian, Jemmy Button, who blushed when he was —
quizzed about the care which he took in polishing his —
shoes, and in otherwise adorning himself.

Page 318.

Several trustworthy observers have assured
me that they have seen on the faces of negroes”
an appearance resembling a blush, under circumstances ~
which would have excited one in us, though their skins ©
were of an ebony-black tint. Some describe it as blush-—
ing brown, but most say that the blackness becomes more
intense. .

Page 319.

I will give an instance of the extreme dis-
turbance of mind to which some sensitive men
are liable. A gentleman, on whom I can rely, assured

Page 324,

MEANS OF THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS. 293, |

ne that he had been an eye-witness of the following
scene: A small dinner-party was given in honor of an
xtremely shy man, who, when he rose to return thanks,
earsed the speech, which he had evidently learned by

heart, in absolute silence, and did not utter a single
word ; but he acted as if he were speaking with much
emphasis. His friends, perceiving how the case stood,
oudly applauded the imaginary bursts of eloquence,
yhenever his gestures indicated a pause, and the man
“never discovered that he had remained the whole time
completely silent. On the contrary, he afterward re-
' marked to my friend, with much satisfaction, that he

thought he had succeeded uncommonly well.

BLUSHING NOT NECESSARILY AN EXPRESSION OF GUILT.
¥

Page 333. It is not the sense of guilt, but the thought
ie ’ that others think or know us to be guilty,
which crimsons the face. A man may feel thoroughly
ashamed at having told a small falsehood, without blush-
‘ing; but if he even suspects that he is detected he will
mstantly blush, especially if detected by one whom he
reveres.
_ On the other hand, a man may be convinced that God
witnesses all his actions, and he may feel deeply conscious
of some fault and pray for forgiveness ; but this will not,
| as a lady who is a great blusher believes, ever excite a
blush. The explanation of this difference between the
knowledge by God and man of our actions lies, I presume,
in man’s disapprobation of immoral conduct being some-
what akin in nature to his depreciation of our personal
_ appearance, so that through association both lead to simi-
lar results ; whereas the disapprobation of God brings up
“no such association.

294 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF. ~

Many a person has blushed intensely when accused of
some crime, though completely innocent of it.

An action may be meritorious or of an in- |
different nature, but a sensitive person, if he
suspects that others take a different view of it, will blush.”
For instance, a lady by herself may give money to a beg- |
gar without a trace of a blush, but if others are present, —
and she doubts whether they approve, or suspects that
they think her influenced by display, she will blush. )
it will be, if she offers to relieve the distress of a decayed —
gentlewoman, more particularly of one whom she had —
previously known under better circumstances, as she can _
not then feel sure how her conduct will be viewed. But
such cases as these blend into shyness.

Page 334.

The belief that blushing was specially de-
signed by the Creator is opposed to the gen-—
eral theory of evolution, which is now so largely accepted ; _
but it forms no part of my duty here to argue on the
general question. Those who believe in design will find
it difficult to account for shyness being the most frequent |
and efficient of all the causes of blushing, as it makes the
blusher to suffer and the beholder uncomfortable, without —
being of the least service to either of them. They will
also find it difficult to account for negroes and other dark-
colored races blushing, in whom a change of color in the
skin is scarcely or not at all visible.

Page 338.

BLUSHING ACCOUNTED FOR.

The hypothesis which appears to me the most prob-
able, though it may at first seem rash, is that attention
closely directed to any part of the body tends to interfere

MEANS OF THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS. 295

_ with the ordinary and tonic contraction of the small
' arteries of that part. These vessels, in consequence, be-
- come at such times more or less relaxed, and are in-
_ stantly filled with arterial blood. This tendency will
' have been much strengthened, if frequent attention has
been paid during many generations to the same part,
owing to nerve-force readily flowing along accustomed
channels, and by the power of inheritance. Whenever
_ we believe that others are depreciating or even consid-
| ering our personal appearance, our attention is vividly
directed to the outer and visible parts of our bodies ; and
of all such parts we are most sensitive about our faces,
as no doubt has been the case during many past genera-
tions. Therefore, assuming for the moment that the cap-
illary vessels can be acted on by close attention, those of
the face will have become eminently susceptible. Through
_ the force of association, the same effects will tend to fol-
_ low whenever we think that others are considering or
censuring our actions or character.

Page 340. It is known that the involuntary move-

ments of the heart are affected if close atten-
_ tion be paid tothem. Gratiolet gives the case of a man
_ who, by continually watching and counting his own pulse,
_ at last caused one beat out of every six to intermit. On
the other hand, my father told me of a careful observer,
who certainly had heart-disease and died from it, and
who positively stated that his pulse was habitually irregu-
lar to an extreme degree ; yet to his great disappointment
it invariably became regular as soon as my father entered
the room.

296 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF, ~

When we direct our whole attention to —
any one sense, its acuteness is increased; and _
the continued habit of close attention, as with blind
people to that of hearing, and with the blind and deaf to
that of touch, appears to improve the sense in question
permanently. ‘There is, also, some reason to believe, —
judging from the capacities of different races of man, that —
the effects are inherited. Turning to ordinary sensations,
it is well known that pain is increased by attending to it;
and Sir B. Brodie goes so far as to believe that pain may
be felt in any part of the body to which attention is
closely drawn.

Page 342.

A NEW ARGUMENT FOR A SINGLE PARENT-STOCK.

Expression I have endeavored to show in considerable _
Rae Hmo- detail that all the chief expressions exhibited —

page 361. by man are the same throughout the world.
This fact is interesting, as it affords a new argument in
favor of the several races being descended from a single ~
parent-stock, which must have been almost completely _
human in structure, and to a large extent in mind, before
the period at which the races diverged from each other.
No doubt similar structures adapted for the same purpose
have often been independently acquired through variation
and natural selection by distinct species ; but this view
will not explain close similarity between distinct species
in a multitude of unimportant details. Now, if we bear
in mind the numerous points of structure haying no rela-
tion to expression, in which all the races of man closely
agree, and then add to them the numerous points, some
of the highest importance and many of the most trifling
value, on which the movements of expression directly or
indirectly depend, it seems to me improbable in the high-

_ MEANS OF THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS. 297

st degree that so much similarity, or rather identity
f structure, could have been acquired by independent
aeans. Yet this must have been the case if the races of
aan are descended from several aboriginally distinct spe-
ies. It is far more probable that the many points of
lose similarity in the various races are due to inheritance
rom a single parent-form, which had already assumed a
character. '

: :
iuman

14

XIV.

THE PROVISIONAL HYPOTHESIS OF PANGEN-
KSIS.

Animals and Every one would wish to explain to him-
Fanisunder self, even in an imperfect manner, how it is
omestica-
tion, vol. ii, possible for a character possessed by some re- —
page $49. mote ancestor suddenly to reappear in the off-
spring ; how the effects of increased or decreased use of a
limb can be transmitted to the child ; how the male sex-
ual element can act not solely on the ovules, but occasion-
ally on the mother-form ; how a hybrid can be produced |
by the union of the cellular tissue of two plants inde- _
pendently of the organs of generation ; how a limb can
be reproduced on the exact line of atnputation, with
neither too much nor too little added ; how the same
organism may be produced by such widely different pro-
cesses as budding and true seminal generation ; and,
lastly, how, of two allied forms, one passes in the course
of its development through the most complex metamor-
phoses, and the other does not do so, though when ma-
ture both are alike in every detail of structure. I am
aware that my view is merely a provisional hypothesis or
speculation ; but, until a better one be advanced, it will
serve to bring together a multitude of facts which are
at’ present left disconnected by any efficient cause. As

THE PROVISIONAL HYPOTHESIS OF PANGENESIS. 299

Whewell, the historian of the inductive sciences, remarks,
ene may often be of service to science when
hey involve a certain portion of incompleteness, and
even of error.” Under this point of view I venture to
advance the hypothesis of pangenesis, which implies that
every separate part of the whole organization reproduces
itself. So that ovules, spermatozoa, and pollen-grains—
| the fertilized egg or seed, as well as buds—include and
consist of a multitude of germs thrown off from each

| separate part or unit.

FUNCTIONAL INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITS OF THE
’ BODY.

: "Page 364 - Physiologists agree that the whole organ-
ism consists of a multitude of elemental parts,
which are to a great extent independent of one another.
ach organ, says Claude Bernard, has its proper life, its
; u Reisnomy ; it can develop and reproduce itself independ-
ently of the adjoining tissues. A great German author-
» Virchow, asserts still more emphatically that each
system consists of an ‘‘enormous mass of minute centers
of action. . . . Every element has its own special action,
: pe even though it derive its stimulus to activity from
er parts, yet alone effects the actual performance of
bites . . . Every single epithelial and muscular fiber-
eit lends a sort of parasitical existence in relation to the
rest of the body. . . . Every single bone-corpuscle really
‘possesses conditions of nutrition peculiar to itself.” Each
element, as Sir J. Paget remarks, lives its appointed time
gad then dies, and is replaced after being cast off or ab-
sorbed. I presume that no physiologist doubts that, for
mstance, each bone-corpuscle of the finger differs from
he corresponding corpuscle in the corresponding joint of

800 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

the toe ; and there can hardly be a doubt that even those
on the corresponding sides of the body differ, though al-
most identical in nature. This near approach to identity —
is curiously shown in many diseases in which the same _
exact points on the right and left sides of the body are
similarly affected ; thus Sir J. Paget gives a drawing of a —
diseased pelvis, in which the bone has grown into a most —
complicated pattern, but ‘‘there is not one spot or line |
on one side which is not represented, as exactly as it
would be in a mirror, on the other.

Many facts support this view of the indenentant life
of each minute element of the body. Virchow insists
that a single bone-corpuscle or a single cell in the skin
may become diseased. The spur of a cock, after being in- —
serted into the ear of an ox, lived for eight years, and ac-
quired a weight of three hundred and ninety-six grammes —
(nearly fourteen ounces) and the astonishing length of —
twenty-four centimetres, or about nine inches; so that —
the head of the ox appeared to bear three horns. The
tail of a pig has been grafted into the middle of its back,
and reacquired sensibility. Dr. Ollier inserted a piece of ©
periosteum from the bone of a young dog under the skin ©
of a rabbit, and true bone was developed. A multitude
of similar facts could be given.

What can be more wonderful than that —
characters, which have disappeared during —
scores, or hundreds, or even thousands of generations,
should suddenly reappear perfectly developed, as in the
case of pigeons and fowls, both when purely bred and
especially when crossed ; or as with the zebrine stripes on —
dun-colored horses, and other such cases? Many mon- —
strosities come under this same head, as when rudimentary
organs are redeveloped, or when an organ which we must —

Page 368.

THE PROVISIONAL HYPOTHESIS OF PANGENESIS. 301

slieve was possessed by an early progenitor of the species,
but of which not even a rudiment is left, suddenly reap-
pears, as with the fifth stamen in some Scrophulariacee.

g Bigs bev. In every living creature we may feel as-
, sured that a host of long-lost characters lie
ready to be evolved under proper conditions. How can
_ we make intelligible, and connect with other facts, this

wonderful and common capacity of reyersion—this power

of calling back to life long-lost characters ?

q Page 886, Imperfect nails sometimes appear on the
ec. stumps of the amputated fingers of man; and
it is an interesting fact that with the snake-like saurians,
which present a series with more and more imperfect
limbs, the terminations of the phalanges first disappear,
“the nails becoming transferred to their proximal rem-

nants, or eyen to parts which are not phalanges.”

4 Page 387. Mr. Salter and Dr. Maxwell Masters have
; found pollen within the oyules of the passion-
flower and of the rose. Buds may be developed in the
‘most unnatural positions, as on the petal of a flower.
Numerous analogous facts could be given.
I do not know how physiologists look at such facts as
the foregoing. According to the doctrine of pangenesis,
the gemmules of the transposed organs become developed
in the wrong place, from uniting with wrong cells or
aggregates of cells during their nascent state; and this
would follow from a slight modification in their elective

On any ordinary view it is unintelligible
how changed conditions, whether acting on
he embryo, the young or the adult, can cause inherited

. Page 388.

302 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN IIIMSELF,

modifications. It is equally or even more unintelligible,
on any ordinary view, how the effects of the long-contin-
ued use or disuse of a part, or of changed habits of body ~
or mind, can be inherited. A more perplexing problem _
can hardly be proposed ; but on our view we haye only ~
to suppose that certain cells become at last structurally
modified, and that these throw off similarly modified
gemmules. . This‘may occur at any period of develop-
ment, and the modification will-be inherited ata corre- |
sponding period ; for the modified gemmules will unite
in all ordinary cases with the proper preceding cells, and |
will consequently be developed at the same period at
which the modification first arose. With respect to
mental habits or instincts, we are so profoundly ignorant
of the relation between the brain and the power of
thought that we do not know positively whether a fixed
habit induces any change in the nervous system, though
this seems highly probable ; but, when such habit or other :
mental attribute, or insanity, is inherited, we must be-
lieve that some actual modification is transmitted ; and _
this implies, according to our hypothesis, that gemmules ~
derived from modified nerve-cells are transmitted to the
offspring.

NECESSARY ASSUMPTIONS.

I have now enumerated the chief facts —
which every one would desire to see connected
by some intelligible bond. This can be done, if we make
the following assumptions, and much may. be advanced _
in favor of the chief one. The secondary assumptions
can likewise be supported by various physiological con- _
siderations. It is universally admitted that the cells or |
units of the body increase by self-division or proliferation, —
retaining the same nature, and that they ultimately be- —

Page 369,

THE PROVISIONAL HYPOTHESIS OF PANGENESIS. 303

some converted into the various tissues and substances of
the body. But besides this means of increase I assume
that the units throw off minute granules which are dis-
persed throughout the whole system; that these, when
supplied with proper nutriment, multiply by self-division,
and are ultimately developed into units like those from
which they were originally derived. These granules may
be called gemmules. They are collected from all parts
of the system to constitute the sexual elements, and their
development in the next generation forms a new being;
but they are likewise capable of transmission in a dormant
‘state to future generations and may then be developed.
Their development depends on their union with other
partially developed or nascent cells which precede them
in the regular course of growth. WhyI use the term
‘union will be seen when we discuss the direct action of
pollen on the tissues of the mother-plant. Gemmules
are supposed to be thrown off by every unit, not only
during the adult state, but during each stage of develop-
ment of every organism ; but not necessarily during the
continued existence of the same unit. Lastly, I assume
that the gemmules in their dormant state have a mutual
affinity for each other, leading to their aggregation into
buds or into the sexual elements. Hence, it is not the
reproductive organs or buds which generate new organ-
isms, but the units of which each individual is composed.
These assumptions constitute the provisional hypothesis
_ which I have called pangenesis.

But I have further to assume that the
gemmules in their undeveloped state are capa-
' ble of largely multiplying themselves by self-division,
like independent organisms. Delpino insists that to
“admit of multiplication by fissiparity in corpuscles,

Page 372.

304 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

analogous to seeds or buds .. . is repugnant to all anal-
ogy.” But this seems a strange objection, as Thuret has ~
seen the zodspore of an alga divide itself, and each half ~
germinated. Haeckel divided the segmented ovum of a |
siphonophora into many pieces, and these were developed.
Nor does the extreme minuteness of the gemmules, which
can hardly differ much in nature from the lowest and
simplest organisms, render it improbable that they should ©
grow and multiply. <A great authority, Dr. Beale, says —
that ‘‘ minute yeast-cells are capable of throwing off buds ~
or gemmules, much less than the zg45oy Of an inch in ©
diameter” ; and these he thinks are capable of subdivision |
practically ad infinitum.”

A particle of small-pox matter, so minute as to be
borne by the wind, must multiply itself many thousand-
_fold in a person thus inoculated ; and so with the con-
tagious matter of scarlet fever. It has recently been
ascertained that a minute portion of the mucous discharge
from an animal affected with rinderpest, if placed in the
blood of a healthy ox, increases so fast that in a short
space of time ‘‘the whole mass of blood, weighing many
pounds, is infected, and every small particle of that blood
contains enough poison to give, within less than forty-
eight hours, the disease to another animal.” .

The gemmules derived from each part or —
organ must be thoroughly dispersed through- —
out the whole system. We know, for instance, that even
a minute fragment of a leaf of a begonia will reproduce
the whole plant; and that if a fresh-water worm is
chopped into small pieces, each will reproduce the whole
animal. Considering also the minuteness of the gmmules _
and the permeability of all organic tissues, the thorough
dispersion of the gemmules is not surprising. That ~

Page 374.

THE PROVISIONAL HYPOTHESIS OF PANGENESIS. 305

matter may be readily transferred without the aid of ves-
_ sels from part to part of the body, we have a good in-
_ stance in a case recorded by Sir J. Paget of a lady, whose
hair lost its color at each successive attack of neuralgia
' and recovered it again in the course of a few days. With
_ plants, however, and probably with compound animals,
_ such as corals, the gemmules do not ordinarily spread
from bud to bud, but are confined to the parts developed
_ from each separate bud ; and of this fact no explanation
' can be given.

TWO OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.

Page 880. But we have here to encounter two objec-

tions which apply not only to the regrowth
of a part, or of a bisected individual, but to fissiparous
generation and budding. The first objection is that the
_ part which is reproduced is in the same stage of develop-
_ ment as that of the being which has been operated on or
bisected ; and in the case of buds, that the new beings
thus produced are in the same stage as that of the bud-
ding parent. Thus a mature salamander, of which the
tail has been cut off, does not reproduce a larval tail ;
and a crab does not reproduce a larval leg. In the case
of budding it was shown in the first part of this chapter
that the new being thus produced does not retrograde in
development—that is, does not pass through those earlier
stages which the fertilized germ has to pass through.
Nevertheless, the organisms operated on or multiplying
themselves by buds must, by our hypothesis, include
innumerable gemmules derived from every part or unit
of the earlier stages of development; and why do not
such gemmules reproduce the amputated part or the
whole body at a corresponding early stage of develop-
ment ?

306 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF. ©

The second objection, which has been insisted on by
Delpino, is that the tissues, for instance, of a mature sala-
mander or crab, of which a limb has been removed, are
already differentiated and have passed through their

whole course of development ; and how can such tissues

in accordance with our hypothesis attract and combine
with the gemmules of the part which is to be reproduced ?
In answer to these two objections we must bear in mind
the evidence which has been advanced, showing that at
least in a large number of cases the power of regrowth
is a localized faculty, acquired for the sake of repairing

special injuries to which each particular creature is liable;

and, in the case of buds or fissiparous generation, for the
sake of quickly multiplying the organism at a period of
life when it can be supported in large numbers. These
considerations lead us to believe that in all such casesa
stock of nascent cells or of partially developed gemmules __

are retained for this special purpose either locally or ~
throughout the body, ready to combine with the gem-
mules derived from the cells which come next in due |

succession. If this be admitted, we have a sufficient
answer to the above two objections. Anyhow, pangenesis —
seems to throw a considerable amount of light on the
wonderful power of regrowth.

EFFECT OF MORBID ACTION.

Page 892. parts, when not followed by morbid action :

_but, when the operation is thus followed, it is certain that
the deficiency is sometimes inherited. In a former

We have as yet spoken only of the removal _

chapter instances were given, as of a cow, the loss of

whose horn was followed by suppuration, and her calves
were destitute of a horn on the same side of their heads.

THE PROVISIONAL HYPOTHESIS OF PANEGENESIS. 307

’ But the evidence which admits of no doubt is that given
by Brown-Séquard with respect to Guinea-pigs, which,
after their sciatic nerves had been divided, gnawed off
” their own gangrenous toes, and the toes of their offspring
” were deficient in at least thirteen instances on the corre-
sponding feet. The inheritance of the lost part in several
of these cases is all the more remarkable as only one

parent was affected ; but we know that a congenital de-
| ficiency is often transmitted from one parent alone—for
instance, the offspring of hornless cattle of either sex,
when crossed with perfect animals, are often hornless.
How, then, in accordance with our hypothesis can we ac-
count for mutilations being sometimes strongly inherited,
if they are followed by diseased action? The answer
probably is that all the gemmules of the mutilated or
_ amputated part are gradually attracted to the diseased
_ surface during the reparative process, and are there de-
_ stroyed by the morbid action.

TRANSMISSION LIMITED.

Page 396. The transmission of dormant gemmules
during many successive generations is hardly
_ in itself more improbable, as previously remarked, than
_ the retention during many ages of rudimentary organs,
_ oreyen only of a tendency to the production of a rudi-
_ ment; but there is no reason to suppose that dormant
- gemmules can be transmitted and propagated forever.
_ Excessively minute and numerous as they are believed to
_ be, an infinite number, derived, during a long course of
| modification and descent, from each unit of each progeni-
| tor, could not be supported or nourished by the organism.
But it does not seem improbable that certain gemmules,
under favorable conditions, should be retained and go

308 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

on multiplying for a much longer period than others.
Finally, on the view here given, we certainly gain some —
insight into the wonderful fact that the child may depart —
from the type of both its parents, and resemble its grand
parents, or ancestors removed by many hundreds of gen- —
erations.

The child, strictly speaking, does not grow -
into the man, but includes germs which slowly
and successively become developed and form the man.
In the child, as well as in the adult, each part generates —
the same part. Inheritance must be looked at as merely —
a form of growth, like the self-division of a lowly-organ- q
ized unicellular organism. Reversion depends on the ~

Page 398.

transmission from the forefather to his descendants of

dormant gemmules, which occasionally become developed —
under certain known or unknown conditions. Hach
animal and plant may be compared with a bed of soil
full of seeds, some of which soon germinate, some lie dor-
mant fora period, while others perish. When we hear

it said that a man carries in his constitution the seeds of
an inherited disease, there is much truth in the expression.
No other attempt, as far as I am aware, has been made,
imperfect as this confessedly is, to connect under one |

point of view these several grand classes of facts. An —

organic being is a microcosm—a little universe, formed

of a host of self-propagating organisms, inconceivably —
minute and numerous as the stars in heaven.

XV.

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT
WITH MODIFICATION CONSIDERED.

Origin of SEVERAL writers have misapprehended or
Species, objected to the term Natural Selection. Some
page 68. have even imagined that natural selection in-
duces variability, whereas it implies only the preservation
of such variations as arise and are beneficial to the being
under its conditions of life. No one objects to agricul-
turists speaking of the potent effects of man’s selection ;
and in this case the individual difference given by nature,
which man for some object selects, must of necessity first
occur. Others have objected that the term selection im-
plies conscious choice in the animals which become modi-
fied ; and it has even been urged that, as plants have no
volition, natural selection is not applicable to them! In
the literal sense of the word, no doubt, natural selection
is a false term ; but who ever objected to chemists speak-
ing of the elective affinities of the various elements ?—
and yet an acid can not strictly be said to elect the base
with which it in preference combines. / It has been said
that I speak of natural selection as afi active power or
Deity ; but who objects to an author speaking of the at-
traction of gravity as ruling the movements of the planets ?
Every one knows what is meant and is implied by such
metaphorical expressions ; and they are almost necessary

310 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

for brevity. So again it is difficult to avoid personifying
the word Nature ; but I mean by Nature, only the aggre-
gate action and product of many natural laws, and by
laws the sequence of events as ascertained by us. With a
little familiarity such superficial objections will be for-
gotten.

MISREPRESENTATIONS CORRECTED.

Origin of As my conclusions have lately been much
Species, misrepresented, and it has been stated that I
page 421. attribute the modification of species exclusively
to natural selection, I may be permitted to remark that
in the first edition of this work, and subsequently, I
placed in a most conspicuous position—namely, at the
close of the introduction—the following words: “I am
convinced that natural selection has been the main but
not the exclusive means of modification’’ This has been
of no avail. Great is the power of steady misrepresenta-
tion ; but the history of science shows that fortunately
this power does not long endure.

It can hardly be supposed that a false theory would
explain, in so satisfactory a manner as does the theory of
natural selection, the several large classes of facts above
specified. It has recently been objected that this is an
unsafe method of arguing; but it is a method used in
judging of the common events of life, and has often been
used by the greatest natural philosophers. The undula-
tory theory of light has thus been arrived at; and the
belief in the revolution of the earth on its own axis was
- until lately supported by hardly any direct evidence. It -
is no valid objection that science as yet throws no light
on the far higher problem of the essence or origin of
life. Who can explain what is the essence of the attrac-
tion of gravity? No one now objects to following out

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. $11

the results consequent on this unknown element of at-
traction ; notwithstanding that Leibnitz formerly accused
Newton of introducing ‘‘occult qualities and miracles
into philosophy.”

I see no good reason why the views given in this
& should shock the religious feelings of any one. It
is satisfactory, as showing how transient such impressions
_ are, to remember that the greatest discovery ever made
_ by man, namely, the law of the attraction of gravity, was
_ also attacked by Leibnitz, “‘as subversive of natural, and
inferentially of revealed, religion.” A celebrated author
and divine has written to me that “‘he has gradually
learned to see that it is just as noble a conception of the
Deity to believe that he created a few original forms
capable of self-development into other and needful forms,
as to believe that he required a fresh act of creation to
supply the voids caused by the action of his laws. :

LAPSE OF TIME AND EXTENT OF AREA.

Origin of The mere lapse of time by itself does
Species, nothing, either for or against natural selection.
ea I state this because it has been erroneously
asserted that the element of time has been assumed by
me to play an all-important part in modifying species, as
if all the forms of life were necessarily undergoing change
through some innate law. Lapse of time is only so far
important, and its importance in this respect is great,
that it gives a better chance of beneficial variations aris-
ing, and of their being selected, accumulated, and fixed.
It likewise tends to increase the direct action of the phys-
ical conditions of life, in relation to the constitution of
each organism.

If we turn to nature to test the truth of these re-

‘Si2 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

marks, and look at any small isolated area, such as an
oceanic island, although the number of species inhabiting
it is small, as we shall see in our chapter on ‘* Geographi-
cal Distribution,” yet of these species a very large propor-
tion are endemic—that is, have been produced there, and
nowhere else in the world. Hence an oceanic island at
first sight seems to have been highly favorable for the ©
production of new species. But we may thus deceive
ourselves, for, to ascertain whether a small isolated area,
or a large open area like a continent, has been most favor-
able for the production of new organic forms, we ought to
make the comparison within equal times ; and this we are
incapable of doing.

Although isolation is of great importance in the pro-
duction of new species, on the whole I am inclined to
believe that largeness of area is still more important, es-
pecially for the production of species which shall prove
capable of enduring for a long period, and of spreading
widely. Throughout a great and open area, not only will
there be a better chance of favorable variations, arising
from the large number of individuals of the same species
there supported, but the conditions of life are much more
complex from the large number of already existing spe-
cies ; and if some of these many species become modified
and improved, others will have to be improved in a cor-
responding degree, or they will be exterminated. Each
new form, also, as soon as it has been much improved,
will be able to spread over the open and continuous area,
and will thus come into competition with many’ other
forms. Moreover, great areas, though now continuous,
will often, owing to former oscillations of level, have
existed in a broken condition ; so that the good effects
of isolation will generally, to a certain extent, have con-
curred. Finally, I conclude that, although small isolated

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. 313

| areas have been in some respects highly favorable for the
| production of new species, yet that the course of modifi-
eation will generally have been more rapid on large areas ;

_ and what is more important, that the new forms produced

on large areas, which already have been victorious over
many competitors, will be those that will spread most
widely, and will give rise to the greatest number of new
varieties and species. They will thus play a more impor-
tant part in the changing history of the organic world.

WHY THE HIGHER FORMS HAVE NOT SUPPLANTED THE
LOWER.

Origin of But it may be objected that if all organic
Species, beings thus tend to rise in the scale, how is it
wren: that throughout the world a multitude of the
lowest forms still exist ; and how is it that in each great
class some forms are far more highly developed than
others? Why have not the more highly developed forms
everywhere supplanted and exterminated the lower ?
Lamarck, who believed in an innate and inevitable tend-
ency toward perfection in all organic beings, seems to
have felt this difficulty so strongly that he was led to
suppose that new and simple forms are continually being
produced by spontaneous generation. Science has not as
yet proved the truth of this belief, whatever the future
may reveal. On our theory the continued existence of
lowly organisms offers no difficulty ; for natural selection,
or the survival of the fittest, does not necessarily include
progressive development—it only takes advantage of such
variations as arise and are beneficial to each creature
under its complex relations of life. And it may be asked,
What advantage, as far as we can see, would it be to an
infusorian animalcule—to an intestinal worm—or even to

314 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF,

an earth-worm, to be highly organized? If it were no
advantage, these forms would be left, by natural selection,
unimproved or but little improved, and might remain for
indefinite ages in their present lowly condition. And
geology tells us that some of the lowest forms, as the
infusoria and rhizopods, have remained for an enormous
period in nearly their present state. But to suppose that
most of the many now existing low forms have not in the
least advanced since the first dawn of life would be ex-
tremely rash ; for every naturalist who has dissected some
of the beings now ranked as very low in the scale must
have been struck with their really wondrous and beauti-
ful organization.

Nearly the same remarks are applicable if we look to
the different grades of organization within the same great
group ; for instance, in the vertebrata, to the co-existence
of mammals and fish—among mammalia, to the co-exist-
ence of man and the ornithorhynchus—among fishes, to
the co-existence of the shark and the lancelet (Amphiox-
us), which latter fish in the extreme simplicity of its
structure approaches the invertebrate classes. But mam-
mals and fish hardly come into competition with each
other ; the advancement of the whole class of mammals,
or of certain members in this class, to the highest grade
would not lead to their taking the place of fishes. Physi-
ologists believe that the brain must be bathed by warm
blood to be highly active, and this requires aérial respira-
tion ; so that warm-blooded mammals when inhabiting the
water lie under a disadvantage in haying to come contin-
ually to the surface to breathe. With fishes, members of
the shark family would not tend to supplant the lancelet ;
for the lancelet, as I hear from Fritz Miller, has as sole
companion and competitor on the barren, sandy shore
of South Brazil an anomalous annelid. The three lowest

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. 315

_ orders of mammals, namely, marsupials, edentata, and
rodents, co-exist in South America in the same region
with numerous monkeys, and probably interfere little
| with each other. Although organization, on the whole,
_ may have advanced and be still advancing throughout
the world, yet the scale will always present many degrees
_ of perfection ; for the high advancement of certain whole
_ classes, or of certain members of each class, does not at

all necessarily lead to the extinction of those groups with

_ which they do not enter into close competition. In some

cases, as we shall hereafter see, lowly organized forms

bd appear to have been preserved to the present day, from

_ inhabiting confined or peculiar stations, where they have
been subjected to less severe competition, and where their
scanty numbers have retarded the chance of favorable
variations arising.

Finally, I believe that many lowly organized forms
_ now exist throughout the world, from various causes. In
_ some cases variations or individual differences of a favor-
able nature may never have arisen for natural selection
to act on and accumulate. In no case, probably, has
time sufficed for the utmost possible amount of develop-
ment. In some few cases there has been what we must
_ call retrogression of organization. But the main cause
_ lies in the fact that under very simple conditions of life a
high organization would be of no service—possibly would
__ be of actual disservice, as being of a more delicate nature,

and more liable to be put out of order and injured.

Looking to the first dawn of life, when all organic
beings, as we may believe, presented the simplest struct-
ure, how, it has been asked, could the first steps in the
advancement or differentiation of parts have arisen ?

316 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF,

As we have no facts to guide us, specula-
tion on the subject is almost useless. It is,
however, an error to suppose that there would be no
- struggle for existence, and, consequently, no natural se-
lection, until many forms had been produced: variations
in a single species inhabiting an isolated station might be
beneficial, and thus the whole mass of individuals might
be modified, or two distinct forms might arise. But, as I
remarked toward the close of the Introduction, no one
ought to feel surprised at much remaining as yet unex-
plained on the origin of species, if we make due allowance
for our profound ignorance on the mutual relations of
the inhabitants of the world at the present time, and
still more so during past ages.

Page 100.

THE AMOUNT OF LIFE MUST HAVE A LIMIT.

Origin of What, then, checks an indefinite increase
Species, in the number of species ? The amount of life

page tek, (I do not mean the number of specific forms)

supported on an area must haye a limit, depending so
largely as it does on physical conditions ; therefore, if an
area be inhabited by very many species, each or nearly
each species will be represented by few individuals ; and
such species will be liable to extermination from acci-
dental fluctuations in the nature of the seasons or in the
number of their enemies. The process of extermination
in such cases would be rapid, whereas the production of
new species must always be slow. Imagine the extreme
case of as many species as individuals in England, and
the first severe winter or very dry summer would extermi-
nate thousands on thousands of species. Rare species, and
each species will become rare if the number of species in
any country becomes indefinitely increased, will, on the

Pee Pe ee Sees ey TT em ee ee

=
hak

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. 317

‘principle often explained, present within a given period
few favorable variations; consequently, the process of
giving birth to new specific forms would thus be retarded.
When any species becomes very rare, close interbreeding
will help to exterminate it; authors have thought that
this comes into play in accounting for the deterioration
of the aurochs in Lithuania, of red deer in Scotland,
_and of bears in Norway, ete. Lastly, and this I am in-
_ clined to think is the most important element, a dominant
species, which has already beaten many competitors in its
_ own home, will tend to spread and supplant many others.
Alph. de Candolle has shown that those species which
_ spread widely tend generally to spread very widely ; con-
sequently, they will tend to supplant and exterminate
_ several species in several areas, and thus check the inor-
_ dinate increase of specific forms throughout the world.
Dr. Hooker has recently shown that in the southeast cor
ner of Australia, where, apparently, there are many in-
yaders from different quarters of the globe, the endemic
Australian species have been greatly reduced in number.
How much weight to attribute to these several considera-
_ tions I will not pretend to say ; but conjointly they must
_ limit in each country the tendency to an indefinite aug-
- mentation of specific forms.

THE BROKEN BRANCHES OF THE TREE OF LIFE.

Origin of The affinities of all the beings of the same
Species, class have sometimes been represented by a
— great tree. I believe this simile largely speaks
the truth. The green and budding twigs may represent

| existing species ; and those produced during former years

may represent the long succession of extinct species. At
each period of growth all the growing twigs have tried

318 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

to branch out on all sides, and to overtop and kill the
surrounding twigs and branches, in the same manner as —
species and groups of species have at all times overmas- —
tered other species in the great battle for life. The limbs —
divided into great branches, and these into lesser and
lesser branches, were themselves once, when the tree was —
young, budding twigs; and this connection of the former
and present buds by ramifying branches may well repre-
sent the classification of all extinct and living species in
groups subordinate to groups. Of the many twigs which ©
flourished when the tree was a mere bush, only two or

three, now grown into great branches, yet survive and — :
bear the other branches ; so with the species which lived ©

during long-past geological periods, very few haye left —
living and modified descendants. From the first growth
of the tree, many a limb and branch has decayed and
dropped off; and these fallen branches of various sizes
may represent those whole orders, families, and genera
which have now no living representatives, and which are
known to us only in a fossil state. As we here and there
see a thin straggling branch springing from a fork low
down in a tree, and which by some chance has been fa-

vored and is still alive on its summit, so we occasionally —

see an animal like the ornithorhynchus or lepidosiren,
which in some small degree connects by its affinities two
large branches of life, and which has apparently been
saved from fatal competition by having inhabited a pro-
tected station. As buds give rise by growth to fresh
buds, and these, if vigorous, branch out and overtop on
all sides many a feebler branch, so by generation I believe
it has been with the great Tree of Life, which fills with
its dead and broken branches the crust of the earth, and
covers the surface with its ever-branching and beautiful
ramifications.

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. 319

WHY WE DO NOT FIND TRANSITIONAL FORMS.

- Origin of It may be urged that, when several closely-
Species, allied species inhabit the same territory, we
= surely ought to find at the present time many
_ transitional forms.

I believe that species come to be tolerably
well-defined objects, and do not at any one
period present an inextricable chaos of varying and inter-
mediate links: first, because new varieties are very slowly
_ formed, for variation is a slow process, and natural selec-
tion can do nothing until favorable individual differences
or variations occur, and until a place in the natural polity
of the country can be better filled by some modification
_ of some one or more of its inhabitants. And such new
places will depend on slow changes of climate, or on the
_ occasional immigration of new inhabitants, and, probably,
in astill more important degree, on some of the old in-
habitants becoming slowly modified, with the new forms
_ thus produced and the old ones acting and reacting on
each other. So that, in any one region and at any one
_ time, we ought to see only a few species presenting slight
modifications of structure in some degree permanent ;
and this assuredly we do see.
Secondly, areas now continuous must often have ex-
isted within the recent period as isolated portions, in
which many forms, more especially among the classes
which unite for each birth and wander much, may have
_ separately been rendered sufficiently distinct to rank as
_ representative species. In this case, intermediate varieties
_ between the several representative species and their com-
mon parent must formerly have existed within each
isolated portion of the land, but these links during the

Page 137.

820 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

process of natural selection will have been supplanted
and exterminated, so that they will no longer be found
in a living state.

Thirdly, when two or more varieties have been formed
in different portions of a strictly continuous area, inter-
mediate varieties will, it is probable, at first haye been
formed in the intermediate zones, but they will generally
have had ashort duration. For these intermediate va-
rieties will, from reasons already assigned (namely, from
what we know of the actual distribution of closely-allied
or representative species, and likewise of acknowledged
varieties), exist in the intermediate zones in lesser num-
bers than the varieties which they tend to connect. From
this cause alone the intermediate varieties will be liable
to accidental extermination ; and, during the process of
further modification through natural selection, they will
almost certainly be beaten and supplanted by the forms
which they connect ; for these from existing in greater
numbers will, in the aggregate, present more varieties
and thus be further improved through natural selection
and gain further advantages.

Lastly, looking not to any one time, but to all time,
if my theory be true, numberless intermediate varieties,
linking closely together all the species of the same group,
must assuredly have existed; but the very process of
natural selection constantly tends, as has been so often
remarked, to exterminate the parent-forms and the inter-
mediate links. Consequently evidence of their former
existence could be found only among fossil remains, which
are preserved, as we shall attempt to show in a future
chapter, in an extremely imperfect and intermittent
record.

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OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. 821

BEE ‘any Professor Pictet, in commenting on early

’ transitional forms, and taking birds as an il-
stration, can not see how the successive modifications
of the anterior limbs of a supposed prototype could pos-
sibly have been of any advantage. But look at the pen-
| guins of the Southern Ocean ; have not these birds their
front limbs in this precise intermediate state of ‘‘ neither
true arms nor true wings”? Yet these birds hold their
place victoriously in the battle for life; for they exist in
infinite numbers and of many kinds. I do not suppose
shat we here see the real transitional grades through
“which the wings of birds have passed ; but what special

lifficulty is there in believing that it might profit the
modified descendants of the penguin, first to become en-
bled to flap along the surface of the sea like the logger-
saded duck, and ultimately to rise from its surface and
slide through the air ?

Page 289. The several difficulties here discussed,
namely—that, though we find in our geologi-
tal formations many links between the species which now
exist and which formerly existed, we do not find infinite-

y numerous fine transitional forms closely joining them
all together ; the sudden manner in which several groups
of species first appear in our European formations—the
almost entire absence, as at present known, of formations
ich in fossils beneath the Cambrian strata—are all-un-
doubtedly of the most serious nature. We see this in
the fact that the most eminent paleontologists, namely,
Cuvier, Agassiz, Barrande, Pictet, Falconer, E. Forbes,
ate., and all our greatest geologists, as Lyell, Murchison,
Sedgwick, etc., have unanimously, often vehemently,
maintained the immutability of species. But Sir Charles
Lyell now gives the support of his high authority to the
15

322 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

opposite side; and most geologists and paleontologist
are much shaken in their former belief. Those who be
lieve that the geological record is in any degree perfect |
will undoubtedly at once reject the theory. For my part, —
following out Lyell’s metaphor, I look at the geological —
record as a history of the world imperfectly kept, and”
written in a changing dialect; of this history we possess
the last volume alone, relating only to two or three coun-_
tries. Of this volume, only here and there a short chapter
has been preserved ; and of each page, only here and there —
a few lines. Each word of the slowly-changing language,
more or less different in the successive chapters, may
represent the forms of life which are entombed in our
consecutive formations, and which falsely appear to us _
to have been abruptly introduced. On this view, the
difficulties above discussed are greatly diminished, or even —
disappear.

HOW COULD THE TRANSITIONAL FORM HAVE SUBSISTED? ©

It has been asked by the opponents of such —
views as I hold, how, for instance, could a
land carnivorous animal have been converted into one
with aquatic habits; for how could the animal in its
transitional state haye subsisted? It would be easy to”
show that there now exist carnivorous animals presenting —
close intermediate grades from strictly terrestrial to aquatic 1
habits ; and, as each exists by a struggle for life, it is clear
that each must be well adapted to its place in nature. —
Look at the Mustela vison of North America, which
has webbed feet, and which resembles an otter in its fur, i
short legs, and form of tail. During the summer this
animal dives for and preys on fish, but during the tong
winter it leaves the frozen waters, and preys, like other

Page 138.

;

:
:
'
:

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. 323

nolecats, on mice and land animals. If a differént case
had been taken, and it had been asked how an insectivor-
ous quadruped could possibly have been converted into
a flying bat, the question would have been far more diffi-
‘cult to answer. Yet I think such difficulties have little
7 pioht.

Here, as on other occasions, I lie under a heavy dis-
advantage, for, out of the many striking cases which I
have collected, I can give only one or two instances of
‘transitional habits and structures in allied species ; and
of diversified habits, either constant or occasional, in the
‘same species. And it seems to me that nothing less than
_ along list of such cases is sufficient to lessen the difficulty
in any particular case like that of the bat.

WHY NATURE TAKES NO SUDDEN LEAPS.

Origin of Finally, then, although in many cases it is
. oe most difficult even to conjecture by what tran-

— sitions organs have arrived at their present
state, yet, considering how small the proportion of liy-
ing and known forms is to the extinct and unknown, I
have been astonished how rarely an organ can be named,
toward which no transitional grade is known to lead. It
_ certainly is true that new organs, appearing as if created for
some special purpose, rarely or never appear in any being
-—as indeed is shown by that old but somewhat exagger-
‘ated canon in natural history of ‘‘ Natura non facit sal-
tum.” We meet with this admission in the writings of al-
most every experienced naturalist ; or as Milne-Edwards
_has well expressed it, Nature is prodigal in variety, but
higgard in innovation. Why, on the theory of Creation,
should there be so much variety and so little real novelty ?
_ Why should all the parts and organs of many independ-

824 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

ent beings, each supposed to have been separately created
for its proper place in nature, be so commonly linked to-
gether by graduated steps ? Why should not Nature take
a sudden leap from structure to structure ? On the the-
ory of natural selection, we can clearly understand why
she should not ; for natural selection acts only by taking
advantage of slight successive variations ; she can never
take a great and sudden leap, but must advance by short
and sure though slow steps.

IMPERFECT CONTRIVANCES OF NATURE ACCOUNTED FOR,

If our reason leads us to admire with en-—
thusiasm a multitude of inimitable contriy- —
ances in nature, this same reason tells us, though we may
easily err on both sides, that some other contrivances are —
less perfect. Can we consider the sting of the bee as per- —
fect, which, when used against many kinds of enemies, —
can not be withdrawn, owing to the backward serratures, —
and thus inevitably causes the death of the insect by tear-
ing out its viscera ? 4

If we look at the sting of the bee, as having existed in ©
a remote progenitor as a boring and serrated instrument
like that in so many members of the same great order, —
and that it has since been modified but not perfected for —
its present purpose with the poison originally adapted —
for some other object, such as to produce galls, since inten- —
sified, we can perhaps understand how itis that the use of —
the sting should so often cause the insect’s own death: —
for, if on the whole the power of stinging be useful to ©
the social community, it will fulfill all the requirements ©
of natural selection, though it may cause the death of
some few members. If we admire the truly wonderful ‘
power of scent by which the males of many insects find P

Page 163.

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. $25

heir females, can we admire the production for this sin-
‘le purpose of thousands of drones, which are utterly use-
less to the community for any other purpose, and which
are ultimately slaughtered by their industrious and sterile

sters ? It may be difficult, but we ought to admire the
savage instinctive hatred of the queen-bee, which urges
her to destroy the young queens, her daughters, as soon
as they are born, or to perish herself in the combat; for
undoubtedly this is for the good of the community ; and
maternal love or maternal hatred, though the latter fortu-
nately is most rare, is all the same to the inexorable prin-
ciple of natural selection. Ifweadmire the several ingen-
ious contrivances by which orchids and many other plants
are fertilized through insect agency, can we consider as
equally perfect the elaboration of dense clouds of pollen
by our fir-trees, so that a few granules may be wafted by
_ chance on to the ovules ?

INSTINCTS AS A DIFFICULTY.

B Origin of Many instincts are so wonderful that their
7 development will probably appear to the read-
‘Page 205. era difficulty sufficient to overthrow my whole
theory. I may here premise that I have nothing to do
with the origin of the mental powers, any more than I
have with that of life itself. We are concerned only with —
the diversities of instinct and of the other mental facul- /
_ ties in animals of the same class.

I will not attempt any definition of instinct. It
would be easy to show that several distinct mental actions
_ are commonly embraced by this term ; but every one un-
_derstands what is meant when it is said that instinct
impels the cuckoo to migrate and to lay her eggs in other
birds’ nests. An action, which we ourselves require ex-

326 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

perience to enable us to perform, when performed by an
animal, more especially by a very young one, without ex-
perience, and when performed by many individuals in the
same way, without their knowing for what purpose it is

performed, is usually said to be instinctive. But I could |

show that none of these characters are universal. A little
dose of judgment or reason, as Pierre Huber expresses it, —
often comes into play, even with animals low in the scale
of nature.

_ If we suppose any habitual action to be- ~
come inherited—and it can be shown that this
does sometimes happen—then the resemblance between
what originally was a habit and an instinct becomes so
close as not to be distinguished. If Mozart, instead of ©
playing the piano-forte at three years old with wonder-

Page 206.

fully little practice, had played a tune with no practice at —

all, he might truly be said to have done so instinctively.
But it would be a serious error to suppose that the greater
number of instincts have been acquired by habit in one
generation, and then transmitted by inheritance to suc- —

ceeding generations. It can be clearly shown that the —

most wonderful instincts with which we are acquainted, —
namely, those of the hive-bee and of many ants, could not |
possibly have been acquired by habit.

Why, it has been asked, if instinct be vari-
able, has it not granted to the bee ‘‘ the abil-
ity to use some other material when wax was deficient” ?
But what other natural material could bees use? They —
will work, as I have seen, with wax hardened with vermil-

Page 208.

ion or softened with lard. Andrew Knight observed that —

his bees, instead of laboriously collecting propolis, used a
cement of wax and turpentine, with which he had coyv- |

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. 3827

ered decorticated trees. It has lately been shown that bees,
instead of searching for pollen, will gladly use a very dif-
ferent substance, namely, oatmeal. Fear of any particular
‘enemy is certainly an instinctive quality, as may be seen
in nestling birds, though it is strengthened by experience,
and by the sight of fear of the same enemy in other ani-
mals. The fear of man is slowly acquired, as I have else-
where shown, by the various animals which inhabit desert
islands ; and we see an instance of this even in England,
‘in the greater wildness of all our large birds in compari-
son with our small birds; for the large birds have been
' most persecuted by man. We may safely attribute the
" greater wildness of our large birds to this cause ; for in

uninhabited islands large birds are not more fearful than
' small; and the magpie, so wary in England, is tame in
_ Norway, as is the hooded crow in Egypt.

SOME INSTINCTS ACQUIRED AND SOME LOST.

Page 210. It may be doubted whether any one would

haye thought of training a dog to point, had
not some one dog naturally shown a tendency in this
line; and this is known occasionally to happen, as I once
saw, in a pure terrier: the act of pointing is probably,
as many have thought, only the exaggerated pause of an
animal preparing to spring on its prey. When the first
_ tendency to point was once displayed, methodical selec-
tion and the inherited effects of compulsory training in
each successive generation would soon complete the work ;
and unconscious selection is still in progress, as each man
tries to procure, without intending to improve the breed,
dogs which stand and hunt best. On the other hand,
habit alone in some cases has sufficed ; hardly any animal
_ is more difficult to tame than the young of the wild rab-

828 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

bit ; scarcely any animal is tamer than the young of the —
tame rabbit ; but I can hardly suppose that domestic ©
rabbits have often been selected for tameness alone; so

that we must attribute at least the greater part of the

inherited change from extreme wildness to extreme tame- —

ness to habit and long-continued close confinement.
Natural instincts are lost under domestication : a re-

markable instance of this is seen in those breeds of fowls Ps

which very rarely or never become “broody,” that is,

never wish to sit on their eggs. Familiarity alone pre-

vents our seeing how largely and how permanently the
minds of our domestic animals have been modified. It is
scarcely possible to doubt that the love of man has become

instinctive in the dog. All wolves, foxes, jackals, and 4
species of the cat genus, when kept tame, are most eager —

to attack poultry, sheep, and pigs ; and this tendency has
been found incurable in dogs which have been brought
home as puppies from countries such as Tierra del Fuego
and Australia, where the savages do not keep these do-

mestic animals. How rarely, on the other hand, do our 4

civilized dogs, even when quite young, require to be

taught not to attack poultry, sheep, and pigs! No doubt ¥

they occasionally do make an attack, and are then beaten ;

and, if not cured, they are destroyed ; so that habit and — |

some degree of selection have probably concurred in ciyil-
izing by inheritance our dogs. On the other hand, young
chickens have lost, wholly by habit, that fear of the dog
and cat which no doubt was originally instinctive in
them; for I am informed by Captain Hutton that the
young chickens of the parent-stock, the Gallus bankiva,
when reared in India under a hen, are at first excessively
wild. So it is with young pheasants reared in England
under ahen. It is not that chickens have lost all fear,
but fear only of dogs and cats, for if the hen gives the

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. 329

-danger-chuckle, they will run (more especially young tur-
keys) from under her, and conceal themselves in the sur-
rounding grass or thickets; and this is evidently done
for the instinctive purpose of allowing, as we see in wild
ground-birds, their mother to fly away. But this instinct
retained by our chickens has become useless under domes-
_ tication, for the mother-hen has almost lost by disuse the
power of flight.

Hence, we may conclude that, under domestication,
instincts have been acquired, and natural instincts have
been lost, partly by habit, and partly by man selecting
and accumulating, during successive generations, peculiar
_ mental habits and actions, which at first appeared from
what we must in our ignorance call an accident.

INNUMERABLE LINKS NECESSARILY LOST.

Origin of The main cause of innumerable interme-

i diate links not now occurring everywhere
_ page 264 throughout nature depends on the very pro-
cess of natural selection, through which new varieties
continually take the places of and supplant their parent-
forms. But just in proportion as this process of exter-
mination has acted on an enormous scale, so must the
number of intermediate varieties, which have formerly
existed, be truly enormous. Why, then, is not every geo-
logical formation and every stratum full of such inter-
mediate links ? Geology assuredly does not reveal any
such finely-graduated organic chain ; and this, perhaps,
is the most obvious and serious objection which can be
urged against the theory. The explanation lies, as I be-
lieve, in the extreme imperfection of the geological record.

In the first place, it should always be borne in mind
what sort of intermediate forms must, on the theory, have

330 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

formerly existed. I have found it difficult, when looking —
at any two species, to avoid picturing to myself forms
directly intermediate between them. But this is a wholly
false view ; we should always look for forms intermediate
between each species and a common but unknown pro-
genitor ; and the progenitor will generally have differed
in some respects from all its modified descendants. To
give a simple illustration : the fantail and pouter pigeons
are both descended from the rock-pigeon ; if we possessed
all the intermediate varieties which have ever existed, we
should have an extremely close series between both and
the rock-pigeon ; but we should have no varieties directly
intermediate between the fantail and pouter ; none, for
instance, combining a tail somewhat expanded with a
crop somewhat enlarged, the characteristic features of
these two breeds. These two breeds, moreover, have be-
come so much modified, that, if we had no historical or
indirect evidence regarding their origin, it would not
have been possible to have determined, from a mere com-
parison of their structure with that.of the rock-pigeon,
C. livia, whether they had descended from this species or
from some other allied form, such as C. oenas.

It is just possible by the theory, that one
of two living forms might have descended
from the other; for instance, a horse from a tapir ; and
in this case direct intermediate links will have existed be-
tween them. But such a case would imply that one form
had remained for a very long period unaltered, while its
descendants had undergone a vast amount of change ;
and the principle of competition between organism and
organism, between child and parent, will render this a
very rare event; for in all cases the new and improved

Page 265.

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. 331

forms of life tend to supplant the old and unimproved
forms.
By the theory of natural selection all living species
have been connected with the parent-species of each
| genus, by differences not greater than we see between the
_ natural and domestic varieties of the same species at the
present day ; and these parent-species, now generally ex-
_ tinct, have in their turn been similarly connected with
more ancient forms; and so on backward, always con-
verging to the common ancestor of each great class. So
_ that the number of intermediate and transitional links,
_ between all living and extinct species, must have been
inconceivably great. But assuredly, if this theory be
true, such have lived upon the earth.

PLENTY OF TIME FOR THE NECESSARY GRADATIONS.

Independently of our not finding fossil re-
mains of such infinitely numerous connecting
links, it may be objected that time can not have sufficed
for so great an amount of organic change, all changes
having been effected slowly. it is hardly possible for me
to recall to the reader who is not a practical geologist
the facts leading the mind feebly to comprehend the lapse
of time. He who can read Sir Charles Lyell’s grand
work on the ‘‘ Principles of Geology,” which the future
historian will recognize as having produced a revolution
in natural science, and yet does not admit how vast have
been the past periods of time, may at once close this
volume.

Page 266.

When geologists look at large and compli-
cated phenomena, and then at the figures
representing several million years, the two produce a

Page 269.

332 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

totally different effect on the mind, and the figures are
at once pronounced too small. In regard to subaérial
denudation, Mr. Croll shows, by calculating the known
amount of sediment annually brought down by certain
rivers, relatively to their areas of drainage, that one thou-
sand feet of solid rock, as it became gradually disinte-

grated, would thus be removed from the mean level of —

the whole area in the course of six million years, This
seems an astonishing result, and some considerations lead
to the suspicion that it may be too large, but even if
halved or quartered it is still very surprising. Few of
us, however, know what a million really means: Mr.
Croll gives the following illustration : take a narrow strip
of paper, eighty-three feet four inches in length, and
stretch it along the wall of a large hall; then mark off
at one end the tenth of aninch. This tenth of an inch
will represent one hundred years, and the entire strip a
million years. But let it be borne in mind, in relation
to the subject of this work, what a hundred years implies,
represented as it is by a measure utterly insignificant in
a hall of the above dimensions. Several eminent breeders,
during a single lifetime, have so largely modified some of
the higher animals, which propagate their kind much
more slowly than most of the lower animals, that they
have formed what well deserves to be called a new sub-
breed. Few men have attended with due care to any one
strain for more than half a century, so that a hundred
years represents the work of two breeders in succession.

Now let us turn to our richest geological
museums, and what a paltry display we be-
hold! That our collections are imperfect is admitted by
every one. The remark of that admirable paleontologist,
Edward Forbes, should never be forgotten, namely, that

Page 270.

i
ty
A
i

a

i

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. 333

very many fossil species are known and named from single
and often broken specimens, or from a few specimens
collected on some one spot. Only a small portion of the
surface of the earth has been geologically explored, and
no part with sufficient care, as the important discoveries
made every year in Europe prove. No organism wholly
soft can be preserved. Shells and bones decay and dis-
appear when left on the bottom of the sea, where sediment
is not accumulating. We probably take a quite erroneous
view, when we assume that sediment is being deposited
over nearly the whole bed of the sea, at a rate sufficiently
quick to imbed and preserve fossil remains. Throughout
an enormously large proportion of the ocean, the bright
blue tint of the water bespeaks its purity. The many
cases on record of a formation conformably covered, after
an immense interval of time, by another and later forma-
tion, without the underlying bed having suffered in the
interval any wear and tear, seem explicable only on the
view of the bottom of the sea not rarely lying for ages in
an unaltered condition. The remains which do become
imbedded, if in sand or gravel, will, when the beds are
upraised, generally be dissolved by the percolation of
rain-water charged with carbonic acid. Some of the many
kinds of animals which live on the beach between high
and low water mark seem to be rarely preserved. For
instance, the several species of the Chthamaline (a sub-
family of sessile cirripeds) coat the rocks all over the world
in infinite numbers: they are all strictly littoral, with
the exception of a single Mediterranean species, which
inhabits deep water, and this has been found fossil in
Sicily, whereas not one other species has hitherto been
found in any tertiary formation; yet it is known that
the genus Chthamalus existed during the Chalk period.
Lastly, many great deposits, requiring a vast length of

334 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

time for their accumulation, are entirely destitute of
organic remains, without our being able to assign any
reason ; one of the most striking instances is that of the
Flysch formation, which consists of shale and sandstone,
several thousand, occasionally even six thousand, feet in
thickness, and extending for at least three hundred miles
from Vienna to Switzerland; and, although this great
mass has been most carefully searched, no fossils, except
a few vegetable remains, have been found.

WIDE INTERVALS OF TIME BETWEEN THE GEOLOGICAL
FORMATIONS.

But the imperfection in the geological
record largely results from another and more
important cause than any of the foregoing; namely,
from the several formations being separated from each
other by wide intervals of time. ‘This doctrine has been
emphatically admitted by many geologists and paleon-
tologists, who, like E. Forbes, entirely disbelieve in the
change of species. When we see the formations tabulated
in written works, or when we follow them in nature, it
is difficult to avoid believing that they are closely con-
secutive. But we know, for instance, from Sir R. Mur-
chison’s great work on Russia, what wide gaps there are
in that country between the superimposed formations ;
so it is in North America, and in many other parts of
the world. The most skillful geologist, if his attention
had been confined exclusively to these large territories,
would never have suspected that, during the periods
which were blank and barren in his own country, great
piles of sediment, charged with new and peculiar forms
of life, had elsewhere been accumulated. And if, in each
separate territory, hardly any idea can be formed of the

Page 271.

i a

ee

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. 335

length of time which has elapsed between the consecutive
formations, we may infer that this could nowhere be
ascertained. The frequent and great changes in the
mineralogical composition of consecutive formations,
generally implying great changes in the geography of the
surrounding lands, whence the sediment was derived,
accord with the belief of vast intervals of time having
elapsed between each formation.

It is all-important to remember that natu-
ralists have no golden rule by which to dis-
tinguish species and varieties; they grant some little
variability to each species, but, when they meet with a
somewhat greater amount of difference between any
two forms, they rank both as species, unless they are
enabled to connect them together by the closest inter-
mediate gradations ; and this, from the reasons just as-
signed, we can seldom hope to effect in any one geological
section. Supposing B and C to be two species, and a
third, A, to be found in an older and underlying bed ;
even if A were strictly intermediate between B and C,
it would simply be ranked as a third and distinct species,
unless at the same time it could be closely connected by
intermediate varieties with either one or both forms.
Nor should it be forgotten, as before explained, that A
might be the actual progenitor of B and C, and yet would
not necessarily be strictly intermediate between them in
all respects. So that we might obtain the parent-species
and its several modified descendants from the lower and
upper beds of the same formation, and, unless we obtained
numerous transitional gradations, we should not recog-
nize their blood-relationship, and should consequently
rank them as distinct species.

Page 278.

336 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

SUDDEN APPEARANCE OF GROUPS OF ALLIED SPECIES.

Origin of The abrupt manner in which whole groups
Species, of species suddenly appear in certain forma.
page 282. %

tions has been urged by several paleontolo-
gists—for instance, by Agassiz, Pictet, and Sedgwick—
as a fatal objection to the belief in the transmutation of
species. If numerous species, belonging to the same
genera or families, have really started into life at once,
the fact would be fatal to the theory of evolution through
natural selection. For the development by this means

of a group of forms, all of which are descended from some.

one progenitor, must have been an extremely slow pro-
cess; and the progenitors must have lived long before
their modified descendants. But we continually overrate
the perfection of the geological record, and falsely infer,
because certain genera or families have not been found
beneath a certain stage, that they did not exist before
that stage. In all cases positive paleontological evidence
may be implicitly trusted ; negative evidence is worthless,
as experience has so often shown. We continually forget
how large the world is, compared with the area over
which our geological formations have been carefully ex-
amined; we forget that groups of species may elsewhere
have long existed, and have slowly multiplied, before
they invaded the ancient archipelagoes of Europe and
the United States. We do not make due allowance for
the intervals of time which have elapsed between our
consecutive formations—longer, perhaps, in many cases
than the time required for the accumulation of each
formation. These intervals will have given time for the
multiplication of species from some one parent-form ;
and, in the succeeding formation, such groups or species
will appear as if suddenly created.

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. 337

HOW LITTLE WE KNOW OF FORMER INHABITANTS OF THE
WORLD.

Page 283. Even in so short an interval as that be-
tween the first and second edition of Pictet’s
great work on Paleontology, published in 184446 and in
1853-57, the conclusions on the first appearance and dis-
appearance of several groups of animals have been consid-
erably modified ; and a third edition would require still
further changes. I may recall the well-known fact that
in geological treatises, published not many years ago,
mammals were always spoken of as having abruptly come
in at the commencement of the tertiary * series. And now
one of the richest known accumulations of fossil mammals
belongs to the middle of the secondary series ; and true
mammals have been discovered in the new red sandstone
at nearly the commencement of this great series. Cuvier
used to urge that no monkey occurred in any tertiary
stratum ; but now extinct species have been discovered in
India, South America, and in Europe, as far back as the
Miocene stage. Had it not been for the rare accident of
the preservation of footsteps in the new red sandstone of
the United States, who would have ventured to suppose
that no less than at least thirty different bird-like ani-
mals, some of gigantic size, existed during that period ?
Not a fragment of bone has been discovered in these beds.
Not long ago, paleontologists maintained that the whole
class of birds came suddenly into existence during the
Eocene period ; but now we know, on the authority of
Professor Owen, that a bird certainly lived during the dep-
osition of the upper greensand ; and still more recently,
that strange bird, the archeopteryx, with a long, lizard-
* Tertrary.—The latest geological epoch, immediately preceding the
establishment of the present order of things.

338 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

like tail, bearing a pair of feathers on each joint, and with
its wings furnished with two free claws, has been discoy-
ered in the odlitic slates of Solenhofen. Hardly any re-
cent discovery shows more forcibly than this, how little
we as yet know of the former inhabitants of the world.

THE EXTINCTION OF SPECIES INVOLVED IN MYSTERY.

Grigin of The extinction of species has been involved
Species, in the most gratuitous mystery. Some au-
page 294. thors have even supposed that as the individ-
ual has a definite length of life, so have species a definite
duration. No one can have marveled more than I have
done at the extinction of species. When I found in La
Plata the tooth of a horse imbedded with the remains
of mastodon, megatherium, toxodon, and other extinct
monsters, which all co-existed with still living shells at a
very late geological period, I was filled with astonishment ;
for, seeing that the horse, since its introduction by the
Spaniards into South America, has run wild over. the
whole country and has increased in numbersat an un-
paralleled rate, I asked myself what could so recently
have exterminated the former horse under conditions of
life apparently so favorable. But my astonishment was
groundless. Professor Owen soon perceived that the
tooth, though so like that of the existing horse, belonged
to an extinct species. Had this horse been still living,
but in some degree rare, no naturalist would have felt
the least surprise at its rarity ; for rarity is the attribute
of a vast number of species of all classes, in all countries.
If we ask ourselves why this or that species is rare, we
answer that something is unfavorable in its conditions of
life ; but what that something is we can hardly ever tell.
On the supposition of the fossil horse still existing as a

_

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. 839

rare species, we might have felt certain, from the analogy
of all other mammals, even of the slow-breeding elephant,
and from the history of the naturalization of the domes-
tic horse in South America, that under more favorable
conditions it would in a very few years have stocked the
whole continent. But we could not have told what the
unfavorable conditions were which checked its increase,
whether some one or several contingencies, and at what
period of the horse’s life, and in what degree, they sever-
ally acted. If the conditions had gone on, however slow-
ly, becoming less and less favorable, we assuredly should
not have perceived the fact, yet the fossil horse would cer-
tainly have become rarer and rarer, and finally extinct ;
—its place being seized on by some more successful com-
petitor.

It is most difficult always to remember that the in-
crease of every creature is constantly being checked by
unperceived hostile agencies ; and that these same unper-
ceived agencies are amply sufficient to cause rarity, and
finally extinction. So little is this subject understood
that I have heard surprise repeatedly expressed at such
great monsters as the mastodon and the more ancient
dinosaurians having become extinct; as if mere bodily
strength gave victory in the battle of life. Mere size,
on the contrary, would in some cases determine, as has
been remarked by Owen, quicker extermination from
the greater amount of requisite food. Before man inhab-
ited India or Africa, some cause must have checked the
continued increase of the existing elephant. A highly
capable judge, Dr. Falconer, believes that it is chiefly in-
sects which, from incessantly harassing and weakening
the elephant in India, check its increase ; and this was
-Bruce’s conclusion with respect to the African elephant
in Abyssinia. It is certain that insects and blood-suck-

€

340 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

ing bats determine the existence of the larger naturalized.

quadrupeds in several parts of South America. -

I may repeat what I published in 1845,
namely, that to admit that species generally
become rare before they become extinct—to feel no sur-
prise.at the rarity of a species, and yet to marvel greatly
when the species ceases to exist, is much the same as to
admit that sickness in the individual is the forerunner of
death—to feel no surprise at sickness, but, when: the sick
man dies, to wonder and to suspect that he died by some
deed of violence.

Page 295.

DEAD LINKS BETWEEN LIVING SPECIES.

No one will deny that the Hipparion is
intermediate between the existing horse and
certain older ungulate forms. What a wonderful con-
necting link in the chain of mammals is the Typotherium
from South America, as the name given to it by Professor
Gervais expresses, and which can not be placed in any
existing order! The Sirenia form a very distinct group
of mammals, and one of the most remarkable peculiarities
in the existing dugong and lamentin is the entire absence
of hind limbs, without even a rudiment being left; but
the extinct Halitherium had, according to Professor
Flower, an ossified thigh-bone “articulated to a well-de-
fined acetabulum in the pelvis,” and it thus makes some
approach to ordinary hoofed quadrupeds, to which the
Sirenia are in other respects allied. The cetaceans or
whales are widely different from all other mammals, but
the tertiary Zeuglodon and Squalodon, which have been
placed by some naturalists in an order by themselves,
are considered by Professor Huxley to be undoubtedly

Page 302.

_—

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. 341

cetaceans, “‘and to constitute connecting links with the
aquatic carnivora.”

Even the wide interval between birds and reptiles
has been shown by the naturalist just quoted to be par-
tially bridged over in the most unexpected manner, on
the one hand, by the ostrich and extinct Archeopteryx,
and on the other hand, by the Compsognathus, one of
the dinosaurians—that group which includes the most
gigantic of all terrestrial reptiles. Turning to the In-
vertebrata, Barrande asserts, and a higher authority could
not be named, that he is every day taught that, although
palzozoic animals can certainly be classed under existing
groups, yet that at this ancient period the groups were
not so‘distinctly separated from each other as they now
are.

Some writers have objected to any extinct species, or
group of species, being considered as intermediate be-
tween any two living species or groups of species. If by
this term it is meant that an extinct form is directly in-
termediate in all its characters between two living forms
or groups, the objection is probably valid. But in a
natural classification many fossil species certainly stand
between living species, and some extinct genera between
living genera, even between genera belonging to distinct
families. The most common case, especially with respect
to very distinct groups, such as fish and reptiles, seems
to be that, supposing them to be distinguished at the
present day by a score of characters, the ancient members
are separated by a somewhat lesser number of characters ;
so that the two groups formerly made a somewhat nearer
approach to each other than they now do.

342 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN LIMSELF,

LIVING DESCENDANTS OF FOSSIL SPECIES.

It may be asked in ridicule, whether I sup-
pose that the megatherium and other allied
huge monsters, which formerly lived in South America,
have left behind them the sloth, armadillo, and ant-eater,
as their degenerate descendants. This can not for an
instant be admitted. These huge animals have become
wholly extinct, and have left no progeny. But in the
caves of Brazil there are many extinct species which are
closely allied in size and in all other characters to the
species still living in South America; and some of these
fossils may have been the actual progenitors of the living
species. It must not be forgotten that, on our theory,

Page 311.

all the species of the same genus are the descendants of.

some one species; so that, if six genera, each haying
eight species, be found in one geological formation, and
in a succeeding formation there be six other allied or
representative genera each with the same number of
species, then we may conclude that generally only one
species of each of the older genera has left modified de-
scendants, which constitute the new genera containing
the several species ; the other seven species of each old
genus having died out and left no progeny. Or, and this
will be a far commoner case, two or three species in two
or three alone of the six older genera will be the parents
of the new genera: the other species and the other whole
genera haying become utterly extinct. In failing orders,
with the genera and species decreasing in numbers as is
the case with the Edentata of South America, still fewer
genera and species will leave modified blood-descendants.

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. 343

UNNECESSARY TO EXPLAIN THE CAUSE OF EACH INDI-
VIDUAL DIFFERENCE.

Pe ee In accordance with the views maintained
Plants, vol. by me in this work and elsewhere, not only
oo the various domestic races, but the most dis-
tinct genera and orders within the same great class—for
instance, mammals, birds, reptiles, and fishes—are all
the descendants of one common progenitor, and we must
admit that the whole vast amount of difference between
these forms has primarily arisen from simple variability.
To consider the subject under this point of view is enough
to strike one dumb with amazement. But our amaze-
ment ouglit to be lessened when we reflect that beings
almost infinite in number, during an almost infinite lapse
of time, have often had their whole organization rendered
in some degree plastic, and that each slight modification
of structure which was in any way beneficial under ex-
cessively complex conditions of life has been preserved,
while each which was in any way injurious has been
rigorously destroyed. And the long-continued accumu-
lation of beneficial variations will infallibly have led to
structures as diversified, as beautifully adapted for various
purposes and as excellently co-ordinated, as we see in the
animals and plants around us. Hence I have spoken of
selection as the paramount power, whether applied by
man to the formation of domestic breeds, or by nature to
the production of species.

lf an architect were to rear a noble and commodious
edifice, without the use of cut stone, by selecting from
the fragments at the base of a precipice wedge-formed
stones for his arches, elongated stones for his lintels, and
flat stones for his roof, we should admire his skill and

regard him as the paramount power. Now, the frag-

344 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

ments of stone, though indispensable to the architect,
bear to the edifice built by him the same relation which
the fluctuating variations of organic beings bear to the
varied and admirable structures ultimately acquired by
their modified descendants.

Some authors have declared that natural selection ex-
plains nothing, unless the precise cause of each slight
individual difference be made clear. If it were explained
to a savage utterly ignorant of the art of building, how
the edifice had been raised stone upon stone, and why
wedge-formed fragments were used for the arches, flat
stones for the roof, etc., and if the use of each part and
of the whole building were pointed out, it would be un-
reasonable if he declared that nothing had been made
clear to him, because the precise cause of the shape of
each fragment could not be told. But this is a nearly
parallel case with the objection that selection explains
nothing, because we know not the cause of each individ-
ual difference in the structure of each being.

The shape of the fragments of stone at the base of
our precipice may be called accidental, but this is not
strictly correct ; for the shape of each depends on a long
sequence of events, all obeying natural laws ; on the na-
ture of the rock, on the lines of deposition or cleavage,
on the form of the mountain, which depends on its up-
heaval and subsequent denudation, and lastly on the
storm or earthquake which throws down the fragments.
But in regard to the use to which the fragments may
be put, their shape may be strictly said to be accidental.

‘SPACE TO FACE WITH AN INSOLUBLE DIFFICULTY.”

And here we are led to face a great diffi-

Bae ical culty, in alluding to which I am aware that

Iam traveling beyond my proper province. An omnis-

f
~GQ non intevewag Yod

a ee ea

at oe ee

pitts
o

ee ee a ee ee ee Oe re ee

a, eg nt |

ae

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. 345

cient Creator must have foreseen every consequence which
results from the laws imposed by him. But can it be
reasonably maintained that the Creator intentionally or-
dered, if we use the words in any ordinary sense, that
certain fragments of rock should assume certain shapes
so that the builder might erect his edifice ? If the vari-
ous laws which have determined the shape of each frag-
ment were not predetermined for the builder’s sake, can
it be maintained with any greater probability that he
specially ordained for the sake of the breeder each of the
innumerable variations in our domestic animals and
plants—many of these variations being of no service to
man, and not beneficial, far more often injurious, to the
creatures themselves ? Did he ordain that the crop and
tail-feathers of the pigeon should vary in order that the
fancier might make his grotesque pouter and fantail
breeds ? Did he cause the frame and mental qualities
of the dog to vary in order that a breed might be formed
of indomitable ferocity, with jaws fitted to pin down the
bull for man’s brutal sport? But if we give up the
principle in one case—if we do not admit that the varia-
tions of the primeval dog were intentionally guided in
order that the greyhound, for instance, that perfect image
of symmetry and vigor, might be formed—no shadow of
reason can be assigned for the belief that variations, alike
in nature and the result of the same general laws, which
have been the groundwork through natural selection of
the formation of the most perfectly adapted animals in
the world, man included, were intentionally and specially
guided. However much we may wish it, we can hardly
follow Professor Asa Gray in his belief ‘‘ that variation
has been led along certain beneficial lines,” like a stream
*‘along definite and useful lines of irrigation.” If we
assume that — particular variation was from the be-
6

el

346 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

ginning of all time preordained, then that plasticity of
organization, which leads to many injurious deviations
of structure, as well as the redundant power of reproduc-
tion which inevitably leads to a struggle for existence,
and, as a consequence, to the natural selection or survival
of the fittest, must appear to us superfluous laws of na-
ture. On the other hand, an omnipotent and omniscient
Creator ordains everything and foresees everything. Thus
we are brought face to face with a difficulty as insoluble
as is that of free-will and vetdeekinel sie

WHY DISTASTEFUL ?

Descent The main conclusion arrived at in this
of Man, work, namely, that man is descended from
page 618.

some lowly organized form, will, I regret to
think, be highly distasteful to many. But there can
hardly be a doubt that we are descended from barbarians.
The astonishment which I felt on first seeing a party of
Fuegians on a wild and broken shore will never be for-
gotten by me, for the reflection at once rushed into my
mind—such were our ancestors. These men were abso-
lutely naked and bedaubed with paint, their long hair
was tangled, their mouths frothed with excitement, and
their expression was wild, startled, and distrustful. They
possessed hardly any arts, and like wild animals lived on
what they could catch; they had no government, and
were merciless to every one not of their own small tribe.
He who has seen a savage in his native land will not feel
much shame, if forced to acknowledge that the blood of
some more humble creature flows in his veins. For my
own part I would as soon be descended from that heroic
little monkey, who braved his dreaded enemy in order to
save the life of his keeper, or from that old baboon, who,

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. 347

descending from the mountains, carried away in triumph
his young comrade from a crowd of astonished dogs—as
from a savage who delights to torture his enemies, offers
up bloody sacrifices, practices infanticide without remorse,
treats his wives like slaves, knows no decency, and is
haunted by the grossest superstitions.

Man may be excused for feeling some pride at having
risen, though not through his own exertions, to the very
summit of the organic scale ; and the fact of his having
thus risen, instead of having been aboriginally placed
there, may give him hope for a still higher destiny in the
distant future. But we are not here concerned with
hopes or fears, only with the truth as far as our reason
permits us to discover it; and I have given the evidence
to the best of my ability. We must, however, acknowl-
edge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble quali-
ties, with sympathy which feels for the most debased,
with benevolence which extends not only to other men
but to the humblest living creature, with his godlike
intellect which has penetrated into the movements and
constitution of the solar system—with all these exalted
powers—man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible
stamp of his lowly origin.

** ACCORDS BETTER WITH WHAT WE KNOW OF THE CRE-
ATOR’S LAWS.”

Orizinof | - Authors of the highest eminence seem to
Species, be fully satisfied with the view that each spe-
page 428. cies has been independently created. To my
mind it accords better with what we know of the laws
impressed on matter by the Creator, that the production
and extinction of the past and present inhabitants of the
world should have been due to secondary causes, like

348 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF,

those determining the birth and death of the individual.
When I view all beings not as special creations, but as
the lineal descendants of some few beings which lived
long before the first bed of the Cambrian system was de-
posited, they seem to me to become ennobled. Judging
from the past, we may safely infer that not one living
species will transmit its unaltered likeness to a distant
futurity. And of the species now living very few will
transmit progeny of any kind to a far distant futurity ;
for the manner in which all organic beings are grouped,
shows that the greater number of species in each genus,
and all the species in many genera, have left no descend-
ants, but have become utterly extinct. We can so far
take a prophetic glance into futurity as to foretell that it
will be the common and widely-spread species, belonging
to the larger and dominant groups within each class,
which will ultimately prevail and procreate new and domi-
nant species. As all the living forms of life are the lineal
descendants of those which lived long before the Cam-
brian epoch, we may feel certain that the ordinary succes-
sion by generation has never once been broken, and that
no cataclysm has desolated the whole world. Hence we
. may look with some confidence to a secure future of great
length. And as natural selection works solely by and for
the good of each being, all corporeal and mental endow-
ments will tend to progress toward perfection.

THE GRANDEUR OF THIS VIEW OF LIFE.

It is interesting to contemplate a tangled
bank, clothed with many plants of many
kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various in-
sects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the
damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately con-

Page 429.

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. 349

structed forms, so different from each other, and depend-
ent upon each other in so complex a manner, have all
been produced by laws acting around us. These laws,
taken in the largest sense, being growth with reproduc-
tion ; inheritance which is almost implied by reproduc-
tion ; variability from the indirect and direct action of the
conditions of life, and from use and disuse: a ratio of
increase so high as to lead to a struggle for life, and as a
consequence to natural selection, entailing divergence of
character and the extinction of less-improved forms.
Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death,
the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiy-
ing, namely, the production of the higher animals, direct-

ly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with —

its several powers, having been originally breathed by the
Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, while
this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law
of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most
beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being

evolved. 0 Gin+ Come. Scio atreral Four

NOT INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY.

Descent I am aware that the assumed instinctive
of Man, belief in God has been used by many persons
page 612. as an argument for his existence. But this is
a rash argument, as we should thus be compelled to be-
lieve in the existence of many cruel and malignant spirits,
only a little more powerful than man ; for the belief in
them is far more general than in a beneficent Deity. The
idea of a universal and beneficent Creator does not seem
to arise in the mind of man, until he has been elevated
by long-continued culture.

He who believes in the advancement of man from

Fd

850 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF.

some low organized form, will naturally ask, How does
this bear on the belief in the immortality of the soul ?
The barbarous races of man, as Sir J. Lubbock has shown,
possess no clear belief of this kind ; but arguments de-
rived from the primeval beliefs of savages are, as we have
just seen, of little or no avail. Few persons feel any anx-
iety from the impossibility of determining at what precise
period in the development of the individual, from the
first trace of a minute germinal vesicle, man becomes an
immortal being ; and there is no greater cause for anxiety
because the period can not possibly be determined in the
gradually ascending organic scale.

I am aware that the conclusions arrived at in this
work will be denounced by some as highly irreligious ;
but he who denounces them is bound to show why it

is more irreligious to explain the origin of man as a

distinct species by descent from some lower form,
through the laws of variation and natural selection,
than to explain the birth of the individual through the
laws of ordinary reproduction. The birth both of the
species and of the individual are equally parts of that
grand sequence of events, which our minds refuse to
accept as the result of blind chance. The understand-
ing revolts at such a conclusion, whether or not we are
able to believe that every slight variation of structure—
the union of each pair in marriage—the dissemination
of each seed—and other such events, have all been or-
dained for some special purpose.

Journal of Among the scenes which are deeply im-
hg) 9 pressed on my mind, none exceed in sublim-

' ity the primeval forests undefaced by the
hand of man; whether those of Brazil, where the powers

bw

OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF DESCENT. 351

of life are predominant, or those of Tierra del Fuego,
where death and decay prevail. Both are temples filled

with the varied productions of the God of Nature ; no

one can stand in these solitudes unmoved, and nek j
feel that there is more in man than the mere breath of t
his body. ~ 9) ' +t

/

THE END.

j ‘Ya
it Fier a-Si i de

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Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preser-
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A STANDARD EVOLUTION LIBRARY. |

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cable law.” —Tvrom the American Preface.

VIII.

The Evolution of Man. <A Popular Exposition of the Principal
Points of Human Ontogeny and Phylogeny. From the German of
Ernst Harcxet, Professor in the University of Jena. With numer-
ous Illustrations. 2 vols. 12mo. Cloth, $5.00. :
‘Tn this excellent translation of Professor Haeckel’s work, the English

reader has access to the latest doctrines of the Continental school of evolu-

tion, in its application to the history of man.”
IX.

The History of Creation; or, the Development of the Earth and its
Inhabitants by the Action of Natural Causes. A Popular Exposition
of the Doctrine of Evolution in General, and of that of Darwin, Goe-
the, and Lamarck in Particular. By Ernst Harcxen, Professor in
the University of Jena. The translation revised by Professor E. Ray
Lankester. [Illustrated with Lithographic Plates. 2 vols., 12mo.
Cloth, $5.00.
“The book has been translated into several languages. I hope that it

may also find sympathy in the fatherland of Darwin, the more:so since it

contains special morphological evidence in favor of many of the most impor-
tent doctrines with which this greatest naturalist of our century has sartehed
seicnce.”—Lrom the Preface.

—_——--

A STANDARD EVOLUTION LIBRARY.

x.

Religion and Science. A Series of Sunday Lectures on the Rlatione
of Natural and Revealed Religion, or the Truths revealed in Nature
and Scripture. By Josera Le Contz, LL.D. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.

xi.

Prehistoric Times, as illustrated by Ancient Remains and
the Manners and Customs of Modern Savages. By Sir Joun
Lussock, Bart. Illustrated. Entirely new revised edition. 8va
Cloth, $5.00.

The book ranks among the noblest works of the interesting and impor-
class to which it belongs. As a résumé of our present knowl of
prehistoric man, it leaves nothing to be desired. It is not only a good

of reference, but the best on the subject.

xXIL

Winners in Life’s Race; or, The Great Backboned Family. By Ara-
BELLA B. Bucktey, author of “The Fairy-Land ef Science” and
“Life and her Children.” With numerous Illustrations. 12mo.
Cloth, gilt side and back, $1.50.

xm.

Physies and Politics; or, Thoughts on the Application of the Prin-
ciples of “ Natural Selection” and “‘ Inheritance ” to Political Society.
By Watters Bacenor. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.

XIV.

The Theory of Descent and Darwinism. By Professor Oscar
Scamipt. With 26 Woodcuts. 12mo. $1.50.

** The facts upon which the Darwinian theory is based are presented in
an effective manner, conclusions are ably defended, and the question is
treated in more compact and available style than in any other work on the

same topic that has yet appeared. It is a valuable addition to the ‘ Interna-
tional Stientific Series.’ oe Boston Post.

XV.

Gutline of the Evolution Philosophy. By Dr. M. E. Cazerzes.
Translated from the French, by the Rev. 0. B. Froramycuam; with an
Appendix, by E. L. Youmans, M.D. 12mo. Cloth, $1.00.

“ This os pare little work will, no doubt, be used by thousands to

—— agi pu ener pat cer ee inaccessible and those of

Auguste Comte repe y reason of their prolixity and vagueness. Ina
short space Dr. Cazelles ‘has to pain Soo winds: outline and
sors se _ er ag a with his beri of the a of progress

iw of evolution, and a clear view of the princi itivism.””—

- ; 3 m, principles of positivism.

XVi.

Principles of Geology; or, The Modern Changes of the Earth and
its Inhabitants, considered as illustrative of Geology. By Sir Cuar.es
LYELL, Bart. Illustrated with Maps, Plates, and Woodeuts. A new
and entirely revised edition. 2vols. Royal 8vo. Cloth, $8.00.

The “ Principles of Geology”? may be looked upon with pride. not onl
as a representative of English science, but as without a of its kind
anywhere. Growing in fullness and accuracy with the growth of experi-

A STANDARD EVOLUTION LIBRARY.

ence and observation in every region of the world, the work has incorporated

with itself each established discovery, and has been modified by every hy-

othesis of value which has been brought to bear upon, or been evolved
fons, the most recent body of facts.
XVII.

Elements of Geology. A Text-Book for Colleges and for the General
Reader. By Joseph Lz Contr, LL. D., Professor of Geology and
Natural History in the University of California. Revised and en-
larged edition. 12mo. With upward of 900 Illustrations. Cloth, $4.00.

XVIII.

Animal Life, as affected by the Natural Conditions of Exist-
ence. By Kart Semper, Professor of the University of Wiirzburg.
With Maps and 100 Woodcuts. 12mo. Cloth, $2.00.

XIX.

Crayfish: An Introduction to the Study of Zoélogy. By Professor T. H.

Huxtrey, F. R.S. With 82 Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, $1.75.
XX.

Anthropology: An Introduction to the Study of Man and Civilization.
By Epwarp B, Tytor, F.R.8. With 78 Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth,
$2.00.

“The students who read Mr. Tylor’s book may congratulate themselves
upon having obtained so easy, pleasant, and workman-like an introduction
to a fascinating and delightful science.”—London Atheneum.

XXI.

First Principles. By Herverr Srencer. Part The Unknowable.
Part I. The Knowable. 1 vol., 12mo. $2.00.

s

J XXII.

v ane Principles of Biology. By Herprrr Srencer. 2 vols., 12mo.
4.00.

XXII.

The Principles of Psychology. By Herserr Spencer. 2 vols.,

12mo. $4.00.
XXIV.

The Principles of Sociology. By Hersert Spencer. 12mo.
2vols. $4.00. he

The Data of Ethics. By Hersert Srencer. Being Part I, Vol. I,
of “The Principles of Morality.’ 12mo. Cloth, $1.25.

XXVI.

Illustrations of Universal Progress. By Herrperr Srenczr.
12mo. Cloth, $2.00,

For sale by all booksellers ; or, sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of price.

New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street.

‘
;
{
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Works oF Sir JOHN LUBBOCK, BART.

THE ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION AND THE
PRIMITIVE CONDITION OF MAN, Men-
tal and Social Condition of Savages.

Fourth edition, with numerous Additions. With Illustrations, 8vo.
Cloth, $5.00.

” “The first edition of this work was published in the 1870. The work
has been twice revised for the press in the interval, and now —— in its
ees eee Coe ane Rw ene ee ga full

“This interesting work—for it is intensely so in its aim, and the abil-
ity of its anthor—treats of what the scientists denominate anthropology, oF the
uatural history of the human species; the complete science of man, y and
soul, including sex, temperament, race, civilization, etc.”—Providence Press.

PREHISTORIC TIMES, as illustrated by An-
cient Remains and the Manners and Cus=
toms of Modern Savages.

Illustrated. Entirely new revised edition. S8vo. Cloth, $5.00.

The book ranks among the noblest works of the interesting and important
class to which it belongs. As a résumé of our present knowledge of prehistoric
man, it leaves nothing to be desired. It is not only a good book of reference, but
the best on the subject.

“This is, persepe ne best summary of evidence now in our possession con-
peat hart general character of prehistoric times. The Bronze Age, The Stone
Age, The Tumuli, The Lake Inhabitants of Switzerland, The Shell Mounds, The
Cave Man, and The Antiquity of Man, are the titles of the most important chap-
ters.°—Dr. C. K. Adams*s Manual of Historical Literature.

ANTS, BEES, AND WASPS.

A Record of Observations on the Habits of the Social Hymenoptera.
With Colored Plates. 12mo. Cloth, $2.00.

“This volume contains the record of various experiments made with ants,
bees, and wasps during the last ten years, with a view to test their mental con-
dition and powers of sense. The principal point in which Sir John’s mode of
experiment differs from those of Huber, Forel, McCook, and others, is that he
has carefully watched and marked particular insects, and has had their nests
under observation for long periods—one of his ants’ nests having been under
constant inspection ever since 1874. His observations are made principally u
ants, because they show more power and flexibility of mind; and the value of his
studies is that they belong to the department of original research.”

“We have no hesitation in saying that the author has presented us with the
most valuable series of observations on a oo subject that has ever been pro-
duced, charmingly written, full of logical dednctions, and, when we consider his
eat bap pn 2 cee = Smee ap semaog ew of yrerard oftime. Asa
contribution sect psycho , it wi ‘ore book finds a -
allel.”"—London Atheneum. oe i ict

New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street.

THE ORGANS OF’ SPEECH,

And their Application in the Formation of
Articulate Sounds.

By GEORG HERMANN VON MEYER,
Professor of Anatomy at the University of Ziirich,

With numerous Illustrations, - - - 12mo, cloth, $1.75,

* At once philosophical and practical, suitable as a text-book in a medical col-
lege or for reading at home. Persons engaged in philological studies, and all
professional musicians, will find it full of extremely useful facts and suggestions."”
—New York Journal of Commerce.

“ This volume comprises the author’s researches into the anatomy of the vo-
cal organs, with special reference to the point of view and needs of the philolo-
gist and the trainer of the voice. It seeks to explain the origin of articulate
sounds, and to outline a system in which all elements of all languages may be
co-ordinated in their proper place, The work has obviously a special value for
students in the science of the transmutations of language, for etymologists, elo-
cutionists, and musicians.”—WNew York Home Journal,

“The author perceives in the sounds made by animals meanings analogous to
words, and in support of this is the fact that in the legends of all nations an ims
portant part is played by wise men who understand the language of the brute
creation. With patient thoroughness Professor von Meyer describes minutely
the vocal apparatus, and the sounds produced by the complex combinations of
its simple parts.”—Cincinnati Commercial Gazette.

“Tt is surprising to note what different sounds, and shades of tone and mean-
ing, can be produced by volition in the use of the human organs of speech.” —
Hartford Daily Times.

““The book presents a happy combination of the Teutonic thoroughness of
treatment with the method and lucidity of statement which especially distinguish
French scientists. The author’s expositions are remarkable for their clearness
and avoidance of technicalities ; while their meaning is rendered more apparent
by the use of numerous diagrams.”—Zdinburgh Scotsman.

** The work is a thorough and exhaustive one.”—Boston Commonwealth.

“The author’s plan has been to give a sketch of all possible articulate sounds,
and to trace upon that basis their relations and capacity for combination.”—
Philadelphia North American.

** A treatise of remarkable interest.”— Boston Transcript,

** Ought to be welcomed for the varied, new, and original interpretations con-
tained in the book.”—Harrisburg Telegraph.

New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street.

——

a

JOHN TYNDALL'S WORKS.

Essays on the Floating Matter of the Air, in Re
lation to Putrefaction and Infection. 12mo, cloth, $1.50.

On Forms of Water, in Clouds, Rivers, Ice, and Glaciers.
With 35 Illustrations. 12mo, cloth, $1.50.

Heat as a Mode of Motion. New edition. 12mo,
cloth, $2.50.

On Sound: A Course of Eight Lectures delivered at the
Royal Institution of Great Britain. Illustrated. 12mo.
New edition. Cloth, $2.00.

Fragments of Science for Unscientific People. 12mo.
New revised and enlarged edition. Cloth, $2.50.

Light and Electricity. 12mo, cloth, $1.25.
Lessons in Electricity, 1875-76. 12mo, cloth, $1.00.

Hours of Exercise in the Alps. With Ilustrations,
12mo, cloth, $2.00.

Faraday as a Discoverer. A Memoir. - 12mo, cloth,
$1.00.

Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of
Radiant Heat. $5.00.

Six Lectures on Light. Delivered in America in 1872-
73. With an Appendix and numerous Illustrations,
Cloth, $1.50.

Farewell Banquet, given to Professor Tyndall, at Del-
monico’s, New York, February 4, 1873. Paper, 50 cents.

Address delivered before the British Association, assembled at
Belfast. Revised, with Additions, by the author, since the
Delivery. 12mo, paper, 50 cents.

New York: D. APPLETON & CO.,1, 8, & 5 Bond Sireet.

Herbert Spencer’s Science of Society.

I,
The Study of Sociology. 1 vol, 12mo, Cloth. Price, $1.50. .

Il.
The Principles of Sociology. Vol. I. 12mo. Cloth. Price, $2.00.

Il.
Ceremonial Institutions. (First part of Vol. II of “Principles of
Sociology.”) 12mo. Cloth. Price, $1.25.

IV.
Political Institutions. (Second part of Vol. II of “Principles of
Sociology.”) 12mo. Cloth. Price, $1.50.

v.

Descriptive Sociology. A CYCLOPADIA OF SOCIAL FACTS;
Representing the Constitution of Every Type and Grade of Human
Society, Past and Present, Stationary and Progressive: Classified
and Tabulated for Easy Comparison and Convenient Study of the
Relations of Social Phenomena. Royal folio. Parts I to VII,
$4.00 each; Part VIII (Double Part), $7.00.

‘Of all our thinkers, Herbert Spencer is the one who has formed for him-
self the largest new scheme of a systematic philosophy, and, in relation to
some of the greatest questions of philosophy in their most recent forms, as set
or reset by the last speculations and revelations of science, has already shot his
thoughts the farthest.”—Prof. Davip Masson, in ** Recent British Philosophy.”

‘* One who, whether for the extent of his positive knowledge, or for the pro-
fundity of his speculative insight, has already achieved a name second to none in
the whole range of English philosophy.”’— Westminster Review.

‘*The work (‘ Descriptive Sociology’) is a gigantic one; its value, when com-
plete, will be immeasurable ; and its actual influence on the study of sociology,
and help to that study, greater perhaps than any book yet published. It is a
cyclopeedia of Social Science, but a cyclopsedia edited by the greatest of sociolo-
gists.”—G. W. SMaALLer.

For sale by all booksellers ; or sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of price.

New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 8, & 5 Bond Street.

Ee

IMPORTANT

SCIENTIFIC WORKS.

I.

APPLETONS’ CYCLOP ZDIA OF APPLIED MECHAN-
ICS. A Dictionary of Mechanical Engineering and the Mechan-
ical Arts. Illustrated by 5,000 Engravings. Edited by Park
Benyamix, Ph.D. 2 vols., 8vo. Sheep, $15.00; half morocco,
$17.00.

Arpietons’ Cycropzp1a oF AppLiep Mecnamios of 1879 is a new
work, and not a revision of the former Dictionary of Mechanics of 1850.
It presents the best and latest Amercan practice in the mechanical arts,
and compares the same with that of other nations. It also exhibits the
extent to which American invention and discovery have contributed to the
world’s progress during the last quarter century. The contributors include
many of the most eminent American mechanical experts and engineers.
Several of their contributions contain the results of original research and
thought never before published. Their efforts have in all cases tended to
simplify the subjects treated, to avoid technicalities, and so to render all
that is presented easily understood by the general reader as well as by
the mechanical student. Examples are appended to all rules, explanations
to all tables, and in such matters as the uses of tools and management
of machines the instructions are unusually minute and accurate.

Il.
Arnott, Neil. Elements of Physics; or, Natural Philosophy. Sev-
enth edition. 12mo. Cloth, $3.00.

Itt.
Bourne, John. A Catechism of the Steam-Engine. New revised
edition, with Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, $1.75.

Iv.

Bourne, John. Hand-Book of the Steam-Engine. Constituting a
Key to the “Catechism of the Steam-Engine.” [Illustrated with
67 Woodcuts. 12mo. Cloth, $1.75.

IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC WORKS.—(Continued.)

v.

Bourne, John. A Treatise on the Steam-Engine in its various Appli-
cations to Mines, Mills, Steam Navigation, Railways, and Agricult-
ure; with Theoretical Investigations respecting the Motive Power
of Heat, and the Proper Proportions of Steam-Engines, Elaborate
Tables of the Right Dimensions of every Part, and Practical In-
struction for the Manufacture and Management of every Species
of Engine in Actual Use. Being the seventh edition of “ A Trea-
tise on the Steam-Engine,” by the “ Artisan Club.” MIlustrated
with 37 Plates and 546 Woodeuts. 4to. Cloth, $12.00.

VI.
Carpenter, .W. B. Principles of Mental Physiology, with their Ap-
plication to the Training and Discipline of the Mind, and the Study
of its Morbid Conditions. 12mo. Cloth, $3.00.

vit.
Chauveau, Professor A. The Comparative Anatomy of the Do-
mesticated Animals. By A. Cuauvzav, Professor at the Lyons —
Veterinary School. Second edition, revised and enlarged, with the
Codperation of 8. Arloing, late Principal of Anatomy at the Lyons
Veterinary School. Translated and edited by James Fleming.
With 450 Illustrations. 8vo. Cloth, $6.00.

vill.
Deschanel, A. P. Elementary Treatise on Natural Philosophy. By
A. Privat Descnanet, formerly Professor of Physics in the Lycée
Louis-le-Grand, Inspector of the Academy of Paris, Translated
and edited, with Extensive Additions, by J. D, Evererr, Professor
of Natural Philosophy in the Queen’s College, Belfast. In Four
Parts: Part I. Mechanics, Hydrostatics, and Pneumatics; Part
II. Heat; Part III. Electricity and Magnetism; Part IV. Sound
and Light. Copiously illustrated. 8vo. Flexible cloth, per Part,
$1.50. With Problems and Index, complete in one volume, 8vo,
cloth, $5.70.

IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC WORKS.—(Continued.)

Ix.
Gore, G. The Art of Electro-Metallurgy ; including all known of Elec-
tro-Deposition. Illustrated. 16mo. Cloth, $2.50.
x.
Gosse’s Evenings at the Microscope; or, Researches among the Mi-
. nuter Organs and Forms of Animal Life. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.

xi
Harris, George, F.S. A. Civilization considered as a Science. 12mo.
Cloth, $1.50.
XII.

Helmholtz, H. Popular Lectures on Scientific Subjects. Translated
by E. Arxrxsoy, Ph. D., F.C.S. With an Introduction by Pro-
fessor TynpaLt. 12mo. Cloth, $2.00.

XII.

Hinton, James. Physiology for Practical Use. With an Introduc-

tion by Professor E. L. Youmaxs. 12mo. Cloth, $2.25.
XIV.

Homann, Frederick. Manual of Chemical Analysis, as applied to
the Examination of Medicinal Chemicals. A Guide for the Deter-
mination of their Identity and Quality, and for the Detection of
Impurities and Adulterations. For the Use of Pharmaceutists,
Physicians, Druggists, and Manufacturing Chemists, and Students,
8vo. Cloth, $3.00.

xv.
Johnston, Professor James F. W. The Chemistry of Common
Life. A new edition, revised, enlarged, and brought down to the
Present Time, by Artaur Hersert Cuvrcn, M. A. Oxon., author
of “Food: its Sources, Constituents, and Uses.’”’ Illustrated with
Maps and numerous Engravings on Wood. 12mo. Cloth, $2.00,

XVI.

Le Conte, Professor Joseph. Elements of Geology. A Text-Book

for Colleges and for the General Reader. 8vo. Cloth, $4.00.

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