SELECTION ON MAN. 317 



moment that the form of his body became stationary, 

 his mind would become subject to those very influ- 

 ences from which his body had escaped ; every slight 

 variation in his mental and moral nature which should 

 enable him better to guard against adverse circum- 

 stances, and combine for mutual comfort and protection, 

 would be preserved and accumulated ; the better and 

 higher specimens of our race would therefore increase 

 and spread, the lower and more brutal would give way 

 and successively die out, and that rapid advancement 

 of mental organization would occur, which has raised 

 the very lowest races of man so far above the brutes 

 (although differing so little from some of them in 

 physical structure), and, in conjunction with scarcely 

 perceptible modifications of form, has developed the 

 wonderful intellect of the European races. 



Influence of external Nature in the development of the 

 Human Mind. 



But from the time when this mental and moral 

 advance commenced, and man's physical character 

 became fixed and almost immutable, a new series of 

 causes would come into action, and take part in his 

 mental growth. The diverse aspects of nature would 

 now make themselves felt, and profoundly influence the 

 character of the primitive man. 



When the power that had hitherto modified the body 

 had its action transferred to the mind, then races would 

 advance and become improved, merely by the harsh dis- 

 cipline of a sterile soil a'nd inclement seasons. Under 



