358 THE LIMITS OF NATUEAL SELECTION 



possible, were not the organ of the mind of man pre- 

 pared in advance, fully developed as regards size, 

 structure, and proportions, and only needing a few 

 generations of use and habit to co-ordinate its com- 

 plex functions. The] naked and sensitive skin, by 

 necessitating clothing and houses, would lead to the 

 more rapid development of man's inventive and con- 

 structive faculties ; and, by leading to a more refined 

 feeling of personal modesty, may have influenced, to a 

 considerable extent, his moral nature. The erect form 

 of man, by freeing the hands from all locomptive uses, 

 has been necessary for his intellectual advancement; 

 and the extreme perfection of his hands, has alone 

 rendered possible that excellence in all the arts of civili- 

 zation which raises him so far above the savage, and 

 is perhaps but the forerunner of a higher intellectual 

 and moral advancement. The perfection of his vocal 

 organs has first led to the formation of articulate 

 speech, and then to the development of those exqui- 

 sitely toned sounds, which are only appreciated by the 

 higher races, and which are probably destined for more 

 elevated uses and more refined enjoyment, in a higher 

 condition than we have yet attained to. So, those 

 faculties which enable us to transcend time and space, 

 and to realize the wonderful conceptions of mathe- 

 matics and philosophy, or which give us an intense 

 yearning for abstract truth, (all of which were occasion- 

 ally manifested at such an early period of human his- 

 tory as to be far in advance of any of the few practical 

 applications which have since grown out of them), are- 



