88 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



then adopt provisionally the hypothesis of a multiplicity of germs 

 of life ; and if we do this, there is nothing wild or strange in the 

 supposition that the germ of man was different from other germs. 

 It would be beyond all that scientific caution would justify to 

 assume that, given a number of original germs of life, it is matter 

 of chance into what each will develop. It is contrary, I think, to 

 the whole analogy of Nature to suppose that a living germ, which 

 is to all intents and purposes an ovum or egg, may ultimately 

 develop into an oak, or a fish, or a man, according to its surround- 

 ings or according to mere chance. At all events, it is much more 

 probable, much more according to analogy, that each germ should 

 have its specific character, and that so man should have been man 

 in intention and preparation from the very beginning of things. 

 It may have been — in fact, according to the supposition of evolu- 

 tion it must have been — that in the early condition of life upon 

 the globe there was no man (in the full and proper sense of the 

 word) in existence, but his progenitors would be there ; and what 

 is submitted is this, that those progenitors were undeveloped 

 men, and not " lower animals." What they visibly were scientific 

 discovery has not yet put in evidence ; it is admitted that there 

 is a " missing link " between the present and the past. Some sci- 

 entific men hope that the link may be found, some think that it 

 is hidden under the sea ; but, whatever the truth may be with 

 regard to this point, what is maintained is this, that, on the 

 hypothesis of a multiplicity of original germs of life, it is 

 more probable than otherwise that certain germs contained the 

 promise of men, others of " lower animals " ; and that, if so, 

 it is incorrect to speak of the lower animals as the progenitors 

 of men. 



This view of the case, though founded upon a criticism of Mr. 

 Wallace's language, would seem nevertheless to be consistent 

 with his real views concerning the origin of man. In the last 

 chapter of his work, entitled Darwinism applied to Man, to 

 which reference has been already made, it is contended, as 

 we have seen, that the principle of natural selection will not 

 account for the development of the human faculties. I recur to 

 that chapter chiefly for the purpose of making two extracts, which 

 will, I think, tend to strengthen the arguments which have been 

 already advanced. After rehearsing three stages of progress in 

 creation — the change from the inorganic to the organic ; the in- 

 troduction of sensation or consciousness, constituting the funda- 

 mental distinction between the animal and vegetable kingdoms ; 

 and the existence in man of a number of his most characteristic 

 and noblest faculties, those which raise him above the brutes and 

 open up possibilities of almost indefinite advancement — Mr. Wal- 

 lace writes thus : 



