LITERARY NOTICES. 



561 



skillful literary Frenchmen are remarkable, 

 and the translator has well reproduced the 

 art of the author. This, however, is but 

 an incidental though important trait of the 

 volume ; its interest centers in the scientific 

 treatment of a vast subject, in the admirable 

 classification of its materials, the incisive- 

 ness of the dialectics, and the wealth of 

 information to elucidate and illuminate a 

 great branch of inquiry. De Quatrefages 

 is, moreover, a man of moderate views, a 

 cautious and disciplined investigator, and 

 who, by long familiarity with his subject, 

 speaks with authority, and may be trusted 

 in the representation of his facts. 



His work is divided into ten Books, the 

 first of which consists of eleven chapters, 

 in which he discusses in its various aspects 

 the " Unity of the Human Species." The 

 anthropological method is first treated with 

 a general statement of anthropological doc- 

 trines. The problem of species and race 

 in the natural sciences is then taken up, 

 and the nature and extent of variations in 

 animal and vegetable races, with their appli- 

 cations to man, are considered. The fusion 

 of characters, and the crossing of races 

 and species in the animal and vegetable 

 kingdoms, are next dealt with, and the con- 

 clusions applied to the human race. The 

 human groups obey the laws of crossing, 

 and from his wide survey of the facts the 

 author arrives at the conclusion that all 

 men belong to the same species, and that 

 there is but one species of man. 



Book II. takes up the vexed question 

 of the " Origin of the Human Species," 

 which is dealt with in two chapters. There 

 is here a sharp discussion of Darwinism, in 

 which the author refuses to accept the con- 

 clusions of the British zoologist. He admits 

 the principle of natural selection as both a 

 true cause and an important agency in pro- 

 ducing the changes of the living world ; but 

 he totally denies that this principle is ade- 

 quate to produce transformations of species 

 or to originate new species. He praises 

 Darwin's accomplishments as a biologist, 

 and acknowledges the indebtedness of sci- 

 ence to his investigations, but will not for a 

 moment recognize that he has accounted 

 for the origin of man. On this question 

 he takes the conservative side, and, while 

 cordially commending the vigorous work 



of advanced naturalists, and recognizing 

 that valuable results may flow from it, 

 he still avows himself as belonging to 

 the old school. Of the origin of life the 

 author says we know nothing, and " all 

 who wish to remain faithful to true sci- 

 ence will accept the existence and succes- 

 sion of species as a primordial fact. He 

 will apply to all what Darwin applies to his 

 single prototype." We will refer to this 

 matter again presently. 



Book III. takes up the question of the 

 "Antiquity of the Human Species," and 

 gives a succinct account of the relation of 

 man to present and past geological epochs 

 in two chapters. 



Book IV. devotes also two chapters to 

 the " Original Localization of the Human 

 Species," and, of course, raises the question 

 of centers of creation and unity or plurality 

 of origins. Agassiz is taken as the ablest 

 representative of the latter doctrine, which 

 is criticised by Professor De Quatrefages 

 with great force. One of the most interest- 

 ing problems that will have to be worked 

 out one of these days is that of the men- 

 tal bias and incompetency of judgment ac- 

 quired by scientific men as a result of their 

 special branches of study. Professor De 

 Quatrefages gives an interesting illustration 

 of this in the case of Agassiz. He says: 

 " There are singular points of resemblance 

 and no less striking contrasts between 

 Agassiz and the most extravagant disciples 

 of Darwin. The illustrious author of the 

 1 Essay on Classification ' is as exclusive a 

 morphologist as the latter: neither in his 

 opinion nor in theirs does the idea of filia- 

 tion form any connection with that of 

 species ; he declares, as they do, that the 

 questions of crossing, of constant or limited 

 fertility, have no real interest. We are 

 justified in attributing these opinions, so 

 strange in such an eminent zoologist as 

 Agassiz, to the nature of his early works. 

 It is well known that he commenced his 

 career with his celebrated researches upon 

 fossil fishes. We have already remarked 

 upon the influence which is almost inevita- 

 bly exercised by fossils where form alone 

 has to be considered, where nothing calls 

 attention to the genealogical connection of 

 beings, and where we meet with neither par- 

 ents nor offspring." 



vol. xv. 36 



