INTRODUCTION. 6 



his development ; and thirdly, the value of the differ- 

 ences between the so-called races of man. As I shall 

 confine myself to these points, it will not be necessary 

 to describe in detail the differences between the several 

 races — an enormous subject which has been fully dis- 

 cussed in many valuable works. The high antiquity of 

 man has recently been demonstrated by the labours 

 of a host of eminent meD, beginning with M. Boucher 

 de Perthes ; and this is the indispensable basis for 

 understanding his origin. I shall, therefore, take this 

 conclusion for granted, and may refer my readers to 

 the admirable treatises of Sir Charles Lyell, Sir John 

 Lubbock, and others. Nor shall I have occasion to do 

 more than to allude to the amount of difference between 

 man and the anthropomorphous apes ; for Prof. Huxley, 

 in the opinion of most competent judges, has conclu- 

 sively shewn that in every single visible character man 

 differs less from the higher apes tban these do from the 

 lower members of the same order of Primates. . 



This work contains hardly any original facts in 

 regard to man ; but as the conclusions at which I 

 arrived, after drawing up a rough draft, appeared to 

 me interesting, I thought that they might interest 

 others. It has often and confidently been asserted, that 

 man's origin can never be known : but ignorance more 

 frequently begets confidence than does knowledge : it is 

 those who know little, and not those who know much, 

 who so positively assert that this or that problem will 

 never be solved by science. The conclusion that man is 

 the co-descendant with other species of some ancient, 

 lower, and extinct form, is not in any degree new. La^ 



b 2 



