24 THE DESCENT OF MAN. Paht I. 



carnivora, in finding their prey ; to others, as the wild 

 boar, for both purposes combined. But the sense of 

 smell is of extremely slight service, if any, even to 

 savages, in whom it is generally more highly developed 

 than in the civilised races. It does not warn them of 

 danger, nor guide them to their food ; nor does it pre- 

 vent the Esquimaux from sleeping in the most fetid 

 atmosphere, nor many savages from eating half-putrid 

 meat. Those who believe in the principle of gradual 

 evolution, will not readily admit that this sense in its 

 present state was originally acquired by man, as he 

 now exists. No doubt he inherits the power in an 

 enfeebled and so far rudimentary condition, from some 

 early progenitor, to whom it was highly serviceable 

 and by whom it was continually used. We can thus 

 perhaps understand how it is, as Dr. Maudsley has truly 

 remarked, 27 that the sense of smell in man " is singu- 

 " larly effective in recalling vividly the ideas and images 

 '•' of forgotten scenes and places ;" for we see in those 

 animals, which have this sense highly developed, such as 

 dogs and horses, that old recollections of persons and 

 places are strongly associated with their odour. 



Man differs conspicuously from all the other Primates 

 in being almost naked. But a few short straggling 

 hairs are found over the greater part of the body in 

 the male sex, and fine down on that of the female sex. 

 In individuals belonging to the same race these hairs 

 are highly variable, not only in abundance, but like- 

 wise in position : thus the shoulders in some Europeans 

 are quite naked, whilst in others they bear thick tufts 

 of hair. 28 There can be little doubt that the hairs 



27 'The Physiology and Pathology of Mind,' 2nd edit. 1S6S, p. 134. 



2S Eschricht, Ueber die Richtung der Haare am menschlicben Korper, 

 ' Miiller s Archiv fur Anat. und Phys.' 1837, s. 47. I shall often have 

 to refer to this very curious paper. 



