184: THE DESCENT OF MAN. Part 1. 



ginally civilised and then suffered utter degradation in 

 so many regions, is to take a pitiably low view of 

 hum an nature. It is apparently a truer and more 

 cheerful view that progress has been much more general 

 than retrogression ; that man has risen, though by slow 

 and interrupted steps, from a lowly condition to the 

 highest standard as yet attained by him in knowledge, 

 morals, and religion. 



