172 THE DESCENT OF MAN. [Part I. 



nature, those given to meditation or culture of the mind, 

 had no refuge except in the bosom of the Church which 

 demanded celibacy ; and this could hardly fail to have had 

 a deteriorating influence on each successive generation. 

 During this same period the Holy Inquisition selected with 

 extreme care the freest and boldest men in order to burn 

 or imprison them. In Spain alone some of the best men — - 

 those who doubted and questioned, and without doubting 

 there can be no progress — were eliminated during three 

 centuries at the rate of a thousand a year. The evil which 

 the Catholic Church has thus effected, though no doubt 

 counterbalanced to a certain, perhaps large extent in other 

 ways, is incalculable ; nevertheless, Europe has progressed 

 at an unparalleled rate. 



The remarkable success of the English as colonists 

 over other European nations, which is well illustrated by 

 comparing the progress of the Canadians of English and 

 French extraction, has been ascribed to their " daring and 

 persistent energy ; " but who can say how the English 

 gained their energy ? There is apparently much truth in 

 the belief that the wonderful progress of the United States, 

 as well as the character of the people, are the results of 

 natural selection ; the more energetic, restless, and coura- 

 geous men from all parts of Europe having emigrated 

 during the last ten or twelve generations to that great 

 country, and having there succeeded best. 27 Looking to 

 the distant future, I do not think that the Rev. Mr. Zincke 

 takes an exaggerated view when he says : 28 " All other 

 series of events — as that which resulted in the culture of 

 mind in Greece, and that which resulted in the empire of 



Holy Inquisition in having lowered, through selection, the general stand- 

 ard of intelligence in Europe. 



27 Mr. Galton, ' Macmillan's Magazine,' August, 1865, p. 325. Seq 

 also, ■ Nature,' " On Darwinism and National Life," Dec. 1869, p. 184. 



&? ' Last Winter in the United States,' 1868, p. 29. 



