8 The Descent of AT cm. Past I. 



fatal effects ; and is plagued by external parasites, all of which 

 belong to the same genera or families as those infesting other 

 mammals, and in the case of scabies to the same species. 8 Man 

 is subject, like other mammals, birds, and even insects, 9 to that 

 mysterious law, which causes certain normal processes, such as 

 gestation, as well as the maturation and duration of various 

 diseases, to follow lunar periods. His wounds are repaired by 

 the same process of healing; and the stumps left after the 

 amputation of his limbs, especially during an early embryonic 

 period, occasionally possess some power of regeneration, as in 

 the lowest animals. 10 



The whole process of that most important function, the 

 reproduction of the species, is strikingly the same in all mam- 

 mals, from the first act of courtship by the male, 11 to the birth 

 and nurturing of the young. Monkeys are born in almost as 

 helpless a condition as our own infants ; and in certain genera 

 the young differ fully as much in appearance from the adults, as 

 do our children from their full-grown parents. 12 It has been 

 urged by some writers, as an important distinction, that with 

 man the young arrive at maturity at a much later age than with 

 any other animal : but if we look to the races of mankind which 

 inhabit tropical countries the difference is not great, for the 

 orang is believed not to be adult till the age of from ten to fifteen 

 years. 13 Man differs from woman in size, bodily strength, 

 hairiness, &c, as well as in mind, in the same manner as do the 



8 Dr. W. Lauder Lindsay, ' Edin- " sagax, hoc mihi certissime pro- 

 burgh Vet. Review,' July 1858, " bavit, et curatores ejusdem loci et 

 p. 13. " alii e ministris confirmaverunt. 



9 With respect to insects see Dr. " Sir Andrew Smith et Brehm no- 

 Laycock, "On a General Law of Vital " tabant idem in Cynocephalo. 11- 

 Periodicity," ' British Association,' " lustrissimus Cuvier etiam narral 

 1842. Dr. Macculloch, ' Silliman's " multa de h£c re, qua ut opinor, 

 North American Journal of Science,' " nihil turpius potest indicari inter 

 vol. xvii. p. 305, has seen a dog " omnia hominibus et Quadrumani* 

 suffering from tertian ague. Here- " communia. Narrat enim Cyno- 

 ii'ter I shall return to this subject. " cephalum quendam in furorem in- 



10 I have given the evidence on " cidere aspectu feminarum ali- 

 his head in my ' Variation of Ani- " quarum, sed nequaquam accendi 

 ials and Plants under Domestica- " tanto furore ab omnibus. Sem- 

 aon,' vol. ii. p. 15, and more could " per eligebat juniores, et dignos» 

 >e added. " cebat in turba, et advocabat voce 



11 " Mares e diversis generibus " gestuque." 



" Quadrumanorum sine dubio di- 12 This remark is made with re- 



M gnoscunt feminas humanas a ma- spect to Cynocephalus and the an- 



" ribus. Primum, credo, odoratu, thropomorphous apes by Geoffroy 



a postea aspectu. Mr. Youatt, qui Saint-Hilaire and F. Cuvier, ' Hist. 



" diu in Hortis Zoologicis (Besti- Nat. des Mammiferes,' torn. i. 1824. 



u ariis) medicus animalium erat, 13 Huxley, ' Man's Place in Na- 



** vir in rebu 1 observandis cautus et ture,' 1863, p, 34. 



