The Descent of Man. Paut 1. 



beneficial variations, whether in body or mind, being preserved, 

 and injurious ones eliminated. Do the races or species of men, 

 whichever term may be applied, encroach on and replace one 

 another, so that some finally become extinct ? We shall see that 

 all these questions, as indeed is obvious in respect to most of 

 them, must be answered in the affirmative, in the same manner 

 as with the lower animals. But the several considerations just 

 referred to may be conveniently deferred for a time : and we 

 will first see how far the bodily structure of man shows traces, 

 more or less plain, of his descent from some lower form. In 

 succeeding chapters the mental powers of man, in comparison 

 w^th those of the lower animals, will be considered. 



The Bo-.lily Structure of Man. — It is notorious that man is 

 constructed on the same general type or model as other mam- 

 mals. All the bones in his skeleton can be compared with 

 corresponding bones in a monkey, bat, or seal. So it is with his 

 muscles, nerves, blood-vessels and internal viscera. The brain, 

 the most important of all the organs, follows the same law, as 

 shewn by Huxley and other anatomists. Bischoff, 1 who is a 

 hostile witness, admits that every chief fissure and fold in the 

 brain of man has its analogy in that of the orang ; but he adds 

 that at no period of development do their brains perfectly agree ; 

 nor could perfect agreement be expected, for otherwise their 

 mental powers would have been the same. Vulpian 2 remarks : 

 " Les differences reelles qui existent entre l'encephale de 

 " l'homme et celui des singes superieurs, sont bien minimes. II 

 " ne faut pas se faire d'illusions a cet egard. L'homme est bien 

 " plus pres des singes anthropomorphes par les caracteres 

 " anatomiques de son cerveau que ceux-ci ne le sont non- 

 " seulement des autres mammiferes, mais meme de certains 

 " quadrumanes, des guenons et des macaques." But it would 

 be superfluous here to give further details on the correspondence 

 between man and the higher mammals in the structure of the 

 brain and all other parts of the body. 



It may, however, be worth while to specify a few points, not 

 directly or obviously connected with structure, by which this 

 correspondence or relationship is well shewn. 



Man is liable to receive from the lower animals, and to com- 



1 ' Grrosshirnwindungen des Men- in the Preface to this edition, 



echen,' 1868, s. 96. The conclusions 2 ' Lee. sur la Phys.' 1866, p. 890, 



of this author, as well as those of as quoted by M. Dally, ' L'Ordre des 



Gratiolet and Aeby, concerning the Primates et le Transformisme/ 1868, 



brain, will be discussed by Prof. p. 29. 

 Huxley in the Appendix alluded to 



