176 The Descent of Man. Part L 



can generally be arranged in little groups round other species, 

 like satellites round planets. 20 



The question whether mankind consists of one or several 

 species has of late years been mnch discussed by anthropologists, 

 who are divided into the two schools of monogenists and 

 polygenists. Those who do not admit the principle of evolution, 

 must look at species as separate creations, or as in some manner 

 as distinct entities ; and they must decide what forms of man they 

 will consider as species by the analogy of the method commonly 

 pursued in ranking other organic beings as species. But it is a 

 hopeless endeavour to decide this point, until some definition of 

 the term "species" is generally accepted; and the definition 

 must not include an indeterminate element such as an act of 

 creation. We might as well attempt without any definition to 

 decide whether a certain number of houses should be called a 

 village, town, or city. We have a practical illustration of the 

 difficulty in the never-ending doubts whether many closely-allied 

 mammals, birds, insects, and plants, which represent each 

 other respectively in North America and Europe, should be 

 ranked as species or geographical races ; and the like holds true 

 of the productions of many islands situated at some little distance 

 from the nearest continent. 



Those naturalists, on the other hand, who admit the principle 

 of evolution, and this is now admitted by the majority of rising 

 men, will feel no doubt that all the races of man are descended 

 from a single primitive stock ; whether or not they may think 

 fit to designate the races as distinct species, for the sake of ex- 

 pressing their amount of difference. 21 With our domestic 

 animals the question whether the various races have arisen from 

 one or more species is somewhat different. Although it may be 

 admitted that all the races, as well as all the natural species 

 within the same genus, have sprung from the same primitive 

 stock, yet it is a fit subject for discussion, whether all the 

 domestic races of the dog, for instance, have acquired then 

 present amount of difference since some one species was first 

 domesticated by man ; or whether they ow r e some of their 

 characters to inheritance from distinct species, which had 

 already been differentiated in a state of nature. With man no 

 such question can arise, for he cannot be said to have been 

 domesticated at any particular period. 



During an early stage in the elivergence of the races of mac 



* 'Origin of Species,' 5:h edit. in the 'Fortnightly Review,' 1865 

 p. 63. p. 275. 



11 See Frof. Huxlev to this effect, 



