■jtiAP. V. Civilised Nations. 133 



* particle of desire that its civil institutions should be iru- 

 u proved." Progress seems to depend on many concurrent 

 favourable conditions, far too complex to be followed out. But 

 it has often been remarked, that a cool climate, from leading to 

 industry and to the various arts, has been highly favourable 

 thereto. The Esquimaux, pressed by hard necessity, have 

 succeeded in many ingenious inventions, but their climate has 

 been too severe for continued progress. Nomadic habits, whether 

 over wide plains, or through the dense forests of the tropics, or 

 along the shores of the sea, have in every case been highly 

 detrimental. Whilst observing the barbarous inhabitants of 

 Tierra del Fuego, it struck me that the possession of some 

 property, a fixed abode, and the union of many families under a 

 chief, were the indispensable requisites for civilisation. Such 

 habits almost necessitate the cultivation of the ground ; and the 

 first steps in cultivation would probably result, as I have else- 

 where shewn, 8 from some such accident as the seeds of a fruit- 

 tree falling on a heap of refuse, and producing an unusually fine 

 variety. The problem, however, of the first advance of savages 

 towards civilisation is at present much too difficult to be solved. 



Natural Selection as affecting Civilised Nations. — I have hitherto 

 only considered the advancement of man from a semi-human 

 condition to that of the modern savage. But some remarks on 

 the action of natural selection on civilised nations may be worth 

 adding. This subject has been ably discussed by Mr. W. E. 

 Greg, 9 and previously by Mr. Wallace and Mr. Galton. 10 Most 

 of my remarks are taken from these three authors. With 

 savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated ; and 

 those that survive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health. 

 We civilised men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the 

 process of elimination ; we build asylums for the imbecile, the 

 maimed, and the sick ; we institute poor-laws ; and our medical 



B 'The Variation of Animils and 1869, and by Mr. E. Ray Lankester 



Plants under Domestication,' vol. i. in his ' Comparative Longevity,' 



p. 309. 1870, p. 128. Similar views ap- 



9 'Fraser's Magazine,' Sept. 1868, peared previously in the 'Austra- 



p. 353. This article seems to have lasian,' July 13, 1867. I have 



struck many persons, and has given borrowed ideas from several of these 



rise to two remarkable essays and a writers. 



rejoinder in the ' Spectator,' Oct. 10 For Mr. Wallace, see ' Anthro- 



ord and 17th, 1868. It has also polog. Review,' as before cited. Mr. 



been discussed in the ' Q. Journal of Galton in ' Macmillan's Magazine,' 



Science,' 1869, p. 152, and by Mr. Aug. 1865, p. 318 ; also his greaf 



Lawson Tait in the 'Dublin Q. work, 'Hereditary Genius,' 1870. 

 Journal of Medical Science,' Feb. 



