6o6 The Descent of Man. Part II I. 



their own characteristic qualities, — the shape of the head and 

 face, the squareness of the cheek-bones, the prominence or 

 depression of the nose, the colour of the skin, the length of the 

 hair on the head, the absence of hair on the face and body, or 

 the presence of a great beard, and so forth. Hence these and 

 other such points could hardly fail to be slowly and gradually 

 exaggerated, from the more powerful and able men in each tribe, 

 who would succeed in rearing the largest number of offspring, 

 having selected during many generations for their wives the 

 most strongly characterised and therefore most attractive 

 women. For my own part I conclude that of all the causes 

 which have led to the differences in external appearance between 

 the races of man, and to a certain extent between man and the 

 lower animals, sexual selection has been the most efficient. 



CHAPTEE XXI. 

 General Summary and Conclusion. 



Main conclusion that man is descended from some lower form — Manner of 

 development — Genealogy of man — Intellectual and moral faculties — 

 Sexual selection — Concluding remarks. 



A brief summary will be sufficient to recall to the reader's mind 

 the more salient points in this work. Many of the views which 

 have been advanced are highly speculative, and some no doubt 

 will prove erroneous ; but I have in every case given the reasons 

 which have led me to one view rather than to another. It 

 seemed worth while to try how far the principle of evolution 

 would throw light on some of the more complex problems in the 

 natural history of man. False facts are highly injurious to the 

 progress of science, for they often endure long ; but false views, 

 if supported by some evidence, do little harm, for every one 

 takes a salutary pleasure in proving their falseness ; and when 

 this is done, one path towards error is closed and the road to 

 truth is often at the same time opened. 



The main conclusion here arrived at, and now held by many 

 naturalists who are well competent to form a sound judgment, 

 is that man is descended from some less highly organised form. 

 The grounds upon which this conclusion rests will never be 

 shaken, for the close similarity between man and the lower 

 animals in embryonic development, as well as in innumerable 

 points of structure and constitution, both of high and of the 

 most trifling importance, — the rudiments which he retains, and 

 the abnormal reversions to which he is occasionally liable,- 



