THE PROBABLE FUTURE OF THE HUMAN RACE. 



[Fiom tlie History of Science and of Savants, by Alpbonse de Candolle. — Traiislatod lor 

 the Smithsonian Institution.] 



It is liot difficult to poiut out certaiu probabilities conceruiug the 

 future destiny of the humau race. Thiss is, in some respects, deter- 

 mined naturally, but is wanting neither in importance nor interest. 



In order to examine the question properly, it is necessary to bear in 

 mind three principles : 1st, organized beings endowed with will and the 

 faculty of locomotion always seek to adapt themselves to the circum- 

 stances in which they are placed, and none do so more eflectually than 

 man, on account of his superior intelligence; 2d, the individuals of the 

 human species that are the least able to accommodate themselves to 

 their circumstances are most liable to perish, or at least to leave a small 

 number of descendants, so that populations are principally recruited by 

 the individuals that possess the qualities best adapted to the circum- 

 stances of the country and the age in which they live; 3d, the violent 

 contests between nations and individuals accelerate moditications aud 

 adaptations to new circumstances. The application of these laws com- 

 pels us first to consider, as far as we are able, the circumstances, more 

 or less immediate, in which our successors will probably find tberaselves. 



If we take into consideration a near future, of a few centuries for ex- 

 ample, or of a thousand years, we may anticipate a certain degree of 

 stability in the physical conditions, general and even local, which alfect 

 the human species; at least, judging from the past, this seems to be 

 highly probable. Climates have not changed since the time of the oldest 

 historic documents. The configurations of the surface of the earth have 

 been very little altered. Undoubtedly, geology shows us that there 

 have been great changes, but ordinarily tliese took place very slowly. 

 The supposition of a contiuuatiou of the present physical conditions 

 during several generations of man is then presumable. Xow, with the 

 present conditions very nearly the same, it is easy to foresee two phe- 

 nomena : 1st, the land will be more thickly inhabited, since certain 

 very active aud robust nations have sufficient intelligence to cross the 

 seas, and, above all, because in every country the population constantly 

 tends to increase ; in other words, the men of our time will adapt them- 

 selves more and more to the conditions of existence offered them in their 

 own country and elsewhere, these conditions involving an immense aug- 



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