292 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



Then follow many other examples — the blackness which 

 characterises both men and animals in Malabar and 

 Guinea, the whiteness of Polar animals, the height of Pata- 

 gonian man, the differences which separate the English race 

 in America and the West Indian Islands from that in the 

 parent country, and the negroes of America from those of 

 Africa. 



The section concludes in a significant paragraph in 

 which the author suggests that perhaps some of these local 

 varieties may be specially adapted to "the circumstances of 

 the countries in which the deviation has taken rise," and 

 he finally concludes by introducing the succeeding section 

 in these words : "It may indeed be inquired, whether the 

 deviations in general, which appear to follow a change of 

 climate, are not founded on a law of the animal economy, 

 which gives rise to an alteration in the breed calculated to 

 fit the race for its new abode " (page 566). 



The sixth section (p. 567) is headed " Adaptation of 

 Certain Breeds to Particular Local Circumstances". In this 

 section we are provided with numerous instances of the 

 adaptation of races to their environments. Blumenbach's 

 opinion in favour of the multiple origin of the dog is quoted 

 at some length. Considering the undoubted adaptation of 

 many breeds for certain ends this naturalist concludes : "I 

 can scarcely persuade myself to look upon this as a mere 

 accidental consequence of degeneration, and not rather as 

 an intentional contrivance of the wise Creator". To this 

 Prichard replies that such a remark "suggests the inquiry 

 whether the degeneration or variation of animals is in fact 

 a mere accidental phsenomenon . . . ". We should note 

 that degeneration is here used in the sense of departure 

 from ancestral type, and not implying, as it does in our time, 

 any degradation or simplification of structure. 



Then follows a paragraph most significant of modern 

 views of organic evolution and the kind of evidence on 

 which the modern naturalist relies. The remarkable 

 "double relation" which individual species bear on the 

 one hand to their special localities, and on the other to the 

 group to which they belong, is first pointed out, and main- 



