PART I. 

 THE DESCENT OR ORIGIN OF MAN. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE EVIDENCE OF THE DESCENT OF MAN FKOM SOME 

 LOWER FORM. 



Naturil^f the evidence bearing on tlie origin of man Homologous 

 sxruotares in man and the lower animals Miscellaneous points 

 of correspondence Development Rudimentary structures, 

 muscles, sense-organs, hair, bones, reproductive organs, etc. 

 The bearing of these three great classes of facts on the origin of 

 man. 



He who wishes to decide whether man is the modified 

 descendant of some pre-existing form, would probably first 

 inquire whether man varies, however slightly, in bodily 

 structure and in mental faculties; and if so, whether the 

 variations are transmitted to his offspring in accordance 

 with the laws which prevail with the lower animals. Again, 

 are the variations the result, as far as our ignorance permits 

 us to judge, of the same general causes, and are they 

 governed by the same general laws, as in the case of other 

 organisms; for instance, by correlation, the inherited effects 

 of use and disuse, etc. ? Is man subject to similar malcon- 

 f ormations, the result of arrested development, of reduplica- 

 tion of parts, etc., and does he display in any of his anoma- 

 lies reversion to some former and ancient type of structure? 

 It might also naturally be inquired wliether man, like so 

 many other animals, has given rise to varieties and sub- 

 races, differing but slightly from each other, or to races 

 differing so much that they must be classed as doubtful 

 species? How are such races distributed over the world; 

 and how, when crossed, do they react on each other in the 

 first and succeeding generations? And so with many other 

 points. 



