GENERAL SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION. 693 



CHAFIER XXI. 



OEXERAL SUMMARY AlfD CONCLUSIOK. 



Main conclosion that man is descended from some lower form 

 Manner of development Genealogy of man Intellectual and 

 moral faculties Sexual selection-^'oncluding 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 specula- 

 tive, 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 toward 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 

 organized 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 constitu- 

 tion, both of high and of the most trifling iriiportance the 

 rudiments which he retains, and the abnormal reversions to 

 which he is occasionally liable are facts which cannot be 

 disputed. They have long been known, but, until recently, 

 they told us nothing with respect to the origin of man. 

 Now, when viewed by the light of our knowledge of the 

 whole organic world, their meaning is unmistakable. The 

 great principle of evolution stands up clear and firm when 

 these groups of facts are considered in connection with 



