156 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF. 



the ages of seventeen and eighteen years." Mr. B. A. 

 Gould endeavored to ascertain the nature of the influences 

 which thus act on stature ; but he arrived only at nega- 

 tive results, namely, that they did not relate to climate, 

 the elevation of the land, soil, nor even "in any control- 

 ling degree " to the abundance or the need of the comforts 

 of life. This latter conclusion is directly opposed to that 

 arrived at by Villerme, from the statistics of the height 

 of the conscripts in different parts of France. When we 

 compare the differences in stature between the Polynesian 

 chiefs and the lower orders within the same islands, or 

 between the inhabitants of the fertile volcanic and low 

 barren coral islands of the same ocean, or, again, between 

 the Fuegians on the eastern and western shores of their 

 country, where the means of subsistence are very differ- 

 ent, it is scarcely possible to avoid the conclusion that 

 better food and greater comfort do influence stature. But 

 the preceding statements show how difficult it is to arrive 

 at any precise result. Dr. Beddoe has lately proved that, 

 with the inhabitants of Britain, residence in towns and 

 certain occupations have a deteriorating influence on 

 height ; and he infers that the result is to a certain extent 

 inherited, as is likewise the case in the United States. 

 Dr. Beddoe further believes that, wherever a "race attains 

 its maximum of physical development, it rises highest in 

 energy and moral vigor." 



THE INHERITED EFFECTS OF THE INCREASED AND DI- 

 MINISHED USE OF PARTS. 



Descent -^ * s we ^ known that use strengthens the 



of Man, muscles in the individual, and complete dis- 



page 32. ^^ Qr ^ e ^ es t rac tion of the proper nerve, 



weakens them. When the eye is destroyed, the optic 



