1/ 



158 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF. 



to be inherited. The inferiority of Europeans, in com- 

 parison with savages, in eye-sight and in the other senses, 

 is no doubt the accumulated and transmitted effect of 

 lessened use during many generations. 



Although man may not have been much 

 modified during the latter stages &i his exist- 

 ence through the increased or decreased use of parts, the 

 facts now given show that his liability in this respect has 

 not been lost ; and we positively know that the same law 

 holds good with the lower animals. Consequently we 

 may infer that when at a remote epoch the progenitors 

 of man were in a transitional state, and were changing 

 from quadrupeds into bipeds, natural selection would 

 probably have been greatly aided by the inherited effects 

 of the increased or diminished use of the different parts 

 of the body. 



REVERSION AS A FACTOR IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MAN. 



Descent ^ n man > the canine teeth are perfectly ef- 



of Man, ficient instruments for mastication. But their 



page ' true canine character, as Owen remarks, " is 

 indicated by the conical form of the crown, which termi- 

 nates in an obtuse point, is convex outward and flat or 

 sub-concave within, at the base of which surface there is 

 a feeble prominence. The conical form is best expressed 

 in the Melanian races, especially the Australian. The 

 canine is more deeply implanted, and by a stronger fang 

 than the incisors." Nevertheless, this tooth no longer 

 serves man as a special weapon for tearing his enemies 

 or prey ; it may, therefore, as far as its proper function 

 is concerned, be considered as rudimentary. In every 

 large collection of human skulls some may be found, as 



