256 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF. 



"GROUNDS THAT WILL NEVER BE SHAKEN." 



Descent Many of the views which have been ad- 



ofMan, vanced are highly speculative, and some no 

 page " 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 iu proving their false- 

 ness ; 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 simi- 

 larity between man and the lower animals in embryonic 

 development, as well as in innumerable points of structure 

 and constitution, both of high and of the most trifling 

 importance — the rudiments which he retains, and the 

 abnormal reversions to which he is occasionally liable — 

 are facts which can not 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 evolu- 

 tion stands up clear and firm, when these groups of facts 

 are considered in connection with others, such as the 

 mutual affinities of the members of the same group, their 



