42 Darwinism and Other Essays. 



inferred, is more or less rambling in character. 

 Returning to the two propositions which really 

 make up his argument, it is an obvious criticism 

 that every sensible Darwinian will concede them 

 both without a moment s hesitation. There is not 

 the slightest evidence of the existence of a race of 

 men destitute of articulate speech ; and if apes or 

 any other animals do possess the slightest trace 

 of such an acquisition, it may safely be neglected 

 on the principle of de minimis non curat lex. 1 It 

 is only Dr. Bateman s imaginary Darwinian who 

 finds it difficult to admit these plain facts. The 

 actual supporters of this &quot; dangerous heresy &quot; have 

 never gone out of their way to detect an historical 

 substratum for Reynard or .ZEsop, or to hunt from 

 its obscurity the Leibnitzian story of the Latin- 

 speaking clog ; there are some of them, we fear, 

 who would even, on general grounds, cast dis 

 credit on the story of Balaam. But if this be 

 really the Darwinian state of mind, then Dr. 

 Bateman s work is plainly a case of ignoratio elen- 

 chi, or what is otherwise called &quot;barking up the 

 wrong tree.&quot; 

 As regards the process, psychological and phys- 



1 Neglected, or conceded, by the controversialist, I mean : to the 

 disinterested student of nature no fact, however small, is really triv 

 ial. 



