Dr. Bateman on Darwinism. 47 



tive neglect of the latter. This conclusion follows 

 inevitably from the theory of natural selection 

 as conceived by Mr. Darwin ; and it further fol 

 lows, with equal cogency, that when this point is 

 reached an entirely new chapter is opened in the 

 history of the evolution of life. A race which 

 maintains itself by psychical variations can never, 

 by natural selection, give rise to a race specifically 

 different from itself in a zoological sense. It may 

 go on adding increments to its intelligence until 

 it evolves Newtons and Beethovens, while its 

 physical structure will undergo but slight and 

 secondary modifications. Obviously, the first be 

 ginning of such a race of creatures, though but a 

 slight affair zoologically, was, in the history of 

 the world, an event quite incomparable in impor 

 tance with any other instance of specific genesis 

 that ever occurred. It constituted a new depar 

 ture, so to speak, not inferior in value to the first 

 beginning of organic life. From Mr. Spencer s 

 researches into the organization of correspond 

 ences in the nervous system it follows that the 

 general increase of intelligence cannot be carried 

 much farther than it has reached in the average 

 higher mammalia without necessitating the gene 

 sis of infancy. The amount of work to be done 

 by the developing nervous system of the offspring, 

 in reproducing the various combinations achieved 



