192 A REMARKABLE ANTICIPATION, ETC. 



producin;^' adaptation that he throws over much that he 

 liad previously argued for in a most convincing manner. 

 Thus he sueiiests that races of men when removed into 

 another climate may not change because they are defended 

 from the local influences by living in houses, adhering to 

 their old foods, c<:c., also that the facts about the black 

 and white lews of Cochin, from which he argued in 

 Section ii that climate produces no permanent effect on 

 the race, ma)- be insufficiently known. 



It is strange that one who reasoned so acutely in Section 

 iii did not seem to see that the following view, if proved 

 to be true, would undermine the whole of the argument : 

 • It may however be true, that particular varieties, once 

 established in the stock, and transmitted for many genera- 

 tions, though originally resulting in a certain degree from 

 the influence of local causes, will nevertheless continue 

 permanent, even long after the race has been removed 

 from the climate in which they originated.' 



In spite of this logical flaw, which is in itself of much 

 interest, inasmuch as it probably explains the suppression 

 of Prichard's original views in later works, sufficient has 

 been said to prove that the author was one of the most 

 remarkable and clear-sighted of the predecessors of 

 Darwin and Wallace. 



