300 EVOLUTION AND MAN S PLACE IN NATURE 



The facts admitted are these. High states of civili 

 sation have decayed and given place to low and 

 degenerate states: many savage races, as we at 

 present see them, are actually degenerate and are 

 descended from ancestors possessed of a relatively 

 elaborate civilisation ; as such we may cite some of 

 the Indians of Central America, the modern Egyptians, 

 and even the heirs of the great Oriental monarchies 

 of prse-Christian times ; degeneration has a very 

 large share in the explanation of the condition of the 

 most barbarous races, such as the Fuegians, the Bush 

 men, and even the Australians ; they exhibit evidence 

 of being descended from ancestors more cultivated 

 than themselves. x The testimony for these positions 

 will be accepted as sufficient. 



In the midst of this discussion, Professor Lankester 

 introduces references to the race as a whole, the 

 accuracy of which seems doubtful, in view of the 

 statements just quoted. He says, At one time, it 

 was a favourite doctrine that the savage races of man 

 kind were degenerate descendants of the higher and 

 civilised races. This general and sweeping application 

 of the doctrine of degeneration has been proved to be 

 erroneous by careful study of the habits, arts, and 

 beliefs of savages. Hence he concludes that the 

 hypothesis of universal degeneration as an explanation 

 of savage races has been justly discarded. We are 

 here directly concerned with degeneration in animals 

 and in man as illustrated before our eyes. But it is 

 difficult to see how these two statements hold a place 

 in the heart of such sentences as have been quoted. 

 If man can degenerate ; if there are examples of de- 

 1 Advancement of Science, p. 47. 



