CHAP. VI.] MAN. 177 



reason, such a being should be made to conform to the 

 universal laws of its class, and that not only in the adult 

 condition of the body but also in its mode of attaining to 

 that adult condition. 



Similarly as regards disease, effects of stimulants, nar 

 cotics, &c., the facts given by Mr. Darwin are simply the 

 consequences of the minute structure and conditions of the 

 tissues and a similarity in animal nature and constitution. 

 If man could freely imbibe prussic acid without harm result 

 ing to his frame, or could receive with impunity the venom 

 of the rattlesnake, he would have rather the mere appear 

 ance only of an animal instead of having the nature of one 

 in all its fulness and reality. All the more or less curious 

 facts cited by Mr. Darwin follow necessarily from this prin 

 ciple, calculated as they may be to strike at first the imagi 

 nation of the unreflecting. 



All that can be said to be established by our author is, 

 that if the various kinds of lower animals have been evolved 

 one from the other by a process of natural generation or 

 evolution, that then it becomes highly probable a priori 

 that man s body has been similarly evolved; but this, in 

 such a case, becomes equally probable from the admitted 

 fact that he is an animal at all. 



It, however, only amounts to an a priori probability, and 

 might be reconciled with another mode of orio-in if 



i ,Y&amp;gt; Bearing of 



there were sufficient evidence (of another kind&quot;) in thesem aera 



1UU / 1L1 on man s 



support oi such other mode of origin. Mr. Darwin origin- 

 says: &quot;It is only our natural prejudice, and that arro 

 gance which made our forefathers declare that they were 

 descended from demigods, which leads us to demur to this 

 conclusion &quot; (vol. i. p. 32). But this is not the case ; for 

 many demur to his conclusion because they believe that to 

 accept his view would be to contradict other truths which 

 to them are far more evident. 



He also makes the startling assertion that to take any 

 other view than his as to man s origin, &quot;is to admit that our 

 own structure and that of all the animals around us, is a 



N 



