LIMITS OF NATURAL SELECTION IN MAN 195 



The constant Absence of Hair from certain parts of Man's 



Body a remarkable Phenomenon 



In man the hairy covering of the body has almost totally 

 disappeared, and, what is very remarkable, it has disappeared 

 more completely from the back than from any other part of 

 the body. Bearded and beardless races alike have the back 

 smooth, and even when a considerable quantity of hair 

 appears on the limbs and breast, the back, and especially the 

 spinal region, is absolutely free, thus completely reversing 

 the characteristics of all other mammalia. The Ainos of the 

 Kurile Islands and Japan are said to be' a hairy race ; but 

 Mr. Bickmore, who saw some of them, and described them in 

 a paper read before the Ethnological Society, gives no details 

 as to where the hair was most abundant, merely stating gene- 

 rally that "their chief peculiarity is their great abundance 

 of hair, not only on the head and face, but over the whole 

 body." This might very well be said of any man who had 

 hairy limbs and breast, unless it was specially stated that his 

 back was hairy, which is not done in this case. The hairy 

 family in Birmah have, indeed, hair on the back rather longer 

 than on the breast, thus reproducing the true mammalian 

 character, but they have still longer hair on the face, fore- 

 head, and inside the ears, which is quite abnormal ; and the 

 fact that their teeth are all very imperfect shows that this is 

 a case of monstrosity rather than one of true reversion to the 

 ancestral type of man before he lost his hairy covering. 



Savage Man feels the Want of this Hairy Covering 

 We must now inquire if we have any evidence to show, 

 or any reason to believe, that a hairy covering to the back 

 would be in any degree hurtful to savage man, or to man in 

 any stage of his progress from his lower animal form ; and 

 if it were merely useless, could it have been so entirely 

 and completely removed as not to be continually reappearing 

 in mixed races ? Let us look to savage man for some light 

 on these points. One of the most common habits of savages 

 is to use some covering for the back and shoulders, even when 

 they have none on any other part of the body. The early 

 voyagers observed with surprise that the Tasmanians, both 



