MODERN EVOLUTION. 



237 



ture, superadded to the animal nature of man." We 

 are not told at what stage in man's development this 

 was inserted; whether, once and for all, in "primi- 

 tive " man, with potentiality of transmission through 

 Palaeolithic folk to all succeeding generations; or 

 whether there is special infusion of a " spiritual es- 

 sence " into every human being at birth. 



Any perplexity that might arise at the line thus 

 taken by Mr. Wallace vanishes before the fact, al- 

 ready enlarged upon, that the author of the Malay 

 Archipelago and Island Life has written a book on 

 Miracles and Modern Spiritualism in defence of both. 

 The explanation lies in that duality of mind which, 

 in one compartment, ranks Mr. Wallace foremost 

 among naturalists, and, in the other compartment, 

 places him among the most credulous of Spiritualists. 



Despite this, Mr. Wallace has claims to a respect- 

 ful hearing and to serious reply. Fortunately, he 

 would appear to furnish the refutation to his own 

 argument in the following paragraph from his de- 

 lightful Contributions to the Theory of Natural Se- 

 lection : 



" From the time when the social and sympathetic 

 feelings came into operation and the intellectual and 

 moral faculties became fairly developed, man would 

 cease to be influenced by natural selection in his 

 physical form and structure. As an animal he would 

 remain almost stationary, the changes in the sur- 

 rounding universe ceasing to produce in him that 

 powerful modifying effect which they exercise on 



