240 



PIONEERS OF EVOLUTION. 



It would therefore seem that Mr. Wallace should 

 introduce his " spiritual essence, or nature," in the 

 intermediate, and not in the initial stage. 



As answer to Mr. Wallace's argument that in 

 their large and well-developed brains, savages " pos- 

 sess an organ quite disproportioned to their require- 

 ments," Huxley cites Wallace's own remarks in his 

 paper on Instinct in Man and Animals as to the 

 considerable demands made by the needs of the lower 

 races on their observing faculties which call into 

 play no mean exercise of brain function. 



" Add to this," Huxley says, " the knowledge 

 which a savage is obliged to gain of the properties 

 of plants, of the characters and habits of animals, 

 and of the minute indications by which their course 

 is discoverable; consider that even an Australian 

 can make excellent baskets and nets, and neatly 

 fitted and beautifully balanced spears; that he learns 

 to use these so as to be able to transfix a quartern 

 loaf at sixty yards; and that very often, as in the 

 case of the American Indians, the language of a 

 savage exhibits complexities which a well-trained 

 European finds it difficult to master; consider that 

 every time a savage tracks his game, he employs a 

 minuteness of observation, and an accuracy of induc- 

 tive and deductive reasoning which, applied to other 

 matters, would assure some reputation, and I think 

 one need ask no further why he possesses such a 

 fair supply of brains.". . . But Mr. Wallace's objec- 

 tion " applies quite as strongly to the lower animals. 



