296 THE GENESIS OF SPECIES. [CHAP. 



erect locomotion ; but, then, how can we conceive that early 

 man, as an animal, gained any thing by purely erect loco- 

 motion ? Again, the hand of man contains latent capaci- 

 ties and powers which are unused by savages, and must 

 have been even less used by palaeolithic man and his still 

 ruder predecessors. It has all the appearance of an organ 

 prepared for the use of civilized man, and one which was 

 required to render civilization possible." Again, speaking 

 of the " wonderful power, range, flexibility, and sweetness 

 of the musical sounds producible by the human larynx," he 

 adds : " The habits of savages give no indication of how this 

 faculty could have been developed by Natural Selection ; 

 because it is never required or used by them. The singing 

 of savages is a more or less monotonous howling, and 

 the females seldom sing at all. Savages certainly never 

 choose their wives for fine voices, but for rude health, and 

 strength, and physical beauty. Sexual selection could not 

 therefore have developed this wonderful power, which only 

 comes into play among civilized people. It seems as if 

 the organ had been prepared in anticipation of the future 

 progress of man, since it contains latent capacities which 

 are useless to him in his earlier condition. The delicate 

 correlations of structure that give it such marvellous powers, 

 could not therefore have been acquired by means of Natural 

 Selection." 



To this may be added the no less wonderful faculty in 

 the ear of appreciating delicate musical tones, and the 

 harmony of chords. 



It matters not what part of the organ subserves this 

 function, but it has been supposed that it is ministered to 

 by the fibres of Corti. Now it can hardly be contended 

 that the preservation of any race of men in the struggle for 

 life could have depended on such an extreme delicacy and 



66 See Prof. Huxley's "Lessons in Elementary Physiology," p. 218. 



