xxiv PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



undertook in publishing these was indeed much harder than 



that incurred in the "Natural History of Creation;" for 



Avhile the latter passed lightly through the widest circle 



of biological phenomena, and touched only on the most 



interesting points, I was obliged, in the " History of the 



Evolution of Man," to exhibit a much more limited series 



of phenomena in their proper connection, of which, indeed, 



each individual one is interesting in its proper place, 



although they are of very various degrees of interest. 



Moreover, the comprehension of form-phenomena, with 



which human germ-history deals, is among the most 



difficult of morphological tasks ; the academical lectures 



on the history of human evolution are rightly considered 



even by medical men, who are previously acquainted with 



the anatomical features of the human body, as the most 



difficult to understand. I saw, therefore, that, if I desired 



to make the road into this dark region, entirely closed as 



yet to most men, really accessible to the educated laity, 



I must, on the one hand, limit myself as far as possible in 



my selection from the abundance of empiric matter, and 



yet, on the other hand, that I must be careful not to pass 



entirely over any essential jjart of this matter. 



Although, therefore, I have throughout taken pains to 

 present the scientific problem of Anthropogeny in as 

 popular a form as possible, I do not imagine that I have 

 comx)letely accomplished this very difficult task. I shall, 

 however, have gained my object if I succeed in affording 

 educated persons an approximate conception of the most 

 essential outlines of human germ-history, and in con- 

 vincing them that the sole explanation and comprehension 

 of the matter is afforded by the corresponding tribal 



