132 PEEADAMITE MAN. 



rate a permanent living growth. What the new organs might 

 be, use and circumstances, he held, would determine. He 

 divides the animal kingdom into three classes the <apa- 

 thiques,' the 'sensibles,' and the ' intelligents ;' intelligence 

 being merely, according to him, an expression of the will of 

 the Divine Being. 



The theory of development which of late years has come 

 most into vogue is that of ' natural election,' as upheld and 

 expounded by Mr. Darwin. By natural election is meant the 

 faculty wherby organised forms, having become adapted to 

 flourish under given conditions, pair with others that have 

 undergone a similar adaptation; and thus in course of time 

 and by descent, though it may be countless ages, acquire such 

 an exaggeration of the characteristics which led to election as 

 to constitute in the end new species. We have already ex- 

 plained under what disadvantage the naturalist labours when 

 engaged on this field, seeing that he has to speculate on the 

 possible influences brought to bear accumulatively through 

 countless ages by the intelligence which is limited within the 

 space of one ; nevertheless Mr. Darwin feels assured that he 

 has acquired a sufficiency of positive testimony to uphold his 

 theory of development by natural election from his experience 

 in the breeding of pigeons. Considering it most advantage- 

 ous to study special groups, Mr. Darwin addicted himself to 

 the pigeon. He has kept every breed which he could pur- 

 chase or otherwise obtain, and has moreover procured skins 

 from various parts of the world ; he has consulted old books 

 on pigeon-fancying ; the result of all this attention being to 

 awaken his surprise at the astounding diversity of breeds ; all 

 of which, however, seem to have descended from one common 

 stock. When the English carrier is compared with the foreign 

 shortfaced tumbler, a wonderful difference will be found in 

 their beaks, entailing corresponding differences in the skull. 

 The carrier, especially the male bird, is also remarkable for 

 the strange development of carunculated skin about the head, 



