214 LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



during the progress of this controversy the gentle public 

 has been reminded of Bret Harte's remarks 



about the row 

 That broke up the Society upon the Stanislow ; 



and has been inclined to urge, with 4 Truthful James,' 

 that they 



Hold it is not decent for a scientific gent 

 To say another is an ass, at least to all intent ; 

 Nor should the individual who happens to be meant, 

 Reply by heaving rocks at him to any great extent. 



The controversy has not, indeed, reached this last 

 stage of development, and we trust it never will ; but 

 it has gone so near to it as to suggest that the dis- 

 putants have wished to demonstrate, by example, the 

 justice of Darwin's theory about the human ' snarling 

 muscles.' ! 



I propose to inquire into the subject which has been 

 thus warmly discussed, trusting not to be myself in- 

 veigled by it into any warmth of expression. Indeed, 



1 ' He who rejects with scorn the belief that the shape of his own 

 canine teeth, and their occasional great development in other men, are 

 due to our early progenitors having been provided with these formidable 

 weapons, will probably reveal, by sneering, the line of his own descent. 

 For though he no longer intends, nor has the power, to use these teeth 

 as weapons, he will unconsciously retract his " snarling muscles " (thus 

 named by Sir Charles Bell), so as to expose them ready for action, like 

 a dog prepared to fight/ Darwin's 'Descent of Man,' vol. i. p. 176. 

 "We may mention, by the way, that an instance has recently occurred, 

 in which the human teeth were used to some purpose against one of the 

 recognised masters in the art of biting. A man, proceeding in company 

 with several others through a wood, was attacked by a hyena (usually 

 one of the most cowardly of beasts). His companions fled, and having 

 no weapon he was reduced to the necessity of showing tooth for tooth, 

 and taking a good grip of the hyena's nose, he compelled that gentle- 

 man to howl with anguish. On this, the man's companions returned 

 and presently beat the hyena to death. 



