2 THE ORIGIN OF HUMAN REASON. 



bated, the arguments whereby we supported our 

 position. 



We hail, then, with much pleasure and very sincere 

 satisfaction, the publication by Mr. Romanes of his 

 recent work on human mental evolution.* In him 

 we have at last a Darwinian who, with great patience 

 and thoroughness, applies himself to meet directly 

 and point-blank the most formidable arguments of the 

 anti-Darwinian school, as well as to put forward per- 

 suasively the most recent hypotheses on his side. Mr. 

 Romanes is exceptionally well qualified — amongst the 

 disciples of Mr. Darwin — to assume the task he has 

 assumed. For a long time past he has made this 

 question his own, and has devoted his energies to the 

 task of showing that there is (as Mr. Darwin declared) 

 no difference of kind, but only one of degree, between 

 the highest human intellect and the psychical faculties 

 of the lowest animals. Mr. Romanes has become the 

 representative of Mr. Darwin on this special and most 

 important field of inquiry, and he has accumulated, in 

 defence of the position he has taken up, an enormous 

 mass of facts and anecdotes, which he regards as offering 

 decisive evidence in his favour. His new book on this 

 subject is written with great clearness and ability, and 

 though it is, of course, possible that other advocates 

 might have avoided this or that erroneous inference and 

 mistaken assertion (as we deem them) of Mr. Romanes, 

 we are convinced that no one could, on the whole, have 



* " Mental Evolution in Man : Origin of Human Faculty," by 

 G. J. Romanes, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. (Kegan Paul, Trench and 

 Co., I 



