MANNER OF DEVELOPMENT- 33 



If we consider all the races of man as forming a single 

 species, his range is enormous; but some separate races, as 

 the Americans and Polynesians, have very wide ranges. It 

 is a well-known law that widely ranging species are much 

 more variable than species with restricted ranges; and the 

 variability of man may with mere truth be compared with 

 that of widely ranging species, than with that of domesti- 

 cated animals. 



Not only does variability appear to be induced in man 

 and the lower animals by the same general causes, but in 

 both the same parts of the body are affected in a closely 

 analogous manner. This has been proved in such full de- 

 tail by Godron and Quatrefages, that I need here only refer 

 to their works.* Monstrosities, which graduate into slight 

 variations, are likewise so similar in man and the lower 

 animals, that the same classification and the same terms 

 can be used for both, as has been shown by Isidore Geoffrey 

 St.-Hilaire.f In my work on the variation of domestic 

 animals, I have attempted to arrange in a rude fashion the 

 laws of variation under the following heads : The direct 

 and definite action of changed conditions, as exhibited by 



Grecian poet, Tlieognis, who lived 550 B. c. , clearly saw how import- 

 ant selection, if carefully applied, would be for the improvement of 

 mankind. He saw, likewise, that wealth often checks the proper 

 action of sexual selection. He thus writes : 



" With kine and horses, Kurnus! we proceed 

 By reasonable rules, and choose a breed 

 For profit and increase, at any price; 

 Of a sound stock, without defect or vice. 

 But, in the daily matches that we make, 

 The price is every thing: for money's sake, 

 Men marry: women are in marriage given 

 The churl or ruffian, that in wealth has thriven, 

 May match his offspring with the proudest race: 

 Thus every thing is mix'd, noble and base! 

 If then in outward manner, form, and mind, 

 You find us a degraded, motley kind, 

 Wonder no more, my friend! the cause is plain, 

 And to lament the consequence is vain." 

 (The works of J. Hookham Frere, vol. ii, 1872, p. 334.) 



* Godron, "De 1'Espece," 1859, torn, ii, livre 3. Quatrefages, 

 "Unite de FEspece Humaine," 1861. Also Lectures on Anthropol- 

 ogy, given in the " Revue des Cours Scientifiques," 1866-1868. 



f " Hist. Gen. et Part, des Anomalies de 1'Organisation," in three 

 volumes, torn, i, 1833. 



