162 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



through natural selection. No doubt such advance 

 demands many favorable concurrent circumstances; but it 

 may well be doubted whether the most favorable would have 

 sufficed, had not the rate of increase been rapid, and the 

 consequent struggle for existence extremely severe. It even 

 appears from what we see, for instance, in parts of South 

 America, that a people which may be called civilized, such 

 as the Spanish settlers, is liabie to become indolent and to 

 retrograde, when the conditions of life are very easy. AVith 

 highly civilized nations continued progress depends in a 

 subordinate degree on natural selection; for such nations 

 do not supplant and exterminate one another as do savage 

 tribes. Nevertheless the more intelligent members within 

 the same community will succeed better in the long run 

 than the inferior, and leave a more numerous progeny, and 

 this is a form of natural selection. The more efficient 

 causes of progress seem to consist of a good education 

 during youth while the brain is impressible, and of a high 

 standard of excellence, inculcated by the ablest and best 

 men, embodied in the laws, customs and traditions of the 

 nation, and enforced by public opinion. It should, however, 

 bo borne in mind that the enforcement of public opinion de- 

 pends on our appreciation of the approbation and disapproba- 

 tion of others; and this appreciation is founded on our sympa- 

 thy, which it can hardly be doubted was originally developed 

 through natural selection as one of the most important 

 elements of the social instincts.* 



On the Evidence That All Civilized Nations Were Once 

 ftarbarous. The present subject has been treated in so full 

 and admirable a manner by Sir J. Lubbock,f Mr. Tylor, 

 Mr. M'Lennan and others, that I need here give only the 

 briefest summary of their results. The arguments recently 

 advanced by the Duke of Argyll \ and formerly by Arch- 

 bishop Whately, in favor of the belief that man came into 

 the world as a civilized being, and that all savages have 

 since undergone degradation, seem to me weak in compari- 



* I am much indebted to Mr John Morley for some good criticisms 

 on this subject see, also, Broca, "Les Selections," " Revue d'An- 

 thropologie," 1872. 



fOn the Origin of Civilization/' "Proc, Ethnological Soc.," 

 Nov 26. 18GT 



% " Primeval Man," 1809 



