p# The Destiny of Man. 



Hence the wicked flourish. Vice is but 

 slowly eliminated, because mankind has so 

 many other qualities, beside the bad ones, 

 which enable it to subsist and achieve 

 progress in spite of them, that natural 

 selection which always works through 

 death cannot come into play. The im- 

 provement of civilized man goes on main- 

 ly through processes of direct adaptation. 

 The principle in accordance with which the 

 gloved hand of the dandy becomes white 

 and soft while the hand of the labouring 

 man grows brown and tough is the main 

 principle at work in the improvement of 

 Humanity. Our intellectual faculties, our 

 passions and prejudices, our tastes and 

 habits, become strengthened by use and 

 weakened by disuse, just as the black- 

 smith's arm grows strong and the horse 

 turned out to pasture becomes unfit for 

 work. This law of use and disuse has 

 been of immense importance throughout 

 the whole evolution of organic life. With 

 Man it has come to be paramount. 



