Chap. V.] CIVILIZED NATIONS. 161 



lies under a chief, were tlie indispensable requisites for 

 civilization. Such habits almost necessitate the cultiva- 

 tion of the ground ; and the first steps in cultivation 

 would probably result, as I have elsewhere shown,' from 

 some such accident as the seeds of a fruit-tree falling on a 

 heap of refuse and producing an unusually fine variety. 

 The problem, however, of the first advance of savages 

 toward civilization is at present much too difficult to be 

 solved. 



Natural Selection as affecting Civilized Nations. — In 

 the last and present chapters I have considered the ad- 

 vancement of man from a former semi-human condition 

 to his present state as a barbarian. But some remarks 

 on the agency of natural selection on civilized nations 

 may be here worth adding. This subject has been ably 

 discussed by Mr. W. R. Greg,'" and previously by Mr. 

 Wallace and Mr. Galton." Most of ray remarks are 

 taken from these three authors. With savages, the weak 

 in body or mind are soon eliminated ; and those that sur- 

 vive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health. "We 

 civilized men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check 

 the process of elimination ; we build asylums for the un- 



^ ' The A''aiiation of Animals and Plants under Domestication,' vol. i. 

 p, 309. 



'"Traser's Magazine,' Sept. 1868, p. 353. This article seems to 

 have struck many persons, and has given rise to two remarkable essays 

 and a rejoinder in the ' Spectator,' Oct. 3 and 17, 18G8. It has also 

 been discussed in the ' Q. Journal of Science,' 1869, p. 152, and by Mr. 

 Lawson Tait in the 'Dublin Q. Journal of Medical Science,' Feb. 1869, 

 and by Mr. E. Eay Lankester in his ' Comparative Longevity,' 1870, p. 

 128. Similar views appeared previously in the 'Australasian,' July 13, 

 1867. I have borrowed ideas from several of these writers. 



" For Mr. Wallace, see ' Anthropolog. Review,' as before cited. Mr. 

 Galton in 'Macmillan's Magazine,' Aug. 1865, p. 318; also his great 

 work, ' Hereditary Genius,' 1 870. 



