3G8 GENERAL SUMMARY [I-aut II. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



General Summary and Conclusion. 



Main Conclusion that Man is descended from some Lower Form. — Man- 

 ner of Development. — Genealogy of Man. — Intellectual and Moral 

 Faculties. — Sexual Selection. — Concluding Remarks. 



A BRIEF summary will here be sufficient to recall to 

 the reader's mind the more salient points in this work. 

 Many of the views which have been advanced are highly 

 speculative, and some no doubt will prove erroneous ; but 

 I have in every case given the reasons which have led me 

 to one view rather than to another. It seemed worth 

 while to try how far the principle of evolution would 

 throw light on some of the more complex problems in the 

 natural history of man. False facts are highly injurious 

 to the progress of science, for they often long endure ; 

 but false views, if supported by some evidence, do little 

 harm, as every one takes a salutary pleasure in proving 

 their falseness ; and when this is done, one path toward 

 error is closed, and the road to truth is often at the same 

 time opened. 



The main conclusion arrived at in this work, and now 

 held by many naturalists who are well competent to form 

 a sound judgment, is that man is descended from some 

 less highly-organized form. The grounds upon \Yhich this 

 conclusion rests will never be shaken, for the close simi- 

 larity between man and the lower animals in embryonic 

 development, as well as in innumerable points of structure 



