The Descent of Man 



been raised to his present state. But since he 

 attained to the rank of manhood, he has di- 

 verged into distinct races, or, as they may be 

 more fitly called, subspecies. Some of these, 

 such as the negro and European, are so distinct 

 that, if specimens had been brought to a natur- 

 alist without any further information, they 

 would undoubtedly have been considered by 

 him as good and true species. Nevertheless, 

 all the races agree in so many unimportant 

 details of structure and in so many mental 

 peculiarities, that these Can be accounted for 

 only by inheritance from a common progenitor; 

 and a progenitor thus characterized would 

 probably deserve to rank as man. 



It must not be supposed that the divergence 

 of each race from the other races, and of all 

 from a common stock, can be traced back to 

 any one pair of progenitors. On the contrary, 

 at every stage in the process of modification, 

 all the individuals which were in any way best 

 fitted for their conditions of life, though in dif- 

 ferent degrees, would have survived in greater- 

 numbers than the less well-fitted. The process 

 would have been like that followed by man, when 

 he does not intentionally select particular in- 

 dividuals, but breeds from all the superior indi- 

 viduals and neglects all the inferior individuals. 

 He thus slowly but surely modifies his stock and 

 unconsciously forms a new strain. So with 

 respect to modifications acquired independently 

 of selection, and due to variations arising from 

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