Masterpieces of Science 



I am aware that the conclusions arrived at 

 in this work will be denounced by some as 

 highly irreligious; but he who denounces them 

 is bound to show why it is more irreligious 

 to explain the origin of man as a distinct species 

 by descent from some lower form, through the 

 laws of variation and natural selection, than 

 to explain the birth of the individual through 

 the laws of ordinary reproduction. The birth 

 both of the species and of the individual are 

 equally parts of that grand sequence of events, 

 which our minds refuse to accept as the result 

 of blind chance. The understanding revolts at 

 such a conclusion, whether or not we are able 

 to believe that every slight variation of structure, 

 the union of each pair in marriage, the dissemi- 

 nation of each seed, and other such events 

 have all been ordained for some special purpose. 



Sexual selection has been treated at great 

 length in this work; for, as I have attempted 

 to show, it has played an important part in 

 the history of the organic world. I am aware 

 that much remains doubtful, but I have en- 

 deavoured to give a fair view of the whole 

 case. In the lower divisions of the animal 

 kingdom sexual selection seems to have done 

 nothing; such animals are often affixed for life 

 to the same spot, or have the sexes combined 

 in the same individual, or, what is still more 

 important, their perceptive and intellectual 

 faculties are not sufficiently advanced to allow 

 of the feelings of love and jealousy, or of the 

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