Masterpieces of Science 



gifted. Hence our natural rate of increase, 

 though leading to many and obvious evils, must 

 not be greatly diminished by any means. There 

 should be open competition for all men ; and the 

 most able should not be prevented by laws or 

 customs from succeeding best and rearing the 

 largest number of offspring. Important as the 

 struggle for existence has been and even still is, 

 yet as far as the highest part of man's nature is 

 concerned there are other agencies more impor- 

 tant. For the moral qualities are advanced, 

 either directly or indirectly, much more through 

 the effects of habit, the reasoning powers, in- 

 struction, religion, etc., than through natural 

 selection ; though to this latter agency the social 

 instincts, which afforded the basis for the develop- 

 ment of the moral sense, may be safely attributed. 

 The main conclusion arrived at in this work, 

 namely, that man is descended from some lowly 

 organized form, will, I regret to think, be highly 

 distasteful to many. But there can hardly be a 

 doubt that we are descended from barbarians. 

 The astonishment I felt on first seeing a party of 

 Fuegians on a wild and broken shore will never 

 be forgotten by me, for the reflection at once 

 rushed into my mind — such were our ancestors. 

 These men were absolutely naked and bedaubed 

 with paint, their long hair was tangled, their 

 mouths frothed with excitement, and their ex- 

 pression was wild, startled and distrustful. 

 They possessed hardly any arts, and like wild 

 animals lived on what they could catch ; they had 

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