PKEFACE 



The application of the great laws of nature to the 

 explanation of the history of the human race is one 

 of the fascinating phases of science. In the study 

 of the evolutionary processes of the organic world 

 that has followed Darwin it has been generally as- 

 sumed that the laws which govern the rest of 

 the animal world have also governed the evolution 

 of mankind. That man holds a unique position in 

 nature has been generally recognized; and some- 

 times this idea has been so prominent in the 

 minds of scientists, as well as other classes of think- 

 ers, as to lead to the assumption that the develop- 

 ment of man has been a thing apart from the rest of 

 the living world and due to some special stimulus. 

 Most generally, however, it has been silently as- 

 sumed that mankind has been developed under the 

 same kind of laws and forces that have been con- 

 cerned in the formation of the lower orders of 

 nature. One of the more recent phases of this belief 

 has found expression in the great interest taken in 

 the modern study of eugenics; for this school is 

 based upon the laws of inheritance as they have been 

 determined by the study of the lower orders of 

 nature which have then been applied to man. 



It is the purpose of this work to show that the laws 

 of the evolution of animals and plants apply to 

 human evolution only up to a certain point, beyond 

 which man has been under the influence of distinct 

 laws of his own. It is our purpose to show that 

 while the human animal mav doubtless have been 



