io2 NATURAL SELECTION AND 



"In a scientific inquiry a point which can be 

 proved should not be assumed, and a totally- 

 unknown power should not be brought in to 

 explain facts when known powers may be 

 sufficient." 1 But once there, consciousness, 

 reflection, language, carry human beings rapidly 

 a long way from the point at which those 

 animals were, anions whom these variations 

 first appeared. Mr. Wallace contends that the 

 lar^e brains of savages and the absence of hair 

 from the greater part of the surface of the body 

 are both inexplicable on the theory of natural 

 selection. 2 Big brains and bare backs are, he 

 thinks, no advantage to the savage, and there- 

 fore cannot be the subjects of natural selection. 

 Is that so ? The hairless homo with only a 

 gorilla's brain would obviously be at a dis- 

 advantage compared with the gorilla, and 

 would therefore disappear ; but the disadvan- 

 tage of a hairless skin has been more than 

 compensated by the greater size of the brain. 

 The hairy covering has ceased to be a neces- 

 sity, and therefore has not been selected ; and 

 natural selection has thus offered no impedi- 



1 Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection, p. 205. 



2 Ibid. p. 34S. 



