480 NATURAL HISTORY OF MAN. 



Though less certain in evidence, it is reasonable to add in 

 confirmation of this view, what we have just stated as to the 

 introduction of certain higher organisations at each of the 

 periods in question. The step from the most advanced 

 genera of the Mammalia to Man may be greater than any 

 antecedent one; but still we are not entitled to disregard 

 this latter relation, as forming part of the great scheme which 

 we venture to contemplate with the faculties permitted us so 

 far to use. The mere fact that human reason is rendered 

 capable of addressing itself to such objects, attests more 

 strongly than any o'ther the actual pre-eminence of Man 

 over all besides of the existing creation. 



This point then settled, as far as our present knowledge 

 permits, we come to the particular questions regarding the 

 first condition of Man on the earth, which we have indi- 

 cated as lying at the root of the whole enquiry. Is the 

 human being a sole species of what naturalists call the genus 

 Homo ? or do the diversities of physical character which we 

 see in different races compel the admission that there were 

 more species than one in the original act of creation ? Again, 

 if the unity of the species be proved, are we to look for the 

 origin of this species in a single pair placed in some one 

 locality of the globe, and thence diffusing the human race 

 over its surface ? or do the facts observed make it probable 

 that there were more than one possibly several original 

 pairs representing the more marked diversities of the 

 species, and located in different points, so as to become 

 centres of diffusion and admixture of these varieties ? 



or drift of the valley of the Somme and in various other localities of France 

 and England. These indicate a period coeval with that of the Mammoths, 

 and of several other species of Mammalia, either extinct or unknown in this 

 climate. The same may be said of the discovery of crania and other human 

 bones, similarly associated, in caverns in different parts of France, Belgium, 

 Germany, &c. These facts, duly authenticated, must necessarily modify our 

 views as to the period of the human creation, still leaving its date as one of the 

 latest events in the history of life on the globe. 



