Alfred Russel Wallace 



But now for your Man paper, about which I should like 

 to write more than I can. The great leading idea is quite 

 new to me, viz. that during late ages the mind will have 

 been modified more than the body ; yet I had got as far as 

 to see with you that the struggle between the races of man 

 depended entirely on intellectual and moral qualities. The 

 latter part of the paper I can designate only as grand and 

 most eloquently done. I have shown your paper to two or 

 three persons who have been here, and they have been equally 

 struck with it. 



I am not sure that I go with you on all minor points. 

 When reading Sir G. Grey's account of the constant battles 

 of Australian savages, I remember thinking that Natural 

 Selection would come in, and likewise with the Esquimaux, 

 with whom the art of fishing and managing canoes is said 

 to be hereditary. I rather differ on the rank under the 

 classificatory point of view which you assign to Man : I 

 do not think any character simply in excess ought ever to 

 be used for the higher division. Ants would not be separ- 

 ated from other hymenopterous insects, however high the 

 instinct of the one and however low the instincts of the 

 other. 



With respect to the differences of race, a conjecture has 

 occurred to me that much may be due to the correlation 

 of complexion (and consequently hair) with constitution. 

 Assume that a dusky individual best escaped miasma and 

 you will readily see what I mean. I persuaded the Direc- 

 tor-General of the Medical Department of the Army to send 

 printed forms to the surgeons of all regiments in tropical 

 countries to ascertain this point, but I daresay I shall never 

 get any returns. Secondly, I suspect that a sort of sexual 

 selection has been the most powerful means of changing the 

 races of man. I can show that the different races have a 

 widely different standard of beauty. Among savages the 



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