.106 HOMO V. DARTVIX. 



and tlie development of the brain, has no doubt been f;r 

 more important. The mental powers, in some early pro- 

 genitor of man, must have been more highly developed 

 than in any existing ape, before even the most imperfect 

 form of speech could have come into use ; but \ve may 

 confidently believe that the continued use and advancement 

 of this power would have reacted on the mind by enabling 

 and encouraging it to carry on long trains of thought." 

 (Vol. i. p. 57.) 



Hqmo. In this passage, your Lordship will perceive that 

 Mr. Darwin takes for granted what he cannot prove viz., 

 that man had ape-like progenitors, and that some one of 

 them possessed mental powers more highly developed than 

 those of any existing ape. Reasoning from this highly- 

 developed, hypothetical ape, he tells us that, by exercising 

 what power of utterance it had, the brain enlarged and the 

 in i ml improved, and the vocal organs strengthened, gene- 

 ratii n after generation, till this series of changes in a race 

 of apes culminated in man l> But all this is purely 

 imaginary. Mr. Darwin cannot produce even the shadow 

 of a proof that this "unusually wise ape-like animal" ever 

 existed to transmit his wisdom to his descendants, or that 

 he had descendants to inherit it. Yet he tells us we may 

 "confidently believe" it ! Instead of trying to prove to 

 ns that such development has occurred, he asks us "confi- 

 dently to believe " that it has occurred ! 



Lord 0. Mr. Darwin certainly reasons very strangely. 

 It is a singular circumstance, moreover, that, if the " unus- 

 ually wise ape-like animal" which he supposes took the 

 first step in the formation of a language, ever really existed, 

 there should not have arisen other "unusually wise" apes 

 to take farther steps in the same direction, so that there 

 should have been speaking apes at the present day. But 



