126 " The Descent of Man " 



of the beard in man, and the characteristic colour of the different 

 human races to sexual selection. Since bareness of the skin could be 

 no advantage, but rather a disadvantage, this character cannot have 

 been brought about by natural selection. Darwin also rejected a 

 direct influence of climate as a cause of the origin of the skin-colour. 

 I have already expressed the opinion, based on the development of 

 his views as shown in his letters, that in a third edition Darwin would 

 probably have laid more stress on the influence of external environ- 

 ment. He himself feels that there are gaps in his proofs here, and 

 says in self-criticism : " The views here advanced, on the part which 

 sexual selection has played in the history of man, want scientific 

 precision 1 ." I need here only point out that it is impossible to 

 explain the graduated stages of skin-colour by sexual selection, since 

 it would have produced races sharply defined by their colour and not 

 united to other races by transition stages, and this, it is well known, 

 is not the case. Moreover, the fact established by me 2 , that in all 

 races the ventral side of the trunk is paler than the dorsal side, and 

 the inner surface of the extremities paler than the outer side, cannot 

 be explained by sexual selection in the Darwinian sense. 



With this I conclude my brief survey of the rich contents of 

 Darwin's book. I may be permitted to conclude by quoting the 

 magnificent final words of The Descent of Man: "We must, however, 

 acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man, with all his noble qualities, 

 with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with benevolence 

 which extends not only to other men but to the humblest living 

 creature, with his god-like intellect winch has penetrated into the 

 movements and constitution of the solar system — with all these 

 exalted powers — Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible 

 stamp of his lowly origin 3 ." 



What has been the fate of Darwin's doctrines since his great 

 achievement ? How have they been received and followed up by the 

 scientific and lay world ? And what do the successors of the mighty 

 hero and genius think now in regard to the origin of the human 

 race? 



At the present time we are incomparably more favourably placed 

 than Darwin was for answering this question of all questions. We 

 have at our command an incomparably greater wealth of material 

 than he had at his disposal. And we are more fortunate than he in 

 this respect, that we now know transition-forms which help to fill up 

 the gap, still great, between the lowest human races and the highest 



1 Descent of Man, p. 924. 



2 " Die Hautfarbe des Menachen," Mitteilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft in 

 Wien, Vol. xxxit. pp. 331—352. 



3 Ibid. p. 947. 



