i86 EVOLUTION AND NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



it soon makes its effects felt (as in parts of India) 

 by regulating the proportion of the sexes ac- 

 cordingly. 



Some of the opponents of Evolution affirm 

 that we see no signs of advancement in man, 

 but many of degeneracy ; and a popular author 

 once called " Genesis and Job, Iliad and Odyssey, 

 Edfou and Karnac, Palmyra and Baalbec," to 

 witness to the mental superiority of his ances- 

 tors. But he forgot to establish his own descent 

 from Moses, Homer, Eameses, and Solomon ; 

 and if he could not do so satisfactorily Ins 

 argument fails to carry conviction ; while even 

 if he could, it does not follow that those who 

 are less nobly descended are inferior to their 

 ancestors, because he confessed himself to be 

 inferior to his own. 



It is true that the ancient civilisations have 

 fallen ; many ancient arts and sciences have 

 been lost, and some still remain to be re- 

 discovered ; and the crown of empire now rests 

 on other lands than Egypt, Greece, or Rome. 

 But although great genius, which is always 

 sporadic, existed in ancient times, and although 

 great works were then undertaken, which could 

 not be equalled at the present day, yet it is 



