26 THE HUMAN SPECIES 



to a great deal of discussion. With domestic animals this is 

 quite possible, provided that the varying descendants are most 

 carefully selected for pairing. According to Darwin, the origin 

 of most of our races is to be attributed not to a single pair of 

 methodically selected progenitors, but rather to many indi- 

 viduals, which varied, though perhaps in ever so slight a degree, 

 and these variations were either natural or artificial ; hence, we 

 may assume that in all probability the races of man have 

 arisen in a similar way, whether through the modifying in- 

 fluences of different physical conditions, or through the indirect 

 effect of natural selection, more particularly of sexual selection. 1 

 In comparison with sexual selection the influences due to 

 climate, environment, continued use of parts and the law of 

 correlation are of secondary importance. The fundamental 

 precept, however, upon which all recent research as to man's 

 origin must rest, is the conclusion with which Darwin closes his 

 work on the Origin of Man, namely, that we are bound to 

 acknowledge that man is descended from some lowly organised 

 form. 



The Ancestors of Man. 



In his work, On the human teeth found in the pisolitic iron 

 ore of the Swabian Alps? Branco assumes that the favourable 

 moment for man's development from his animal prototype was 

 during the Tertiary Period. It was not the severity of the 

 struggle for existence that caused man to rise from the animal 

 world ; indeed it was precisely this struggle that prevented 

 the anthropomorphous animals from attaining to human state. 

 " The struggle for existence had to be lightened for the develop- 

 ment of man from an anthropomorphous ancestor to become 

 possible." As superior equipment for the struggle Branco 

 suggests the erect position, and the higher development of the 

 hand and brain. Only on assuming an erect attitude could the 

 hands become free ; Dames even goes so far as to say that man 

 only became human when he learnt to stand firmly on his feet. 

 At first the hands still required a support (such as trees, etc.), 

 but gradually early man learnt to walk independently and left 



1 Darwin, vol. v., pp. 218-37. 



2 Wiirtheim, Jahresheftef. vaterl. Naturkunde, 1898, p. 70. 



