372 THE HUMAN SPECIES 



limits. These limits, however, are not so very narrow. Many 

 of the higher wild animals, whose existence is threatened with 

 extinction, or with diminution, by man, most certainly develop 

 higher intelligence as the result of the struggle for existence 

 aided by extended experience. This has undoubtedly taken 

 place among the domestic animals which man has chosen 

 for his close companions, namely, the horse, and still more, the 

 dog ; whereas the others, namely, the sheep, cattle and swine, 

 have attained to no improvement over their condition as wild 

 animals, but have rather suffered some diminution in intellectual 

 capacity. The opinion of a naturalist of Brehm's eminence 

 is particularly interesting in this connection. Speaking of the 

 intellectual powers of the apes, he says, " The mental superi- 

 ority exhibited by apes over other mammals (excepting man) 

 is by no means so great as is commonly supposed ". Brehm 

 does not deny that they possess a certain degree of reflection, 

 a good memory, cunning, craft, and the power of dissimulation ; 

 they can also express love and affection. As compared, how- 

 ever, with man, he drily observes, " Man increases in judgment 

 and wisdom with the years ; the ape can only be taught when 

 young, the brute in him becomes more and more prominent 

 with age ". 



Can any races be found among the savages now existing 

 who have any prospect of developing into civilised people ? 

 We think it is hardly possible. Human history has long since 

 drawn the dividing-line between the races who are sluggish, 

 cowardly and retrogressive, and those who are energetic, brave 

 and progressive ; to the latter belongs the victory, whereas the 

 former either die out, or stagnate in lazy passivity. The 

 present savage races are not, as is often erroneously assumed, 

 degenerates, but, as Homes has strikingly demonstrated, are 

 those which remained impoverished and stationary after the 

 migration of the stronger elements. Christianity can effect 

 but little change in them ; it can but cover them with a thin 

 varnish of civilisation, under which remains their primitive 

 savagery. The history of the German South-West African 

 war is a striking instance in point. 



And now as to the civilised nations. Will civilisation 

 always continue to advance, and man attain the position of 



