134 HUXLEY 



cape from real sin and degradation, will leave the 

 brooding over speculative pollution to the cynics and 

 the " righteous overmuch," who, disagreeing in every- 

 thing else, unite in blind insensibility to the nobleness 

 of this visible world, and in inability to appreciate the 

 grandeur of the place Man occupies therein. 



Nay more, thoughtful men, escaped from the blind- 

 ing influences of traditional prejudice, will find in the 

 lowly stock whence man has sprung, the best evidence 

 of the splendour of his capacities ; and will discern 

 in his long progress through the Past a reasonable 

 ground of faith in his attainment of a nobler Future. 1 



Several causes united to give man his preeminence 

 and distinctive place in the " files of time." The 

 slow acquirement of the erect position led to the flat- 

 tening of the feet ; to projection of the heel as sup- 

 port ; and to the altered position of the skull with the 

 added weight of brain which went on pari passu with 

 new functions, the skull becoming nicely balanced on 

 the spine, which became more curved, and, therefore, 

 a better support. The bipedal position set free the 

 arms from the work of locomotion, enabling man to 

 use them as organs for grasping things, whereby their 

 nature was ascertained, and for the manifold purposes 

 which the struggle for life compelled. Interaction of 

 brain and hand, together with increased modification 

 of the thumb as opposable, went on ; while the gre- 

 garious instinct, more and more developed, bound the 



x Man's Place in Nature, pp. I io, ill. 



