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ration of man, I contend that man is a family with only one genus, Homo. 
Unless we throw over one of the most important statements of revealed 
religion, that as to the origin of man, we must believe that all tribes in a low 
condition, physical or intellectual, moral or religious, represent degradation. 
The Duke of Argyll, in Unity of Nature, says, that as the first men could 
not have been cannibals or indulged in infanticide—or the race could not 
have been increased—the existence of these two customs alone proves 
degeneration. The most ancient fossil remains of man that have been found 
exhibit a very high type, both in physical development and intellectual 
capacity. None of them display as low types as the existing Australians, Terra 
del Fuegians, or the bushmen of South Africa, who are degraded Hottentots 
(Max Miiller). Fossil skulls found in the limestone caves of the valley of the 
Rio Paraopéba, Minas Geraes, Brazil, are of the same type as the Indians 
of to-day, who are now, owing to the Portuguese settlement, being pushed 
away into restricted and distant areas. A condition of high mental develop- 
ment, which the fossil men present, does not necessarily represent a corre- 
spondingly advanced civilisation, refinement, or progress in arts and sciences. 
It denotes merely possession of an intelligent will, capable of development, 
and able to profit by experience. I maintain that man was created noble 
and pure, with vast capabilities. Then came that mysterious catastrophe 
which we call the Fall, and synchronously the promise of a wonderful 
Redemption, which in course of time was effected. Subsequent on the Fall 
came degradation, degeneration of the ante-diluvian world, of the Israelites, 
of the Hindoos, Mahometans, and even of Christianity. In the records of 
the rocks we find always that new forms were introduced in their highest 
state, full of vigour. They worked out the objects of their creation, and then 
either became extinct, on the introduction of higher forms, or remain till 
to-day, degraded, degenerated, and scantily represented. The same argu- 
ment of degeneration holds good as regards man. As the struggle to gain 
the necessaries for bare existence increases, so man degenerates. Driven out 
by stronger tribes, the weaker are forced to live under the most uncongenial 
conditions, ¢.g., Eskimos and nations aforesaid. These all now live in 
countries most unfavourable, with surroundings the least conducive to exist- 
ence, ‘let alone advancement. Mr. Drummond, in Natural Law in the 
Spiritual World, has pointed out that death means “the want of corre- 
spondence with the environment,” and that “the organism is but a part, 
nature is the complement.” The nations of the temperate zones have, at 
least, an environment conducive to progress ; grasses which produce food, 
e.g., Wheat ; animals capable of domestication ; a climate where excessive 
labour is, at least, possible during a prolonged period. The people I have 
referred to have none of these advantages, and so it is with the Indians on 
the Amazon. On the introduction of a civilised community into the midst 
of uncivilised nations, the latter cannot come into correspondence with their 
environment: they either become extinct—as in the case of the North 
American Indians, who are a race of warlike hunters with no literature, but 
with a beautiful and complex language—or they become and continue a 
