a 
NATURE ua 277 
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1873 
MODERN APPLICATIONS OF THE DOCTRINE 
OF NATURAL SELECTION* 
N OTWITHSTANDING the objections which are 
still made to the theory of Natural Selection on 
the ground that it is either a pure hypothesis not 
founded on any demonstrable facts, or a mere truism 
which can lead to no useful results, we find it year 
by year sinking deeper into the minds of thinking 
men, and applied, more and more frequently, to elucidate 
problems of the highest importance. In the works now 
before us we have this application made by two eminent 
writers, one a politician, the other a naturalist, as a means 
of working out so much of the complex problem of human 
progress as more especially interests them. 
Mr. Bagehot takes for granted that early progress of 
man which resulted in his separation into strongly marked 
races, in his acquisition of language, and of the rudiments 
of those moral and intellectual faculties which all men 
possess ; and his object is to work out the steps by which 
he advanced to the condition in which the dawn of history 
finds him,—aggregated into distinct societies known as 
tribes or nations, subject to various forms of government, 
influenced by various beliefs and prejudices, and the slave 
of habits and customs which often seem to us not only 
absurd and useless, but even positively injurious. Now 
every one of these beliefs or customs, or these aggrega- 
tions of men into groups having some common charac- 
teristics, must have been useful at the time they origi- 
nated ; and a great feature of Mr. Bagehot’s little book 
is his showing how even the most unpromising of these, 
as we now regard them, might have been a positive step 
in advance when they first appeared. His main idea is, 
that what was wanted in those early times was some 
means of combining men in societies, whether by the 
action of some common belief or common danger, or by 
the power of some ruler or tyrant. The mere fact of 
obedience to a ruler was at first much more important 
than what was done by means of the obedience. So, any 
superstition or any custom, even if it originated in the 
grossest delusion, and produced positively bad results, 
might yet, by forming a bond of union more perfect than 
any other then existing, give the primitive tribe subject to 
it such a relative advantage over the disconnected families 
around them, as to lead to their increase and permanent 
survival in the struggle for existence. In those early days 
war was perhaps the most powerful means of forcing men 
to combined action, and might therefore have been neces- 
sary for the ultimate development of civilisation. Free- 
dom of opinion was then a positive evil, for it would lead 
to independent action, the very thing it was most essential 
to get rid of. In early times isolation was an advantage, 
in order that these incipient societies might not be broken 
up by intermixture, and it was only after a large number 
of such little groups, each with its own idiosyncrasies, 
habits, and beliefs, had been formed, that it became 
* “Physics and Politics; or, Thoughts on the Application of the Prin- 
ciples of ‘Natural Selection’ and ‘ Inheritance’ to Political Society.” By 
Walter Bagehot. (King and Co., 1872.) 
“* Histoire des Sciences et des Savants depuis deux Siécles suivie d’autres 
études sur les Sujets Scientifiques en particulier sur la Sélection dans I'Espece 
Humaine.” Par Alphonse de Candolle. (Genéve: H. Georg, 1873.) 
No, 172—VOL. vit. 
advantageous for them to meet to intermingle or to 
struggle together, and the stronger to drive out or exter- 
minate the weaker. Out of the great number of petty 
tribes thus formed, only a few had the qualities which led 
toa further advancement. The rest were either extermi- 
nated or driven out into remote and inaccessible or in- 
hospitable districts, and some of those are the “savages” 
which still exist on the earth, serving as a measure of the 
vast progress of the human race. Yet even these never 
show us the condition of the primitive man; they are 
men who advanced up to a certain point and then became 
stationary :— 
“Their progress was arrested at various points; but 
nowhere, not even in the hill tribes of India, not even in 
the Andaman Islands, not even in the savages of Terra 
del Fuego, do we find men who have not got some way. 
They have made their little progress in a hundred dif- 
ferent ways; they have framed with infinite assiduity 
a hundred curious habits; they have, so to say, screwed 
themselves into the uncomfortable corners of a complex 
life, which is odd and dreary, but yet is possible. And 
the corners are never the same in any two parts of the 
world. Our record begins with a thousand unchanging 
edifices, but it shows traces of previous building. In his- 
toric times there has been but little progress, in prehis- 
toric times there must have been much.” 
Again our author shows how valuable must have been 
the institution of caste in a certain stage of progress. It 
established the division of labour, led to great perfection 
in many arts, and rendered government easy. Caste 
nations would at first have a great advantage over non- 
caste nations, would conquer them and increase at their 
expense, Buta caste nation at last becomes stationary ; 
for a habit of action and a type of mind which it can 
with difficulty get rid of is established in each caste, 
When this is the case, non-caste nations soon catch them 
up, and rapidly leave them far behind. 
This outline will give some idea of the way in which 
Mr. Bagehot discusses an immense variety of topics con- 
nected with the progress of societies and nations and the 
development of their distinctive peculiarities. The book 
is somewhat discursive and sketchy, and it contains 
many statements and ideas of doubtful accuracy, but it 
shows an abundance of ingenious and original thought. 
Many will demur to the view that mere accident and 
imitation have been the origin of marked national pecu- 
liarities ; such as those which distinguish the German, 
Irish, French, English, and Yankees: “The accident of 
some predominant person possessing certain peculiarities 
set the fashion, and it has been imitated to this day” ; 
and again, “Great models for good or evil sometimes 
appear among men who follow them either to improve- 
ment or degradation.” This is said to be one of the 
chief agents in “ nation-making,” but a much better one 
seems to be the affinity of like for like, which brings and 
keeps together those of like morals or religion or social 
habits; but both are probably far inferior to the long- 
continued action of external nature on the organism, not 
merely as it acts in the country now inhabited by the 
particular nation, but by its action during remote ages 
and throughout all the migrations and intermixtures 
that our ancestors have ever undergone. We also find 
many broad statements as to the low state of morality 
and of intellect in all prehistoric men, which facts hardly 
warrant, but this is too wide a question to be entered 
Q 
