144 Mr, Buckle's Fallacies. [ix. 



is prepared to deny that development in structure 

 is necessarily attended by development in function, 

 he cannot logically avoid the conclusion that the 

 human species is in a course of evolution from the 

 less perfect to the more perfect, — or, to use his 

 own expressions, that the progress of mankind is 

 one of " internal power," as well as of " external 

 advantage." 



We have seen that Mr. Buckle accepts the law of 

 development ; that it is illogical to assert that man 

 forms an exception to such a universal law ; that 

 this law, moreover, explains the facts of human 

 variation, as well as those of animal variation ; and 

 that, consequently, Mr. Buckle's assertion, that 

 human faculties do not develop, is totally incon- 

 sistent with the very theory held by himself respect- 

 ing organic development in general. We have now 

 to show that his assertion is in itself unfounded. 

 But, preliminary to this, we must call attention to 

 another point. 



How it is that Mr. Buckle, who holds fast to the 

 law of development, can reject the law of hereditary 

 transmission, we are unable to imagine. Never- 

 theless, reject it he does, in the following passage, 

 which, as Mr. Lewes remarks, must excite the 

 astonishment of the physiologist : 



