22 HOMO V. DARWIN. 



man and man-shaped apes, but I cannot so easily understand 

 why the numerous related forms between ape and man, if 

 they ever really existed, should all have perished. So far 

 as I understand Mr. Darwin's principle of Natural Selection, 

 it is the process by which the stronger races, and those best 

 fitted to succeed, are preserved in the struggle for life. 

 According to Natural Selection, therefore, each of the suc- 

 cessive races of man's progenitors, from the " hairy quadru- 

 ped " on to man himself, must have been better fitted to 

 maintain its position in the world than any which preceded 

 it. We find, however, that, while many monkey tribes 

 survive, all of these have perished. Here, as it seems to 

 me, is an exceedingly weak point in Mr. Darwin's reasoning. 

 According to his hypothesis, the fittest should survive; 

 according to his facts, the fittest have perished ! 



Homo. In reply to your Lordship's remarks, Mr. Darwin 

 would doubtless say that the fittest have survived ; that 

 each successive race of man's progenitors, being superior to 

 that which preceded it, exterminated it, and eventually took 

 its place. This, my Lord, is Natural Selection, i.e. " the 

 survival of the fittest." 



Lord C. I quite understand that Mr. Darwin would say 

 so, but the statement does not carry conviction with it. 

 Many of the supposed races of man's progenitors must have 

 been greatly in advance of any surviving species of monkey. 



Homo. My Lord, I defy Mr, Darwin to prove that any 

 one of these numerous related forms between man and 

 ape, which he says were originated by Natural Selection, 

 and have become extinct, ever existed, unless in his own 

 imagination. It is all very fine to talk of the " general 

 principle of evolution," but let Mr. Darwin, or any one of 

 those who say they believe in evolution, point to a single, 

 clear, and unmistakeable instance of it. Professor Huxley, 



