12 LECTURE I. 



matter, when we abandon the basis of exact science, I will 

 just quote the opinion of another not less celebrated natura- 

 list, who opines that the mental faculties of a chimpanzee 

 compared with those of a Bosjesman* exhibit only a difference 

 in degree, but that the structure of the human brain differs 

 greatly from that of the ape.f These opposite views pro- 

 ceeded solely from the desire to place man above the ape.f 

 The one of these inquirers has forgotten to tell us how it is 

 possible that man with a monkey brain could conceive human 

 thoughts ; and the second has not told us how a human brain 

 can produce apish thoughts. If the brain be the organ of the 

 mind, the function must always be consonant with the structure. 

 This is only one aspect of the question. If the human spe- 

 cies, as it is scattered over the globe, be considered as a 

 whole, we are immediately struck by the difi'erences which the 

 various races exhibit. There can be no doubt that the investiga- 

 tion of these differences is within the province of the naturalist, 

 and, however much our pride may revolt against it, there is no 

 other method than that followed in zoology. The degree of the 

 variations is very important, as it furnishes us with a standard 

 for ascertaining the relations in which the various races stand 

 to each other. This we shall illustrate by an example. Cats, 

 like the human race, are found in all parts of the world ; every 

 where, excepting in the extreme north, we find beasts of prey 

 belonging to this type. But at the first glance we perceive that 

 they greatly differ. No man will confound lions, tigers, panthers, 

 cats, and lynxes, and it is just as impossible to confoundNegroes, 

 Mongolians, and Caucasians. On close examination, however, 

 there occur in the fehne family, as well as in the human family, 

 intermediate types, which engender doubts. The spotted cats, 



* TMs is an allusion to a note inserted by Prof. Owen in the Journal of the 

 Proceedings of the Linnean Society for 1857, p. 20. The author's words are that 

 we are unable to " appreciate, or conceive of the distinction between the 

 psychical phenomena of a chimpanzee and of a Bosjesman, or of an Aztec with 

 arrested brain growth." The comparison is therefore made between the 

 psychological phenomena of the chimpanzee and the Bosjesman "with 

 aiTested brain growth," and not between the chimpanzee and the Bosjesman 

 in a normal state. — Editor. 



t E. Owen. — Editoe. 



j An author may hold such opinions without any " desire" to place man 

 above the ape. — Editor. 



