4 authoe's preface. 



offensive corpses^ wMcli the Materialists trade in and make 

 manure of. I see no otlier difference. 



M. Schleiden, wlio so successfully combated Materialism in 

 Dresden^ that he converted his whole audience to it^ also felt 

 bound to read a lecture on man. In spite of all the trouble I 

 took, I derived no instruction from it, merely finding in it some 

 newspaper paragraphs seasoned with Fries' philosophical sauce. 



The reader will observe that I have strictly confined myself 

 to the animal kingdom, and specially to such animals as stand 

 next to man, and have entirely omitted the vegetable kingdom, 

 with which I confess I am not so conversant. Had I included 

 plants, I certainly should not have neglected to mention two 

 most important treatises which have recently appeared in 

 favour of Darwin's theory. I allude to A. de CandoUe's 

 Treatise on Oaks, and Naudin's prize essay on Hyhridity in the 

 Vegetable Kingdom. Both arrive at the conclusion that species 

 have arisen, and still arise, from each other by modification. 

 Naudin expressly states, that variety, race, and species are 

 merely different terms designating progressive changes, the 

 intimate connection of which is undeniable. When one of the 

 greatest experts in the investigation of species, after a most 

 careful examination of the various species of oak, and sup- 

 ported by colossal materials, arrives at the same conclusion as 

 an industrious naturalist who has tried thousands of crossings, 

 and specially devoted himself to the production of hybrids, the 

 Darwinian theory must be more than an ingenious dream, and 

 less destructive of science than certain zealots are apt to believe. 



The Anthropological Society of London, on the pubhcation of 

 the first part of these lectures, did me the honour of nominating 

 me one of its Corresponding Members, and subsequently ex- 

 pressed a wish that the English edition of the book should 

 appear under its auspices. To this Society, which prosecutes 

 important scientific subjects with such great zeal, I feel bound 

 to express my warm thanks, and more especially to its Presi- 

 dent, Dr. James Hunt, and its Foreign Secretary, Mr. Alfred 

 Higgins. 



C. VOGT. 



London, April 4th, 1864, 



