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great varieties have been descended from each other 

 — the later from the earlier, the higher from the lower, 

 and the lower from those next beneath them. In fact, 

 the great varieties of mankind belong rather to 

 geological periods than to geographical regions, for 

 though we assign to them different habitats on ovu 

 maps, it is clear that physical causes alone could not 

 account for their differences, physiological and psycho- 

 logical, and we are compelled to call in that principle 

 of ascent in time which antedates the lower and places 

 the higher at stages later and later according to their 

 superiority. It is true we have no historical evidence 

 of these descents, for they took place long before and 

 beyond the reach of all history and tradition, and it 

 is also true that geological changes must have obscured 

 more or less their traces by the sinking of old lands 

 and the elevation of new ones; still, if there be such 

 a thing as creational progression, there must have been 

 an ascent from lower to higher, and we are not entitled 

 to regard the lowest now known as the original stock 

 of the human species. In fact, the idea of progres- 

 sion involves the belief in an ascent from lower to 

 higher, and shuts out all argument to the contrary. 

 We are nevertheless aware that some, founding on 

 certain doctrinal tenets, deny the lowly origin of 

 the human race, and contend for a purer and higher, 

 from which man has retrograded and declined. In 



