286 THE DOCTRINE OF DESCENT. 



its application to man is a simple deduction from a gen- 

 eral law, gained by the method of induction. As Goethe 

 postulated the inter-maxillary bone in man even before 

 he had seen or proved it, so must the doctrine of Descent 

 extend to man all its results and more or less plainly 

 demonstrated laws. The deduction is effected by the 

 accumulated observations of comparative anatomy, evo- 

 lutionary history, and palaeontology, checking and con- 

 firfning one another. Thus, for all who are not satis- 

 fied with belief in miracle and subjection to the hy- 

 pothesis of a revelation, nothing remains but the doctrine 

 of Descent. To apply it to man is not more hazardous, 

 but, on the contrary, as inherently necessary, as it is 

 for us zoologists to make use of it in judging some 

 polype hitherto unknown, a star-fish or a mouse. This 

 our adversaries deny. Man, they say, has qualities which 

 separate him absolutely from the animal, and, assum- 

 ing the doctrine of Descent generally, preclude its ap- 

 plicability in this one case. To this assertion, so fre- 

 quently to be heard, we will, in the first instance, oppose 

 a general remark as to the apprehension of human 

 nature. 



It is commonly overlooked that, quite regardless of 

 the validity of the doctrine of Descent or even of its 

 existence, there is a notable inconsistency in the idea 

 of humanity. The philosophy of history has regarded 

 mutability, which is, in fact, capability of progress, as 

 the essence of human nature. But if any sort of in- 

 separable dependence of the mind upon the body be 

 admitted, as is the case with all but an extreme spirit- 

 ualistic party, the progress of mental power in mankind 

 was inconceivable without some parallel transformation 



