8 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



effects; and is plagued by external parasites, all of which belong 

 to the same genera or families as those infesting other mam- 

 mals, and in the case of scabies to the same species.' Man is 

 subject, like other mammals, birds, and even insects," to that mys- 

 terious law, which causes certain normal processes, such as ges- 

 tation, as well as the maturation and duration of various diseases, 

 to follow lunar periods. His vifounds are repaired by the same 

 process of healing; and the stumps left after the amputation of 

 his limbs, especially during an early embryonic period, occasion- 

 ally possess some power of regeneration, as in the lowest ani- 

 mals." 



The whole process of that most important function, the repro- 

 duction of the species, is strikingly the same in all mammals, 

 from the first act of courtship by the male,^^ to the birth and 

 nurturing of the young. Monkeys are born in almost as helpless 

 a condition as our own infants; and in certain genera the young 

 differ fully as much in appearance from the adults, as do our 

 children from their full-grown parents.^ It has been urged by 

 some writers, as an important distinction, that with man the 

 young arrive at maturity at a much later age than with any other 

 animal: but if we look to the races of mankind which inhabit 

 tropical countries the difference is not great, for the orang is 

 believed not to be adult till the age of from ten to fifteen years." 

 Man differs from woman in size, bodily strength, hairiness, &c., 



s Dr. W. Lauder Lindsay, 'Edinburgh Vet. Review,' July 1858, p. 13. 



» With respect to insects see Dr. I^aycook, "On a General Law of 

 Vital Periodicity," 'British Association,' 1842. Dr. Macculloch, 'Silli- 

 man's North American Journal of Science,' vol. xvii. p. 305, has seen a 

 dog suffering from tertian ague. Hereafter I shall return to this sub- 

 ject. 



>° I have given the evidence on this head in my 'Variation of Animals 

 and Plants under Domestication,' vol. ii. p. 15, and more could be added. 



" "Mares e diversis generibus Quadrumanorum sine dubio dignosount 

 "feminas humanas a maribus. Primum, credo, odoratu, postea as- 

 "pectu. Mr. Touatt, qui diu in Hortis Zoologricis (Bestiariis) medious 

 "animalium erat, vir in rebus observandis cautus et sagax, hoc mihi 

 "certissime probavit, et curatores ejusdem loci et alii e minlstris 

 "confirmaverunt. Sir Andrew Smith et Brehm notabant iden in Cyno- 

 "cephalo. Illustrissimus Cuvier etiam narrat multa de hac re, qua ut 

 "opinor, nihil turpius potest indicari inter omnia hominibus et Quad- 

 "rumanis communia. Narrat enim Cynocephalum quendam in furorem 

 "inoidere aspectu feminarum aliquarum, sed nequaquam aocendi tanto 

 "furore ab omnibus. Semper eligebat juniores, et dignoscebat in 

 "turba, et advocabat voce gestuque." 



1= This remark is made with respect to Cynocephalus and the an- 

 thropomorphous apes by Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire and P. Cuvier, 'Hist. 

 Nat. des Mammiferes,' tom. i. 1S24. , 



IS Huxley, 'Man's Place in Nature,' 1863, p. 34. 



