Chap. II. Manner of Development. 29 



completely subjugated by other men, as that certain individuals 

 should be preserved, and thus unconsciously selected, from some- 

 how excelling in utility to their masters. Nor have certain 

 male and female individuals been intentionally picked out and 

 matched, except in the well-known case of the Prussian grena- 

 diers ; and in this case man obeyed, as might have been ex- 

 pected, the law of methodical selection ; for it is asserted that 

 many tall men were reared in the villages inhabited by the 

 grenadiers and their tall wives. In Sparta, also, a form of selec- 

 tion was followed, for it was enacted that all children should be 

 examined shortly after birth ; the well-formed and vigorous 

 being preserved, the others left to perish." 



If we consider all the races of man as forming a single species, 

 his range is enormous ; but some separate races, as the Americans 

 and Polynesians, have very wide ranges. It is a well-known 

 law that widely-ranging species are much more variable than 

 species with restricted ranges ; and the variability of man may 

 with more truth be compared with that of widely-rg, 

 than with that of domesticated animals. 



Not only does variability appear to be induced in man and 

 the lower animals by the same general causes, but in both the 

 same pints of the body are affected in a closely analogous 

 manner. This, has been proved in such full detail by Godron and 



^' Mitford's 'History of Greece,' vigour of their children. The Gre- 



Tol. i. p. 282. It appears also from cian poet, Theognis, who lived 550 



K passage in Xenophoa's * Memora- B.C., clearly saw how important 



bilia,* B. ii. 4 (to which my atten- selection, if carefully applied, would 



tioQ has been called by the Rev. be tor the improvement of mankind. 



J. N. Hoare), that it was a well He saw, likewise, that wealth often 



recognised principle with the Greeks, checks the proper action of sexual 



.hat men ought to select their wives nelection. He thus writes : 

 icith a view to the health and 



" With kine and horses, Kurnus ! we pi'oceed 

 By reasonable rules, and choose a breed 

 For profit and increase, at any price ; 

 Of a sound stock, without defect or vice. 

 But, in the daily matches that we make. 

 The price is eveiything: for mouey's sake, 

 Men marry : women are in marriage given ; 

 The churl or ruffian, that in wealth has thriven. 

 May match his offspring with the proudest race ; 

 Thus everything is mix'd, noble and base ! 

 If then in outward manner, form, and mind. 

 You Hnil as a degraded, motley kind, 

 T¥«nde:- no more, toy friend ! the cause is plain. 

 And to lament the consequence is vain." 

 (The Works cf J. Hookharo Frere, vol. ii. 1S72, p. 334.) 



