SEXUAL SELECTION IN RELATION TO MAN 797 



life of his keeper, or from that old baboon, who, descending 

 from the mountains, carried away in triumph his young com- 

 rade from a crowd of astonished dogs — as from a savage who 

 delights to torture his enemies, offers up bloody sacrifices, 

 practices infanticide without remorse, treats his wives like 

 slaves, knows no decency, and is haunted by the grossest 

 superstitions. 



Man may be excused for feeling some pride at having 

 risen, though not through his own exertions, to the very 

 summit of the organic scale; and the fact of his having thus 

 risen, instead of having been aboriginally placed there, may 



givgjTJTTf^hfvi^gJp'' ^ s<^'11 higher dpist.iny in thpi distflnt. fntnrp. 

 But we are not here concerned with hopes or fears, only with 

 the truth as far as .our reason permits us to discover it; and 

 I have given the evidence to the best of my ability. We 

 must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man, 

 with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for 

 the most debased, with benevolence which extends not only 

 to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his 

 godlike intellect which has penetrated into the movements 

 and constitution of the solar system — with all these exalted 

 powers — Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible 

 stamp of his lowly origin. 



