THE DESCENT OF MAN 



AND 



SELECTION IN RELAJION TO SEX 



INTRODUCTION 



The nature of the following work will be best understood 

 by a brief account of how it came to be written. During 

 many years I collected notes on the origin or descent of 

 man, without any intention of publishing on the subject, but 

 rather with the determination not to publish, as I thought 

 that I should thus only add to the prejudices against my 

 views. It seemed to me sufficient to indicate, in the first 

 edition of my "Origin of Species," that by this work "light 

 would be thrown on the origin of man and his history"; 

 and this implies that man must be included with other 

 organic beings in any general conclusion respecting his 

 manner of appearance on this earth. Now the case wears 

 a wholly different aspect. When a naturalist like Carl Vogt 

 ventures to say in his address as President of the National 

 Institution of Geneva (1869), "personne, en Europe au 

 moins, n'ose plus soutenir la creation ind^pendante et de 

 toutes pieces, des esp^ces," it is manifest that at least 

 a large number of naturalists must admit that species are 

 the modified descendants of other species; and this espe- 

 cially holds good with the younger and rising naturalists. 

 The greater number accept the agency of natural selection ; 

 though some urge, whether with justice tbe future must de- 

 cide, that I have greatly overrated its importance. Of the 

 older and honored chiefs in natural science, many unfortu- 

 nately are still opposed to evolution in every form. 



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