00 THE DESCENT OF MAN 



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 ranging species than with that of domesti- 

 cated 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 parts of the body are affected in a closely 

 analogous manner. This has been proved in such full de- 

 tail by Godron and Quatrefages that I need here only refer 

 to their works." ''Monstrosities, which graduate into slight 

 variations, are likewise so similar in man and the lower ani- 

 mals, that the same classification and the same terms can 



'^ Mitford's "History of Greece," vol. i. p. 282. It appears also from a 

 passage in Xenophon's "Memorabilia," B. ii. 4 (to which my attention has been 

 called by the Eev. J. N. Hoare), that it was a well recognized principle with 

 the Greeks, that men ought to select their wives with a view to the health and 

 vigor of their children. The Grecian poet, Theoguis, who lived 550 B.C., clearly 

 saw how important selection, if carefully applied, would be for the improvement 

 of mankind. He saw, likewise, that wealth often checks the proper action of 

 sexual selection. He thus writes: 



"With kine and horses, KurnusI we proceed 

 • - By reasonable rules, and choose a breed 



For prolit and increase, at any price ; 



Of a sound stock, without defect or vice. 



But, in the daily matches that we make. 



The price is everything: for money'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 races 



Thus everything is mix'd, noble and base I 



If then in outward manner, form and mind. 



Ton find us a degraded, motley kind. 



Wonder no more, my friend I the cause is plaiit. 



And to lament the consequence is vain." 



— The Works of J. Hookham Prere, vol. ii., 18 1 2, p. 334. 

 » Godron, "De I'Bsp&ce," 1859, tom. ii. livre 3. Quatrefages, "Unit6 

 de I'Bsp^ee Humaine," 1861. Also Lectures on Anthropology, given in the 

 "Eevue dea Cours Scientiaques," 1866-68. 



