DESCENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM. 163 



equally pure blood have allowed the character of the sire 

 to prevail. A famous black greyhound. Bedlamite, as I 

 hear from Mr. C. M. Brown, " invariably got all his pup- 

 pies black, no matter what was the color of the bitch " ; 

 but then Bedlamite "had a preponderance of black in 

 his blood, both on the sire and dam side." 



NATURAL SELECTIOlir IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MAN. 



Descent ^^^ ^^ *^^ rudest state in which he now 



of Man, exists is the most dominant animal that has 

 P*2^ ■ ever appeared on this earth. He has spread 

 more widely than any other highly organized form ; and 

 all others have yielded before him. He manifestly owes 

 this immense superiority to his intellectual faculties, to 

 his social habits, which lead him to aid and defend his 

 fellows, and to his corporeal structure. The supreme 

 importance of these characters has been proved by the 

 final arbitrament of the battle for life. Through his 

 powers of intellect, articulate language has been evolved ; 

 and on this his wonderful advancement has mainly de- 

 pended. As Mr. Chauncey Wright remarks : "A psy- 

 chological analysis of the faculty of language shows that 

 even the smallest proficiency in it might require more 

 brain-power than the greatest proficiency in any other 

 direction." He has invented and is able to use various 

 weapons, tools, traps, etc., with which he defends him- 

 self, kills or catches prey, and otherwise obtains food. 

 He has made rafts or canoes for fishing or crossing over to 

 neighboring fertile islands. He has discovered the art of 

 making fire, by which hard and stringy roots can be ren- 

 dered digestible, and poisonous roots or herbs innocuous. 

 This discovery of fire, probably the greatest ever made by 

 man, excepting language, dates from before the dawn of 



