198 NATURAL SELECTION IX 
how can we conceive that early man, as an animal, gained 
anything by purely erect locomotion? Again, the hand of 
man contains latent capacities and powers which are unused 
by savages, and must have been even less used by paleolithic 
man and his still ruder predecessors, It has all the appear- 
ance of an organ prepared for the use of civilised man, and 
one which was required to render civilisation possible. Apes 
make little use of their separate fingers and opposable thumbs. 
They grasp objects rudely and clumsily, and look as if a much 
less specialised extremity would have served their purpose as 
well. I do not lay much stress on this, but, if it be proved 
that some intelligent power has guided or determined the 
development of man, then we may see indications of that 
power in facts which, by themselves, would not serve to 
prove its existence. - 
The Voice of Man.—The same remark will apply to another 
peculiarly human character, the wonderful power, range, 
flexibility, and sweetness of the musical sounds producible 
by the human larynx, especially in the female sex. The 
habits of savages give no indication of how this faculty could 
have been developed by natural selection, because it is never 
required or used by them. ‘The singing of savages is a more 
or less monotonous howling, and the females seldom sing at 
all. Savages certainly never choose their wives for fine voices, 
but for rude health, and strength, and physical beauty. 
Sexual selection could not therefore have developed this 
wonderful power, which only comes into play among civilised 
people. It seems as if the organ had been prepared in anti- 
cipation of the future progress of man, since it contains latent 
capacities which are useless to him in his earlier condition. 
The delicate correlations of structure that give it such mar- 
vellous powers could not therefore have been acquired by 
means of natural selection. 
The Origin of some of Man’s Mental Faculties, by the pre- 
servation of Useful Variations, not possible 
Turning to the mind of man, we meet with many difficulties 
in attempting to understand how those mental faculties, 
which are especially human, could have been acquired by the 
preservation of useful variations. At first sight, it would 
