ORIGIN OF SAVAGE COMMUNITIES. 297 



From generalizations I descended into details, and took one 

 family, that of the Crustacea, wherein I found that the general 

 conclusions to which I had been brought were proved in the 

 most convincing manner in that family. 



It is impossible to do more, in this short note, than give a few 

 instances of the application of the theory of degradation to the 

 human species. 



I contend that a man is a family with only one genus — Homo. 

 In some regions of physical science, at least, there is a certain 

 scope for speculation ; but, unless we are to throw over one of the 

 most important statements of revealed religion, we must believe 

 that God created man upright. Therefore, the existing tribes or 

 communities of human beings who are in the lowest condition as 

 to physical and intellectual development, or as to religious or 

 moral ideas, must represent degradation. The Duke of Argyll, in 

 " Unity of Nature," says, that as the first men could not have been 

 cannibals or indulged in infanticide, or the race could not have 

 been increased, the existence of these two customs alone proves 

 degeneration. 



The most ancient fossil remains of man that have been found 

 exhibit a very high type, both in physical development and intel- 

 lectual capacity. There are no remains at present discovered 

 which display as low types of the human race as those that now 

 exist in Australia, Tierra del Fuego,* or the bushmen of South 

 Africa, who are degenerated Hottentots. The fossil skulls, found 

 in the limestone caves t near the valley of the Rio Paraopeba, 

 Minas Geraes, are of the same type as the Indians of to-day, who 

 are now, owing to the Portuguese settlement, being pushed away 

 into restricted and distant areas. A condition of high mental 

 development, which the fossil men present to us, does not neces- 

 sarily represent a correspondingly advanced condition of civiliza- 

 tion, refinement, or progress of the arts and sciences. It denotes 



* That even the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego can be raised, as they 

 have been, through the labours of missionaries, Mr. Darwin has freely acknow- 

 ledged. The name Tierra del Fuego was given by the discoverers, who, on 

 approaching it, saw numerous fires in the native camps. This in itself points 

 to a certain status in development far above that of the most intelligent animals. 



t Some of the remains of bones found in these caves are to be seen at the 

 Natural History Museum, South Kensington, London. 



