272 WORK ON 'MAN.' [1864. 



as mine ; it is just as much yours as mine. One correspond- 

 ent has already noticed to me your " high-minded " conduct 

 on this head. But now for your Man paper, about which I 

 should like to write more than I can. The great leading 

 idea is quite new to me, viz. that during late ages, the mind 

 will have been modified more than the body ; yet I had got 

 as far as to see with you that the struggle between the races 

 of man depended entirely on intellectual and moral qualities. 

 The latter part of the paper I can designate only as grand 

 and most eloquently done. I have shown your paper to two 

 or three persons who have been here, and they have been 

 equally struck with it. I am not sure that I go with you on 

 all minor points : when reading Sir G. Grey's account of the 

 constant battles of Australian savages, I remember thinking 

 that natural selection would come in, and likewise with the 

 Esquimaux, with whom the art of fishing and managing ca- 

 noes is said to be hereditary. I rather differ on the rank, 

 under a classificatory point of view, which you assign to man ; 

 I do not think any character simply in excess ought ever to 

 be used for the higher divisions. Ants would not be sepa- 

 rated from other hymenopterous insects, however high the 

 instinct of the one, and however low the instincts of the other. 

 With respect to the differences of race, a conjecture has oc- 

 curred to me that much may be due to the correlation of 

 complexion (and consequently hair) with constitution. As- 

 sume that a dusky individual best escaped miasma, and you 

 will readily see what I mean. I persuaded the Director- 

 General of the Medical Department of the Army to send 

 printed forms to the surgeons of all regiments in tropical 

 countries to ascertain this point, but I dare say I shall never 

 get any returns. Secondly, I suspect that a sort of sexual 

 selection has been the most powerful means of changing the 

 races of man. I can show that the different races have a 

 widely different standard of beauty. Among savages the 

 most powerful men will have the pick of the women, and they 

 will generally leave the most descendants. I have collected 

 a few notes on man, but I do not suppose that I shall ever 



