EDITOR'S TABLE. 



699 



question is, at what point the line is to 

 be drawn. How far down may we 

 come in the development of type before 

 this principle ceases to act? Again, 

 how can it be positively ascertained that 

 changes of nutrition, or changes in the 

 general balance of function, may not act 

 on the reproductive system so as to pro- 

 duce inheritable variation? Mr. Wal- 

 lace does well to stand up for the doc- 

 trine of natural selection, and to insist 

 that it shall not needlessly be put aside ; 

 but the general doctrine of evolution 

 would not suffer if the exceptions to the 

 action of natural selection contended for 

 by Mr. Spencer should ultimately be 

 maintained. 



Kefusing to admit any other general 

 law than that of natural selection as a 

 key to the development of species, and 

 finding, as he asserts, that law inade- 

 quate to explain man's moral and intel- 

 lectual nature, or rather the extreme 

 differences existing between individuals 

 in respect to moral and intellectual qual- 

 ities, Mr. Wallace summons to his as- 

 sistance the theory of a special "spir- 

 itual essence of nature, capable of pro- 

 gressive development under favorable 

 conditions." To explain an unknown 

 thing by one still more unknown has 

 never been considered a quite satisfac- 

 tory logical performance ; and we can 

 not help feeling a little surprised that, 

 in a purely scientific treatise, our author 

 should resort to such a method. " On 

 the hypothesis," he says, " of this spir- 

 itual nature superadded to the animal 

 nature of man we are able to under- 

 stand much that is otherwise mysterious 

 or unintelligible in regard to him." The 

 trouble is that " this spiritual nature," 

 as it does not lend itself to definition, 

 is not and can not be an object of knowl- 

 edge, and therefore can not serve as a 

 scientific hypothesis at all. It may, 

 however, be questioned whether Mr. 

 Wallace is not untrue to his own prin- 

 ciples when he says that the differences 

 in moral and intellectual attributes be- 

 tween different individuals are greater 



than can exist under the rule of natural 

 selection. Who is to set the limits of 

 spontaneous variation in any species, 

 and, above all, in the most complex and 

 highly organized species, man ? In the 

 lower tribes individuals departing in a 

 marked manner from the average type 

 are generally doomed to destruction; but 

 in human society it is different. Human 

 society is itself an organism of ever-in- 

 creasing complexity as we pass from the 

 lower to the higher races; and in the 

 social organism there is room for an 

 infinite variety of tastes, accomplish- 

 ments, aptitudes, and powers. A man 

 need not be a great mathematical gen- 

 ius or have a surpassing talent for 

 music in order to survive ; neither does 

 an extraordinary development in either 

 direction necessarily lead to his extinc- 

 tion. A place can generally be found 

 for every man whose nature is not ab- 

 solutely anti-social. Thus extreme vari- 

 ations are preserved, and the qualities 

 they imply are kept, as it were, in cir- 

 culation in the social body, ready to 

 manifest themselves under suitable con- 

 ditions. The range of variation in men 

 would probably be greater than it is 

 were it not for the fact that the law of 

 natural selection is at work more or less 

 at all times in suppressing both superi- 

 orities and inferiorities. It was an old 

 pastime of a certain venerable race to 

 stone their prophets ; and one of their 

 wisest men has left on record the cau- 

 tion : " Be not righteous overmuch, 

 neither make thyself overwise : why 

 shouldst thou destroy thyself? " Nor 

 has the danger of excessive righteous- 

 ness altogether vanished in our own 

 time, as Mr. Spencer in his essay on 

 " The Morals of Trade " bears impress- 

 ive witness. But, on the other hand, 

 there are dangers in excessive inferi- 

 ority. After uttering his caution against 

 over-righteousness the Hebrew moralist 

 goes on to say : " Be not overmuch 

 wicked, neither be thou foolish : why 

 shouldst thou die before thy. time?" 

 And to-day, as then, the man who is 



