24 
THE DESCENT OF MAN. 
Part 5. 
carnivora, in finding their prey ; to others, as the wild 
boar, for both purposes combined. But the sense of 
smell is of extremely slight service, if any, even to 
savages, in whom it is generally more highly developed 
than in the civilised races. It does not warn them of 
danger, nor guide them to their food ; nor does it pre- 
vent the Esquimaux from sleeping in the most fetid 
atmosphere, nor many savages from eating half-putrid 
meat. Those who believe in the principle of gradual 
evolution, will not readily admit that this sense in its 
present state was originally acquired by man, as he 
now exists. No doubt he inherits the power in am 
enfeebled and so far rudimentary condition, from some 
early progenitor, to whom it was highly serviceable 
and by whom it was continually used. We can thus 
perhaps understand how it is, as Dr. Maudsley has truly 
remarked , 27 that the sense of smell in man “ is singu- 
“ larly effective in recalling vividly the ideas and images 
“ of forgotten scenes and places for we see in those 
animals, which have this sense highly developed, such as 
dogs and horses, that old recollections of persons and 
places are strongly associated with their odour. 
Man differs conspicuously from all the other Primates 
in being almost naked. But a few short straggling 
hairs are found over the greater part of the body in 
the male sex, and fine down on that of the female sex. 
In individuals belonging to the same race these hairs 
are highly variable, not only in abundance, but like- 
wise in position : thus the shoulders in some Europeans 
are quite naked, whilst in others they bear thick tufts 
of hair . 28 There can be little doubt that the hairs 
27 ‘The Physiology and Pathology of Mind/ 2nd edit. 1868, p. 134. 
28 Eschricht, Ueber die Richtung der Haare am menschlichen Kbrp er 
4 Muller's Archiv fiir Anat. und Phys.* 1837, s. 47. I shall often have 
to refer to this very curious paper. 
