'Chap. V. 
CIVILISED NATIONS. 
167 
“ shewn a particle of desire that its civil institutions 
“ shonld be improved.” Progress seems to depend on 
many concurrent favourable conditions, far too complex 
to be followed out. But it has often been remarked, that 
a cool climate from leading to industry and the various 
arts has been highly favourable, or even indispensable 
for this end. The Esquimaux, pressed by hard necessity, 
have succeeded in many ingenious inventions, but their 
climate has been too severe for continued progress. 
Nomadic habits, whether over wide plains, or through 
the dense forests of the tropics, or along the shores of 
the sea, have in every case been highly detrimental. 
Whilst observing the barbarous inhabitants of Tierra 
del Fuego, it struck me that the possession of some 
property, a fixed abode, and the union of many families 
under a chief, were the indispensable requisites for 
civilisation. Such habits almost necessitate the culti- 
vation of the ground ; and the first steps in cultivation 
would probably result, as I have elsewhere shewn , 9 from 
some such accident as the seeds of a fruit-tree falling 
on a heap of refuse and producing an unusually fine 
variety. The problem, however, of the first advance of 
savages towards civilisation is at present much too diffi- 
cult to be solved. 
Natural Selection as affecting Civilised Nations . — In 
the last and present chapters I have considered the 
advancement of man from a former semi-human con- 
dition to his present state as a barbarian. But some 
rem'arks on the agency of natural selection on civilised 
nations may be here worth adding. This subject has 
been ably discussed by Mr. W. B. Greg , 10 and previously 
9 ‘ The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication,’ vol. i. 
p. 309. 
10 ‘ Fraser’s Magazine,’ Sept. 1868, p. 353. This article seems to 
have struck many persons, and has given rise to two remarkable essays 
