34 
pervading it, and I look upon him not only as a very dangerous writer, but 
L one whom it is difficult to meet. I think, however, that Mr. Reddle has 
shown him to be wrong on many points. There is much in this paper wi 
which I cordially agree, some with which I do not. For instance, in 
26th Section the author says 
« And as human flesh is not wholesome food, and ‘ does not agree ’with 
7 IV pofTl am not surprised to find its consumption may vary, and 
be°Lt ^ven ’upTor n : t time P ; but this can scarcely be regarded as any 
proof of a decided step from savagery. 
Now when a race of men, who have been in the habit of eating one another, 
give up that habit, I must say that it is a decided step from savagery, 
can hardly think that such a habit would be given up because of human flesh 
being « unwholesome.” Cannibalism has been given up amongst the in- 
habitants of New Zealand, and it is said that those who have given t up 
consider it a gross insult to have it said that they would be capable of 
returning to it. No doubt that result has been brought about by the contact 
and influence of superior civilized Christian races* Then in e same 
paragraph : — 
“Let me ask, is not the Hama ‘domestic’ by nature 1 Has any wild 
animal ever been domesticated ? 
As soon as we domesticate an animal, the assumption is that it never was 
wild, and it becomes impossible to prove it either way, but the P res "“^ on 
ought to be more in favour of original wildness than original domesticatio . 
Another point in the paper to which I wish refer to is one which has 
frequently been before us— I mean Darwinism ; but no allusion, that I am 
aware of, has ever yet been made to the fact that what is called Dar™m 
did not originate with Darwin. Mr. Reddie has, however, given a kind of 
hint of that in his 32nd Section, where he says 
“On the other hand, we have another hypothesis to consider, which has 
been more than onceWhed to 
or of one, into which life was first breathed by the Creator. 
Now this identical theory was published at least nine ^ ^ “arwin 
did so by a Dr. M. Freke, of Dublin, in his work on Organism. His 
theory wL this, that all living creatures “were evolved from some pri- 
mary creation of a few forms, or of one, into which life was first breathed by 
the Creator.” 
* A long residence at the Antipodes enables me to state tha Jj * 
found this tnbe a fact. But natives have returned to ^cannibalism ^here the 
influences of civilization have been only partial and transient. E . 
