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Show 178 THE DESCENT OF MAN. PART l. risen if the power of natural selection were real, ~il~ high~r in the scale, increased in number, an~ stoc e the whole of Europe. llere we have the taCit assumption so often made with respect to corporeal struc~ures, tha; there is some innate tendency towards contmue~ development in mind and body. But development .o all kinds depends on many concurrent f~vourable ~~rcumstances. Natural selection acts only m a tenta~Ive . Individuals and races may have acqmred mann.e r. . a· table advantaaes and yet h ave pen·s h ea certam m Ispu ' o ' f rom c .1. . other· characters The Greeks may have 1a1 mg m · retrograded from a. want of col:erence b~tween the many small states, from the small size of their whole coun_try, from the practice of slavery, or ~rom extreme sensuality; for they did not succumb until "they were enerv~ted " and corrupt to the very core." 25 The western natw~s of Europe, who now so immeasurably surpass ~heir former savage progenitors and stand a~ the su_mr~ut of civilisation, owe little or none of thmr superiOrity to direct inheritance from the old Greeks; though they owe much to the written works of this wonderful people. Who can positively say why the Spanish nation, so dominant at one time, has been distanced in the race. The awakening of the nations of Europe from the dark ages is a still more perplexing problem. At this early period, as :M:r. Galton 26 has rem_arked, almo~t all the men of a gentle nature, those given to me~Itation or culture of the mind, had no refuge _except m the bosom of the Church which demanded celibacy ; 25 Mr. Greg,' Fraser's Magazine,' Sept. 1868, p. 357. 2s 'Hereditary Genius,' 1870, p. 357-359. The Rev. F. H. Farrar ('Fraser's Mag.', Aug. 1870, p. 257) advances arguments, on th~ other side. Sir C. Lyell had already(' Principles of Geology •. ':ol. n. 1868, p. 489) called attention, in a striking passage, to the _ev1lmfl.uence of the Holy Inquisition in having lowered, through selectwn, the general standard of intelligence in Europe. CIVILISED NATIONS. 179 ~nd this could hardly fail to have had a deteriorating mfluence. on each successive generation. During this .same perwd the Holy Inquisition selected with extreme ~are the freest and boldest men in order to burn or 1m prison them. In Spain alone some of the best menthose who doubted and questioned, and without doubting there can be no progress-were eliminated durino· three -ce~turies at the rate of a thousand a year. The evil wluch the Catholic Church has thus effected, though no dou~t counterbalanced to a certain, perhaps large extent m other ways, is incalculable ; nevertheless~ Europe has progressed at an unparalleled rate. , The remarkable success of the English as colonists over other European nations, which is well illustrated bv comparing the progress of the Canadians of Eno-lish and French extraction, has been ascribed to their 0 " daring ." an~ persistent energy;" but who can say how the .Enghsh gai~ed their ~nergy. There is apparently much truth m the behef that the wonderful proaress {)f the United States, as well as the character of the people, _are the results of natural selection; the more energetiC, restless, and courageous men from all parts .of Europe ha\ing emigrated during the last ten or twelve generatio2~s to tha~ great country, and having there succee_ded best. ' Lookmg to the distant future, I :do n?t thmk that the Rev. Mr. Zincke takes an exaggerated view when he says :28 "All other series of events-as "that which resulted in the culture of mind in Greece "and that which resulted in the empire of Rome-onl; ::appear _to ha_ve purpose and value when viewed in " connectiOn With, or rather as subsidiary to .... the great stream of .Anglo-Saxon emigration to the west." ------- 27 Mr. Galton, •;Macmillan's Magazine,' August 1865 p 325 S ;al~~·: Nature,:" On. Darwinism and National Life," Dec. i869, . ·184.ee, Last Wmter m the United States,' 1868, p. 29. p N2 |
