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Show 184 THE DESCENT OF M.AN. PART J. ginally civilised and then suffered ~t.ter degrada~ion in. so many regions, is to take a pitiably low VIew of human nature. It is apparently a truer and more cheerful view that progress has been much more general than retrogression; that man has risen, tho~?h by slow and interrupted steps, from a lowly condition to the highest standard as yet attained by him in lmowledge, morals, and religion. CIIAI'. Vl. .AFFINITIES .AND GENEALOGY. 185 CHAPTER VI. ON 'fHE Al' FL'H'flES AND GENEALOGY OF MAN. Position of man in the animal series- The natural system genealogical- Adaptive characters of slight value- Various small points of rcsem blance between man and the Quad rum anaHank of man in the natural system-Birthplace and antiquity of man- Absence of fossil connecting-links - Lower stages in the genealogy of man, as infErred, firstly from his affinities and ~econdly from his structure- Early androgynous condition of the Vertebrata- Conclusion. EVEN if it be granted that the difference between man .and his nearest allies is as great in corporeal structure as some naturalists maintain, and although we must grant that the difference between them is immense in mental power, yet the facts given in the previous chnpters declare, as it appears to me, in the plainest manner, that man is descended from some lower form, notwithstanding that connecting-links have not hitherto been discovered. Man is liable to numerous, slight, and diversified variations, which are induced by the same general ·causes, are governed and transmitted in accordance with the same general laws, as in the lower animals . .Man tends to multiply at so rapid a rate that his off:. spring are necessarily exposed to a struggle for existence, and consequently to natural selection. He bas given rise to many races, some of which are so different that they have often been ranked by naturalists as distinct species. His body is constructed on the same homo' logical plan as that of other mammals, independently .of the uses to which the several parts may be put. He |