Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- INTRODUCTION
- PART I ON THE DESCENT OF MAN
- CHAPTER I THE EVIDENCE OF THE DESCENT OF MAN FEOM SOME LOWER FORM
- CHAPTER II COMPARISON OF THE MENTAL POWERS OF MAN AND THE LOWER ANIMALS
- CHAPTER III COMPARISON OF THE MENTAL POWERS OF MAN AND THE LOWER ANIMAL—continued
- CHAPTER IV ON THE MANNER OF DEVELOPMENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM
- CHAPTER V ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL FACULTIES DURING PRIMEVAL AND CIVILISED TIMES
- CHAPTER VI ON THE AFFINITIES AND GENEALOGY OF MAN
- CHAPTER VII ON THE RACES OF MAN
- PART II SEXUAL SELECTION
CHAPTER I - THE EVIDENCE OF THE DESCENT OF MAN FEOM SOME LOWER FORM
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- INTRODUCTION
- PART I ON THE DESCENT OF MAN
- CHAPTER I THE EVIDENCE OF THE DESCENT OF MAN FEOM SOME LOWER FORM
- CHAPTER II COMPARISON OF THE MENTAL POWERS OF MAN AND THE LOWER ANIMALS
- CHAPTER III COMPARISON OF THE MENTAL POWERS OF MAN AND THE LOWER ANIMAL—continued
- CHAPTER IV ON THE MANNER OF DEVELOPMENT OF MAN FROM SOME LOWER FORM
- CHAPTER V ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL FACULTIES DURING PRIMEVAL AND CIVILISED TIMES
- CHAPTER VI ON THE AFFINITIES AND GENEALOGY OF MAN
- CHAPTER VII ON THE RACES OF MAN
- PART II SEXUAL SELECTION
Summary
He who wishes to decide whether man is the modified descendant of some pre-existing form, would probably first enquire whether man varies, however slightly, in bodily structure and in mental faculties; and if so, whether the variations are transmitted to his offspring in accordance with the laws which prevail with the lower animals; such as that of the transmission of characters to the same age or sex. Again, are the variations the result, as far as our ignorauce permits us to judge, of the same general causes, and are they governed by the same general laws, as in the case of other organisms; for instance by correlation, the inherited effects of use and disuse, &c.? Is man subject to similar malconformations, the result of arrested development, of reduplication of parts, &c, and does he display in any of his anomalies reversion to some former and ancient type of structure? It might also naturally be enquired whether man, like so many other animals, has given rise to varieties and sub-races, differing but slightly from each other, or to races differing so much that they must be classed as doubtful species? How are such races distributed over the world; and how, when crossed, do they react on each other, both in the first and succeeding generations? And so with many other points.
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- The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex , pp. 9 - 33Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009