PDF - Wallace Online

168 NATURAL SELECTION ^vnrfresh evidence to clear up those points which all admit to befull of doubt, on other and not less obscure and difficultquestions a considerable amount of dogmatism is exhibited ;doctrines are put forward as established truths, no doubt orhesitation is admitted, and it seems to be supposed that nofurther evidence is required, or that any new facts canmodify our convictions. This is especially the case when weinquire, Are the various forms under which man nowexists primitive, or derived from pre-existing forms ;inother words, is man of one or many species ? To this questionwe immediately obtain distinct answers diametricallyopposed to each other the one party : positively maintainingthat man is a species and is essentially one that all differencesare but local and temporary variations, produced by thedifferent physical and moral conditions by which he issurrounded ;the other party maintaining with equal confidencethat man is a genus of many species, each of whichis practically unchangeable, and has ever been as distinct, oreven more distinct, than we now behold them. This differenceof opinion is somewhat remarkable, when we considerthat both parties are well acquainted with the subject ;bothuse the same vast accumulation of facts ;both reject thoseearly traditions of mankind which profess to give an accountof his origin ;and both declare that they are seeking fearlesslyafter truth alone ; yet each will persist in looking onlyat the portion of truth on his own side of the question, and atthe error which is mingled with his opponent's doctrine. Itis my wish to show how the two opposing views can be combined,so as to eliminate the error and retain the truth ineach, and it isby means of Mr. Darwin's celebrated theoryof Natural Selection that I hope to do this, and thus to harmonisethe conflicting theories of modern anthropologists.Let us first see what each party has to say for itself. Infavour of the unity of mankind it isargued that there areno races without transitions to others ;that every raceexhibits within itself variations of colour, of hair, of feature,and of form, to such a degree as to bridge over, to a largeextent, the gap that separates it from other races. It isasserted that no race ishomogeneous that there is a tendencyto vary; that climate, food, and habits produce,;and