PDF - Wallace Online

vin THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN RACES 183into some other animal as different from his present self as heis from the gorilla or the chimpanzee and who; speculate onwhat this form is likely to be. But it is evident that suchwill not be the case ;for no change of conditions is conceivablewhich will render any important alteration of hisform and organisation so universally useful and necessary tohim, as to give those possessing it always thebest chance ofsurviving, and thus lead to the development of a new species,genus, or higher group of man. On the other hand, weknow that far greater changes of conditions and of his entireenvironment have been undergone by man than any otherhighly organised animal could survive unchanged, and havebeen met by mental, not corporeal adaptation. The differenceof habits, of food, clothing, weapons, and enemies betweensavage and civilised man is enormous. Difference in bodilyform and structure there is practically none, except a slightlyincreased size of brain, corresponding to his higher mentaldevelopment.We have every reason to believe, then, that man mayhave existed, and may continue to exist, through a series ofgeological periods which shall see all other forms of animallife again and again changed while he himself remains un-;changed, except in the two particulars already specified thehead and face, as immediately connected with the organ ofthe mind and as being the medium of expressingthe mostrefined emotions of his nature, and to a slight extent incolour, hair, and proportions,so far as they are correlatedwith constitutional resistance to disease.SummaryBriefly to recapitulate the argument; in two distinctways has man escaped the influence of those laws which haveproduced unceasing change in the animal world. 1. By hissuperior intellect he is enabled to provide himself with clothingand weapons, and by cultivating the soil to obtain a constantsupply of congenial food. This renders it unnecessaryfor his body to be modified in accordance with changing conditionsto gain a warmer natural covering, to acquire morepowerful teeth or claws, or to become adapted to obtain anddigest new kinds of food, as circumstances may require. 2.