The faculty of articulate speech, which we must regard as an accidental result of the great brain development, has given the human species that great advantage which it possesses over all other animals of being able to accumulate knowledge and experience from generation to generation. It is this mass of experience, which is not inherent in man's nature, but has to be impressed afresh on each successive generation, which accounts for man's unique position in the animal world. But it is no part of the scheme of this book to deal with the evolution of language or invention or culture, and we must conclude. Mankind are divisible into many types and races, some of which, like the Australian aborigines and the Veddas of Ceylon, are relatively primitive, others like the Germanic races being undoubtedly high in the series. None of the differences are sufficient, however, to make it necessary to regard mankind except as members of a single species. The lower races have from time to time disappeared before the higher, and the process continues at the present time. However much we may regret it, this process has undoubtedly been a great factor in the progress of the species as a whole. [Illustration: FIG. 142. Skulls of Lemur. Chimpanzee. Australian Bushman. Skulls of Howling monkey (Mycetes). Pithecanthropus (restored). European man.] [Illustration: FIG. 143.--Skull of Primitive Man, from Le Moustier.] [Illustration: FIG. 144.--The Heidelberg lower jaw (_Homo primigenius_).] [Illustration: FIG. 145.--Bust of _Homo primigenius_, by Hyatt Meyer.] [Illustration: FIG. 146.--Australian Bushman.] Within the cultivated races, however, man has practically ceased to evolve, at least in so far as concerns the main lines on which his Evolution has thus far proceeded. For in creating the artificial conditions of civilisation, he refuses any longer to be governed by the stern law of nature, which decides that the fit shall live and multiply, and the unfit surely perish. There is in fact evidence that conditions of civilisation are making for retrogression rather than for progress, a state of affairs that is worthy of the most serious consideration. The only rational and scientific remedy that has been offered for this state of affairs is the institution of some moderate system of artificially guiding man's further Evolution. PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN. * * * * * Transcriber's Notes: Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. Minor punctuation and printer errors repaired. Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including obsolete and variant spellings and other inconsistencies. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Evolution, by James A. S. Watson