Evolution; Knowledge, Theory of; Philosophy and religion
flowing from single causes, we here find, what we before inferred, not
only an increase of general heterogeneity, but also of special
heterogeneity. While of the divergent divisions and subdivisions of the
human race, many have undergone changes not constituting an advance;
others have become decidedly more heterogeneous. The civilized European
departs more widely from the vertebrate archetype than does the savage.
* * * * *
§ 120. A sensation does not expend itself in arousing some single state
of consciousness; but the state of consciousness aroused is made up of
various represented sensations connected by co-existence, or sequence
with the presented sensation. And that, in proportion as the grade of
intelligence is high, the number of ideas suggested is great, may be
readily inferred. Let us, however, look at the proof that here too, each
change is the parent of many changes; and that the multiplication
increases in proportion as the area affected is complex.
Were some hitherto unknown bird, driven say by stress of weather from
the remote north, to make its appearance on our shores, it would excite
no speculation in the sheep or cattle amid which it alighted: a
perception of it as a creature like those constantly flying about, would
be the sole interruption of that dull current of consciousness which
accompanies grazing and rumination. The cow-herd, by whom we may suppose
the exhausted bird to be presently caught, would probably gaze at it
with some slight curiosity, as being unlike any he had before seen—would
note its most conspicuous markings, and vaguely ponder on the questions,
where it came from, and how it came. The village bird-stuffer would have
suggested to him by the sight of it, sundry forms to which it bore a
little resemblance; would receive from it more numerous and more
specific impressions respecting structure and plumage; would be reminded
of various instances of birds brought by storms from foreign parts—would
tell who found them, who stuffed them, who bought them. Supposing the
unknown bird taken to a naturalist of the old school, interested only in
externals, (one of those described by the late Edward Forbes, as
examining animals as though they were merely skins filled with straw,)
it would excite in him a more involved series of mental changes: there
would be an elaborate examination of the feathers, a noting of all their
technical distinctions, with a reduction of these perceptions to certain
equivalent written symbols; reasons for referring the new form to a
particular family, order, and genus would be sought out and written
down; communications with the secretary of some society, or editor of
some journal, would follow; and probably there would be not a few
thoughts about the addition of the _ii_ to the describer’s name, to form
the name of the species. Lastly, in the mind of a comparative anatomist,
such a new species, should it happen to have any marked internal
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