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"The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex." By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. 8vo. New York, 1871. (D. Appleton & Son.)

The chief study of man will continue to be, as it heretofore has been, man; the remarkable work before us however, suggests vividly by what different methods this same study may be pursued. A few years since, man was very generally regarded as a creature in origin and attributes, altogether apart from the rest of creation, a being who might be contrasted but could not be compared with his brute associates. At that time, it would have been deemed folly to attempt to read the history of the first stages of the human individual, in the modifications of structure that obtain in the lowest vertebrates; whilst to attribute to animals generally, the profession of anything more than blind instinct, of any intelligence at all resembling the reasoning powers of man, was regarded as little better than impiety.

The progress of knowledge seems to be dispelling this exclusive view of man's relations to the rest of living beings, as utterly illusive, and however little we may be inclined to tie ourselves down to the doctrines of Darwin or any other philosopher, yet it daily becomes more certain that if the history of man's creation is to be rightly interpreted, it can only be so by the light that science and inductive reasoning cast upon it, and not by any a priori assumptions of what he ought or ought not to be. Thus admitting for argument that the development of the human race, as that of the individual, has been gradual, we cannot ever hope to indicate the epoch at which the man-like animal attained to the supernatural characters of a "living soul," any more than we can name the moment at which each individual animal-like fœtus assumes the same responsibilities. In these questions however, we must render strictly to science that which is hers; she is the interpreter of an intelligence higher than our own, and in her own field must be implicitly followed.

Darwin's peculiar views unmistakeably enunciated in the present work, are the logical consequences of the train of reasoning followed in his "Origin of Species," but not, in that work, pressed to its inevitable conclusion, namely: that man is descended directly from some man-like ape, and that "with all his noble qualities, with all these exalted powers, man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin." [Descent 2: 405 (truncated)]

For the evidence and arguments by which Darwin supports this proposition, we must refer the reader to the book itself, mentioning however, that it cannot be fully and justly comprehended, without a preparatory careful perusal of his previous works. Should Darwin's hypothesis even be generally admitted, we confess that we do not see that it necessarily involves any degradation of our idea of ourselves, if it does not tend to narrow the chasm that exists between man and the lower animals, does it not do so rather by elevating our conception of the rest of God's creation than by lowering our idea of man?

The work before us is largely occupied by a second supplementary treatise on "Sexual Selection." Sexual Selection is one phase of Natural Selection, and "depends on the advantage which certain individuals have over other individuals of the same sex and species, in exclusive relation to reproduction." [Descent1: 256]

The prominence here given to the elucidation of this principle, is necessitated by the importance which the author assigns to it, as an agent in the gradual modification of the human race. He says, "for my own part I conclude that of all the causes which have led to the differences in external appearance between the races of man, and to a certain extent between man and the lower animals, sexual selection has been by far the most efficient." [Descent 2: 384]

Not only is "the greater size, strength, courage, pugnacity, and even energy of man, in comparison with the same qualities of woman," and "the greater intellectual vigor and power of invention in man is probably due to natural selection combined with the inherited effects of habit," but it is not improbable "that by it women have acquired sweeter voices and become more beautiful than men." However much the reader may differ from the views of Darwin, he will not begrudge the time spent upon a careful examination of them; he will be able to discuss them intelligently, and will at least appreciate the enormous mass of observation and erudition, which has been at command in support of them, and from which he will undoubtedly gather much that will make him painfully aware of how little he has hitherto known or thought upon that very important subject, "himself."