The Origin of Human Races and the Antiquity of Man Deduced from Natural Selection

...by corresponding external physical changes. In this way, those striking characteristics and special modifications arose that still distinguish the primary races of mankind: the red, black, yellow, or blushing white skin; the straight, curly, or woolly hair; the sparse or abundant beard; the straight or slanted eyes; and the various shapes of the pelvis, the skull cranium, and other parts of the skeleton.

But while these physical changes were occurring, man's mental development had advanced at the same rate. It had now reached a state where it began to powerfully influence his entire existence, and it would, therefore, become subject to the irresistible force of "natural selection." This process would rapidly give dominance to the mind. Speech would likely first be developed at this stage, leading to a further advancement of mental faculties. From that moment on, man's physical form would remain almost stationary. The art of making weapons, the division of labor, the anticipation of the future, the restraint of physical impulses, and the development of moral, social, and sympathetic feelings would now have a dominant influence on his well-being. Therefore, these would be the parts of his nature upon which "natural selection" would act most powerfully. This explains the remarkable endurance of physical characteristics, which is the main obstacle original: "stumbling-block" for those who argue for the common origin original: "unity" of mankind.

We are now, therefore, able to reconcile the conflicting views of anthropologists on this subject. Man may have been—indeed, I believe he must have been—once a uniform homogeneous race. However, this was during a period from which we have not yet discovered any remains; it was a time so remote in his history that he had not yet acquired that wonderfully developed brain—the organ of the mind—which now, even in the least developed examples, raises him far above the highest animals original: "brutes". This was a period when he had the form, but hardly the nature, of a human; he possessed neither human speech nor those sympathetic and moral feelings which, to a greater or lesser degree, now distinguish the human race everywhere.

Just as these truly human faculties developed, his physical features became fixed and permanent, because the latter were of less importance to his well-being. He was kept in harmony with the slowly changing universe around him by an advancement in mind rather than by a change in body. If, therefore, we believe that he was not truly "man" until these higher faculties were developed, we may fairly assert that there were many originally distinct races of men. On the other hand, if we think that a being similar to us in form and structure, but with mental faculties scarcely higher than an animal's, must still be considered human, then we are fully justified in maintaining the common origin of all mankind.

These considerations allow us to place the origin of man at a much more remote geological age epoch than has previously been thought possible. He may even have lived in the Eocene or Miocene periods, when not a single mammal possessed the same form as any species living today. For, during the long series of ages in which the forms of these ancient primeval mammals were being slowly adapted original: "specialised" into the forms of those now inhabiting the earth, the power that acted to modify them would...