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The Descent of Man

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wonderfully complex combination <strong>of</strong> high faculties,<br />

tends to be inherited; and, on the other<br />

hand, it is too certain that insanity and deteriorated<br />

mental powers likewise run in families.<br />

With respect to the causes <strong>of</strong> variability, we are<br />

in all cases very ignorant; but we can see that in<br />

man as in the lower animals, they stand in some<br />

relation to the conditions to which each<br />

species has been exposed, during several generations.<br />

Domesticated animals vary more than<br />

those in a state <strong>of</strong> nature; and this is apparently<br />

due to the diversified and changing nature <strong>of</strong><br />

the conditions to which they have been subjected.<br />

In this respect the different races <strong>of</strong> man<br />

resemble domesticated animals, and so do the<br />

individuals <strong>of</strong> the same race, when inhabiting a<br />

very wide area, like that <strong>of</strong> America. We see the<br />

influence <strong>of</strong> diversified conditions in the more<br />

civilised nations; for the members belonging to<br />

different grades <strong>of</strong> rank, and following different<br />

occupations, present a greater range <strong>of</strong>

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