ariation and Geographical Distribution
as illustrated by the Papilionidae of the Malayan Region." "Linn.
Soc. Trans." XXV.) I feel sure that such papers will do more for the
spreading of our views on the modification of species than any separate
treatises on the simple subject itself. It is really admirable; but you
ought not in the Man paper to speak of the theory as mine; it is just
as much yours as mine. One correspondent has already noticed to me your
"high-minded" conduct on this head.

But now for your Man paper, about which I should like to write more than
I can. The great leading idea is quite new to me--viz. that during late
ages the mind will have been modified more than the body; yet I had got
as far as to see with you, that the struggle between the races of man
depended entirely on intellectual and moral qualities. The latter part
of the paper I can designate only as grand and most eloquently done. I
have shown your paper to two or three persons who have been here, and
they have been equally struck with it. I am not sure that I go with you
on all minor points: when reading Sir G. Grey's account of the constant
battles of Australian savages, I remember thinking that Natural
Selection would come in, and likewise with the Esquimaux, with whom the
art of fishing and managing canoes is said to be hereditary. I rather
differ on the rank, under a classificatory point of view, which you
assign to man; I do not think any character simply in excess ought ever
to be used for the higher divisions. Ants would not be separated from
other hymenopterous insects, however high the instinct of the one, and
however low the instincts of the other. With respect to the differences
of race, a conjecture has occurred to me that much may be due to the
correlation of complexion (and consequently hair) with constitution.
Assume that a dusky individual best escaped miasma, and you will
readily see what I mean. I persuaded the Director-General of the Medical
Department of the Army to send printed forms to the surgeons of all
regiments in tropical countries to ascertain this point, but I daresay
I shall never get any returns. Secondly, I suspect that a sort of sexual
selection has been the most powerful means of changing the races of man.
I can show that the different races have a widely different standard of
beauty. Among savages the most powerful men will have the pick of
the women, and they will generally leave the most descendants. I h