s that each animal is capable of modifications which in the
course of generations amount to a wide divergence of type.

"If a single animal can be shown to have varied considerably under
domestication, the first conclusion is proved to be inadmissible, and
the second to be in conformity with the laws of nature."

This is a milder version of Buffon's conclusion (see _ante_, pp. 90,
91). It is a little grating to read the words "la mienne propre,"
and to recall no mention of Buffon in the 'Philosophie Zoologique.'

"Animal forms then are the result of conditions of life and of the
habits engendered thereby. With new forms new faculties are developed,
and thus nature has little by little evolved the existing
differentiations of animal and vegetable life."[316]

Lamarck makes no exception in man's favour to the rule of descent with
modification. He supposes that a race of quadrumanous apes gradually
acquired the upright position in walking, with a corresponding
modification of the feet and facial angle. Such a race having become
master of all the other animals, spread itself over all parts of the
world that suited it. It hunted out the other higher races which were in
a condition to dispute with it for enjoyment of the world's
productions, and drove them to take refuge in such places as it did not
desire to occupy. It checked the increase of the races nearest itself,
and kept them exiled in woods and desert places, so that their further
development was arrested, while itself, able to spread in all
directions, to multiply without opposition, and to lead a social life,
it developed new requirements one after another, which urged it to
industrial pursuits, and gradually perfected its capabilities.
Eventually this pre-eminent race, having acquired absolute supremacy,
came to be widely different from even the most perfect of the lower
animals.

"Certain apes approach man more nearly than any other animal approaches
him; nevertheless, they are far inferior to him, both in bodily and
mental capacity. Some of them frequently stand upright, but as they do
not habitually maintain this attitude, their organization has not been
sufficiently modified to prevent it from being irksome to them to stand
for long together. They fall on all fours immediately at the approach of
danger. This reveals their true origin.[317]

"But is the upright position altogether natural, even to man? He uses it
in moving from place to place, but still st