The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1860-03-01
The brotherhood Of Man.

The recent work of CHARLES DARWIN,
on the Origin of the Species BY means OF
Natural Selection, if we may judge from
The few brief notices we have seen Of it,
is not only new but a very important
contribution to the department of natur-
al history, and unfolds the simplicity and
eternity of those laws by which the uni
verse is governed. In DARwIS's work,
it would seem, he has arrived at mode
of accounting for the diversity of the
specific forms Of organic life, as well
past as present, which is, in measure,
peculiar to himself. The doctrine OF the
celebrated French naturalist, LAMARCK,
made transmutation to depend mainly up
on the efforts of the animal, and this was
the foundation OF the hypothesis of the
author of Testiges Of Creation, who solv-
ed the problem by the idea OF consecu-
tive development. According to OAR
ence nhfhSah aoq gong oh II our i
there is perpetual process OF Natural
Selection, whereby the vigor of each race
and its adaptation to its conditions of ex-
istence are maintained at the highest point
of which it is capable, so long as those
conditions remain constant; and it is ow-
,ny to the small amount of change which
takes place in them within our limited
observation. that specific types acquire
that character of permanence which is
attributed to them. Thus DARWIN gives
ND the notion that species have origina-
ted by distinct acts of creation, and that
their forms have been permanently trans
mitted.
Ii DARwIN's principle OF natural selec-
ton is admitted, the terms used BY nat
uralists, of affinity, relationship, COM
munity Of type. paternity, morphology'
adaptive characters, rudimentary and
abortiye organs, &c, will cease to be
metaphorical, and will have plain sig
MITIGATION. The question is an interesting
one to the natural historian, the physiol-
ogist, the psychologist, the theologian,
the politician, and the legislator. 1t
does away with the idea that one variety
Of the human race was created to be the
slave of another, and establishes the sem
liment that /" the whole world ia XII" -
1t throws new light upon the difference
aud fusion Of human races, and upon the
future progress and destiny of man.
No form of civilization hitherto has
been able to maintain itself beyond few
centuries. The old civilizations. the
Egyptian, Assyrian. Greek. Roman, sue
cessfully passed away. Whatever other
causes may have contributed to their de-
cay, the most prominent scems to have
been this, that they were civilization
of races, and not of the race; of the
Caucasian or Monaghan. and not OF
man. ghey were aliexclusive. and when
they extended themselves BY conquest,
the conquered people, even when of the
same race, were made slaves. instead OF
being made fellow citizens and fused with
the conquerors. This statement, OF
course, is general, overlooking all other
modifying circumstances. They all rest
ed on force, and because they did so,
and because they were partial. fragment
AIRY and exclusive, they failed. No sim
gle race can achieve, because no single
race possesses, al, the qualities necessary
Tor true. manly and permanent .civiliza-
lion. Zach race, or none properly, each
variety Of mankind, 'isa distinguished
from the others BY the predomlnanceofcer-
.aA, characteristics, intsllec,ual, moral or
physical, which are less prominent iaahe
Others. But al are necessary TO make
Up The entire and pertec4 man. who can
acbieye the ultimate civifizHtionuf h1, :
o t~'rs- = 1.C9 - ~ I'D