Quote: neither man's brain nor hairless back are explained by natural selection; e.g., people typically cover their back

Quotation

We must now enquire if we have any evidence to show ..., that a hairy covering to the back would be in any degree hurtful to savage man, or to man in any stage of his progress from his lower animal form ... One of the most common habits of savages is to use some covering for the back and shoulders, even when they have none on any other part of the body. ... [p. 347] Even in the tropics most savages take precautions to keep their backs dry. The natives of Timor use the leaf of a fan palm, carefully stitched up and folded, which they always carry with them, and when, held over the back, forms an admirable protection from the rain. ... [p. 348] It seems to me, to be absolutely certain, that "Natural Selection" could not have produced man's hairless body by the accumulation of variations from a hairy ancestor. .... Two characters could hardly be wider apart, than the size and development of man's brain, and the distribution of hair upon the surface of his body, yet they both lead us to the same conclusion--- [p. 340] that some other power than Natural Selection has been engaged in his production.   Google-1   Google-2

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Related Topics

Topic: evolutionary systems (38 items)