These suggestions involve a conception of the inind that is in harmony with known facts. From time to time prodigies are born with some talent far greater than the gifts possessed by the parents. About twelve years ago a young native of Piedmont, Jacques Inaudi by name, became famous in Paris on account of his extraordinary power of calculation. He had an astonishing memory for figures, and could perform mathematical calculations with surprising rapidity.* Two minutes were sufficient for him to multiply two numbers composed of seven and six figures. Other arithmetical calculations, such as the extraction of roots, gave him but little trouble. To attain this result, Inaudi made use of his extraordinary memory for figures, founded on the persistence of auditory images. When he heard the numbers pronounced, he remembered them. Inaudi declared to the Commission convened by the Academy of Sciences, that when he tried to recall the numbers he heard them as if repeated aloud, in the tone of his own voice, and that he could hear them for the greater part of the day. "In an hour, or in two hours' time, if I thought of the number that was uttered, I should be able to repeat it as exactly as I have done before the Commission." Now this very extraordinary and rare auditory memory was developed in an altogether abrupt way. Inaudi, the son of poor peasants of Piedmont, passed the first years. of his life as a shepherd. At the age of six his wonderful faculty of calculating figures appeared. He did not know at this time how to read or to write. At eleven years of age he astonished the members of the Anthropological * Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences," 1892, pp. 275, 1329; "Revue scientifique," 1880, p. 1124. Society of Paris by his phenomenal memory, and it was only much later, at the age of twenty, that he learnt to read and write. Neither of the parents of Inaudi had shown in the slightest degree a calculating faculty like that of little Jacques. It must then be admitted that it was developed as suddenly as the new qualities in the Evening Primrose that we have already mentioned. The first men, also, were probably ingenious children, born of anthropoid parents. This hypothesis very well explains the fact that man is more like the fœtus and the young of anthropoid apes than the adult animals, and exhibits only a trace of many organs which are much more developed in simian species. A very distinguished German anatomist, Wiedersheim,* has given in a pamphlet a resumé of our actual knowledge of the organs of man from the point of view of their descent. He has found fifteen organs which show in the human species a considerable advance on those of anthropoid apes. The chief of these are the lower limb, well adapted for a constant erect carriage of the body; the strengthening of the pelvis and of the sacrum, as well as the broadening of the more slender pelvis of the female; the curvature of the lumbar part of the vertebral column; the development of the buttocks and of the calves; the difference of certain muscles of the face; the nose; certain strands from the brain to the spinal cord; the occipital lobe of the brain; the greater development of the cerebral cortex, and, lastly, the considerable differentiation of the muscles of the larynx which permit speech. But besides these progressive organs, Wiedersheim has counted seventeen decaying organs, still able to fulfil their physiological function in a more or less incomplete * "Der Bau des Menschen," Third Edition, 1902. manner (amongst these are the decadent muscles of the leg and foot; the eleventh and twelfth pairs of ribs, the toes, the cæcum, etc.), and not less than one hundred and seven rudimentary organs which serve no useful physiological purpose (to this category belong the coccyx-the vestige of a tail-the thirteenth pair of ribs in the adult, the muscles of the ear, the vermiform appendage, etc.). We have already shown in the preceding chapter the great importance of rudimentary organs as aids to the tracing of the genealogy of organisms. These organs, useless at present, are the vestiges of similar but more developed organs, which fulfilled a useful function in our ancestors. The extraordinary quantity of rudimentary organs in man furnishes another proof of his animal origin, and puts at the disposal of science information of great value for the philosophic conception of human nature. CHAPTER IV DISHARMONIES IN THE ORGANISATION OF THE Perfection of the human form-The covering of hair— ALTHOUGH he is a recent arrival on the earth, man has made great progress as compared with his ancestors, the anthropoid apes. A comparison between even the lower races of man, such as the Hottentots or the aborigines of Australia and higher types such as the inhabitants of Europe and of North Africa, shows that a very great advance has been made. Human art has been able to surpass nature in many instances. No natural sound is so perfect as some of the more beautiful pieces of modern music. Even in the production of form, man has triumphed over nature. Breeders of flowers or of birds seek to produce new varieties. With this object they often frame a conception of what they desire to produce, and, so to speak, set about to realise their programme. They prepare ideal images to serve them as guides in the process of production. By the method of artificial selection they often succeed in their wishes, and add to their collections some remarkable form. In such fashions aviculture and horticulture have produced birds and flowers more beautiful than any found in nature. In regard to the human body, attempts have been made to surpass nature and to represent a body corresponding to an artistic ideal. To arrive at something more beautiful than man, the wings of birds or the characters of some other creatures have been added to his presentment. Such attempts have had no other result than to show that the human form, as created by nature, cannot be surpassed. The ancient conception of the human body as the artistic ideal has been fully justified. The views of those religious fanatics who have thrown contempt on the body by representing it in degraded forms, must be rejected. It is impossible, however, to apply this result to our conception of the nature of man in general. The beautiful form of the human body appears only in youth and in ' maturity. In old age, the bodies of men and women are generally ugly, and in extreme old age it is almost impossible to see the traces of former beauty. Nor can conceptions of perfection drawn from the human face and body be extended to the whole of man's organisation. A glance at some of the organic systems will make this plain. The human skin is covered with little hairs, the history of which is interesting. In one stage of embryonic life nearly the whole of the body is clad with hairs. This covering is known as the lanugo, and consists of strands of hair, disposed very regularly all over the body, save on the nose and the hands and feet. There is no doubt but that this is functionless, and is no more than an inheritance from the |