Editing Paul Broca (section)

=== Evolution ===
In 1861 Broca published ''On the Phenomenon of Hybridity'' two years after Darwin's ''On the Origin of Species'' was published. Broca accepted evolution as one of the main elements of a broader explanation for diversification of species: "I am one of those who do not think that Charles Darwin has discovered the true agents of organic evolution; on the other hand I am not one of those who fail to recognize the greatness of his work ... Vital competition ... is a law; the resultant selection is a fact; individual variation, another fact."<ref>Schiller, 1979, p. 225</ref>

He came to reject polygenism as applied to humans, conceding that all races were of single origin. In 1866, after the discovery of a chinless and protruded [[Neanderthal]] jaw, he wrote: "I have already had occasion to state that I am not a Darwinist ... Yet I do not hesitate ... to call this the first link in the chain which, according to the Darwinists, extends from man to ape..."<ref>Shiller, 1979, p. 222</ref> He saw some differences between groups of animals as too distinct to be explained through evolution from a single source:{{blockquote|There is no reason for limiting to a single spot and single moment the spontaneous evolution of matter ... To me it seems most likely that centers of organization appeared in very different places and at very different periods ... This polygenic transformism is what I would be inclined to accept ... My objection against Darwinism would be invalid if it conceded that organized beings have an undetermined but considerable number of distinct origins and if structural analogies were no longer considered sufficient proof for common parentage.<ref>Schiller, 1979, p. 226</ref>}} Even on a narrower level Broca saw evolution as insufficient explanation for the presence of some traits:{{blockquote|Apply Darwin's thinking to the genus [[Bornean orangutan|Orang (''Satyrus)'']] ... He alone, of all the primates, has no nail on his big toe. Why? ... The Darwinists will answer that one day a certain Pithecus was born without a big toe nail, and his descendants have perpetuated this variety ... Let us call this ape ... ''Prosatyrus I'', as it behooves the founder of a dynasty ... While, according to the law of immediate heredity, some of his offspring were like their other ancestors in having a nail on every toe, one or more were deprived of the first nail like their father ... Thanks to natural selection, this character finally became constant ... But I do not see ... how this negative characteristic ... might give him advantage in the struggle for existence.<ref>Schiller, 1979, p. 232</ref>}}Ultimately, Broca believed that there had to be a process that ran parallel to evolution, to fully explain the origins of, and divergences, between different species.<ref>Shiller, 1979, pp. 231–32.</ref>