56 THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION 



evidently derived from a common source. Another 

 group of common origin is that of the Teutonic 

 languages, German, Danish, Swedish, Dutch, Eng- 

 lish, etc., while a third group, that of the Slavonic 

 tongues, is a natural assemblage of related languages, 

 as is that of the Celtic group. A wider comparison 

 indicates that all of these European languages, to- 

 gether with Persian, Hindustani, Lithuanian, etc., 

 form a related group, the Indo-European, in con- 

 tradistinction to the so-called Semitic and Turanian 

 families. It is an obvious conclusion that all of the 

 Indo-European languages had a common origin at a 

 very ancient date and that this common speech split 

 up into a number of branches, each of which, in 

 turn, became divided into many languages and 

 dialects. 



The argument from comparative anatomy in fa- 

 vour of the evolutionary hypothesis would be notably 

 strengthened by a consideration of rudimentary 

 organs, but this line of evidence can best be dealt 

 with in connection with embryology. 



