CHAP, xviii PAST HISTORY 357 



7. The Ascent of Man. In one of the works of Broca, a 

 pioneer anthropologist of renown, there is an eloquent 

 apology for those who find it useful to consider man's 

 zoological relations. 



" Pride," he says, " which is one of the most character- 

 istic traits of our nature, has prevailed with many 

 minds over the calm testimony of reason. Like the 

 Roman emperors who, enervated by all their power, 

 ended by denying their character as men in fact, by 

 believing themselves demigods so the king of our planet 

 pleases himself by imagining that the vile animal, subject 

 to his caprices, cannot have anything in common with 

 his peculiar nature. The proximity of the monkey 

 vexes him ; it is not enough to be king of animals, he 

 wishes to separate himself from his subjects by a deep 

 unfathomable abyss ; and, turning his back upon the 

 earth, he takes refuge with his menaced majesty in a 

 nebulous sphere, ' the human kingdom.' But anatomy, 

 like that slave who followed the conqueror's chariot 

 crying, Memento te liominein esse, anatomy comes to 

 trouble man in his naive self-admiration, reminding him of 

 the visible tangible facts which bind him to the animals." 



Let us hearken to this slave a little, remembering Pas- 

 cal's maxims : " It is dangerous to show man too plainly 

 how like he is to the animals, without, at the same time, 

 reminding him of his greatness. It is equally unwise 

 to impress him with his greatness, and not with his low- 

 liness. It is worse to leave him in ignorance of both. 

 But it is very profitable to recognise the two facts." 



It is many years since Sir Richard Owen described the 

 " all-pervading similitude of structure ' between man 

 and the highest monkeys. Subsequent research has 

 continued to add corroborating details. As far as struc- 

 ture is concerned, there is much less difference between 

 man and the gorilla than between the gorilla and a monkey 

 like a marmoset. Yet differences between man and the 

 anthropoid apes do exist. Thus man alone is thoroughly 

 erect after his infancy is past, his head weighted with 

 a heavy brain does not droop forward, and with his erect 

 attitude his perfect development of vocal mechanism is 



