HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



13 



apes exhibit. The Chimpanzee is universally ac- 

 knowledged to be " anthropoid," especially in its 

 juvenile condition. It and the Gorilla represent the 

 highest apes of Western Africa, just as the Oraug 

 is the highest quadrumauous represenla- 

 tive in Borneo and Sumatra. Tiie figures 

 of the latter we have borrowed from Mr. 

 Mivart's book give a good idea of the 

 generally more human likeness seen in 

 the younger stages of the anthropoid apes. 

 This is seen again in the face of the baby 

 "Moor monkey" (fig. IG). Of all the 

 monkey family that whicli approaches man 

 most nearly in the conformation of its 

 nasal organ, is the " Proboscis Monkey," 

 a native of Borneo. In the attenuated 

 form of the limbs, the monkeys furthest 

 removed from humanity appear to be the 

 "Chameck Spider Monkeys," whose pre- 

 hensile tails and slender legs show how 

 truly they are adapted, not to a ground, 

 but to a terrestrial life. Mr. Mivart com- 

 pares every part of the human frame with 

 that of the monkeys in general, and finds 

 some point of near resemblance in one 

 or another of this numerous group, but 

 never all the points in auy one member. 

 !Nay, some of the species, as the Orang, 

 for instance, diverges more from man, as 

 regards its skeleton, than does auy other 

 latisterual ape. I'he author concludes 

 that the teaching of the skeleton, as well 

 as of all the other parts, seems to be 

 that resemblance to man is shared in 

 different and very unequal degrees by 

 different species of quadrumana, rather 

 than that any one kind is plainly more 

 human than any of the others. In cerebral 

 development, the Gorilla is inferior both 

 to the Orang and the Chimpanzee ; the 

 difference between the brain of the Orang 

 and that of man being one of degree, and 

 not of kind. On the other hand, the 

 author shows that the difference between 

 the mi7id of man and the psychical facul- 

 ties of the Orang is a difference in kind, 

 and not one of mere degree ! These facts, 

 the author believes, militate against the 

 supposition that man has been derived 

 from the monkey family by the Darwinian 

 process of "natural selection," but he 

 does not think they are antagonistic to a 

 belief in man's origin by the larger and 

 more comprehensive process of evolution. 

 The latter part of the book is devoted to 

 this question, and there the reader will 

 fiud able arguments for considering this fact of man's 

 physical peculiarities being shared among so many 

 members of the Quadrumana, advanced in favour of 



the doctrine of evolution as applied to the human 

 race. 



" The Smaller British Birds " is an edition de luxe, 

 got up in the most attractive style of green and 



Fi?. 14. Young Oranjjs. 



Fig. 15. The Chimpanzee. 



gold, and gilt edges, and having an interior worthy 

 of the exterior as regards artistic effect. Our 

 " Smaller British Birds " in point of fact comprehend 



