XV 
DARWINISM APPLIED TO MAN 
449 
altogether different origin ? “ The reply,” says Professor 
Huxley, “ is not doubtful for a moment. Without question, 
the mode of origin and the early stages of the development of 
man are identical with those of the animals immediately 
below him in the scale.” And again he tells us : “ It is very 
long before the body of the young human being can be readily 
discriminated from that of the young puppy; but at a 
tolerably early period the two become distinguishable by the 
different forms of their adjuncts, the yelk-sac and the al¬ 
lantois ; ” and after describing these differences he continues : 
“ But exactly in those respects in which the developing man 
differs from the dog, he resembles the ape. ... So that it is 
only quite in the latter stages of development that the young 
human being presents marked differences from the young ape, 
while the latter departs as much from the dog in its develop¬ 
ment as the man does. Startling as this last assertion may 
appear to be, it is demonstrably true, and it alone appears 
to me sufficient to place beyond all doubt the structural unity 
of man with the rest of the animal world, and more par¬ 
ticularly and closely with the apes.” 1 2 
A few of the curious details in which man passes through 
stages common to the lower animals may be mentioned. At 
one stage the os coccyx projects like a true tail, extending 
considerably beyond the rudimentary legs. In the seventh 
month the convolutions of the brain resemble those of an 
adult baboon. The great toe, so characteristic of man, 
forming the fulcrum which most assists him in standing erect, 
in an early stage of the embryo is much shorter than the 
other toes, and instead of being parallel with them, projects 
at an angle from the side of the foot, thus corresponding with 
its permanent condition in the quadrumana. Numerous other 
examples might be quoted, all illustrating the same general 
law. 
Diseases Common to Man and the Lower Animals. 
Though the fact is so well known, it is certainly one of 
profound significance that many animal diseases can be com¬ 
municated to man, since it shows similarity, if not identity, in 
1 Man's Place in Nature, p. 67. See Figs, of Embryos of Man and Dog 
in Darwin’s Descent of Man, p. 10. 
2 G 
