144 MAN AND THE LOWER ANIMALS. n 



as those which separate the Gorilla from the lower 

 apes. 



But in enunciating this important truth I must 

 guard myself against a form of misunderstanding, 

 which is very prevalent. I find, in fact, that those 

 who endeavour to teach what nature so clearly 

 shows us in this matter, are liable to have their 

 opinions misrepresented and their phraseology 

 garbled, until they seem to say that the structural 

 differences between man and even the highest apes 

 are small and insignificant. Let me take this oppor- 

 tunity then of distinctly asserting, on the contrary, 

 that they are great and significant; that every bone 

 of a Gorilla bears marks by which it might be dis- 

 tinguished from the corresponding bone of a Man; 

 and that, in the present creation, at any rate, no 

 intermediate link bridges over the gap between 

 Homo and Troglodytes. 



It would be no less wrong than absurd to deny 

 the existence of this chasm; but it is at least 

 equally wrong and absurd to exaggerate its mag- 

 nitude and, resting on the admitted fact of its 

 existence, to refuse to inquire whether it is wide 

 or narrow. Remember, if you will, that there is 

 no existing link between Man and the Gorilla, but 

 do not forget that there is a no less sharp line of 

 demarcation, a no less complete absence of any 

 transitional form, between the Gorilla and the 

 Orang, or the Oraug and the Gibbon. I say, not 

 less sharp, though it is somewhat narrower. The 



