312 THE CASE AGAINST EVOLUTION 



evidence. Notwithstanding all endeavors, however, to bring 

 about the consummation so devoutly desired, the facts dis- 

 covered not only fail to support the theory of collateral de- 

 scent, but actually militate against it. For assuming that 

 man and the anthropoid apes constitute two distinct lines of 

 evolution branching out from common Tertiary or pre-Tertiary 

 stock, palaeontology should be able to show numerous inter- 

 mediate fossil forms, not alone for the lateral branch of the 

 apes, but also, and especially, for the lateral line connecting 

 modern men with the common root of the primate tree. But 

 it is precisely in this latter respect that the fossil evidence for 

 collateral descent fails most egregiously. Palaeontology knows 

 of many fossil genera and species of apes and lemurs, that 

 might conceivably represent links in a genetic chain connect- 

 ing modern monkeys with Tertiary stock, but it has yet to dis- 

 cover so much as a single fossil species, much less a fossil 

 genus, intermediate between man, as we know him, and this 

 alleged Tertiary ancestor common to apes and men. 



Not even catastrophism can be invoked to save this irreme- 

 diable situation; for any catastrophe that would have swept 

 away the human links would likewise have swept away the 

 ape links. The presence of many genera and species of fossil 

 apes, in contrast to the absence of any fossil genus or species of 

 man distinct from Homo sapiens, is irreconcilable with the 

 theory of collateral descent. Such is the dilemma proposed to 

 the upholders of this theory by Wasmann, in the 10th chapter 

 of his ''Die Moderne Biologic" (3rd edition, 1906) , a dilemma, 

 from which, as we shall see, their every attempt to extricate 

 themselves has failed most signally. 



"But what," asked Wasmann, "has palaeontology to say 

 concerning this question? It tells us that, up to the present, 

 no connecting link between man and the ape has been found; 

 and, indeed, according to the theory of Klaatsch, it is absurd 

 to speak of a link of direct connection between these two 

 forms, but it tells us much more than this. It shows us, on 

 the basis of the results of the most recent research^ that WQ 



