HUMAN ORGANIC EVOLUTION: FACT OR FANCY? 



preserved its specific unity throughout its evolutionary develop- 

 ment during Pleistocene times, although it always was and 

 still is subdivided into races. Human evolution in his view 

 never developed different single species, some of which might 

 have become lost, while others survived. Thus, the whole of 

 the old world becomes the "stage," so to speak, for the 

 development or evolution of man. 



If we substitute the words Family Hominidae for species 

 and genera for races of Australopithecus, Pithecanthropus, 

 and Homo, such a view may well be entertained. By 

 this is meant only the organic development of the branch 

 Hominidae in which all of the old world seemed to have 

 participated, in the sense that all fossil populations contributed 

 to the common gene pool of the Hominidae. The description 

 of the fossil record above was based on this, rather than on 

 another type of taxonomic classification. Words, of course, 

 make not too much difference, but they stand for classes of 

 phenomena, and it helps to keep these constant, in discussing 

 so complex a problem. We shall see in the next section that 

 such a view is of course supported by modern genetic develop- 

 ments which provide the key to the understanding of the 

 "origin of species," a key which was unknown in Darwin's 

 day. 



Genetic Interpretation of the Fossil Record 



In the previous section the fossil record was examined rather 

 quickly and superficially. An attempt was made to show the 

 resemblances between the various fossil forms, because, as 

 Father Cooperi^^ hag pointed out long ago, "Things that 

 resemble each other are not necessarily related genetically, 

 but where the resemblances are so numerous, so specific, so 

 striking, and so complex, it is Very hard to avoid concluding 

 to genetic relationship, especially as we have abundant 

 evidence — within even the circle of the human race itself — 

 that evolutionary changes do occur up to a certain degree." 



Now these resemblances have taken on new meaning with 

 the development of genetics, and with the recognition that 



^* John J. Cooper, "The Scientific Evidence Bearing Upon Human 

 Evolution," Primitive Man, 1935, 8 : 1 and 2 : l— 56. 



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