APES. 165 



The Semi-apes are immediately followed by the true 

 A-pes (Swiice), as the nineteenth stage in the human pedi- 

 gree. It has long been beyond doubt that of all animals 

 the Apes are in all respects the most nearly allied to Man. 

 Just as, on the one side, the lowest Apes approach very near 

 to the Semi-apes, so, on the other side, do the highest Apes 

 most closely resemble Man. By carefully studying the Com- 

 parative Anatomy of Apes and Man, it is possible to trace a 

 gradual, uninterrupted advance in the Ape-organization up to 

 the purely human structure; and on impartially testing this 

 " Ape-question," which has lately been agitated with such 

 passionate interest, we shall infallibly have to acknowledge 

 the important fact, which was first explicitly laid down by 

 Huxley, that "whatever system of organs be studied, the 

 comparison of their modifications in the ape series leads to 

 one and the same result — that the structural differences 

 which separate Man from the Gorilla and Chimpanzee are 

 not so great as those which separate the Gorilla from the 

 lower Apes." In phylogenetic language this pregnant law 

 established in so masterly a manner by Huxley, is equiva- 

 lent to the popular phrase : Man is descended from the Ape. 



In order to become convinced of the truth of this law, 

 let us now once more consider the placenta and deciduous 

 membrane, on the varied structure of which we justly laid 

 special stress. Men and Apes, in the structure of their disc- 

 shaped placenta and m their decidua, do, indeed, coincide 

 on the whole with all other Discoplacental Animals. But 

 in the more delicate structure of these parts Man is dis- 

 tinguished by peculiarities which he shares only with Apes, 

 and which are absent in other Deciduata. Thus in Man 

 and in the Apes three distinct parts are recognized in the 



