DARWINISM IN THE NURSERY. 683 



ized man. It follows therefore that, as is the case with many 

 vestigial structures and useless habits, we must look back into the 

 remote past to account for its initiation and subsequent confirma- 

 tion ; and whatever views we may hold as to man's origin, we find 

 among the arboreal quadrumana, and among these only, a condi- 

 tion of affairs in which not only could the faculty have originated, 

 but in which the need of it was imperative, since its absence meant 

 certain and speedy death. 



It is a well-known fact that the human embryo about three 

 months before birth has a thick covering of soft hair, called " la- 

 nugo," which is shed before a separate existence is entered upon. 

 At1:he same stage of development the skeleton is found to conform 

 much more to the simian type than later, for the long bone of the 

 arm, the humerus, is equal to the thigh-bone, and the ulna is quite 

 as long and as important as the tibia. At the time of birth the 

 lower limbs are found to have gained considerably on the upper, 

 but still they are nothing like so much larger as when fully grown. 

 Physiologists have explained this want of development of the 

 lower extl-emities in the foetus by attributing it to the peculiarity 

 of the ante-natal circulation, in which the head and arms are sup- 

 plied with comparatively pure oxygenated blood fresh from the 

 maternal placenta, and the lower part of the trunk and legs get 

 the venous vitiated blood returned through the great veins and 

 transferred via the right ventricle and the ductus arteriosus to 

 the descending aorta. This, it is said, accounts for the more rapid 

 growth and more complete development of the head and arms 

 before birth. To assert the exact contrary would be to contradict 

 several great authorities, and apparently to follow the lead of the 

 pious sage who admired the wisdom and goodness of Providence 

 in causing large rivers to flow by great cities. Nevertheless it is 

 well to remember that just as the Sabbath was made for man, and 

 not man for the Sabbath, so the blood-vessels were made for the 

 body and not the body for the blood-vessels. It appears to me 

 much more true to say that the quick arterial blood is sent to the 

 upper extremities because these parts are for the. time being more 

 important, and their growth and development essential to the wel- 

 fare of the individual, than that they are coerced into a kind of 

 temporary hypertrophy, nolens volens, through having a better 

 blood-supply arbitrarily sent them than is allotted to their nether 

 fellow-members. That this view is "ttorne out by facts can be 

 shown by taking the example of a young animal whose hind 

 quarters are of essential service to it from birth ; and for this end 

 we need go no further than the instance, already quoted, of the 

 young foal. Now, in the ante-natal state the foal has just the same 

 arrangement of blood-distribution as the embryo man ; yet he is 

 born with a small light head and well-developed hind quarters, so 



