April, 1928 



EVOLUTION 



Page Five 



Whereas the young of the spiny ant-eater has no teeth 

 when born, the young "Duck-bill platypus" has a set 

 of milk teeth, all molars. These drop out and are 

 replaced by broad horny plates developed from hard- 

 ening of the gums which line the inside of the bill. 



We have, in these survivors of the Age of Reptiles, 

 not the ancestors of modern mammals, but highly 

 modified descendants of a primitive type of pro-mam- 

 mal, lower in the evolutionary scale than the marsupi- 

 als, or pouched mammals, most of which are also pe- 

 culiar to Australia — a continent cut off from the rest 

 of the world some time during the Age of Reptiles. 

 Perhaps the Fundamentalists can explain to their sat- 

 isfaction just how the montremes and marsupials 

 reached Australia from Mt. Ararat, 5000 years ago! 



Fossil remains of verv primitive mammals are 



found in the strata overlying those in which the 

 cynodonts were found. The former were all small ani- 

 mals, the size of a rat, or smaller. Some of these early 

 mammals were of very generalized types, capable 

 therefore of giving rise to the varied forms met with 

 at the beginning of the Tertiary Era, Age of Mammals. 



We now meet, for the first time, with fossil forms 

 somewhat similar to some of our modern lemurs, or 

 half-apes. In later strata true apes appear, followed 

 still later by the fossil remains of the higher 

 anthropoids, or man-like apes. Finally ape-like men 

 appear, along with crude implements of industry and 

 the chase. 



Thus we may trace our own family back to the very 

 beginning of the Mammalia, the class to which we be- 

 long — and even to the Reptilia, our remote ancestors. 



Proposal to Cross Man and Ape 



By Howell S. England 



fJOR the past eighteen years I have tried to interest 

 * some American scientist in the possibility of pro- 

 ducing primitive man by hybridizing the several anthro- 

 poids with the different races of man. Realizing that 

 the anthropoids could not remain in good health any- 

 where in the United States it was my idea that a plant 

 for carrying on experiments should be established some- 

 where in Africa or the East Indies. 



The only encouragement that I received from any 

 American scientist was from Dr. Oscar Riddle, of the 

 Carnegie School of Experimental Evolution, but this 

 school, under the terms of its foundation, could not 

 establish any plant for any purpose outside the United 

 States. Within the last year I have also gained the active 

 co-operation of Dr. A. L. Herrera of Mexico. 



EHE IVANOFF 



Albert Calmette 



In September, 1924, I learned that the French Govern- 

 ment had made a grant to the Pasteur Institute of several 

 thousand acres of land at Kindia, in French West Africa, 

 and had built a laboratory for experimenting with goril- 

 las and chimpanzees by innoculating them with various 

 human diseases for the purpose of preparing serums 

 for their cure. 



Dr. Calmette describes the climate of Kindia, the 

 natural home of chimpanzees and gorillas, 

 as being healthy for orang utangs and gib- 

 bons and also suitable for the residence of 

 white scientists. 



I therefore asked Dr. Calmette whether 

 his plant at Kindia could be used for the 

 experiments that I had in mind. He ac- 

 knowledged the great importance of my pro- 

 posed experiments, and said that his plant 

 at Kindia would be open to the scientists of 

 the world for this purpose and that he had 

 instructed Mr. Wilbert, who is in charge of 

 the work at Kindia, to co-operate in every 

 way. He said, however, that before begin- 

 ning the experiments it would be necessary 



to have a foundation of approximately 500,000 francs, 

 roughly .f 100.000.00. 



Dr. Calmette introduced me to Dr. Elie Ivanoff of 

 Moscow, a biologist deeply skilled in artificial fecunda- 

 tion, who also had in mind the producing of primitive 

 man by hybridizing the various anthropoids, and who 

 was willing to go to Kindia and begin the work as soon 

 as possible. 



Since then I have tried, so far without suc- 

 cess, to obtain the necessary foundation of 

 .$100,000 for Dr. Calmette. The work has 

 now begun of raising the required amount 

 of money by popular subscription. Mr. 

 Freeman Hopwood of Box 483, City Hall 

 Station, New York City, has kindly con- 

 sented to act as treasurer for the fund. It 

 is my suggestion that we name the foun- 

 dation "The Edward D. Cope Foundation 

 of Experimental Anthropology", thus mak- 

 ing it a memorial to the late Professor 

 Cope, whose original work in Palaeon- 

 tological research did so much to establish 

 the doctrine of biological evolution. 



Howell S. England 



