MAN— PAST, PRESENT AND lUTURE 929 



Some Views oi^ Man's Relai ion to the Apes 



The human race in this sense hears no ancestral relation to any of the 

 known apes. cithtT h\Ing or extinct. Man is (listin<i;nisht'cl hi'cause lie was 

 able to estabhsh his own laniilx m thi.' aiinnal kni^doni by separating hniiself 

 from the formal restrictions which bound the apes to their simian hai)itat 

 and structure. In a recent comnuinication. Professor Osborii (Natural 

 History, xxvi, No. 3, ]). 269) has taken a position in decisi\-e terms whicli 

 gives tht' liuman race a hiu' ol ancestors entirel\ its own and c|uite distinct 

 from that ol tlie anthropoid apes. "Man and all ins ancestors," he writes, 

 "should now bi' embraced within tlu' family hommidae as distinguished 

 from the family simiidae which embraces all of the anthropoid a|)es. This 

 family distinction naturally carries with it the appellation 'Dawn .Man' 

 as distinguished from the appellation 'Ape-man' which will gradually dis- 

 appear through disuse along with other misleading terms, due to our mis- 

 conception and ignorance as to the actual ancestors of man." 



Over against this view, it is onl\ fair to quote the o|)inion of two other 

 eminent authorities, I-'rofessor Gregory and Professor MiCiregor. Both take 

 exception to this interpretation on the ground that it ma\ be misleading. 

 They are generally agreed that the earliest known races of mankind wt-re 

 already true hominidae and, therefore, in spite of certain ape-like features, 

 they hardly deserve the name of "ape-men." They are unwilling, however, 

 to disclaim all kinship whatsoever of the human race with the anthropoid 

 apes. Such kinship does not impl\ a direct ancestral relation but indicates 

 an evolutional process among the primates which places the chim|)anzee 

 and gorilla closer to man than to any tailed monkey. 



In one respect the brain lends unciuestionable support to Professor 

 Osborn's view. In the lowest known type ol man. Pithecanthropus erectus, 

 cerebral de\elo])ment had attained human proportions. The critical expan- 



