45 



I do not— we must perceive that no correct judgment of 

 such questions can be hoped for without a due considera- 

 tion of the entire evidence, in the light of the full and 

 comprehensive truth ; and this includes the moral or 

 psychological nature of man, as well as his mere structural 

 or physical form. Thus considered in the light of the 

 whole truth and nothing but the truth, we cannot avoid 

 the conclusion that man is separated from the highest ape, 

 as from all other brutes, by a gulf so utterly impassible, 

 that any attempt to bridge it over by anatomical facts and 

 speculations must ever be simply preposterous. 



In short, without questioning the sincerity, or truthful- 

 ness so far as it goes, of those philosophers who confine 

 their researches to this kind of materialism, we may cer- 

 tainly conclude, as to " Man's position in Creation," or 

 " Man's place in Nature," that it is exactly where he has 

 always found himself, and where his Maker put him. 

 Lord of Creation — " with those thoughts that wander 

 through eternity," — at the head of all animated creatures, 

 and elevated above the highest of them to an immeasurable 

 extent. Nor shall we be led to any other opinion by the 

 demonstration, now to be given, of the identity in structure 

 between the red corpuscles of man and those of other 

 mammalia. 



And so we may go on our way, rejoicing that a right 

 pursuit of anatomical science will certainly lead us to 

 " look through nature up to nature's God," and as surely 

 never afford the slightest proof that it is now, or ever was, 

 any part of His design to develope an ape or any other 

 beast into a man. 



After a description of the three well-known chief proxi- 

 mate constituents of the blood, of which the red corpuscles 

 form such a remarkable part, the lecturer remarked that it 

 is usual in these inquiries to describe first the structure and 

 then the function. But as the practical British mind ever 

 meets one at the Ihreshold with the question, " What's the 

 the UBe of "em," wc will mention this briefly now, and point 



