366 THE HISTORY OF CREATION. 
long years of fruitless endeavours to civilize these lowest 
races, have abandoned the attempt, express the same 
harsh judgment, and maintain that it would be easier to 
train the most intelligent domestic animals to a moral and 
civilized life, than these unreasoning brute-like men. For 
instance, the able Austrian missionary Morlang, who tried 
for many years without the slightest success to civilize the 
ape-like negro tribes on the Upper Nile, expressly says: 
“that any mission to such savages is absolutely useless. 
They stand far below unreasoning animals; the latter at 
least show signs of affection towards those who are kind 
towards them, whereas these brutal natives are utterly 
incapable of any feeling of gratitude.” 
Now, it clearly follows from these and other testimonies, 
that the mental differences between the lowest men and the 
animals are less than those between the lowest and the 
highest men; and if, together with this, we take into con- 
sideration the fact that in every single human child mental 
life develops slowly, gradually, and step by step, from the 
lowest condition of animal unconsciousness, need we still 
feel offended when told that the mind of the whole human 
race has in like manner gone through a process of slow, 
gradual, and historical development? Can we find it 
“degrading” to the human soul that, by a long and slow 
process of differentiation and perfecting, it has very 
gradually developed out of the soul of vertebrate animals ? 
I freely acknowledge that this objection, which is at pre- 
sent raised by many against the pithecoid theory, is quite 
incomprehensible to me. On this point Bernhard Cotta, 
in his excellent “Geologie der Gegenwart,” very justly 
remarks: “Our ancestors may be a great honour to us; 
but it is much better if we are an honour te them !” 
