2 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



occupant of the chair, and speaking for him, I can assure 

 you that he would willingly see this duty as far off as it 

 appeared to be when he accepted this honourable office. 

 However, in order to soothe the regrets and anxieties 

 attending upon this duty, he is permitted to unburden his 

 mind in whatsoever manner he may choose. 



In casting about for a subject wherewith to occupy this 

 evening profitably, I have endeavoured to remember that 

 my hearers are biologists, whose daily experiences bring 

 them in constant contact with facts which are available as 

 evidences of Evolution. At the same time, it seemed to me 

 that it might not be amiss to lay before you some of the 

 evidences of Man's Evolution which may be gleaned from 

 the everyday observations of a practical anatomist. It is 

 no part of my intention to assume the role of special pleader 

 for any theory of man's appearance upon the earth, or to 

 attempt to reconstruct either the broken "links" of the 

 chain of man's so-called " descent," or the scattered branches 

 of the shattered " tree " of man's " ascent." 



Every student of morphology realises that man possesses 

 certain structural features more or less in common with all 

 vertebrate animals, but which are specially akin to those 

 characteristic of Mammalia. No intelligent perception of 

 these structures is possible unless we recognise that they not 

 only resemble each other, but are, in fact, homologous struc- 

 tures, whose apparent differences are due to a natural process 

 of evolution operating through environment, attitude, and 

 habit. In this way we obtain different grades or phases in 

 the evolution of any particular structure or group of struc- 

 tures. Hence there is a tendency to divide mankind into 

 the higher and the lower races, on grounds which are prob- 

 ably more precise morphologically than they are psycho- 

 logically. At any rate, there is no doubt that the lower 

 races of men present many structural features which correlate 

 them more nearly to the lower animals than is the case 

 among the higher races of men. 



In the time at my disposal it is of course impossible to 

 pass the entire structure of man under critical review for 

 evidence of evolution, even were it desirable, and I shall 



