EVOLUTION OF THE HUMAN SPECIES 167 



ture, for nowhere can final and absolute differences be 

 found. This does not mean that no differences appear, 

 for it would be absurd to contend that man and the 

 apes are identical in every respect ; but it does mean 

 that the resemblances are fundamental and compre- 

 hensive, and any details of dissimilarity are in the 

 degree of complexity only. The supreme place in 

 nature attained by man is therefore due to progressive 

 evolution in the nervous system. The other systems 

 have degenerated to a greater or less degree, but 

 such regressive changes are more than compensated 

 for by the superior control exerted by the improved 

 brain. In purely physical and mechanical respects, 

 the human body is a degenerate as compared with a 

 gorilla ; the arm of the latter is more powerful than 

 the lower limb of the former, while the gorilla's chest 

 is more than twice as broad as the human, and more 

 than four times as capacious. It is not through 

 superior physique, but by superior ability to direct the 

 activities of his body, that man excels in the struggle for 

 existence with the lower animals. 



Moreover, the human body is a veritable museum of 

 rare and interesting relics of antiquity. This charac- 

 terization is justified by those vestigial and rudimentary 

 structures that represent organs of value to human 

 relatives among the lower animals, though they play a 

 less active part at the present time in human economy. 

 There is scarcely a single system that does not exhibit 

 many or fewer of these rudimentary structures, but only 

 a few need be specified. As compared with those of the 



