The Descent of Ma7i 25 



anatomist. Thus, at vol. i. p. 28, lie mistakes the supra- 

 condyloid foramen of the humerus for the inter-condyloid 

 perforation. Did the former condition frequently occur in 

 man — as, through this mistake, he asserts — it would be 

 remarkable indeed, as it is only found in the lower monkeys 

 ;md not in the higher. A more singular mistake is that of 

 the malar bone for the premaxilla (vol. i. p. 124). 



To return to the bodily and other characters enumerated 

 at such length by Mr. Darwin. They may, and doubtless 

 they will, produce a considerable effect on readers who are 

 not anatomists, but in fact the whole and sole result is to 

 show that man is an animal. That he is such is denied by 

 no one, but has been taught and accepted since the time of 

 Aristotle. We remember on one occasion meeting at a dinner- 

 table a clever medical man of materialistic views. He strongly 

 impressed the minds of some laymen present by an elaborate 

 statement of the mental phenomena following upon different 

 injuries, or diseased conditions of different parts of the brain, 

 until one of the guests remarked as a climax, 'Yes; and when 

 the brain is entirely removed the mental phenomena cease 

 altogether ' — the previous observations having only brought 

 out vividly what no one denied, viz., that during this life a 

 certain integrity of bodily structure is requisite for the due 

 exercise of the mental powers. Thus Mr. Darwin's remarks 

 are merely an elaborate statement of what all admit, namely, 

 that man is an animal. They further imply, however, that 

 he is no more than an animal, and that the mode of origin of 

 his visible being must be the mode of his origin as a 

 whole — a conclusion of which we should not question the 

 legitimacy, if we could accept Mr. Darwin's views of man's 

 mental powers. 



All that can be said to be established by our author is, 

 that if the various kinds of lower animals have been evolved 

 one from the other by a process of natural generation or 



