484 MAN IN NATURE 



and physiology, or that of psychology and pneumatology as 

 well. This distinction is the more important, since, under the 

 somewhat delusive term " biology," it has been customary to 

 mix up all these considerations, while, on the other hand, those 

 anatomists who regard all the functions of organic beings as, 

 merely mechanical and physical, do not scruple to employ this 

 term biology for their science, though on their hypothesis there 

 can be no such thing as life, and consequently the use of the 

 word by them must be either superstitious or hypocritical. 



Anatomically considered, man is an animal of the class 

 Mammalia. In that class, notwithstanding the heroic efforts of 

 some modern detractors from his dignity to place him with the 

 monkeys in the order Primates^ he undoubtedly belongs to a 

 distinct order. I have elsewhere argued that, if he were an ex- 

 tinct animal, the study of the bones of his hand, or of his head, 

 would suffice to convince any competent palaeontologist that he 

 represents a distinct order, as far apart from the highest apes as 

 they are from the carnivora. That he belongs to a distinct 

 family no anatomist denies, and the same unanimity of course 

 obtains as to his generic and specific distinctness. On the other 

 hand, no zoological systematist now doubts that all the races of 

 men are specifically identical. Thus we have the anatomical 

 position of man firmly fixed in the system of nature, and he 

 must be content to acknowledge his kinship not only with the 

 higher animals nearest to him, but with the humblest animalcule. 

 With all he shares a common material and many common fea- 

 tures of structure. 



When we ascend to the somewhat higher plane of physiology 

 we find in a general way the same relationship to animals. Of 

 the four grand leading functions of the animal, nutrition, repro- 

 duction, voluntary motion, and sensation, all are performed by 

 man as by other animals. Here, however, there are some 

 marked divergences connected with special anatomical struc- 

 tures, on the one hand, and with his higher endowments on the 



