174 EVOLUTION AND SOCIAL PROGRESS 



which was always clear to everyone. Beyond this 

 it has given us nothing but matter for conjecture. 

 Says Moritz Alsberg: 



That man is directly descended from apes is inconceivable, 

 and it is possible to speak of relationship existing between man 

 and ape only in as far as both are ultimately connected at the 

 root of their common geneological tree, and this applies to all 

 mammals. 7 



But this common ancestor from whom both 

 man and the ape are supposed to be descended 

 along different lines, according to such an hy 

 pothesis, is equally imaginary, since there is ab 

 solutely no evidence of such a common origin that 

 science can establish. There is not one connect 

 ing link between man and this supposed ancestor 

 in all the known fossil forms. All attempts hither 

 to made to establish such a pedigree are the work 

 of pure imagination but not of science. The wise 

 statement of Ranke is no less true today than 

 when first expressed, and without doubt will re 

 main as true to the end of our researches: 



Whilst a charming picture of the past and possibly of the 

 future is being shown us, and whilst a fanciful design is being 

 carried out in all directions, we are as a rule in quest of facts, 

 not of theories. The facts, however, upon which Herr Klaatsch 

 [or any other who would trace a hypothetical pedigree for 

 man] claims to base his ingenious theory, do not at present 

 exist, and I must protest against his assuming that they have 

 been really furnished by zoology and paleontology any more 

 than by anatomy. . . . All else is still a matter of hypothesis, 

 and if anyone attempts to use it in order to produce a finished 

 picture, the result is a work merely of the imagination. 8 



T Cfr. Wasmann, &quot;Modern Biology,&quot; p. 463. 



8 Lindau Anthropological Congress, 1899. 



