43 



less with its own pupa in its mouth on the top 

 of a spray of heath, an image of despair over 

 its ravaged home." The "image of despair" 

 has, rightly or wrongly, ever since rendered us 

 sceptical about the value of "scientific con 

 clusions" drawn from this special department 

 of science. 



Father tVasmanns Descent of Man. 



But let us pass to Father Wasmann's Des 

 cent of Man. His exposition of the evolution 

 of man is, as we have said, unfortunately ob 

 scure, or perhaps we should say, hesitant. 

 Father Wasmann is of course throughout his 

 three lectures arguing against the Monism of 

 Haeckel, but he is at the same time as he said 

 at the outset endeavoring to throw light on 

 the problem of evolution. He rejects with 



*s z- 



scorn the theory of man's descent from beasts, 

 whether by descent we mean the whole man 

 or merely man's body. He examines the two 

 zoological theories of man's descent, first from 

 the higher apes and secondly from an ancestor 

 common to both man and ape, and he rejects 

 both absolutely. He makes a noble plea for 



