194 EVOLUTION AND SOCIAL PROGRESS 



"Let us look at man anatomically. There Is 

 the very large cranium in proportion to the face, 

 which we find far exceeds that of the higher apes; 

 yet by no means so strikingly, some of the smaller 

 monkeys. When we examine the relative weight 

 of the brain to that of the body we find that 

 in some of these monkeys it is even greater than 

 that of man. Not very strong of arm, not very 

 swift of foot, without a well-developed hairy hide, 

 or large teeth, or strong claws, he seems as a 

 mere animal an exceedingly unfortunate one, good 

 neither for attack nor defense, in short very un- 

 fit for the struggle for existence, in that very im- 

 aginary period of half-fledgedness between brute 

 and man* 



"His instincts and his senses, that of touch per- 

 haps excepted, though in the savage state un- 

 doubtedly greater than those of civilized man, 

 are by no means remarkable. Take him as a 

 mere animal, what is he but an egregious failure? 

 By what kind of evolution could such a creature 

 rise who shows throughout his body only instances 

 of the survival of the unfittest? 



"Let us try to imagine him rising in the scale 

 according to the dogmas of evolution. Let us 

 watch the arboreal monkey well fitted for his sur- 

 roundings gradually losing all that fits him for 

 them. We see his coat growing thinner, his arms 

 shorter so that he loses his "reach," his legs 

 longer so that climbing becomes harder, and at 



