134 THE WONDERFUL CENTURY. 



apes is not only specific but at least of generic or of 

 family rank, while some naturalists place him even in a 

 separate order of mammalia. Besides the 'erect posture 

 and free hands, with all the details of anatomical struc- 

 ture which these peculiarities imply, the great develop- 

 ment of his brain pre-eminently distinguishes him. We 

 may suppose, therefore, that when he had reached the 

 erect form, and possessed all the external appearance of 

 man, his brain still remained undeveloped, and the time 

 occupied by this development was not improbably equal 

 to that required for the specific modification of the lower 

 mammalia. It is often forgotten that so soon as man 

 used fire and made weapons, all further useful modifi- 

 cation would be in the direction of increased brain 

 power, by which he was able to succeed both in his 

 struggle against the elements and with the lower ani- 

 mals. There is therefore no improbability in finding 

 the remains or the implements of a low type of man in 

 the early Pliocene period. 



The certainty that man coexisted with many now ex- 

 tinct animals, and the probability of our discovering his 

 remains in undoubted Tertiary strata, constitutes an 

 immense advance on the knowledge and beliefs of our 

 forefathers, and must therefore rank among the promi- 

 nent features in the scientific progress of the nineteenth 

 century. 



