XV DARWINISM APPLIED TO MAN 440 



altogether different origin ? " The reply," says Professor 

 Huxley, " is not doubtful for a moment. Without question, 

 the mode of origin and the early stages of the development of 

 man are identical with those of the animals immediately 

 below him in the scale." And again he tells us : " It is very 

 long before the body of the young human being can be readily 

 discriminated from that of the young puppy ; but at a 

 tolerably early period the two become distinguishable by the 

 different forms of their adjuncts, the yelk- sac and the al- 

 lantois ; " and after describing these differences he continues : 

 " But exactly in those respects in which the developing man 

 differs from the dog, he resembles the ape. ... So that it is 

 only quite in the latter stages of development that the young 

 human being presents marked differences from the young ape, 

 while the latter departs as much from the dog in its develoi> 

 ment as the man does. Startling as this last assertion may 

 appear to be, it is demonstrably true, and it alone appears 

 to me sufficient to place beyond all doubt the structural unity 

 of man with the rest of the animal world, and more jiar- 

 ticularly and closely M^ith the apes."^ 



A few of the curious details in which man passes through 

 stages common to the lower animals may be mentioned. At 

 one stage the os coccyx projects like a true tail, extending 

 considerably beyond the rudimentary legs. In the seventh 

 month the convolutions of the brain resemble those of an 

 adult baboon. The great toe, so characteristic of man, 

 forming the fulcrum which most assists him in standing erect, 

 in an early stage of the embryo is much shorter than the 

 other toes, and instead of being parallel vrith. them, projects 

 at an angle from the side of the foot, thus corresponding with 

 its permanent condition in the quadrumana. Numerous other 

 examples might be quoted, all illustrating the same general 

 law. 



Diseases Common to Man and the Loicer Animals. 



Though the fact is so well known, it is certainly one of 

 profound significance that many animal diseases can be com- 

 municated to man, since it shows similarity, if not identity, in 



^ Man's Place in Nature, p. 67. See Figs, of Embryos of Man and Dog 

 in Darwin's Descent of Man, p. 10. 



2 G 



