MAN'S PLACE IX NATURE 4«7 



of reptile-mammals, the ]\lonotr(Mnes (Ornithorhyuchus, Tachy- 

 glossus), now also represented, although scantily, in Australia. 

 The Monotremes may be assumed to be derived from reptilian 

 stock, perhaps from ancestors of the three-eyed lizards of New 

 Zealand, known as Sphenodon or llatteria. Behind these 

 lizards we certainly find the jjrimitive aniphil)ian.s or nmilcd 

 frogs and behind these the group of lung-bearing fi.slies, known 

 as fringefins or crossopter3'gians. These fishes were originally 

 derived, no doubt, from sharks, and the sharks may have 

 come from wormlike forms through intermediate groups wlii<-h 

 find their nearest modern homologues in the lamprey and 

 lancelet, and possibly in the wormhke acorn-tongue or balano- 

 glossus, a creature which to a soft wormlike body adds the gill 

 slits of a vertebrate and a trace of a primitive backUjue or 

 notochord. Haeckel goes on with confideuen to show the 

 derivation of one type of worm from another, of all from allies 

 of the hydra and volvox, then from tlie one-celled amcrlui, 

 and at last from the still more jirimitive monera, a micro- 

 scopic bit of protoplasm. ]^ut witii every step I jack ward the 

 genealogy grows more and more hy})othetical. All sorts of 

 possibilities open at every turn and j^ositive proof is nece.ss:irily 

 lacking. The gill slits and the primitive notochord of the human 

 embr3"0 leave little doubt that man in conunon with all other 

 vertebrates had a fishlike ancestry. In the line of this ancestry 

 must have lain the extinct crossopterygian fishes, but U'hind 

 this there is room all the way for serious doubt and (piestioninR. 



This much is certain, man's place is in nature. Ho is part 

 and parcel of nature, and the forces that still act on flower and 

 bird and beast are the forces by which the central <'nergy of 

 the universe, whatever its name or dt^finition, each day "ifi- 

 stantly and constantly renews tlie work of creation." 



Objections have been raised to the theory of the descent of 

 man from the lower primat(»s on grountls sup|K)se*l to find tiieir 

 sanction in theology. Such objections have no standing in 

 science. In Darwin's words: "Theology and science must «'m'». 

 run its own course and I am not res|>onsible if their nunn...^ 

 point be still afar ofT." In the long run. thwlogy. with other 

 forms of philosojihy. nnist adjust itself to harmonize with 

 ascertained trutli. Tli(> origin of in.an is m)t a (juestion "<" '- ''- 

 sonal preference nor one lo be decided by a majority vot«-. 

 only question is as to what is true. " K.xtinguishiM •»->u1q- 



