LIFE IN THE PAST 1 89 



matter of brute force than the men of to-day. These 

 skeletons, or parts of skeletons, are turning up 

 every year, and we are just beginning to know much 

 about them. Capable men are studying them with 

 much care. The next fifty years may not improbably 

 make the history of the ascent of man as clear as is 

 now that of the horse, to which we shall refer later. 

 The whole question of the descent of man from the 

 lower animals, or his ascent from them, as Drummond 

 aptly termed it, is to most people so entirely repug- 

 nant as to set them at once, and finally, against all 

 willingness to consider the question of Evolution. 

 This, however, does not solve the problem. Even 

 though truth be horribly unpalatable, it is still to be 

 believed if it is only the truth. There is practically 

 no doubt left among scientific men of the origin of 

 man in lower forms. The evidences grow more and 

 more complete year by year, and from every line of 

 investigation. Whether we study his anatomy, his 

 embryology, his history, his language, or his civiliza- 

 tion, all indications point in the same direction. Con- 

 stant discoveries indicate the fact of an enormously 

 long development from a very humble form. If this 

 proves to be true and remains unpalatable, the fault 

 lies in the palate and not in the truth. Gradually we 

 are coming to understand that there is no reason why 

 this truth should be unpalatable. We consider a rise 



