144 MAN AND THE LOWER ANIMALS n 



Family distinction resting chiefly on his dentition, 

 his pelvis, and his lower limbs. 



Thus, whatever system of organs be studied, 

 the comparison of their modifications in the ape 

 series leads to one and the same result that the 

 structural differences which separate Man from 

 the Gorilla and the Chimpanzee are not so great 

 as those which separate the Gorilla from the 

 lower apes. 



But in enunciating this important truth I must 

 guard myself against a form of misunderstanding, 

 which is very prevalent. I find, in fact, that 

 those who endeavour to teach what nature so 

 clearly shows us in this matter, are liable to have 

 their opinions misrepresented and their phrase- 

 ology garbled, until they seem to say that the 

 structural differences between man and even the 

 highest apes are small and insignificant. Let me 

 take this opportunity then of distinctly asserting, 

 on the contrary, that they are great and signifi- 

 cant ; that every bone of a Gorilla bears marks by 

 which it might be distinguished from the corre- 

 sponding bone of a Man ; and that, in the present 

 creation, at any rate, no intermediate link bridges 

 over the gap between Homo and Troglodytes. 



It would be no less wrong than absurd to deny 

 the existence of this chasm ; but it is at least 

 equally wrong and absurd to exaggerate its mag- 

 nitude and, resting on the admitted fact of ita 



