5ICJ. 



NATURE 



[February i6, 191 i 



was the first to break off from the basal stem of the Giant 

 Primates. The orang, ahhough it has the giant size, has 

 retained the brachiating or arm locomotion of the gibbon 

 stock, his thumb and great toe have become vestiges ; 

 the process of shortening of the spinal column, which set 

 in during the Hylobatian stage, has progressed, so that 

 now the lower limbs are attached to the body one or two 

 vertebrae higher than in man, the gorilla, and chfmpanzee. 

 It has retained a primitive arrangement of the air cavi- 

 ties of the nose and face, whereas man, the gorilla, and 

 chimpanzee have the same elaborate arrangement of cells 

 which differentiate them from all other primates. 



The orang 's lower limbs are in a state of retrogression — 

 as opposite to human limbs as could be. The Aurignac 

 man, which Prof. Klaatsch assigns to the orang stock, is 

 remarkable for his narrow and long head, whereas the 

 orarfg's head is the most rounded of all primate forms. 

 The resemblance between the humerus of the Aurignac 

 man and that of the orang is fanciful, in my opinion. 

 If we may judge the basal orang stock from its modern 

 descendants, the one thing we can be certain of is that 

 it is the last of the Higher Primate stocks which is likely 

 to give rise to the human race. On the other hand, the 

 chimpanzee, and especially the gorilla, are evidently 

 the descendants of a stock from which it is not difficult 

 to suppose the primary human stock may have arisen. 

 The tendency to a greater use of the lower limbs was 

 evidently already present in that primitive stock. 



The conclusion I reached in iqoo simply confirmed the 

 statements made by Huxley in 1863. 



Nothing is impossible in nature, but there are some 

 things which are highly improbable. A multiple origin 

 for a single species is one of the most improbable, and, so 

 far as the human species is concerned, there is no need 

 to suppose a multiple origin. Prof. Klaatsch's opinion of 

 anthropoid apes throws an interesting light on his theory. 

 He has reverted to a slight modification of the very ancient 

 view of the anthropoids — that they are representatives of 

 retrograde humanity. In Herr Bonin's words, Klaatsch 

 regards the gorilla and the other man-like apes as " failed 

 experiments of man." There is no scientific basis for such 

 a statement — the gorilla fills its place in nature quite as 

 satisfactorily as man. 



This view of the nature of the anthropoids only affects 

 us so far as it may help us to understand Prof. Klaatsch's 

 theory of the " pan-anthropoid " origin of human races. 

 If that opinion is well founded, the opinion that the 

 Higher Primates were designed as experiments in 

 " Menschwerdung, " then, of course, it follows that the 

 experimenter may have succeeded on several occasions, and 

 that each of the primitive primates may have given rise 

 to races of men. In reality, we are being again intro- 

 duced to the old theory of design, and hence the state- 

 ment in my last letter that Prof. Klaatsch's theory 

 exceeded *' the limits of rational speculation." 



A. Keith. 



Royal College of Surgeons, England, February 4. 



"In Forbidden Seas." 



" D. W. T.," who writes a review of the sea-otter, or 

 rather of a book called " In Forbidden Seas," in Nature 

 of January 26, tells us that he is not aware that any 

 living naturalist has ever seen this animal in its natural 

 state. Now, Captain H. J. Snow, who is the author of 

 " In Forbidden Seas," is, from my point of view, a first- 

 class field naturalist, who by his collections and observa- 

 tions has added considerably to zoological and geological 

 knowledge. I may add that he is also a keen surveyor, 

 and his maps of the islands in these " Forbidden Seas " 

 were so far back as 1895 published for the use of sailors 

 by our Admiralty. By the publication of these charts, the 

 shortest routes between Vancouver and certain ports on 

 the Asiatic coast have been freed from uncertainties and 

 dangers. Canadian and other vessels crossing the North 

 Pacific, in cases of emergency have new harbours of 

 refuge which can be approached with comparative safety. 

 Snow's charts show new rocks and shoals, take out 

 others, adjust islands in longitude, indicate anchorages, 

 tide rips, watering places, seal and seal-lion rookeries, 

 and, in short, make the unknown known. Sailing direc- 

 tions go with the charts. 



■-■ NO. 2155, VOL. 85] 



By reason of their knowledge of these Forbidden S' .: 

 and our ignorance of them, in 1855 the Russian fleet w 

 enabled to evade that of the French and English alii' 

 H.M.S. Rattler was wrecked in these seas, and iIil- 

 Japanese man-of-war Tabor was totally lost. The dis- 

 abling of several gunboats which have attempted lu 

 survey these islands, and the numerous wrecks of British 

 and other schooners which are to be found along thiir 

 shores, testify to the difficulties which surround the navi- 

 gation of these waters before the advent of Captain Snow. 

 The Royal Geographical Society were so impressed by 1' 

 value of his work that they awarded him one of th 

 annual grants, and approached the Lords of the .'\dmir;i: 

 to obtain for its author substantial recognition. Had li 

 work been carried out by one of our surveying vessels 

 would have cost this country many thousands of poumi 

 All that was learnt was to the effect that no rule exist' 

 for the payment for work of this description. At a sub- 

 sequent date the Rt. Hon. Arthur J. Balfour was 

 approached. Among the signatories to the petition I s' 

 the name of the president of the Royal Geographii 

 Society on behalf of the council, the Admiral of the Fled, 

 Rudyard Kipling, and those of many other well-known . 

 persons. Captain Snow gave up his working tools and. 

 received no recognition. I know that captains and 

 admirals of British ships, like commissioners sent out to^ 

 study seal fisheries, have sought and obtained valuable 

 information from Captain Snow. John Milne. 



Shide, Newport, Isle of Wight, January 30. 



I AM surprised and sorry that Prof. Milne should think,, 

 as he seems to do, that I sought to belittle Captain Snow'* 

 achievements, for I not only based my article on the sea- 

 otter upon Captain Snow's additions to zoological know- 

 ledge, but I also paid an unstinted compliment to Captain 

 Snow's romantic and adventurous career. I mentioned 

 briefly that Captain Snow had won the reputation of an 

 authority on the geography of the Kuriles ; but that brief 

 statement, brief because I was not dealing with, and was, 

 indeed, very imperfectly acquainted with, his geographical 

 work, was necessarily inadequate. Prof. Milne has done 

 proper justice to this part of Captain Snow's work. 



As regards the valuable information that Captairt 

 Snow has given to persons charged with the inspec- 

 tion of the seal-fisheries, I can bear testimony of 

 my own. Still better testimony can be found, for 

 instance, in Dr. L. Stejneger's report of 1898 on the 

 Asiatic fur-seal islands, for Dr. Stejneger not only draws 

 his description of the Kurile seal-rookeries chiefly from 

 Captain Snow, but pays tribute to his " invaluable addi- 

 tions to the authentic history of the Kuriles," and to 

 himself as " a man of unusual ability, literary and scien- 

 tific, for the profession he had chosen to follow." 



D'Arcy W. Thompson. 



An Apparently hitherto Unnoticed "Anticipation" of 

 the Theory of Natural Selection. 



In Louden 's Magazine of Natural History, 1835, 

 pp. 40-53, there appears an article entitled " An attempt 

 to classify the ' Varieties ' of Animals, with observations 

 on the marked Seasonal and other Changes which natur- 

 ally take place in various British Species and which df> 

 not constitute Varieties," by Mr. Edward Blyth. Certain 

 passages contained therein seem to indicate that the prill* 

 ciple of natural selection, or the survival of the fitteStj 

 was clearly understood by Blyth in 1835, and, further, • 

 that he recognised its application to artificial selectio; 

 Moreover, he demonstrates the idea of sexual selection : 

 one of its bearings. I have therefore considered them > 

 suflScient interest to be made public, as it appears th' 

 have hitherto escaped notice. 



" When two animals are matched together, each remark 

 able for a certain peculiarity, no matter how trivial, the- 

 is also a decided tendency in nature for that peculiarit 

 to increase ; and if the produce of these animals be S' 

 apart, and only those in which the same peculiarity is mo- 

 apparent, be selected to breed from, the next generatio 

 will possess it in a still more remarkable degree ; and - 

 on, till at length the variety I designate a breed, is formal 

 which may be very unlike the original type." ..." It - 

 worthy of remark, however, that the original and typical 



