20 The Destiny of Man. 



which we may also trace the pedigrees of 

 dogs, hyaenas, bears, and seals ; so the va- 

 rious genera of rjlatyrrhine and catarrhine 

 apes, including Man, are doubtless de- 

 scended from a common stock of primates, 

 back to which we may also trace the con- 

 verging pedigrees of monkeys and lemurs, 

 until their ancestry becomes indistinguish- 

 able from that of rabbits and squirrels. 

 Such is the conclusion to which the scien- 

 tific world has come within a quarter of a 

 century from the publication of Mr. Dar- 

 win's " Origin of Species ; " and there is 

 no more reason for supposing that this 

 conclusion will ever be gainsaid than for 

 supposing that the Copernican astronomy 

 will some time be overthrown and the 

 concentric spheres of Dante's heaven re- 

 instated in the minds of men. 



It is not strange that this theory of 

 man's origin, which we associate mainly 

 with the name of Mr. Darwin, should be 

 to many people very unwelcome. It is 

 fast bringing about a still greater revolu- 



