The Destiny of Man. 2/ 



tion in thought than that which was her- 

 alded by Copernicus ; and it naturally takes 

 some time for the various portions of one's 

 theory of things to become adjusted, one 

 after another, to so vast and sweeping a 

 change. From many quarters the cry goes 

 up, If this be true, then Man is at length 

 cast down from his high position in the 

 world. " I will not be called a mammal, 

 or the son of a mammal!" once exclaimed 

 an acquaintance of mine who perhaps had 

 been brought up by hand. Such expres- 

 sions of feeling are crude, but the feeling is 

 not unjustifiable. It is urged that if man 

 is physically akin to a baboon, as pigs are 

 akin to horses, and cows to deer, then Hu- 

 manity can in nowise be regarded as occu- 

 pying a peculiar place in the universe ; it 

 becomes a mere incident in an endless se- 

 ries of changes, and how can we say that 

 the same process of evolution that has pro- 

 duced mankind may not by and by produce 

 something far more perfect ? There was a 

 time when huge bird-like reptiles were the 



