The Destiny of Man. 53 



theless, however dimly suggestive was this 

 group of phenomena, it contained the 

 germ of all that is preeminent in human- 

 ity. In the direct line of our ancestry 

 it only needed that the period of infancy 

 should be sufficiently prolonged, in or- 

 der that a creature should at length ap- 

 pear, endowed with the teachableness, the 

 individuality, and the capacity for prog- 

 ress which are the peculiar prerogatives 

 of fully-developed Man. 7 In this direct 

 line the manlike apes of Africa and the 

 Indian Archipelago have advanced far be- 

 yond the mammalian world in general. 

 Along with a cerebral surface, and an ac- 

 companying intelligence, far greater than 

 that of other mammals, these tailless apes 

 begin life as helpless babies, and are un- 

 able to walk, to feed themselves, or to 

 grasp objects with precision until they 

 are two or three months old. These apes 

 have thus advanced a little way upon the 

 peculiar road which our half-human fore- 

 fathers began to travel as soon as psychi- 



