232 Zoology as Related to Evolution. 



oyster. So good an observer could see distinctions not obvious to the 

 common mind. Nature apparently tries to show in how many ways 

 she may exhibit her powers of variation. Above the mollusca, in the 

 order of evolution, we have the vertebrata first the fishes, then the 

 reptiles and creeping things, followed by the quadrupeds, at last rising 

 erect in man. In the development of the higher organisms the strife 

 of Nature to produce a higher intelligence becomes evident, the brain 

 becoming more and more predominant, until in man, where intelli- 

 gence reaches its highest point, it is placed on the very apex of the 

 spinal column. According to Agassiz, this indicates the final effort 

 of Nature in the evolution of life ; we can go no higher. (Dr. Van- 

 der Weyde exhibited and explained a number of diagrams, enlarged 

 from Haeckel's Evolution of Man, showing the remarkable similarity 

 of the chicken, dog, reptile, and man in the earlier stages of fcetal de- 

 velopment.) Man, said the speaker, advances through all the stages 

 of the lower animals, and then goes a step beyond them all. In no 

 other animal does the brain occupy relatively so large a place as in 

 man. 



MB. KIMBALL replied briefly, thanking the audience for its attention 

 and the critics for their aid in the development of the topic under 

 discussion. 



