Teachings of Thomas Huxley 25 



most complete remains that we have of the 

 characteristics of our prehistoric prototype, and 

 from careful asurements, the making of 

 casts, etc., Huxiey was able to estimate their 

 anatomical relationship to the skeleton of man 

 as now described, and to the skeleton of the 

 anthropoid apes — gorilla, chimpanzee, and 

 orang outang. As an aid in this work the re- 

 ports of explorers of the Dark Continent and 

 other unknown lands were carefully searched 

 for descriptions of the animal types found 

 there, and the best of these were taken subject 

 to the laws of probability and coincidence and 

 tested by all possible methods. The result of 

 this laborious procedure, the details of which 

 can be found in Huxlev's book on Man's Place 

 in Nature, was the enunciation of a categorical 

 dictum that in every visible character man 

 differs less from the higher apes, than these 

 do from the lower members of the same order 

 of Primates. Man is constructed on the same 

 general type as other mammals, a fact which 

 Darwin spoke of as "notorious" in its signifi- 

 cance. Even the brain which is rightfully 

 considered to be different because of its very 

 apparent differences in function follows the 

 same general law of development. Embryo- 

 logically it is indeed impossible to distinguish 

 in the early weeks between the developing ovum 

 of a dog and that of man; but in the later 

 stages the young human being presents marked 



