MAN'S PHYSICAL NATURE. 29! 



closely related anatomically to the chimpanzee and 

 gorilla. The difference between man and the apes 

 is anatomically less than that between the ape and 

 the ordinary monkey. It is true that some of the 

 older naturalists have attempted to make for man a 

 distinct order of mammals, founding the distinction 

 on the size and structure of the brain. This position 

 is not, however, held to-day. Man has certainly a 

 very large brain, but it is contrary to every principle 

 of nature to found such distinction on a single char- 

 acter. We find organs present as rudiments in man 

 which are well developed in other vertebrates ; or- 

 gans developed as rarities in man which are always 

 present in certain other animals ; we find the human 

 embryo developing in like manner with other mam- 

 mals, passing through the same ancestral stages. 

 There is, in short, nothing in the physical nature of 

 man which exempts him from the general principles 

 which regulate animals. If evolution applies else- 

 where, it applies here also. When we find man 

 agreeing in bodily structure so very closely with 

 other vertebrates ; when we find in him rudiments 

 of organs present in the lower orders; when we see 

 that the abnormalities of his body are explained by 

 reference to other vertebrates ; when we find his 

 embryology showing all of the remarkable ancestral 

 features seen elsewhere ; in short, when we see 

 that almost every argument hitherto used to prove 

 genetic descent in animals in general applies equally 

 well to man, in logical honesty we cannot hesitate 

 to admit that if evolution exists elsewhere it exists 

 here also. 



