298 EVOLUTION OF TO-DAY. 



cestors, in this respect, enough to make the vast 

 difference which we see between man and the brute. 

 Anatomically, he has all the time remained a primate, 

 but intellectually he has developed for himself a 

 new kingdom. Meantime, all of the intervening 

 half-intelligent animals have been exterminated, for 

 this animal will have its severest contests with 

 others like itself. In their contests all races of less 

 intelligent beings will be blotted out. Just as 

 civilization is exterminating savages, so savages in 

 their time exterminated earlier half intelligent races. 

 Advancing thus, and destroying all behind it, this 

 hypothetical race finally became man, with only an 

 unbridged chasm between him and the brute, to in- 

 dicate the road over which he has travelled. 



It would not, of course, be claimed by evolution- 

 ists that this was the actual history of man, but 

 simply that it illustrates the general line of develop- 

 ment. Whatever we may think of the sketch, and 

 however fanciful it may appear, two important 

 points are brought out which are of great moment. 

 First, in the minds of the evolutionist, the advance 

 in intelligence from lower animals to man has not 

 been a continued one. Up to a very late geological 

 age, when the higher primates appeared, intelligence 

 was a very secondary feature in development. The 

 lower vertebrates differ not very much from the 

 higher in this respect. But the elements of intelli- 

 gence were present all of the time, and, finally, when 

 other means of defence were wanting their rudiments 

 were unfolded under the influence, Darwin would say, 

 of natural selection ; Wallace would say, of an un- 



