THE EARLY PROGr>:TTOrvS OF ^lAl^. 81 



progenitors of man were no doubt once covered with 

 hair, both sexes having beards. Their ears were 

 pointed and capable of movement, and their bodies 

 were provided with a tail, having the j^ roper muscles. 

 Their liQibs and bodies were also acted on by muscles 

 which now only occasionally reappear, but are normally 

 present in the quadrumana. The great artery and 



tail, 'extending considerably beyond the rudimentary legs.' 

 The great-toe, as Prof. Owen remarks, ' which forms tlie ful- 

 crum when standing or walking, is perhaps the most character- 

 istic peculiarity in the human structure ;' but in an embryo 

 about an inch in length, Prof. VVyman found that the great-toe 

 was shorter than the others, and instead of being parallel to 

 them, ' projected at an angle from the side of the foot, thus cor- 

 responding with the permanent condition of this part in the 

 quadrumana.' * * * When the extremities are developed, 

 ' the feet of lizards and mammals, the wings and feet of birds, 

 no less than the hands and feet of man, all arise from the same 

 fundamental form.' (Von Baer)."— ''Descent of Man," Vol. I, pp. 



" Each human individual is developed from an egg, and this 

 egg is a simple cell, like that of any animal or plant. The em- 

 bryo, in the early stages of development, is not at all different 

 from those of other animals. At a certain period it has essen- 

 tially the anatomical structure of a lancelet (the lowest verte- 

 brate), later of a fish, and in subsequent stages those of am- 

 pliibian and mammal forms. In the further evolution of these 

 mammal forms, those first appear which stand lowest in the 

 series, namely, forms allied to beaked animals (ornithorhyn- 

 chus) ; then those allied to pouched animals (marsupials), which 

 are followed by forms most resembling apes, till at last the 

 peculiar human form is produced as the final result. Every one 

 knows that the butterfly proceeds from a pupa, the pui)a from a 

 caterpillar, to which it bears no resemblance, and again the cat- 

 erpillar from the e^,g of the butterfly. But few, except those of 

 the medical profession, are aware that man, in the course of his 

 individual evolution, passes through a series of transformations 



