THE SCAFFOLDING LEFT IN THE BODY 115 



and degenerate instrument it is at present may be 

 seen by a critical glance at its structure, Mr. 

 Darwin records how a celebrated sculptor called 

 his attention to a little peculiarity in the external 

 ear, which he had often noticed both in men and 

 women. " The peculiarity consists in a little blunt 

 point, projecting from the inwardly folded margin 

 or helix. When present, it is developed at birth, 

 and, according to Professor Ludwig Meyer, more 

 frequently in man than in woman. The helix ob- 

 viously consists of the extreme margin of the ear 

 folded inwards ; and the folding appears to be in 

 some manner connected with the whole external ear 

 being permanently pressed backwards. In many 

 monkeys who do not stand high in the order, as 

 baboons and some species of macacus, the upper 

 portion of the ear is slightly pointed, and the 

 margin is not at all folded inwards ; but if the 

 margin were to be thus folded, a slight point 

 would necessarily project towards the centre." ^ 

 Here then, in this discovery of the lost tip of the 

 ancestral ear, is further and visible advertisement of 

 Man's Descent, a surviving symbol of the stirring 

 times and dangerous days of his animal youth. It 

 is difficult to imagine any other theory than that of 

 Descent which could account for all these facts. 

 ^ Descent of Man^ p. 1 5. 



