240 THE ASCENT OF MAN 



species, that Man was left alone during the later 

 aeons of his ascent. 



The progenitors of Birds and the progenitors of 

 Man at a very remote period were probably one. 

 But at a certain point they parted company and 

 diverged hopelessly and for ever. The Birds took 

 one road, the Mammals another ; the Mammals for 

 the most part kept to the ground, the Birds took 

 to the air. One consequence of this expedient in 

 the case of the Birds was disastrous. For observe 

 the cost to them of the aerial mode of life. The 

 wing was made at the expense of the hand. With 

 this consummate organ buried in feathers, the use 

 which the higher Vertebrates made of it was 

 denied them. Birds have the bones for a hand, 

 could have had a hand, but they waived their right 

 to it. When it is considered how much Man owes 

 to the hand it may be conceived how much they 

 have lost by the want of it. Had Man not been 

 a "tool-using animal," he had probably never be- 

 come a Man ; the Bird, partly because it placed 

 itself out of the running here, has never been any- 

 thing but a Bird. To one organism only was it 

 given to keep on the path of progress from the 

 beginning to the end, and so fulfil without devia- 

 tion or relapse the final purpose of Evolution. 



