THE EVOLUTION OF MAN 



heads have asked the question whether this "sys- 

 tem" might not have a deeper meaning and re- 

 lation to nature? 



Now, when we remember that ye arrived at a 

 certain station in our research which we named 

 monkey-man, the probability of a deeper mean- 

 ing of that system grows apace. We were look- 

 ing for some primitive disguise by which man 

 might have concealed his identity far back in the 

 days of the primitive world, and we must cer- 

 tainly say, when we think of this system, that 

 of all the creatures of this globe, none is better 

 fitted for such a disguise than is the monkey, that 

 is to say, that animal which in spite of all the 

 differences of its bony structure is still far more 

 like us than all the other living beings of the 

 earth together. 



Remember also that we were not speaking 

 of monkeys in a general way; but indicated a 

 certain species, the gibbon. Systematic zoology 

 very early accomplished the separation of some 

 species of monkeys from others, the so-called 

 anthropoid apes. This word indicates that these 

 apes are still closer to man in the system than 

 any others. No other group in the system is so 

 close to us. We now distinguish four species of 

 these anth^grpoid apes. Two of them are living 

 in Africa, tjjie gorilla and the i chimpanzee, and 



40 



