THE EVOLUTION OF MAN 



the anthropoid ape were so nearly akin that they 

 agreed without difficultly. How could this be? 

 Here it was not a question of comparing bone 

 with bone. An answer came directly from the 

 living. The secret of life, the most minute 

 chemistry of the blood, testified to the most inti r 

 mate relationship, a consanguinity in the most 

 Xdaring sense of the word. -* 



With this fact we have made another step 

 ahead. The probability grows that man may 

 have been concealed once upon a time in one of 

 these creatures which we see represented by the 

 anthropoid apes of to-day. Indeed ,the experi- 

 ment with blood makes it almost evident that 

 all four anthropoid apes now living are directly 

 connected with this mysterious primeval fact. 

 The question is only, what is this relation? 



We first of all feel tempted to ask whether 

 these anthropoid apes themselves might not rep- 

 resent that primitive stage for which we are 

 looking. Are not these apes veritable primitive 

 men that have not yet been transformed into 

 genuine men to this day? 



One thinks involuntarily of the ludicrous tales 

 of the negroes who say that the gorilla and 

 the chimpanzee are really men, only they are too 

 lazy to work, and for this reason pretend that 



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