THE EVOLUTION OF MAN 



womb as an embryo, this placenta is its most 

 important organ, because by its help, the nourish- 

 ing juices from the blood of the mother pass into 

 the body of the child and thus feed it. The 

 various groups of mammals differ considerably in 

 the method of forming this placenta in the 

 mother's womb. Man and the anthropoid apes 

 have their own peculiar method. This is another 

 excellent proof of the close relationship between 

 man and these apes, and it was a great acquire- 

 ment for this science when Selenka demonstrated 

 that these processes followed the same outline in 

 the gibbon and the orang-outang as in man a 

 process which is otherwise found nowhere but in 

 man. The Macacus-like, long-tailed monkeys 

 follow a different method, and the American 

 monkeys have another and more primitive one. 

 Now, it is interesting to know that the prosimia 

 Tarsius follows the model of the American mon- 

 keys in forming this placenta, while the majority 

 of the genuine prosimiae again go their own 

 peculiar way. And since we have found in 

 America very old bones of the species Tarsius, 

 the probability grows that prosimiae of tfie 

 Tarsius type may be the direct ancestors of the 

 American monkeys. If so, it is at the same time 

 the next station in the evolution of man. This 



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