THE EVOLUTION OF MAN 



be a vertebrate man. But now, we are asked to 

 eliminate also the backbone. Man is to consist 

 only of skin and stomach. These two organs are 

 now supposed to contain the germs of everything 

 which is later on developed to full bloom in the 

 human body, such as the nerve system, the blood 

 system, the nutritive system, the sexual system, 

 etc. This idea has seemed rather daring to some 

 people, in spite of the fact that a mere consid- 

 eration of the zoological system suggests it. 

 There we finally likewise arrive at the Hydra 

 by going from complex to ever simpler forms. 

 There is no escape from this logic, if we venture 

 at all into this vague domain of circumstantial 

 evidence. If we do this, the logical line of re- 

 search is the one we have followed. But there is 

 still another one, and it is peculiar that it leads 

 to exactly the same result. 



We have not mentioned the embryo for some 

 time, but now we shall ask it once more to act 

 as a witness. 



It is an anatomical possibility which, like all 

 such extreme speculations, is mainly proven by 

 its plausibility that another group of genuine in- 

 vertebrates may be derived from such skin-and- 

 stomach creatures as the Hydra, without passing 

 through that other line of development in the 



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