126 THE PROBLEM OF EVOLUTION 



If we assume the existence of an almighty Creator, 

 it would seem very strange for this Creator to have 

 made man so completely after the pattern of beasts, 

 if He had created him independently of the animal 

 world. The audience will remember the skeletons, 

 shown them by Father Wasmann, of an ape and a 

 man respectively. The bones are with a few 

 exceptions all identical, differing only in shape. 

 The constituents of the bones and of the other 

 parts of the body show that man and ape bear a 

 remarkable likeness to one another even in the 

 smallest details. This likeness would be inex- 

 plicable, if we were to assume that an almighty 

 Creator created man as the highest product of 

 creation, quite independently of the animal kingdom. 9 



This argument of DahFs is the chief evidence 

 brought forward from the philosophical stand- 

 point in favour of the descent of man from 

 beasts, and it behoves us to examine it closely 

 and ascertain its real force. Its vulnerable spot 

 is to be found in the words ' independently of the 

 animal kingdom.' It is undoubtedly true that the 

 great similarity between man and the higher 

 animals suggests that they cannot have been 

 created ' independently of one another,' if there- 

 by we mean to imply that their resemblance is 

 purely accidental. This resemblance must cer- 

 tainly be due to the laws governing the evolution 

 of both, and so far Dahl is undoubtedly right. 



