THE NEANDERTHAL SKULL. 15 



authority of Darwin, who teaches that the 

 primeval ancestor of all the vertebratae 

 was "an aquatic animal, with the two sexes 

 united in the same individual." * 



During the period of undivided sexes, 

 this creature was a pattern of strength 

 and speed. He could fell an ox as easily 

 as Hercules ; and when he wished to take 

 a gallop, he had only to thrust out his four 

 legs and four arms, and roll along the 

 road like a wheel which had lost its tire. 

 But these beings, which in reality were 

 three in one, the male, the female, and 

 the two combined, were the offspring of 

 various parts of the solar system. The 

 male kind was the produce of the sun, 

 the female of the earth, and that which 

 partook of the other two of the moon. 

 Hence these creatures, proud of their 

 shape and power, attempted to scale 

 the heavens. Jupiter, unwilling to de- 

 stroy the whole race as he had done to 

 the giants, hit upon a plan by which man 

 might still exist, though greatly shorn 



* Descent of Man, i. 206 ; ii. 389. 



