32 THE NEANDERTHAL SKULL. 



a giraffe is thus faithfully expressed in 

 the following lines : 



"Have you heard this strange theory the doctors 



among, 



That all living things from a monad have sprung P 

 This thing has been said, and now shall "be sung . . . 

 A very tall pig with a very long nose, 

 Sent down a proboscis quite close to his toes, 

 And then by the name of an elephant goes. 

 A deer with a neck which was longer by half 

 Than most of his family please not to laugh- 

 By stretching and stretching becomes a giraffe. 

 An ape with a pliable thumb and big brain, 

 When the gift of the gab he had managed to gain, 

 As a lord of creation established his reign," &c. 



Lamarck's theory may remind you of 

 an anecdote respecting a British officer in 

 India, who when trying to convince a 

 native of the value of converting iron into 

 stee^ received this sage reply " What ! 

 would have me then believe that if I put 

 an ass into a furnace it will come forth a 

 horse ? " Such a sensible reply is only to 

 be paralleled by the overflowing wit of the 

 Irish lad, when he exclaimed in reply to 

 his English master, who had been tor- 

 menting him with some stupid questions, 



