THE NEANDERTHAL SKULL. 89 



the quadruped, all spring from its invisible 

 loins. The human similitude at last 

 appears in the character of the monkey; 

 the monkey rises into the baboon; the 

 baboon is exalted to the orang outang; 

 and the chimpanzee, with a more human 

 toe and shorter arms, gives birth to 

 man." * 



You will have seen how in this extract 

 Mr. Darwin dwells upon the power of the 

 "If." The "ifs,"f and the "mays," and 

 the "not incredibles," and the "no 

 difficulties," are modes of expression with 

 which his readers are very familiar. Nor 

 do other distinguished writers refuse to 

 avail themselves of this rather weak sup- 

 port, on which they often raise an 

 imaginative and lofty superstructure: e.g., 

 your celebrated dramatist, in his descrip- 

 tion of authors' quarrels, speaks of the 

 power of the " If " on this wise : 



"All these you may avoid but the lie 



* North British Review of 1845, p. 483. 

 f See Appendix H. 



