CHAPTER XXVII 



MAN, Homo Sapiens Linnaeus 



* The proper study of mankind is man." Pope. 



Though zoologists were at first loath to admit their re- 

 lationship to other monkey-like animals and for a time 

 placed man in a distinct order of mammals, they have been 

 forced by truth-seeking science to connect him closely with 

 other primates. All types of men living at the present 

 time are believed to belong to a single species, Homo sapiens, 

 which is the only one in the family Hominidce. The 

 various races which are united in this species differ some- 

 what from each other but also have much in common. An 

 individual from any one race is fertile in breeding with a 

 representative from another, and there are no fundamental 

 structural differences. Man must be looked upon as an 

 animal belonging to the primates and showing closer simi- 

 larities to his nearest relatives (chimpanzee, gorilla, gibbon, 

 orang-utan) than they do to other monkeys. 



Like all other animals, man's body is a machine which is 

 controlled by such structures as levers, pulleys, muscles, 

 sense organs, and nerves all of which conform in their 

 operation to the laws of chemistry and physics. His body 

 is made up of cells which are like those of other animals; it 

 originates by growth and cell-division from a single cell 

 the fertilized egg; and its cells show differentiation into 

 tissues, corresponding to a similar division of labor in other 

 vertebrates. There are many who believe that man differs 

 from all other animals in possessing a soul, or spirit, which 

 makes him unique. At the present time, science cannot 

 state definitely that man, or any other animal, possesses or 

 lacks a "soul," though there is often heated argument 

 with eminent scientific men on both sides. But this 



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