103 



niger parallels the Pithecus morio, and an unexpected illustration 

 has thus been gained of the soundness of the interpretation 

 of the specific distinction of that smaller and more anthropoid 

 orang. 



It is not without interest to observe, that as the generic forms 

 of the Quadrumana approach the Bimanous order, they are repre- 

 sented by fewer species. The gibbons (Hylobates) scarcely number 

 more than half-a-dozen species ; the orangs (Pithecus) have but two 

 species, or at most three; the chimpanzees (Troglodytes) are repre- 

 sented by two species. 



The unity of the human species is demonstrated by the con- 

 stancy of those osteological and dental characters to which the 

 attention is more particularly directed in the investigation of the 

 corresponding characters in the higher Quadrumana. 



Man is the sole species of his genus, the sole representative of 

 his order and subclass. 



Thus I trust has been furnished the confutation of the notion 

 of a transformation of the ape into man, which appears from a 

 favourite old author to have been entertained by some in his day. 



"And of a truth, vile epicurism and sensuality will make the 

 soul of man so degenerate and blind, that he will not only be con- 

 tent to slide into brutish immorality, but please himself in this very 

 opinion that he is a real brute already, an ape, satyre or baboon ; 

 and that the best of men are no better, saving that civilising of 

 them and industrious education has made them appear in a more 

 refined shape, and long inculcate precepts have been mistaken for 

 connate principles of honesty and natural knowledge; otherwise 

 there be no indispensable grounds of religion and virtue, but what 

 has happened to be taken up by over-ruling custom. Which things, 

 I dare say, are as easily confutable, as any conclusion in mathe- 

 matics is demonstrable. But as many as are thus sottish, let them 

 enjoy their own wildness and ignorance; it is sufficient for a good 

 man that he is conscious unto himself that he is mo*e nobly de- 

 scended, better bred and born, and more skilfully taught by the 

 purged faculties of his own minde 1 ." 



1 Henry More's Conjectura Cabbalistica, fol. (1662) p. 175. 



CAMBRIDGE: PRINTER BY o. j. CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 



