1 64 ORGANIC EVOLUTION 



monkeys of the eastern and western hemispheres. Man is 

 most nearly related to the Simiida, the tailless apes of 

 Asia and Africa, including the gibbon, the orang, the 

 chimpanzee, and the gorilla. It is usual to place human- 

 kind in a distinct family of Primates, Hominida. It is now 

 the general consensus of opinion that we should recognize 

 but a single species and distinguish as subspecies the sev- 

 eral races of men. 



As an illustration of some of the reasons for asserting 

 that men are primates and are closely related to the Simi- 

 idce, glance at the illustration of the skeletons of representa- 

 tives of four genera of Simiidcz and of man (Plate 91, A\ 

 Part for part the skeletons are the same in all fundamental 

 regards. Look at but a single group of bones, those com- 

 posing the pelvis (Plate 91, B\ The larger bones, the 

 sacrum, and the coccyx show the closest resemblances in 

 man to what we see in the gorilla. The relative size and 

 shape is slightly different, and man has lost one of the 

 coccygeal bones still seen in the gorilla, but in all essential 

 features the two sets of bones are closely similar. Similar 

 comparisons with a similar result might be made between 

 the hands, feet, sterna, ribs, spinal columns, teeth (Plate 92, 

 A\ bones of the skull, etc. 



But let us turn to structures other than the skeleton. 

 Passing by the close resemblance between the vital organs, 

 the muscles, and the other important organs (Plate 92, B\ 

 observe again some of the remarkable similarities in certain 

 minor details, to some of which we have before referred. 

 We think of the hairiness of the apes as distinguishing 

 them rather sharply from man, but in reality the whole of 

 the human body is covered with hair, save the palms of the 



