78 THE SCAFFOLDING LEFT IN THE BODY. 



pelled to look for the closest affinities to human beings 

 is that of the Apes. This simple circumstance has 

 told almost fatally against the wide acceptance of the 

 theory of Descent. There is just as much truth in the 

 sarcasm that man is a " reformed monkey " as to pre- 

 judge the question to the unscientific mind. But the 

 statement is no nearer the truth itself than if one were 

 to say that a gun is an adult form of the pistol. The 

 connection, if any, between Man and Ape is simply 

 that the most Man-like thing in creation is the Ape, 

 and that, in his Ascent, Man probably passed through 

 a stage when he more nearly resembled the Ape than 

 any other known animal. Apart from that accident, 

 Evolution owes no more to the Ape than to any other 

 creature. Man and Ape are alike in being two of the 

 latest terms of an infinite series, each member of 

 which has had a share in making up the genealogical 

 tree. To single out the Ape, therefore, and use the 

 hypothetical relationship for rhetorical purposes is, to 

 say the least, unscientific. It is certainly the fact 

 that Man is not descended from any existing Ape. 

 The Anthropoid Apes branched off laterally at a 

 vastly remote period from the nearest human progen- 

 itors. The challenge even to produce links between 

 Man and the living man-like Apes is difficult to take 

 seriously. Should any one so violate the first princi- 

 ples of Evolution as to make it, it is only to be said 

 that it cannot be met. For an Anthropoid Ape could 

 as little develop into a Man as could a Man pass back- 

 wards into an Anthropoid Ape. References to a Sim- 

 ian stem play no necessary part in the story of the 

 Ascent of Man. In those pages the compromising 

 name will scarcely occur. If historical sequence com- 



