THE PAST EVOLUTION OF MAX 67 



appendix of an ape need not fear his first attempt 

 to perform this operation upon a human being. 

 There are the same strata to incise, the same 

 muscles to divide, the same landmarks to be sought, 

 the same structures to avoid. Surgeons, be assured, 

 do not undergo this discipline for a theory. It is 

 only the anthropoid ape that possesses an appendix 

 similar to that of man. This structure is not found 

 in the lower apes. 



It therefore becomes highly desirable to ascertain 

 the cardinal distinctions — if such there be — that 

 obtain between the anatomical configuration of 

 man and, say, the chimpanzee. 1 When we como 

 to consider the realm of mind, we shall see that one 

 human character may fairly be regarded as abso- 

 lutely distinct from any character of sub-human 

 minds. That character is self-consciousness : the 

 recognition of the distinction between the self and 

 all that is not the self. But in the physical 

 realm, no such cardinal distinction is to be 

 found. Nevertheless, we can discern a character 

 which distinguishes man from the ape and 

 indeed from all mammals save himself, but 

 does not distinguish him from all sub-human 

 animals, for he has it in common with the bird. 

 This character is the erect attitude. We may 

 remind ourselves of the abandoned classification 

 of Blumenbach, followed by Cuvier, who called men 

 two-handed Bimana, as contrasted with the four- 



' The four species of anthropoid apes are the chimpanzee, the 



orang-outang, the gibbon, and the gorilla. Of these perhaps the first 



is the most nearly allied to man, who possesses some two hundred 



anatomical characters in common with the anthropoid apes as 



, dijtinguished from lower species. 



