THE PAST EVOLUTION OF MAN 93 



children human." This belief accords with the old 

 aphorism that Nature does nothing by leaps — * 

 Natura nihil facit per saltum. In our consideration 

 of heredity and variation we shall see that this 

 dictum cannot be accepted by us as unreservedly as 

 it was by even Darwin himself; but we may neverthe- 

 less be assured that the intrusion of this idea of the 

 " first pair " into the modern theory of man's origin 

 is quite unwarranted. It will not interfere with the 

 studies of the next generation, who will not be 

 handicapped, as we have been, by the early instilla- 

 tion of untruth in the guise of truth. The mere 

 consideration of the lowest types of humanity now 

 extant is sufficient to show us that, even if the 

 human race owes its origin to a somewhat marked 

 variation — a mutation, as De Vries would say — yet 

 its beginnings can no more have answered to any 

 standards we should care to call human than do the 

 beginnings of any human individual to-day. 



There is, however, another popular phrase which 

 deserves more serious consideration. It may be 

 asked how much meaning the evolutionist may 

 allow to any discussion concerning the " cradle of 

 the race." Must this phrase be allowed to lapse, or 

 left to those who seek for the Garden of Eden and 

 the footprints of the angel with the flaming sword 

 somewhere in Mesopotamia ? On the contrary, the 

 phrase may still retain a meaning that corresponds 

 not to fiction but to fact. The evidence of science 

 is so far confirmatory of Genesis as to refer the 

 origin of man to Asia. That is a big word, and I 

 will not venture to delimit it, save to exclude the 

 colder zones of Asia. Certainly one would not 



