SOME COMMON ERRORS CONSIDERED 103 



the corresponding parts of the representatives of the same 

 species now living in Egypt. He arrived at the conclu- 

 sion that no appreciable change had taken place in these 

 animals in the course of this considerable lapse of time, 

 and the justice of his conclusion is not disputed. It 

 is obvious that, if it can be proved that animals have 

 endured, without undergoing any demonstrable change 

 of structure, for so long a period as four thousand years, 

 no form of the hypothesis of evolution which assumes that 

 animals undergo a constant and necessary progressive 

 change can be tenable ; unless, indeed, it be further 

 assumed that four thousand years is too short a time 

 for the production of a change sufficiently great to be 

 detected. 



Other evidence, concerned with lower types, is 

 still more striking, for it shows that types may 

 persist unchanged for hundreds of thousands, if 

 not for millions, of years. 



Now it is of very great interest, in this connec- 

 tion, to study such evidence as may be available in 

 the case of man, who is not only the highest, but 

 also — as the highest should be — the most adapt- 

 able and versatile of animals. Where, then, shall 

 we seek for the oldest exact records of human 

 anatomy ? Perhaps these are to be furnished by 

 Egyptian mummies ; but I believe that the oldest 

 exact records of surface-characters are furnished us 

 by the recent discoveries of Dr. Arthur Evans in 

 Crete. In this belief I have taken the opportunity 

 to study — not, unfortunately, the originals — but 

 some very fine photographs of Cretan statuary which 

 Dr. Evans exhibited at a recent Exhibition of Old 

 Masters — most appropriately named — at the Royal 



