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140 



FACTS AND FANCIES. 



m 



of nature ; but we must never forget that such 

 general agreements in plan cover the most pro- 

 found differences in detail and in adaptation 

 to use, and that, while they indicate a common 

 type, this may rather point to a unity of design 

 than to a mere accidental unity of descent. 



There is a method, well known to natural 

 science, for measuring and indicating the di- 

 vergence of man from his, nearest allies. This 

 is the application of those principles of classifi- 

 cation which, though of essential importance in 

 science, are by some modern students of nature 

 strangely overlooked or misunderstood. Per- 

 haps in nothing has the progress of ideas of 

 evolution made a more injurious impress on 

 the advance of knowledge than in the manner 

 in which it has caused many eminent and able 

 naturalists to diverge from all logical propriety 

 in their ideas of classification. Still, in so far 

 as man is concerned, there are some facts of 

 this kind which are indisputable. He certainly 

 constitutes a distinct species, including many 

 races, which all, however, have common specific 

 characters. On the other hand, no one pre- 

 tends that he is conspecific with any lower an- 

 imal. All naturalists would now deride the 

 stories, at one time current, that gorillas and 



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