DE. TH. NEUMANN. 211 



as already stated, only on the last conclusions of this 

 theory, applied to mankind, that we must trace our 

 origin back to the highest mammals, to the apes. 



This fact seems to be horrid and ugly at the first 

 glance, not only as the fact itself, but much more in its 

 consequences upon our thinking and feeling, upon our 

 whole intellectual and moral life. We have been told 

 that this scientific statement destroys not only every 

 religion, but also morality and all the highest properties 

 of our human and of our divine life. It has been said that 

 such science must bring about the state of anarchy in 

 every country, and the ruin of all laws of civilization and 

 society. We do not think so, however. Just as in the 

 sixteenth century, the new doctrine of the revolution of 

 the planets around the sun became the powerful agent of 

 an unheard of progress in the true knowledge of nature 

 and consequently in all civilization, so also Darwin's 

 theory must be hailed as the morning star of a new period 

 in the history of man ; and far from being the cause of a 

 deterioration and humiliation of our race, the knowledge 

 of our animal origin will serve only to better our facul- 

 ties, to improve our minds, souls and hearts, and to 

 rapidly increase our intellectual development. And 

 aside from these consequences, is it really so humiliating 

 to know that we have worked our way up through a long 

 and slow process of differentiation and perfection to the 

 state in which we are now? The theory of evolution 

 does not only explain the origin of man and the course 

 of his historical development in the most natural way, it 

 gives us also the right to feel proud of ourselves, to look 

 upon our development as the highest triumph of our 

 own over the whole remaining nature, and to feel con- 

 fident that also in future the human race will proceed on 

 its glorious course of development and reach higher and 

 higher stages of intellectual perfection. In this sense, 

 Darwin's theory gives us the most cheerful prospect for 



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