MAN VIEWED OBJECTIVELY. 265 



In order to carry out this extremely important appli- 

 cation of the Theory of Descent to man, with the necessary 

 impartiality and objectivity, I must above all beg the 

 reader (at least for a short time) to lay aside all traditional 

 and customary ideas on the " Creation of Man," and to 

 divest himself of the deep-rooted prejudices concerning 

 it, which are implanted in the mind in earliest youth. If 

 he fail to do this, he cannot objectively estimate the weight 

 of the 'scientific argviments which I shall bring forward 

 in favour of the animal derivation of Man, that is, of 

 his origin out of Ape-like Mammals. We cannot here 

 do better than imagine ourselves with Huxley to be the 

 inhabitants of another planet, who, taking the opportunity 

 of a scientific journey through the universe, have arrived 

 upon the earth and have there met with a peculiar two- 

 legged mammal called Man, diffused over the whole earth 

 in gi'eat numbers. In order to examine him zoologically, 

 we should pack a number of the individuals of different 

 ages and from different lands (as we should do with the 

 other animals collected on the earth) into large vessels 

 filled with spirits of wine, and on our return to our own 

 planet we shoiild commence the comparative anatomy of all 

 these terrestrial animals quite objectively. As we should 

 have no personal interest in Man, in a creature so entirely 

 different from ourselves, we should examine and criticise 

 him as impartially and objectively as we should the 

 other terrestrial animals. In doing this we should, of 

 course, in the first place refrain from all conjectures and 

 speculations on the nature of his soul, or on the spiiitual 

 side of his nature, as it is usually called. We should 

 occupy ourselves solely with his bodily structure, and with 



