man's place in classification. 267 



which distinguish them from Marsupials and from Cloacals. 

 Finally, of the two main groups of placental Mammals, 

 the Deciduata and the Indeciduata, the gToup of Deciduata 

 doubtless includes Man. For the human embryo is de- 

 veloped with a genuine decidua, and is thus absolutely 

 distinguished from all the Indeciduata. Among the 

 Deciduata we distinguish two legions, the Zonoplacentalia, 

 with girdle-shaped placenta (Beasts of Prey and Pseudo- 

 hoofed animals), and the Discoplacentalia, with disc-shaped 

 placenta (all the remaining Deciduata). Man possesses a 

 disc-shaped placenta, like all Discoplacentalia ; and thus our 

 next question must be. What is man's position in this 

 group ? 



In the last chapter we distinguished the following five 

 orders of Discoplacentalia : (1) Semi-apes ; (2) Rodents ; (3) 

 Insectivora; (4) Bats; (5) Apes. The last of these five orders, 

 that of Apes, is, as every one knows, in every bodily feature 

 far more closely allied to Man than the four others. Hence 

 the only remaining question now is, whether, in the system 

 of animals, Man is to be directly classed in the order of 

 genuine Apes, or whether he is to be considered as the 

 representative of a special sixth order of Discoplacentalia, 

 allied to, but more advanced than, that of the Apes. 



Linnaeus in his system classed Man in the same order 

 with genuine Apes, Semi-apes, and Bats, which he called 

 Primates ; that is, lords, as it were the highest dignitaries 

 of the animal kingdom. But Blumenbach, of Gottingen, 

 separated Man as a special order, under the name otBimana, 

 or two-handed, and contrasted him with the Apes and 

 Semi-apes under the name of Quadrumana, or four-handed. 

 This classification was also adopted by Cuvier and, conse- 



