84 HOMO V. DARWIN. 



as all the animals in an iatermediate condition would have 

 been miserably ill-fitted for progression. But we know, 

 and this is well worthy of reflection, that several kinds of 

 apes are now actually in this intermediate condition ; and 

 no one doubts that they are, on the whole, well adapted for 

 their conditions of life. Thus, the gorilla runs with a side- 

 long, shambling gait, but more commonly progresses by 

 resting on its bent arms, (Vol. i. pp. 142, 143). 



Homo. Here, my Lord, is an engraving of a gorilla. 

 Though it does not show the brute as it " progresses," it 

 gives a very fair idea of its general appearance. Your 

 Lordship is aware that the gorilla belongs to the stem of 

 the Old World monkeys from which, Mr. Darwia tells us, 

 " man proceeded," and is now one of our " nearest allies." 



Loi'd C. Perhaps it may be my moderate acquaintance 

 with the science of Natural History, but I am unable to 

 recognize the relationship. Will Mr. Darwin proceed ? 



Darwin. " The long-armed apes," my Lord, occasionally 

 use their arms like crutches, swinging their bodies forward 

 between them ; and some kinds of Hylobates, without having 

 been taught, can run or walk upright with tolerable quick- 

 ness, yet they move awkwardly and much less securely than 

 man. We see, in short, with existing monkeys, various 

 gradations between a form of progression strictly like that 

 of a quadruped, and that of a biped or man." (Vol. i. 

 p. 143.) 



Lord C. But is not that just what we might expect, Mr. 

 Darwin ? As monkeys are, in outward form, intermediate 

 between quadrupeds and man, and are, moreover, as you 

 tell us, "on the whole, well adapted for their conditions 

 of life," you surely do not mean to maintain that they were 

 ever better adapted, or less adapted, for their conditions 

 of life, and are actually, now, undergoing a process of 



