The Development Theory : A Review. 119 



from our present conception of the organic world all notion of 

 actual relationship by descent, and what have we left but a 

 mighty list of extinct creatures whose rise, progriss and dis- 

 appearance are far more unaccountable than those of the genii 

 of the Arabian Nights." 



We omit the chapter on the geographical distribution of 

 animals and plants — a new-born science which under the labors 

 of Wallace and others, is yielding valuable results in the same 

 direction, and pass on to that on the origin and antiquity of man. 

 This will prove to many readers the most interesting in the 

 volume. Those who believe with the authors in the Evolution 

 of Man from a lower form, will find some facts on which they 

 can base a rational faith. Those who reject such an ancestry 

 for themselves would do well to calmly and dispassionately 

 consider the evidence before giving way to prejudice. Our 

 authors write: — "In order to gain a clear conception of the geor 

 logical relation of man, let us recapitulate the life-history of the 

 individual from the beginning. We shall find the future human 

 being a mere nucleated cell, a little speck of albuminous jelly, the 

 mammalian egg. So closely do the form, the size, and the struc- 

 ture of this little cell remind us of the amoeba-cell that Haeckel's 

 inference is most natural. r i he ancestors of the higher beings 

 must be regarded as one-celled beings similar to the amoebas 

 which at the present day occur in our rivers, pools and lakes. 

 The incontrovertible fact that each human being develops from 

 an egg which, in common with those of all animals, is a simple cell 

 clearly proves that the most remote ancestors of man were pri- 

 mordial animals, of this sort, of a form equivalent to a simple cell. 

 When therefore the doctrine of the descent of man is condemned 

 as 'horrible, shocking, and immoral,' the unalterable fact, which 

 can be proved at any moment under the microscope, that the 

 human egg is a simple cell in no way different from those of 

 other mammals must equally be pronounced horrible, shocking, 

 and immoral." 



The close resemblance of structure between man and the higher 

 apes so often pointed out is brought forward, and the sole cause 

 of man's superiority is shewn to lie in his brain, there being not a 

 few serious deficiencies in other organs which set him at a disad- 

 vantage in comparison with some of the lower animals. Several 



