294 THE DOCTRINE OF DESCENT. 



remotely connected with the inaptitude of man, and as a 

 criterion of consanguinity, can hardly be taken into con- 

 sideration. 



While requiring by logical deduction, a common 

 origin for man and the anthropomorphous apes, the doc- 

 trine of Descent, as it is almost superfluous to say, repu- 

 diates the senseless demand for intermediate forms be- 

 tween man and the gorilla. What future times may 

 perhaps discover, are intermediate forms which go back 

 to the common point of derivation of the present apes 

 and of man. And thus, notwithstanding the very close 

 relations already discussed, there remains the chasm 

 which is approximately expressed by the comparative 

 weights of the lowest human brain yet measured and the 

 brain of the gorilla. The brain of a bushwoman, nor- 

 mally efficient after the manner of her tribe, amounted 

 to 2 lbs. 4 ozs. (Cuvier's brain weighed 4 lbs. 4 ozs.), that 

 of a gorilla may be estimated, from the capacity of the 

 cranium, at about i lb. 6 ozs., which gives the approx- 

 imate ratio of 3:2. But exalted above the animal as 

 man may feel himself in his bodily nature, in this again 

 he forms no exception, as many animal forms occupy an 

 equally isolated position with reference to their unmis- 

 takably nearest kindred. 1 



Need we imagine a twofold creation of vertebrate 

 animals, because the lancelet is now separated from the 

 fishes by a whole scale of intermediate forms no longer 

 extant? The example of the horse is, among others, 

 highly instructive in this case. Let us bear in mind that, 

 in the nature of the limbs and teeth, this genus differs 

 far more from all other extant graminivora than man 

 dififers from the ape. Had not the fossil ungulates been 



