302 ANTHROPOID APES. 



proportion to the age of the specimen, the charac- 

 teristic differences in the form of the jaw, the 

 cranial ridges, etc., become more evident. Both 

 man and apes are developed from an embryonic 

 condition, and from the period of childhood in a 

 diverging or almost opposite direction into the final 

 type of their species, yet even adult apes still retain 

 in their whole organization features which corre- 

 spond to those of the human child." * Quenstedt 

 also says : " However much Homo sapiens is raised 

 by his intelligence above all other animals, however 

 important the physical differences are which divide 

 him from apes, yet the scene of their existence in the 

 world is by no means so wide that, as time goes on, 

 the narrow limits between them may not approxi- 

 mate more closely." t 



In these words the opinion I have already 

 expressed is set forth, an opinion which continues 

 to gain ground ; namely, that man cannot have 

 descended from any of the fossil species which have 

 hitherto come to our notice, nor yet from any of the 

 species of apes now extant. It is more probable 

 " that both types have been produced from a com- 

 mon ground-form, which is still more strongly 

 expressed in the structure of young specimens, 

 because the age of childhood is less advanced " 

 (Vogt). 



This supposed progenitor of our race is neces- 

 sarily completely hypothetical, and all the attempts 

 hitherto made to construct even a doubtful repre- 



* Die Sdugethiere in Wort und Bild, p. 49. 



t Handbuch der Petrefactenkunde, 3rd edit., i. 38 : Tubingen, 1882. 



