LIFE IN THE PAST 189 
matter of brute force than the men of to-day. These 
skeletons, or parts of skeletons, are turning up 
every year, and we are just beginning to know much 
about them. Capable men are studying them with 
much care. The next fifty years may not improbably 
make the history of the ascent of man as clear as is 
now that of the horse, to which we shall refer later. 
The whole question of the descent of man from the 
lower animals, or his ascent from them, as Drummond 
aptly termed it, is to most people so entirely repug- 
nant as to set them at once, and finally, against all 
willingness to consider the question of Evolution. 
This, however, does not solve the problem. Even 
though truth be horribly unpalatable, it is still to be 
believed if it is only the truth. There is practically 
no doubt left among scientific men of the origin of 
man in lower forms. The evidences grow more and 
more complete year by year, and from every line of 
investigation. Whether we study his anatomy, his 
embryology, his history, his language, or his civiliza- 
tion, all indications point in the same direction. Con- 
stant discoveries indicate the fact of an enormously 
long development from a very humble form. If this 
proves to be true and remains unpalatable, the fault 
lies in the palate and not in the truth. Gradually we 
are coming to understand that there is no reason why 
this truth should be unpalatable. We consider a rise 
