THE OEIGIN OF MAN 111 



undesirable. The lemurs are a primitive set of Eutherian 

 mammals ; and that they are an ancient stock is well known, 

 since Pelycodus, Adapis and Notharctus of the Eocene are 

 practically identical with the living forms. But that they are 

 in any sense the ancestors of the Anthropoidea is highly 

 improbable. 



It must not be forgotten that, living in the same geological 

 epoch, and even at an earlier period, were the curious forms 

 known as Anaptomorphus and Necrolemur. The importance 

 of these two forms in the study of the origin of Man is difficult 

 to overestimate ; but it is likely to remain unappreciated so 

 long as Tarsius, their living descendant — almost their living 

 picture — is regarded as nothing more than a somewhat 

 speciahsed lemur. Tarsius is a most curious little animal ; 

 but he is a little monkey and not a lemur, and Anaptomorphus 

 of the Eocene of Western Europe and North America may, 

 judging from the skeletal likenesses, safely be assumed to 

 have possessed all, or most, of those features of the perishable 

 parts of the body which stamp it so distinctly as a primitive, 

 though specialised, member of the Anthropoidea. 



To discuss the inter-relations of the Tarsii, the Platyrrhini 

 and the Catarrhini is too far-reaching an inquiry to embark on 

 within the limits of this lecture, and it will merely be possible 

 to call attention to a few points which bear most directly upon 

 the problem immediately before us. Where does Man stand 

 in the group of the Anthropoidea as thus constituted, and how 

 does he difier from the other members of the group ? Since 

 this is a cautionary lecture I will first select a point which, 

 though adaptive and probably not of extreme importance in 

 determining genetic affinities, is one that will serve to bring 

 home to you the line of thought I am attempting to follow. 



Galen, who laid the foundation of so much of our know- 

 ledge of Anatomy, was very much better acquainted with 

 the structure of the monkeys and lower animals than he was 

 with that of Man. It is notorious that when he described the 

 anatomy of Man he filled in all the blanks of his knowledge 

 with facts gained from dissections of lower animals. In this 

 way he led men to believe that as a part of the normal structure 



