228 PIONEERS OF EVOLUTION. 



tions in the ape series leads to one and the same 

 result, — that the structural differences which separate 

 Man from the Gorilla and the Chimpanzee are not so 

 great as those which separate the Gorilla from the 

 lower apes. But in enunciating this important truth 

 I must guard myself against a form of misunder- 

 standing which is very prevalent . . . that the struc- 

 tural differences between man and even the highest 

 apes are small and insignificant. Let me then dis- 

 tinctly assert, on the contrary, that they are great 

 and significant; that every bone of a Gorilla bears 

 marks by which it might be distinguished from the 

 corresponding bone of a Man; and that, in the pres- 

 ent creation, at any rate, no intermediate link bridges 

 over the gap between Homo and Troglodytes. It 

 would be no less wrong than absurd to deny the ex- 

 istence of this chasm ; but it is at least equally wrong 

 and absurd to exaggerate its magnitude, and, rest- 

 ing on the admitted fact of its existence, to refuse to 

 inquire whether it is wide or narrow. Remember, if 

 you will, that there is no existing link between Man 

 and the Gorilla, but do not forget that there is a no 

 less sharp line of demarcation, a no less complete 

 absence of any traditional form, between the Gorilla 

 and the Orang, or the Orang and the Gibbon." 



The brains of man and ape being fundamentally 

 the same in structure, it follows that the functions 

 which they perform are fundamentally the same. 

 The large array of facts mustered by a series of 

 careful observers prove how futile is the argument 



