4 aoa ted kate 
494 | "The Making of Man. [June, 
has sprung, and into which he is so deeply rooted that not the 
hand of a god could tear him loose. 
It is not our purpose here to give any of the arguments in 
favor of this conclusion. They may be found fully presented 
elsewhere. We design rather to endeavor to trace the line of 
ascent of man from the lower animal world, and to seek to dis- 
cover to what combination of highly favorable circumstances his 
development is due, 
Physically man does not deviate very greatly from the mam- 
mals next below him. His method of locomotion is essentially 
changed, but structurally he is very closely related to the higher 
- apes. Yet so much are all living beings the creatures of circum- 
a stance, that it seems possible, and even probable, that the remark- 
able mental differentiation of man may be a necessary result of d 
this comparatively slight physical differentiation. His erect atti- | 
tude, with certain variations in his life-habits which directly arise 
from it, bring him into new relations with surrounding nature, 
and these new relations have certainly very much to do with the 
new conditions which have arisen within him. A single step may 
lead at times to a vast train of unexpected consequences, and 
such seems to have been the case with this new step in evolution 
made by man. 
sal Man is the only true biped. He has but two points of support, 
while all other animals are supported at four or more speciali i 
: points, or else rest on the general surface of the body. In birds, 
A for instance, which are usually considered bipeds, the wings are 
_ organs for aérial support, and have no other function. The near 
est approach to man in this respect, among existing animals, may 
be found in the forms which progress by jumping, such as the 
kangaroo. Yet in these the structure and function of the fore 
limbs is distinctly locomotive. And such was probably the case 
_ with the dinosaurian reptiles of a past geological era, despite the ; 
fact that they seem to have been able to walk, to some extent, 0? 
their hind limbs alone. . E 
re Ri certainly remarkable that, in the whole extended period of a 
= animal life, no single vertebrate form appeared, so far as we can 
_ discover, before the advent of man, in which the fore limbs were : 
re completely freed from duty as organs of support and became 
structurally unfit for this duty. A partial freedom in this ae 
would be of minor value, since the formation necessary tO loge 
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