77 



He then goes on to point out that man and other animals are 

 liable to be infected with parasites of the same genera or fami- 

 lies ; that there is the greatest similarity in the law of periodicity 

 regulating several of their functions ; and that the same remark- 

 able resemblance occurs in their embryonic development, observ- 

 ing that the human embryo, at a very early period, can hardly 

 be distinguished from that of other members of the vertebrate 

 kingdom. 



Having cited various authorities to prove the truth of the 

 above statements, he observes that " the homological construc- 

 tion of the whole frame in the members of the same class is 

 intelligible, if we admit their descent from a common progenitor, 

 and that it is only our natural prejudice, and that arrogance 

 which made our forefathers declare that they were descended from 

 demigods, which leads us to demur to this conclusion and he 

 finishes this, his introductory chapter, by saying that time will 

 before long come, when it will be thought wonderful that natural- 

 ists, who were well acquainted with the comparative structure of 

 man and other mammals, should have believed that each was the 

 work of a separate act of creation. Having shown that there is 

 no essential difference between man and the higher mammals in 

 their corporeal organization, he then passes on to the considera- 

 tion of the mental qualities, where, of course, a much wider 

 gulf would be expected to exist ; and even here, he points out 

 that the germs of all our intellectual characteristics, and some of 

 our moral, are to be found among the lower animals. 



He argues that man and the higher animals, especially the 

 primates, have the same senses, intuitions, and sensations ; 

 similar passions, affections, and emotions ; that they feel wonder 

 and curiosity ; that they possess the same faculties of imitation, 

 attention, memory, love, imagination, and even reason, though 

 in different degrees. Having admitted that this difference is 

 enormous, even if we compare the mind of one of the lowest 

 savages, who has no words to express any number higher than 

 four, and who uses no abstract terms for the commonest objects 

 or affections, with that of the most highly organized ape, he in- 

 sists, nevertheless, that the difference in mind between man and 

 the higher animals, great as it is, is certainly one of degree and 

 not of kind. 



Having been engaged for some years past in studying the 

 question of the localization of the Faculty of Speech, and believ- 

 ing that my published researches furnish a powerful and original 

 argument against the doctrine of evolution, I trust I may, with- 

 out presumption, be allowed to indulge the hope that I can 

 furnish an additional and original argument against this dan- 



