304 



TUE GEOLOGIST. 



to tlie Iiorse as an " antotlieogen." Cuvier says, " If species have gradu- 

 ally changed, traces of these gradual modifications would be discovered ; 

 and between the 'Palaotlierinm and the recent species some intermediate 

 forms would be seen : a fact yet undemonstrated. AVhy have not the 

 bowels of the earth preserved tiie monuments of so curious a genealogy ? " 

 etc. etc. (Cuvier, ' Discours Preliminaire sur les Eevolutions de la Surface 

 du Globe,' 6th edition, 8vo, Paris, 1830, p. 122.) Here the absence of 

 intermediate organisms, previous to the discovery of T alopJ other ium, 

 AncJiithenuni, and Hipparion, is made the groundwork on which to base 

 a theory of distinct specific origin, or " autotheogeny." That, on psycho- 

 logical grounds alone, Man must be regarded as isolated from all other 

 organisms " may be conceded. As psychological grounds however are 

 unsafe bases for a zoological classification, and as the extent of man's 

 isolation is the problem w^hich biologists are attempting to decipher, what- 

 ever position we may assign to man, whether with Owen in a distinct sub- 

 class Archencepliala or with Huxley in a family Anthropini of the order 

 Frimates, we must at least admit that the anatomical characters of man 

 are not more unlike those of the higher Gyrencephala than the lower 

 Gyrencephala are unlike the Lissencephala or LyencepJiala, i.e. that 

 man is not more unlike the gorilla than the whale is like the rat or the 

 opossum. I therefore would be slow to recognize that Man is an 

 autotheogenous species. _^ 



I coincide with Professor Ji.ing's remarks, that "natural selection only 

 holds the rank of a subordinate or ancillary agent," but I am far from 

 identifying the " other and higher principles involved " with, the doctrine 

 of direct creation of animals through a fiat from a Primary Cause, even 

 though such a fiat might operate through "a principle inherent in animated 

 nature." Such phenomena as unity of plan, parthenogenesis, and succes- 

 sive development are far more probably accounted for on secondary laws 

 alone. " He must be a half-hearted philosopher \A ho, having w^atched the 

 gigantic strides of the biological sciences during the past twenty years, 

 doubts that science will sooner or later make this further step, so as to 

 become possessed of the law of evolution of organic forms — of the 

 unvarying order of that great chain of causes and effects of which all 

 organic forms, ancient and modern, are the links." * 



In Professor King's ethnological remarks, no mention is made of the 

 probabilities of a derivative origin of the lower races of man, as indicated 

 b}" their physiological affinities to the higher apes. I commend the 

 following extract from Dr. Biichner's 'Kraft und Stoff' (Svo, Prankf. p. 

 75, 1S58) to Professor King's consideration: — 



"An unbroken series of the most varied and multifarious transitions 

 and analogies unites the whole animal kingdom together, from its lowest 

 to its highest unit. Even man, who in his spiritual pride thinks himself 

 raised high above the whole animal world, is far removed from being 

 an exception to this law. The Ethiopic race unites him by a crowd of the 

 most striking analogies with the animal kingdom in a very unmistakable 

 way. The long arms, the form of the foot, the fleshless calf, the long 

 slender hands, the general lankness, the but slightly protuberant nose, the 

 projecting teeth, the low retreating forehead, the narrow and posteriorly 

 rotuberant head, the short neck, the contracted pelvis, the pendulous 

 elly, the want of beard, the coloui' of the skin, the disgusting odour, the 

 uncleanlinoss, the making of grimaces w^hilst speaking, the clear shrill tone 

 of voice, and the ape-like chiu'acter of the whole being, are just so many- 

 characteristic signs, which in all the corporeal forms and reiations of the 

 * Huxley, Address to the Geological Societv, Feb. 21, 1862, p. 23. 



