MAN AND APES. 
257 
taken into account, the cross relations and interdependencies 
become in the highest degree complex and difficult to unravel. 
This has been more or less generally recognised ; but it has 
been put forward by Mr. Darwin,* and widely accepted, that the 
resemblances between Man and Apes are such that Man may 
be conceived to have descended from some ancient members 
of the broad-breastboned group of Apes, and the Grorilla is still 
popularly credited with the closest relationship to him which 
is to be found in all existing Apes. 
As to the latter opinion, evidence has been here adduced to 
show that it is quite untenable. 
As to Mr. Darwin’s proposition, much remains to be said. 
But it is certainly true that on the whole the anatomical cha- 
racters of man’s body have much more resemblance to those 
common to the latisternal group than to those presented by any 
other section of the order Primates. 
But, in the first place, we should consider what evidence of 
common origin does community of structure afford ? 
The human structural characters are shared by so many and 
such diverse forms, that it is impossible to arrange even groups 
of genera in a single ascending series from the Aye- Aye to man 
(to say nothing of so arranging the several single genera), if 
all the structural resemblances are taken into account. 
On any conceivable hypothesis there are many similar struc- 
tures, each of which must be deemed to have been independently 
evolved in more than one instance. 
If the number of wrist bones be deemed a special mark of 
affinity between the Grorilla, Chimpanzee, and man, why are 
we not to consider it also a special mark of affinity between 
the Indris and man ? That it should be so considered, however, 
would be deemed an absurdity by every evolutionist. 
If the proportions of the arms speak in favour of the Chim- 
panzee, why do not the proportions of the legs serve to promote 
the rank of the Gribbons. 
If the “ bridging convolutions ” of the Orang go to sustain 
its claim to supremacy, they also go far to sustain a similar 
claim on the part of the long-tailed, thumbless Spider Monkeys. 
If the obliquely-ridged teeth of Simia and Troglodytes point 
to community of origin, how can we deny a similar community 
of origin, as thus estimated, to the Howling Monkeys and 
Gralagos ? 
The liver of the Gribbons proclaims them almost human ; 
that of the Grorilla declares him comparatively brutal. 
The ear lobule of the Grorilla makes him our cousin ; but 
his tongue is eloquent in his own dispraise. 
The slender Loris, from amidst the Half- Apes, can put in 
* “Descent of Man,” vol. i. p. 197. 
VOL. XII. — NO. XLVIII. S 
