62 
OUR RACE AND ITS ORIGIN. 
Hindu and Chinese have each peculiar traditions of their 
origin, and so likewise have the Maori, which are no 
more puerile than those of other heathen nations ; but none 
of them offer anything to satisfy the enquiring mind as to 
the origin of his species. 
We turn, then, at once to the speculations of the present 
age. In “ The Vestiges of the Creation,” a work embodying 
the opinions of a large number of our modern philoso- 
phers, we find the theory of development advocated ; that 
animal life commenced with the simplest form ; that the 
protozoa was a pure gelatinous substance, such as is often 
seen on our shores. By some means or other — the way is 
not very clearly explained — this jelly, from being so con- 
stantly cast up on dry land, gradually acquired the power of 
living upon it, and thus by degrees changed its nature ; and, 
advancing to something else in the course of myriads of 
ages, passed from one form to another, until at last from 
the monkey emerged the man ; and in the gorilla we are 
taught to behold one of our grand progenitors. 
It is said to be a point of difficulty to define the difference 
between man and the ape. The following remarks made by 
a celebrated anatomist are intended to decide the question : 
“ The brain of an adult man is similar to that of an ape ; 
and, nevertheless, it is developed in some respects in an en- 
tirely different manner. Thus, for instance, the folds in the 
brain of an ape appear first in the inferior lobes, and lastly 
in the frontal ones. In man, the inverse of this takes place, 
the frontal folds are the first to appear. From this result 
perpetual differences during foetal life, and man, in this 
respect, presents an irresolvable exception to the general 
rule. Thus at no epoch is this human brain, typically so like 
an ape, actually an ape’s brain. One can make of a material 
man, neither a kingdom, a division, a class, an order, nor a 
family of an order. He is apart from the beings which most 
resemble him. He appears, pardon the expression, to the 
eyes of the naturalist, who would class him with the apes, as 
an anomaly.” 
There appears to be another striking peculiarity in the 
