some fish-like animal. In the dim obscurity of the past we can see that the early progenitor of all the vertebrata must have been an aquatic animal, provided with brachia, with the two sexes united in the same individual, and with the most important organs of the body (such as the brain and heart) imperfectly developed." "At the period and place, whenever and wherever it may have been, when man first lost his hairy covering, he probably inhabited a hot country and this would have been favorable for a frugiferous diet, on which, judging from analogy, he subsisted. We are far from knowing how long ago it was when man first diverged from the catarhine stock; but this may have occurred at an epoch as remote as the eocene period; for the higher apes had diverged from the lower apes as early as the upper miocene period." "It is somewhat more probable that our early progenitors lived on the African continent than elsewhere." 66 The simiada branched off into two great stems, the New World and the Old World monkeys; and from the latter, at a remote period, man, the wonder and glory of the universe, proceeded." §. The above"summary" would probably be considered by most reasoners as a large yield of "conclusion" from a small outlay of premises (albeit, the discussion is sufficiently extended). For fear we may be charged with doing injustice to this eminent author, we append a few of the interesting resemblances pointed out by him as existing between man and apes-similarity in the relative positions of the features, similar movements of the muscles and skin in the display of emotions, resemblance in the external ears and nose, the possession of beards, the abundance of hair on the head, nakedness of the forehead, the presence of eye-brows, the arrangement of the hair on the arms in converging lines towards the elbow, the same senses and intuitions, the same emotions and faculties which though varying in degree are the same in kind, capability of improvement, etc. Though it would be unfair to leave the impression that Darwin considers these and similar resemblances necessarily the result of unbroken inheritance, and equally unfair to assume that he rests his * Descent of Man, vol. ii. p. 372. † Idem, vol. i. p. 192. § Idem, vol. i. p. 204. argument mainly on these, it nevertheless cannot be denied that he lays great stress on slight analogies— much greater, apparently, than is warrantable. Such resemblances neither justify us in charging the Deity with want of originality, nor in inferring that those organisms in which they occur must stand related to each other as progenitor and offspring, or must have descended from a common ancestry. It is extremely difficult to conceive that there should have been an entire absence of resemblances between man and the lower animals, if he was to possess a physical nature: apparently there was no necessity for entire dissimilarity; nay, the very similarity of organs in two beings, which are nevertheless separated from each other by an "almost infinite divergence," tends rather to heighten the conviction that at least the faculties of the higher, if not those of the lower, must be the direct creation of Divine Intelligence. In contrast with this theory-which is in fact but an hypothesis searching for facts upon which to rest-how honorable is the Scriptural account of the origin of the human family. Man's existence is due to divine power, his continuance in being to Him who upholds systems, worlds, suns, myriads of forces; to Him who cares for the minutest insect that flutters away its brief life in the morning sunbeam; who, to tiny creatures, has given not only limbs, mouths, digestive organs-all the parts requisite to success in the struggle for food-but has given an eye so perfect, though no larger than the point of a needle, as to be capable of producing forty thousand images of the face of the beholder. "Marvelous are thy works, O Lord." In the list of wonders infinite, stand these the foremost: "God created man:" "He prevents him from sinking back into annihilation." If man is an evolution from the anthropoid apes, at what point in his gradual, and almost infinitely protracted improvement, did he become possessed of immortality? -or are we to conclude that he perishes? At what point did he become distinguishable as man, beastiality giving place to humanity? CHAPTER V. MAN'S MORAL NATURE. WIDE as is the divergence in intellectual faculties between man and the lower animals, in moral nature the chasm is still broader. It is not merely a difference in degree, but in kind, animals being entirely destitute of moral qualities properly so called. True, they possess social instincts, and in the exercise of these occasionally manifest qualities resembling those which in the human family are denominated ethical. The horse, which carries forward a process akin to reasoning, and remembers places which it has frequently visited, seems also to have a measure of affection for its companion, and even for its owner. The elephant, which may be teased into a frenzy of rage, is also capable of appreciating kind treatment, and possibly feels an impulse slightly akin to gratitude. The lioness, fierce as her nature is, has affection for her whelps. A monkey has been known to come to the rescue of its keeper when he was attacked by an enraged baboon, thereby seeming to manifest a disposition to requite remembered kindnesses. Cattle, though sometimes far from manifesting sympathy with each others' sufferings-as when the wounded are driven from the herd-have nevertheless been seen to stand gazing on a dying or dead companion. The queen-bee, though she kills her fertile daughters, evidently has sympathy with all the members of her well-regulated household. It is no unusual thing to see birds expressing extravagant joy over the nest which contains their happy young; some even build houses which are designed and exclusively used for social pleasures. Insects, as well as puppies and lambs, sport and wrestle and enter with zest into amusements, sympathizing with the joys of others. Crows have been known to feed a blind companion, thereby giving evidence of possessing the rudiments of what man regards as the highest virtue, unselfish care for the aged and the helpless. The baboons of Abyssinia, before setting out to plunder a garden, choose a leader and enjoin obedience to orders on the members of the company; if any one on the journey makes a noise, so endangering success, his nearest companion gives him a slap to remind him of the impropriety of disobeying orders. Not only do animals appear to possess, though in but slight measure, love, gratitude, sympathy, obediencequalities usually considered as possessing moral bearingsbut also manifest courage, and in some circumstances the spirit of self-sacrifice. The bear, with intelligence adequate to the procurement of food for her cubs, will also rush between them and danger. When a troop of monkeys is attacked by dogs, the males will hasten to the front, showing valor and a readiness to sacrifice themselves for the good of the company: so successfully can they cover the retreat that even the youngest and the feeblest commonly reach the mountains in safety; there they receive the praise which gratitude prompts the rescued to bestow. Perhaps the nearest approach made by the inferior animals to what we denominate conscience is the apparent sense of shame, bordering on remorse, which the whipped cur seems to experience as he cringingly supplicates a return of his master's favor. Professor |