FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   249   250   251   252   253   254   255   256   257   258   259   260   261   262   263   264   265   266   267   268   269   270   271   272   273  
274   275   276   277   278   279   280   281   282   283   284   285   286   287   288   289   290   291   292   293   294   295   296   297   298   >>   >|  
ology garbled, until they seem to say that the structural differences between man and even the highest apes are small and insignificant. Let me take this opportunity then of distinctly asserting, on the contrary, that they are great and significant; that every bone of a Gorilla bears marks by which it might be distinguished from the corresponding bone of a Man; and that, in the present creation, at any rate, no intermediate link bridges over the gap between 'Homo' and 'Troglodytes'. It would be no less wrong than absurd to deny the existence of this chasm; but it is at least equally wrong and absurd to exaggerate its magnitude, and, resting on the admitted fact of its existence, to refuse to inquire whether it is wide or narrow. Remember, if you will, that there is no existing link between Man and the Gorilla, but do not forget that there is a no less sharp line of demarcation, a no less complete absence of any transitional form, between the Gorilla and the Orang, or the Orang and the Gibbon. I say, not less sharp, though it is somewhat narrower. The structural differences between Man and the Man-like apes certainly justify our regarding him as constituting a family apart from them; though, inasmuch as he differs less from them than they do from other families of the same order, there can be no justification for placing him in a distinct order. And thus the sagacious foresight of the great lawgiver of systematic zoology, Linnaeus, becomes justified, and a century of anatomical research brings us back to his conclusion, that man is a member of the same order (for which the Linnaean term PRIMATES ought to be retained) as the Apes and Lemurs. This order is now divisible into seven families, of about equal systematic value: the first, the ANTHROPINI, contains Man alone; the second, the CATARHINI, embraces the old-world apes; the third, the PLATYRHINI, all new-world apes, except the Marmosets; the fourth, the ARCTOPITHECINI, contains the Marmosets; the fifth, the LEMURINI, the Lemurs--from which 'Cheiromys' should probably be excluded to form a sixth distinct family, the CHEIROMYINI; while the seventh, the GALEOPITHECINI, contains only the flying Lemur 'Galeopithecus',--a strange form which almost touches on the Bats, as the 'Cheiromys' puts on a rodent clothing, and the Lemurs simulate Insectivora. Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this--leading us insensibly from t
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   249   250   251   252   253   254   255   256   257   258   259   260   261   262   263   264   265   266   267   268   269   270   271   272   273  
274   275   276   277   278   279   280   281   282   283   284   285   286   287   288   289   290   291   292   293   294   295   296   297   298   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Gorilla
 

Lemurs

 

Cheiromys

 

absurd

 

existence

 

families

 

family

 

systematic

 

distinct

 

Marmosets


differences
 

structural

 
divisible
 

member

 

Linnaean

 

PRIMATES

 

presents

 

conclusion

 

retained

 

mammals


Linnaeus

 
leading
 

insensibly

 

zoology

 
lawgiver
 

justified

 

gradations

 
series
 

Perhaps

 

extraordinary


brings

 

research

 

century

 

anatomical

 

simulate

 

Galeopithecus

 

foresight

 

flying

 

ARCTOPITHECINI

 
strange

touches

 
fourth
 
LEMURINI
 

CHEIROMYINI

 

GALEOPITHECINI

 

excluded

 

ANTHROPINI

 

rodent

 

clothing

 

Insectivora