Darwin next attempts to establish the _specific_ genealogical tree of
man, and carefully weighs the differences and resemblances between the
different families of the Primates. The erect position of man is an
adaptive character, just as are the various characters referable to
aquatic life in the seals, which, notwithstanding these, are ranked as
a mere family of the carnivores. The following utterance is very
characteristic of Darwin:[102] "If man had not been his own
classifier, he would never have thought of founding a separate order
for his own reception." In numerous characters not mentioned in
systematic works, in the features of the face, in the form of the
nose, in the structure of the external ear, man resembles the apes.
The arrangement of the hair in man has also much in common with the
apes; as also the occurrence of hair on the forehead of the human
embryo, the beard, the convergence of the hair of the upper and under
arm towards the elbow, which occurs not only in the anthropoid apes,
but also in some American monkeys. Darwin here adopts Wallace's
explanation of the origin of the ascending direction of the hair in
the forearm of the orang,--that it has arisen through the habit of
holding the hands over the head in rain. But this explanation cannot
be maintained when we consider that this disposition of the hair is
widely distributed among the most different mammals, being found in
the dog, in the sloth, and in many of the lower monkeys.
After further careful analysis of the anatomical characters Darwin
reaches the conclusion that the New World monkeys (Platyrrhine) may be
excluded from the genealogical tree altogether, but that man is an
offshoot from the Old World monkeys (Catarrhine) whose progenitors
existed as far back as the Miocene period. Among these Old World
monkeys the forms to which man shows the greatest resemblance are the
anthropoid apes, which, like him, possess neither tail nor ischial
callosities. The platyrrhine and catarrhine monkeys have their
primitive ancestor among extinct forms of the Lemuridae. Darwin also
touches on the question of the original home of the human race and
supposes that it may have been in Africa, because it is there that
man's nearest relatives, the gorilla and the chimpanzee, are found.
But he regards speculation on this point as useless. It is remarkable
that, in this connection, Darwin regards the loss of the hair-covering
in man as having some relation to a warm climate, while elsewhere he
is inclined to make sexual selection responsible for it. Darwin
recognises the great gap between man and his nearest relatives, but
similar gaps exist at other parts of the mammalian genealogical tree:
the allied forms have become extinct. After the extermination of the
lower races of mankind, on the one hand, and of the anthropoid apes on
the other, which will undoubtedly take place, the gulf will be greater
than ever, since the baboons will then bound it on the one side, and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account