The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Vol. IDarwin, Charles
Science
The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Vol. I
Darwin, Charles
Evolution (Biology); Human beings -- Origin; Sex differences; Sexual dimorphism (Animals); Sexual selection in animals
We have thus far endeavoured rudely to trace the genealogy of the
Vertebrata by the aid of their mutual affinities. We will now look to
man as he exists; and we shall, I think, be able partially to restore
during successive periods, but not in due order of time, the structure
of our early progenitors. This can be effected by means of the rudiments
which man still retains, by the characters which occasionally make their
appearance in him through reversion, and by the aid of the principles of
morphology and embryology. The various facts, to which I shall here
allude, have been given in the previous chapters. The early progenitors
of man were no doubt once covered with hair, both sexes having beards;
their ears were pointed and capable of movement; and their bodies were
provided with a tail, having the proper muscles. Their limbs and bodies
were also acted on by many muscles which now only occasionally reappear,
but are normally present in the Quadrumana. The great artery and nerve
of the humerus ran through a supra-condyloid foramen. At this or some
earlier period, the intestine gave forth a much larger diverticulum or
cæcum than that now existing. The foot, judging from the condition of
the great toe in the fœtus, was then prehensile; and our progenitors,
no doubt, were arboreal in their habits, frequenting some warm,
forest-clad land. The males were provided with great canine teeth,
which served them as formidable weapons.
At a much earlier period the uterus was double; the excreta were voided
through a cloaca; and the eye was protected by a third eyelid or
nictitating membrane. At a still earlier period the progenitors of man
must have been aquatic in their habits; for morphology plainly tells us
that our lungs consist of a modified swim-bladder, which once served as
a float. The clefts on the neck in the embryo of man show where the
branchiæ once existed. At about this period the true kidneys were
replaced by the corpora Wolffiana. The heart existed as a simple
pulsating vessel; and the chorda dorsalis took the place of a vertebral
column. These early predecessors of man, thus seen in the dim recesses
of time, must have been as lowly organised as the lancelet or amphioxus,
or even still more lowly organised.
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