The Last Link: Our Present Knowledge of the Descent of Man — John Shaqi
The Last Link: Our Present Knowledge of the Descent of ManHaeckel, Ernst
Science
The Last Link: Our Present Knowledge of the Descent of Man
Haeckel, Ernst
Human beings -- Origin
classifications of Primates is best determined by the important thesis
of Huxley, in which, in 1863, he carried out a most careful and
critical comparison of all the anatomical gradations within this order.
In my opinion, this ingenious thesis--which I have called the Huxleyan
Law, or the 'Pithecometra-thesis of Huxley'--is of the utmost value.
It runs as follows: 'Thus, whatever system of organs be studied, the
comparison of their modifications in the ape-series leads to one and
the same result--that the structural differences which separate man
from the gorilla and the chimpanzee are not so great as those which
separate the gorilla from the lower apes.' If we accept the Huxleyan
law without prejudice, and apply it to the natural classification of
the Primates, we must concede that man's place is within the order
of the Simiæ. On examining this relation with care, and judging
with logical persistence, we may even go a step further. Instead of
the wider conception of 'Simiæ,' we must use the restricted term of
Catarrhinæ, and our Pithecometra-thesis has then to be formulated
as follows: _The comparative anatomy of all organs of the group of
Catarrhine Simiæ leads to the result that the morphological differences
between man and the great apes are not so great as are those between
the man-like apes and the lowest Catarrhinæ_. In fact, it is very
difficult to show why man should not be classed with the large apes in
the same zoological family. We all know a man from an ape; but it is
quite another thing to find differences which are absolute and not of
degree only. Speaking generally, we may say that man alone combines the
four following features: (1) Erect walk; (2) extremities differentiated
accordingly; (3) articulate speech; (4) higher reasoning power. Speech
and reason are obviously relative distinctions only--the direct result
of more brains and more brain-power, the so-called mental faculties.
The erect walk is not an absolutely distinguishing characteristic: the
large apes likewise walk on their feet only, supporting their bodies
by touching the ground with the backs of their hands--in fact, with
their knuckles--and this is a mode of progression very different from
that of the tailed monkeys, which walk upon the palms of their hands.
There are, however, two obvious differences in the development of the
muscles. In man alone the gastrocnemius and the soleus muscle are thick
enough to form the calf of the leg, and the glutæus maximus is enlarged
into the buttocks. A fourth glutæal muscle occurs occasionally in
man, while it is constantly present in apes as the so-called musculus
scansorius. Concerning the muscles of the whole body, we cannot do
better than quote Testut's summary: 'The mass of recorded observations
upon the muscular anomalies in man is so great, and the agreement of
many of these with the condition normal in apes is so marked, that the
gap which usually separates the muscular system of man from that of the
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