New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-04-30

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- psf = dissases, habits, reprodnetiy eand
other processes, and 6yen kinds Of paraetteo
beth internal and external. ut u, in short
scarcely possible to exaggerate the close
correspondence in general structure, in the
minute structure Of the tissues, in chemical
competition and in constitution, between
man and the higher animals. especially the
anthropomorphic apes"
2. EMBRYONIC DEvELOPNENT. = Man,
physically, is developed from . microscopic
0vule, which does mot differ, as far % can
be observed, from the Ovules of other ami
mails. The embryo, as it grows, resembles
the adult stages Of lower forms. For in.
stance, the heart is at first q simple
pulsating vessel, and the lower part Of the
backbone projects like tail, extending con-
siderably beyond the documentary legs.
Even as late as the seventh month, as
BischOf informs us, the cOnvOlutiOns of the
brain have reached the same stage of de-
velOpment as in balloon when adult.
without question," says Professor Hux-
ley, the mode Of origin and the early stages
OF the development Of man are identical
with those of the animals Immediately be-
low him in the scale. Without doubt, in
these respects, he is far nearer to apes than
the apes are to the dog"
3. RUDIMENTARY ORGANs.-The muscles
by which many animals prick up their ears
and direct them to different points Of the
compass are in rudiinentary condition in
man, as are those by which some ami
mails, especially horses, twitch their skin.
The same may be said Of the bones
which, in most animals, extend into the
tail, Of the hairs on the body, the third
eyeiid," the vermiform appendage OF the
large intestine, and many minor parts OF
the structure little known, except to anatO-
mists.s Though there are abundant cases Of
this sort in man, yet there are none SO
striking as may be found among the lower
animals as, for instance, in snakes, rudi-
ments Of hind limbs that never project
through the skin; in embryonic birds and
whales. teeth that never cut through the
gum in insects, wings incapable of fight
and lying under wing cases firmly sOldered
together. The rudimentary teats and milk
glands of male mammals sometimes ca
pable of imparting nourishment) do not bear
SO directly Oh the present subject. because
they, only show relation between the two
sexes OF the same species, not between one
species and another.
The three foregoing great classes Of facts
are Ineligible on the theory of evolution;
they point to it by strong inductiOns they
have never been explained on any other n.y.
pothesis. 1t is no scientific explanation to
say that vertebrate animals have all been
formed on some ideal plan which left use
less rudiments here and omitted them else
where: If, however, we suppose all verte-
brates descended from a common progenitOr
whose structure, more or less modified,
they still inherit, all becomes plain.
Mr.. Darwin next considers the human
mind, and he conEiders it within the limita-
tons Of the system he builds. 1t is not
merely like the bOdy-an evolution, but it
is within the body evolution. The psychOl-
Ogy of the treatise, it is hardly necessary to
say, comes far short of the excellence OF its
physiology. His standpoint, in respect to
the human mind, is about that OF Lord
Monboddo hundred years ago. He con-
strues the difference between brute intelli-
gence and human intelligence to be a diff
ference in degree only. He thus asserts
that the brute knows what or as man
knows, but less; or, what is the same thing,
that man knows what or as brute knows,
but more. He says in substance: In
mind there can be no doubt man excels all
other animals. The difference is immense.
1t is, however, not Of kind. II no organic
being, except man, had been able to per-
ceive, feel or reason, we could not suppose
that our mental powers had been developed
from anything exhibited by the lower ami
mails. But we must admit that there is q
much wider interval in mental power be-
tween one Of the lowest fishes, as a lamprey
or lancelet, and one Of the higher apes, than
there is between an ape and man. Yet this
immense interval is filed up by numberless
gradatiOns. The matter of immeHsity or
breadth of interval rather avoids than es-
capes difficulty. If between the human mind
aud animal intelligence there are but diff
ferent degrees of the same scale, whence is
it that the higher can no more reach the
lower than the lower can reach the higher
i. e., that there should be an impossible bar
rier between one knowledge and the like Of
it. For, as between man and brute, what
either knows the other never apprehends or
is cOgnizant of. ExaltatiOn Of brute intelli-
gence does not prove a common scale OF
measurement. Men have existed who have.
mentally, what might be called, by all our
means Of comparison, a lower position than
the cunning monkey. But the possibilities
in one case have never been unfOlded, while
in the other the capacities have all been full
filled. The idiot is brought no nearer to the
ape by reason of his deficient intelligence.
But by this depression we are departing
from our purpose, as our object is to state
Mr.. Darwin's theory at its present stage,
not to criticise it. We return.
Here, however, we think Mr.. Darwin even
understates his position; for, by its correla-
tlOHs, we must COuSlucT TIC interval OctWccn
the ape and the lowest varieties of man
much less than between the extremes Of
man himself. Compare the savages men
toned in Sir John Lubbock's Prehistoric
Times" who have no word to express any
number higher than four, and who use no
abstract terms for the commOnest objects or
affections, with Shakespeare, a Newton, q
Herbert Spencer. Is it possible to do this
without a firm conviction that the interval
between these extreme specimens Of man is
immensely greater than the difference be-
tween the lowest men and the highest apes!
Man has like outward senses and faculties
of immediate perception with other man.
mals-like avenues of communication to the
brain. The same appears TO be fundament-
ally the case with such faculties as memory,
attention, curiosity, imitation, discrimina-
ton, etc. "Animals may constantly be seen
to pause, deliberate, and resolve. 1t is sig
nifcant fact that the more the habits of any
particular animal are studied by a natural
list, the more he attributes to reason, and the
less to unlearned instincts" five next turn
to the emotions, We often find them highly
developed in animals. The grief of female
monkeys, Of certain kinds, for the loss of
their young is SO violent as to cause their
death. There is a well known case Of dog,
suffering under vivisection, licking the hand
Of his master then engaged in tOrturing
him. The moral sense is considerably adj
vanced in dogs. They love praise, exhibit
self complacency, emulation. fidelity, shame
as distinct from fear, and something very
like modesty when begging too often for
food. Many kinds of animals are social, and
social habits necessarily imply some wish to
aid others Of tue same tribe, and some SYM
patty.
But, however cert ainly we may prove the