, 1872-04-11
Darwin's Theory in Brief.

u tuc peOpAo.
Darwin's Theory in Brief.
The following is Darwin's theory in
brief:
Man is by no means the most recent
in the creation of this globe.
On the contrary. according to the pres
ent living animal types, he must abso-
lutely be considered as one of the most
ancient of living species.
The presence of man has already been
by the best authorities. and
as existing in the tertiary period of Wer-
ner, (the first German geologist,) dur
ing which epoch neither the present or
ganic world, nor the present apportion-
ment of land and water existed. The
remains of our earliest ances-
tors of those unknown days, seem all to
point to the fact that man was of o low
er physical structure and devopment
than We are to-day, and that he was not
far removed from the monkey type
The amount of cultivation which an in
may achieve, and enlarge his
brain thereby, is what distinguishes him
as an intelligent being. The greater the
brain volume, the greater is his intellec-
tunl capacity. The skulls of the earli-
est men, according to their capacity. as
we'll rs their entire structure. resemble
closely those of the most advanced spe-
cies of the monkey race, i. e. gorilla. or
and chimpanzee, the same
may be said of some particularly weak
minded and stupid individuals whom
we may chance to meet even to-day
according to Prof. Owens measurement
the brain volume of the Englishman
comprises on an average So cubic inch
es; that of the lowest species of man
the Australasian negro-75 cubic inches.
1t is to be assumei that during the 18th
century the degree of intelligence on the
average, was by no means as we'll devel-
oped then, as to-day, and in fact, Broca
only obtained 81 cubic inches rs IN av-
erage from the lis Parisian skulls which
he measured, as belonging to that per-
iod. The brain volume of the Neander
valley (Neander thaD skull is exactly
the same is that of the Australasian ne
gro-75 cubic inches.
The monkey approaches in all things,
nearest to man. Ear, nasal-bone and
jaw-bone resemble closely the present
species of man and our race, The arms
of the monkey race, which are dispro-
portionately long, form characteristic
difference between him and man, those
of the gorilla being mnch shorter. hence
man the most. 1t is evident
through the formation of the pelvis and
loin muscles of the gorilla, that he is far
more capable of walking erect than all
other monkeys. The superiority of
mans hand rests upon its finer feelings,
the greater facility of manipulations with
the confronting thumb. In this the 60
rilla nears man the most ; his foot even
resembles man more than that of any
other of the quadr,mana monkeys.
Despite all these resemblances be-
tween the gorilla and the lower order of
men of the earliest period, there is still
q vast chasm of time. This abyss is
not denied by the savans, nor do they
assert with certainty that this chasm has
been discovered by finding the connect
ing link between monkey and man.
This is an erroneous view promulgat-
ed purposely, on the part of those who
oppose the researches of science and
philosophy. The sciences of to-day as
sert most positively with reference to the
relationship of the monkey to man, that
the farther we 60 back into the primi-
tive periods of the worlds creation, the
more man approaches the monkey in
his physical structure. Nevertheless,
there is still mighty abyss of time be-
tween the primitive man and the high
est developed monkey.
Whether this abyss was at one time
insignificant, or did not exist at all, is q
question which may not be answerable
to-day, without applying analogies.-
Some scientists contend that this abyss
is incapable of being approzimated the
majority believe that the chasm never
existed at all. Says Prof. Schaafhaus-
en-, q most excellent authority. in his
work: .'Unterschiede in den Bildungen
der heutigen organischen Welt" (Dif-
erences in the structure of the present
Organic World,) there are gaps which
time has rent in the chain Of coherent
members. Such structures. which as a
transition medium may yet be formed,
as they have been discovered, and as
filing the gaps in the order of the living
organisms. They rest in the lap of the
earth, which conceals the creation of the
primitive world.
"Tbe chasm between man and ami
NAL constantly enlarges itself. because,
not only the lower races, which at times
resemble animal structure, die
out. but the highest monkeys, which
are nearest related to man, have nearly