Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1872-01-06
MEN AND MONKEYs.
William Cullen Bryant's speech ~
New York Reunion Of Williams col.
IeCe a lunni

1eSe Alumni.
IFrom the New York Evening POstl
have q suggestion 20 make for the benefit OF
Williams college. 1 begin az a distance from
our beloved alma mater. but prom sc 20 come
to her before l have done. IL is good while
since the remark was made by an English wit
that he did not like TO look at monkeys, tbsy
seemed TO him 30 much like pow r.fstiOns
what " az regarded az that time - q clever Jest
mas since been taken by an eminent naturalist
a. the bass Of an extensive system which pro-
losses TO account for, the origin of the human
species According Go Mr.. Darwin man n an
improved monkey. In his system the lowest
form Of animal life is a minute animsted cell
number Of these cells come casually together
and form dab OF jelly fixed on a crag In the
ocean. They somehow become arranged in q
sort OF symmetry; they gradually acquire organs;
they rise to the dignity Of oysters and mussels
they multiply; by principle Of selection on
the part OF the parents they rise higher and
higher in the sale of being; they become quad
rnpeds; they crawl out upon the land; they
waddle ON the shore in the shape OF seals
they build houses a. beavers; they climb trees
as squirrels; their talons and paws become hands
furnished with fingers, and we have the mon
Key; the monkey acquires the faculty Of speech
and natures into man. Ii Is the old theory
OF Monboddo propounded a hundred years age.
but spread over a larger surface. and set forth
with new illustrations. But allowing all that
its author saws of the conSanguinty of man anI
the inferior animals; admitting that we are OF
the same flesh and blood a. the baboon and rat,
where does he find bis proofs that we are im-
proving instead OF degenerating? He claims
that man IL an improved monkey: how does he
know that the monkey is not a degenerate man,
a decayed branch OF the human family. talle,,
away from the high rank he once held. and
haunted by dim sentiment of his lost dignity.
as we may infer from his melancholy aspect
improvement, MIR. President and gentlemen,
implies effort-it is uphill work; degeneracy j.
essy-it asks only neglect. Incidence. inactiOn.
How oiten do the descendants of i.iustricus men
become the most stupid r. the human race
How many are there. each OF whom we NAV
call
The tenth trsRsmitter of a foolish face
"A line of Savage, the best he ever wrote
worth all his other verses put together
" The tenth transmitter Of foolish face"
and that face growing more and more foolish
tom generation 10 generation. might instance
the Bourbon family, lately reigning in Spain
and Naples. ! might instance the royal family
OF Austria There IL a whole nation, millions
upon milion-our Chinese neighbors-of whom
the better opinion is that they have been going
backward in civilization from century to cen
fury. Perhaps they wear the pig-tsil a. an en-
blem OF what they are all coming 20 some thou
sands OF years hence. How, then, can Mr.. Oar
win insist that If We admit the near kindred of
man 10 the inferior animals we must believe
mat our progress has been upward, and that the
nohier animals are the progeny OF the Inferior
Is not the contrary more probable? l. il
not more likely that the more easy down
ward road has been taken. that the lower
animals are derived from some deyen-
crate branch of the human race aud
that IL we do not labor to keep the rank W..
hold, our race may be fritteTed away into thu.
ieaheT tribes OF animals, and finally into ami
malcuia? Then may our Tweeds become tn,
lrogentors Of those skulking thieves of the
western wild, the prairie wolves, or swim STAG
nant pools ina the shape OF horse-leeches; our
astute lawyers may BE- represented by f,Nas oar
great architects by colonies OF beavers our poets
by clouds of musketoes IA mished and musical:
our doctors OF divinity say IL with all respec;
iCr the clOth-hy swarmS of the manfis, or
praying insect, always in the attitude OF d..yo-
ton. II we hold TO Darwin's theory-as 1 do
not-hOw are We to know that the vast mutt
tudes u men and women an the earth are not
the ruins, 30 10 speak. of some nobler species
with more elevated and perfect faculties mental
ply seal and moral, but now extncto Let m,
say, then. TO those who believe in ths relation
ship of the animal tribes, that il behooves them
to avoid the danger which have pointed out bv
giving generous support TO those institutions
OF wholesome Learning, like Williams college
designed TO hold us back from the threatened
degeneracy of which there are fearful portents
abroad-portents OF moral degeneracy. at least
Let TIT m move before We begin to squeak lik.
bats, or gibber like apes: before that mark OF
the brute-the tail-has sprouted. or. at least
while II is i'm the tender germ, the mere bud
giving hut faint and distant promise of what
il may become, when the owner shall coil iis
extremity around the horizontal branch of a
tree and swing himself nv il from one frank of
the forest to another. In any one here be CON
scious OF but a friendly leaning TO the monkey
theory, let him contribute literally TO the furd
for putting up building where the students OF
Williams college can be cheaply boarded: III the
faint have struck deeper, let him found srhol-
arship; N lie have fully embraced the theory lei
bin, al any sacrifice, found professOrship: ana
then. although his theory nav he wrong, his
pract Ct I'M this instance will be worthy of uni