, 1875-03-28
nEaCENr AED DARW1R1s4

ni&tttnI A40 QlAs ~ ~*@"~~~@
7,-,x-.r,o~*,, scus11f1o sERrEs. TEE Doc
rwnSE or DEscEST Axo DAh"4SisG. ny VseAA
scnnn1 Professor n t9S Emo pp. 81 Nv
Tork: D. Appleton & GO:
19,.r. ID nerhsps no subject that more inter-
.ata ,ha educated classes Of our day than the
doctrine OF Descent. When Darwin Propounoed
th. theory anew to the scientific world, it is OBJ
v;ons that 40 mora could be expected Of him
than an outline Of the splendid hypothesis
which he bad borrowed in the crude form from
Iauxsck, and had developed and strengthened
On the basis Of natural selection In suggesting
the direction in which to work In solving the
m7stary Of the origin OF life, Darwin gave into
the hands OF his fellow scientists the task Of
demonstrating his theory. OF supplying the vari-
ous links in the chain Of testimony which it is in
the power Of no SINGLE expert to mass together.
Nsov different observars have willingly undertak-
an tho work OF testing the evidences Of evolution
and selection, and from time to time tns results
accumulated by their labors are presented to the
public
Mr. Oscar Schmidt has been one OF the stu-
dious Investigators toiling in the Cause Of De-
scent and Darwiois.n. He haa patiently gone
oye, the groups Of facts already combined IN
support of the doctrine, and has added one to
their number here, and strengthened weak
oDe thoee. according as his researches gave him
nav material His reyiew Of the Phenomena Of
lfa. md of the Arguments by which various
men Of science have attempted their interp7e-
t,rion indicates a profound conception of tho
snbiect in ali it's bearings aud dependencies.
He has dooe especisI service in showing that
the chaams occurring between the species Of
fossil ORGANISMS have IN many cases beon brsdged
ovsr bv the labors of recent paleon:ologists. In
thousands of cases transitional forms aud varie-
ties that united, in an uninterrupted series. one
strata With another have been arbitrarily divided
frto separate species, thereby creating sppar-
ent breaks in the derivation where actually
none existed. Tie observations OF Waacen.
Zitte1 Keumayr. Nu1teube1ger, and others, are
cited in proof of the fzequant occurrence Of
the FREQUENT transition Of ono fossil species into
another, Still h1r. Schmidt cordially acknowl-
edges that the amount OF intermediate forms at
Vrssent precisely determined are \ vanishing
xu.ntitv. IS compared with the countiess nnnl-
tituda that must have existed
The most important chapter in Mr. schmidt's
work is that which discusses the origin OF man.
The doctrine Of Descent never included the ridic-
ulou, assumption that man is derived from the
monkey That absurd conception has served IN
excellent purpose by way of joke, but no one
familiar with the theory developed by Darwin
has for moment admitted the possibility Of tbs
transformation Of the highest species Of the ape
into human being, in any past OF future age Of
the world. Man does not stand in the direct line
Of development from the ape 1t is Datural de-
duction OF Darwinisn, that in some remote peri
I'd Of tbs world the progenitor OF man and the
snthropomo1phous ape WAS one and tho same
but owing TO Some difference in their primitive
conditions, the process OF development carried
man and the ape into GverginE paths which can
never approach nearer to each other, but must
continue to grow farther and farther apart Tho
1amand for intermediate forms between man and
the ape Is therefore senseless, but lnter1nediate
forms connecting man and the ape with + COM
mon ancestor are regarded by science as quite
likely to be among the discoveries Of the future
Mr. Schmidt indorses the theory Of steintha
md Gciser that "Language created 1cason;
before language noan WIS irrational" and re-
marks: SIT need only be indicated that, "a
Hoiger has historically proved in 80 many in
stances, .slow development, the emargence OF
contrast from impe1ceptible deviatipns, ia the
cause that the same word requires various mean-
tpss'; that the creation Of language therefore !
teats upon this process, and nowhere m2kes its !
appearance suddenly and abruptly"
IL to the question whether mankind il o. !
xocuded from one or more pairB, Mr.. Schmidt |
cites Friedrich Muller in reply. "At the time |
when there were races and no nations, man was t
speeches. animal, as yet, entirely destitute Of
The mental development which resta upon tho !
agency OF language. Independently Of tho ]
premises unfolded by natural history, this by
pothesis il forced upon us BY the contemplation t