The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1876-08-26
Haeckel On Human Pedigrees.

following the formation of liquid water, Haeckel
believes that certain conditions existed which
produced a primesal mucus or plasma, capable
Of life and this plasma simply needed to
invidualize itself, In the same way az the mother
liquor Of crystals individualizes itself, in crystal
~iization, to produce crystals. Thus IN the
Laurentian period srose the earliest progenitor
of life-a mere lump of protoplasm, but capable
of nutrition, and OF multiplying its species by
Subdivision.
By the process of segregation, taking place in
the homogeneous yiscid body, a kernel was
formed within, differentiated from the surround
ing piasma, and producing thus the simple cell,
Of which the low organism, still existent and
known as the amebs, is a type. By sell division,
the cell fell into a mass of simple and equitormal
ameba-like cells, each exactly similar to the
other, and each containing a kernel. These
groups of cells ire termed s~ynamebR, and the
conformation of the organism reminds one OF q
mulberry. But as development progressed, the
cells lying on Che surface extended hair-like
processes, which by striking against the water of
the primeyal ocean in which the creature existed,
kept the body rotating; and so another differ
entiation occurred, the external cells covered
with ella differing from the non-ciliated internal
cells. These Organisms ore called larya or
planeads. From the planeads arose the primeyal
stomach animals, the gastraads, possessing a
simple oral or globula- body, which enclosed q
simple cavity having a mouth.
At this point We reach two divergent lines
Onc DEdUCu Vi Rd5UctdubR dfc up z lOCOLuOklUu,
adhered TO the bottom Of the sea, and developed
into zoophytes Or animal plants the other
branch retained Tree iocomotion and developed
into primary forms of worms. In these last
appeared the first formation OF a nervous system,
the simplest organs of sense, secretion, and
generation. The nearest akin to these primeyal
forms are the ciliated gliding worms (tHr6eAaria).
Through the formation of a true body cavity and
blood, within the gliding worms, arose the soft
worms, which inclnde very many different inter-
mediate stages. Next, by the formation of a
dorsal nerve marrow, and of the spinal rod which
lies below it, were produced the sack worms.
Now followed the formation of body segments,
the further differentiation Of organs, a more
perfect development of dorsal marrow and spinal
rod, and probably the separation of the two
sexes-producing the acrania or skull-less
animals, of which the still living lancelet affords
q faint idea.
We next meet the development Of the first
brain. 1t was formed out of the anterior end
of the dorsal marrow, while the anterior end of
the dorsal chord developed into a skull. The
first animal possessing a brain was similar to the
lamprey, a single nostrilled creature. This
single nostril divided into two lateral halves a
sympathetic nervous system, a jaw skeleton, a
winning bladder, and breast and ventral fins
appeared, and SO, in the Silurian period,
originated the shark-like ancestors of all fish.
By adaptation to life on land, by the transforma-
ton of the swimming bladder into an air-breath-
ing lung, and Of the nasal cavity into air
passages, arose the mud fish, to which the still
living ceratodus or grass-eating fish, the
lepidosiren, bear q near resemblance. At the
same time originated the now extinct sea dragons,
like the plesiosaurus. Out of the mud fish, by
the transformation of the padding fms into five
toed legs, and also by the more perfect differ
~entiation of various organs, came the most
ancient amphIbians, which, like the axoltl of
the present day, besides possessing lungs, re-
tanned throughout life regular gills. From these
arose the tailed amphibians, which, like the
ncwts or salamanders, lost the gill which they
had possessed in early life, but retained the tail.
They originated by a~ccustoming themselves to
breathe only through gills in early life, and later
In life only through lungs. In the mesolithic or
secondary period, the tailed amphibian through
loss of gills, by the formation OF the amnion. of
the cochles, of the round window of the auditory
organ, and of the organs of tears, produced the
primeval amniota, of which the true lizard may
be taken as a type. Here we meet another
branching, for on one hand the amniota deyel-
oped into reptiles and thence into birds, and on
the other into msmmalia. Following the second
branch, we find that, by the transformation of
scales into hair. and by the formation of a
mammary gland, were next evolved the promam-
malta, closely related to the beaked animals,
such as the ofnithorincus. Now comes the
transition to plGental animals, by the promam-
malta and the evolution of the marsupials, such
as the kangaroo. Out of the rat-like marsupials,
by the formationof the placenta, development of
the commissures of the brain, &C., come the
semi-apes, of which the lemur is an existing
type. From the semi-apes, by the transforma-
ton of the jaw, and by the claws on the toes
becoming nails, arose the arrow-nosed tailed
ape. Then the tail disappeared, the hairy COW
efing partially DEPARTED, and the brain above the
facial portion oil the skull developed, producing
the ~orang-outaig or the chimpanzee, or the
gorilla-the human apes of the miocene period.
These apes gradually became accustomed to an
upright walk and the separate pairs Of legs
differentiated. The fore hand became a human
hand, the hind one a foot. Thus was produced
the ape-man, the pithecanthropus, who existed
toward the end IF the tertiary period. Genuine
man developed cut of the ape-like man by the
gradual development of the animal language of
sounds into a connected and articulate language
of words. Thee went hand in hand with the
higher differentiation of the larynx and the
brain