The Butler weekly times., 1889-08-28
MANS ORIGINAL HOME.
A Belief That Human Life Began in One OF
the PIateaus of Asia.

idea of the teaching of the Bible, was
a district OF Armenia, watered by the
Tigris and Euphrates. The Biblical
pirates as one OF the rivers of Eden.
Undoubtedly, in the common belief,
Paradise was in Asia and not in Europe
or Africa A few ingenious persons,
it is true. have located mans birth
place in Europe or Africa. some hav-
ing the hardihood to establish it in
America. but those who have made
the most fanciful use OF the scanty
evidence supplied by the second chap
ter Of Genesis have been content usu-
ally to find the garden eastward in
Eden" within the limits OF Asia
Scientists. who hold q special view
respecting the mode Of mans origin.
are approaching. it is pleasant to OBJ
serve. agreement with the general
view as to its place. In his new work
on evolution Mr.. Alfred Wallace, who
may be said to rank with Darwin as
the creator OF the new view of the
origin Of species. expresses the belief
that man originated in one OF the
plateaus OF Asia. Haeckel's view was
somewhat different. He held that
man. or his progenitor, originated in q
continent that once existed east Of
Africa and south of Asia. but which is
at present the bed of the Indian
Ocean. This continent, he supposed,
hn NnIo
gascar and Africa and on the
north with Asia, and it was
by successive migrations westward
and northward that Africa and
Asia were peopled. Here in a tropical
region. according to Haeckel, were
found the conditions which favored the
intellectual and physical development
of the progenitor Of the human and
the monkey races. Wallace holds, on
the contrary, that man originated in
Asia, and in some part of it favored
with temperate or sub-tropical eli
mate. at is probable" he says. "that
he began his existence on the open
plains of high plateaus Of the temper
ate or sub-tropical zone. where the
seed OF indigenous cereals and numer.
Gus herbivora. rodents and game birds,
with fishes and mollusks in the lakes
| and rivers and seas, supplied him with
| an abundance of varied food Here
| he would develop not the arborea
structure OF the monkey, fitted in
| hands and feet for obtaining ripened
| fruit from trees by elm bing, but the
| structure that fitted him to get his liv
| ing while roaming through scanty
woods. Mr.. Wallace finds man related
to the anthropoid ape. 1t is not hi:
| belief. of course, that he is descended
from the ape as we know him. but tha
man and the anthropoid ape are de
scended from a common ancestor. The
genealogical tree of man and the ape
according to the evolutionist view. ha
many branches, widely separated 70
ages past. but if the converging line
could be followed back far enough,
point, it is believed. would ultimatel,
be reached where the son who was til
first ancestor OF man was the brothe c
Of the ancestor of the anthropoid ape
The father of them both WAS. c
course. neither man nor ape. It wa
his sons who. differing much i
character, force and progress
iveness, developed in them
selves and in succeeding ger
erations the structure and qualitie
that now distinguish man and the ap
from each other TO Mr.. Wallace
is clear that man and the anthropoi
apes originated in the same region c
the earth. Where. then. have tn
latter been found to be now existing
or to have existed in former ages
They have never existed. it appears. i
America. and did not exist in Afric
when it was connected with Madaga,
car and both were separated fro
Asia. Madag ascar was separated frol
Africa before the latter became joine
with Asia by the Isthmus of Suez. TIL
| animals of ancient Africa are thereto,
to be sought in Madagascar. b
there are no traces of anthropoid ap,
; in Madagascar. Those, therefor
which now exist in Africa must ha,
come from Asia There is proof TIL
man existed before the Isthmus
Suez rose above the level of the Sc
and. supposing his distribution to ha'
been like that OF his supposed relativ
; he must have reached Africa by lal
, from Asia The color of the Chin
man. Intermediates between the bla'
. of Africa and the white of Europe. NJ
Wallace thinks, the original color
man. The suns of Africa ebonized t.
complexion OF the African, while t
winters of Europe were blanching t
European. Further exploration OF t
plateaus Of Central Asia may bring
light. Mr.. Wallace suggests, the ear
man. the missing link, whose persi
ent alibi. so to speak, is so damagi
to the case of the eyOlutionist-Ba