The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1897-09-25

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.Ereaeh seisatistsy@ander sAho-li-
r{esipn Of the Paris Muaeum of
Ngt0ral HiatoFy, are about tostsy
to .dbtermine whether man - ad6
s1anQod from the apes. This isth1
bpldbst attempt science has evsr
made to unravel the secret Of tb6
ohfm of the human race,
RrofessorsArmand Yirrs has OBJ
t,ia4d permission from the French
Go1ornmept = naSry nn q series sof
experiments, extending over many
years, looking TO the developments
from anthropoid apes Of a type of
animal identical with pr closely re-
s6nbling man. In word, tits hoped
that scie nee may produce q human
being by using artifcially the same
methods by which nature is believ.
ed1to have slowly and laborioualy
evolved man from the monkey.
For this purpose Prof. Virre has
obtained the use Of q considerable
section of the famous Paris cata.
combs. These are, az every we'll in-
formed person knows, ancient sub
terranesn passages, dating probably
from Roman times, situated in the
southern part ofthe city. They were
rediscovered shortly after the great
revolution, and during the reign Of
tessor became true catacombs, into
which bodies and skeletons were
thrown by the hundred. They were
used for mortpary purposes for
many years, but the loose skeletons
were piled in carefully arranged
stacks against the walls. After the
first quarter of this century no more
bodies were added, and the cata-
combs have since then been one Of
the grewsome show places Of Paris.
They are several miles in extent,
end to the greater part of them the
public never penetrates.
Prof Wire chooses this scene for
his work because of tho darkness,
quiet and general isolation from all
outside influences which prevail
there. These conditions are essen
tial to his experiments.
He has obtained ample funds from
the Government, and these will, no
doubt, be renewed in the future if
the work progresses satisfactorily.
Already he has installed a large
collection Of animals in the cata-
combs, and with this he has OBJ
tanned some remarkable results.
For instance, by cutting off the tails
of small monkeys he has produced
a tailless breed.
What Prof. Wire now proposes
to accomplish is nothing less than
rapid demonstration of the doc
trine of evolution before the eyes
of the whole world.
For a generation men of science
have almost unanimously accepted
the theory that man is descended
either from an anthropoid ape or
from some animal closely related
to that ape.
tits furthermore proved by recent
observation that the process of ev-
olution may be immensely fastened
by certain conditions. For instance,
rabbits imported from Europe into
Australia, failing to find food on
the ground in the latter place, have
developed claws, by means of which
they climb trees.
Accepting the truth of evolution
and the possibility of the process
being greatly fastened by certain
conditions, does it not follow that
man may be arti6cially evolved
from the ape, his progenitorP
Prof. Wire has presented this ar
gument to the French Government
and its scientific advisers with SO
much force and lucidity that they
have enthusiastically entered into
his ideas and encouraged his expe-
riments, which will be watched with
intense interest by France and the
whole world besides.
He has, of course, explained the
general lines upon which his work
will be conducted.
He has already begun the purchase of
= stock Of large anthropoid apes. These
are both costly and difficult to procure.
BE expects to obtain his grand success
BY the crossbreeding of gibbons, orang-
odtangs, chimpanzees and goriliss. These
are practically all the species of man-like
apes. They stand in the scale Of evolu-
ton In the order named, ascending from
the glhbon to the gorilla. Of all these
apes the gorilla most closely resembles
man in appearance. But the true resem-
blance of the two in structure is far closer.
There 10, in fact, no part of . man which
10 not duplicated in. gorilla. Even to
the arrangement of the hair on the bodies
the two species are alike. The gorilla has
eyebrows, and beard which differs in
color from the other hair on his body.
ut 10 we'll known" says Darwin, "that
the hair or our arms tends to converge
from above and below to point at the
elbow. This curious arrangement, 90 I'M
like that in most Of the lower animals is
common to the gorilla, chimpanzee, orang
outang, some species of the hylobates and
even to some few American monkeys"
The gorillas and other anthropoids have,
like man, lost their tails, but like him,