The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-06-19
THE MAN AND THE MONKEY.

Once again there comes forward a
 great and grave Professor to prove the
 common origin of man and monkey;
 or. rather, of monkey and man, for he
 puts the simian first in the scheme of
 animal life. This Professor, who has
 an unforgivable Russian name. is re-
 ferred to as a very eminent man in the
 'ologies. whose extensive travel and
 many years of laborious research fit
 him to give something like an authori-
 tative opinion on the vital subject of
 mans origin. He has written book about man and his brother apes. and de- clares that "the modern blood test gives
 conclusive proof of the simian origin
 of man." etc.
 Of course there Is nothing radically
 new in this view. That Is. there is
 nothing new in the suggestion or as-
 sertion that monkeys were our ances-
 tors. for we have been hearing that
 these many years from those who affect
 to know all about 1t. Whenever we cut loose from the strict and literal Mosaic account of the creation. any
 man, be he professor or student. is at liberty to advocate and promulgate any
 theory he chooses. We have not seen
 this Professors book. but from The
 Kansas City Journals comments on 1t we make this somewhat liberal ex- tract:
 After giving the scientific proofs that nlz o.zI t0 avfa nd long before man appeared, and that in the carboniferous period birds and mammals did not yet exist. while large numbers of articulated animals. includ- those of the present day. did exist. M Metchnikoff says: Tt Is incontestable that forms higher in the scale of life have developed only after the appear ance of lower forms. But 1t does not follow that development always takes progressive march,. In other words,
 species nas often bsoaf a of this the botanist, Hugo de Vrfes. after cultivat- ing the evening primrose for fifteen years. obtained suddenly set Of How original plant. The seeds from these produced new and permanent species. M. Metchnikof says: Tt is probable man Swes some or's IS ape having at a certain period became va ried In specific characters. produced offspring endowed with new properties. The brain. of abnormal size. placed in a spacious cranium, allowed atrapid de- velopment of intellectual faculties, much more advanced than those of the This peculiarly would be transmitted to the descendants, and as it was of considerable advantage in the struggle for existence. the new race would hold it's own, propagate and prevail" From the fact that prodigies are born from time to time with some talent far greater than the gifts of either parent. race m may vet spring at I a bound From from the loins of man after ages of sporadic effort.
 All this is of interest only as the de- auctions of learned man. and one who has devoted much study to the subject. On this subject of blood similarity he declares that 1t '1s evident that there exists between the human species and the anthropoid apes not only superf- cial analogy of body and of the prin- cipal organs. but a close blood relation ship"
 Claiming no expert knowledge of the niceties and differentiations of the blood. we have no opinion to express as to the value of conclusions based on blood similarity, but we doubt If the argument will convince a great number of human beings. As to that. most of us will rather incline to resent the in- timation that there is a close relation ship between us and the monkey fam lily. However much we may be in the habit of making monkeys of ourselves, we don't like to see 1t put down in cold type tn 1t there Is only a slight differ once, a chance difference, 1t may be, between the best of us and the genius of the hand-organ. Some monkeys have as much sense as some humans, we must admit, but taking them by and large. we really think humanity is sev- eral laps ahead as yet.
 But there Is one point of difnculty in all such arguments that we have never seen satisfactorily explained. On the one hand there are many millions of human beings. and on the other there are many millions of monkeys, but the line between them is just as plain and well defined now as 1t was in the most times of which we have any &C., count. Why do we not have monkey men and men-monkeys all over the earth? Why did monkey advancement stop at some remote period and never start any more? When did the stop occur?
 We know that Darwin searched and worried through a great part of his life to find the missing link, but this Pro- lessor says none is needed. We also know that in some portions of the world there can be found human beings who are very slightly removed from yet the difference between them is marked and impossible to cross. In short, low as they are in the scale of intelligence, they are human beings and not mere animals. This Professor argues well but he has not made out his case.