The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-06-16

he now eanfe 10 use his hinder limbs
only, and as result his thigh bones and
leg muscles increased Thus we have
accounted for the proportions of the
limbs as wen as the shape of the head
characteristic of man.
Our Ancestors Before the Ape.
"What were man s ancestors, going
farther back than the ape9'
"The apes form distinct family and
their ancestors were essentially like the
present monkeys Of the old world, al
though different from the latter in many
ways, They resembled the monkeys of
the new world-of tropical America
perhaps more than the present old world
monkeys do. Going back another step,
these monkey ancestors Of ours must
have been derived from forms somewhat
like the lemurs of the present day, and
more especially from forms like the
tarsier of the Philippine Islands. These
last named ancestors of man were de-
scended from forms like no living ann
NAL. They were neither carnivorous nor
ungulate (hoofed) animals in the pres
ent sense of those words, but combined
the characters of both,
"Tracipg man 8 ancestry still further
back we come to the forms that would
be essentially like marsupials (pouched
animals), hut very different from any
now living and beyond these 10 forms
that agreed structurally with the mod
crn Australian duckbill and with the
miscalled anteater of the same CONT
nent These earliest ancestors Of ours
had very peculiar breastbone and n
number Of accessory bones like those
of reptiles. but different from any
found in higher animals. They also
had a small brain. with the cerebral
portion much smaller In proportion to
other parts than in any OF the familiar
mammals In fact their brain approx
mated that of reptile. They also had
eggs of considerable size, which they
layed and hatched outside the body, as
in the case of the duckbill of the pres
ent day. These forms were the lowest
of mammals.
"Going back beyond the mammals |
believe man s next ancestors TO have
been certain reptiles or amphib
(animals living both on land and IN wa
teri These amphibians were descend :
ed from fishes. These fish ancestors of
man were very different from any mod
crn forms The nearest approximation
to them is TO be found IN the bichir
Of the Nile. and in certain species of
Africa, South America and Australia,
known as dlpnoans.
"To 90 further back we would be
confronted with A vista of interminable
length, through soft-bodied forms ex.
tremelv different from anything now
living. bu;. resembling somewhat Ian
celct-a slSulllcss translucent vertebrne
now living in the sand of the seasbore,
in temperate and tropical reglons-or
tunicate. or 'sea squirt, which we find
attached TO stones and shells. Man S
further ancestry ia lost in an indefinite
and inpumerable series of wormlike ami.
mails belonging TO the earliest period or
orr earth g history.
Cradle Of the Human Race,
"Where, probably, was man devel-
oped from the ape formf
Man may have originated either IN
Asia or in Africa, but more likely in
rronical Asia. His relations were there
Although his nearest relatives now llv-
ING are the African chimpanzee and go
riila. there once lived in India al ape
of similar kind and probably nearer in
the line of our ancestry. than any Of
tbe African species. Apes and other
highly developed mammals now regard
"a az Characteristic of Africa were
probably late corners into Africa, in n
Geologic sense The burden of scientific
Evidence. as | see it, therefore, ls that
the cradle of the race was iD Asia, as
tradition has stated
1--WE constantly hear Of the discovery
of missing links Has q real missing
link vet. been discovered
''No. The nearest approaches have
heon the skulls known as the man of
Snyi and Neanderthal man found IN
Furope. and particularly tho remains of
he so ocalled .Pithecanthropus erectus
lately dug up in Java. | believe them
to be really low forms of the human