The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-11-25
POPULAR APoLoeETlcs.
Adapted from the German of Rev
Peter Mikes, S. j., by Rev.
James Watcher.
L. Mans Descent From Apes or Ami.
mails,


Objection: Man descended from
the ape. Perhaps there is an extinct
animal, an anthropomorphous IMAM
shaped ape, which forms the missing
link
Answer: u Father Rob, S. j.,
Ct 1879 remarks IF our honored
materialists have perhaps secret docu-
ments in their family archives attest.
ing their descent from monkeys, it
would be in the interest of their hon.
or to keep these documents secret
also in future"
p 1t is a sign of the superficiality
of materialism to consider only the
outward resemblance and to ignore
the vast inner difference, as though
these were no facts. We saw in the
last article the enormous superiority
of man over the monkey, the essential
difference between the human and
animal soul.
81 However there is not much to
that bodily similarity either; whilst
these monkey professors claim to have
found 123 similarities, Rudolph Vir-
chow Ct 1902, one of the greatest
authorities in anatomy and physiology,
declares that there is at most one ami
NAL similarity in the human skeleton
worth considering (Cf. Gutberlet, Der
Mensch (Man), p. 222) and Johannes
Ranke, the noted psychologist and an
thropologist, professor at Munich uni
versity, in his exhaustive work, Der
Mensch" MANI does not want to
admit even that.
A. This supposed missing link
between man and the ape, of which not
a trace has be0n found in the earth's
crust, as Virchow himself admits, can
help materialists' just as little as a
dead witness can help a criminal
before the judge.
81 Johannes Ranke, who is next to
Virchow the most noted authority OF
anthropology (the science of mani
gives in his great work Der Mensch'
MANI q. 4O9) the following table OF
the brain-capacity in cubic centime
tiers of the skull of man and monkeys
Male skull of European according tc
Toplnard) ........ ...... .l4lO
Gorilla (male-female) go. 498-45S
Chinpanzee (male-female) 409-39l
Orang-outang (male-female) 426-40f
The brain capacity of other animals
is as follows: the lion 321, the beal
265, the wild boar 207, the ram $50
the Newfoundland dog los. (Cf
Gutberlet, Der Mensch," p. 249-25O.)
1o %
famous pithecanthropus (ape-man)
erectus Dubois, which is IAN extinct
animal, remains of which were found
in the Pliocene Of Java by Dubois, il
1S91-1892, when living it apparently
resembled the human type more close
ly than any of the anthropoid apes
The parts were an incomplete caivari
um upper part of skulD, two molal
teeth, and a diseased femur (thigf
bone). The remains of the skull indi
cate a probable brain-capacity Of
about 900 cubic centimeters (others
give only 800), or two-thirds the aver
age of the human skull" (StandarC
Dictionary But a third of the whole
size of the brain represents a great
difference.
DR.. Bumueller Tin his Mensch oder
THAT proportion between the cerebra
(brain) weight and the bodily weight
is not the correctly chosen point Of
comparison (Cf. Ranke, |. C. l. 551-552)
but it's proportion to the weight of the
spinal marrow, because the brain anC
spinal marrow are parts of the ner
Vous system and because the higher
functions have their seat in the brair
and the vegetative functions Emotion
etc. in the spinal marrow.
In man the brain is about so times
heavier than the spinal morrow Oh
cord, in the gorilla 20-17 times, in the
dog times, in the rat times, in the
horse 215 times, etc. Hence man is
by this relative weight of his brain
separated most decidedly from the
brute, and his brain is heavier than al
brains of brutes, from that of the gor
lila twice or perhaps even three
times"
DR.. Bumueller summarizes the re
suits of the presentation of the ques
tion as follows:
u Man belongs Systematically no
to the monkey; he is--leaving reason
and speech out of the question-by thu
great development of the brain part O
his nervous system in class by him
self in the animal world, so that h,
must also occupy an Independent
place in it.
p But science is not in favor o
the descent of man from the monkey
for there is no proof for the existence
of missing link, whether we star
with man or with the monkey.
81 In the same way the tendency
of the half-apes and the apes to de
part more from man in the higher de
velopment in their anatomical builC
speaks against the possibility of {
missing link as we'll as the genera
archaeological pertaining to the fos
sill remains of ancient life) expert
ence'
In the Bureau of Information" q
4'Our Sunday Visitor" of Nov. 10, 191t
I find the following answer, which
take the liberty to append.
Who are the scientists worthy o.
the name" who acknowledge as fac
the unity of the human species which
is also given as truth of faith on the
same page of the Catechism? Elwoot