The Washington times., 1921-10-16
Evolution
In Man
and Ape
BY Garrett p. Serviss

Dy u0IICSt u ASA 'Acc
E,u,u.nt Astronomcr and Authority
on subjects Of Scientific
Interest.
.Iynder natural conditions do
piants and animals tend TO de-
velop TO higher forms. or to de-
xenerate7 In other words. In IL
as probable that man has degen-
Grated 10 the ape as that ho has
descended from the apeT-A. B.
", Netcong. N. j."
IN HERE is no indication that man
has ascended from the ape. or
u that the ape has descended
(degenerated) from man. And there
is no indication that anything OF
the kind will occur In the future.
Indeed, Il may be affirmed that. ~
far as human intelligence can see.
no possibility Of such transforma-
tions exists or has existed. They
would be contrary to the course Of
evolution.
II is a popular error. nurtured
perhaps innocentiy) by people who
regard the doctrine of human evolu-
ton as an assault upon religion, 10
suppose that science teaches that
man Is q lineal descendant OF the
ape.
All that science says is that the
human species and the various
species of apes are all derived by
different branches from a common
origin. some animal, now totally ex-
tinct, which possessed the funda-
mental anatomical characters from
which apes and men have drawn
their broad. general, bodily resem-
blances.
Except that his external likeness
to the ape is quite striking, and that
the branching off of the two forms
from the common stem took place
in geologicalIy recent time, man Is
no more essentially related to apes
than to other animals.
The line of human evolution,
though not traceable in detail, runs
back to the earliest forms of ami
NAL life on the globe, and both men
and apes alike are descended from
earlier vertebrates. The one essen
tial life stuff, or universal ances-
trail element, which all animals pos
sess. out of which they are all built
up. each species in its own particu-
lar way, and without which none
Of them can exist, is protoplasm. an
apparently simple combination OF
ordinary chemical elements which
science, nevertheless, has so far
been unable successfully to initiate.
Through protoplasm we are one
with the whole animal kingdom.
Yet we, and all, are specifically in
dependent. We have more resem-
IN m ha
creature, but human protoplasmic
cells do not develop into the body
of an ape, nor simian protoplasmic
cells into the body of a man.
Still, If we go back far enough
we find that the various SPECIAL
lines of direct descent in which
hereditary characters are transmit
ted from generation to generation
tend to come together, like the
bronches of a tree which all sue
cessively spring from the same
trunk. Mans line represents a
small branch of one OF the limbs,
occupying that part Of the great
tree of terrestrial life where the
vertebrates and their derivatives
the mammals are found That
this small branch has been
Sio"heu Will lTult lIliiillltly sur
passing lat least so 1t seems to us)
all other products of the tree is
an incident that we cannot explain.
AS to one species degenerating
into another, there is no reason for
supposing that that has ever oc-
CURED. A degenerate species
tends to become extinct. 1t fails
out of line and out of it's place in
the race. The march of evolution
Is upward, toward greater com
plexity and differentiation. If a
species could go backward it
would not thereby approach to an
other parallel species, but at the
most would fall back to the point
of junction of the branches, or TO
the condition of the common an
cestor.
Many forms have retained their
original character from the earliest
known geological times and remain
today substantially the same AS
they were perhaps several hundred
million years ago. This stability
is found especially among mollus.
cous animals, whose organization
is simple. Other animals that have
become highly specialized to suit
their environment, such. as the
monsters of the Age OF Reptiles
and the dinosaurs appear to have
been driven into extinction by eli.
matte changes or either influences
producing an important change OF
environment.
Some species of animals are but
slightly resistant to change of en-.
vironment, while others are little
affected by such changes. In this
man is fortunate; he can live in
nearly all climates, wherein he
excels the ape. But the mosquito
is his equal in that respect.