The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-09-11
Ernst HaeCkeI
on last Words
on Evolution"
CHAPTER II.
THE STRUGGLE OVER OUR GEN.
EALOGICAL TREE.
Continued from previous issue.)

object-to save mans privileged posi-
ton in Nature, to widen as much as
possible the gulf between him and
the rest of the mammals, and to con-
ceal his real origin. 1t is the familiar
tendency of the paTvenu, which we so
often notice in the aristocratic sons
of energetic men who have won q
high position by their own exertionsM
This sort of vanity is acoeptabl
enough to the ruling powers and tn
churches, because it tends to suppo%S
their own fossilized pretensions to 4
divine image" in man and special
divine grace" in princes. The zoolo-
gist or anthropologist who studies
our genealogy in a strictly scientific
spirit takes no more notice Of these
tendencies than of the Almanach de
naked truth, as it is yielded by the
great results of modern science, in
which there is no longer any doubt
that man is really a descendant of the
ape-that is to say, of long extinct
anthropoid ape. AS has been pointed
out over and over again by distin-
guished supporters of this opinion, the
proofs of it are exceptionally clear
and simple-much clearer and simpler
than they are in regard to many other
mammals. Thus. for instance, the orr
gin of the elephants, the armadilloes,
the sirena, or the whales, is much
more difficult problem than the origin
Of man.
When Huxley published his power
full essay on Mans Place in Nature"
in 1853, he gave it a frontispiece show
| ing the skeletons of man and the four
living anthropoid apes, the Asiatic
orang and gibbon, and the African
chimpanzee and gorilla. Plate IL in
the present work differs from this in
giving two young specimens of the
orang and the chimpanzee, and rails
ing their size to correspond with the
other three skeletons. Candid COM
parison of these five skeletons shows
that they are not only very like each
other generally, but are identical in
the structure, arrangement, and con
nection of all the parts. The same
200 bones compose the skeleton in
man and in the four tailless anthro-
poid apes, our nearest relatives. The
same 300 muscles serve to move the
various parts of the skeleton. The
same hair covers the skin; the same
mammary glands provide food for the
young. The same four-chambered
heart acts as central pump of the
circulation; the same 80 teeth are
found in our jaws; the same repro
ductive organs maintain the species;
the same groups of neurona or gangli
onic cells compose the wondrous
structure Of the brain, and accomplish
that highest function of the plasm
which we call the SOUL and many still
believe to be an immortal entity.
Huxley has thoroly established this
profound truth, and by further COM
parison with the lower apes and le-
murs he came to formulate his impor-
tant pithecometra principle; What
ever organ we take, the differences
between man and the anthropoid apes
| are slighter than the corresponding
differences between the latter and the
lower apes" If we make superficial
comparison Of our skeletons of the an
thropomorpha, we certainly notice a
few salient differences in the size of
the various parts; but these are purely
quantitative, and are due to differ
ences in growth, which in turn are
caused by adaptation to different en-
vironments. There are, as is well
known, similar differences between
human beings; their arms are some
times long, sometimes short; the fore
head may be high or low, the hair
thick or thin, and so on.
These anatomic proofs of the pithe-
cold theory are most happily supple
mented and confirmed by certain re-
cent brilliant discoveries in physiol-
| ogy. Chief amongst these are the ia
nous experiments of DR.. Hans Erie
denthal at Berlin. He showed that
the human blood acts poisonously on
and decomposes the blood Of the lower
apes and other mammals, but has not
that effect on the blood of the anthro-
poid apes.%
L pltNlOun lldubAu1lOn tApCif
ments 1t had been learned that the az
inity Of mammals is connected TO a
certain extent with their chemical
blood-relationship. II the living blood
Of two nearly related animals of the
same family, such as the dog and fox,
or the rabbit and the hare, is mixed
together, the living blood-cells of each
species remain uninfhenced. But II
we mix the blood of the dog and the
rabbit, or the fox and the hare, a
struggle for life Immediately takes
place between the two kinds of blood
cells. The watery fluid or serum de-
stroys the blood-cells of the rodent,
and vice versa. 1t Is the same with
specimens of the blood Of the various
primates. The blood of the lower apes
and lemurs, which are close to the
common root Of the primate stem,
has q destructive effect on the blood