fall into the error of supposing that
the early progenitor of the whole Simian stock, including man, was
identical with, or even closely resembled, any existing ape or
monkey."

The problem of the origin of man cannot be properly discussed apart from
the full problem of the origin of species. The homologies between man
and other animals which both schools try to account for; the explanation
of the intervals, with apparent want of intermediate forms, which seem
to the creationists so absolute a separation between species; the
evidence of useless "rudimentary organs," such as in man the external
shell of the ear, and the muscle which enables some individuals to
twitch their ears, which rudimentary parts the evolutionists claim to be
only explicable as relics of an earlier specific condition,--these,
which are the main points of the argument on the origin of man, belong
to general biology. The philosophical principles which underlie the two
theories stand for the most part in strong contrast, the theory of
evolution tending toward the supposition of ordinary causes, such as
"natural selection," producing modifications in species, whether by
gradual accumulation or more sudden leaps, while the theory of creation
has recourse to acts of supernatural intervention (see the duke of
Argyll, _Reign of Law_, ch. v.). St George Mivart (_Genesis of Species_)
propounded a theory of a natural evolution of man as to his body,
combined with a supernatural creation as to his soul; but this attempt
to meet the difficulties on both sides seems to have satisfied neither.

The wide acceptance of the Darwinian theory, as applied to the descent
of man, has naturally roused anticipation that geological research,
which provides evidence of the animal life of incalculably greater
antiquity, would furnish fossil remains of some comparatively recent
being intermediate between the anthropomorphic and the anthropic types.
This expectation has hardly been fulfilled, but of late years the notion
of a variety of the human race, geologically ancient, differing from any
known in historic times, and with characters approaching the simian, has
been supported by further discoveries. To bring this to the reader's
notice, top and side views of three skulls, as placed together in the
human development series in the Oxford University Museum, are
represented in the plate, for the purpose of showing the great size of
the orbital ridges, which the reader may