ed. Among the progenitors of man, Ameghino reckons
the form discovered by him (_Tetraprothomo_), from which a South
American primitive man, _Homo pampaeus_, might be directly evolved,
while on the other hand all the lower Old World monkeys may have
arisen from older fossil South American forms (Clenialitidae), the
distribution of which may be explained by the bridge formerly existing
between South America and Africa, as may be the derivation of all
existing human races from _Homo pampaeus_.[125] The fossil forms
discovered by Ameghino deserve the most minute investigation, as does
also the fossil man from South America of which Lehmann-Nitsche[126]
has made a thorough study.

It is obvious that, notwithstanding the necessity for fitting man's
line of descent into the genealogical tree of the Primates, especially
the apes, opinions in regard to it differ greatly in detail. This
could not be otherwise, since the different Primate forms, especially
the fossile forms, are still far from being exhaustively known. But
one thing remains certain,--the idea of the close relationship between
man and monkeys set forth in Darwin's _Descent of Man_. Only those who
deny the many points of agreement, the sole basis of classification,
and thus of a natural genealogical tree, can look upon the position of
Darwin and Haeckel as antiquated, or as standing on an insufficient
foundation. For such a genealogical tree is nothing more than a
summarised representation of what is known in regard to the degree of
resemblance between the different forms.

Darwin's work in regard to the descent of man has not been surpassed;
the more we immerse ourselves in the study of the structural
relationships between apes and man, the more is our path illumined by
the clear light radiating from him, and through his calm and
deliberate investigation, based on a mass of material in the
accumulation of which he has never had an equal. Darwin's fame will be
bound up for all time with the unprejudiced investigation of the
question of all questions, the descent of the human race.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 75: _Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley_, Vol. I. p.
171, London, 1900.]

[Footnote 76: _Ibid._, p. 363.]

[Footnote 77: No italics in original.]

[Footnote 78: _Life and Letters of Charles Darwin_, Vol. I. p. 93.]

[Footnote 79: _Ibid._ Vol. II. p. 263.]

[Footnote 80: _Ibid._ Vol. I. p. 94.]

[Footnote 81: _Life and Letters_, Vol. III. p. 175.]