Page:Evolution of Life (Henry Cadwalader Chapman, 1873).djvu/212



it be admitted that the different kinds of existing animals are the modified descendants of pre-existing animals, then it follows necessarily that if man is an animal he must have descended from some pre-existing animal. Supposing the theory of the Evolution of Life to be true, the important question to be decided is not whether there are any transitional forms or links between man and this or that kind of animal,—though of course the discovery of such links would be weighty additional evidence,—but whether man is an animal, whether the difference between man and the members of the animal kingdom is one of kind or only of degree. Since man has a backbone, he is a vertebrate, and, as he is suckled when young, he is a mammal. Thus far naturalists are agreed as to man's place in Nature. The question, however, of determining the particular order of mammals to which man belongs, has given rise to much discussion. Linnaeus united in one group the half Monkeys (Lemurs), the Bats, the true Monkeys, and Man, calling them Primates. Blumenbach, however, joined the true Monkeys with the half Monkeys, calling them Quadrumana, or the four-handed order, while he regarded Man as the representative of a distinct order, the Bimana, or two-handed; the term four-handed was adopted by Blumenbach from the older writers. This classification was accepted by Cuvier and most contemporary anatomists, though always regarded as incorrect by Geoffroy St. Hilaire, who (162)