Page:The Last link.djvu/16

4 it chiefly with the intention of examining critically the evidence and the different conclusions which at present represent our scientific knowledge of the descent of man and of the different stages of his animal pedigree.

It is now generally admitted that this problem is the most important of all biological questions. Huxley was right when in 1863 he called it the question of questions for mankind. The problem which underlies all others, and is more deeply interesting than any other, is as to the place which man occupies in nature and his relations to the universe of things. 'Whence our race has come; what are the limits of our power over nature, and of nature's power over us; to what goal are we tending—these are the problems which present themselves anew and with undiminished interest to every man born into the world.' This impressive view was explained by Huxley thirty-five years ago in his three celebrated essays on 'Evidence