Straight-haired men
Lissotrichi
Woolly-haired men
Ulotrichi		│
│
│
│

Speechless men (Alali), or
Ape-like men (Pithecanthropi)
Gorilla
Gorilla
Chimpanzee
Engeco		│
│
Orang
Satyrus
│
│
│
│
│
│
Gibbon
Hylobates
│
│
│
│

African
Man-like Apes

Asiatic
Man-like Apes
│
│

Man-like Apes
Anthropoides		Nose apes
Nasalis
Silk apes
Arctopitheci		 │
│
 Tall apes
Semnopithecus		│
│
│
│
Clutch-tails
Labidocerca		│
│
 │
│
│
│
│
│
│

Flap-tails
Aphyocerca		│
│
│
Sea cat
Cercopithecus		│
│
│
Pavian
Cynocephalus
│
│
│
│
│
│
│
│

Tailed Narrow-nosed apes
Catarrhina menocerca
│
│
Narrow-nosed
Catarrhini
│
│

Apes
Simiæ
│
Semi-apes
Prosimiæ

If we wish to arrive at a natural system, and consequently at the pedigree of the Primates, we must go a step further still, and entirely separate the Semi-apes, or Prosimiæ, (Huxley’s last three families), from Genuine Apes, or Simiæ (the first four families). For, as I have already shown in my General Morphology, and explained in the last chapter, the Semi-apes differ in many and important respects from Genuine Apes, and in their individual forms are more closely allied to the various other orders of Discoplacentalia. Hence the Semi-apes must probably be considered as the remnants of the common primary group, out of which the other orders of Discoplacentalia, and, it may be, all Deciduata, have developed as two diverging branches. (Gen. Morph. ii. pp. 148 and 153.) But man cannot be separated from the order of Genuine Apes, or Simiæ, as he is in every respect more closely allied to the higher Genuine Apes than the latter are to the lower Genuine Apes.

Genuine Apes (Simiæ) are universally divided into two perfectly natural groups, namely, the Apes of the New World, or American Apes, and the Apes of the Old World, which are indigenous to Asia and Africa, and which formerly also existed in Europe. These two classes differ principally in the formation of the nose, and they have been named accordingly. American Apes have flat noses, so that the nostrils are in front, not below; hence they are called Flat Noses (Platyrrhini). On the other hand, the Apes of the Old World have a narrow cartilaginous bridge, and the nostrils turned downwards, as in man; they are, therefore, called Narrow Noses (Catarrhini). Further, the jaw, which plays an important part in the classification of Mammals, is essentially distinct in these two groups. All Catarrhinæ, or Apes of the Old World, have exactly the same jaws as Man, namely, in each jaw four incisors above and below, then on each side a canine tooth and five cheek teeth, of which two are pre-molars and three molars, altogether thirty-two teeth. But all Apes of the New World, all Platyrrhini, have four more cheek teeth, namely, three pre-molars and three molars on each side, above and below: they consequently possess thirty-six teeth. Only one small group forms an exception to this rule, namely, the Arctopitheci, or Clawed Apes, in whom the third molar has degenerated, and they accordingly have on each half of their jaw three pre-molars and two molars. They also differ from the other Platyrrhini by having claws on the fingers of their hands and the toes of their feet, not nails like Man and the other Apes. This small group of South American Apes, which includes among others the well-known pretty little Midas-monkey and the Jacchus, must probably be considered only as a peculiarly developed lateral branch of the Platyrrhini.

Now, if we ask what evidence can be drawn, as to the pedigree of Apes, from the above facts, we must conclude that all the Apes of the New World have developed out of one tribe, for they all possess the characteristic jaw and the nasal formation of the Platyrrhini. In like manner it follows that all the Apes of the Old World must be derived from one and the same common primary form, which possessed the same formation of nose and jaw as all the still living Catarrhini. Further, it can scarcely be doubted that the Apes of the New World, taken as an entire tribe, are either derived from those of the Old World, or (to express it more vaguely and cautiously) both are diverging branches of one and the same tribe of Apes. We also arrive at the exceedingly important conclusion—which is of the utmost significance in regard to Man’s distribution on the earth’s surface—that Man has developed out of the Catarrhini. For we cannot discover a zoological character distinguishing him in a higher degree from the allied Apes of the Old World than that in which the most divergent forms of this group are distinguished from one another. This is the important result of Huxley’s careful anatomical examination of the question, and it cannot be too highly estimated. The anatomical differences between Man and the most human-like Catarrhini (Orang, Gorilla, Chimpanzee) are in every respect less than the anatomical differences between the latter and the lowest stages of Catarrhini, more especially the Dog-like Baboon. This exceedingly important conclusion is the result of an impartial anatomical comparison of the different forms of Catarrhini.

If, therefore, we recognise the natural system of animals as the guide to our speculations, and establish upon it our pedigree, we must necessarily come to the conclusion that the human race is a small branch of the group of Catarrhini, and has developed out of long since extinct Apes of this group in the Old World. Some adherents of the Theory of Descent have thought that the American races of Men have developed, independently of those of the Old World, out of American Apes. I consider this hypothesis to be quite erroneous, for the complete agreement of all mankind with the Catarrhini, in regard to the characteristic formation of the nose and jaws, distinctly proves that they are of the same origin, and that they developed out of a common root after the Platyrrhini, or American Apes, had already branched off from them. The primæval inhabitants of America, as is proved by numerous ethnographical facts, immigrated from Asia, and partly perhaps from Polynesia (or even from Europe).

There still exist great difficulties in establishing an accurate pedigree of the Human Race; this only can we further assert, that the nearest progenitors of man were tail-less Catarrhini (Lipocerca), resembling the still living Man-like Apes. These evidently developed at a late period out of tailed Catarrhini (Menocerca), the original form of Ape. Of those tail-less Catarrhini, which are now frequently called Man-like Apes, or Anthropoides, there still exist four different genera containing about a dozen different species.

The largest Man-like Ape is the famous Gorilla (called Gorilla engena, or Pongo gorilla), which is indigenous to the tropics of western Africa, and was first discovered by the missionary, Dr. Savage, in 1847, on the banks of the river Gaboon. Its nearest relative is the Chimpanzee (Engeco troglodytes, or Pongo troglodytes), also indigenous to western Africa, but considerably smaller than the Gorilla, which surpasses man in size and strength. The third of the three large Man-like Apes is the Orang, or Orang Outang, indigenous to Borneo and the other Sunda Islands, of which two kindred species have recently been distinguished, namely, the large Orang (Satyrus orang, or Pithecus satyrus) and the small Orang (Satyrus morio, or Pithecus morio). Lastly, there still exists in southern Asia the genus Gibbon (Hylobates), of which from four to eight different species are distinguished. They are considerably smaller than the three first-named Anthropoides, and in most characteristics differ more from Man.

The tail-less Man-like Apes—especially since we have become more intimately acquainted with the Gorilla, and its connection with Man by the application of the Theory of Descent—have excited such universal interest, and called forth such a flood of writings, that there is no occasion for me here to enter into any detail about them. The reader will find their relations to Man fully discussed in the excellent works of Huxley,[(26)] Carl Vogt,[(27)] Büchner,[(43)] and Rolle.[(28)] I shall therefore confine myself to stating the most important general conclusion resulting from their thorough comparison with Man, namely, that each one of the four Man-like Apes stands nearer to Man in one or several respects than the rest, but that no one of them can in every respect be called absolutely the most like Man. The Orang stands nearest to Man in regard to the formation of the brain, the Chimpanzee in important characteristics in the formation of the skull, the Gorilla in the development of the feet and hands, and, lastly, the Gibbon in the formation of the thorax.

Thus, from a careful examination of the comparative anatomy of the Anthropoides, we obtain a similar result to that obtained by Weisbach, from a statistical classification and a thoughtful comparison of the very numerous and careful measurements which Scherzer and Schwarz made of the different races of Men during their voyage in the Austrian frigate Novara round the earth. Weisbach comprises the final result of his investigations in the following words: “The ape-like characteristics of Man are by no means concentrated in one or another race, but are distributed in particular parts of the body, among the different races, in such a manner that each is endowed with some heirloom of this relationship—one race more so, another less, and even we Europeans cannot claim to be entirely free from evidences of this relationship.”[5]

I must here also point out, what in fact is self-evident, that not one of all the still living Apes, and consequently not one of the so-called Man-like Apes, can be the progenitor of the Human Race. This opinion, in fact, has never been maintained by thoughtful adherents of the Theory of Descent, but it has been assigned to them by their thoughtless opponents. The Ape-like progenitors of the Human Race are long since extinct. We may possibly still find their fossil bones in the tertiary rocks of southern Asia or Africa. In any case they will, in the zoological system, have to be classed in the group of tail-less Narrow-nosed Apes (Catarrhini Lipocerci, or Anthropoides).