Many ages of progress, during which life assumed a rich variety of forms, including the early stages of most of the hoofed animals, brought the process of evolution to the lemurs, the monkey-like creatures that make their home in trees ([Fig. 22]). The lemurs differ from monkeys in that the milk glands of the female are on the abdomen instead of the breast, while the index finger of each hand, and the second toe of each foot, are furnished with claws, all the other fingers and toes having flat nails. Here again is a link between the lower and the higher life. Nature is stumbling and bungling, but getting there.
Fig. 19.—The Duck-bill,
known in Australia as the Platypus.
After the lemurs came the Slow Loris ([Fig. 23]). This species of the Loris has no tail, and its front foot bears a strong resemblance to the human hand. From these creatures, or possibly from similar creatures, were evolved the true apes ([Fig. 24]), and from these came the anthropoid or man-like apes.
There are still in existence four genera, or kinds, of these anthropoid apes—the gibbon, the gorilla, the orang, and the chimpanzee. The gibbon ([Fig. 25]) shows an alert, human-like expression, which is fully borne out in his pose. The picture of a female gorilla ([Fig. 26]) suggests with even greater force that we have here a human being in the making. Yet this creature, be it understood, may be separated from the lowest living human being by millions of years of development. The giant gorilla ([Fig. 27]), shot by Paschen, in the Cameroons, differed from the ordinary gorilla in the development of the skull and in size. He was six feet, eight inches tall from the crown of his head to his middle toe; the span of his arms was six feet, nine inches; his chest measurement was twice as great as that of a strong man. Yes, a dangerous gentleman to meet!
Fig. 20.—A Kangaroo with her Young One in her Pouch.
The illustration to the right shows a young Kangaroo shortly after
birth. That the creature is a quite unfinished fœtus is obvious.
The approach to the human look on the face of the bald-headed chimpanzee ([Fig. 28]) is nothing less than remarkable. The form of the skull shows a decided advance towards the human. The countenance is, of course, a little open, but—well, the whole head so strongly resembles the human that he might almost be mistaken for one who believes the story of Jonah and the whale!
That man is related to the anthropoid apes becomes evident when his anatomical structure is compared with theirs ([Fig. 29]). While these creatures differ from one another as do the different races of men, as, for example, in the color of the skin, in the size and shape of the skull, and in the length of the arms and legs, they are all essentially man-like. And while all these creatures are like human beings in the formation of their skeletons, in their anatomical structure, and in their physiological functioning, each of them approaches more closely to man than any of the others in the development of some part of its body. Thus, “the orang approaches closest to man in the formation of the brain, the chimpanzee in the shape of the spine and in certain characteristics of the skull, the gorilla in the development of the feet and in size, and the gibbon in the formation of the throat and teeth.” Prof. Ernst Haeckel, in the “Riddle of the Universe,” sums up man’s relation to the anthropoids as follows: