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Show 186 '!'HE DESCENT OF :niAN. PAnT I. passes through the same phases of embryological developmeut. He retains many rudimenta~·y and useless structures which no doubt were once serviCeable. Characters o~casionally make their re-appearance in him, which we have every reason to believe were possessed by l1is early progenitors. If the origin of ma.n had been wholly different from that of all other ammals, ~hese various appearances would be mere empty deceptiOns; but such an admission is incredible. These appearances~ on the other hand, are intelligible, at least to a large extent, if man is the co-descendant with other mammals of some unknown and lower form. Some natmalists, from being deeply impressed with the mental and spiritual powers of man, have divided tho whole organic '"orld into three kingdoms, the Human, the Animal, and the Vegetable, thus giving to man a separate kingdom.1 Spiritual powers cannot be compared or classed by the naturalist ; but he may endeavour to shew, as I have clone, that the mental faculties of man and the lower animals do not differ in kind, although immensely in degree. A difference in degree, however great, does not justify us in placing man in a distinct kingdom, as will perhaps be best illustrated by comparing the mental powers of two insects, namely, a coccus or scale-insect and an ant, which undoubtedly belong to the same class. The difference is here greater, though of a somewhat different kind, than that between man and the highest mammal. The female coccus, whilst young, attaches itself by its proboscis to a plant; sucks the sap but never moves again; is fertilised and lays eggs; and this is its whole history. On the other hand, to describe the habits and mental 1 Isidore Geoffroy St.-Hilaire gives a detailed account of the position assigned to man by various naturalists in their classifications : 'Hist. Nat. Gen.' torn. ii. 185D, p. 170-189. CHAP. vI. AFFINITIES AND GENEALOGY. 187 powers of a female ant, would require, as Pierre Huber has shewn, a large volume; I may, however, briefly specify a few points. Ants communicate information to each other, and several unite for the same work, or games of play. They recognise their fellow-ants after months of absence. They build great edifices, keep them clean, close the doors in the evening, and post sentries. They make roads, and even tunnels under rivers. rrhey collect food for the community, and when an object, too large for entrance, is brought to the nest, they enlarge the door, and afterwards build it up again.2 They go out to battle in regular bands, and freely sacrifice their lives for the common weal. They emigrate in accordance with a preconc8l ·ted plan. They capture slaves. They keep Aphides as milch-cows. 1'hey move the eggs of their aphides, as well as their own eggs and cocoons, into warm parts of the nest, in order that they may be quickly hatched; and endless similar facts could be given. On the whole, the difference in mental power between an ant and a coccus is immense ; yet no one has ever dreamed of placing them in distinct classes, much less in distinct kingdoms. No doubt this interval is bridged over by the intermediate mental powers of many other insects; and this is not the case with man and the higher apes. But we have every reason to believe that breaks in the series are simply the result of many forms having become extinct. Professor Owen, relying chiefly on the structure of the brain, has divided the mammalian series into four sub-classes. One of these he de,·otes to man ; in another he places both the marsupials and the monotremata; so that he makes man as distinct from all other mam- 2 See tho very interesting article, "L'Instinct chez les Insectes," by l\L George Pouchet, 'Revue des Deux Monues,' Feb. 1870, p. 682. |
