CHAPTER I

THE CONTROVERSY ABOUT CREATION

EVOLUTION AND DOGMA

EXPLANATION OF PLATE I

GENEALOGICAL TREE OF THE VERTEBRATES

The genetic relationship of all vertebrates, from the earliest acrania and fishes up to the apes and man, is proved in its main lines by the concordant testimony of paleontology, comparative anatomy, and embryology. All competent and impartial zoologists now agree that the vertebrates are all descended from a _single_ stem, and that the root of this is to be sought in extinct pre-Silurian _Acrania_ (1), somewhat similar to the living lancelet. The _Cyclostoma_ (2) represent the transition from the latter to the _Fishes_ (3); and the _Dipneusts_ (4) the transition from these to the _Amphibia_ (5). From the latter have been developed the _Reptiles_ (6) on the one hand, and the _Mammals_ (7) on the other. The most important branch of this most advanced class is the _Primates_ (8); from the half-apes, or lemurs, a direct line leads, through the baboons, to the anthropoid apes, and through these on to man. (_Cf._ the tables on pp. 115-120). Further information will be found in chapters xxiv.-xxvii. of the _History of Creation_, and chapters xxi.-xxiii. of the _Evolution of Man_.

PLATE I.

LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION