RECORD: Anon. 1871. [Review of Descent]. Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle (25 February): 5.

REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua and edited by John van Wyhe 10.2022. RN1


[page] 5

"THE DESCENT OF MAN." — Mr. Charles Darwin (M.A., F.R.S.,) has just published a work in two volumes on "The Descent of Man." The conclusion at which the author has arrived is that "Man is descended from a hairy quadruped, furnished with a tail and pointed ears, probably arboreal in its habits, and an inhabitant of the Old World." Our progenitors, Mr. Darwin, thinks, probably lived in Africa. He believes there is evidence in the bodily structure of man of his descent from some less highly-organized form, and points out what he regards as the presence of rudimentary structures in man which connect the human being with many other animals. He then argues that there is a correspondence between the ape and man, and asserts that when monkeys drink too much (they are fond of beer), they have a headache next morning, and relish the juice of lemons—probably the nearest approach to brandy and soda-water which the African experimentalist could devise. One monkey, after having become intoxicated with brandy, would never touch it again—thus adds Mr. Darwin, proving himself wiser than many men. The interval between the highest type of monkey and the lowest type of savage Mr. Darwin admits to be immense—greater, indeed, than that between Shakespeare and a microcephalous idiot; but he maintains that it is a difference not in kind, but in degree. In detailing the similarities between man and monkey, Mr. Darwin says in the Zoological Gardens he once saw a baboon which always got into a furious rage when the keeper took out a book and began to read aloud. An ape whose acquaintance Mr. Waterhouse was permitted to make sang excellently; and that gentleman describes the manner in which the monkey got through its scales, and hit the correct intervals. Mr. Darwin says it is a great mistake to suppose that the monkeys do not use tools. The chimpanzee cracks nuts with a stone. The orang is acquainted with the use of the lever. In their wars the baboons hurl down stones on their enemies, just like the Swiss mountaineers. Another monkey covers himself at night with the leaves of the Pandanus. Lest we should be too much shocked at our origin, Mr. Darwin thinks we ought to reflect with pride on the fashion in which man has reached the top of the organic scale.

 


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Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)

File last updated 10 November, 2022