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