Perhaps no order of
mammals presents us with
so extraordinary a series of gradations as this
[step by step, from humans to apes to monkeys
to lemurs]—leading us insensibly from the
crown and summit of the animal creation down
to creatures, from which there is but a step, as
it seems, to the lowest, smallest, and least
intelligent of the placental Mammalia. It is as if
nature herself had foreseen the arrogance
of man, and with Roman severity had provided
that his intellect, by its very triumphs, should
call into prominence the slaves, admonishing
the conqueror that he is but dust.
T. H.
HUXLEY
Evidence as to Mans Place in Nature1