or (perhaps) from the ancestral marsupials. Even now we have one living
form, the curious Galeopithecus or flying lemur, which has only recently
been separated from the lemurs, with which it was formerly united, to be
classed as one of the insectivora; and it is only among the Opossums and
some other marsupials that we again find hand-like feet with opposable
thumbs, which are such a curious and constant feature of the monkey
tribe.

This relationship to the lowest of the mammalian tribes seems
inconsistent with the place usually accorded to these animals at the
head of the entire mammalian series, and opens up the question whether
this is a real superiority or whether it depends merely on the obvious
relationship to ourselves. If we could suppose a being gifted with
high intelligence, but with a form totally unlike that of man, to have
visited the earth before man existed in order to study the various forms
of animal life that were found there, we can hardly think he would have
placed the monkey tribe so high as we do. He would observe that their
whole organization was specially adapted to an arboreal life, and this
specialization would be rather against their claiming the first rank
among terrestrial creatures. Neither in size, nor strength, nor beauty,
would they compare with many other forms, while in intelligence they
would not surpass, even if they equaled, the horse or the beaver. The
carnivora, as a whole, would certainly be held to surpass them in the
exquisite perfection of their physical structure, while the flexible
trunk of the elephant, combined with his vast strength and admirable
sagacity, would probably gain for him the first rank in the animal
creation.

But if this would have been a true estimate, the mere fact that the ape
is our nearest relation does not necessarily oblige us to come to any