CHAPTER I
Mans Place in Nature, from a Biological Standpoint.
THERE never has been but one way to decide man's position in the system of nature. It is the way of science, and consists in examining man anatomically, physiologically, psychologically and otherwise, and comparing the information thus obtained with the corresponding data, secured through similar methods from other living forms now existing upon the earth. Man and his career in the world up to the present writing may also be examined historically, palasontologically and anthropologically as far as the discovered data will permit us to carry the investigation. In fact, in order to establish correctly the place man holds in nature it becomes necessary to compare and intercompare every possible thing we can find out about him, both in present and past time, with a similar knowledge, as far as we have mastered it, of all other animals in the world, and with especial care in regard to those forms which are universally conceded to, and do most resemble him. Such an investigation should, as far as possible, be exhaustive. Its result must be accepted, provided it bears the trade-mark of Truth. Science has done this and has come to a finding based upon the
evidence secured. This evidence has been accumulating since the dawn of history, and in amount and in
