LOUIS JEAN RODOLPHE AGASSIZ MAN AND MONKEYS [Lecture by Louis Agassiz, naturalist (born in Mortier, Canton Fribourg, Switzerland, May 28, 1807; died in Cambridge, Mass., December 14, 1873), delivered in Cooper Institute Hall, New York, February 26, 1867, the last in his series of six on the " Geological Formation of the Valley of the Amazon," given before the Association for the Advancement of Science and Art. In this series Professor Agassiz presented some of the results of his investigations during his expedition of the previous summer to Brazil, and the delivery of them attracted large and popular audiences, notwithstanding their technical character. This closing lecture of the course drew an especially distinguished auditory, since it expressed Professor Agassiz's attitude toward the Darwinian theory of evolution. Its formal title was, "The Monkey and the Native Inhabitants of South America." At the close of its delivery, the historian, George Bancroft, rose and with a few complimentary remarks proposed the following resolution, which was adopted with hearty applause: "Resolved, that the thanks of this great assembly of delighted hearers be given to the illustrious Professor Agassiz, for the fulness of his instruction, for the clearness of his method of illustration, for his exposition of the idea as antecedent to form; of the superiority of the undying, original, and eternal force over its transient manifestations; for happy hours which passed too rapidly away; for genial influences of which the memory will last forever." These lectures were in some respects the most notable ones delivered by the great Swiss naturalist since his first appearance in America with his course on "The Plan of Creation as Shown in the Animal Kingdom," given as a Boston Lowell Institute course in December, 1846, which resulted in his engagement to remain in America.] LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:-In an unguarded moment I proposed for this evening's lecture the subject which has been announced upon the tickets. If I had considered the matter more maturely, I would probably have abstained from bringing into such public notice a subject so full of difficulties, respecting which, after all, so little is known, Copyright, 1901, by A. C. Butters. and with reference to which there are such extreme views entertained by the most competent investigators. As it is, I have nothing left but candidly to express my convictions without reticence and, if I can, without prepossession. Of course, you do not expect that I shall tell you anecdotes concerning the monkeys which I have seen flying in the trees in the valley of the Amazon, nor to contrast with them the habits of the native inhabitants, but that I shall take a broader view of the subject, and discuss before you the relations which exist between the monkeys and mankind—a subject which for the last ten years has engaged the direct attention of all naturalists, with reference to which all the investigations made within this period have been more or less directly connected; for nowadays when a naturalist studies the anatomy of an animal, it is with reference to the possible explanation of the manner in which the complicated structure was brought into existence. If a naturalist nowadays investigates the embryology of an animal, that is, its transformations, its successive changes, it is with the view of ascertaining how that law which regulates those changes was stamped upon it as a living being. When naturalists now investigate the geographical distribution of the animals upon the surface of our earth, it is with the view of ascertaining, if it can possibly be done, in what way the diversity which prevails all over the globe has been produced, what is the primitive origin of this great diversity. When geologists investigate the fossil remains which are embedded in the strata of our earth, and when they trace the order in which they have followed one another in the course of time, it is at present with the view of ascertaining how this succession has been introduced, which were the first, which have followed, and in what relations they stand to one another. And when men investigate all differences which exist among their fellow-men, it is with the view of ascertaining whether men originated from one pair or whether there is a multiple origin to humanity. You see that wherever naturalists nowadays approach their subject it is everywhere with one view-to ascertain, if it can be done, in what way things originated and what is the primary cause of the differences which we observe among them. |