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THE KING’S BUSINESS
Is the Ape a Progeni- Th e President of á prominent scientific school in the tor of Man or Man a east has called our attention to the following editorial Progenitor of the Ape ?from the New York Herald, December 30, 1916, under the heading, “The Ape as. a New Relation “Of course.no large scientific meeting could come and go without our old friend the ape cropping up as an ancestor of man and the question of the missing link getting due prominence, and the present session of the American Association for the Advancement of Science is true to type in this regard. A notable change of view has come over scientific thought in this matter in very recent years, however. Above all, there is quite serious question now whether the ape is related to man by ascent or descent. One of the recent authoritative German publications, “Man and His Forerunners,” by Von Buttel-Reepen, quotes Klaatsqh, the well known anthropologist, to the effect that “the apes are to be regarded as degenerate branches of the pre-human stock.” Von Buttel- Reepen himself says that “This conception can be crudely summarized in the statement, Man is not descended from the ape but the ape from man.” There,- the secret is out at last! We had gotten hold of the family strain from the wrong end before. Now every thing is clearer. It must not be imagined, however, that this is a joke. It is quite serious science written not for' popular interest but for scientists to ponder over.” To the editorial he adds this comment: “Truly, the evolutionists have gotten themselves into a sorry position.” It has often seemed to us that there was far more reason to suppose that the ape was a degenerate man than there was to imagine that man was an' improved ape. We are glad to see this con firmation of this theory from so authoritative a source. Certainly if Klaatsch is right one of the props upon which the evolutionists have leaned most heavily is knocked from under them. The evolutionary hypothesis has réceived a number of stiff blows within the past years. However, the evolutionists have never been greatly disturbed by facts. Instead of constructing their hypothesis from the facts in the case, they start out with the hypothesis and then try to distort the facts to make them fit their theory. at the front, but in the lives of the wives and children at home. A statement was issued by the United Board of Sunday-school Organization in England. This Board, we understand, represents the Sunday-school organizations of Congregationalists, Baptists, Presbyterians, the Society of Friends, and Moravians. The statistics show an appalling increase in juvenile crimes of a serious nature since the outbreak of the war. It is said that during the last few months of 1915, delinquency in children has increased 40 per cent. The explanation given was that “war has created excitement in the minds of children.” Sir .Edward Troup, permanent Under-Secretary of the Home Office, says in a circular to the magistrates thqt he “has under consideration representations respecting the recent increase in the number of offenses by children and young people under sixteen years of. age.” 1He goes on to say that “punishable offenses have ,grown in seventeen of the largest towns of England about 40 per^ cent.” He says further that there has been an increase of nearly 50 per cent in the cases of larceny. It is reported by the United Board referred to above that there has been a great loss of discipline in a great many places in England, largely owing to the fathers being away, and also to We do not hear as much as we did about the ennobling effects of war, and we are hearing an increasing amount of the appalling demoralization caused by war. This demoralization is not seen merely in the soldiers The Demoralizing Effects of War.
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