Sir William Jardine devoted an entire volume
to the animals he described as approaching "nearest to man in structure,
and consequently in actions" (29). He noted the impact of the mere sight
of these creatures on a wide range of humans: "Occasional glimpses of an
animal clothed in shaggy hair, of  gigantic
size, with tusks rivaling those of the largest and most ferocious beasts
of prey;--possessing a hideous resemblance of countenance and general proportions
to man, and assuming positions somewhat human, would present to an untutored
mind, a chaos of sensations, whose impressions scarcely could be afterwards
detailed; while one of higher cultivation might combine doubts of their
animal or human nature" (26). He credits Monboddo, Rousseau and Lamarck
with the mistaken idea "that men and monkeys belonged to the same species,
and were no otherwise distinguished from each other, than by circumstances
which can be accounted for, by the different physical or moral agencies
to which they have been exposed." Jardine preferred to keep humans and
monkeys "entirely distinct," primarily because the human "is infinitely
pre-eminent by the high and peculiar character and power of his mind, and
the future destination of his immaterial part" (39). |
