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The great break in the organic chain between man and his nearest
allies, which cannot be bridged over by any extinct or living species,
has often been advanced as a grave objection to the belief that man is
descended from some lower form; but this objection will not appear
of much weight to those who, from general reasons, believe in the
general principle of evolution. Breaks often occur in all parts of the
series, some being wide, sharp and defined, others less so in
various degrees; as between the orang and its nearest allies-
between the Tarsius and the other Lemuridae- between the elephant, and
in a more striking manner between the Ornithorhynchus or Echidna,
and all other mammals. But these breaks depend merely on the number of
related forms which have become extinct. At some future period, not
very distant as measured by centuries, the civilised races of man will
almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout
the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes, as Professor
Schaaffhausen has remarked,* will no doubt be exterminated. The
break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it
will intervene between man in a more civilised state, as we may
hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon,
instead of as now between the negro or Australian and the gorilla.

* Anthropological Review, April, 1867, p. 236

Wow, an up-to-date summary of the evidence - 1867. Post war, I guess. Civil War.

Let’s take a look at how that stuff wears today:

There are now known fossil intermediates between orangutans and other apes. Sivapithecus, for example.

There are numerous prosimian intermediates in the fossil record showing transitions between Tarsiers and more primitive primates. Eosimias is one such intermediate.

We now have numerous transitionals between elephants and other ungulates, and of course, we now know that the monotremes are transitional between mammals and reptiles.

The rather unfortunate racism exhibited by almost all Europeans of the time was not caused by science. Indeed, evolutionists like Huxley and Darwin pointed out that all humans have a common ancestor and all deserve rights and freedom, while creationists like Fitzroy and Agassiz denied blacks were human and advocated slavery for them. In fact, Darwin’s position on blacks was essentially identical to Lincoln’s.

This was one of the great objections to evolution by creationists at the time.