Page 144 - The Evolution Impasse 2

142 Orthogenesis Muddle, The (Directed Selection)

ORTHOGENESIS MUDDLE, var i ous parts of the world. In the
THE (DIRECTED ear ly part of the 20th cen tu ry, this
SELECTION) search for liv ing in ter me di ate forms
led to var i ous shame ful ac tions. One
Orthogenesis is an old the sis that
of these in volved the pyg my Ota
is no longer ac cept ed even by the o ry
Benga.
of ev o lu tion's own ad her ents. This
He was cap tured in Congo in
the sis as sumes that liv ing things
1904 by an ev o lu tion ist re search er
evolved not ac cord ing to en vi ron -
named Samuel Verner. Ota Benga,
men tal con di tions, but sole ly ac cord -
whose name meant friend in his own
ing to their own ge net ic struc tures.
lan guage, was mar ried with two
According to the or tho ge net ic
chil dren. Yet he was chained, placed
view, a kind of in ter nal pro gram
in a cage like an an i mal and trans -
leads liv ing things to evolve in a par -
port ed to the U.S.A. There, ev o lu -
tic u lar way. This view al so led to or -
tion ist sci en tists put him in a cage
tho gen e sis be ing known as the pre de -
with var i ous apes at the St. Louis
ter mi na tion the o ry. This hy poth e sis,
World Fair and ex hib it ed him as the
based on no sci en tif ic ev i dence what -
clos est in ter me di ate form to man.
so ev er, lost all cre dence in the sec ond
Two years lat er they took him to the
half of the 20th cen tu ry.
Bronx Zoo in New York and ex hib it -
ed him to geth er with a few chim -
OTA BENGA pan zees, a go ril la named Dinah and
an orang u tan called Dohung as
After Darwin claimed that hu -
man's old est an ces tors.
man be ings evolved from ape-like
The ev o lu tion ist di rect or of the
crea tures in his book The
zoo, Dr. William T.
Descent of Man, a search be -
Hornaday, made long
gan for fos sils to back up
speech es about how
his the o ry. Some ev o lu -
hon ored he was to own
tion ists, how e ver, be lieved
this in ter me di ate form,
that half-man, half-ape
and vis it ors to the zoo
crea tures could be found
treat ed Ota Benga like
not on ly in the fos sil
any oth er an i mal.
record, but still liv ing in

The Evolution Impasse II