DaveO -

Darwin never claimed that man was evolved from apes, but rather that man and apes were evolved from a common ancestor.

Your original statement stands as true for any rational test. Saying that man evolved from "european apes" does not say that man evolved from the present european apes. Darwin presumed that while man was evolving to his present state, the apes would also have been evolving, and are not now the same ones that were around when the two lines of change "separated."

Taken in context, his meaning is clear the both "modern" man and "modern" apes appear to have evolved from a common a ancestor which probably was "apelike." To say that man evolved, and apes did not, (as assumed by many anti-evolutionists) is simply another demonstration that they haven't understood Darwin.

Your clarification is apt to the discussion, since many of us here do have only vague knowledge of the complete contexts.

John