476 Dr. HAnwoopn on a Pair of hinder Hands 
loose and porous texture of its bones, and the cartilaginous nature 
of their extremities. | 
I cannot suffer the present opportunity to pass by, without 
suggesting the possibility of Dr. Abel having been materially 
deceived in his estimate, taken from the dried skin, of the height 
of his animal, which he computes at no less than 7 feet 6 inches ; 
for he calculates, that the extent of his reach from finger to finger 
across the chest did not exceed 8 feet 2 inches; whereas in the 
skeleton of the Pongo at the College of Surgeons, whose arms I 
believe to be shorter in proportion to its height than in the true 
Satyrus, and which is probably the same species he has described, 
—in this Pongo I find the extent of reach to be not less than 7 
feet, and yet its height does not exceed 3 feet 11 inches : and 
consequently, if what I have presumed be found correct, were 
it a Satyrus instead of a Pongo, with a reach of 7 feet, its height 
would scarcely exceed 3 feet and a half. It is highly worthy 
of notice, as relating to the proportions of Orang Otangs, that 
with a reach of 7 feet, each arm being 3 feet 1 inch in length, 
this Pongo measures only 2 feet 2 inches from the summit of the 
head to the extremity of the os coccygis, and only 1 foot 10 inches 
in the length of its hinder extremities, or from the top of the head 
of the os femoris to the under surface of the os calcis. The hinder 
hand of this creature is at the same time no more than 2 inches 
shorter than that of the animal described by Dr. Abel, being 12 
inches in length. ` i | | SD 
From the capacity and form of the pelvis, and other circum- 
stances, I have reason to believe the skeleton at the College of 
Surgeons to be that of a female, while there is as strong evidence 
that Cuvier's larger skeleton of the same species is that of a male. 
Having been favoured with accurate admeasurements madeof the 
Parisian specimen by Mr. Clift, it may not be considered irrele- 
vant to our subject to compare some of its proportions with those 
of 
