BIMANA. 47 



this restrains the activity of his sight to a limited distance, and a 

 determined degree of light. His external ear, possessing but little 

 mobility or extent, does not increase the intensity of sounds, and 

 yet, of all animals, he best distinguishes the various degrees of in- 

 tonation. His nostrils, more complicated than those of the Monkey, 

 are less so than those of all other genera; and yet he appears to be 

 the only animal whose sense of smell is sufficiently delicate to be 

 affected by unpleasant odours. Delicacy of smell must have some 

 influence on that of taste, and independently of this Man must have 

 some advantage in this respect over other animals, those, at least, 

 whose tongues are covered with scales. Lastly, the nicety of his 

 tact results, both from the delicacy of his teguments, and the ab- 

 sence of all insensible parts, as well as from the form of his hand, 

 which is better adapted than that of any other animal for suiting 

 itself to every little superficial inequality. 



Man is pre-eminently distinguished in the organ of his voice; of 

 all the Mammalia, he alone possesses the faculty of articulating 

 sounds, its probable causes being the form of his mouth and the 

 great mobility of his lips. From this results his most invaluable 

 mode of communication, for of all the signs which can be conveniently 

 employed for the transmission of ideas, variations of sound are those 

 which can be perceived at the greatest distance, and are the most 

 extensive in their sphere of operation. 



The whole of his structure, even to the heart and great vessels, 

 appears to have been framed with a view to a vertical position. The 

 heart is placed obliquely on the diaphragm, and its point inclines to 

 the left, thereby occasioning a distribution of the aorta, differing 

 from that of most quadrupeds. 



The natural food of man, judging from his structure, appears to 

 consist of the fruits, roots, and other succulent parts of vegetables: 

 his hands offer him every facility for gathering them; his short, and 

 but moderately strong jaws on the one hand, and his canini being 

 equal in length to the remaining teeth, and his tubercular molares 

 on the other, would allow him neither to feed on grass nor to devour 

 flesh, were these aliments not previously prepared by cooking. 

 Once, however, possessed of fire, and those arts by which he is 

 aided in seizing animals or killing them at a distance, every living 

 being was rendered subservient to his nourishment, thereby giving 

 him the means of an infinite multiplication of his species. 



His organs of digestion are in conformity with those of manduca- 

 tion; his stomach is simple, his intestinal canal of moderate length, 

 the great intestines well marked, his caecum short and thick and 

 augmented by a small appendage, and his liver divided only into two 



