74 ON THE PLACE OF MAN IN THE SCALE OF BEING. 



fellow-men. We find, on comparing the brain of Man with that of the lower 

 Mammalia, that, as might have been anticipated, its proportional dimensions 

 are much greater, and its structure more complex. The former part of this 

 statement is easily verified by an examination of the cranium alone, comparing 

 the size of its cavity with that of the face. The amount of the facial angle,' 

 taken after the manner of Camper, affords a tolerably correct indication of the 

 relative sizes of these parts. In Man, the facial angle is, in the average of 

 Europeans, 80; in Negroes, it is about 70. In the adult Chimpanzee (which 

 approaches in this respect nearest to Man), the facial angle is only 35; and 

 in the Orang, it is no more than 30. In other animals it is still less, except 

 when it is increased by the prominence of large frontal sinuses, or by the 

 comparative shortness of the jaws. In regard to the structure of the brain, we 

 shall here only remark generally, that the Encephalon of Man far exceeds that 

 of the highest Quadrumana, in the size of the cerebral hemispheres, in the 

 complexity and development of its internal parts, and in the depth and num- 

 ber of its convolutions. 



59. Man cannot be regarded as distinguished from other Mammalia, how- 

 ever, either by acuteness of sensibility, or by muscular power. His swiftness 

 in running, and agility in leaping, are inferior to that of other animals of his 

 size, the full-grown Orang for example. The smallness of his face, com- 

 pared with that of the cranium, shows that the portion of the nervous system 

 distributed to the organs of sense, is less developed in him than it is in most 

 other animals ; and the small proportional size of the ganglionic centres, with 

 which these organs are immediately connected, is another indication of the 

 same fact. Accordingly, he is surpassed by many in acuteness of sensibility 

 to light, sound, &c. ; but he stands pre-eminent in the power of comparing 

 sensations, and of drawing conclusions from them. Moreover, although none 

 of his senses are very acute in his natural state, they are all moderately so, 

 which is not the case in other animals ; and they are capable (as is also his 

 swiftness of foot) of being much improved by practice, especially when cir- 

 cumstances strongly call for their exercise. This power of adaptation to va- 

 rieties in external conditions, which makes him to a great extent independent 

 of them, is manifested in other features of his structure and economy. He 

 is capable of sustaining the lowest, as well as the highest, extremes of tempe- 

 rature and of atmospheric pressure. In the former of these particulars, he is 

 strikingly contrasted with the anthropoid Apes, such as the Chimpanzee, which 

 is restricted to a few of the hottest parts of Africa, and the Orang-Outan, 

 which is only found in Borneo and Sumatra: these cannot be kept alive in 

 temperate climates, without the assistance of artificial heat ; and even when 

 this is afforded, they speedily become diseased and die. His diet is naturally 

 of a mixed kind ; but he can support himself in health and strength, on either 

 animal or vegetable food exclusively. It is by the demands which his pecu- 

 liar condition makes upon the exercise of his ingenuity, that his mental 

 powers are first called into active operation ; but, when once aroused, their 

 development has no assignable limit. The slow growth of Man, and the 

 length of time during which he remains in a state of dependence upon his 

 parents, have been already mentioned as peculiarities, by which he is distin- 

 guished from all other animals. He is unable to seek his own food, during 

 at least the three first years of his life ; and he does not attain to his full 

 stature, until he is more than twenty years of age. In proportion to his size, 

 too, the whole sum of his life is greater than that of other Mammalia. The 

 greatest age of the Iloise, for example, which is an animal of much superior 

 bulk, is between thirty and forty years. That of the Orang, which, when full 

 grown, surpasses Man in stature, is about the same, so far as it can be ascer- 

 tained. The age to which the life of Man is frequently prolonged, is well 



