42 DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF MAN. 



opposed to each other with any degree of force. Hence, although well suited 

 to cling round bodies of a certain size, such as the small branches of trees, 

 etc., the anterior extremities of the Quadrumaua can neither seize very 

 minute objects with such precision, nor support large ones with such firm- 

 ness, as are essential to the dexterous performance of a variety of operations 

 for which the hand of Man is admirably adapted. This adaptation, how- 

 ever, is not obtained by means 'of any new instrumentality; for the anterior 

 extremity of the Orang or Chimpanzee possesses not only every bone, but 

 every muscle, which is found in that of Man ; and its only structural differ- 

 ences consist in the proportionate development of the several components of 

 these organs respectively. But the functional powers of the anterior ex- 

 tremity are not related solely to its own structure ; since the use that can be 

 made of the limb depends in part upon its relations to the body at large, the 

 general conformation of which must be adapted to turn its special capacity 

 to advantageous account. Thus, while the arm of the higher Apes has as 

 wide a range of motion as that of Man, so far as its articulation is concerned, 

 it is only when the animal is in the erect attitude that the limb can have 

 free play. And even the most perfect organization of the haud as an instru- 

 mental structure would be comparatively valueless, without the mind by 

 which its actions are prompted, and the senses by which they are guided. 



24. The Foot of Man, in like manner, differs from that of the higher 

 Apes, in those characters which specially adapt it to the support of the 

 body in the erect posture, and to biped progression ; in which adaptation 

 it loses much of that prehensile power which the posterior extremities of 

 the higher Q.uadrumana possess almost equally with their anterior. The 

 Human foot is, in proportion to the size of the whole body, larger, broader, 

 and stronger, than that of any other Mammal save the Kangaroo. The 

 surface of the Astragalus, which articulates with the tibia, looks almost 

 vertically upwards, and hardly at all inwards when the sole is flat upon 

 the ground, and the lateral facets are more nearly at right angles to this 

 surface than in any Ape. The plane of the foot is directed at right angles 

 to that of the leg ; and its sole is concave, so that the weight of the body 

 falls on the summit of an arch, of which the os calcis and the metatarsal 

 bones form the two points of support. This arched form of the foot, and 

 the contact of the whole plantar surface with the ground, are peculiarly 

 noticeable in Man ; most of the Apes having the os calcis small, straight, 

 and more or less raised from the ground, which they touch, when standing 

 erect, with the outer side only of the foot (Fig. 2). The function of the 

 lnil/ii.r, or great-toe, moreover, is strikingly contrasted in Man and the 

 Apes; for whilst in the latter it is nearly as opposable as the thumb, and 

 can be used to almost the same degree as an instrument of prehension, it 

 chiefly serves in the former to extend the basis of support, and to advance 

 the body in progression. But neither in its osteology nor in its myology is 

 there any essential difference between the foot of Man and the posterior ex- 

 tremity of the higher Apes; for every bone and every muscle in the one 

 has its counterpart in the other; and there is nothing which really assimi- 

 lates the posterior to the anterior extremity of the Ape, or entitles the for- 

 mer to be considered as a hand, save the opposabilitj of the great-toe. It 

 is certain, moreover, that this faculty is not originally wanting in Man, 

 although it may be destroyed by the disuse produced by the habit of inclos- 

 ing the foot in rigid investments; for among nations by whom that, habit is 

 not practiced, we often find that the great-toe can be sufficiently opposed to 

 the other toes to render the foot a useful instrument of prehension, and that 

 many actions are commonly performed by its means, which we are accus- 

 tomed to regard as requiring maniml agency. And in the case of individ- 



