254 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tion of savage man during his lazy hours is to stretch himself on the 

 ground in the sun, with his eyes closed, and with his back propped, 

 where possible, by a slight mound or the wall of his hut. Any person 

 who has lived much among negroes or South Sea Islanders must have 

 noticed how constant is this attitude with men, women, and children, 

 at every stray idle moment. 



Nor must we forget the peculiar manner in which human mothers 

 must necessarily have carried their infants from a very early period 

 in the development of our race. During the first eighteen months of 

 life the human infant must always be held, or laid, more or less upon 

 its back ; and this position will probably tend to check the develop- 

 ment of hair upon the dorsal and lateral regions. 



Next, let us ask what is the actual distribution of hair upon the 

 body of man. Omitting those portions where the ornamental use of 

 hair has specially preserved it, the most hairy region is generally, so far 

 as my observations go, the fore part of the leg or shin. Obviously this 

 is a region very little likely to come in contact with external objects. 

 On the other hand, the most absolutely hairless places are the palms of 

 the hands and the soles of the feet, after which come the elbows, and 

 at a long interval the knees and knuckles. The back is very hairless, 

 and so are the haunches. But the legs are more hairy than the body, 

 both in front and behind, though less hairy on the calf than on the 

 shin. Now, it will be obvious that both by day and night we rest more 

 upon our backs and haunches than upon our legs, the latter being free 

 when we sit down on a chair or bench, doubled in front of us when we 

 squat on the ground (the normal position of savages), and thrown about 

 loosely when we lie down. Especially might we conclude that this 

 would be the case with early races, unembarrassed by the weight of 

 bedclothes. As for the arms, it is noticeable that they still retain the 

 ordinary mammalian habit in being hairier on the back than on the 

 front ; and this also is quite in accordance with our present suggestion, 

 because the same differentiating causes have not worked upon the arm 

 as they work upon the back and legs. The peculiar position of the 

 anterior extremities in man, together with the erect posture, makes the 

 arms come much more frequently into frictional contact with the body 

 or clothing on their inner than on their outer surface. Hair grows 

 most abundantly where there is normally least friction, and vice versa. 

 As for the hair which frequently appears upon the chest of robust 

 Europeans and others, I shall return to that point at a later stage. It 

 may be noted, however, that while the first joint of the fingers is hairy, 

 the second joint, answering to the callosity of the gorilla, is generally 

 bare. 



As man, then, gradually assumed the erect attitude and the re- 

 versed habits of sitting and lying down which it necessarily involves, 

 it seems to me that he must have begun to lose the hair upon his back. 

 But such a partial loss will not fully account for his present very hair- 



