Chap. IV. MANNER OF DEVELOPMENT. 141 



ditions of its native country, to live somewhat less on 

 trees and more on the ground, its manner of progres- 

 sion would have been modified ; and in this case it 

 would have had to become either more strictly quad- 

 rupedal or bipedal. Baboons frequent hilly and rocky 

 districts, and only from necessity climb up high trees ; M 

 and they have acquired almost the gait of a clog. Man 

 alone has become a biped ; and we can, I think, partly 

 see how he has come to assume his erect attitude, which 

 forms one of the most conspicuous differences between 

 him and his nearest allies. Man could not have 

 attained his present dominant position in the world 

 without the use of his hands which are so admirably 

 adapted to act in obedience to his will. As Sir C. Bell 65 

 insists " the hand supplies all instruments, and by its 

 " correspondence with the intellect gives him universal 

 " dominion." But the hands and arms could hardly 

 have become perfect enough to have manufactured 

 weapons, or to have hurled stones and spears with a 

 true aim, as long as they were habitually used for 

 locomotion and for supporting the whole weight of the 

 body, or as long as they were especially well adapted, 

 as previously remarked, for climbing trees. Such rough 

 treatment would also have blunted the sense of touch, 

 on which their delicate use largely depends. From 

 these causes alone it would have been an advantage to 

 man to have become a biped ; but for many actions it is 

 almost necessary that both arms and the whole upper 

 part of the body should be free ; and he must for this 

 end stand firmly on his feet. To gain this great 

 advantage, the feet have been rendered flat, and the 

 great toe peculiarly modified, though this has entailed 

 the loss of the power of prehension. It accords with 



64 Brehm, ' Thierleben,' B. i. s. 80. 



65 " The Hand," &c. 4 Bridgewater Treatise,' 1S33, p. 38. 



