186 Professor Owen, on the [Jan. 27, 



especially of the lower limb, by which the erect stature and bipedal 

 gait are maintained, are such as to claim for Man ordinal distinction 

 on merely external zoological characters. But his psychological 

 powers, in association with his extraordinarily developed brain, entitle 

 the group which he represents to equivalent rank with the other 

 primary divisions of the class Mammalia founded on cerebral characters. 

 In this primary group Man forms but one genus, Homo, and that genus 

 but one order, called Bimana, on account of the opposable thumb being 

 restricted to the upper pair of limbs. The mammae are pectoral. The 

 placenta is a single, sub-circular, cellulo-vascular, discoid body. 



Man has only a partial covering of hair, which is not merely pro- 

 tective of the head, but is ornamental and distinctive of sex. The 

 dentition of the genus Homo is reduced to thirty-two teeth, by the 

 suppression of the outer incisor and the first two premolars of the 

 typical series on each side of both jaws, the dental formula being ; — 



. 2—2 1—1 2—2 3—3 „o 



1 , c. , p. , m. = 32. 



2—2' 1—1 ' ^ 2—2' 3-3 



All the teeth are of equal length, and there is no break in the series ; 

 they are subservient in Man not only to alimentation, but to beauty 

 and to speech. 



The human foot is broad, plantigrade, with the sole, not inverted 

 as in Quadrumana, but applied flat to the ground ; the leg bears 

 vertically on the foot ; the heel is expanded beneath ; the toes are 

 short, but with the innermost longer and much larger than the rest, 

 forming a ' hallux ' or great toe, which is placed on the same line 

 with, and cannot be opposed to, the other toes ; the pelvis is short, 

 broad, and wide, keeping the thighs well apart ; and the neck of the 

 femur is long, and forms an open angle with the shaft, increasing the 

 basis of support for the trunk. The whole vertebral column, with its 

 slight alternate curves, and the well-poised, short, but capacious sub- 

 globular skull, are in like harmony with the requirements of the erect 

 position. 



The widely-separated shoulders, with broad scapulae and complete 

 clavicles, give a favourable position to the upper limbs, now liberated 

 from the service of locomotion, with complex joints for rotatory as well 

 as flexile movements, and terminated by a hand of matchless perfection 

 of structure, the fit instrument for executing the behests of a rational 

 intelligence and a free will. Hereby, though naked, Man can clothe 

 himself, and rival all natural vestments in warmth and beauty ; though 

 defenceless, Man can arm himself with every variety of weapon, and 

 become the most terribly destructive of animals. Thus he fulfils his 

 destiny as the supreme master of this earth, and lord of the lower 

 Creation. 



[R. O.] 



The Discourse was illustrated with drawings of type species of 

 quadrupeds, by Joseph Wolf, and by numerous diagrams, including 

 the subjoined tables of classification. 



