124 PROCEEDINGS OF PROVINCIAL SOCIETIES. 



BIRMINGHAM MECHANICS' INSTITUTION. 



In giving a brief analysis of Mr. Watts's most interesting lec- 

 tures, which h€ has so liberally afforded to this Institution, we re- 

 gret that our notice of them must be so limited ; but as an abstract 

 of one particular part, or lecture, would be but a division in the 

 series, in which a strict connection is observed, we rather offer an 

 analysis, than mangle the whole by a partial extraction. The first 

 series, now delivered, was on the Physical Nature and Peculiari- 

 ties of jMan. The subject was divided into six lectures : in the first 

 lecture, Mr. Watts demonstrated the osteological structure of man 

 and animals, exhibiting those peculiarities of form in which man 

 differed from the most anthropomorphus animal, and wherein the 

 Hottentot resembled the ape, — if those differences were essential 

 distinctions, or arose merely from the cultivation of the species, as 

 supposed by Monboddo, Rousseau, and other defensor es simiarum. 

 Mr. Watts pointed out the striking peculiarities in the skeleton of the 

 Hottentot and the European ; and though repudiating the shallow 

 arguments of some philosophers, that man was an animal superior 

 only in degree, yet stated that the claim of man's superiority was 

 seen more decidedly in his moral, than in his physical character. 



In the second lecture, the comparison between man and the 

 Simla Satyrus was continued, by an examination of the principal 

 internal organs, and still that humiliating resemblance was exhibited 

 between man and the brute. After explaining the differences between 

 the alimentary canal in the herbivorous and carnivorous animals, 

 which was assisted by the exhibition of some admirable diagrams 

 of those organs in different animals, the lecturer treated of their 

 peculiar structure corresponding to the nature of the animal ; and 

 beholding man as omnivorous both by structure and necessity — 

 what food was best adapted to his wants, if the Pythagorean or 

 Newtonian aliment of '^herb and fruit," or flesh. Mr. Watts 

 illustrated this very interesting part of his lecture by some beautiful 

 quotations from the ancient and modern writers. This lecture ex- 

 cited very considerable attention, for every one felt a personal inte- 

 rest in the conclusions. 



The subject of the third lecture was a comparison of the organs 

 of the senses, wherein the ape resembled man, as in the seat of 

 touch, &c. Mr. Watts's remarks were certainly a corrective to 

 human pride ; for the striking resemblances between man and the 

 ape were repeatedly pointed out, and we sometimes fancied with 

 a fondness for the alliance ; but Mr. W.'s subsequent opinions, 

 which, in the last lecture, were deduced from these facts, explained 

 the reason. Having thus far briefly dwelt upon the most striking 

 physical peculiarities in man and animals, the subject of colour com- 

 pleted this lecture. The lecturer first demonstrated the cuticular 

 structure, and, dividing colour into permanent and fugitive, ex- 



