16 Prof. Poweirs Abstract o/M, Cauchy's 



articulate as resulting not merely from want of intellect, but 

 from want of due organization also*, or of the due comple- 

 ment of nerves necessary to associate the several organs in one 

 act of vocal ity. Why they are destitute of intellect, though 

 furnished with an organization approaching to that of man, it 

 is not our present business to inquire ; but facts show that they 

 are so. How, else, are they so totally incapable of education ? 

 The ourang-outang and chimpanse have even been admitted 

 into human society, by way of experiment, but they have 

 shown no disposition to adopt the haliits and manners of men ; 

 and though capable of imitation in some things, they can 

 never be taught to imitate the articulate tones of the human 

 voice. Besides, they have no relish for the society of men ; 

 and remain, even in the midst of mirth, " for ever silent and 

 for ever sad." Hence, though we may fairly say of them, 

 " Mefis agitat molem f," yet we cannot say that it is the " mens 

 divifiior' which is proper to man. 



In quadrupeds the feet are four in number, as the name im- 

 ports. They are single and undivided, as in the horse ; or 

 they are divided into toes, of which some genera have two, as 

 the ox and goat ; and some more than two, as the hog and 

 elephant, which last has five fingers inclosed within the skin 

 of the foot; while others have the toes united by means of an 

 intervening membrane, and have hence obtained the appella- 

 tion of web-footed, as in the case of the seal and otter. Yet the 

 limbs of quadrupeds, upon the whole, whether anterior or pos- 

 terior, will be found to exhibit a striking analogy to the type of 

 man, if we look at and compare the same joints. 

 [To be continued.] 



III. An Abstract of the essential Principles of M. Cauchy^s 



View of the Undulatory Theory^ leading to an Explanation 



of the Dispersion of Light ; with Remarks. By the Rev. 



Baden Powell, M.A,<i F.R.S., Savilian Professor of Geo^ 



metry^ Oxford.X 



CINCE the appearance of a notice in one of the late Num- 



^ bers of this Journal §, referring to the subject above named, 



several circumstances have led me to adopt a different plan 



from that therein proposed, relative to a publication on the 



subject. The question of the dispersion has been somewhat 



more canvassed of late ; and at the Edinburgh Meeting of the 



British Association for the Advancement of Science, some 



suggestions which have been lately made led me to offer a few 



remarks bearing upon an important distinction which must 



• Bell on the Human Hand, p. 216. f Virgil's iEneid, vi. 727. 



t Communicated by the Author. 



f Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag., vol. iv. p. 396. 



