ii CLASSIFICATION: GORILLA. 07 



It is quite certain that the Ape which most 

 nearly approaches man, in the totality of its 

 organisation, is either the Chimpanzee or the 

 Gorilla; and as it makes no practical difference, 

 for the purposes of my present argument, which 

 is selected for comparison, on the one hand, with 

 Man, and on the other hand, with the rest of the 

 Primates,* I shall select the latter (so far as its 

 organisation is known) — as a brute now so cele- 

 brated in prose and verse, that all must have 

 heard of him, and have formed some conception 

 of his appearance. I shall take up as many of 

 the most important points of difference between 

 man and this remarkable creature, as the space 

 at my disposal will allow me to discuss, and the 

 necessities of the argument demand; and I shall 

 inquire into the value and magnitude of these 

 differences, when placed side by side with those 

 which separate the Gorilla from other animals of 

 the same order. 



In the general proportions of the body and 

 limbs there is a remarkable difference between 

 the Gorilla and Man, which at once strikes the 

 eye. The Gorilla's brain-case is smaller, its trunk 

 larger, its lower limbs shorter, its upper limbs 

 longer in proportion than those of Man. 



I find that the vertebral column of a full-grown 



* We are not at present thoroughly acquainted with 

 the brain of the Gorilla, and therefore, in discussing cere- 

 bral characters, I shall take that of the Chimpanzee as 

 my highest term among the Apes. 



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