TO THE LOWEK ANIMAJLS. 89 



leg is about as long as the spinal column, while the arm is 

 not more than j| of its length ; the hand having rather 

 less and the foot rather more, than one third the length 

 of the spinal column. 



These examples might be greatly multiplied, but they 

 suffice to show that, in whatever proportion of its limbs 

 the Gorilla differs from Man, the other Apes depart still 

 more widely from the Gorilla and that, consequently, such 

 differences of proportion can have no ordinal value. 



We may next consider the differences presented by the 

 trunk, consisting of the vertebral column, or backbone, 

 and the ribs and pelvis, or bony hip-basin, which are con- 

 nected with it, in Man and in the Gorilla respectively. 



In Man, in consequence partly of the disposition of the 

 articular surfaces of the vertebra, and largely of the elas- 

 tic tension of some of the fibrous bands, or ligaments, 

 which connect these vertebrae together, the spinal column, 

 as a whole, has an elegant S-like curvature, being convex 

 forwards in the neck, concave in the back, convex in the 

 loins, or lumbar region, and concave again in the sacral 

 region ; an arrangement which gives much elasticity to 

 the whole backbone, and diminishes the jar communicated 

 to the spine, and through it to the head, by locomotion in 

 the erect position. 



Furthermore, under ordinary circumstances, Man has 

 seven vertebrae in his neck, which are called cervical; 

 twelve succeed these, bearing ribs and forming the upper 

 part of the back, whence they are termed dorsal ; five lie 

 in the loins, bearing no distinct, or free, ribs, and are called 

 lumhar ; five, united together into a great bone, excavatec] 

 in front, solidly wedged in between the hip bones, to form 

 the back of the pelvis, and known by the name of the sa- 

 crum^ succeed these ; and finally, tlu'ee or four little more 



