90 THE RELATIONS OF MAN 



or less moveable bones, so small as to be insignificant, 

 constitute the coccyx or rudimentary tail. 



In tlie Gorilla, the vertebral column is similarly di- 

 vided into cervical, dorsal, lumbar, sacral and coccygeal 

 vertebras, and tbe total number of cervical and dorsal ver- 

 tebrse, taken together, is the same as in man ; but the 

 development of a pair of ribs to the first lumbar vertebra, 

 which is an exceptional occurrence in Man, is the rule in 

 the Gorilla ; and hence, as lumbar are distinguished from 

 dorsal vertebrae only by the presence or absence of free 

 ribs, the seventeen " dorso-lumbar " vertebrae of the Go- 

 rilla are divided into thirteen dorsal and four lumbar, 

 while in Man they are twelve dorsal and ^yq lumbar. 



Kot only, however, does Man occasionally possess thir- 

 teen pair of ribs,"^ but the Gorilla sometimes has fourteen 

 pairs, whilp an Orang-Utan skeleton in the Museum of the 

 Royal College of Surgeons has twelve dorsal and ^\q lum- 

 bar vertebrae, as in Man. Cuvier notes the same number 

 in a Hylobates. On the other hand, among the lower 

 A23es, many possess twelve dorsal and six or seven lumbar 

 vertebrae ; the Douroucouli has fourteen dorsal and eight 

 lumbar, and a Lemur {Stenops tardigradus) has fifteen 

 dorsal and* nine lumbar vertebrae. 



The vertebral column of the Gorilla, as a whole, differs 

 from that of Man in the less marked character of its 

 curves, especially in the slighter convexity of the lumbar 

 region. I^evertheless, the curves are present, and are 

 quite obvious in young skeletons of the Gorilla and Chim- 



* " More than once," says Peter Camper, " have I met with more than six 

 lumbar vertebrae in man. . . . Once I found thirteen ribs and four lum- 

 bar vertebrae." Fallopius noted thirteen pair of ribs and only four lumbar 

 vertebrae ; and Eustachius once found eleven dorsal vertebrae and six lumbar 

 vertebrae. — ' CEuvres de Pierre Camper,' T. 1, p. 42. As Tyson states, his 

 ' Pygmie ' had thirteen pair of ribs and five lumbar vertebrae. The question 

 of the curves of the spinal column in the Apes requires further investigation. 



