88 MAN AND APES. 



The dispute as to whether the latter term is 

 or is not applicable to the apes seems rather a 

 dispute about words than about material 

 objects. 



If we accept, with Professor Owen, as the 

 definition of the word " foot," " an extremity in 

 which the hallux forms the fulcrum in standing 

 or walking" then man alone has a pair of 

 feet. But, anatomically, the foot of apes 

 agrees far more with the foot of man than with 

 his hand, and similarly the ape's hand re- 

 sembles man's hand and differs from his foot. 

 Even estimated physiologically, or according 

 to use, the hand throughout the whole order 

 remains the prehensile organ par excellence, 

 while the predominant function of the foot, 

 however prehensile it be, is constantly locomo- 

 tive. Therefore the term Quadrumana is apt 

 to be misleading, since anatomically as well as 

 physiologically both apes and man have two 

 liands and a pair of feet.* 



The thumb, in anatomy the pollex, shows 

 * See 'Phil. Trans.' 1867, p. 362. 



