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REPORT ON THE RECENT PROGRESS OF ZOOLOGY, 

 By JAMES EANKIN, Esq., Bbyngwyn. 



Gentlemen of the Woolhope Club, I have been requested to bring before 

 your notice some of the more recent observations in the sciences of Com- 

 parative Anatomy and Zoology. As my time is limited to fifteen minutes, it 

 is quite impossible for me to do more than mention some of the many 

 interesting topics connected with these subjects, and to prevent my paper 

 becoming a mere catalogue of scientific facts and theories, I propose to devote 

 ten minutes to the consideration of a subject which has of late been brought 

 somewhat prominently before the Zoological world, and the remaining five 

 minutes to the brief notice of two or three other interesting subjects. 



The subject I refer to above is 

 THE STRUCTURAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE HIGHER APES 

 AND MAN. 



In discussing this subject I propose to trace the leading resemblances 

 and ditt'erences between man and the gorilla and chimpanzee, from the skull 

 down to the feet, and then briefly notice the conclusions arrived at on the 

 subject by some of the most eminent anatomists. 



Skdll. — On comparing the skulls of man and of the gorilla, the first 

 thing which strikes one, is the expansion of brain-case in man and the 

 prognathism in the gorilla. The ridges of skull are largely developed in the 

 gorilla and almost absent on the skull of man. This is a point, however, of 

 which too much should not be made, as the skulls of some of the lower 

 monkeys are almost as smooth as the skull of man. 



Bkain. — The capacity of the brain-case is, however, a point of essential 

 difference, and the brains of man and the gorilla (although structurally similar, 

 that is to say, having the same parts) are very dissimilar in weight, for the 

 brain of an adult gorilla is not half as heavy as the brain of a child of four 

 years old. When the weight of the body of a gorilla is taken into considera- 

 tion, being nearly twice that of an average woman, this difference of weight 

 s significan*-, as it shows that, in proportion to the weight of its body, the 

 brain of the gorilla is only quarter of the size of the human brain; or, in 

 other words, if the gorilla and man weighed the same, the brain of the gorilla 

 would be only a quarter of the weight of the brain of man. 



Teeth. — Another point of dissimilarity is found in the teeth : these in 

 man are all evep and set close together, an arrangement which exists in no 

 other mammal except the extinct anoplotherium. The canine or eyetooth of 

 the gorilla is largely developed, and there is a break or gap in the series in 

 both jaws ; in the upper, between the outer incisor and the canine — in the 

 lower, between the canine and the first molar. This development of the canine 

 teeth is found in all the apes, and points very clearly to their bestial relations. 



