l899 S. S. BUCKMAN— HUMAN BABIES IQI 



those fitted for the bipedal condition must be cultivated 

 afresh. 



So the ability of toe-movement does not make any 

 progress — it rather retrogrades : it does so particularly in 

 civilized children ; but the ability of separate finger move- 

 ment gradually increases, to finally become more perfect 

 than that of the toes. The pointing with the finger, 

 shown in fig. 7, is quite beyond the ability of the child at 

 the age when fig. 6 was taken. 



The baby's ability to move the toes,* and the flexibility 

 of its ankles, point to an arboreal ancestor who used the 

 hind limbs as the principal tactual instruments ; and the 

 flexibility of the ankles was necessary to a tree-cUmbing 

 animal in order to make the soles opposable for the pur- 

 pose of grasping limbs of trees. 



d. Incipient Bipedalisvi 



An attitude which babies are fond of assuming is that 

 of sitting on the hocks, shown in fig. 8. It is significant 

 of the transition stage from the quadrupedal to the bipedal 

 attitude. It does not require the same amount of exertion 

 as the poising of the body erect on the two hind limbs, 

 and yet it leaves the fore-limbs free for any manipulative 

 processes. 



The same attitude is often adopted by quadrupeds. It 

 may be noticed in the dog and cat when " begging," in the 

 cat when performing her toilet, in the rabbit when listen- 

 ing, in the mouse on many occasions. It is the attitude 

 which has been cultivated by the kangaroo, until it has 



* The abilit)' of toe movement has not been lost among savages. " Among these 

 people [Kaffirs] the foot assumes its proper form and dimensions. The toes are not pinched 

 together by shoes or boots, and reduced to the helpless state too common in this country. 

 The foot is like that of an ancient statue, wide and full across the toes, each of which has 

 its separate function just as have the fingers of the hand, and each of which is equally 

 capable of performing that function " (J. G. Wood, " Natural History of Man " Vol. I, p. 15.) 



