18 THE GORILLA. 
The outline of the Gorilla’s face is most brutal in character, and entirely destroys the 
slight resemblance to the human countenance, which the full form exhibits. As in the 
Chimpansee .an ape which is placed in the same genus with the Gorilla, the colour of 
the hair is nearly black; but in some lights, and during the life of the animal, it assumes 
a lighter tinge of greyish brown, on account of the admixture of variously coloured 
hairs. On the top of the head, and the side of the cheeks, it assumes a grizzly hue. The 
length of the hair is not very great, considering the size of the animal, and is not more 
than two or three inches in Jer ngth. On the arms it is arranged in a rather curious 
manner, the hair from the shoulder to the elbow points downwards, while that from the 
elbow to the fingers points upwards, so that the two sets of hairs meet at the elbow, 
and make a pendent tuft. A similar structure is found in other large apes, but the 
object of so curious a disposition is not yet known. One reason for this arrangement of 
the hair, may be that if their long hairs were to hang along the arm and wrist, they 
would get into the hand, and interfere with the grasp, while by their reverted growth 
such an Y embarrassment: is removed The colour of the eye is dark brown, glowing with a 
baleful emerald light, when the fierce passions are roused. 
It will be seen, on referring to the two engravings, which represent the skeleton of 
this animal, and the living creature itself, that the paws of the four extremities are not 
precisely alike in their development. On the two fore-paws, the fingers are enormous, 
the thumbs being comparatively trifling in dimensions ; while the corresponding members 
of the hinder paws are just reversed in their size. The figure of the Gorilla, on p. 15, 
marks these peculiarities with great fidelity, and in the eciign of the creature shows the 
reason for the extraordinary and gigantic thumbs of the hinder limbs. 
As to the size of a Hie Gorilla, accounts vary much. The specimen which is 
best known in England is five feet six inches high, when placed erect. From shoulder to 
shoulder it measures nearly three feet, while the body is only two feet four inches, 
measured from the hip-joint. It is possible, however, that there may be much larger 
individuals. Independent, however, of the impression made on the minds of the 
spectators by the sight of an infuriated animal, it is a fact that the feeling of anger does 
dilate the form, whether of man or beast. And as one effect of anger 1s to cause the hair 
to bristle up (as indeed is seen familiarly in dogs, cats, and other animals), the ape while 
under the influence of that fiery rage to whic h these animals are so subject, would in 
reality present a larger outline than ‘if it were calmly engaged in its usual pursuits. Six, 
or even seven feet of height, have been attributed to these creatures, But it must be 
remembered that a wild, fierce animal always looks very much larger when living and 
in motion, than when lying dead and still on the ground, or even “set up” in a museum, 
with glass eyes, and straw-distended skin. Elephants of sixteen feet high, have shrunk 
to eleven and ten feet under the application of the measuring rod, and ‘it is proverbial 
among anglers, that the fish which they do not catch, are finer and heavier than those 
which they can subject to scales and foot-measure. So it is likely enough, that a wild and 
savage Gorilla, with his fury-flashing eyes, his fierce gestures, and enormous arms, would 
impress the mind of his opponent with an idea of a very much larger animal. It is not 
only upon Gadshill that two men in buckram multiply unto eleven. 
But granting that the Gorilla does not attain to any much greater height than five 
feet, even then it is an animal much to be dreaded as an enemy, and capable of doing 
vast mischief, if so inclined. But it is a most merciful provision, and one that seems to 
be universal among creatures of such a stamp, that in proportion as their bodily powers 
increase, their mental powers degenerate. The larger apes are, in their period of childhood, 
so to speak, teachable and tolerably docile ; while when they attain to years of maturity, 
the animal attributes assume strength, gradually gain dominion over the mental, until at 
last the reasoning capacities seem to degenerate into a mere contracted cunning. 
It seems that this degeneration is intended to prevent the animal from passing beyond 
the bounds to which it is confined, and by the very laws of its being to prevent it from 
using its vast strength for bad purposes. The ape evidently does not “know his strength, 
nor how terrible an enemy he could be, if he only knew how to use the singular power 
and activity which he possesses. These huge apes seem to live apart from ‘each other, 
