8o Darwin, and after Darwin. 



" The great toe is shorter than the others ; and, instead 

 of being parallel to them, is projected at an angle from 

 the side of the foot, thus corresponding with the per- 

 manent condition of this part in the Quadrumana^." 

 So that this organ, which, according to Owen, "is 

 perhaps the most characteristic peculiarity in the 

 human structure," when traced back to the early 

 stages of its development, is found to present a 

 notably less degree of peculiarity. 



(4) Hands. — Dr. Louis Robinson has recently 

 observed that the grasping power of the whole human 

 hand is so surprisingly great at birth, and during the 

 first few weeks of infancy, as to be far in excess of 

 present requirements on the part of a young child. 

 Hence he concludes that it refers us to our quadru- 

 manous ancestry — the young of anthropoid apes being 

 endowed with similar powers of grasping, in order to 

 hold on to the hair of the mother when she is using 

 her arms for the purposes of locomotion. This in- 

 ference appears to me justifiable, inasmuch as no 

 other explanation can be given of the comparatively 

 inordinate muscular force of an infant's grip. For 

 experiments showed that very young babies are able 

 to support their own weight, by holding on to a 

 horizontal bar, for a period varying from one half to 

 more than two minutes^. With his kind permission 

 I here reproduce one of Dr. Robinson's instantaneous, 

 and hitherto unpublished, photographs of a very young 

 infant. This photograph was taken after the above 

 paragraph (3) was written, and I introduce it here 

 because it serves to show incidentally — and perhaps 



' Proc. Nat. Hist. Soc, Boston, 1863. 

 • Nituteenth Century, November, 1891. 



