44 THE ERADSHAW LECTURE 



ADDENDUM. 



THE RESULTS OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE ERECT 

 POSITION. 



The necessity of curtailing much that I had 

 intended to allude to in order to bring the material 

 within the limits of the allotted hour, prevented 

 me from dwelling on those changes dependent on 

 evolution and the assumption by man of the erect 

 position which have long been a favourite study. 

 I referred to the alterations that have taken place, 

 and are still going on, in the human foot, merely 

 to show that Lamarckism, which recognises the 



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effects of prolonged use or disuse through many 

 generations, offers yet the best explanation 

 of such gradual changes; for it could scarcely 

 be contended that natural selection and the 

 survival of the fittest would alone or together 

 account for these alterations in structure. The 

 quadruminuous hind-hand when placed on its 

 palmar surface for walking would find the ab- 

 ducted thumb (adducted in this position) too near 

 the line of body gravity for safety against over- 

 weight and consequent dislocation. It there- 

 fore approached the forefinger for support, audits 

 enormous metacarpal (becoming metatarsal) bone, 

 in its growth, pushed up the web to the level of 



