Chap. II. A N T I E N T M E T A P H Y S I C S. 75 



in taming him, was to make him walk upright, for which they 

 hung weights to his fhoulders, to counterad that propenfity which 

 he had to fall prone. He added this ciicumftance, that, after he was 

 civilized, had learned to fpeak, and had lived feveral years with 

 men, he ftill retained his bearifh love for honey, and inclmation to 

 rob the bees, infomuch that he would never pafs a bee-hive, 

 without feeling that inclination very flrongly. 



When to all thefe fads we join the flory of the Hanoverian 

 boy, fo well vouched, which happened in our own time, there is, al- 

 together, a chain of evidence, which for-ces the afTent, however un- 

 willing we maybe to degrade our fpecies to a quadruped. I therefoi'e 

 hold it to be a vulgar error, that walking upright is an effential quali- 

 ty of human nature, and am perfuaded that Ariftotle is in the right, 

 who has faid that, by nature, Man is only more a biped than any 

 other Animal *. And with Ariftotle agrees Tyflbn, who, by the 

 defcription he has given us of the Oran Outan he difleded, has 

 plainly fhown that he could walk more conveniently upon two, thsin 

 upon all/our. 



But, however natural it may be to Man to walk on all four, it 

 muft, I think, be allowed, that walking upright is among the firft 

 habits that men acquire. The Oran Outan of Angola, who is fo 

 little advanced in the arts of life, walks upright ; and it was moft 

 natural jhat an animal fo fagacions as he fhould learn to profit by 

 the advantage which fo great a length of body gave him over other 

 animals. It is an advantage, of which we fee even hories avail them- 

 felves, upon certain occafions. The wild men alfo, whom I have 



K 2 mentioned 



• M«A«rT<« y«g KccTx (^vt^ err/ ItTron. De Animalium incejjtiy cap. v. The meaning 

 of which certainly is, That he is by Nature better formed for walking on t-wo, and 

 has a greater aptitude for acquiring that habit. 



