118 SPECIES NOT 



MERGING MORE OR LESS GRADUALLY THE ONE 1XTO 

 THE OTHER." 



Professor Owen admits that the skeleton is, to a 

 certain extent, modificable hy the action of mus- 

 cles, as is seen in the growth of the skull in young 

 carnivora, or the sternum of the young bird. 

 But he remarks, "The prominent superorbital 

 ridge of the Gorilla is not the consequence or 

 concomitant of muscular development, as there 

 are no muscles attached to it" u lt is charac- 

 ter istic of the genus Tn>>ti tub/fes from the time 

 of birth to extreme old age." The equable length 

 of the human teeth, the absence of any bivak 

 in the series, and any sexual development of 

 particular teeth, he regards as primitive <m<l 

 unalterable specific peculiarities of man. "The 

 crown of the great canine tooth of the male T. 

 Gorilla began to be calcified when its diet //v.v 

 precisely the same as the female, when both sexes 

 derived their sustenance from the mother's milk." 

 u The whole crown of the great canine is in fact 

 calcified before it cuts the gum, or displaces its 

 small deciduous predecessor; the weapon is pre- 

 pared prior to the development of the forces by 

 which it is wielded; it is therefore a structure 

 fore-ordained, a pre-determined character of the 

 great ape, by which that creature is made phy- 

 sically superior to man; and one can as little 

 conceive the development of the canine tooth to 

 be a result of external stimulus, or as being 

 influenced by the muscular actions as the devel- 

 opment of the stomach, or of any internal gland." 



