382 



ETHNOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY. 



Distinctions holding between Man and the 

 Anthropoid Apes. The assumed anatomical 

 distinctions so long insisted on by Prof. Owen 

 as observable on a comparison of the brains of 

 man and of the ape-tribes namely, the assert- 

 ed presence in the former, but not in the lat- 

 ter, of a " posterior lobe covering the cerebel- 

 lum," a " posterior cornu of the lateral ven- 

 tricle," and in that cornu a "hippocampus 

 minor" having been, by Prof. Huxley and 

 others, shown to be entirely mistaken and un- 

 tenable, anthropologists have been led to note 

 whether other distinctions, and perhaps even 

 more radical ones, may not be found in the 

 anatomical or other characters of the two 

 classes of beings. 



Prof. Kolleston some time since cited M. 

 Gratiolet as having arrived at four radical cer- 

 ebral distinctions, two quantitative, and two 

 morphological. These are: 1, In absolute 

 weight of the two classes of brains ; 2, In the 

 great height peculiar to the human brain ; 3, 

 In relative multifidity of the frontal lobes, 

 " popularly, and as this analogy shows, correct- 

 ly, taken as a fair exponent of man's intelli- 

 gence ;" 4, In the absence of the external 

 perpendicular fissure. 



M. Gratiolet has recently been able to detect 

 in certain embryological and pathological char- 

 acteristics of the brain, a yet more decisive dis- 

 tinction. He first remarks that, man is man 

 by virtue of his intelligence ; and that he is 

 intelligent by his brain ; it is by his brain, 

 therefore, that he should differ from the apes. 

 Now, there is noticeable, first, a great differ- 

 ence in mass of brain in the two orders of be- 

 ings; and secondly, an unequal richness (in 

 adults) in secondary convolutions. But the 

 more decisive distinction just referred to is 

 this : that in the two the order in which the 

 convolutions are developed is absolutely dif- 

 ferent. Those convolutions which in the 

 brain of the human embryo appear first, are in 

 that of the ape formed last. The consequence 

 is, that when arrest of development takes place 

 in the brain of a child, the organ does not 

 therefore approximate, but actually differs more 

 and more from, the brain of the apes. This 

 arrest of development constituting micro- 

 cephaly is always attended with more or less 

 complete idiocy. 



Now, the brain of microcephali is poor in con- 

 volutions; and these, not being closely pressed 

 together, leave isolated their impressions upon 

 the internal surface of the bones of the crani- 

 um. Led by this discovery, M. Gratiolet 

 sought for analogous facts in the crania ofc the 

 inferior [human] races ; and he had succeeded 

 in finding the same mark of low development 

 in a Totonaque skull, and since then in some 

 negro skulls. 



The attempt to found a distinction between 

 man and the lower orders of beings upon the 

 possession by the former alone of the religious 

 feeling and of the idea of a Supreme Being, 

 appears scarcely to be sustained; and that 



from the apparent fact of absence of such feel- 

 ing and idea among certain of the least intelli- 

 gent varieties of mankind. Thus, as already 

 mentioned, Dr. Mouatt denies that the Anda- 

 maners have any notions of religion ; and a 

 like fact has been declared of the Veddahs of 

 Ceylon. African travellers agree that many 

 of the tribes, both eastern and western, have 

 no knowledge of a God, or hope of a future 

 state. Mr. Bates, who was for many years ac- 

 quainted with the Indian tribes of portions of 

 this continent, declares that those of the Up- 

 per Amazon have no idea of a Supreme Being, 

 and no word to express such idea. [It is not 

 denied, however, that even the lowest men 

 have a capacity of comprehending something 

 of a Supreme Being, and of the feeling of wor- 

 ship toward Him, when knowledge upon these 

 subjects is communicated to them ; nor is it 

 claimed that any brute whatever has such 

 capacity, or can be imbued with such idea and 

 feeling. Thus, in the presence or absence of 

 the capacity for worship and adoration there 

 appears still to exist a real distinction.] Au- 

 other writer remarks that among North Amer- 

 ican tribes, the Algonquins had no word ex- 

 pressing "to love " a fact which, in his opin- 

 ion, perhaps more than any other, would serve 

 to show the depth of degradation to which 

 man may descend. 



Mr. Crawfurd, in a paper from which quota- 

 tions have already been made, replies also to 

 Mr. Huxley's views as to the affinity of man 

 and the ape tribes. He asks what is the gain 

 of showing man's and the ape's brains alike, 

 when their working is so different? less, in 

 his opinion, a matter of degree than of absolute 

 quality. He regards the dog and the elephant, 

 with very different brains, as being quite as 

 sagacious as the most anthropoid ape, if not 

 more so. Again, the brains of the wolf and 

 the dog he declares alike, but not their sense ; 

 and so, in like manner, of the sheep and goat. 

 The dentition and digestive organs of man and 

 the apes are singularly alike ; yet man is om- 

 nivorous ; the monkey, by choice, frugivorous. 

 True, monkeys are not, in the proper sensi 

 of the word, quadrumanous; their feet aro 

 true feet, though prehensile ; while their hands 

 are also true hands, and in them, more nearly 

 than in the brain, they approach man. But, 

 with their seemingly dextrous hands, they can 

 neither fashion nor use implement or weapon ; 

 their brain, anatomically like, but physiologi- 

 cally unlike, forbids. [Mr. Huxley has very 

 recently stated that none of the apes can mak$ 

 up the hand into a proper " fist," so that when 

 they mean mischief they must use their teeth ; 

 consequently, he would add pugilism to the 

 list of exclusively "human characteristics.' 

 Among such characteristics, that of perfect 

 syndactyly, the physiological ones of true 

 laughter and crying, and the psychological one 

 of the impulse and capacity of bargaining, had 

 been previously noted.] 



Mr. Crawfurd proceeds to state other din- 



