478 DIFFERENCES OF HAND AND FOOT CHAP. xxiv. 



of the great toe and of the other toes are united together 

 and into an accessory fleshy bundle. 



6 The hind-limb of the Gorilla, therefore, ends in a true 

 foot with a very movable great toe. It is a prehensile foot, if 

 you will, but is in no sense a hand : it is a foot which differs 

 from that of Man in no fundamental character, but in mere 

 proportions degree of mobility and secondary arrange 

 ment of its parts. 



'It must not be supposed, however, that because I speak 

 of these differences as not fundamental, that 1 wish to under 

 rate their value. They are important enough in their way, 

 the structure of the foot being in strict correlation with that 

 of the rest of the organism ; but after all, regarded anatomi 

 cally, the resemblances between the foot of Man and the foot 

 of the Grorilla are far more striking and important than the 

 differences.' * 



After dwelling on some points of anatomical detail, highly 

 important, but for which I have not space here, the Professor 

 continues : Throughout all these modifications, it must be 

 recollected that the foot loses no one of its essential cha 

 racters. Every monkey and lemur exhibits the characteristic 

 arrangement of tarsal bones, possesses a short flexor and 

 short extensor muscle, and a peronseus longus. Varied as 

 the proportions and appearance of the organ may be, the 

 terminal division of the hind-limb remains in plan and prin 

 ciple of construction a foot, and never in the least degree 

 approaches a hand.'f For these reasons, Professor Huxley 

 rejects the term * Quadrumana,' as leading to serious mis 

 conception, and regards Man as one of the families of the 

 Primates. This method of classification he shows to be 

 equally borne out by an appeal to another character on which 

 so much reliance has always been placed in classification, 



* Professor Huxley, ibid. f Ibid. 



