657 



MAN. 



MAN. 



658 



10. Ethnological facts are physical or moral physical, as when we 

 determine a class from the colour of the skin ; moral, as when we 

 determine one from the purity or impurity of the habits. 



11. Moral characteristics are either philological (that is, connected 

 with the language), or non-philological (that is, not so connected). 



12. A protoplast is an organised individual, capable (either singly 

 or aa one of a pair) of propagating individuals ; itself having been 

 propagated by no such previous individual or pair. 



13. Hence, a species is a class of individuals, each of which is 

 hypothetically considered to be the descendant of the same protoplast, 

 or of the same pair of protoplasts. 



14. A variety is a class of individuals, each belonging to the 

 same species, but each differing from other individuals of the same 

 species in points wherein they agree amongst each other. 



15. A race is a class of individuals concerning which there are 

 doubta as to whether they constitute a separate species or a variety 

 of a recognised one. 



Two interesting questions arise out of the study of man's relation 

 to the lower animals, and the differences he presents in various parts 

 of the world. The first is his distinctness as a species from all the 

 lower animals ; and the second, the specific unity of all men. In 

 pointing out the structural differences between man and the lower 

 animals, we shall find tonclusive evidence of his specific distinctness 

 from the highest forms of Mammalia,. The second question has been 

 put in the following form by an eloquent writer : " Does the Bosjes- 

 mai who lives in holes and caves, and devours ants' eggs, locusts, 

 and Miakes, belong to the same species as the men who luxuriated in 

 the hangiug gardens of Babylon or walked the olive-grove of 

 Academe or sat enthroned in the imperial homes of the Caesars or 

 reposed in the marble palaces of the Adriatic or held sumptuous 

 festivals in the gay salons of Versailles ? Can the grovelling Wawa, 

 prostrate before his fetish, claim a community of origin with those 

 whose religious sentiments inspired them to pile the prodigious 

 temples of Thebes and Memphis to carve the friezes of the Parthe- 

 non or to raise the heaven-pointed arches of Cologne ? That ignorant 

 Ibo, muttering his all but inarticulate prayer is he of the same 

 ultimate ancestry as those who sang deathless strains in honour of 

 Olympian Jove or of Pallas Athene or of those who, in a purer 

 worship, are chanting their glorious hymns or solemn litanies in the 

 churches of Christendom ? That Alfouro woman, with her flattened 

 face, transverse nostrils, thick lips, wide mouth, projecting teeth, eyes 

 half-closed by the loose swollen upper eyelids, ears circular, pendulous, 

 and flapping, the hue of her skin of a smoky black, and (by way of 

 ornament !) the septum of her nose pierced with a round stick some 

 inches long is she of the same original parentage as those whose 

 transcendant and perilous beauty brought unnumbered woes on the 

 people of ancient story, convulsed kingdoms, entranced poets, and 

 made scholars and sages forget their wisdom ? Did they all spring 

 from one common mother ! Were Helen of Greece, and Cleopatra of 

 Egypt, and Joanna of Arragon, and Rosamond of England, and Mary 

 of Scotland, and the Eloises, and Lauras, and lanthes were all these, 

 and our poor Alfouro, daughters of her who was fairer than any of 

 them Eve ? The Quaigua, or Saboo, whose language is described as 

 consisting of certain snapping, hissing, grunting sounds all more or 

 lew nasal is he too of the same descent as those whose eloquent 

 voices ' fulmined over Greece,' or shook the forum of Rome or aa 

 that saint and father of the church surnamed the ' golden-mouthed ' 

 or as those whose accents have thrilled all hearts with indignation, or 

 melted them with pity and ruth, in. the time-honoured halls of 

 Westminster ?" x 



We shall find as we proceed that the evidence of relation of structure 

 is so strong, and of descent from a common pair so evident, that we 

 cannot but answer this question in the affirmative. 



We shall first speak of the bony or osseous structure of man, refer- 

 ring the reader to the articles CHIMPANZEE, LOCOMOTION IN ANIMALS, 

 and SKELETON, for illustrations of the various points of structure 

 spoken of, and also for comparison with the lower animals. 



In every part of the human frame we find adaptations to the erect 

 attitude, the most peculiar characteristic of mankind. Examining the 

 skeleton, we find that the two condyles, or articulating surfaces of the 

 occiput, by which the skull is connected with the spine, are so placed 

 on each side, that a vertical line passing through the centre of gravity 

 of the head would fall almost exactly between them and on the top 

 of the spine. The condyles are not placed at the very centre of the 

 bate of the skull, but just behind it, so as to compensate in some 

 measure for the greater specific gravity of the posterior part of the 

 head, which is composed chiefly of thick heavy bone and brain, while 

 the anterior is formed in part by the light bones of the face, and 

 contains numerous cavities. Still however there is a slight preponder- 

 ance in front of the condyles, which, when the head is not held up by 

 some external force, tends to carry it forwards and downwards, as we 

 may see in persons falling asleep in the erect posture. But the muscles 

 attached to the back of the head are far larger and more numerous, 

 as weli as more conveniently arranged for the full exercise of their 

 power, than those in front of the coudyles ; and the effort required of 

 them to hold up the head is so slight, that it may be made throughout 

 the day without producing fatigue. 



HAT. BUT. DIT. VOL. III. 



The surfaces of these coudyles moreover have a horizontal direction 

 (when the head is held upright), and thus the weight of the skull falls 

 vertically upon them and the top of the vertebral column. Comparing 

 with these arrangements the position and direction of the occipital 

 coudyles in other Mammalia, we find that in the latter they are placed 

 much nearer the back of the head, and that their plane is more oblique. 

 Thus, if a line be drawn in the median plane along the base of a 

 human skull, the foramen magnum and occipital condyles will be found 

 immediately behind the point at which that line is bisected ; while in 

 the chimpanzee (in which also the coudyles are proportionally smaller) 

 the same parts are placed in the middle of the posterior third of a line 

 similarly drawn, and in other animals are still farther back. Hence 

 there is in all animals a greater proportion of the weight of the head 

 in front of the vertebral column than there is in man ; and all the 

 parts anterior to the condyles are proportionally shorter in man than 

 in other Mammalia, in which the jaws, the bony palate, the basilar 

 part of the occipital bone, and the petrous portions of the temporal, 

 are always long and large. 



Besides being placed so far behind the centre of gravity of the head, 

 the condyles of other Mammalia, are directed more obliquely down- 

 wards than those of man ; so that, if the head were supported on the 

 top of a vertical column, its weight (even if it fell entirely upon the 

 condyles) would press on an inclined plane, and constantly tend to 

 carry the head forwards and downwards. The degree of obliquity in 

 the direction of the coudyles varies in different animals. It may be 

 nearly estimated by the angle formed by two lines, one of which is 

 drawn in the plane of the occipital foramen, and the other from its 

 posterior edge to the lower margin of the orbit. This angle is of 3" 

 in man, and of 37 in the orang-outan ; but in the horse it is 90, the 

 plane of the foramen being vertical. If therefore the natural posture 

 of man were horizontal, he would in this respect be circumstanced 

 like the horse, for the plane of his condyles, which is nearly horizontal 

 in the upright position, would then be vertical ; the head, instead of 

 being nearly balanced on the top of the column, would hang at the 

 end of the neck, and its whole weight would have to be suppported 

 by some external and constantly-acting power. But for this there is 

 neither in the skeleton nor in the muscular system of man any ade- 

 quate provision. In other Mammalia the head is maintained in such 

 a position by a strong and thick ligament (ligamentum nuchie), which 

 passes from the spines of the cervical and dorsal vertebrae to the most 

 prominent part of the occiput, but of which in man there is little or 

 no trace. In the horizontal position therefore he would have the 

 heaviest head, with the least power of supporting it. 



The position of the face immediately beneath the brain, so that its 

 front is nearly in the same plane as the forehead, is peculiarly charac- 

 teristic of man ; for the crania of the chimpanzee and orang, which 

 approach nearest to that of man, are altogether posterior to and not 

 above the face. This form, at the same time that it remarkably 

 distinguishes the human from the brute features, is exactly adapted 

 to the erect attitude. In that posture the plane of the orbits is nearly 

 horizontal ; the cavities of the nose are in the best direction for 

 inhaling odours, proceeding from before or from below them ; the 

 jaws do not project in front of the forehead and chin. But suppose 

 the posture changed, as painful an effort would be required to examine 

 an object in front of the body as is now necessary to keep the eyes 

 fixed on the zenith, and the heavens would be almost hidden from our 

 view; the nose would be uimUu to perceive any other odours than 

 those which proceeded from the earth or from the body itself; and 

 the teeth and lips would be almost useless, for they would scarcely 

 touch an object on the ground before the forehead and chin were in 

 contact with it ; while the view of that which they attempted to seize 

 would be obscured by the nose and cheeks. 



The vertebral column in man, though not absolutely straight, yet 

 has its curves so arranged, that when the body is in the erect posture, 

 a vertical line drawn from its summit would fall exactly on the centre 

 of its base. It increases in size in the lumbar region, and is therefore 

 somewhat pyramidal in form. The lumbar portion of the human 

 vertebral column is also of considerable length, and is composed of 

 five vertebra ; while in the chimpanzee and orang there are but four. 

 The processes for the attachment of muscles upon it are long and 

 strong; an arrangement well adapted to overcome the tendency which 

 the weight of the viscera in front of the column has to draw it 

 forwards and downwards. Thus the spiuous processes of the cervical 

 and dorsal vertebrae, which are in other Mammalia, large and strong 

 for the attachment of the ligameutum uucha) to support the head, are 

 in man scarcely prominent, and his head is nearly balanced on the 

 vertebral column ; while those of the lumbar vertebrae, by which the 

 weight of the thoracic and abdominal viscera is partly supported, are 

 proportionally much larger in man than in other Mammalia. 



The base of the human vertebral column is placed on a sacrum of 

 greater proportional breadth than that of any other animal, and 

 remarkably arched forwards. The sacrum is again fixed between two 

 widely-expanded haunch-bones, forming the lateral walls of a pecu- 

 liarly broad pelvis. By its great width the pelvis forms an ample 

 cavity for the support and defence of many of the viscera, and espe- 

 cially of the pregnant uterus : by the distant separation of the haunches 

 and thighs the basis of support is rendered wider, and by its oblique 

 direction the weight of the body is transmitted more directly from 



2 u 



