MAN'S PLACE IN NATIIJE 



401 



characteristic of early cliiklliood, is a simian trait. According 

 to Jeffreys Wyman, when the foetus is about an inch in Icnptli, 

 "the great toe is shorter than the otliers, and instead of Ix-in^ 

 parallel to them, is projected at an an^lc from the side of tlic 

 foot, thus corresponding with the j)erman('nt condition rjf thi^ 

 part in the Quadruniana/' 



The great grasping jjowcr of young l)ahios is well known, 

 and this is hkewise a simian trait. 

 Dr. Louis Robinson has shown that 

 very young babies will su})port tlieii- 

 own weiglit, by holding to a hori- 

 zontal bar for a j^eriod of half a 

 minute to two minutes. In all cases 

 "the thighs are bent nearly at riglit 

 angles to the body and in no cas(^ 

 did the lower limbs hang down and 

 take the attitude of the erect j^osi- 

 tion'' (Fig. 291). 



The study of embryonic develoj)- 

 ment shows also that the tail in 

 man and ape alike is at a certain 

 stage of development longer than the 

 legs, as in the monkeys and otlier 

 lower mammals. In this stage, ac- 

 cording to Romanes, "the tail ad- 

 mits of being moved by nuiscles 

 which later on dwincUe away." 

 Sometimes, however, these muscles 

 persist througli life. 



The vermiform appendix is like- 

 wise more developed in tlie human 



embryo than in the adult, a fact wliicli holds in regard to 

 vestigial structures generally. As already statcMl in Chapter 

 XX (discussion of vestigial structures), Wiedersheini hiis re- 

 corded in man ISO structural remini.scences of l»is di»:»rent fnuii 

 the lower animals. All the facts of tliis chiss i><)int to a coinnum 

 origin of man and apes, and an earlier community of origin 

 with other mammals and with other vertebrates, the most 

 primitive traits allving all of them witli the fi.shes. 



Paleontolou^v has comparatively little to «>frer. but that httic 

 is decisive. Tlie life habits of men and rnonkev^ nm sin-tdnrlv 



ii(j. -'Ul. — An 

 iniititlis ol«i ~ 

 weinht for t»Vfi 

 the attiludr of the 

 linibii in utrnriRrly 

 (From )'. • ■''■ 



iiiiant tlirra 



luwrr 



