CHAPTER I. 



OF THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OP MAN. 



1. BY Cuvier and nearly all modern Zoologists, the various races of Mankind 

 are included under one genus, Homo; and this genus takes rank, in the classi- 

 fication of Mammalia, as a distinct order, BIMANA, of which it is the sole 

 representative. Of all the characters which distinguish Man from the inferior 

 Mammalia, the possession of two hands is doubtless the most easily recognized, 

 and at the same time, the most intimately related to the general organization of 

 the body; and there is none, therefore, which could be more appropriately 

 selected as the basis of a distinctive designation of this order. At first sight, it 

 might be considered that the possession of only two hands, whilst Apes and 

 Monkeys and their allies are designated as possessing four, is a character of in- 

 feriority; but such is not really the case; for none of these four hands are 

 adapted to the variety of actions of which those of man are capable, and they 

 are all in some degree required for support; so that whilst in the higher forms 

 of the Quadrumanous order, the extremities present a certain approximation in 

 structure to those of Man, in the lower they gradually assimilate to the ordi- 

 nary quadrupedal type. "That," says Cuvier, "which constitutes the handy 

 properly so called, is the faculty of opposing the thumb to the other fingers, so 

 as to seize upon the most minute objects; a faculty which is carried to its highest 

 degree of perfection in Man, in whom the whole anterior extremity is free, and 

 can be employed in prehension." The peculiar prehensile power possessed by 

 Man is chiefly dependent upon the size and power of the thumb; which is more 

 developed in Man, than it is in the highest apes. The thumb of the human 

 hand can be brought into exact opposition to the extremities of all the fingers, 

 whether singly or in combination; whilst in those Quadrumaiia which most 

 nearly approach Man, the thumb is so short, and the fingers so much elongated, 

 that their tips can scarcely be brought into opposition; and the thumb and 

 fingers are so weak, that they can never be opposed to each other with any de- 

 gree of force. Hence, although admirably adapted for clinging round bodies 

 of a certain size, such as the small branches of trees, &c., the extremities of the 

 Qua'drumana can neither seize very minute objects with such precision, nor sup- 

 port large ones with such firmness, as are essential to the dexterous performance 

 of a variety of operations, for which the hand of Man is admirably adapted. 

 There is much truth, then, in Sir C. Bell's remark, that "we ought to define 

 the hand as belonging exclusively to man." There is in him, what we observe 

 in none of the Mammalia which approach him in other respects, a complete dis- 

 tinction in the functional character of the anterior and posterior extremities; 

 the former being adapted for prehension alone, and the latter for support and 

 progression alone ; and thus each function is performed in a much higher degree 

 of perfection, than it can be when two such opposite purposes have to be united. 

 For not only is the hand of Man a much more perfect prehensile instrument 

 than that of the Orang or Chimpanzee, but his foot is a much more perfect 

 organ of support and progression than theirs, being adapted to maintain his 

 body in an erect position, alike during rest and whilst in motion an attitude 

 which even the most anthropoid apes can only sustain for a short time, and with 



