II MAN AND APES: HAND AND FOOT 119 



The external form of the foot differs widely 

 from that of the hand ; and yet, when closely 

 compared, the two present some singular re- 

 semblances. Thus the ankle corresponds in a 

 manner with the wrist; the sole with the palm ; 

 the toes with the fingers ; the great toe with the 

 thumb. But the toes, or digits of the foot, are 

 far shorter in proportion than the digits of the 

 hand, and are less moveable, the want of mobility 

 being most striking in the great toe which, again, 

 is very much larger in proportion to the other 

 toes than the thumb to the fingers. In consider- 

 ing this point, however, it must not be forgotten 

 that the civilized great toe, confined and cramped 

 from childhood upwards, is seen to a great dis- 

 advantage, and that in uncivilized and barefooted 

 people it retains a great amount of mobility, and 

 even some sort of opposability. The Chinese 

 boatmen are said to be able to pull an oar ; the 

 artisans of Bengal to weave, and the Carajas to 

 steal fishhooks by its help ; though, after all, it 

 must be recollected that the structure of its joints 

 and the arrangement of its bones, necessarily 

 render its prehensile action far less perfect than 

 that of the thumb. 



But to gain a precise conception of the re- 

 semblances and differences of the hand and foot, 

 and of the distinctive characters of each, we must 

 look below the skin, and compare the bony frame- 

 work and its motor apparatus in each (Fig. 19). 



