n THE PREHENSILE FOOT 125 



found to be arranged essentially as in man, or 

 with such minor differences as are found as 

 varieties in man. The Gorilla's hand is clumsier, 

 heavier, and has a thumb somewhat shorter in 

 proportion than that of man ; but no one has ever 

 doubted it being a true hand. 



At first sight, the termination of the hind limb 

 of the Gorilla looks very hand-like, and as it is 

 still more so in many of the lower apes, it is not 

 wonderful that the appellation " Quadrumana," or 

 four-handed creatures, adopted from the older 

 anatomists l by Blumenbach, and unfortunately 

 rendered current by Cuvier, should have gained 

 such wide acceptance as a name for the Simian 

 group. But the most cursory anatomical investi- 

 gation at once proves that the resemblance of the 

 so-called " hind hand " to a true hand, is only 

 skin deep, and that, in all essential respects, the 

 hind limb of the Gorilla is as truly terminated 



1 In speaking of the foot of his ' ' Pygmie, " Tyson remarks, 

 p. 13: 



"But this part in the formation and in its function too, 

 being liker a Hand than a Foot : for the distinguishing this 

 sort of animals from others, I have thought whether it might 

 not be reckoned and called rather Quadru-manus than Quad- 

 rupes, i.e. a four-handed rather than a four-footed animal." 



As this passage was published in 1699, M. I. G. St. Hilaireis 

 clearly in error in ascribing the invention of the term " quad- 

 rumanous" to Buff on, though "birnanous" may belong to him. 

 Tyson uses " Quadrumanus " in several places, as at p. 91. . . . 

 " Our Pygmie is no Man, nor yet the common Ape, but a sort 

 of Animal between both ; and though a Biped, yet of the 

 Qvadrumanw-ttnd, : though some Men too have been observed 

 to use their Feet like Hands as I have seen several." 



