II 



APES: HAND AND FOOT 127 



thrown wholly on the leg and foot, is an advance 

 in organization of very great moment to him ; but, 7 

 after all, regarded anatomically, the resemblances 

 between the foot of Man and the foot of the 

 Gorilla are far more striking and important than 

 the differences. 



I have dwelt upon this point at length, because 

 it is one regarding which much delusion prevails ; 

 but I might have passed it over without detriment 

 to my argument, which only requires me to show 

 that, be the differences between the hand and foot 

 of Man and those of the Gorilla what they may the 

 differences between those of the Gorilla, and those 

 of the lower Apes are much greater. 



It is not necessary to descend lower in the scale 

 than the Orang for conclusive evidence on this 

 head. 



The thumb of the Orang differs more from that 

 of the Gorilla than the thumb of the Gorilla differs 

 from that of Man, not only by its shortness, but 

 by the absence of any special long flexor muscle. 

 The carpus of the Orang, like that of most lower 

 apes, contains nine bones, while in the Gorilla, as 

 in Man and the Chimpanzee, there are only 

 eight. 



The Orang's foot (Fig. 20) is still more aber- 

 rant ; its very long toes and short tarsus, short 

 great toe, short and raised heel, great obliquity of 

 articulation with the leg, and absence of a long 

 flexor tendon to the great toe, separating it far 



