HOMO. MAMMALIA. 35 



quadrupeds, like a girth, holds the body suspended between the 

 shoulders, is smaller in man than among them. The head of man is 

 also heavier, and its means of support weaker ; for there is neither 

 a cervical ligament, nor such an arrangement of vertebrae as would 

 prevent its bending forward. The arteries, besides, which supply 

 the human brain not being subdivided, as in most quadrupeds, the 

 blood necessary for an organ of such volume would be poured in 

 too copiously and rapidly, if he should affect the horizontal posi- 

 tion. In short, Man is the only biped and bimanous animal ; and 

 his locomotive organs being placed at one extremity, leaves that 

 admirable instrument, the hand, free for the execution of purposes 

 which distinguish him from every other animated being. This 

 instrument, which derives so many advantages from being at liber- 

 ty, possesses as many more from the wonderful mechanism of its 

 structure. The thumb, longer in proportion than that of apes, af- 

 fords greater facility for seizing and holding small objects ; all the 

 fingers have separate movements ; and the nails being placed at one 

 side of the extremity, form a support for the organ of touch with- 

 out injuring its delicacy. The arms to which those hands are af- 

 fixed possess a strong point of attachment in the large scapula, the 

 powerful clavicle, and the general arrangement of their articulation. 



According to Cuvier, no quadruped is comparable to man for the 

 magnitude of the hemispheres of the brain in proportion to that of the 

 face. The form of the cranium announces this magnitude of brain, 

 while the comparative smallness of the face displays how little that 

 part of the nervous system which influences the external senses is 

 predominant in the human species. Though the external senses of 

 man are less energetic than in some other animals, they are, how- 

 ever, extremely delicate, and admirably balanced amongst them- 

 selves. His eyes are directed forwards, and thus, though he does 

 not see on both sides at once like most quadrupeds, there is a great- 

 er unity in the result of the visual operation. Though his ear pos- 

 sesses but little mobility or extent, yet of all animals he can best 

 distinguish -the various degrees of intonation. His nostrils, though 

 more complicated than those of apes, are less so than those of other 

 animals, yet man appears to be the only creature whose sense of 

 smell is sufficiently delicate to be affected by unpleasant odours. 

 Lastly, The perfection of his touch results both from the delicacy of 

 his external integuments, the absence of all insensible parts, and 

 the form of his hand, so admirably constructed to adapt itself to 

 the slightest inequalities of surface. 



As man, when compared with other animals, displays a striking 

 difference in the relative proportions of the cranium and face, a theo- 

 ry has been formed from these proportions to account for intellectu- 

 al differences j and it has been remarked, that, among the brute crea- 

 tion, those animals which approach to man in these proportions also 

 combine the largest portion of intelligence and docility. Thus an 

 oblique line drawn from the greatest projection of the forehead to 

 that of the upper maxillary bone, and a horizontal line drawn 



