MAX. 663 



large but not opposable. There are seventeen dorso-lumbar vertebrae and 

 twelve pairs of ribs. The canine teeth scarcely project in either sex ; there 

 is no diastema ; and, as in Simla, the posterior molar is smaller than the 

 others. The males usually have a beard. The legs are relatively longer 

 than in the other genera. The hairy covering is much reduced, especially 

 on the back. There are no vocal sacs. The brain is at least twice the size 

 of the brain of Simia and Anthropopithecus and rather less than twice the 

 size of Gorilla, but the convolutions though more complex are very similar. 

 They walk erect on the soles of the feet, 



The skull is without the sagittal and occipital crests and the supraorbital 

 ridges are less strongly developed than in other Anthropomorphidae. The 

 frontal development and the preponderance of the cranial over the facial 

 part of the skull is more marked than in any other genus of the family, 

 or indeed in any other Old-World Primate, but curiously enough some 

 of the new-world forms, e.g. Chrysothrix, approach Homo in these points. 

 The early disappearance of the suture between the maxilla and premaxilla, 

 the projection of the nasal bones, the slight projection of the canines and 

 the absence of a diastema in the tooth series are also distinctive human 

 features. The foramen magnum looks almost directly downwards. The 

 symphysis of the lower jaw has a mental prominence, an indication of which 

 is seen also in Hylobates. They are omnivorous gregarious animals, being 

 chiefly distinguished from the other genera of the family by the feebleness 

 of the hairy covering, the non-opposable hallux and completely erect 

 attitude, and by their larger brain. The latter feature is associated with 

 the greater mental development, which is the especial characteristic of the 

 genus. This shows itself in their speech, their more effective powers of 

 reasoning, and in the intellectual qualities of sympathy and imagination, 

 in virtue of which they have at last been able to dominate all other animals, 

 to accommodate themselves to every climate, and to spread to every quarter 

 of the globe. 



Living men, though forming one species, fall into a considerable number 

 of varieties or races. These pass imperceptibly into one another and it is 

 impossible to construct a satisfactory classification of them. They are 

 all, so far as is known, fertile with one another, and there can be no question 

 that the intermingling which is thus rendered possible has been in the 

 past a potent factor in giving rise to new races, and that it is taking place 

 at the present day. It is a striking commentary on the attempts of 

 modern naturalists to discover the pedigrees of different species of animals 

 that, with our relatively full knowledge of man, historical, anatomical and 

 ethnological, we are unable to agree upon a zoological classification of 

 him which shall show the consanguinity of 'the different races. It has 

 usually been the habit of anthropologists to establish certain primary groups 

 or types of men presenting some variations within themselves and therefore 

 divisible into sub-groups, and connected with each other by intermediate 

 forms which have been produced by crossing. These primary groups are 

 regarded as primitive or ancestral types from which all the extant races of 

 men have been derived by descent with modification. It is therefore of 

 the first importance to determine them. This however cannot be done 

 for there is no agreement and apparently no possibility of agreement 

 among naturalists ; and even if we give our adherence to any particular 

 scheme, the difficulty remains of assigning to their proper places the 

 intermediate races, which often present equally important resemblances 

 to more than one of our primary types. 



