478 DIFFERENCES OF HAND AND FOOT chap. xxiv. 



of the great toe and of the other toes are united together 

 and into an accessory fleshy bundle. 



" The hind-limb of the Gorilla, therefore, ends in a true 

 foot with a veiy movable great toe. It is a prehensile foot, 

 if you will, but is in no sense a hand : it is a foot which 

 'differs from that of Man in no fundamental chai'aeter, but in 

 mere |3roportions — degree of mobility — and secondary ar- 

 rangement of its parts. 



" It must not be supposed, however, that because I speak 

 of these differences as not fundamental that I wish to under- 

 rate their value. They are important enough in their way, 

 the structure of the foot being in strict correlation with that 

 of the rest of the organism; but, after all, regarded anatomi- 

 cally, the resemblances between the foot of Man and the foot 

 of the Gorilla are far more striking and important than the 

 differences."* 



After dwelling on some points of anatomical detail, highly 

 important, but for which I have not sjiace here, the Professor 

 continues: — "Throughout all these modifications, it must be 

 recollected that the foot loses no one of its essential charac- 

 ters. Every monkey and lemur exhibits the chai'acteristic 

 arrangement of tarsal bones, jiossesses a short flexor and 

 short extensor muscle, and a peronajus longus. Varied as the 

 proportions and appearance of the organ may be, the ter- 

 minal division of the hind-limb remains in plan and principle 

 of construction a foot, and never in the least degree ap- 

 proaches a hand."f For these reasons. Professor Huxley 

 rejects the term " Quadrumana," as leading to serious mis- 

 conception, and regards Man as one of the families of the 

 Primates. This method of classification he shows to bo 

 equally borne out by an appeal to another character on which 

 so much reliance has always been placed in classification, 



-■- Professor Huxley, ibid. f Ibid. 



