258 ON THE RELATIONS OF MAN 



such differences of proportion can have no ordinal 

 value. 



We may next consider the differences presented by the 

 trunk, consisting of the vertebral column, or backbone, 

 and the ribs and pelvis, or bony hip-basin, which are 

 connected with it, in Man and in the Gorilla respec- 

 tively. 



In Man, in consequence partly of the disposition of 

 the articular surfaces of the vertebrae, and largely of the 

 elastic tension of some of the fibrous bands, or ligaments, 

 which connect these vertebrae together, the spinal column, 

 as a whole, has an elegant S-like curvature, being convex 

 forwards in the neck, concave in the back, convex in the 

 loins, or lumbar region, and concave again in the sacral 

 region ; an arrangement which gives much elasticity to the 

 whole backbone, and diminishes the jar communicated to 

 the spine, and through it to the head, by locomotion in 

 the erect position. 



Furthermore, under ordinary circumstances, Man has 

 seven vertebrae in his neck, which are called cervical ; 

 twelve succeed these, bearing ribs and forming the upper 

 part of the back, whence they are termed dorsal ; five lie 

 in the loins, bearing no distinct, or free, ribs, and are 

 called lumbar ; five, united together into a great bone, 

 excavated in front, solidly wedged in between the hip 

 bones, to form the back of the pelvis, and known by the 

 name of the sacrum, succeed these ; and finally, three or 

 four little more or less moveable bones, so small as 

 to be insignificant, constitute the coccyx or rudimentary 

 tail. 



In the Gorilla, the vertebral column is similarly divided 

 into cervical, dorsal, lumbar, sacral and coccygeal verte- 

 brae, and the total number of cervical and dorsal vertebrae, 

 taken together, is the same as in Man ; but the develop- 

 ment of a pair of ribs to the first lumbar vertebra, which 

 is an exceptional occurrence in Man, is the rule in the 

 Gorilla ; and hence, as lumbar are distinguished from 

 dorsal vertebrae only by the presence or absence of free 

 ribs, the seventeen " dorso-lumbar " vertebrae of the 

 Gorilla are divided into thirteen dorsal and four 

 lumbar, while in Man they are twelve dorsal and five 

 lumbar. 



Not only, however, does Man occasionally possess 



