268 ON THE RELATIONS OF MAN 



And passing from the American apes to the Lemurs, the 

 dentition becomes still more completely and essentially 

 different from that of the Gorilla. The incisors begin to vary 

 both in number and in form. The molars acquire, more and 

 more, a many-pointed, insectivorous character, and in one 

 Genus, the Aye- Aye (Cheiromys), the canines disappear, 

 and the teeth completely simulate those of a Rodent 

 (Fig. 17). 



Hence it is obvious that, greatly as the dentition of the 

 highest Ape differs from that of Man, it differs far more 

 widely from that of the lower and lowest Apes. 



Whatever part of the animal fabric whatever series 

 of muscles, whatever viscera might be selected for com- 

 parison the result would be the same the lower Apes 

 and the Gorilla would differ more than the Gorilla and 

 the Man. I cannot attempt in this place to follow out 

 all these comparisons in detail, and indeed it is unnecessary 

 I should do so. But certain real, or supposed, structural 

 distinctions between man and the apes remain, upon which 

 so much stress has been laid, that they require careful con- 

 sideration, in order that the true value may be assigned to 

 those which are real, and the emptiness of those which are 

 fictitious may be exposed. I refer to the characters of the 

 hand, the foot, and the brain. 



Man has been defined as the only animal possessed of 

 two hands terminating his fore limbs, and of two feet ending 

 his hind limbs, while it has been said that all the apes possess 

 four hands ; and he has been affirmed to differ fundamentally 

 from all the apes in the characters of his brain, which alone, 

 it has been strangely asserted and re-asserted, exhibits the 

 structures known to anatomists as the posterior lobe, the 

 posterior cornu of the lateral ventricle, and the hippocampus 

 minor. 



That the former proposition should have gained general 

 acceptance is not surprising indeed, at first sight, appear- 

 ances are much in its favour : but, as for the second, one 

 can only admire the surpassing courage of its enunciator, 

 seeing that it is an innovation which is not only opposed 

 to generally and justly accepted doctrines, but which is 

 directly negatived by the testimony of all original inquirers, 

 who have specially investigated the matter : and that it 

 neither has been, nor can be, supported by a single anatomi- 

 cal preparation. It would, in fact, be unworthy of serious 



