VERTEBRATA. 



359 



Apes as regards the skeleton, but comes nearest to Man 

 in the form of the brain. The Chimpanzee approaches 

 Man more closely in the character of its cranium and 

 teeth, and the proportional size of the arms. The Gorilla 

 is most Man-like in bulk (sometimes reaching the height 

 of live feet six inches), in the proportions of the leg to 

 the body and of the foot to the hand, in the size of the 

 heel, the form of the pelvis and shoulder-blade, and vol- 

 ume of brain. K * 



Man differs from the Apes in being an erect biped. 

 In him, the vertebrate type, which began in the horizon- 

 tal Fish, finally became vertical. No other animal habit- 

 ually stands erect; in no other are the fore-limbs used 

 exclusively for head - purposes, and the hind pair solely 

 for locomotion. 



His limbs are naturally parallel to the axis of his body, 

 not perpendicular. They have a near equality of length, 

 but the arms are always somewhat shorter than the legs. 

 In all the great Apes the arms reach below the knee, and 

 the legs of the Chimpanzee and Gorilla are relatively 

 shorter than Man's. 



Man only has a finished hand, most perfect as an organ 

 of touch, and most versatile. Both hand and foot are 

 relatively shorter than in the Apes. The foot is planti- 



a b 



Fio. 357. Foot (a) and Hand (6) of the Gorilla. 



