134 THE DESCENT OF MAN. [Part I. 



man can uiakc. The structure of the hand in this respect 

 may be compared "with that of the vocal organs, whicli in 

 the apes are used for uttering various signal-cries, or, as in 

 one species, musical cadences ; but in man closely similar 

 vocal organs have become adapted through the inherited 

 effects of use for the utterance of articulate language. 



Turnmg now to the nearest allies of man, and there- 

 fore to the best representatives of our early progenitoi's, 

 we find that the hands in the Quadrumana are constructed 

 on the same general pattern as in us, but are far less per- 

 fectly adapted for diversified uses. Their hands do not 

 serve so well as the feet of a dog for locomotion ; as may 

 be seen in those monkeys which walk on the outer mar- 

 gins of the palms, or on the backs of tlieir bent fingers, 

 as in the chimpanzee and orang." Their hands, however, 

 are admirably adaj^ted for climbing trees. Monkeys seize 

 thin branches or ropes, with the thumb on one side and 

 the fingers and palm on the other side, in tlie same manner 

 as we do. They can thus also carry rather large objects, 

 such as the neck of a bottle, to their mouths. Baboons 

 turn over stones and scratch up roots with their hands. 

 They seize nuts, insects, or other small objects, with the 

 thumb in opposition to the fingers, and no doubt they 

 thus extract eggs and the young from the nests of birds. 

 American monkeys beat the wild oranges on the branches 

 until the rind is cracked, and then tear it off with the fin- 

 gers of the two hands. Other monkeys open mussel-shells 

 with the two thumbs. With their fingers they pull out 

 tlioi-ns and burs, and hunt for each other's parasites. In 

 a state of Nature they break open hard fruits with the aid 

 of stones. They roll down stones or throw them at their 

 enemies ; nevertheless, they perform these various actions 

 clumsily, and they arc quite unable, as I have myself seen, 

 to throw a stone with precision. 



*' Owen, 'Anatomy of Vertebrates,' vol. iii. p. Tl. 



