ERECT ATTITUDE PECULIAR TO MAN. 139 



jointly; for, if destitute of either, the Human race would either 

 be speedily extinguished altogether, or would be reduced to a 

 kind of life not above the level of that of the brutes. 



129. Man is further distinguished from all other animals by 

 his erect attitude ; which involves a considerable number of mo- 

 difications in his general structure. Thus, his head is set upon 

 the top of the spinal column in such a manner, that its weight 

 bears directly downwards upon it ; and it is so nearly balanced, 

 owing to the position of the articulation on which it is supported, 

 that very little muscular exertion is required to keep it in the 

 erect position. Now if, with the same form of the head and 

 neck, Man had been destined to walk upon all-fours, the head 

 would have been without proper support ; since the neck of Man 

 is destitute of the powerful muscles and ligaments by which the 

 large heads of the herbivorous quadrupeds are sustained in this 

 position, (ANIM. PHYSIOL. 29) : and the face would be directed 

 towards the ground, instead of commanding the horizon around. 

 Among those Quadrumana which most nearly approach Man, 

 we find that the point on which the head is supported is placed 

 much further back than in him ; and that it bears obliquely on 

 the spinal column. This corresponds with the semi-erect position 

 which seems natural to them, the spinal being inclined forwards, 

 so that the body is partly supported upon the anterior extremi- 

 ties ; and in this state, the face looks directly forwards. But 

 these animals occasionally assume the completely-erect, or the 

 completely horizontal posture; and they can easily adapt the 

 position of the head to either of these, its usual angle being inter- 

 mediate between them. 



130. The position of the face immediately beneath the brain, 

 so that its front is nearly in the same plane with the forehead, 

 making the facial angle (ANIM. PHYSIOL. 719) large, is pecu- 

 liarly characteristic of Man ; for the brains of the Chimpanzee 

 and Orang, which approach most nearly to that of Man, are 

 almost entirely behind, and not above, the face. In the young 

 Ape, however, there is a much greater resemblance to Man, in 

 this respect, than there is in the adult. For at the time that the 

 second set of teeth appears, the muzzle of the Ape undergoes a 



