144 BODILY CHARACTERISTICS OF MAN. 



of the Human face, the prominent chin, depends, is also quite 

 peculiar to him ; and is intimately connected both with his erect 

 attitude, and with the perfection of the hands, by which the 

 food is divided and conveyed to the mouth. He has no occasion 

 for that protrusion of the muzzle and lips, which, in animals 

 that, seize their food with the mouth only, is required to prevent 

 the whole face from coming into contact with it. The absence 

 of any weapons of offence, and of any direct means of defence, 

 are remarkable characteristics of Man, and distinguish him from 

 other animals. On those, to whom Nature has denied weapons 

 of attack, she has bestowed the means either of passive defence, 

 of concealment, or of flight. Yet Man, by his superior reason, 

 has not only been enabled to resist the attacks of other animals, 

 but even to bring them under subjection to himself. His intel- 

 lect can scarcely suggest the mechanism, which his hands cannot 

 frame ; and he has devised and constructed arms more powerful 

 than those which any other creature w T ields, and defences so 

 secure as to defy the assaults of all but his fellow men. As we 

 might expect from his far higher intelligence, the brain of Man 

 .far exceeds that of the most elevated Quadrumana in size ; and 

 at least equally surpasses it in the complexity and high develop- 

 ment of its internal parts, and in the depth and number of its 

 convolutions. 



134. Man cannot be regarded as distinguished from Mam- 

 malia, however, either by acuteness of sensibility, or by muscular 

 power. His swiftness in running, and agility in leaping, are 

 inferior to that of other animals of his size, the full-^rown 

 Orang for example. The smallness of his face, compared with 

 the remainder of the skull, shows that the portion of the ner- 

 vous system distributed to the organs of sense is proportionally 

 less developed in him than it is in most other animals ; and we 

 find that he is surpassed by many among them in the acuteness 

 of his sensibility to light, sound, &e. ; though he stands alone in 

 the power of comparing his sensations, and of drawing conclu- 

 sions from them. Moreover, although none of his senses are 

 very acute in his natural state, they are all capable (as is also 

 his swiftness of foot) of being much improved by practice, when 



