'/6 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



'API 



QUADRUMANA. 



APES, MONK FAS. LEMURS. 



At the head of the Qimdnimanoug order U a jrroup 

 consisting of the Chimpanzee, the Orane, and the 

 Gibl)ons, constitutin); three genera; and it is among 

 the members of these genera that the nearest ana- 

 tomical approach to the human subject exists ; we 

 luiy the nearest, for, after all, important and multi- 

 lu'dinous are the points of difference. Figures 1 1 1, 

 112, and 113, represent the skeleton of man, of the 

 chimpanzee, and of the orang. A glance at them 

 will snow the degree of their mutual resemblance, 

 and the distance that intervenes between the 

 osseous structure of the two latter and that of the 

 human form. We shall not attempt to enter into 

 minutige; but some of the more important dis- 

 tinctions may be briefly touched upon. In both 

 the chimpanzee and the orang we see the arms far 

 longer than in man : in the former the hands, the 

 skeleton being erect, reach the knee ; in the latter 

 they nearly reach the ankle-joint. The propor- 

 tionate shoi-tnessoi the lower limbs in these animals 

 is very striking. In the chimpanzee, which is more 

 fitted for the ground than the orang, the feet, or 

 rather hind-paws, are broader and shorter in com- 

 parison, and the thigh bone is secured in the socket 

 oy means of a straight ligament (the ligamentum 

 teres ', which is wanting in the orang ; and besides 

 the orang, in a few quadrupeds only. The differ- 

 ence in the form of the chest is evident: in the 

 oranir, as in man, the ribs are twelve on each side ; 

 but m the chimpanzee they are thirteen, the num- 

 ber, consequently, of the dorsal vertebrte. In the 

 orang the backward position of the occipital con- 

 dyles (on which the skull rests on the spinal 

 cbluran\ and the weight of the face, which is thus 

 thrown forward, require a commensurate develoi)- 

 inent of the spinous processes of the cervical (neck) 

 vertebrae ; ailded to which, the general anterior in- 

 clination of the vertebrse themselves renders the 

 length and robustness of these processes the more 

 imperative. In the chimpanzee the spinous pro- 

 cesses, though necessarily developed, are so in a less 

 degree than in the orang, the anterior inclination 

 of the cervical vertebrse being less decided, and 

 the weight of the face less oppressive. In both 

 animals (and, indeed, in all the ape tribe) the cer- 

 vical region is shorter than in man, and therefore 

 better fitted for sustaining the weight of tlie head, 

 which preponderates anteriorly. In the front view 

 of the orang, the neck cannot be seen. The length 

 of the forehead, and the proportionate shortness of 

 the thumb, are marked characters. The difference 

 in the form of the pelvis between these animals and 

 man is obvious. The narrowness of the 06 sacrum, 

 and the deficiency in expansion of the iliac bones, 

 are not to be overlooked. With the expansion of 

 the pelvis is connected the development of the 

 lower limbs in man, to whom alone, of all animals, 

 the erect attitude is easy and natural. The magni- 

 tude and position of the skull, the stnicture of the 

 spinal column, the osseous and muscular development 

 of the pelvis and lower limbs, necessitate such an atti- 

 tude. One advantage gained by this arrangement is 

 the perfect freedom of the superior extremities, the 

 lower limbs being the sole organs of progression. 

 In the oiang and chimpanzee all four extremities 

 are organs of locomotion : the chimpanzee, it is true, 

 can proceed on the ground, supported, or rather 

 balanced, on the lower extremities, calling the supe- 

 rior only occasionally into use, except in as far as 

 they are needed to maintain the equilibrium of the 

 bo<ly ; but man walks with a free step, with his 

 arm's at liberty, and with a precision very remote 

 from tlie vacillating hobble of the tottering chim- 

 panzee. 



Figures 114, 115, 116, and 117 are respectively 

 repi esentations, first, of a well-developed human 

 skull ; secondly, of the skull of a human idiot ; thirdly, 

 of the chimpanzee (female') ; fourthly, of the orang. 

 The contrast between the first and the two last is 

 vei-y striking ; but that even of the idiot possesses 

 those characters which at once proclaim it as be- 

 longing to the human species. Professor Owen has 

 well observed, that though " in the human subject 

 the cranium varies in its relative proportions to the 

 lace in different tribes, according to the degree of 

 civilization and cerebral development which they 

 attain, and that though in '.lie more debased 

 /lithiopian varieties and Papuans the skull makes 

 some approximation to tlie QuaiHimanous propoi- 

 tions, still in these cases, as well as when the cra- 

 nium is distorted by artificial means or by con- 

 genital malformation, it is always accompanied by 

 a form of the jaws, and by the disposition and pro- 

 portions of the teeth, which afford unfailing and im- 

 passable generic distinctions between man and the 

 ape. To place this proposition in the most unex- 

 ceptionable light, I have selected the cranium of a 

 human idiot {\\o\ in whom nature may be said to 

 have performed tor us the experiment of arrestinir 

 the development of the biain, almost exactly at the 



size which it attains in the chimpanzee, and when* 

 the intellectual faculties were scarcely more de- 

 veloped ; yet no anatomist would hesitate in at 

 once referring this cranium to the human species. 

 A detailed comparison with the cranium of the i 

 chimpanzee or orang shows that all those characters | 

 are retained in the idiot's skull which constitute | 

 the differential features of the human stnicture." | 

 We refer those who wish to investigate the anatomy | 

 of the orang and chimpanzee to Professor Owen s 

 papers in the 'Trans. Zool. Soc.' and the 'Proceed- 

 ings of the Zool. Soc' 



With regartl to the external characters of the 

 chimpanzee, the orang, and the gibbons, it may be 

 remarked that they agree in the total absence of a 

 tail, and cheek-pouches, and in the extraordinary 

 length of the anterior extremities compared with 

 the posterior. In some few points the orangs and 

 gibbons agree with each other the nearest, namely, 

 in the presence of extensive laryngal sacculi, in the 

 extreme length of the anterior extremities, and in 

 the narrowness of the hands and feet, but not in 

 general anatomical stnicture, aspect, or clothing. 

 A small round head, a compressed face, a narrow 

 under jaw, deep woolly fur, and ischiatic callosities, 

 distinguish the gibbons, both from the orang and 

 the chimpanzee. On the other hand, the orang and 

 chimpanzee are less immediately related than 

 Cuvier seems to have considered them. In most 

 respects the chimpanzee approaches more nearly 

 the type of the human structure, and particularly in 

 the presence of a pendulous uvula at the bacl» of 

 the palate, which is wanting in the orang, and in 

 the structure of the laiynx, in which the laryngal 

 sacs are not developed, as in the orang, but are pro- 

 duced into a cavity of the os hyoides. Still, how- 

 ever, the chimpanzee and the orang are more closely 

 related to each other than the gibbons are to the 

 latter. They are, moreover, the representatives of 

 each other in their respective portions of the globe ; 

 the one tenanting the secluded depths of the forests 

 in Western Africa, the other the recesses of the 

 still denser forests of Borneo and Sumatra. 



118, 119, 120, 121. The Chimpanzee 



(Pan go and Engeco, Battel, in Purchases ' Pilgrims ;' 

 Barijs, Bans, and Quojas Morrou of Barbot, Dapper, 

 &c. ; Smitten, Bosman; Pot'gn, Buffon; Pongn, 

 or Great Black Orang, Shaw ; Jocko, Audebert ; 

 Chimpanzee, Scotin's print, 1738; Troglodytes, 

 Homo nocturnus, Linnaeus; Troglodytes ntger, 

 Desmarest). The characters of the genus Troglo- 

 dytes may be thus summed up : — muzzle long, and 

 truncated anteriorly; supraorbital ridges promi- 

 nent ; forehead depressed ; no cranial ridges ; facial 

 angle .35°; external ears large and standing out; 

 tail wanting ; arms reaching below the knee-joint ; 

 feet wide, the thumb extending to the second joint 

 of the adjoining toe, and always furnished with a 

 nail. Canines large, overpassing each other, their 

 points being lodged respectively in intei-vals of the 

 opposite teeth; intermaxillary bones anchylosed to 

 the maxillaries during the first dentition ; ribs, 

 thirteen paii-s; no cheek-pouches; laryngal sac- 

 culi, small. 



The Chimpanzee is a native of Western Africa, 

 to the extent of ten or twelve degrees north and 

 as much south of the torrid zone, including Guinea, 

 Benin, Congo, Angola, &c. In some districts it 

 appears to be common, and Bowdich ('Mission 

 from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee :' Loud., 

 1819) informs us that at Gaboon, where it is 

 by no means rare, it was known to the natives 

 under the name of Inchego and Ingeno. From 

 the negroes he also learned that the adults gene- 

 rally attain to the height of five feet, the breadth 

 of the shoulders being very great, and their 

 strength enormous. A female adult skeleton which 

 we measured stood only three feet ten inches ; but 

 the males most probably are larger. The hand of 

 an adult, preserved in spirits of wine, measured nine 

 inches and a half in length, and three inches and 

 four lines in breadth, across the palm. The chim- 

 panzee, the orang, and even the mandrill, have been 

 strangely confounded together in the works of our 

 older travellei-s, and even naturalists have regarded 

 the two former as identical. Tulpius adopted the 

 term Quojas Morion, used by Barbot ('Descr. of 

 Guinea"), and Dapper ('Descr. of Africa") also calls 

 the chimpanzee the Satyre of Angola, but he con- 

 founded the orang of the Indian Islands with the 

 chimpanzee, and fiirured as the latter an orang which 

 was biOMght from Borneo, and presented to Fre- 

 deric Henry, Prince of Orange, 1777. 



Buffon, who adopted the terms Pongo and Jocko 

 (l"iom pongo, inchego, engoco, or cnjocko), in his 

 great work (175(i', eives an imperfect sketch of a 

 living young chimpanzee which he saw at Paris in 

 the year 1740. and which was taken in Gaboon. 

 At that time Buffon was not awareof any distinction 

 between the African and the Indian animals. In 

 the supplement (vol. vii.) the two are, however, dis- 

 tinguished. Tc the Ai'iiciii chinipaniee the name 



•-.f Pongo ii appropriated, and to the Indian orang 

 that of Jocko. Shaw describes " the Pongo, or irreat 

 black orang-otan,"" as a native of Afri>^a, and tne 

 " reddish-brown or chestnut oran-otan, called the 

 Jocko," as a native of Borneo and the other Indian 

 islands. With regard to the Smitten. Bairis, Bocgo, 

 &c., and which have been applied by the early tra- 

 vellers apparently to the chimpanzee, there is every 

 reason to believe that they really refer to the man- 

 drill. 



Mr. Ogilby was the first to point out that the • 

 chimpanzee is, as it would seem, alluded to in a 

 work of great antiquity — the ' Periplus Hannonis."* 

 It appears that a Carthaginian navigator named 

 Hanno (a.c. "KK), or about that period", sent on an 

 expedition of discovery, coasted Western Africa, 

 and sailed from Gades to the island of Cerne in 

 twelve days; and thence, following the coast, he ar- 

 rived, in seventeen days, at a promontory called the 

 West Horn. Thence, skirting a burning shore, he 

 arrived in three days at the South Horn, and found 

 an island inhabited by what were regarded as wild 

 men, called by the interpreters Gorilloi, who were 

 covered with long black hair, and who fled for re- 

 fuire to the mountains, and defended themselves 

 with stones. With some difficulty three females 

 were captured, the males having escaped ; but so 

 desperately did they fight, biting and tearing, that 

 it was found necessary to kill them. Their pre- 

 served skins were canied by Hanno to Carthage, 

 and hung up in one of the temples as consecrated 

 trophies of his expedition. From this time till the 

 sixteenth century of our era we hear nothing of the 

 chimpanzee ; for the western coast of Africa was, 

 as it may be said, re-discovered only in the fifteenth 

 century. 



One of the most trustworthy of our earlier tra- 

 vellers, Andrew Battel, a sailor, who was taken pri- 

 soner in 1589, and lived many years in Congo i Pnr- 

 chas's 'Pilgrims'), describes two animals, the Pongc 

 and the Engeco, the former as high and stouter than 

 a man, the latter being much less. The Pongo, 

 which is doubtless the chimpanzee, he describes a* 

 having sunken eyes, long hair on the sides of the 

 head, a naked face, ears, and hands, and the body 

 slisrhtly covered. The limbs differed from those of 

 man, being destitute of calves, but the animal 

 walked upright. In its disposition it is stated to be 

 grave and melancholy, and even when young far 

 from frolicksome ; at the same time it is swift and 

 agile, and is sometimes known to carry away young 

 negroes. He further states that these animals con- 

 structed arboure in which they slept. Their diet 

 consisted of fniits, nuts, &c. ; and their muscular 

 strength is such that ten men .vere unable to over- 

 come one. Upon the death of one of their com- 

 munity, the survivoi-s cover the body with leaves 

 and branches of trees. 



Bosman, Froger, De la Brosse, and others describe 

 the chimpanzee as living in troops, which resist the 

 attacks of wild beasts, and even drive the elephant 

 from their haunts. They possess matchless strength 

 and courage, and it is very dangerous for single in- 

 dividuals to pass near their places of abode. Bos- 

 man states that on one occasion a number of them 

 attacked, ovei-powered, and were proceeding to poke 

 out the eyes of two slaves, when a party of negroes 

 arrived to their rescue. That they surprise and 

 carry away the negresses into the woods, and there 

 detain them sometimes for years, is asserted by all, 

 and an instance came under the personal notice oi 

 De la Brosse. Captain Paine was assured that simi- 

 lar instances happen in Gaboon. De la Brosse says 

 they build huts, and ami themselves with clubs, 

 and that they walk either upon two feet or four, as 

 occasion may require. 



Lieutenant Matthews, R.N., who resided at Sierra 

 Leone during the years 178.5-6-7, and whose letters 

 describing this part of Africa appeared in 1788, in- 

 forms us that the " chimpanzees,"" or "japanzees,"'are 

 social animals ; and that " they generally take up 

 their abode near some deserted town or village 

 where the papau-tree grows in abundance, of the 

 fruit of which they are veiy fond. They build huta 

 nearly in the form in which the natives build their 

 houses, which thev cover with leaves; but these are 

 only for the females and young to lie in ; the males 

 always lie on the outside. If one of them is shot, 

 the rest immediately pursue the destroyer of their 

 friend, and the only means to escape their vengeance 

 is to part with vour gun, which they directly 

 seize upon with afl the rage imaginable, tear it to 

 pieces, and irive over the pui'suit." The terrestrial 

 habits of the chimpanzee are confirmed by other 

 observers. 



Lieutenant Henry K. Sayers, who in 18.39 brought 

 a young Chimpanzee to England, whicli he hatl 

 procured in the Bullom country, the mother having 



* Tlie (iriijinal, nf wliich only a fir»'ek trnni.Ution is ext.int, wai 

 nrilt^m in I'unic hy llumio.and i. a narrative uf a vny i^e he madt, 

 hy uriler oftlie CartliKi.'iniau S'nate. nloni; Oie Afiican coiiiit. foi tlw 

 estabUtitimoni of enliMiies Many celetirat<-d mtn of tlw name of 

 Hanno have Itveil at iliirerent time«: hnt who the Hanno in f|iieiitioc, 

 was- an<l what was llie exaet Uau- ul'liin vo\aue. are not a»n-naiDi.ii 



