V 



MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE 



Man's Zoological Position and His Distinctive Pe- 

 culiarities. — Science speaks with no uncertain voice 

 regarding man's position among other living 

 creatures. Zoologically regarded, Man belongs 

 to a special family in that order of Mammals which 

 we call Primates, which includes marmosets, 

 American Monkeys, Old World Monkeys, and 

 Anthropoid Apes. Of his structural resemblance 

 to the Anthropoid Apes in particular there is not a 

 shadow of doubt. It is long since Sir Richard 

 Owen, who was conservative on the subject, ad- 

 mitted the ''all-pervading similitude of structure." 

 On the other hand, man is a very distinctive type. 

 He alone, after his infancy is past, walks thorough- 

 ly erect. His head is weighted with a heavy brain, 

 but it does not droop forward. With his upright 

 attitude, his command of vocal mechanism is per- 

 haps in part connected. He plants the soles of his 

 feet flat on the ground and he has a better heel than 

 the monkeys have. Comparing his head with that 

 of the anthropoid apes, we notice the bigger fore- 

 head, the less protrusive face, the smaller cheek- 

 bones and eye-brow ridges, the absence of cranial 

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