MAN AND MONKEY COMPARED 35 



hand. The foot of a baby is remarkably prehensile, and 

 would become increasingly so but for the wearing of shoes, 

 and the foot of the savage is always 

 more mobile than that of the civi- 

 lised man. In some cases where a 

 person has been born without, or by 

 accident deprived of, his arms, the 

 feet have been made use of with 

 wonderful ability. Instances are on 

 record where armless men have with 

 their feet wielded pencil or brush 

 with such skill as to carry off no 

 inconsiderable prizes in the world THE HUMAN FOOT . 

 of art. 



The hind extremities of the monkey are indeed hands 

 that serve it well in its arboreal existence, but as feet 

 they only permit it to adopt an erect position with 

 awkwardness, if not discomfort. They are so formed that 

 the animal cannot stand squarely upon the soles ; the weight 

 is thrown upon the sides of the feet and the knees are 

 always partially bent. 



The most manlike apes frequently walk short distances in 

 an upright posture, but their progression is always ungainly, 

 and necessitates the use of outstretched arms with which to 

 balance themselves. There is little doubt that the most 

 highly trained monkey in captivity adopts the biped method 

 of locomotion with certainly not more success than a dog. 

 Numerous mammals, notably the bear, frequently rear 

 themselves upon their hind feet in search of food or to take 

 a more extended view of their surroundings ; but if alarmed 

 they immediately drop on all fours in order to attain the 

 speed necessary to escape the threatened danger. In this 

 respect the monkey is no whit better than any of the less 

 pretentious quadrupeds. 



The fore extremities lack the salient qualities of the 

 human hand quite as much as the hind ones fall short 

 of those of the human foot. There are several families of 

 monkeys in which the thumb is practically non-existent ; 

 but the freest and most opposable monkey thumb cannot 

 make the animal's hand anything but a mockery of its 



