392 THE HARMONIES OF NATURE. 



to man alone ; for all the apes have the heel-bone small, straight, 

 and more or less raised from the ground, which they touch, 

 when standing erect, with the outer side of the foot only. The 

 longer and more moveable feet and toes of the apes enable 

 them to serve as more efficient prehensile organs, but this 

 advantage is obtained at the cost of their capacity to sustain the 

 weight of the body when it simply rests upon them. 



Many other anatomical details might be pointed out to show 

 how man's superiority of mind has been made to harmonise 

 with its material instruments, while the structure of the ape 

 corresponds with this animal's inferior intelligence ; but, not to 

 fatigue the reader with what might be considered a superfluous 

 minuteness, I shall merely mention how strikingly the vast 

 difference between the two shows itself in the muscular appa- 

 ratus of the face. In man we find a number of distinct and 

 separately moveable facial muscles, which, by their infinite 

 variety of action, are able to give a rapid and faithful picture 

 of all the various emotions that cross the soul, even as the sur- 

 face of the sea reflects each passing cloud ; while in the ape the 

 facial muscles, being far less individualised, are restricted to 

 the gnashing of the teeth, or to the pointing and shutting of 

 the mouth ; so that the animal is only able to cut a few dis- 

 gusting grimaces, while numberless shades of passion, emotion, 

 and thought are all mirrored in the expressive countenance of 

 man! 



Thus we see a deep chasm separating our race even from 

 those animals which approach it the nearest in their outward 

 form ; for though the ape is undoubtedly capable of short and 

 simple processes of reasoning or of imagination, yet the range 

 of his intelligence is poor indeed when compared with that of 

 the human mind. 



Man alone of all created beings earnestly pursues a higher 

 aim ; he alone possesses an innate moral law ; he alone is capable 

 of self-improvement, and preserves his intellectual conquests for 

 the benefit of his posterity ; he alone rises from this material 

 earth into the immaterial regions of the spiritual world ; he alone 

 has the consciousness of a future state ! And for what purpose 

 have these eminent faculties been awarded to man ? Why has 

 the vista of a brighter futurity been thus opened to his gaze ? 

 Is he to rest satisfied with merely providing for his bodily 



