516 THE SIMLE OF THE OLD WORLD 



particularly within the last twenty years, naturalists and travellers 

 have devoted so much attention to this interesting family, that 

 while in the year 1840 only 128 species were known, their num- 

 bers had increased in 1852 to no less than 210, a stately list, to 

 which, since then, many more have been added, and which even 

 now is far from being closed. 



The simian of the Old World are all distinguished by the 

 common character of a narrow septum or partition of the nose 

 like that of man, and by the same number of teeth, each jaw 

 being provided with ten grinders, two canine teeth, and four 

 incisors, as in the human race. 



The large apes, or tailless monkeys, resemble us besides in 

 many other respects, as well in their external appearance as in 

 their anatomical structure ; and form, as it were, the caricature 

 of man, both by their gestures and by glimpses of a higher in- 

 telligence. 



Creatures so remarkably endowed have naturally at all times 

 attracted a great share of attention, for if even the lowest links 

 in the chain of animated beings lay claim to our interest, how 

 much more must this not be the case with beings whose 

 faculties seem almost to raise them to the rank of our relations. 

 The question how far this similarity extends has naturally given 

 rise to many acute investigations and been differently answered, 

 according as naturalists were more or less inclined to depress 

 man to the level of the ape, or to widen the gulph between them. 

 The former, pointing to the brutality of the lowest savages, would 

 willingly make us believe that we are nothing but an improved 

 edition of the Uran, while the latter complacently cite in 

 favour of their opinion, the incommensurable distance which 

 exists between even the most degraded specimens of humanity 

 and the most perfect quadrumana. Man alone is capable of 

 continually progressive improvement ; in him alone each gene- 

 ration inherits the acquirements of its fathers and transmits the 

 growing treasure to its sons, while the ape, like all other animals, 

 constantly remains at the same point. The lowest savage knows 

 how to make fire ; the ape, though he may have seen the operation 

 performed a thousand times, and have enjoyed the genial warmth 

 of the glowing embers, will never learn the simple art. His hairy 

 skin is a sufficient proof of his low intellect, an infallible sign 

 that as he never would be able to provide himself with an arti- 



