122 ERECT ATTITUDE 



model of the human form, as set them up for a standard of 

 the attitude, progression, or faeulties of man. 



But if these beings had been free from defect, if they 

 had been well-formed and capable of all human endow- 

 ments, should we deem them more natural for having been 

 solitary? Should we not, on the contrary, be justified in 

 regarding that insulated condition as a deviation from the 

 scheme of nature, comparing it, with Voltaire, to the state 

 of a bee v/hich has lost the hive *? Is the social rook or 

 antelope more artificial or degenerate than the solitary 

 eagle or lion ? 



If the erect attitude and biped progression be peculiar to 

 man, the structure of the lower limbs which support his 

 trunk, and of their muscles which move it, must exhibit 

 characters of form, size, and arrangement, which are met 

 with in no other animals. The influence of this peculiarity 

 will not be confined to the lower limbs : it will also modify 

 the pelvis, which is the basis of the trunk ; receiving above 

 the weight of the abdominal viscera, the thorax, upper limbs^ 

 and head, transmitting this weight to the lower limbs, and 

 offering fixed points for their motions ; the upper limbs, 

 which are not employed for support, but merely as instru- 

 ments of prehension ; the thorax, by which these are sepa- 

 rated, and on which they rest 3 and the junction of the head 

 with the vertebral column, on which the due support of this 

 weighty mass, and the proper direction of the eyes, mouthy 

 and face depend. 



The length and strength of the lower limbs, the great in- 

 struments of support and progression, are very striking, and 

 quite peculiar to man. They are equal in length to the 

 trunk and head together ; which is not the case in any other 

 animal, excepting the kangaroo, jerboa, &c. where the prin- 

 ciples of construction and the offices of these parts are quite 

 different from the human. 



In all the monkey tribe, they fall very far short of this pro- 



• "Si Ton rencontre une abeille errante, devra-t-on conclure que cette 

 abeillc est dans T^tat de pure nature, et que ccUes qui travaillent en soci^te 

 dans la ruche ont deg^n^rd ?'' 



