128 ERECT ATTITUDE 



by a remarkable stratum of fat, form the buttocks, which, 

 by their ample, fleshy, and convex protuberances, conceal 

 the anus ; and are accounted, both by tlie classical authors 

 in natural history, as Aristotle and Buffon, and by the 

 greatest physiologists, as Galen and Haller, as the chief 

 character by which man Is distinguished from the buttock- 

 less simiae. " Les fesses,'' says the great historian of na- 

 ture, " n'appartiennent qu'a I'espece humalne." The final 

 cause of this. prerogative has been assigned by an anatomist : 

 " Solus homo ex omnibus animalibus commode sedet, cui 

 carnosse et magnfe nates contigere, et pro substernaculo pul- 

 vinarique, tomento repleto, inserviunt, ut citra molestlam 

 sedendo, cogitationibus rerum diVinarum animum rectius 

 appllcare possit ^/* 



The use of the glutei, however, is not confined solely to 

 what the pious Spigelius has imagined, viz. the forming a 

 cushion on which the body may be softly supported, for the 

 purposes of divine cogitation ; but they are very important 

 agents in extending the pelvis on the thighs, and maintain- 

 ing it in that state in the erect position of the trunk. In 

 standing on both feet, the glutei magni fix the pelvis firmly 

 behind, and counteract the natural tendency to fall forwards, 

 which the weiglit of the head, the usual position of the 

 upper limbs in front of the body, and the prominence of 

 the abdominal viscera, impress upon the trunk. Hence, the 

 bulk and power of these very muscles in the human sub- 

 ject aftbrd a clear proof that man was designed for the atti- 

 tude on two feet. The other two glutei are not essentially 

 concerned in the attitude of standing on both feet ; but they 

 are the principal agents in supporting and balancing the 

 trunk on one foot, by inclining the pelvis over the head of 

 that thigh bone on which the body rests, so that the centre 

 of gravity of the trunk may be in a line drawn through 

 that lower extremity. In this case, their exertion counter- 

 acts the tendency of the trunk to fall on that side which is 

 not supported. These muscles are employed in a similar 



* Spigelius de Hum. Corp. Fab. p. 9. 



