UPPER EXTREMITIES AND HANDS OF MAN. 133 



fore-feet, they rather sit down than assume the erect posi- 

 tion ; for they rest on the thighs, as well as on the feet ; 

 and this can only be done where the fore-part of the body 

 is small, as in the simise, squirrel, &c. In other cases the 

 animal is obliged to support itself by the fore-feet also, as 

 in the dog, cat, &c. 



CHAPTER III. 



On the Upper Extremities. — Advantageous Construction of the Hu- 

 7nau Hand. — Man is tivo-handed ; the Monkeij Kind four- 

 handedi — On the natural Attitude and Gait of Monkeys. 



A CURSORY survey of the upper limbs will be sufficient to 

 convince us that they are entirely unsuited to the office of 

 supporting the body ; and as well calculated for the uses to 

 which we put them, of seizing and holding objects, and 

 thereby executing, besides all the processes of the arts, a 

 thousand minute but most serviceable actions of constant 

 recurrence. 



There is a general resemblance of form throughout the 

 upper and lower extremities ; their principal divisions, the 

 number and form of the bones, and the construction of the 

 articulations in each division, correspond very clearly : the 

 essential varieties may all he. referred to the principles of so- 

 lidity and resistance in the lower, of mobility in the upper, 

 as leading purposes of formation. A comparison of the 

 arm, fore-arm, and hand, to the thigh, leg, and foot -, of 

 the OS innomiiiatum to the scapula ; of the hip, knee, and 

 ankle, to the shoulder, elbow, and wrist ; of the carpus, me- 

 tacarpus, and fingers, to the tarsus, metatarsus, and toes; 

 will at once prove and illustrate this difference. 



The scapulae, placed at the posterior and lateral aspects 

 of the trunk, are kept wide apart by the clavicles : a line 

 falling perpendicularly from the shoulder, in the erect at- 



