THE SCAFFOLDING LEFT IN THE BODY 103 



and origin. The fact that a three-week -old baby 

 can perform a feat of muscular strength that would 

 tax the powers of many a healthy adult is enough 

 to set one wondering. A curious point is that in 

 many cases no sign of distress is evident, and no 

 cry uttered until the grasp begins to give way." ^ 



Place side by side with this the following 

 account, which Mr. Wallace gives us in his Malay 

 Archipelago^ of a baby Orang-outang, whose mother 

 he happened to shoot : 



" This little creature was only about a foot 

 long, and had evidently been hanging to its mother 

 when she first fell. Luckily it did not appear to 

 have been wounded, and after we had cleaned the 

 mud out of its mouth it began to cry out, and 

 seemed quite strong and active. While carrying 

 it home it got its hands in my beard, and grasped 

 so tightly that I had great difficulty in getting 

 free, for the fingers are habitually bent inward at 

 the last joint so as to form complete hooks. For 

 the first few days it clung desperately with all 

 four hands to whatever it could lay hold of, and 

 I had to be careful to keep my beard out of its 

 way, as its fingers clutched hold of hair more 

 tenaciously than anything else, and it was im- 

 possible to free myself without assistance. When 

 ^Nineteenth Century, November, 189!. 



