128 THE ASCENT OF MAN 



This is its Hand. At any place, and at any 

 moment, it creates a Hand. Each Hand is extem- 

 porized as it is needed ; when not needed it is 

 not. Pass a little higher up the scale and observe 

 the Sea-Anemone. The Hand is no longer ex- 

 temporized as occasion requires, but lengthened 

 portions of the body are set apart and kept per- 

 manently in shape for the purpose of seizing food. 

 Here, in the capital of twining tentacles which 

 crowns the quivering pillar of the body, we get 

 the rude approximation to the most useful portion 

 of the human Hand — the separated fingers. It is 

 a vast improvement on the earlier Hand, but the 

 jointless digits are still imperfect ; it is simply the 

 Amoeba Hand cut into permanent strips. 



Passing over a multitude of intermediate forms, 

 watch, in the next place, the Hand of an African 

 Monkey. Note the great increase in usefulness due 

 to the muscular arm upon which the Hand is now 

 extended, and the extraordinary capacity for varied 

 motion afforded by the three-fold system of joint- 

 ing at shoulder, elbow, and wrist. The Hand itself 

 is almost the human Hand ; there are palm and 

 nail and articulated fingers. But observe how one 

 circumstance hinders the possessor from taking full 

 advantage of these great improvements, — this Hand 

 has no thumb, or if it has. it is but a rudiment. 



