28 



THE NATURAL HISTORY OF 



64-66, is a note by Camper himself, referring to Yon 

 Wurmb's papers, and continuing thus : " Heretofore, this 

 kind of ape had never been known in Europe. Rader- 

 macher has had the kindness to send me the skull of one 



FIG. 7. The Pongo Skull, sent by Radermacher to Camper, after Camper's 

 original sketches, as reproduced by Lucae. 



of these animals, which measured fifty-three inches, or four 

 feet five inches, in height. I have sent some sketches of 

 it to M. Soemmering at Mayence, which are better calcu- 

 lated, however, to give an idea of the form than of the 

 real size of the parts." 



These sketches have been reproduced by Fischer and 

 by Lucse, and bear date 1783, Soemmering having re- 

 ceived them in 1784. Had either of Von Wurmb's speci- 

 mens reached Holland, they would hardly have been un- 

 known at this time to Camper, who, however, goes on to 

 say : " It appears that since this, some more of these 

 monsters have been captured, for an entire skeleton, very 

 badly set up, which had been sent to the Museum of the 

 Prince of Orange, and which I saw only on the 2Yth of 

 June, 1784, was more than four feet high. I examined 



