THE HUMAN HAND. 2U 



constructed like that of other brutes, and they are 

 equally destitute of the other conditions of the erect 

 stature. 



The office of the lower limbs in the support and pro- 

 gression of the body, is also indicated by their superior 

 length and strength. Their length is equal to that of 

 the head and trunk together, and when compared with 

 those of the orang-utang, the latter appear remarkably 

 slim and feeble. 



Emily. I hope you are not going to pass over what 

 is after all the most striking peculiarity in the human 

 skeleton, the hand. 



Dr. B.-~ That would be a sin of omission indeed, to 

 forget that member which Aristotle emphatically denom- 

 inates " the organ of all organs." The Stagyrite has 

 also said that man alone, has hands really deserving the 

 name. This superiority arises chiefly from the size 

 and strength of the thumbs, which, by being brought in 

 opposition to the fingers, enables them to grasp spherical 

 bodies, and take a firm hold on whatever they seize. It 

 is indispensable in all the mechanical offices of life, 

 which without it, could not be exercised at all. A 

 French philosopher, struck with the superiority which 

 the hand gives him over other animals, has written a 

 book to prove, that man is the wisest of all animals, be- 

 cause he has hands. 



Emily. Wherein does the hand of man differ from 

 that of the monkeys ? They seem to handle objects 

 with as much facility, and grasp them as firmly as man. 

 True, they are not quite so well shaped and graceful. 



Dr. B. When closely examined, it will be found 

 that these organs are far less perfect than man's. In the 

 first place, the thumb, which we said was the most dis- 

 tinguishing member of the human hand, is slender and 

 weak ; the other fingers are also slender and long. Se- 

 condly, they have no separate muscle to bend the thumb, 

 as man has, but it is bent by the same muscle that bends 

 the fingers. 



