36 VERTEBRATA. 



separates the thighs and feet, and gives to the trunk that pyramidal form favorable to equilibrium: 

 the necks of the thigh-bones form an angle with the body of the bone, which increases still more 

 the separation of the led, and augments the basis of the body. Finally, the head, in this vertical 

 position, is in equilibrium with the trunk, because its articulation is exactly under the middle of its 



Were he to desire it, man could not, with convenience, walk on all-fours : his short and nearly 

 inflexible foot, and his long thigh, would bring the knee to the ground; his widely separated 

 Bhoulders and his arm-, too far extended from the median line, would ill support the fore-part of 

 his body. The greal indented muscle \\ bich, in quadrupeds, suspends the trunk between the blade- 

 bones as a girth, is smaller in man than in any one among them : the head is heavier, on account 

 of the magnitude of the brain, and the smallncss of the sinuses or cavities of the bones; and vet 

 the means of supporting it are weaker, for he has neither cervical ligament, nor are the vertebra 

 50 modified as to prevent their flexure forward ; he could therefore only maintain his head in the 

 same line with the spine, and then, his eyes and mouth being directed toward the ground, he 

 could no; see before him : the position of these organs is, on the contrary, quite perfect, supposing 

 that he walks erectly. 



The arteries which supply his brain not being subdivided as in many quadrupeds, and the blood 

 requisil ■ for so voluminous an organ being carried to it with too much violence, frequently apo- 

 plexies would be the consequence of a horizontal position. 



M an, then, is designed to be supported by the feet only. He thus preserves the entire use of 

 his hands for the arts, while his organs of sense are most favorably situated for observation. 



These hands, which derive such advantages from their liberty, receive as many more from their 

 structure. Their thumb, longer in proportion than in the apes, increases the facility of seizing 

 small objects; all the fingers, except the annularis, and this to a certain extent, have separate 

 movements, which is not the case in any other animal, not even in the apes. The nails, covering 

 only one side of the extremities of the lingers, form a support to the touch, without in the leasl 

 depriving it of its delicacy. The arms which support these hands have a solid attachment by 

 their large blade-bone, their strong collar-bone, &c. 



Man, so highly favored as to dexterity, is not so with regard to strength. His swiftness in 

 running is much inferior to that of other animals of his size : having neither projecting jaws, nor 

 ut canine teeth, nor crooked nails, he is destitute of offensive armature; and the sides and 

 upper part of his body being naked, unprovided even with hair, he is absolutely without defensive 

 weapons ; lastly, he is of all animals that which is latest to acquire the power necessary to pro- 

 vide for himself. 



Bui this we den iss even has been for him another advantage, in obliging him to have recourse 

 to his internal resources — to that intelligence which has been awarded to him in so high a de- 

 gree; a fact which sufficiently proves that man's intellect was designed by nature to be the great 

 instrument of his power. 



No quadruped approaches him in the magnitude and convolutions of the hemispheres of the 

 brain, that is to say, of thai pari of this organ which is the principal instrument of the intellectual 

 operations: the posterior portion of the same organ extends backward, so as to form a second 

 covering to the cerebellum : even the form of the cranium announces this great size of the brain, 

 as the smallm - of the face shows how slightly that portion of the nervous system which influ- 

 - the external senses predominates in him. 



These external senses, however, moderate a- they all are in man, are yet extremely delicate and 

 well balanced. 



His two eyes are directed forward : he does not see on two sides at once, like many quadru- 

 peds; which produces more unity in the pesull of his vision, and concentrates his attention more* 

 objects of this kind. The ball and iris of his eye varv but little, which restrains the 

 activity of hi- sight to limited distances, and to a. determined degree of light. The conch of his 

 ear, possessing but little mobility or extent, does not increase the intensity* of sounds : notwith- 

 standing which, of all animals, he best distinguishes their intonation. His nostrils, more compli-- 

 cated than those of apes, are less so than those of all other genera; and yet he appears to be the 



