82 THE HUMAN SPECIES 



in man than in woman must be considered as a sexual character 

 attained in the course of man's progress. 



The human foot is perfectly adapted for support, and as 

 such forms one of the most distinctive characters of the human 

 body. But all anatomists unanimously agree that it was not 

 originally an organ of support but of prehension as it still is in 

 the apes. This view is most vigorously upheld by Klaatsch, 

 the Heidelberg naturalist. The human foot is to be traced to 

 the same original form as is that of the other Primates ; even 

 the fossil remains of the Tertiary Period show that the mammals 

 already possessed a foot with the Primate character of an oppos- 

 able great toe. In the opinion of Klaatsch, it is clear that the 

 human foot was originally adapted to semi-erect climbing, and 

 that at a later period when man's progenitors had attained the 

 human state, and lived in scattered groups, the adoption of the 

 erect position necessarily involved an adjustment of the foot to 

 the new conditions. That man's ancestors did undoubtedly 

 possess a prehensile foot is irrefutably proved by embryology. 

 In a human embryo of about one inch in length examined by 

 Wyman l the great toe was shorter than the others, and, instead 

 of being parallel with them, projected at an angle from the 

 side of the foot, thus corresponding with the condition of this 

 part in the quadrumana. Hence Darwin concludes that the 

 foot belonging to man's prototype was prehensile, and that our 

 early progenitors without doubt led an arboreal life in some 

 warm, forest-clad land. If they were from the beginning semi- 

 erect, their mode of progression was probably similar to that of 

 the orang, who swings his body forward with bent knees and 

 rests on the outer margin and knuckles of the bent hands. 



In conclusion I may quote some comparative tables from 

 Ranke's 2 work, showing the relative lengths of the upper and 

 lower extremities in man and the anthropoids. Taking the 

 stature at 100, the length of the leg is : 



In the gorilla . . . 34/9 



orang 3472 



chimpanzee . . . 3 5 '20 

 man . . 48-47-48-83 



The arm together with the hand is in man shorter, in the 



1 Darwin, loc. cit., vol. v., p. 14. 2 Ranke, loc. cit., vol. ii., p. 7. 



