MAN. 25 



four fingers joined to the body of the hand ; but observe 

 how the thumb can be made to meet the tip of either 

 finger, or to touch the tips of all of them at once, and 

 how each finger can move independently of the others, 

 or all can move together. Then observe, farther, in how 

 many different ways the hand can take hold of different 

 things, such as a pen, a whip, a rope, a string, an axe, 

 etc. 



28. What appears so simple when we look only at the 

 outside, is found to be exceedingly complicated when ex- 

 amined within by the anatomist. The frame-work of 

 this machine is made up of 32 bones, and there are nu- 

 merous muscles with their cords or tendons. Then there 

 are countless fibres branching from the nerves into these 

 muscles. It is by these nerves that the mind in the brain 

 works all this machinery. 



29. Many animals have something like fingers, but 

 none but man have any thing like thumbs except the 

 monkey and ape tribe, and the opossum family ; and in 

 these the thumb is but a poor imitation of this organ in 

 man. 



30. While man is superior to all other animals in the 

 variety of machinery in his body, there are some things 

 in which some animals are superior to him. The horse, 

 that is so inferior to man in the variety of his muscular 

 movement, has better running machinery than he has. 

 The monkey, the squirrel, the cat, etc., are better climb- 

 ers. Fishes are better swimmers. And some animals 

 have machinery which man does not possess at all, as 

 flying machinery. The body of man, then, is superior to 

 that of all other animals as a whole, but not in all re- 

 spects. 



31. The body of man is superior to that of other ani- 

 mals in some things besides those already mentioned. It 

 is the only animal body that can maintain a perfectly 

 erect position. The monkey can, indeed, stand and walk 

 on its hind feet, or rather its foot-hands ; but its position 



B 



