347 



insertion is very near the centre of motion of the articulation of the foot, 

 is greatly diminished. 



The feet, in man, are broader than those of any other animal; and to 

 this breadth of the surface of the base on which he rests, he, in great 

 measure, owes the advantage of being able to support, on one leg or on 

 both, the weight of his body, in standing and in the different motions of 

 progression ; while ,the other mammalia cannot support themselves, at 

 least only for a very limited time, without resting on three of their extre- 

 mities. When I say, that from the extent of the feet the body of man 

 does, of all animals, rest on the broadest surface, I do not take into ac- 

 count the space which those parts include between them when apart from 

 each other. In fact, the space which is measured by the feet, is much 

 greater in quadrupeds than in man. Nature has made up for the disad- 

 vantage arising out of the smallness of their feet, by the distance at which 

 they are placed ; and if that farm disables them from standing on two 

 feet, it gives firmness to their peculiar mode of standing. 



The feet of the ourang outang, which, in the general structure of his 

 organs, bears so striking an analogy to the human species, resemble a 

 coarsely formed hand, better fitted to climb the trees on which that ani- 

 mal seeks his food, than to the purposes to which man applies his hands. 

 Thus, the erect posture which he, at times, assumes, is neither the most 

 convenient nor the most natural to him. And, according to a philosopher 

 who speaks on the authority of several travellers, if a sudden danger 

 obliges him to make his escape, or to leap, he drops on all fours, and dis- 

 covers his real origin: he is reduced to his own condition, when he quits 

 that unnatural attitude, and discovers in himself an animal, which, like 

 many a man, has no better quality to recommend him than a specious 

 disguise. 



The feet are the parts least developed in the new-born child; his body 

 is insecure on that narrow basis; the prolongation of the line of his centre 

 of gravity, which so many other causes tend to carry beyond that base, 

 will be the more inclined to fall beyond it, from its small extent. The 

 greater number of the differences which have just been examined, depend 

 on the mode of nutrition in the foetus. The umbilical arteries bring to 

 the mother the blood which the aorta carries to the lower parts, and only 

 a few small branches are sent to the pelvis and to the lower extremities. 

 Thus, the developtment, which almost always bears a proportion to the 

 the quantity of blood sent into organs, is but imperfect in those parts at 

 the time of birth, while the head of the trunk and upper extremities are 

 enveloped much more considerably. 



The new-born child, therefore, resembles quadrupeds in the physical 

 arrangement of his organs. This analogy is the more marked, the nearer 

 the foetus is to the period of its formation, and it might be laid down as 

 a general proposition, that organized beings resemble one another more 

 closely, the nearer to the period of incipient existence they are examined. 

 The differences which characterise them become apparent, in proportion 

 to the progress of evolution; and they are more and more distinct, as the 

 acts of life are repeated in the organs which it animates. 



The unequal distribution of power in the muscles, and the unfavoura- 

 ble disposition of the parts to which these powers are applied, render it 

 impossible for the infant to stand upright, that is, to keep the mean line 

 of direction of his body nearly perpendicular to the plane which supports 

 it. But in proportion as he advances in age, the preponderance of the 



