476 Dr. Harwood on a Pair of hinder Hands 



loose and porous texture of its bones, and the cartilaginous nature 

 of their extremities. 



I cannot suffer the present opportunity to pass bj% without 

 suggesting the possibility of Dr. Abel having been materially 

 deceived in his estimate, taken from the dried skin, of the height 

 of his animal, which he computes at no less than 7 feet 6 inches ; 

 for he calculates, that the extent of his reach from finger to finger 

 across the chest did not exceed 8 feet 2 inches ; whereas in the 

 skeleton of the Pongo at the College of Surgeons, whose arms I 

 believe to be shorter in proportion to its height than in the true 

 Sati/rits, and which is probably the same species he has described, 

 — in this Ponso I find the extent of reach to be not less than 7 

 feet, and yet its height does not exceed 3 feet 11 inches: and 

 consequently, if what I have presumed be found correct, were 

 it a Sati/rus instead of a Pongo, with a reach of 7 feet, its height 

 would scarcely exceed 3 feet and a half. It is highly worthy 

 of notice, as relating to the proportions of Orang Otangs, that 

 with a reach of 7 feet, each arm being 3 feet I inch in length, 

 this Pongo measures only 2 feet 2 inches from the summit of the 

 head to the extremity of the os coccijgis, and only 1 foot 10 inches 

 in the length of its hhider extremities, or from the top of the head 

 of the osfeinoris to the under surface of the os calcis. The hinder 

 hand of this creature is at the same time no more than 2 inches 

 shorter than that of the animal described by Dr. Abel, being 12 

 inches in length. 



From the capacity and form of the pelvis, and other circum- 

 stances, I have reason to believe the skeleton at the College of 

 Surgeons to be that of a female, Avhile there is as strong evidence 

 that Cuvier's larger skeleton of the same species is that of a male. 

 Havino- been favoured with accurate admeasurements made of the 

 Parisian specimen by Mr. Clift, it may not be considered irrele- 

 vant to our subject to compare some of its proportions with those 



of 



