BIMANA. oF 
his body. The great indented muscle, which, in quadrupeds, suspends, 
as in a girth, the body between the scapulz, is smaller in Man than in any 
one among them. ‘The head is also heavier, both from the magnitude of 
the brain and the smallness of the sinuses or cavities of the bones; and yet 
the means of supporting it are weaker, for he has neither cervical ligament, 
nor are his vertebre so arranged as to prevent their flexure forw ards ; the 
result of this would be, that he could only keep his head in the same line 
with the spine, and then his eyes and mouth being directed towards the 
earth, he could not see before him;—in the erect position, on the con- 
trary, the arrangement of these organs is every way perfect. 
The arteries which are sent to his brain, not being subdivided as in 
many quadrupeds, and the blood requisite for so voluminous an organ being 
carried into it with too much violence, frequent apoplexies would be the 
consequence of a horizontal position. 
Man, then, is formed for an erect position only. He thus preserves the 
entire use of his hands for the arts, while his organs of sense are most 
favourably situated for observation. 
These hands, which derive such advantages from their liberty, receive 
as many more from their structure. The thumb, longer in proportion 
than that of the Monkey, increases its facility of seizing small objects. 
All the fingers, the annularis excepted, have separate movements, a fa- 
culty possessed by no other animal, not even by the monkey. ‘The nail, 
covering one side only of the extremity of the finger, acts as a support to 
the touch, without depriving it of an atom of its ‘delicacy. The arms, to 
which these hands are attached, are strongly and firmly connected by the 
large scapula, the strong clavicle, &c. 
Man, so highly favoured as to dexterity, is not at all so with respect to 
force. His swiftness in running is greatly inferior to that of other animals 
of his size. Having neither projecting jaws, nor salient canine teeth, nor 
claws, he is destitute of offensive weapons; and the sides and upper parts 
of his body being naked, unprovided even with hair, he is absolutely with- 
out defensive ones. Of all animals, he is also the longest in attaining the 
power necessary to provide for himself. 
This very weakness, however, is but one advantage more—it compels 
him to have recourse to that intelligence within, for which he is so emi- 
nently conspicuous. 
No quadruped approaches him in the magnitude and convolutions of the 
hemispheres of the brain, that is, in the part of this organ which is the 
principal instrument of the intellectual operations. The posterior portion 
of the same organ extends backwards, so as to form a second covering to 
_ the cerebellum: the very form of his cranium announces this magnitude 
of the brain, while the smallness of his face shews how slightly that por- 
tion of the nervous system which influences the external senses predomi- 
nates in him. 
These external sensations, moderate as they all are in Man, are never- 
theless extremely delicate and well balanced. 
His two eyes are directed forwards; he does not see on two sides at 
once, like many quadrupeds; which produces more unity in the result of 
his sight, and concentrates his attention more closely on sensations of this 
kind. The ball and iris of his eye vary but little; this restrains the ac- 
tivity of his sight to a limited distance, and a determined degree of light. 
