CONCERNING THE HIGHER MAMMALIA.. 163 



usually pine away and become diseased. Man is found in all latitudes 

 from above 70° to the equator. He can thrive and propagate in all 

 these latitudes, and bears a change from intense heat to intense cold 

 often with apparent impunity. He can subsist on a vegetable diet, or 

 on one almost exclusively animal. 



Fourthly, The conformation of the human body amply proves that 

 the erect attitude is natural to Man. The absence of facial projec- 

 tion, the mode in which th& head is articulated with the spine, the 

 length of the lower limbs when compared with the upper, the depth 

 and thickness of the superior lip of the acetabulum, and the painful 

 efforts necessary, when on all-fours, to fix the eyes on an object directly 

 in front, are sufficient to establish this fact, which is still further con- 

 firmed by the uniform erect progression of all savages, even when first 

 discovered by civilized men. Among the ancients the erect position 

 was regarded as a very important mark of Man's superiority to the 

 lower animals ; and their poets have some finely expressed ideas on 

 the subject. 



It is true that some of the Anthropoid Apes occasionally attempt 

 a sort of erect attitude in progression, but their efforts to maintain it 

 are exceedingly awkward. The Gibbon has to hold the upper ex- 

 tremities over the head to balance itself, or fix them occasionally on 

 the ground to render its gait steadier. The Gorilla is said to raise 

 itself to the erect attitude when about to make an attack ; but the 

 Ourang is incapable of the erect posture. Linnseus could not have 

 been well informed on this subject when he wrote of the Simise — 

 " erecto corpore binis aque ac homo pedibus incedentes." There is 

 no ground for such an assertion. When Apes attempt to walk erect 

 they tread on the outside edge of their feet, rocking and wavering 

 from side to side. The gait of the Gibbon is a succession of hops ; 

 and the natural mode of progression adopted by the Gorilla is a shuf- 

 fling or swinging gait, the fore-limbs being used much in the same 

 way as crutches are used by a lame person. When he attempts the 

 erect position his hands are employed in balancing his body. On the 

 other hand, the feet of Man are firm, broad, solid and strong. The 

 crural, femoral, and pelvic muscles, are sufficiently powerful to 

 keep him in the erect position, leaving his hands at liberty to carry 

 out the commands of his head. Man is the only animal known Avhich 

 has a foot with toe and heel that plant themselves firmly and at the 

 same time upon the earth. None of the Apes, Monkeys, or Lemurs, 



