73 
more than 14 of its length; the hand having rather less and 
the foot rather more, than one third the length of the spinal 
column. 
These examples might be greatly multiplied, but they suf- 
fice to show that, in whatever proportion of its limbs the 
Gorilla differs from Man, the other Apes depart still more 
widely from the Gorilla and that, consequently, such differ- 
ences of proportion can have no ordinal value. 
We may next consider the differences presented by the 
trunk, consisting of the vertebral column, or backbone, and 
the ribs and pelvis, or bony hip-basin, which are connected 
with it, in Man and in the Gorilla respectively. 
In Man, in consequence partly of the disposition of the 
articular surfaces of the vertebre, and largely of the elastic 
tension of some of the fibrous bands, or ligaments, which con- 
nect these vertebrz together, the spinal column, as a whole, 
has an elegant S-like curvature, being convex forwards in the 
neck, concave in the back, convex in the loins, or lumbar 
region, and concave again in the sacral region ; an arrange- 
ment which gives much elasticity to the whole backbone, and 
diminishes the jar communicated to the spine, and through 
it to the head, by locomotion in the erect position. 
Furthermore, under ordinary circumstances, Man has seven 
vertebrze in his neck, which are called cervical; twelve succeed 
these, bearing ribs and forming the upper part of the back, 
whence they are termed dorsal ; five lie in the loins, bearing 
no distinct, or free, ribs, and are called luméar ; five, united 
together into a great bone, excavated in front, solidly wedged 
in between the hip bones, to form the back of the pelvis, and 
known by the name of the sacrum, succeed these ; and finally, 
three or four little more or less moveable bones, so small as 
to be insignificant, constitute the coccyx# or rudimentary tail. 
In the Gorilla, the vertebral column is similarly divided 
into cervical, dorsal, lumbar, sacral and coccygeal vertebree, and 
the total number of cervical and dorsal vertebra, taken to- 
