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hands terminating his fore limbs, and of two feet ending his 
hind limbs, while it has been said that all the apes possess 
four hands ; and he has been affirmed to differ fundamentally 
from all the apes in the characters of his brain, which alone, 
it has been strangely asserted and re-asserted, exhibits the 
structures known to anatomists as the posterior lobe, the 
posterior cornu of the lateral ventricle, and the hippocampus 
minor. 
That the former proposition should have gained general 
acceptance is not surprising—indeed, at first sight, appear- 
ances are much in its favour: but, as for the second, one can 
only admire the surpassing courage of its enunciator, seeing 
that it is an innovation which is not only opposed to generally 
and justly accepted doctrines, but which is directly negatived 
by the testimony of all original inquirers, who have specially 
investigated the matter: and that it neither has been, nor 
can be, supported by a single anatomical preparation. It 
would, in fact, be unworthy of serious refutation, except for 
the general and natural belief that deliberate and reiterated 
assertions must have some foundation. 
Before we can discuss the first point with advantage we 
must consider with some attention, and compare together, 
the structure of the human hand and that of the human 
foot, so that we may have distinct and clear ideas of what 
constitutes a hand and what a foot. 
The external form of the human hand is familiar enough to 
every one. It consists of a stout wrist followed by a broad palm, 
formed of flesh, and tendons, and skin, binding together four 
bones, and dividing into four long and flexible digits, or fingers, 
each of which bears on the back of its last jomt a broad and 
flattened nail. The longest cleft between any two digits is 
rather less than half as long as the hand. From the outer 
side of the base of the palm a stout digit goes off, having only 
two joints instead of three ; so short, that it only reaches to a 
little beyond the middle of the first joint of the finger next 
