234* CLASS MAMMALIA. 



exception of mind, there is nothing wanting in the ape 

 which we possess." This illustrious naturalist was far 

 from desiring to degrade the species of which he himself 

 was one of the brightest ornaments ; but he wrote without 

 those advantages of accurate observation and strict anato- 

 mical investigation which have since his time thrown so 

 much light on the subject. 



There are peculiarities in the physical structure of man, 

 which seem to be exclusively subservient to his moral endow- 

 ments. How very imperfectly, for instance, would the facul- 

 ties of man avail him if he were not constructed for an erect 

 position, if his hands were not at liberty and always at the 

 command of his will ! How very limited and local would be 

 his species, were he not endowed physically and morally with 

 a sort of terrestrial ubiquity — to effect which an omnivor- 

 ous faculty must concur with other circumstances ! And 

 again, how impossible would be the complete develop- 

 ment of his faculties without the power of speech ! When 

 these points are but adverted to, the consequences of each 

 of them rush upon the mind and need no dilatation to 

 point them out. 



These points, it must be remembered, necessitate seve- 

 ral contingencies in the physical structure of man, and such 

 contingencies are accordingly found in him having reference 

 to no other end: but are they found in the ape ? — no. Were 

 they necessary to the development of the mental faculties 

 of the ape? — no. In these, therefore, and in such like par- 

 ticulars of mechanical structure as have a direct or remote 

 reference to the employment of mind, the ape is perhaps as 

 far removed from us in material formation as any other of 

 the class. 



The occipital foramen in the apes is placed farther back 

 than in man, consequently when they stand perfectly erect, 

 the head is no longer in equilibrio, and the eyes are directed 



