ORDER QUADRUMANA. 297 



the position of his occipital foramen, walk upright, let us 

 consider him in his entire organization. We are not yet 

 acquainted with all the immense resources of nature. We 

 know not yet to what degree they can augment and utilize 

 those organs, which exist but rudimentally in the majority 

 of animals, so as to form a counterbalance to other organs, 

 perhaps too emphatically developed. In fact, the organi- 

 zation of the Pongo, independently of the organ in question, 

 proclaims a biped animal. The pelvis is not completely 

 parallel to the spine. The os calcaneum has a facette, on 

 which the animal may, like man, find a solid seat. The 

 arms are of an excessive length, nearly reaching to the mal- 

 leolus externus. This last-mentioned character, to which 

 little attention has hitherto been paid, appears to me one 

 of the great indications of the capacity of biped motion. 

 The Simiae must undoubtedly avail themselves of the length 

 of their anterior extremities, and employ them as a balanc- 

 ing power to preserve or to regain their equilibrium. 



" In fine, a peculiar mode of organization in this animal, 

 is found to remedy the inconvenience for biped motion, 

 resulting from the length of the muzzle, and the retire- 

 ment of the occipital bone. In all the known mammalia, 

 the spinal apophyses of the cervical vertebrae, are shorter than 

 those of the lumbar and dorsal vertebras. It is otherwise in 

 this Simia Wurmii, and according to the judicious remark 

 of Cuvier, the apophyses of the cervical vertebrae possess 

 this remarkable length for the purpose of forming strong 

 and multiplied points of attachment to the large muscles of 

 the neck, which extend over the occipital crests. It is thus 

 by another system of mechanism, that nature enables 

 this animal to sustain its head on the spinal column, 

 and consequently to support itself and move in the erect 

 posture." 



Notwithstanding the acuteness of these observations, 

 and the high authority from which they emanate, we can- 

 not help believing that the erect position is no more natu- 



