LECTURE VT. 



137 



the foi-e legs. The greater the mass which the pelvis has to 

 support, the broader and more dish-shaped does it become. 



Fig. 40. Pelvis of a Male Chimpanzee, reduced to the same length as the 

 human pelvis, fig. 37. The description is the same. 



Thus we see in the female, besides its relation to parturition, 

 that the pelvis is also large, because periodically it has to bear, 

 in addition, the contents of the. gravid uterus. To the width 

 of the pelvis must be added the powerful muscles of the 

 haunches and the buttocks, which proceed from the pelvis to the 

 thighs. No animal presents such a rotundity and fulness of 

 the buttocks ; no ape such a cylindrical, gradually diminishing 

 thigh ; and we are justified in saying that man only possesses 

 thighs. The muscles of the leg are in man so accumulated as 

 to form a calf, whilst they are in the ape more equally distri- 

 buted; still transitions are not wanting, since one of the 

 greatest characteristics of the Negro consists in his calfless 

 leg. 



The proportions of individual parts of the body, and specially 



of the limbs, are not less worthy of notice. The arm of man is 



. proportionally shorter, the leg longer and stronger, than in the 



ape. If a man is placed in the posture of a quadruped, he 



must stretch out his arms ; but he must bend his legs if he is 



