138 LECTURE VI. 



to bring his vertebral column into a horizontal position parallel 

 with the ground. In the ape both limbs are either of equal 

 length, or the leg is shorter than the arm, which in some species 

 reaches an extraordinary length. Thus the orang shews his 

 affinity to the gibbon (Hylobates) , a native of the same country, 

 by the length of the arms, which reach down to the ankle ; 

 whilst in the chimpanzee they reach only the middle of the leg, 

 in the gorilla the knee, and in man only the middle of the thigh. 

 On the other hand, the articular surfaces of the arm, specially 

 at the wrist, are so arranged that a much greater mobihty for- 

 wards and backwards is effected. Nevertheless, the long arms 

 as well as the legs of the ape, though they are deficient in mus- 

 cular rotundity, possess much greater strength than those of 

 man : thus it is a gymnastic feat for a man to hang for a con- 

 siderable time, or to draw himself up by the arm ; but with the 

 ape this is an ordinary and by no means fatiguing posture. 

 In the quadruped every limb shares almost in the same degree 

 the burden of the body. Only leaping animals, such as hares 

 and kangaroos, resemble man in some degree in the length and 

 strength of the legs, even much excelling him, as the short- 

 ened fore legs are out of proportion to the colossal hind legs. 

 Here, however, a number of organic conditions cooperate to 

 prevent any closer comparison. The great development of the 

 tail in leaping animals, as a sort of balancing pole ; the deve- 

 lopment of the foot; the simple, long, metatarsal bones and 

 toes, — exhibit a fundamentally difierent type which cannot be 

 compared with that of man. Thus man possesses, as contrasted 

 with the ape, a distinctive character in the strength, rotundity, 

 and length, of the leg ; especially of the thighs, which in most 

 animals are considerably shortened in proportion to the leg. 



On proceeding to a closer examination of the separate parts, 

 the head with its component parts, cranium, and face, first fixes 

 our attention. I have already, in a preceding lecture, pointed 

 out that in man super-position predominates ; while in the ape 

 a juxta-position, or rather a position of one part in front of the 

 other, prevails ; that the (anatomical) face included between 

 the eyebrows and the chin is only a small appendage of the 

 human cranium, which expands in every direction, above the 



