LECTURE VI. 151 



find many transitions to the human structure. The canine 

 tooth generally rises a little above the level of the others ; but 

 frequently it is considerably higher, and in closing the mouth 

 is received into an imperfect gap formed by the summits of the 

 opposite teeth. We moreover observe, though rarely, such 

 gaps in human skulls, otherwise perfectly normal, as in the 

 Kafiir skull from the Erlangen Collection, figured in Wagner's 

 Atlas of Comparative Anatomy, and which we here reproduce. 

 (See fig. 51.) A series of skulls exhibiting similar abnormities, 

 with such occurring in other parts, might afford some indica- 

 tions as to the original stock ; just as Darwin has directed 

 attention to the dark transversal rings sometimes observed on 

 the feet of horses, which apparently indicate descent from a 

 stock common to the zebra, quagga, and other striped wild 

 species of horses ; so might the occurrence of dental gaps 

 among Kafiirs and other inferior races indicate their earlier 

 common origin. We mvist, however, not infer that an unbroken 

 row of teeth is a distinctive human character. Thus in the 

 anoplotherium, a pachydermatous fossil animal, found near 

 Montmartre, there may be seen a perfectly unbroken row of 

 teeth formed of incisors, canines, and molars. This, at any 

 rate, proves that an even set of teeth does not form a distinc- 

 tive human character. 



The lower jaw is in the anthropoid apes massive, and the 

 horizontal arm much longer, broader, and stronger, than in 

 man ; but the projection which forms the chin is absent. The 

 chin may therefore be considered as a human character, 

 though it recedes gradually in the lower prognathous races 

 approaching the ape type. 



The double curvature which is so striking in the vertebral 

 column of man, is entirely lost in the ape, where the spinous 

 processes of the cervical vertebrae are longer, stronger, and 

 appear simple at the points, whilst in man they are divided 

 by a shallow groove. 



The Pelvis presents great variations. However narrow and 

 elongated the human pelvis may be, it never, in this respect, 

 resembles that of the ape, in which the iliac bones rise verti- 

 cally and incline to the sacrum, whilst in man they spread out 



