224 LECTURE VIII. 



gapj as seen in most apes ; the superior incisors are stunted^ 

 tlie lower projecting nearly horizontally^ in shorty according to 

 the dental formation^ the ]jrosimice seem to belong to the in- 

 sectivorous mammaha. Also, with regard to cerebral structure^ 

 they ajDproach the insectivora ; they possess no posterior lobe, 

 but an olfactory bulb, not possessed by the former ; they have, 

 however, like the apes, a Sylvian fissure. The prosimice are 

 usually considered as a sub-order, from the formation of the 

 limbs, which certainly are simious ; but as, despite the re- 

 semblance of limbs, insectivora are separated from carnivora, 

 the prosimige might also be separated from the ape, and placed 

 among the insectivora. Whilst, therefore, many naturalists 

 look upon the prosimics as a family of the primates or quadru- 

 mana, and others make a sub-order of them, we might, on the 

 ground of their dental and cerebral structure, claim for them 

 a separate order. 



The same conditions occur in mankind. The chief differ- 

 ences consist in the structure of the skull, brain, and teeth ; 

 whilst the differences in the extremities, though sufficiently 

 characteristic, occupy, as regards importance, only a secondary 

 rank. The great preponderance of the cranium over the facial 

 part, the development of the anterior lobes and the convolu- 

 tions, the serried teeth, would alone secure for man a position 

 above the apes, such as is assigned to the latter above the pro- 

 simice. When to this is added the peculiar structure of the feet, 

 a distinction which is not obliterated by the prehensile foot of 

 the gorilla, the separation of the human genus from the ape is 

 as justifiable as the establishment of a separate order for the 

 jjilioddce, which, as regards cerebral and dental structure, be- 

 long to the carnivora, but claim a separation on account of the 

 development of their extremities. 



Our opinion as regards the classification of mankind is, that 

 it is of the same value as that of the apes, and that both be- 

 long to a common type in the series of mammals. 



It may be said that no modern author lays such stress as we 

 do upon the zoological differences prevailing among mankind ; 

 for the sub-class which Owen would create for it, is, with the 

 material facts of cerebral formation upon which it was founded. 



