114 



ORDER BIMANA.— GENUS HOMO. 



favorable to equilibrium. The necks of the thigh-bones form, with 

 the bodies of these bones, an angle, which increases the separation 

 of the feet, and enlarges the base of the entire body. Finally, the 

 head, by this upright posture, is balanced upon the trunk, from its ar- 

 ticulation being placed above the centre of gravity of the entire mass. 



When a Man makes the attempt, he cannot walk conveniently on 

 ail-fours. His feet being short and inflexible, and his thigh too 

 long, the knees are thrown against the ground. His broad 

 shoulders and arms, placed far apart from the medial line, are 

 but ill adapted for sustaining the fore part of the body. The 

 rhomboid muscle which, like a girth in quadrupeds, suspends the 

 trunk between the shoulder-blades, is smaller in Man than among 

 any of them. His head is heavier on account of the size of the 

 brain, and the smallness of the sinuses or cavities in the bones of 

 the skull, yet the means of supporting it are most feeble ; for 

 Man has not the cervical ligament of quadrupeds, and the verte- 

 brse of his neck are not disposed so as to prevent it from bending 

 forwards. At the very most, he can but sustain his head on a 

 level with the spine, and then his eyes and mouth are directed 

 downwards to the earth, so that he cannot see before him. On 

 the contrary, the arrangement of these organs is perfect when he 

 returns to the upright posture. 



The arteries which serve to convey the blood to the brain are 

 not subdivided, as in many quadrupeds, and the blood necessary for 

 so large an organ would be poured into it with too great a velocity, 

 so that frequent apoplexies would be the consequence of his persist- 

 ing in a horizontal position. 



Man is, therefore, formed for resting on his feet only in an up- 

 right posture. He thus preserves the entire freedom of his hands 

 for the arts and occupations of life, and his organs of sense are 

 placed in the most favorable position for receiving external im- 

 pressions. 



His hands, which derive so many advantages from their freedom 

 of movement, are not less favored in respect to their structure. 

 The thumbs, which are longer in proportion than those of the Apes, 

 impart in consequence a greater facility for holding small objects ; 

 while every finger, excepting the third or ring-finger, is capable of 

 moving separately — a peculiarity which cannot be found in any 

 other animal, not even in the Apes. As the nails protect one side 

 only of the extremity of each finger, they supply a point of attach- 

 ment to the organs of touch, without depriving them of any portion 

 of their delicacy. Again, the arms which support these hands 

 possess a solid point of attachment in their broad shoulder-blades, 

 their strong clavicles, and the general disposition of the shoulder- 

 joint. 



Man is thus highly favored in respect to his fitness for dexterous 

 or skilful movements, but these qualities have been assigned at the 

 expense of his strength. His speed in running is much less than 

 that of other animals of the same size. He is likewise without 

 offensive arms ; his jaws are flat, his canine teeth do not project, 

 and his nails are not crooked ; while his body, destitute of hair on 

 the back and sides, is absolutely unprotected from tlie inclemencies 

 of the atmosphere. Finally, he is a longer period of time than any 

 other animal in acquiring that degree of strength necessary to en- 

 able him to provide for his own maintenance and defence. 



This natural feebleness has, however, one important advantage, 

 tliat of compelling him to resort to the resources within himself, 

 and particularly to that intelligence which has been assigned to 

 him in a supereminent degree. 



No quadruped approaches to Man, in respect to the size and the 

 number of convolutions in the hemispheres of his brain, that is to 

 say, in that portion of the organ which serves as the principal in- 

 strument to his intellectual operations, and the hinder part of that 

 organ even extends backwards so as to cover the cerebellum. The 

 very shape of the skull proclaims the magnitude of the brain, while 

 the smallness of his face announces how little that part of the 

 nervous system, influenced by the external senses, is predominant 

 in the human species. 



The external senses of Man are all of medium power, yet they 

 are at the same time of great delicacy, and in due proportion to 

 each other. His eyes are directed forwards, and he cannot see on 

 both sides at once like many quadrupeds, yet their position imparts 

 more unity to the results of his vision, and serves to direct his atten- 

 tion more especially to sensations of this kind. The eye-ball and iris 



can vary their dimensions but slightly, and this confines the sphere 

 of his vision to a limited distance and a determinate intensity of 

 light. His external ear cannot move to any great extent, and its 

 small size scarcely augments the intensity of sounds ; yet he is better 

 able than any other animal to appreciate minute differences of tone. 

 His nostrils, more complicated than those of the Apes, are less so 

 than in any other genus, yet he appears to be the only animal whose 

 sense of smell is sufficiently delicate to be aflTected by disagreeable 

 odours. This delicacy of smell would lead, us to expect a corre- 

 sponding delicacy in his organs of taste, and Man must possess 

 considerable advantages in this respect at least over those animals 

 having the tongue covered with scales. Finally, the fineness of his 

 touch results from the thinness of the skin, the absence of all insen- 

 sible parts, as well as the form of a hand, better adapted than that 

 of any other animal for accommodating itself to the minute inequa- 

 lities of surfaces. 



Elan enjoys a peculiar pre-eminence in respect to his organs of 

 voice. He alone of all Mammalia can produce articulate sounds, 

 to which the form of his mouth, and the great flexibility of his lips, 

 alike contribute. This means of communicating liis ideas is to him 

 of the greatest value, the various modifications of sound being em- 

 ployed most conveniently for this purpose, as they may be perceived 

 at greater distances and in more directions at the same time than 

 any other signs. 



It would appear that even the position of the heart and the larger 

 vessels is suited to the upright posture. The heart is placed ob- 

 liquely upon the diaphragm, and its point directed to the left side, 

 which arrangement requires a disposition of the aorta diff'erent 

 from that in most quadrupeds. 



Man seems formed for feeding chiefly upon fruits, roots, and 

 other succulent parts of plants. His hands enable him to gather 

 them with ease; while his short and comparatively weak jaws, his 

 canine teeth not projecting beyond the line of the remaining teeth, 

 and his tuberculous molars would permit him neither to pasture 

 upon grass, nor to devour flesh, did he not prepare his food by "a 

 culinary process. Once, however, in possession of fire, and a know- 

 ledge of those arts which have enabled him to seize or kill at a dis- 

 tance the other animals, all living beings can be made to contribute 

 towards his maintenance. This circumstance has further enabled 

 him to increase the numbers of his species without any apparent 

 limit. 



The digestive organs of Man correspond with those of mastica- 

 tion. His stomach is simple ; the intestinal canal of medium 

 length ; the larger intestines well defined ; the caecum short, thick, 

 and augmented with a narrow appendage ; the liver is divided 

 only into two lobes and a lobule ; and the epiploon hangs before 

 the intestines even as far as the pelvis. 



To render this abridged statement of the anatomical structure of 

 Man more complete, it may be sufficient to add, that he has thirty- 

 two vertebree, seven of which are cervical, twelve dorsal, five 

 lumbar, five sacral, and three coccygeal. Seven pairs of ribs are 

 united to the sternum by cartilaginous appendages, and are termed 

 true ribs, the five following pairs are called false ribs. The cranium 

 of the adult has eight bones, namely, one occipital, forming the 

 base of the skull, two temporal, two parietal, one fronlal, the 

 sethraoid, and the sphenoid. The bones of the face are fourteen in 

 number ; two maxillary ; two jugal, each of which serves to connect 

 the temporal and maxillary bones by a kind of bridge, called the 

 zygomatic arch; two nasal ; two palatine behind the palate; a 

 vomer between the nostrils; two turbinated bones within the 

 nostrils ; two lachrymal at the nasal angles of the eyes ; and the 

 single bone of the lower jaw. Each jaw contains sixteen teeth, 

 four trenchant incisors in front, one pointed canine at each 

 corner, -and ten molars with tuberculous crowns, five on each 

 side, making in all thirty-two teeth. His shoulder-blade has at 

 the end- of its spine or projecting crest, a process called the 

 acromion, to which the clavicle is attached, and, below its articu- 

 lation, there is a point called the coracoid process, for the attach- 

 ment of several muscles. The radius turns completely upon the 

 ulna, on account of its peculiar mode of articulation with the 

 humerus. The carpus has eight bones, four being in each row. 

 the tarsus has seven ; the remaining bones of the hands and 

 feet may be easily counted according to the number of the 

 fingers. 



