THE PECULIAR CONFORMATION OF MAN. 



115 



By means of his industrj', Man commonly enjoys the advan- 

 tao't^s of a regular diet. With liira a uniform attachment to the 

 other sex supplies the place of that periodical rut observed in many 

 other animals. The male organ of generation is not sustained by 

 a bony axis ; the prepuce is not attached to the abdomen ; and the 

 .penis is therefore pendulous. Numerous large veins serve to lead 

 the blood of the testicles back into the general circulation, and 

 contribute towards the moderation of his desires. The matrix 

 of the female is a simple and oval cavity; her mammoe, two in num- 

 ber, are placed upon the breast, and correspond to that facility with 

 which she holds the infant upon her arms. 



On comparing the purely corporeal properties of Man with those of 

 the otlier Mammiferous animals, we thus find that he presents only a few 

 slight differences, insufficient to separate him from their class. Among 

 these, his upright posture is at once the most remarkable and important; 

 for while the quadruped carries the trunk of his body nearly parallel to 

 the ground on four supports, Man rears an upright column erected upon 

 a narrow yet firm basis. 



Those who are disposed to consider the anatomical structure of Man 

 with attention, will readily appreciate the doubtful veracity of the ac- 

 counts of savages found wandering on all-fours in the woods of Europe. 

 Linnseus erroneously considered these as forming a distinct variety of the 

 human race, under the name of Homo ferus letrapus (Linn. Syst. Nat. 

 ed. Gmel. p. 21), of which he enumerates several examples. They 

 were probably only the descendants of some unfortunate outcasts of civil- 

 ized society, abandoned by their parents during the early years of infancy. 

 Indeed, the property of walking upon four feet appears to be so incom- 

 patible with the human organization, that we may safely consider the 

 narrations of Tulpius, Connor, and Cameiarius, to be erroneous in this 

 particular. All the more modern and best authenticated accounts of 

 these savages represent them in every case as walking erect. Among 

 these narrations we shall select, as being most entitled to credit, that of 

 the 3'oung hoy of Aveyron, who resided for a long time in Paris, at the 

 Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, under the care of the celebrated Sicard. 

 His history has been detailed by MM. Bonnaterre and Virey, from the 

 latter of whom we have obtained the following particulars. 



During the year 1795, a naked child was observed searching for acorns 

 and roots in the woods of La Caune, Department of Tarn. He fled at 

 the approach of strangers, but was taken, and afterwards escaped. Fif- 

 teen months afterwards he was retaken by three hunters, although he 

 had climbed a tree, and was conducted to La Caune. He again escaped, 

 and lived at large for six months, exposed to the cold of one of the most 

 rigorous of winters, until at length he was compelled by hunger to enter 

 one of the bouses in the outskirts of the town of Saint-Sernin, with only 

 a slight remnant of his former garments. He was offered some potatoes, 

 which he devoured raw, as well as chestnuts and acorns. He refused 

 every other kind of food, such as flesh, raw or boiled, bread, apples, pears, 

 grapes, nuts, or oranges, smelling them carefully before tasting them. 

 As he uttered no articulate sound, he was supposed to be naturally dumb. 

 He seemed terrified, and had apparently no other design than that of eat- 

 ing and then fleeing again to the woods. He could scarcely endure 

 clothes, refused to sleep in bed, and seemed devoid of every feehng of 

 decency or cleanliness, qualities which appear to be peculiar to the 

 highly-civilized Man. 



This lad was seen by M. Virey at Paris, at the age of eleven or twelve 

 years. He was then strong and well formed for his age, and though his 

 new mode of life had rendered him rather fat and unwieldy, he was still able 

 to run very fast. He walked erect, balancing himself with his arms, and 

 remained nearly all day upon the ground in a sitting posture, eating con- 

 tinually while awake, and sleeping immediately afterwards. His skin, 

 which appeared brown and dirty when he was first taken, became white 

 after being washed. His nails were very long, and his face almost con- 

 cealed by long flaxen ringlets. On being taken to Paris, he was attacked 

 with the small-pox in a mild form, from which he soon recovered, having 

 refused to take anything during the entire course of the malady. He ap- 

 peared at times to have spasmodic movements, as if he had been very 

 much frightened. His teeth were nearly bare to their alveolae, and, being 

 of a careless temper, liking nothing but eating and sleeping, he had grown 

 rather corpulent. All his movements were hasty but sure. He could 

 not swim, and did not usually climb trees, unless compelled by the ap- 

 proach of danger. Once he leaped from the second story of a house in 

 order to flee to the woods. His hands were by no means callous or hard ; 

 and his fingers were surprisingly flexible. Although he appeared not 

 to dread the most extreme cold or heat, yet he seemed to prefer the 



cool shade in summer and the fire in winter. His skin was covered 

 with many scars and marks of burns. When he perspired, he strewed 

 dust upon his skin, not liking the moisture. Though fond of sleep- 

 ing, his slumbers were never profound ; and when at rest, he gathered 

 himself up hke a ball, rocking himself by way of assisting his slumbers. 

 He hated children of his own age, yet he was not ill-natured, and never 

 attempted any mischief. Though innocent and foolish, he could not be 

 considered as imbecile ; his character was very mild, but he would not 

 endure contradiction. He was frank in his manners, and excessively 

 selfish, though simple and confined in his notions. 



This savage continued always upon his guard, and showed his fondness 

 for solitude by seeming annoyed at the presence of strangers. He had 

 not learned to throw stones; and, without being actually timorous, did not 

 exhibit courage superior to other children of his own age. When enraged, 

 he raised a blustering cry, or a murmur in the throat, and had, when first 

 taken, some natural signs of resentment, fear, and other passions. He 

 had no defect in his organs of speech, but his excessive want of attention, 

 and ignorance of the vernacular language, rendered him careless on the sub- 

 ject : at length he became able to comprehend many things, but without at- 

 tempting to speak himself. This young Aveyronese was very much dis- 

 posed to steal fruit and other articles of food, but attached no value to any- 

 thing except it contributed towards his immediate natural wants. He con- 

 tinued in a half-savage state, without ever learning to speak, although 

 much trouble had been taken to instruct him. 



Many other stories are quoted in the foreign journals of savages found 

 in Hungary and elsewhere, but they offer nothing remarkable. The au- 

 thentic instances of girls found in the wild state are perfectly analogous to 

 that of the boy of Aveyron, witli the exception that these females exhi- 

 bited some marks of modesty, in which he was wholly deficient. 



It is therefore absurd to maintain, with Moscati and other writers, that 

 Man is formed for walking on all-fours, a position to which the objections 

 already stated are insurmountable obstacles. This supposition must be 

 classed with that equally probable one of Adrian Spigel, who attributed 

 the habits of reflection peculiar to Man to the size of the muscles upon 

 which he usually sits, and the consequent ease of that posture. 



The form of the pelvis is one of the most important consequences of 

 our upright position. Its direction is oblic[ue in the Apes and quadrupeds, 

 and the os coccygis, which turns inwards, and is wholly concealed with 

 us, usually appears externally with them in the form of a tail. This ob- 

 liquity' of the OS coccygis is one of the chief causes of the difficulty in hu- 

 man parturition. " Aussi la direction du vagin, chez les femelles d'ani- 

 maux, est parallelc a I'axe des vertebres sacrees ; ces femelles accouchent 

 et urinent en arriere ; les males s'accouplent aussi a elles par derriere (Ve- 

 nus prEepostera) ; il n'en est pas ainsi des singes, et surtout de la femme, 

 dont la station, plus ou moins rapprochee de la perpendiculaire, ramene 

 en devant I'ouverture du vagin. La direction du canal utero-vaginal est, 

 en ce cas, oblique de devant en arriere, d'oii il suit que I'ecoulcment des 

 urines, des menstrues, a heu en devant, de meme que I'accouplement 

 (Venus antica), et le part est plus laborieux." This inconvenience would 

 not occur, had the human species been supplied with a tail and went on 

 all-fours, as certain credulous travellers have related. The other ani- 

 mals are never afflicted with inguinal hernia, which is the occasional con- 

 sequence of the downward pressure of the intestines, and the upright 

 position of Man. 



The suspensory muscle of the eye-lid is not found in the human species, 

 as it was not the intention of Nature that Man should keep his eyes di- 

 rected towards the earth, like the Ruminating animals. He is also destitute 

 of the panniculus carnnsus, or sub-cutaneous muscle, the pancreas Asellii, 

 the corpus Highmorii, the hepato-cystic ducts, the nictitating membrane, and 

 the incisive fossa behind the upper teeth. The cervical ligament also has 

 not been assigned to us, as our upright position would" render it use- 

 less. 



The great size of the human head and the weakness of the arms are 

 obstacles which prevent Man from swimming naturally like the quadru- 

 peds. The infant, different from the young of other animals, sinks with its 

 head foremost, and even the adult will swim more easily with his back 

 downwards. It is evident, therefore, that our species was never intended 

 for an aquatic or amphibious life, as some have supposed. The accounts of 

 Mermen and Mermaids found in various places, either resolve themselves 

 into absolute imposture, or the objects erroneously described were merely 

 Seals or Lamantines. They are generally described with palmated hands, 

 like a duck, short arms, flat noses, the figure of a beast, a body termi- 

 nated with two paws or a forked tail, the skin covered with scattered 

 hairs of a gray or brown colour, — characters which agree sufficiently with 

 those of a Seal, to warrant the above conjecture 



