Skeleton of the Gorilla. 45 



existence confirmed, by my friend Dr. James Robertson, 

 with whose permission this staioment is now made. I have 

 also demonstrated to Professor M'Coy the exact origin and 

 insertion of these several muscles. The reviewer above 

 alluded to disposes of me in the following manner : ' The 

 tables given at page 14 have, at first sight, the con- 

 vincing aspect of anything taking the form of a mathe- 

 matical demonstration ; but as the premises have been 

 shown to be incorrect, it is needless to follow out the working 

 of the problem.' jS'ow, I have shoiun you that the premises 

 are true. But is the foot of the gorilla as prehensile as such 

 an arrangement of bones and muscles would imply ? Du 

 Chaillu, speaking of a young one, says : ' He would come 

 sometimes quite readily, to eat out of my hand, but while I 

 stood by him would suddenly put out his foot and grasp my 

 leg. Several times he tore my pantaloons in this manner. 

 Again speaking of another : ' Several times I had narrow 

 escapes of a grip from her strong great toe.' Of the adult 

 he says : 'The foot of the gorilla presents a great likeness 

 to the foot of man.' In another place he has : ' The sole of 

 the foot looks somewhat like a giant hand of immense power 

 andgTasp. The transverse wrinkles show the frequency and 

 freedom of movement of the two joints of the great toe, 

 proving that they have a power of grasp.* Of the Urect 

 Position said to be assumed by the gorilla. — It will be as well 

 first to glance at the human skeleton, and see what are the 

 provisions there made for such an attitude. The transverse 

 vertical plane of the centre of gravity of the human body 

 passes through the condyles of the occipital hone, then 

 through the alternately curved spine to the joint between 

 the last lumbar vertebra and the expanded sacrum ; con- 

 tinued downwards, it runs through the heads of the thigh 

 bones, knee joints, and ankle joints to the feet. The longitud- 

 incd vertical plane must pass also along the spine, and the 

 horizontcd p>lane of the centre of gravity has been found by 

 Weber to pass likewise through the same lumbosacral arti- 

 culation ; hence the erect attitude is natural to man. The 

 skeleton of the gorilla is, as has been seen, not adapted to 



* '• The disposition of the hallux as a hind thumb with the concomi- 

 tant modification of the tarsal bones, are as strongly marked in the 

 Gorilla as in any lower Quadrumane, and the contrast between the foot- 

 structures of the Gorilla and negro is as great."— -Pro/. Owen, Trans. 

 Zcolog. Soc. vol. v. part iv. page 269. 



