92 



PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION. 



[PAET 



nearest to man, but they still exhibit the above differences. 

 The gorilla 1 presents as regards the form of the hand a greatei 

 resemblance to man than the chimpanzee, orang and gibboi 

 It has only eight carpal bones ; flattened nails ; the lenj 

 of the hand is less, the breadth proportionally greater than ii 

 other apes. 2 



There are many narrations of past and modern times of mei 

 who were said to resemble apes. Thus, their existence ii 

 Tschittagong is still believed in India ; they are said also 

 inhabit the region between Palmo, Tschumbulpur, and th< 

 sources of the Nerbudda. 3 We cannot be surprised at such 

 belief, since the ape appears as a caricature of man. Some 

 negroes consider apes as men, who will not speak in order nc 

 to be compelled to labour. It is scarcely necessary to add tl 

 hitherto all stories about ape-like men have come to nothing 

 The truth is limited to the known fact, that the negro mosl 

 resembles the ape; here we intend to compare their typi( 

 peculiarities. Assertions like those of Nott and Gliddon, 4 

 the Hottentots and Bushmen are morally and physically bul 

 little distinguished from the orang-utang, and do not diffei 

 more from it than the former from the European, are shameless 

 exaggerations, 5 which need not occupy us, being advanced ii 

 the interest of the slave-holder and slave-dealer, and accepl 

 only in America. Thus it will probably be with the tails 

 1 to 2 inches in length) which lately Koegel 6 asserts to have 

 seen on some inhabitants of the Sunda Islands, specially 

 among the Dajaks, and also in the Moluccas. Should this b( 

 confirmed, it may perhaps be nothing more than an abnorau 

 elongation of the os coccygis. Bhrenberg 7 treats of the fr 

 quency of confounding apes with men, and of the cynocephah 

 of the Egyptians. 



1 " Gorilla gina," Geoff. St. Hil. 



2 " Comptes rendus, xxxvi, p. 925, 1853. 



3 " Ausland," p. 1200, 1855. 



4 " Types of mankind/' pp. 182 and 457, 1854. 



5 Many other exaggerations are found in that work. Thus, it is assert 

 that Africa south of 10 N., is only inhabited by men whose intellect is 

 dark as their skin, and whose cranial formation renders every expectation 

 a future improvement an Utopian dream. 



fi " Ausland," p. 1103, 1858. 



7 " Abh. der K. Akad., der Wiss.," 1833. 



