BIMANA. 47 



possessing but little mobility or extent, does not increase the intensity of 

 sounds, and yet, of all animals, he best distinguishes the various degrees of 

 intonation. His nostrils, more complicated than those of the Monkey, are 

 less so than those of all other genera; and yet he appears to be the only 

 animal whose sense of smell is sufficiently delicate to be affected by un- 

 pleasant odours. Delicacy of smell must have some influence on that of 

 taste, and independently of this Man must have some advantage in this re- 

 spect over other animals, those at least whose tongues are covered with 

 scales. Lastly, the nicety of his tact results, both from the delicacy of his 

 teguments, and the absence of all insensible parts, as well as from the form 

 of his hand, which is better adapted than that of any other animal for suiting 

 itself to every little superficial inequality. 



Man is pre-eminently distinguished in the organ of his voice; of all the 

 Mammalia, he alone possesses the faculty of articulating sounds, its probable 

 causes being the form of his mouth and the great mobility of his lips. 

 From this results his most invaluable mode of communication, for of all the 

 signs which can be conveniently employed for the transmission of ideas, 

 variations of sound are those wliich. can be perceived at the greatest dis- 

 tance, and are the most extensive in their sphere of operation. 



The whole of his structure, even to the heart and great vessels, appears 

 to have been framed with a view to a vertical position. The heart is placed 

 obliquely, on the diaphragm, and its point inclines to the left, thereby oc- 

 casioning a distribution of the aorta, dlff"eringfrom that of most quadrupeds. 



The natural food of man, judging from his structure, appears to consist 

 of the fruits, roots, and other succulent parts of vegetables; his hands offer 

 him every facility for gathering them; his short, and but moderately strong 

 jaws on the one hand, and his canini being equal in length to the remaining 

 teeth, and his tubercular molares on the other, would allow him neither to 

 feed on grass nor to devour flesh, were these aliments not previously pre- 

 pared by cooking. Once, however, possessed of fire, and those arts by 

 which he is aided in seizing animals or killing them at a distance, every 

 living being was rendered subservient to his nourishment, thereby giving 

 him the means of an infinite multiplication of his species. 



To complete the hasty sketch of the anatomical structure of Man requi- 

 site for this introduction, we will add, that he has thirty-two vertebrae, of 

 •which seven belong to the neck, twelve to the back, five to the loins, five 

 to the sacrum, and three to the coccyx. Seven pairs of his ribs are united 

 with the sternum by elongated cartilages, and are called true ribs; the five 

 following pairs are denominated false ones. His adult cranium is formed 

 of eight bones; an occipitalis, two ossa temporis, two parietalia, and the 

 frontal, ethmoidal and sphenoidal bones. The bones of his face are foiu-- 

 teen in number, two maxillaries, two ossa malse, each of which joins the 

 temporal to the maxillary bone of its own side by a kind of handle called 

 the zygomatic arch; two nasal bones, two ossa palati behind the palate, a 

 vomer between the nostrils, two turbinated bones of the nose in the nos- 

 trils, two lacbi7mals (unguis) in the internal angles of the orbits and the 



