96 H. H. Risley — Prolegomena Anthropologica. [No. 3, 



investigations. Professor Huxley* has shown that in all important rela- 

 tions of number, arrangement and form, the tarsal bones of the gorilla 

 resemble those of man. The only difference is, that in the gorilla the 

 metatarsal bones are relatively longer and more slender, while the great 

 toe is comparatively shorter and weaker, and along with its metatarsal 

 bones is joined to the base of the foot by a looser and more pliable joint. 

 But although the gorilla's hind member must be admitted to be struc- 

 turally a true foot, its functions differ from those of the human foot, 

 and this fact alone raises the morphological status of man far above 

 that of the highest apes. Status in this sense depends upon specialisa- 

 tion of function. The more purposes a given member has to discharge 

 the lower is its morphological rank. Thus a man's foot can only be 

 used for walking ; while a gorilla's foot, although a true foot in virtue 

 of its anatomical character, is also a prehensile organ and therefore less 

 specialised and of a lower type. Apes walk either on the outside edge of 

 their feet, or, like the ourang-outaug and chimpansee, on the upper surfaces 

 of their toes, which are folded down when the erect position is assumed. f 

 Differences of habit again lead to modifications of structure. The 

 upright position leads to the shortening of the arms, which are no 

 longer used for locomotion, though they retain their power of prehen- 

 sion, and causes the pelvis to asurne the dish-like form adapted to 

 support the intestines. The relatively capacious skull is evenly balanced 

 on the vertebral column, and if, as is the case with the Negro, the jaws 

 project greatly, the correlative development of the cerebellum serves to 

 maintain equilibrium. 



Embryological differences must not be left out of consideration. 

 Eighty years ago Johann Friedrich Meckel, of Halle, discovered that 

 during the period of immaturity, which lasts from the fertilization of 

 the ovum to the first manifestations of sexual aptitudes, every animal 

 passes through all the various stages of development which characterise 

 the lower forms of life during their whole existence. At birth the 

 difference between the human infant and the monkey is comparatively 

 small. It takes an expert to distinguish the skull of a child from that 

 of a chimpansee. In point of size there is little to choose ; but an ape's 

 brain does not grow much. Although it resembles the human brain in 

 structure, its development follows quite a different course. The brain 

 of the ape has, as a rule, stopped growing by the time the animal has 

 got its second set of teeth, which is just the time when the real develop- 

 ment of a child's brain begins. Per contra, the facial bones of the ape 

 grow more rapidly, so that the biggest monkeys have the brain of an 



* Huxley, The Place of Man in Nature, p. 105. 

 f Darwin, Descent of Man, i, p. 120. 



