l6 TIu Descent of Man. Part T. 



be their origin in many cases. On the other hand, Prof. L. Meyer, 

 in an able paper recently published,'' maintains that the whole 

 case is one of mere variability ; and that the projections are not 

 real ones, but are due to the internal cartilage on each Bide of 

 the points not having been fully developed. I am quite ready 

 to admit that this is the correct explanation in many instances, 

 as in those figured by Prof. Meyer, in which there are several 

 minute points, or the whole margin is sinuous. I have myself 

 Been, through the kindness of Dr. L. Down, the ear of a micro- 

 cephalous idiot, on which there is a projection on the outside 

 of the helix, and not on the inward folded edge, so that this 

 point can have no relation to a former apex of the ear. Never- 

 theless in some cases, my original view, that the points 

 are vestiges of the tips of formerly erect and pointed ears, 

 still seems to me probable. I think so from the frequency of 

 their occurrence, and from the general correspondence in 

 position with that of the tip of a pointed ear. In one case, of 

 which a photograph has been sent me, the projection is so large, 

 that supposing, in accordance with Prof. Meyer's view, the ear 

 to be made perfect by the equal development of the cartilage 

 throughout the whole extent of the margin, it would have 

 covered fully one-third of the whole ear. Two cases have been 

 communicated to me, one in North America, and the other in 

 England, in which the upper margin is not at all folded inwards, 

 but is pointed, so that it closely resembles the pointed ear of an 

 ordinary quadruped in outline. In one of these cases, which was 

 that of a young child, the father compared the ear with the 

 drawing which I have given'* of the ear of a monkey, the 

 Cynopitliecus niger, and says that their outlines are closely 

 similar. If, in these two cases, the margin had been folded 

 inwards in the normal manner, an inward projection must have 

 been formed. I may add that in two other cases the outline still 

 remains somewhat pointed, although the margin of the upper 

 part of the ear is normally folded inwards — in one of them, 

 however, very narrowly. The following woodcut (No. 3) is an 

 accurate copy of a photogi'aph of the fcetus of an orang (kindly 

 sent me by Dr. Nitsche), in which it may be seen how different the 

 pointed outhne of the ear is at this period from its adult condition, 

 when it bears a close general resemblance to that of man. It is 

 evident that the folding over of the tip of such an ear, unless it 

 changed greatly during its further development, would give rise 

 to a point projecting inwards. On the whole, it still seems to 



" UeberdasDar-v/''<ichcSyiitzohr, " 'The Expression of the Emo- 

 irchiv fiir Path. ^nat. end ?hys, tioos,' p. 136. 

 .871, p. 485. 



