APES AND LEMURS 15 



eyes, it examines things by feeling them with its 

 hands. 



How plainly a new avenue from the outer world 

 into its mind has been opened by those fingers ! 

 But how about scratching ? What would be the gain 

 of having higher susceptibilities and keener percep- 

 tions if they only aggravated the triumph of the 

 insulting flea ? Nay, this disaster has been averted 

 by reserving a good sharp claw on the forefinger 

 (not the thumb) of each hind hand. 



The old naturalists called the apes and lemurs 

 Quadrumana, the " four-handed," and separated 

 the Bimana, with one species — namely, Homo sapiens. 

 Now we have anatomy cited to belittle the difference 

 between a hand and a fbot, and geology importuned 

 to show us the missing link, pending which an order 

 has been instituted roomy enough to hold monkeys, 

 gorillas, and men. It is a strange perversity. How 

 much more fitting it were to bow in reverent ignor- 

 ance before the perfect hand, taken up from the 

 ground, no more to dull its percipient surfaces on 

 earth and stones and bark, but to minister to its 

 lord's expanding mind and obey his creative will, 

 while his frame stands upright and firm upon a 

 single pair of true feet, with their toes all in one 

 rank. 



