EVOLUTION OF THE HUMAN SPECIES 169 



in the position of the climbing ape's, this arrangement 

 would be disadvantageous, for the hair as a rain-shed- 

 ding thatch would be effective only upon the upper arm, 

 while the hairs upon the forearm would catch the 

 rain. In a word, this vestigial coat indicates in the 

 clearest possible manner that the ancestor of the human 

 species was not only hairy, but also arboreal in its mode 

 of life. 



Every human infant is bow-legged at birth, and the 

 natural position of its curved limbs is like that of the 

 gorilla's, for the soles of the feet are turned toward one 

 another. Again, the so-called great toe is at first shorter 

 than the others, and for a time it retains the power of 

 free movement that indicates a handlike character of 

 the lower limb in the ancestor. Many savage human 

 races, however, whose feet remain unshod, make use of 

 the primitive grasping power of the foot which the 

 higher races lose completely. An Australian and Poly- 

 nesian can pick up small objects with the foot very 

 much as we may with the hand. 



Among the wonderful reminiscent characters dis- 

 played by the human infant is the firm clasping power 

 of the hand, which it possesses for a time after birth 

 and which enables it to hang suspended for several 

 minutes from a stick placed in its grasp. The muscles 

 which enable the infant to do this gradually dwindle, 

 so that the two-year-old child can hang suspended for 

 only a few seconds. This grasping muscle is a heritage 

 from the ape, where there is an obvious necessity for the 

 newborn individual to have a firm hold upon the hairy 

 coat of its tree-climbing mother. When the newborn 

 child hangs in this way, it bends its curved lower limbs 



