1860-61 CONCLUSION OF LECTURE 123 



possessions as long as their strength endured. 

 In compensation for the absence of intellectual 

 power, the inability to put two ideas together, to 

 construct a weapon of defence, or to articulate 

 a word, the gorilla had allotted to him the maxi- 

 mum of physical power. 



Compared to the gorilla, man was physically 

 but a weak and feeble creature, but man possessed 

 the highest type of brain, his whole structure was 

 beautifully balanced, the lower limbs were equal to 

 the upper, the trunk was not disproportioned to the 

 rest, and the structure of the spine, which bore, 

 well poised, that wonderful bony globe which 

 contained the cerebral region, was beautifully ar- 

 ranged. Man was more independent than any 

 other animal ; the backs of the gorilla's hands 

 gave evidence that when he walked on land he 

 was obliged to use his arms as well as his legs 

 for locomotive purposes ; but man, and man 

 alone, could walk erect, and use the upper limbs 

 free and independent of the rest of the body. 



In the summer of this year M. Du Chaillu 

 was a frequent visitor at Sheen Lodge, and 

 Professor Owen remarks on the pleasure which 

 the purchase of the Gorilla Collection by the 

 British Museum had afforded him. ' Those se- 

 lected for the Museum,' he says, ' are the best' 



To his wife, who had gone for a holiday to 

 Boulogne, Owen writes, on August 6, 1861, a 

 long letter, full of particulars of his engagements. 



