s 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



r Al'ES. 



OUADRUMANA. 



APES, MONKEYS, LEMURS. 

 At the head of the Quadrumanous order is a group 

 consisting of the Chimpanzee, the Orang, and the 

 Gibbons, constituting three genera ; and it is among 

 the members of these genera that the nearest ana- 

 tomical approach to the human subject exists ; we 

 say the nearest, for, after ah, important and multi- 

 tudinous are the points of difference. Figures 111, 

 112, and 113, represent, the' skeleton of man, of the 

 chimpanzee, and of the orang. A glance at them 

 will show the degree of their mutual resemblance, 

 and the distance that intervenes between the 

 osseous structure of the two latter and that of the 

 human form. We shall not attempt to enter into 

 minutiae: but some of the more important dis- 

 tinctions may be briefly touched upon. In both 

 the chimpanzee and the orang we see the arms far 

 longer than in man : in the former the hands, the 

 skeleton being erect, reach the knee ; in the latter 

 they nearly reach the ankle-joint. The propor- 

 tionate shortness oi the lower limbs in these animals 

 is very striking. In the chimpanzee, which is more 

 fitted'for the ground than the orang, the feet, or 

 rather hind-paws, are broader and shorter in com- 

 parison, and the thigh bone is secured in the socket 

 by means of a straight ligament (the ligamentum 

 teres), which is wanting in the orang ; and besides 

 the orang, in a few quadrupeds only. The differ- 

 ence in the form of the chest is evident: in the 

 -orang, as in man, the ribs are twelve on each side ; 

 but in the chimpanzee they are thirteen, the num- 

 ber, consequently, of the dorsal vertebrae. In the 

 orang the backward position of the occipital con- 

 dyles (on which the skull rests on the spinal 

 -column), and the weight of the face, which is thus 

 tin-own forward, require a commensurate develop- 

 ment of the spinous processes of the cervical (neck) 

 vertebras ; added to which, the general anterior in- 

 . clination of the vertebras themselves renders the 

 length and robustness of these processes the more 

 imperative. In the chimpanzee the spinous pro- 

 cesses, though necessarily developed, are so in a less 

 decree than in the orang, the anterior inclination 

 of "the cervical vertebras being less decided, and 

 the weight of the face less oppressive. In both 

 animals (and, indeed, in all the ape tribe) the cer- 

 vical region is shorter than in man, and therefore 

 better fitted for sustaining the weight of the head, 

 which preponderates anteriorly. In the front view 

 of the orang, the neck cannot be seen. The length 

 of the forehead, and the proportionate shortness of 

 the thumb, are marked characters. The difference 

 in the form of the pelvis between these animals and 

 man is obvious. The narrowness of the os sacrum, 

 -and the deficiency in expansion of the iliac bones, 

 are not to be overlooked. With the expansion of 

 the pelvis is connected the development of the 

 lower limbs in man, to whom alone, of all animals, 

 the erect attitude is easy and natural. The magni- 

 tude and position of the skull, the structure of the 

 -spinal column, the osseous and muscidar development 

 ,of the pelvis and lower limbs, necessitate such an atti- 

 tude. One advantage gained by this arrangement is 

 the perfect freedom of the superior extremities, the 

 lower limbs being the sole organs of progression. 

 In the orang and chimpanzee all four extremities 

 are organs of locomotion : the chimpanzee, it is true, 

 can proceed on the ground, supported, or rather 

 balanced, on the lower extremities, calling the supe- 

 rior only occasionally into use, except in as far as 

 they are needed to maintain the equilibrium of the 

 body; but man walks with a free step, with his 

 arms at liberty, and with a precision veiy remote 

 from the vacillating hobble of the tottering chim- 

 panzee. ,. , 



Figures 114, 115, 116, and 117 are respectively 

 representations, first, of a well-developed human 

 skull ; secondly, of the skull of a human idiot ; thirdly, 

 of the chimpanzee (female); fourthly, of the orang. 

 The contrast between the first and the two last is 

 very striking ; but that even of the idiot possesses 

 those characters which at once proclaim it as be- 

 lono-ino- to the human species. Professor Owen has 

 well observed, that though "in the human subject 

 the cranium varies in its relative proportions to the 

 face in different tribes, according to the degree of 

 civilization and cerebral development which they 

 attain, and that though in the more debased 

 ^Ethiopian varieties and Papuans the skull makes 

 some approximation to the Quadramanous propor- 

 tions, still in these cases, as well as when the cra- 

 nium is distorted by artificial means or by con- 

 genital malformation, it is always accompanied oy 

 a form of the jaws, and by the disposition and pro- 

 portions of the teeth, which afford unfailing and im- 

 passable generic distinctions between man and the 

 ape To place this proposition in the most unex- 

 ceptionable light, I have selected the cranium of a 

 human idiot (115), in whom nature may be said to 

 have performed for us the experiment of arresting 

 the development of the brain, almost exactly at the 



size which it attains in the chimpanzee, and when* 

 the intellectual faculties were scarcely more de- 

 veloped; yet no anatomist would hesitate in at 

 once referring this cranium to the human species. 

 A detailed comparison with the cranium of the 

 chimpanzee or orang shows that all those characters 

 are retained in the idiot's skull which constitute 

 the differential features of the human structure." 

 We refer those who wish to investigate the anatomy 

 of the orang and chimpanzee to Professor Owen's 

 papers in the ' Trans. Zool. Soc' and the ' Proceed- 

 ings of the Zool. Soc' 



With regard to the external characters of the 

 chimpanzee, the orang, and the gibbons, it may be 

 remarked that they agree in the total absence of a 

 tail, and cheek-pouches, and in the extraordinary 

 length of the anterior extremities compared with 

 the posterior. In some few points the orangs and 

 gibbons agree with each other the nearest, namely, 

 in the presence of extensive laryngal sacculi, in the 

 extreme length of the anterior extremities, and in 

 the narrowness of the hands and feet, but not in 

 general anatomical structure, aspect, or clothing. 

 A small round head, a compressed face, a narrow 

 under jaw, deep woolly fur, and ischiatic callosities, 

 distinguish the gibbons, both from the orang and 

 the chimpanzee. On the other hand, the orang and 

 chimpanzee are less immediately related than 

 Cuvier seems to have considered them. In most 

 respects the chimpanzee approaches more nearly 

 the type of the human structure, and particularly in 

 the presence of a pendulous uvula at the back of 

 the palate, wfiich is wanting in the orang, and in 

 the structure of the larynx, in which the laryngal 

 sacs are not developed, as in the orang, but are pro- 

 duced into a cavity of the os hyoides. Still, how- 

 ever, the chimpanzee and the orang are more closely 

 related to each other than the gibbons are to the 

 latter. They are, moreover, the representatives of 

 each other in their respective portions of the globe ; 

 the one tenanting the secluded depths of the forests 

 in Western Africa, the other the recesses of the 

 still denser forests of Borneo and Sumatra. 



118, 119, 120, 121. The Chimpanzee 



(Pongo awlEngeco, Battel, in Purehas's 'Pilgrims;' 

 Barys, Bans, and Quojas Morrou of Barbot, Dapper, 

 &c. ; Smitten, Bosnian; Pongo, Buffon; Pongo, 

 or Great Black Orang, Shaw ; Jocko, Audebert ; 

 Chimpanzee, Scotin's print, 1738; Troglodytes, 

 Homo nocturnus, Linnaeus; Troglodytes uiger, 

 Desmarest). The characters of the genus Troglo- 

 dytes may be thus summed up :— muzzle long, and 

 truncated anteriorly; supraorbital ridges promi- 

 nent; forehead depressed; no cranial ridges; facial 

 angle 35° ; external ears large and standing out ; 

 tail wanting; ; arms reaching below the knee-joint; 

 feet wide, the thumb extending to the second joint 

 of the adjoining toe, and always furnished with a 

 nail. Canines large, overpassing each other, their 

 points being lodged respectively in intervals of the 

 opposite teeth ; Intermaxillary bones anchylosed to 

 the maxillaries during the first dentition; ribs, 

 thirteen pairs; no cheek-pouches; laryngal sac- 

 culi, small. . 



The Chimpanzee is a native of Western Africa, 

 to the extent of ten or twelve degrees north and 

 as much south of the torrid zone, including Guinea, 

 Benin, Congo, Angola, &c. In some districts it 

 appears to be common, and Bowdich ('Mission 

 from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee:' Lond., 

 1819) informs us that, at Gaboon, where it is 

 by no means rare, it was known to the natives 

 under the name of Inchego and Ingeno. From 

 the negroes he also learned that the adults gene- 

 rally attain to the height of five feet, the breadth 

 of the shoulders being very great, and their 

 strength enormous. A female adult skeleton which 

 we measured stood only three feet ten inches ; but 

 the males most probably are larger. The hand of 

 an adult, preserved in spirits of wine, measured nine 

 inches and a half in length, and three inches and 

 four lines in breadth, across the palm. The chim- 

 panzee, the orang, and even the mandrill, have been 

 strangely confounded together in the works of our 

 older travellers, and even naturalists have regarded 

 the two former as identical. Tulpius adopted the 

 term Quojas Morrou, used by Barbot ('Descr. of 

 Guinea'), and Dapper ('Descr. of Africa') also calls 

 the chimpanzee the Satyre of Angola, but he con- 

 founded the orang of the Indian Islands with the 

 chimpanzee, and figured as the latter an orang which 

 was brought from'Borneo, and presented to Fre- 

 deric Henrv, Prince of Orange, 1777. 



Buffon, who adopted the terms Pongo and Jocko 

 (from pongo, inchego, engeco, or enjocko), in his 

 great work (1756), gives an imperfect sketch of a 

 living young chimpanzee which he saw at Paris in 

 the year 1740, and which was taken in Gaboon. 



•X Pongo is appropriated, and to the Indian oniric 

 that of Jocko. Shaw describes " the Pongo, or great 

 black orang-otan," as a native of Africa, and Hie 

 "reddish-brown or chestnut oran-otan, called the 

 Jocko," as a native of Borneo and the other Indian 

 islands. With regard to the Smitten, Barris, Boggo, 

 &c, and which have been applied by the early tra- 

 vellers apparently to the chimpanzee, -there is every 

 reason to believe that they really refer to the mail- 

 drill. 



Mr. Ogilby was the first to point out that, the 

 chimpanzee is, as it would seem, alluded to in a 

 work of great antiquity — the ' Periplus Hannonis.'* 

 It. appears that a Carthaginian navigator named 

 Hatmo (a.c. 500, or about that period), sent on an 

 expedition of discovery, coasted Western Africa, 

 and sailed from Gades to the island of Cerne in 

 twelve days; and thence, following the coast, he ar- 

 rived, in seventeen days, at a promontory called the 

 West Horn. Thence, skirting a burning shore, he 

 arrived in three days at the South Horn, and found 

 an island inhabited by what were regarded as wild 

 men, called by the interpreters Gorilloi, who were 

 covered with long black hair, and who fled for re- 

 fuge to the mountains, and defended themselves 

 with stones. With some difficulty three females 

 were captured, the males having escaped; but so 

 desperately did they fight, biting and tearing, that 

 it was found necessary to kill them. Their pre- 

 served skins were carried by Hanno to Carthage, 

 and hung up in one of the temples as consecrated 

 trophies of Ms expedition. From this time till the 

 sixteenth ceitury of our era we hear nothing of the 

 chimpanzee; for the western coast of Africa was. 

 as it may be said, re-discovered only in the fifteenth 

 century. 



One of tie most trustworthy of our earlier tra- 

 vellers, Anlrew Battel, a sailor, who was taken pri- 

 soner in 1539, and lived many years in Congo (Pur- 

 chas's ' Pilgrims'), describes two animals, the Pongc 

 and the Eigeco, the former as high and stouter than 

 a man, tte latter being much less. The Pongo, 

 which is ioubtless the chimpanzee, he describes"as 

 having smken eyes, long hair on the sides of the 

 head, a raked face, ears, and hands, and the body 

 slightly overecl. The limbs differed from those of 

 man, beng destitute of calves, but the animal 

 walked ipright. In its disposition it is stated to be 

 grave aid melancholy, and even when young far 

 from frcicksome ; at the same time it is swift and 

 agile, aid is sometimes known to cany away young 

 negroes He further states that these animals con- 

 stracte* arbours in which they slept. Their diet 

 consistd of fruits, nuts, &c. ; and their muscular 

 streng'i is such that ten men were unable to over- 

 comerne. Upon the death of une of their com- 

 munit, the survivors cover the body with leaves 

 and banches of trees. 



Boman, Froger, De la Brosse, and others describe 

 the cimpanzee as living in troops, which resist the 

 attacs of wild beasts, and even drive the elephant 

 fronxheir haunts. They possess matchless strength 

 and ourage, and it is very dangerous for single in- 

 diviuals to pass near their places of abode. Bos- 

 mar states that on one occasion a number of them 

 attaked, overpowered, and were proceeding to poke 

 outhe eyes of two slaves, when a party of negroes 

 arried to their rescue. That they surprise and 

 caiy away the negresses into the woods, and there 

 de'-in them sometimes for years, is asserted by all, 

 an an instance came under the personal notice of 

 Dda Brosse. Captain Paine was assured that simi- 

 lainstances happen in Gaboon. De la Brosse says 

 thy build huts, and arm themselves with clubs, 

 ail that they walk either upon two feet or four, as 

 evasion may require. 



Lieutenant Matthews, R.N., who resided at Sierra 



lone during the years 1785-6-7, and whose letters 



escribing this part of Africa appeared in 1788, in- 



jrms us that the " chimpanzees,"' or " japanzees," are 



icial animals ; and that " they generally take up 



leir abode near some deserted town or village 



here the papau-tree grows in abundance, of the 



uit of which they are very fond. They build huts 



early in the form in which the natives build their 



ouses, which they cover with leaves; but. these are 



nly for the females and young to lie in ; the males 



Iways he on the outside. If one of them is shot, 



he rest immediately pursue the destroyer of their 



riend, and the only means to escape their vengeance 



s to part with your gun, which they directly 



ieize upon with all the rage imaginable, tear it to 



pieces, and give over the pursuit." The terrestrial 



habits of the chimpanzee are confirmed by other 



observers. 



Lieutenant Henry K. Sayers, who in 1839 brought 

 a young Chimpanzee to England, which he had 

 procured, in the Bullom country, the mother having 



* The orisiual, of which onlv a Greek translation is extant, was 

 written in Purictv Hnniiu.ani is a narr.-Uve of* voyar-e he mHils 



At that time Buffon was not aware of any distinction 



between the Airican and the Indian animals. ^S^t&^S^-S^ 

 the supplement (vol. vn.) the two are, however, dis- 

 tinguished. To the African chimpanzee the name 1 



Hanuo ha.YE lived at different times; but who the Hanno in question 

 as- and what was the exact date of his voyage, are viol ascertained. 



