Apes and Monkeys. 



9 



Again, if the leg be compared with the thigh, supposing the 

 femur divided into 100 parts, then the tibia in the orang would 

 measure 86*6 of these parts, the chimpanzee and gorilla 84*5, 

 man 82 '6. 



The arm compared with the thigh is 131 "6 in the orang; 

 110*2 in the gorilla; 90*8 in the chimpanzee; and 7T1 in man. 

 Here the chimpanzee, and not the gorilla, comes nearest to 

 man. 



If the length of the hand, compared with the height, be now 

 examined, it is 20*3 in the orang ; 18 in the chimpanzee ; 14*54 

 in the gorilla; and 11*82 in man. 



Next the foot, if compared with the stature, is 25*00 in orang ; 

 21*00 in chimpanzee; 20*69 in gorilla; and 16*96 in man. 



We thus see that generally there is an increasing nearness to 

 man in the proportion of the parts of the extremities to one 

 another and to the stature as we pass from the orang to the 

 gorilla. The stature also increases in the same rotation. Being 

 3 feet only in the lowest ape, the gibbon ; it is 4 feet in the 

 orang ; a little more in the chimpanzee ; 5 to 5-| feet in the 

 gorilla, which is quite as tall as many men. 



The apes and man can alone rotate the hand from palm down- 

 wards to palm upwards without moving the elbow. 



The Hand and Foot. 



If we compare the hand with the foot of the ape we certainly 

 seem to see a fundamental difference between them and man in 

 the hand-like aspect of the foot. Still, although the foot of an 

 ape can grasp more readily than a human foot, yet the principle 

 by which this is done in apes does not differ from that adopted 

 by some Negroes, Chinese oarsmen, and Nubian horsemen. The 

 great toe even in the apes cannot be used in opposition to the 

 lesser toes, as the thumb is opposed to the fingers, so as to seize 

 small objects. Therefore the hind foot of the ape is not a hand, 

 and the apes cannot properly be called quadrumana. They are 

 5i-mana equally with man, though from having an arboreal life 

 they use the foot more in grasping than any man does. 



The Nails. 



Among the minor points of resemblance to man may be men- 

 tioned the fact that no animals except the apes have their nails 

 flat, as man. The lowest ape has, however, only the thumb 

 and great toe flat-nailed — in keeping with the transitional 

 characters of this ape in many other features ; the three higher 

 apes have all their nails flat. 



