6 



Man compared with 



the same ; the difference merely consists in the greater develop- 

 ment of the hemispheres relative to the rest of the brain — a 

 mere question of the bulk of the thinking organ. 



Of all the vertebrate animals the brain of the man-like apes 

 comes nearest to man, both in bulk and appearance. The elements 

 are all the same; the very convolutions, or furrows, are substan- 

 tially the same, except that they are more symmetrical in the ape's 

 brain than in man's. But there is a difference in bulk between 

 the brain of man and his nearest relations which separates them 

 by a chasm that remains yet to be filled up if man's origin by 

 derivation from the lower animals is ever to be settled beyond 

 dispute. 



On this point the celebrated French anthropologist says : 

 " There seems to us to be a very fundamental distinction between 

 man and the animal most nearly resembling him. We have three 

 or four times more brain, three or four times more thinking 

 material. The supremacy which our very exalted intellectual 

 faculties secure to us is confirmed to us by an exceptional 

 development of the organ which is its seat. Anatomy furnishes 

 us at the outset with powerful characters sufficient to satisfy 

 the most jealous defenders of human prerogative, and to con- 

 sole them under the difficulties they will meet with in matters 

 of minor importance." 



Man compared with Apes and Monkeys. 

 The Skeleton. 



Having made this candid statement with respect to the rela- 

 tive bulks of the human and the ape brain, it is now necessary 

 to examine the points of comparison between man and ape, and 

 between both and the lower monkeys and quadrupeds, in those 

 matters or points of " minor importance " — the general structure 

 of his skeleton. 



The Vertebral Column. 



The vertebral column is made up of segments consisting 

 generally of flat discs, with ring-like and more or less straight 

 offshoots, called processes. The ring-like branches of the flat 

 discs enclose the spinal cord ; the straight processes are for the 

 attachment of muscles. These segments, together with their 

 straight and ring-like processes, are termed vertebrae. Most of 

 them are separated from one another by a tough but semi-elastic 

 substance — indeed, all are so separated in the earlier stages of 

 development, but as growth proceeds some of the vertebrae get 

 welded into one by the ossification of the intervertebral substance, 

 as in the vertebrae that go to support the pelvis, namely, the 



