12 



GORILLAS AND CHIMPANZEES 



embrace the chimpanzee and gorilla, but the com- 

 parison which we have shown applies in the name 

 to all four of the anthropoid apes, but must be 

 qualified in a few instances to make it apply to the 

 others. These apes differ among themselves in 

 certain respects in form and habits, and we will 

 omit a detailed comparison of the monkeys as not 

 being relevant to the subject in hand ; but it will not 

 be out of place to mention in a general way the chief 

 point in which they differ from men and apes. 



There is no fixed type that will represent all kinds 

 of monkeys. 



Within the limits of their own family they present 

 a great variety of types, but the one marked differ- 

 ence between them as a unit, and the ape as another, 

 is, that the spinal column of the monkey is always 

 extended into a tail, the first vertebra of which is 

 joined to the base of the sacrum, while the ape has 

 no tail, but the spinal column terminates with a small 

 pointed bone called the coccyx, exactly the same as 

 in man. The number of bones and the number of 

 ribs in monkeys differ from those in the ape or 

 in man, and also vary among different types of 

 monkey. 



There are many little shades and grades of 

 difference all along the line, but the unity of design 

 throughout the whole range of simian life is such as 

 to show a continuity of plan and purpose in all 

 essential details of the animal economy. With man 

 and ape the physical structures are one, so far as 

 they pertain to autonomy : their habits are one, so 



