36 
YEPvTEBKATA. 
separates the thighs and feet, and ^Wch to tlio trunk that pyramidal form favorable to equilibrium : 
the necks of the thigh-bones form an angle with the body of the bone, which increases still more 
the separation of the feet, and augments the basis of the body. Finally, the head, in this vertical 
position, is in equilibrium with the trunk, because its articulation is exactly under the middle of its 
mass. 
"Were he to desire it, man could not, with convenience, walk on all-fours : his short and nearly 
inflexible foot, and his long thigh, would bring the knee to the ground ; his widely separated 
shoulders and his arms, too far extended from the median lino, would ill support the fore-part of 
his body. The great indented muscle which, in quadrupeds, suspends the trunk between the blade- 
bones as a girth, is smaller in man than in any one among them : the head is heavier, on account 
of the magnitude of the brain, and the smallness of the sinuses or cavities of the bones ; and yet 
the means of supporting it are weaker, for he has neither cervical ligament, nor are the vertebrae 
so modified as to prevent their flexure forward ; he could therefore only maintain his head in the 
same line with the spine, and then, his eyes and mouth being directed toward the ground, he 
could not see before him : the position of these organs is, on the contrary, quite perfect, supposing 
that he walks erectly. 
The arteries which supply his brain not being subdivided as in many quadrupeds, and the blood 
requisite for so voluminous an organ being carried to it with too much, violence, frequently apo- 
plexies would be the consequence of a horizontal position. 
Man, then, is designed to be supported by the feet only. He thus preserves the entire use of 
his hands for the arts, while his organs of sense are most favorably situated for observation. 
These hands, which derive such advantages from their liberty, receive as many more from their 
structure. Their thumb, longer in proportion than in the apes, increases the facility of seizing 
small objects ; all the fingers, except the annularis, and this to a certain extent, have separate 
movements, which is not the case in any other animal, not even in the apes. The nails, covering 
only one side of the extremities of the fingers, form a support to the touch, without m the least 
depriving it of its delicacy. The arms whicli support these hands have a solid attachment by 
their large blade-bone, their strong collar-bone, &c. 
Man, so highly favored as to dexterity, is not so wnth regard to strength. His Swiftness in 
running is much inferior to that of other animals of his size : having neither projecting jaws, nor 
salient canine teeth, nor crooked nails, he is destitute of off'ensive armature ; and the sides and 
upper part of his body being naked, unprovided even with hair, lie is absolutely without defensive 
weapons ; lastly, he is of all animals that whicli is latest to acquire tbe power necessary to pro- 
vide tor himself. 
But this weakness even has been for liini another advantage, in obliging him to have recourse 
to his internal resources — to that intelligence which has been awarded to him in so high a de- 
gree ; a fact which sufficiently proves that man's intellect was designed by nature to be the great 
instrument of his power. 
No quadruped approaches him in the magnitude and convolutions of the hemispheres of the 
brain, that is to say, of that part of this organ which is tbe principal instrument of the intellectual 
operations : the posterior portion of the same organ extends backward, so as to form a second 
covering to the cerebellum : even tlie form of the cranium announces this great size of the brain, 
as the smallness of the face shows how slightly that portion of the nervous system which influ- 
ences the external senses predominates in him. 
These external senses, however, moderate as they all are in man, are yet extremely delicate and 
well balanced. 
His two eyes are directed forward : lie does not see on two sides at once, like many quadru- 
peds ; which produces more unity in the result of his vision, and concentrates bis attention more 
closely on objects of this kind. The ball and iris of his eye vary but little, which restrains the 
activity of his sight to limited distances, and to a determined degree of light. The conch of his 
ear, possessing but little mobility or extent, does not increase the intensity of sounds : notwith- 
standino- which, of all animals, he best distinguishes their intonation. His nostrils, more compli- 
cated than those of apes, are less so than those of all other genera; and yet he appears to be the 
