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MR.  R.  OWEN  ON  THE  OSTEOLOGY  OF 
Deductions  in  favour  of  the  anthropomorphous  character  of  the  Orangs  have  also 
been  derived  from  observation  of  the  Uving  habits  of  young  Orangs  ;  but  these  cannot 
be  regarded  as  affording  a  type  of  the  nature  of  the  adults,  since  it  is  well  known  that 
the  dociUty  and  gentle  manners  of  the  young  Ape  rapidly  give  way  to  an  unteachable 
obstinacy  and  untameable  ferocity  in  the  adult ;  at  least,  of  those  species  to  which,  as 
I  shall  afterwards  show,  the  full-grown  Orangs  have  the  nearest  resemblance  in  the 
form  of  the  head. 
In  the  present  communication  I  propose  to  describe  the  osteological  peculiarities  of 
the  Chimpanzee  {Simia  Troglodytes,  Auct.)  and  the  Orang  Utan  (Simia  Satyrus,  Auct.)  ; 
to  trace  in  each  the  changes  which  the  skeleton  undergoes  in  its  progress  towards  the 
mature  state ;  and  while,  with  reference  to  the  Asiatic  Orang,  proofs  are  thus  eliminated 
of  the  identity  of  two  supposed  distinct  species  of  the  Quadrumanous  order,  to  show  the 
nature  and  extent  of  the  osteological  differences  which  divide  the  Orangs  from  the  hu- 
man species. 
§  1.  Of  the  Osteology  of  the  adult  Chimpanzee. 
It  has  been  no  less  a  matter  of  surprise  than  of  regret,  that  while  the  natural  history 
of  the  Mammalia  which  recede  furthest  from  Man,  and  which  inhabit  the  remotest 
regions,  has  been  investigated  with  the  most  persevering  and  successful  exertions,  the 
species  which  are  in  immediate  juxtaposition  with  him  in  the  natural  series  should  still 
remain  almost  as  little  understood  as  at  the  dawn  of  zoological  science.  We  now,  in 
fact,  possess  more  accurate  and  detailed  information  respecting  the  economy  and 
organization  of  the  paradoxical  Platypus  of  AustraUa  than  we  do  with  regard  to  the 
Chimpanzee,  the  most  interesting  of  all  the  brute  creation,  from  its  close  affinity  to  the 
human  type  of  structure,  which  has  long  been  known  to  inhabit  the  forests  of  Africa, 
and  where  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  it  is  far  from  being  rare. 
The  coasts  of  the  Gulf  of  Guinea  and  the  regions  of  Congo  and  Angola  have  been 
frequented  for  ages  by  Europeans  engaged  in  commercial  enterprize,  yet  the  adult  Chim- 
panzee has  never  been  secured  or  transmitted  alive  to  Europe,  nor  have  its  habits  in  the 
wild  state  hitherto  been  accurately  described  by  a  competent  or  trustworthy  observer. 
While  the  energies  of  Europeans  were  misemployed  in  an  unholy  traffic,  but  little 
sympathy  could  be  expected  with  those  pursuits  which  elevate  and  dignify  the  nature 
of  man ;  and  thus,  while  thousands  of  unoffending  Negroes  have  been  torn  from  the  re- 
mote recesses  of  their  native  forests,  and  sacrificed  at  the  shrine  of  Mammon,  no  museum 
in  Europe  has  been  enriched  by  a  single  prepared  skin  of  the  adult  Chimpanzee ;  nor  has 
the  bony  frame-work,  or  even  a  cranium,  been  deposited  in  any  public  collection  to 
afford  the  means  of  accurately  defining  the  limits  of  the  brute  creation. 
In  the  Museum  of  Natural  History  at  Paris  ^  the  osteology  of  the  Simia  Troglodytes 
'  Since  writing  the  above  I  have  been  informed  that  the  skull  of  an  adult  Chimpanzee  has  very  recently  been 
added  to  this  collection. 
