256 
POPULAE SCIENCE EEVIEW. 
racters which resemble those of man more than do most, some- 
times even more than do any, of the characters exhibited by the 
true apes. Thus the typical Lemurs and the Indris have a 
more completely opposable and better developed thumb than 
any Ape. In the slender Loris we find an absence of the extra 
interlocking processes (metapophyses and anapophyses) of the 
back-hone, the spinous processes of which do not converge (fore 
and aft) towards a central point ; the pisiform bone of the wrist 
is smaller than in any Ape ; the proportion borne by tlie thumb 
to the hand in length is more human, as is the form assumed 
by the ischium, and the relative size of the foot compared with 
the leg. In the Indrisince and in Lepilemur we find but eight 
carpal bones (a character found in no other Primates save Man, 
the Chimpanzee and Grorilla), and the most human propor- 
tional length of both the thumb and the index finger com- 
pared with the length of the spine. We also find in the short- 
tailed Indris the length of the femur compared with that of 
the haunch-hone most human, as also the length of the foot 
compared with that of the hand, and the near approach made 
by the length of the “ great toe ” to the actually longest toe 
of the foot. In the typical genus Lemur we find the propor- 
tion (in length) of thigh-bone to the upper arm-bone most 
human, as well as that of the longest toe to the hack-bone. 
In the Slow Lemur (JVycticebus), the length of the shin-bone 
hears a relation to that of the thigh -hone more human than 
in any other species below man, while in other kinds of Half- 
Apes we meet with a development of the anterior inferior 
spinous process of the ilium more like that of man than we 
find in any ape ; also upper grinding teeth furnished with the 
“ oblique ridge ” as in man, and sometimes an almost equality 
of vertical development in the teeth, and even an absence of 
any diastema. 
Having completed our survey and summary of the struc- 
tural resemblances and differences presented by the different 
forms of Primates, we may now consider and endeavour to ap- 
praise their value, as bearing upon the question of the “ Origin 
of Species,” and especially upon the asserted “ descent of man ” 
from some “ non-human ” Ape ancestor. The question, that is, 
as to man’s body ; for as to the totality of his nature no mere 
anatomical examinations will enable us to decide — that is 
the task of psychology and philosophy generally. 
In the first place it is manifest that man, the Apes, and 
Half-Apes cannot be arranged in a single ascending series, of 
which man is the term and culmination. 
We may, indeed, by selecting one organ, or one set of parts, 
and confining our attention to it, arrange the different forms 
in a more or less simple manner. But, if all the organs be 
