Chap. IV. 
MANNER OF DEVELOPMENT. 
141 
would have had to become either more strictly quad- 
rupedal or bipedal. Baboons frequent hilly and rocky 
districts, and only from necessity climb up high trees ; 64 
and they have acquired almost the gait of a dog. Man 
alone has become a biped ; and we can, I think, partly 
see how he has come to assume his erect attitude, which 
forms one of the most conspicuous differences between 
him and his nearest allies. Man could not have 
attained his present dominant position in the w r orld 
without the use of his hands which are so admirably 
adapted to act in obedience to his will. As Sir C. Bell 65 
insists “ the hand supplies all instruments, and by its 
“ correspondence with the intellect gives him universal 
“ dominion.” But the hands and arms could hardly 
have become perfect enough to have manufactured 
weapons, or to have hurled stones and spears with a 
true aim, as long as they were habitually used for 
locomotion and for supporting the whole weight of the 
body, or as long as they were especially well adapted, 
as previously remarked, for climbing trees. Such rough 
treatment would also have blunted the sense of touch, 
on which their delicate use largely depends. From 
these causes alone it would have been an advantage to 
man to have become a biped ; but for many actions it is 
almost necessary that both arms and the whole upper 
part of the body should be free ; and he must for this 
end stand firmly on his feet. To gain this great 
advantage, the feet have been rendered flat, and the 
great toe peculiarly modified, though this has entailed 
the loss of the power of prehension. It accords with 
the principle of the division of physiological labour, 
which prevails throughout the animal kingdom, that 
64 Brehm, 1 Thierleben,’ B. i. s. 80. 
es “The Hand, its mechanism,” &c. ‘Bridgewater Treatise,’ 1883, 
p. 38. 
