MAMMALIA. 
46 
without defensive weapons : lastly, he is of all animals that which is latest to acquire the power 
necessary to provide for himself. 
But this weakness even has been for him another advantage, in obliging him to have re- | 
course to those internal means — to that intelligence which has been awarded to him in so ' 
high a degree. 
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 the principal instrument of the intel- 
lectual operations ; the posterior portion of the same organ extends backwards, so as to form 
a second covering to the cerebellum ; even the 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 influences 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 forwards ; he does not see on two sides at once, like many quadru- 
peds, which produces more unity in the result of his vision, and concentrates his attention 
more closely on objects of this kind. The ball and iris of his eye vary but little, which re- j| 
strains 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, notwithstanding which, of all animals, he best distinguishes their intonation. His ™ 
nostrils, more complicated than those of apes, are less so than those of all other genera ; and i 
yet he appears to be the only animal whose sense of smell is sufficiently delicate to be affected 
by unpleasant odours. Delicacy of smell must influence that of taste ; and Man must have a 
further advantage, in this respect, at least over those animals whose tongues are covered with 
scales. Lastly, the nicety of his touch results, both from the delicacy of his teguments and ^ | 
the absence of all insensible parts, as well as from the the form of his hand, which is j I 
better adapted than that of any other animal for suiting itself to all the small inequalities of ■ 1 
surfaces. | 
Man has a particular pre-eminence in his organ of voice : of all mammalians, he can alone * ] 
articulate sounds; the form of his mouth and the great mobility of his lips being probably jj| 
the cause of this. Hence results his most invaluable mode of communication ; for of all the tw 
signs which can be conveniently employed for the transmission of ideas, variations of sound ^ 
are those which can be perceived at the greatest distance, and in the most various directions < ; 
simultaneously. ' 
It seems that even the position of the heart and of the great vessels bears reference to the 
vertical carriage. The heart is placed obliquely on the diaphragm, and its point inclines to ■; j 
the left, thereby occasioning a distribution of the aorta differing from that of most quadrupeds. 
The natural food of Man, judging from his structure, appears to consist principally of *! 
the fruits, roots, and other succulent parts of vegetables. His hands afford every facility for 
gathering them ; his short and but moderately strong jaws on the one hand, and his canines 9 
being equal only in length to the other teeth, together with his tuberculated molars on the 9 
other, would scarcely permit him either to masticate herbage, or to devom^ flesh, were these ' 
condiments not previously prepared by cooking. Once, however, possessed of fire, and those ^ 
arts by which he is aided in seizing animals or killing them at a distance, every living being 
was rendered subservient to his nourishment, thereby giving him the means of an indefinite I 
multiplication of his species. j 
His organs of digestion are in conformity with those of manducation ; his stomach is simple, 
his intestinal canal of mean length, his great intestines well marked, his coecum short and thick, 
and augmented by a small appendage, and his liver divided only into two lobes and one small 
one ; his epiploon hangs in front of the intestines, and extends into the pelvis. 
To complete this abridged statement of the anatomical structure of Man, necessary for this 
