18 
THE GORILLA. 
in other large apes, but the object of so curious a disposition is not yet known. One reason 
for this arrangement of the hair, may be that if their long hairs were to hang along the arm 
and wrist, they would get into the hand, and interfere with the grasp, while by their reverted 
growth such an embarrassment is removed. The color of the eye is dark brown, glowing with 
a baleful emerald light, when the fierce passions are roused. 
It will be seen, on referring to the two engravings, which represent the skeleton of this 
animal, and the living creature itself, that the paws of the four extremities are not precisely 
alike in their development. On the two fore-paws, the fingers are enormous, the thumbs being 
comparatiflly trifling in dimensions ; while the corresponding members of the hinder paws 
are just reversed in their size. The figure of the Gorilla, opposite, marks these peculiarities 
with great fidelity, and in the action of the creature shows the reason for the extraordinary 
and gigantic thumbs of the hinder limbs. 
As to the size of a full grown Gorilla, accounts vary much. The specimen which is best 
known in England is five feet six inches high, when placed erect. From shoulder to shoulder 
it measures nearly three feet, while the body is only two feet four inches, measured from the 
hip-joint. It is possible, however, that there may be much larger individuals. Independent, 
however, of the impression made on the minds of the spectators by the sight of an infuriated 
animal, it is a fact that the feeling of anger does dilate the form, whether of man or beast. 
And as one effect of anger is to cause the hair to bristle up (as indeed is seen familiarly in 
dogs, cats, and other animals), the ape while under the influence of that fiery rage to which 
these animals are so subject, would in reality present a larger outline than if it were calmly 
engaged in its usual pursuits. Six, or even seven feet of height, have been attributed to 
these creatures. But it must be remembered that a wild, fierce animal always looks very 
much larger when living and in motion, than when lying dead and still on the ground, or even 
“set up” in a museum, with glass eyes, and straw-distended skin. Elephants of sixteen feet 
high, have shrunk to eleven and ten feet under the application of the measuring rod, and it is 
proverbial among anglers, that the fish which they do not catch, are finer and heavier than 
those which they can subject to scales and foot-measure. So it is likely enough, that a wild 
and savage Gorilla, with his fury -flashing eyes, his fierce gestures, and enormous arms, would 
impress the mind of his opponent with an idea of a very much larger animal. It is not only 
upon Gadshill that two men in buckram multiply unto eleven. 
But granting that the Gorilla does not attain to any much greater height than five feet, 
even then it is an animal much to be dreaded as an enemy, and capable of doing vast mischief, 
if so inclined. But it is a most merciful provision, and one that seems to be universal among 
creatures of such a stamp, that in proportion as their bodily powers increase, their mental 
powers degenerate. The larger apes are, in their period of childhood, so to speak, teachable 
and tolerably docile ; while when they attain to years of maturity, the animal attributes 
assume strength, gradually gain dominion over the mental, until at last the reasoning capaci- 
ties seem to degenerate into a mere contracted cunning. 
It seems that this degeneration is intended to prevent the animal from passing beyond the 
bounds to which it is confined, and by the very laws of its being to prevent it from using its 
vast strength for bad purposes. The ape evidently does not know his strength, nor how terrible 
an enemy he could be, if he only knew how to use the singular power and activity which he 
possesses. These huge apes seem to live apart from each other, and not to band together in 
large herds as do the baboons and other quadrumanous animals. If they were to unite, and to 
understand the principle of combination, they could speedily depopulate any country that 
was inhabited by men who were not possessed of fire-arms, and were unable to construct 
defences. 
But, fortunately for those human beings who are within reach of these terrible animals, 
the adult ape is one of the most dull and stupid creatures imaginable ; sulky, ferocious, and 
given solely to its own animal appetites. 
Here is a sketch of one of the lowest and least developed of human beings, probably the 
very lowest of the human race. This little man, who belongs to the same country as the Go- 
rilla, hardly attains even to the same stature, and in muscular proportions is a very pigmy. 
