MAN, 
political consequences, to which it would 
lead, are shocking and detestable. We set 
out with this position ; that man has nume- 
rous distinctive marks, by which, under 
every circumstance of roughness and unci- 
vilization, and every variety of country and 
race, he is separated, at a broad and most 
clearly defined interval, from every other 
animal, even of those classes which, from 
their general resemblance to the human 
subject, have been called anthropo-mor- 
/ phous. We cannot, indeed, by any means 
coincide with those moderns, who have in- 
dulged their imagination in painting a cer- 
tain continuity or gradation of created be- 
ings ; and who fancy they have discovered 
great wisdom of the Creator, and great per- 
fection of the creation, in this respect ; that 
nature makes no leaps, but has connected 
the various objects of the three kingdoms 
with each other, like the steps of a stair- 
case, or the links of a chain. The candid 
and unprejudiced observer must allow, that 
in the animal kingdom there are whole 
classes, as birds, and particular genera, as 
the cuttle-fish, which cannot find a place in 
such a scheme of arrangement, w'ithout a 
very forced and unnatural introduction : 
and again, that there are certain genera, as 
tlie coccus, where the two sexes are so dif- 
ferent from each other, that the male and 
female must be separated, and occupy dif- 
ferent parts of the scale, in this artificial 
plan of gradation. 
It is frequently easier to perceive, as it 
were intuitively, the distinctive characters 
of two neighbouring species of animals, than 
to express them by words. Hence Hn- 
nffius, whose sagacity in perceiving the cha- 
racteristic marks of the various objects of 
natural history, and in expressing them in 
appropriate language, has never been ex- 
ceeded, declares in his “ Systema Naturae,” 
that the distinctions between man and the 
monkey ' still remain to be discovered : 
“ Minim, adeo parum differre stnttissimam 
simiam a sapientissimo homine, ut iste geo- 
daetes naturae etiamnum quaerendus, qui 
hos limitet.” Accordingly, he gives neither 
the generic nor specific character of man in 
that work. 
The circumstances which distinguish man 
from other animals may be considered un- 
der three divisions : 1 . Differences in the 
structure of the body; 2. in the animal eco- 
nomy; 3. in the faculties of the mind. 
Under the first head we remark, as the 
most distinguishing peculiarity of man, his 
erect stature ; that majestic attitude, which 
announces his superiority over all the other 
inhabitants of the globe. He is the only being 
adapted by his natural formation to the up- 
right position. Enslaved, to their senses, 
and partaking merely of physical enjoy- 
ments, other animals have the head direct- 
ed tow'ards the earth : “ qu® natura prona 
atque ventri obedientia finxit.” Man, whose 
more elevated nature is connected to sur- 
rounding objects by moral relations, who 
can embrace in his mind the system of the 
universe, and follow the connections of ef- 
fects and causes, boldly regards the hea- 
vens, and can direct his sight even into the 
starry regions. The physical cause of this 
noble prerogative will be found in the 
length and breadth of the feet; in the 
length and strength of the lower extremi- 
ties, and in the number and size of the mus- 
cles, which extend the trunk upon the lower 
limbs. (For a more detailed account of this 
part of tlie subject, see Comparative Ana- 
tomy, muscles J, 
The situation of the great occipital fora- 
men is another circumstance depending on 
the erect stature of man : and for an ac- 
count of this subject we refer to Ihe same 
part of the article on comparative anatomy, 
and also to that portion of it which treats of 
comparative osteology. 
The structure of the thorax shews, that 
man was not designed to go on all-fours. 
Quadrupeds, if they have long legs, have 
the chest flattened at the sides, and keel- 
shaped in front ; and they have no clavi- 
cles, so that the front legs converge, and 
fall under the chest to support the front of 
the body. Quadrupeds have also a longer 
sternum, or a greater number of ribs conti- 
nued towards the crista ilii, and serving the 
purpose of supporting the abdominal vis- 
cera in the horizontal position of the trunk. 
These things are all differently arranged in 
the biped man. His thorax is flattened be- 
fore and behind ; his s^lioulders widely sepa- 
rated from each other by the clavicles; his 
sternum short, and his abdomen unfurnish- 
ed with bony parietes in a very large extent. 
These circumstances, with many others, 
which could not fait to strike any body who 
attentively compared the human skeleton 
with that of tlie long-legged quadrupeds, 
shew how ill the human structure is adapted 
to progression on four feet, which could not 
be otherwise than unsteady, troublesome, 
and fatiguing in the highest degree. 
The manner in which the human pelvis 
differs from that of all other animals, is a 
furtlier proof of what has been already 
