THE PECULIAR CONFORMATION OF MAN. 
115 
By means of his industry, Man commonly enjoys the advan- 
tages of a regidar diet. With him a uniform attaelunent to the 
other sex supplies the place of that periodical rut observed in many 
other animals. The male organ of generation is not sustained by 
a bony axis ; the prepuce is not attached to the abdomen ; and the 
penis is therefore pendulous. Numerous large veins serve to lead 
the blood of the testicles back into the general circulation, and 
contribute towards the moderation of his desires. The matrix 
of the female is a simple and oval cavity; her mamm®, two in num- 
ber, are placed upon the breast, and correspond to that facility with 
which she holds the infant upon her arms. 
On comparing the purely corporeal properties of Man with those of 
the other Mammiferous animals, we thus find that he jrresents only a few 
slight differences, insufficient to separate him from their class. Among 
those, his upright posture is at once the most remarkable and important; 
for while the quadruped carries the trunk of his body nearly parallel to 
the ground on four supports, Man rears an upright column erected upon 
a narrow yet firm basis. 
Those who are disposed to consider the anatomical structure of Man 
with attention, will readily appreciate the doubtful veracity of the ac- 
counts of savages found wandering on all-fours in the woods of Europe. 
Linneeus erroneously considered these as forming a distinct v.ariety of the 
human race, under the name of Homo ferus tetrapus (Linn. Syst. Nat. 
ed. Gmel. p. 21), of which he enumerates several examples. They 
were jirobably otdy the descendants of some unfortunate outcasts of civil- 
ized society, abandoned by their parents during the early years of infancy. 
Indeed, the property of walking upon four feet appears to be so incom- 
patible w ith the human organization, that wo may safely consider the 
narrations of Tulpius, Connor, and Cametarius, to bo erroneous in this 
particular. All the more modern and best authenticated accounts of 
these savages represent them in every case as walking erect. Among 
these narrations we shall select, as being most entitled to credit, that of 
the young boy of Aveyron, who resided for a long time in Paris, at the 
Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, under the care of the celebrated Sicard. 
Ills history has been detailed by MM. Bonnaterre and Virey, from the 
latter of w horn we have obtained the following particulars. 
During the year 1795, a naked child was observed searching for acorns 
and roots in the woods of La Caune, Department of Tarn. He fled at 
the approach of strangers, but was taken, and afterwards escaped. Fif- 
teen months afterwards he was retaken by three hunters, although he 
had climbed a tree, and was conducted to La Caune. He again escaped, 
and lived at large for six months, exposed to the cold of one of the most 
rigorous of winters, until at length he was compelled by hunger to enter 
one of the houses in the outskirts of the town of Saint-Sernin, with only 
a slight remnant of his former garments. He was offered some potatoes, 
which he devoured raw, as well as chestnuts and acorns. He refused 
every other kind of food, such as flesh, raw or boiled, bread, apples, pears, 
grapes, nuts, or oranges, smelling them carefully before tasting them. 
As he uttered no articulate sound, he was supposed to be naturally dumb. 
He seemed terrified, and had apparently no other design than that of eat- 
ing and then fleeing again to the woods. He could scarcely endure 
clothes, refused to sleep in bed, and seemed devoid of every feeling of 
fleconcy or cleanliness, qualities which appear to be peetdiur to the 
highly-civilized Man. 
This lad was seen by M. Virey at Paris, at the ago of eleven or twelve 
years. He was then strong and well formed for his age, and though his 
new mode of life had rendered him rather fat and unwieldy, he was still able 
to run very fast. He walked erect, balancing himself with his arms, and 
tomained nearly all day upon the ground in a sitting posture, eating con- 
tinually while awake, and sleeping immediately afterwards. His skin, 
"'Inch appeared brown and dirty when he was first taken, became white 
nfter being washed. His nails were very long, and his face almost con- 
cealed by long flaxen ringlets. On being taken to Paris, he was attacked 
"ith the small-pox in a mild form, from which he soon recovered, having 
refused to take anything during the entire course of the malady. He ap- 
peared at times to have spasmodic movements, as if he had been very 
niuch frightened. His teeth were nearly bare to their alveola', and, being 
ef a careless temper, liking nothing but eating and sleeping, he had grown 
rather corjiulcnt. All his movements were hasty but sure. He could 
rrot swim, and did not usually climb trees, unless compelled by the ap- 
proach of danger. Once ho leaped from the second story of a house in 
order to flee to the woods. His hands were by no means callous or hard; 
®r>d his fingers wore surprisingly flexible. Although he appeared not 
to dread the most extreme cold or heat, yet he seemed to prefer the 
cool shade in summer and the fire in winter. His skin was covered 
with many scars and marks of burns. When he perspired, he strewed 
dust upon his skin, not liking the moisture. Though fond of sleep- 
ing, his slumbers were never profound ; aird when at rest, he gathered 
himself up like a ball, rocking himself by way of assisting his slumbers. 
He hated children of his own age, yet he was not ill-natured, and never 
attempted any mischief. Though innocent and foolish, he could not be 
considered as imbecile ; his character was very mild, but he would not 
cndiiro contradiction. He was frank in his manners, and excessively 
selfish, though simjjle and confined in his notions. 
'f his savage continued always upon his guard, and showed his fondness 
for solitude by seeming annoyed at the presence of strangers. He had 
not learned to throw stones ; and, without being actually timorous, did not 
exhibit courage superior to other children of his own age. When enraged, 
he raised a blustering crj , or a murmur in the throat, and had, when first 
talten, some natural signs of resentment, fear, and other passions. He 
had no defect in his organs of speech, but his excessive want of attention, 
and ignorance of the vernacular language, rendered him careless on the sub- 
ject : at length he became able to comprehend many things, but without at- 
tem[)ting to speak himself. This young Aveyronese was very much dis- 
posed to steal fruit and other articles of food, but attached no value to any- 
thing except it contributed towards his immediate natural wants. He con- 
tinued in a half-savage state, without ever learning to speak, although 
much trouble had been taken to instruct him. 
Many other stories are quoted in the foreign journals of savages found 
in Hungary and elsewhere, but they offer nothing remarkable. The au- 
thentic instances of girls found in the wild state are perfectly analogous to 
that of the boy of Aveyron, with the exception that these females exhi- 
bited some marks of modesty, in which he was wholly deficient. 
It is therefore absurd to maintain, vVith Moscati and other writers, that 
Man is formed for walking on all-fours, a position to which the objections 
already stated are insurmountable obstacles. This supposition must be 
classed with that equally probable one of Adrian Spigel, who attributed 
the habits of reflection peculiar to Man to the size of the muscles upon 
which he usually sits, and the consequent ease of that posture. 
The form of the pelvis is one of the most important consequences of 
our upright position. Its direction is oblique in the Apes and quadrupeds, 
and tlie os coccygis, which turns inwards, and is wholly concealed with 
us, usually appears externally with them in the form of a tail. This ob- 
liquity of the os coccygis is one of the chief causes of the difficulty in hu- 
man parturition. “ Aussi la direction du vagin, chez les femelles d’ani- 
mau.x, est paralRle a I’axe des vertchres saerges ; ces femelles accouchent 
et urinent en arriere ; les males s’accouplent aussi a elles par derriere (Ve- 
nus prmpostera) ; il n’en est pas ainsi des singes, et surtout de la femme, 
dont la station, plus ou moins rapprochee de la perpcndiculaire, ramene 
en devant I’ouverture du vagin. La direction du canal uteto-vaginal est, 
en ce cas, oblique de devant en arriere, d'ou il suit que I’ecoulement des 
urines, des menstrues, a lieu on devant, de meme que I’accouplement 
(Venus antica), et le part est plus laborieux,” This inconvenience would 
not occur, had the human species been supplied with a tail and went on 
all-fours, as certain credulous travellers have related. The other ani- 
mals are never afflicted with inguinal hernia, which is the occasional con- 
sequence of the downward pressure of the intestines, and the upright 
position of Man. 
The sus]ion.sory muscle of the eye-lid is not found in the human species, 
as it was not the intention of Nature that Man should keep his eyes di- 
rected towards the earth, like the Ruminating animals. He is also destitute 
of the panniculus carnosus, or sub-cutaneous muscle, the pancreas Asellii, 
the corpus llighmorii, the hepato-cystic ducts, the nictitating membrane, and 
the incisive fossa behind the upper teeth. The cervical ligament also has 
not been assigned to us, as our upright position would render it use- 
less. 
The great size of the human head and the weakness of the arms are 
obstacles which prevent Man from swimming naturally like the quadru- 
peds. The infant, different from the young of other animals, sinks with its 
head foremost, and even the adult will swim more easily with his back 
downwards. It is evident, therefore, that our species was never intended 
for an aquatic or amphibious life, aasome have supposed. The accounts of 
Mermen and Mermaids found in various places, either resolve themselves 
into absolute imposture, or the objects erroneously described were merely 
Seals or Lamantincs. They are generally described with palmated hands, 
like a duck, short arms, flat noses, the figure of a beast, a body termi- 
nated with two paws or a forked tail, the skin covered with scattered 
hairs of a gray or brown colour, — characters which agree sufficiently with 
those of a Seal, to warrant the above conjecture 
