From the erect stature of man arises another very distinguishing prerogative ; the most unconstrained use of his very perfect hands. So greatly does the con. formation of these parts excel that of other animals, that.Anaxagoras was hence induced to make an observation, which Helvetius has again brought forwards in our times, " that man is the wisest of animals, because he possesses hands." This indeed is too much ; yet Aristotle is well justified in observing, that man alone possesses hands really deserving that name. The chief and most distinguishing part of the hand, viz. the thumb, is short, slender, and weak,even in the most anthro po-inomhous simix ; so that no other hand but that of the human subject deserves the name given to it by the Stagy rite, of the organ of all organs. (See the remarks on this subject in the article COMPARATIVE, ANATOMY.) The monkeys, apes, and other anthropo morphous animals, can, in fact, be called neither bipeds nor quadrupeds ; but they are quadrumanous, or four-handed. Their posterior limbs are furnished with a thumb, instead of a great toe ; which latter part belongs only to man, and arises from the manner in which his body is supported in the erect position. Hence the dispute concerning the mode of pro gression of the orang-outang and other simire ; whether they go on all fours, or are supported by the posterior limbs only, will be easily settled. Neither of these representations is correct. Since the hands of these animals are not formed for walking, but for seizing and holding objects, it is clear that nature has design ed them to live chiefly in trees. They climb these, and seek their food in them ; and one pair of hands is employed in fi x ing and supporting the body,while the other gathers their food, or serves for other af fices. Hence some, who have less per fect hands, are furnished with a prehen sile tail, by which they can be more se curely supported in trees.
It is hardly necessary to add, that when we see monkeys walking erect, it is to be ascribed to instruction and discipline. The delineations of the orang-outang, tak en accurately from the life, spew how in convenient and unnatural the erect pos ture is to these animals they are drawn with the front bands leaning on a stick, while the posterior ones are gathered up in the appearance of a fist. No instance has ever been produced of a monkey, nor of any other animal, except man, which could preserve his body in a state of equilibrium, when standing on one foot only. All these considerations render it very clear, that the erect stature not only arises out of the structure and conforma tion of the human body, but also that it is peculiar to man : and that the differences in the form and arrangement of parts, de rived from this source only, are abundant ly sufficient to distinguish man by a wide interval from other animals.
The hymen, a part for which no ration al use has been hitherto assigned, is pe culiar to man ; but the nymphx and cli toris, of which the same assertion has been made, are found also in other ani mals.
The want of the os intermaxillare has generally been considered as characteris tic of the human species. (See COMPA RATIVE ANATOMY; osteology.) The teeth of man are distinguished by the circumstance of their being arranged in an uniform, unbroken series. The lower incisors are placed perpendicular ly; and the cuspidati meither project be yond the others, nor are separated from them by any interval. The molares are clearly distinguished by their obtuse pro minence from those of all the simix. The
lower jaw is remarkable for three rea sons ; its shortness, the projection of the chin, and the form and direction of the condyles, as well as the mode of their ar ticulation with the baSis cranii ; which manifestly point out man as formed by na ture to be an omnivorous animal.
In the brain we meet with a very strik ing difference between man and other animals. The human subject has the largest brain, not in proportion to the rest of the body, but to the size of the nerves, which proceed from it. Hence, if we di vide the nervous system into two parts, one consisting of the nerves, and that part of the brain from which they arise, which is to be considered as appropriated to the functions of a mere animal life ; the other, comprehending the remainder of the brain, and connecting the functions of the nerves with the faculties of the mind, man will possess the greatest proportion of the lat ter more important part. (See COMPA RATIVE ANATOMY.) Soemmerring has also shewn, that the calcareous matter of the pineal gland. does not exist in any animal but man.
The smoothness of the human integu ments, and the want of the hairy cover ing which other mammalia possess, must be considered as a peculiarity of man. The unanimous reports of all travellers prove beyond a doubt that every species of simia is hairy, and vastly more so than any man : although we read of instances of particularly hairy people, as in some of the South Sea islands ; but the descrip tions hitherto given are not completely satisfactory. While man is remarkable on the whole for the smoothness of his skin, some parts of his body are even more hairy than those of brutes ; as the pubes and axilla.
The orang-outang, which resembles man more than any other simia, has a rib more on each side than the human sub ject; its sacrum consists of three pieces of bone, instead of five ; and it has a pecu liar membranous pouch, connected with the larynx.
Under the head of the animal economy, we may observe, as characteristic of man, the long period of infancy, and conse quently late arrival at the age of puber ty; the menstrual discharge in the female ; and the celebration of the rites of Venus at all times of the year. No other of the class mammalia has the cranium consoli dated, nor the teeth appearing at so late an age ; none is so late in gaining the power of supporting the body on its limbs, in acquiring the full growth ; nor in arriving at the exercise of the sexual functions. To none is there allotted such a length of life, compared with the bulk of the body ; and this extension of exist ence, at its latter part, must be regarded as an ample compensation for the greater length of infancy. But it is in the mind, that nobler part of man, that we find him most remarkably differing from the brute creation. And here all philosophers re fer, with one accord, to the enjoyment of reason, as the chief and most important prerogative of the human subject. If we enquire, however, more particularly into the meaning of this word, we shall be surprized to find what various senses different individuals affix to the same ex pression. According to some, reason is a peculiar faculty of the mind, belonging exclusively to man : others consider it as a more enlarged and exquisite develope ment of a power, which exists in a less degree in other animals. Some describe it as the combination of all the higher fa culties of the mind ; while others assert, that it is only a peculiar direction of the powers of the human mind, &c.