Buffon's Natural History. Volume 09 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &cBuffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
History
Buffon's Natural History. Volume 09 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
Natural history
Those which Tyson speaks of by the word
_apes_ must be the same animals as we have called pithecos, or pigmy,
and the cynocephalus, or Barbary ape. I must also remark, that this
author gives some characters of resemblance and difference which have
not a sufficient foundation. I have therefore thought it necessary
to make some observations on those particulars, as we cannot too
minutely examine a creature, which, though it has the form of a man,
nevertheless belongs to the brute species.
[Footnote M: The orang-outang bears a greater resemblance to man
than to the apes or monkeys; because, 1. The hairs on his shoulders
are directed downwards, and those on the arm upwards. 2. His face is
broader and flatter than that of the apes. 3. The form of his ears
resembles that of man, excepting the cartilaginous part being thin,
like the apes. 4. His fingers are much thicker in proportion than the
apes. 5. He is, in every particular, formed for walking erect, which
apes are not. 6. His posteriors are thicker than those of apes. 7.
He has calfs to his legs. 8. His breast and shoulders are broader
than those of any ape. 9. His heels are longer. 10. He has a cellular
membrane, like man, under the skin. 11. His peritonæum is entire.
12. His intestines are longer than those of apes. 13. The intestinal
canal is of different diameters, as in man, and not nearly equal, as
in apes. 14. His cæcum has a vermicular appendix, which is not the
case in any other ape, nor is the neck of the colon so long as in the
latter. 15. The insertions of the biliary and pancreatic ducts have but
one common orifice in the orang-outang as well as in man, but in all
apes and monkeys they are two inches asunder. 16. The colon is longer
than that of the apes. 17. The liver is not divided into lobes as in
the apes, but entire, like that of man. 18. The biliary vessels are
also the same: as are, 19. The spleen. 20. The pancreas; and 21. The
number of lobes in the lungs. 22. The pericardium is attached to the
diaphragm, as in man. 23. The cone of the heart is more blunt than in
apes. 24. He has no pouches at the bottom of the cheeks, as other apes
have. 25. His brain is larger than that of apes, and formed exactly
like the human brain. 26. The cranium is rounder, and double the size
of that of monkeys. 27. All the sutures of the cranium are similar to
those of man, which is not the case in other apes or monkeys. 28. He
has the _os cribriforme_ and the _crista galli_, which the monkeys
have not. 29. He has the _sella equina_ exactly the same as in man,
while the apes and monkeys have it more prominent. 30. They have the
_processus pteregoides_ like man, while the others have not. 31. The
temporal bones, and the _ossa bregmatis_ are the same as in man, but in
apes and monkeys these bones are of a different form. 32. The latter
have the _os zygomaticus_ large, whereas it is small in this animal.
33. The teeth, particularly the grinders, are more like man's than
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