Cassell's Natural History, Vol. 1 (of 6) — John Shaqi
Cassell's Natural History, Vol. 1 (of 6)
Science
Cassell's Natural History, Vol. 1 (of 6)
Animal behavior; Animals; Zoology
The chest is bare in the adults, and thinly covered with
hair in young males. In the female the breast is bare, and the hair
elsewhere is black with a red tinge, but it is not ringed as in the
male; moreover, the reddish crown which covers the scalp of the male
is not apparent in the female till she has almost become full grown.
The eyes are deeply sunken: the immense overhanging long ridge giving
the face the expression of a constant savage scowl. The mouth is wide,
and the lips are sharply cut, exhibiting no red on the edges, as in
the human face. The jaws are of tremendous weight and power. The huge
eye-teeth or canines, of the male, which are fully exhibited when,
in his rage, he draws back his lips and shows the red colour of the
inside of his mouth, lend additional ferocity to his aspect. In the
female these teeth are smaller. The almost total absence of neck,
which gives the head the appearance of being set into the shoulders,
is due to the backward position of the joints which fix the head to
the spine, and this allows the chin to hang over the top of the front
of the chest. The brain-case is low and compressed, and its lofty top
ridge causes the profile of the skull to describe an almost straight
line from the back part, or occiput, to the ridge over the brow. The
immense development of the muscles, which arise from this ridge, and
the corresponding size of the jaw, are evidences of the great strength
of the animal. The eyebrows are thin, but not well-defined, and are
almost lost in the hair of the scalp. The eyelashes are thin also. The
eyes are wide apart; and the ears, which are on a line with them, are
smaller than those of man, but very much like his. In a front view of
the face the nose is flat, but somewhat prominent--more so than in any
other Ape; this is on account of a slightly projecting nose-bone, very
unusual in Apes. The chest is of great capacity; the shoulders being
exceedingly broad. The abdomen is of immense size, very prominent,
and rounded at the sides. The front limbs have a prodigious muscular
development, and are very long, extending nearly as low as the knees.
The forearm is nearly of uniform size from the wrist to the elbow, and,
indeed, the great length of the arms, and the shortness of the legs,
form one of the chief differences between it and man. The arms are not
long when compared with the trunk, but they are so in comparison with
the legs. These are short, and decrease in size from below the knee
to the ankle, having no calf. The hands, especially in the male, are
of immense size, strong-boned, and thick; the fingers are short and
large, the circumference of the middle finger at the first joint being
five and a half inches in some Gorillas. The skin on the back of the
fingers, near the middle, is callous, and very thick, which shows that
the most usual mode of progression of the animal is on all-fours, and
resting on the knuckles. The thumb is short, and not half so thick as
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