to be for ever invulnerable elsewhere. This tendon (tendo Achillis)
so characteristic of man, is supplied with muscular fibres close to
its insertion into the heel-bone in the Gorilla, which thus gains in
strength what it loses in elegance. A snapping of the tendon would be
indeed a grave matter in the huge Ape, and Nature has thus provided
against this accident.
[Illustration: HUNTING THE GORILLA.]
The thick ankles of the Gorilla are rather exaggerated by the hair
which covers them, and it is found over the whole of the upper surface
of the foot to the clefts of the toes. The sole is not thus covered,
and its bare state enables grasping to be performed with ease, while
the absence of hair assists the delicacy of the sense of touch. Another
cause of the ugly appearance of the foot is the backward projection
of the heel, and the hand-like look is of course given by the great
toe-thumb, which projects from the side of the foot at an angle of
60 degrees at least. The sole is narrow behind, and expands to where
the great toe-thumb projects, so as to become very wide close to the
clefts between the other toes. It is marked with lines or indentations,
and there is a kind of pad beneath the ball of the great toe-thumb.
The Gorilla seizes objects and grasps boughs with its feet, the great
toe-thumb being exceedingly movable to and fro as well as across the
sole of the foot. Hence the hand-like appearance of the foot and the
thumb-like appendage of the great toe. Yet it is a foot, and the
movable toe is not really a thumb.
Each kind of animal must be compared with others, some of which appear
to be more complicated and some less highly organised, so that its
peculiar construction can be comprehended. Man, as the perfection of
living forms, is naturally considered the model or type with which
all others should be compared, and therefore anatomists who begin by
studying man name the bones, muscles, and other structures of animals
after his. That is to say, any of their structures which are comparable
with those of man, by their native position and use, are named
similarly.
The question then arises, and can of course on this principle be
answered, are the hinder extremities of the Gorilla feet or hands? do
they resemble human feet or human hands in their anatomy, or in the
arrangement of their bones, muscles, leaders, and blood-vessels?
By placing side by side the joined bones of the foot of man and those
of the hind extremity of the Gorilla, it will be observed that the same
number are present, and that they can be compared, as regards their
shape and position, in a most remarkable and satisfactory manner.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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