Darwinism stated by Darwin himself: Characteristic passages from the writings of Charles DarwinDarwin, Charles
Science
Darwinism stated by Darwin himself: Characteristic passages from the writings of Charles Darwin
Darwin, Charles
Evolution (Biology)
But what are we to say about the rudimentary and variable vertebræ of
the terminal portion of the tail, forming the _os coccyx_? A notion
which has often been, and will no doubt again be ridiculed, namely,
that friction has had something to do with the disappearance of the
external portion of the tail, is not so ridiculous as it at first
appears. Dr. Anderson states that the extremely short tail of _Macacus
brunneus_ is formed of eleven vertebræ, including the imbedded basal
ones. The extremity is tendinous and contains no vertebræ; this is
succeeded by five rudimentary ones, so minute that together they are
only one line and a half in length, and these are permanently bent to
one side in the shape of a hook. The free part of the tail, only a
little above an inch in length, includes only four more small vertebræ.
This short tail is carried erect; but about a quarter of its total
length is doubled on to itself to the left; and this terminal part,
which includes the hook-like portion, serves “to fill up the interspace
between the upper divergent portion of the callosities”; so that the
animal sits on it, and thus renders it rough and callous.
POINTS OF RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN MAN AND MONKEY.
[Descent of
Man, page 150.]
As small unimportant points of resemblance between man and the
_Quadrumana_ are not commonly noticed in systematic works, and as,
when numerous, they clearly reveal our relationship, I will specify a
few such points. The relative position of our features is manifestly
the same; and the various emotions are displayed by nearly similar
movements of the muscles and skin, chiefly above the eyebrows and round
the mouth. Some few expressions are, indeed, almost the same, as in
the weeping of certain kinds of monkeys and in the laughing noise made
by others, during which the corners of the mouth are drawn backward,
and the lower eyelids wrinkled. The external ears are curiously alike.
In man the nose is much more prominent than in most monkeys; but we
may trace the commencement of an aquiline curvature in the nose of the
Hoolock Gibbon; and this in the _Semnopithecus nasica_ is carried to a
ridiculous extreme.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account