From the neck the hair passes on each side nearly downwards, and in
the middle directly downwards in a narrow stream between the two
muscular borders of the vertebral furrows, and continues in this
normal direction to the end of the spinal region. It will be seen
that below the two upper arrows there are three levels of arrows, the
first with one, the second with two, and the third with one, on each
side of the surface of the back. At the level of the shoulder-joints
the side-streams curve upwards towards the spine and join the central
stream; at the second the direction is rather more upwards before it
curves inwards and downwards to the vertebral furrow; at the third the
streams curve slightly upwards and towards the middle-line and coalesce
with the other streams. The contrast between the straight, simple
slope of the hair on the lemur’s and ape’s back, and that of man is
very great. In the latter the side-streams make an angle of 45° or
less with the axis of the spine and _this arrangement is unique among
mammals_. It will be, therefore, necessary to inquire into its history
and causation, for it goes far towards reversing the well-established
and accredited pattern of apes, monkeys and lemurs. If the reader will
carry his mind back to the arrangement of hair on man’s forearm he will
see that it exhibits some features analogous to those on the back of
man. In the forearm there is that curious little stream on the extensor
surface which may be looked upon as a relic from the ape-stock, but
in the rest of that limb-segment man has boldly gone back, beyond the
ape, to an arrangement found in the lemur; and in the case of the back
of man there is the small primitive area down the vertebral furrow and
an entirely novel arrangement on each side such as might startle the
leaders of animal fashions in hair.
[Illustration: Fig. 41.--Arrangement of hair on the back of
lemur--chimpanzee--man.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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