Man's Place in Nature, and Other EssaysHuxley, Thomas Henry
Science
Man's Place in Nature, and Other Essays
Huxley, Thomas Henry
Apes; Ethnology; Human beings -- Origin; Indo-Europeans
[18] The largest Orang-Utan, cited by Temminck, measured, when standing
upright, 4 ft.; but he mentions having just received news of the capture
of an Orang 5 ft. 3 in. high. Schlegel and Müller say that their largest
old male measured, upright, 1.25 Netherlands "el"; and from the crown to
the end of the toes, 1.5 el; the circumference of the body being about 1
el. The largest old female was 1.09 el high, when standing. The adult
skeleton in the College of Surgeons' Museum, if set upright, would stand
3 ft. 6-8 in. from crown to sole. Dr. Humphry gives 3 ft. 8 in. as the
mean height of two Orangs. Of seventeen Orangs examined by Mr. Wallace,
the largest was 4 ft. 2 in. high, from the heel to the crown of the
head. Mr. Spencer St. John, however, in his "Life in the Forests of the
Far East," tells us of an Orang of "5 ft. 2 in., measuring fairly from
the head to the heel," 15 in. across the face, and 12 in. round the
wrist. It does not appear, however, that Mr. St. John measured this
Orang himself.
[19] See Mr. Wallace's account of an infant "Orang-utan," in the "Annals
of Natural History" for 1856. Mr. Wallace provided his interesting
charge with an artificial mother of buffalo-skin, but the cheat was too
successful. The infant's entire experience led it to associate teats
with hair, and feeling the latter, it spent its existence in vain
endeavours to discover the former.
[20] "They are the slowest and least active of all the monkey tribe, and
their motions are surprisingly awkward and uncouth."--Sir James Brooke,
in the "Proceedings of the Zoological Society," 1841.
[21] Mr. Wallace's account of the progression of the Orang almost
exactly corresponds with this.
[22] Sir James Brooke, in a letter to Mr. Waterhouse, published in the
proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1841, says:--"On the habits of
the Orangs, as far as I have been able to observe them, I may remark
that they are as dull and slothful as can well be conceived, and on no
occasion, when pursuing them, did they move so fast as to preclude my
keeping pace with them easily through a moderately clear forest; and
even when obstructions below (such as wading up to the neck) allowed
them to get away some distance, they were sure to stop and allow me to
come up. I never observed the slightest attempt at defence, and the wood
which sometimes rattled about our ears was broken by their weight, and
not thrown, as some persons represent. If pushed to extremity, however,
the _Pappan_ could not be otherwise than formidable, and one unfortunate
man, who, with a party, was trying to catch a large one alive, lost two
of his fingers, besides being severely bitten on the face, whilst the
animal finally beat off his pursuers and escaped."
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