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
[Illustration: FIG. 21.--Drawings of the cerebral hemispheres of a Man
and of a Chimpanzee of the same length, in order to show the relative
proportions of the parts: the former taken from a specimen, which Mr.
Flower, Conservator of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, was
good enough to dissect for me; the latter, from the photograph of a
similarly dissected Chimpanzee's brain, given in Mr. Marshall's paper
above referred to. _a_, posterior lobe; _b_, lateral ventricle; _c_,
posterior cornu; _x_, the hippocampus minor.]
So far as cerebral structure goes, therefore, it is clear that Man
differs less from the Chimpanzee or the Orang, than these do even from
the Monkeys, and that the difference between the brains of the
Chimpanzee and of Man is almost insignificant, when compared with that
between the Chimpanzee brain and that of a Lemur.
It must not be overlooked, however, that there is a very striking
difference in the absolute mass and weight between the lowest human
brain and that of the highest ape--a difference which is all the more
remarkable when we recollect that a full grown Gorilla is probably
pretty nearly twice as heavy as a Bosjes man, or as many an European
woman. It may be doubted whether a healthy human adult brain ever
weighed less than thirty-one or two ounces, or that the heaviest Gorilla
brain has exceeded twenty ounces.
This is a very noteworthy circumstance, and doubtless will one day help
to furnish an explanation of the great gulf which intervenes between the
lowest man and the highest ape in intellectual power;[31] but it has
little systematic value, for the simple reason that, as may be
concluded from what has been already said respecting cranial capacity,
the difference in weight of brain between the highest and the lowest men
is far greater, both relatively and absolutely, than that between the
lowest man and the highest ape. The latter, as has been seen, is
represented by, say twelve, ounces of cerebral substance absolutely, or
by 32: 20 relatively; but as the largest recorded human brain weighed
between 65 and 66 ounces, the former difference is represented by more
than 33 ounces absolutely, or by 65: 32 relatively. Regarded
systematically the cerebral differences, of man and apes, are not of
more than generic value--his Family distinction resting chiefly on his
dentition, his pelvis, and his lower limbs.
* * * * *
Thus, whatever system of organs be studied, the comparison of their
modifications in the ape series leads to one and the same result--that
the structural differences which separate Man from the Gorilla and the
Chimpanzee are not so great as those which separate the Gorilla from the
lower apes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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