On the Relations of Man to the Lower Animals — John Shaqi
On the Relations of Man to the Lower AnimalsHuxley, Thomas Henry
Science
On the Relations of Man to the Lower Animals
Huxley, Thomas Henry
Apes; Ethnology; Human beings
In many of these creatures, such as the Saimiri ('Chrysothrix'), the
cerebral lobes overlap and extend much further behind the cerebellum, in
proportion, than they do in man (Fig. 16)--and it is quite certain that,
in all, the cerebellum is completely covered behind, by well-developed
posterior lobes. The fact can be verified by every one who possesses the
skull of any old or new world monkey. For, inasmuch as the brain in all
mammals completely fills the cranial cavity, it is obvious that a cast
of the interior of the skull will reproduce the general form of the
brain, at any rate with such minute and, for the present purpose,
utterly unimportant differences as may result from the absence of the
enveloping membranes of the brain in the dry skull. But if such a cast
be made in plaster, and compared with a similar cast of the interior of
a human skull, it will be obvious that the cast of the cerebral chamber,
representing the cerebrum of the ape, as completely covers over
and overlaps the cast of the cerebellar chamber, representing the
cerebellum, as it does in the man (Fig. 20). A careless observer,
forgetting that a soft structure like the brain loses its proper
shape the moment it is taken out of the skull, may indeed mistake the
uncovered condition of the cerebellum of an extracted and distorted
brain for the natural relations of the parts; but his error must become
patent even to himself if he try to replace the brain within the cranial
chamber. To suppose that the cerebellum of an ape is naturally uncovered
behind is a miscomprehension comparable only to that of one who should
imagine that a man's lungs always occupy but a small portion of the
thoracic cavity--because they do so when the chest is opened, and their
elasticity is no longer neutralized by the pressure of the air.
And the error is the less excusable, as it must become apparent to
every one who examines a section of the skull of any ape above a Lemur,
without taking the trouble to make a cast of it. For there is a
very marked groove in every such skull, as in the human skull--which
indicates the line of attachment of what is termed the 'tentorium'--a
sort of parchment-like shelf, or partition, which, in the recent state,
is interposed between the cerebrum and cerebellum, and prevents the
former from pressing upon the latter. (See Fig. 16.)
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account