The philosophy of natural history / by William Smellie ; with an introduction and various additions and alterations, intended to adapt it to the present state of knowledge by John Ware, M.D.

  • Smellie, William, 1740-1795.
Date:
1829
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The philosophy of natural history / by William Smellie ; with an introduction and various additions and alterations, intended to adapt it to the present state of knowledge by John Ware, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    erect, and of applying his hands to the purposes for which he now employs them. They have represented him as only a more perfect kind of ape ; and have endeavoured to collect stories of wild men who have been found living like beasts in the midst of forests, destitute of speech and the arts of life ; and of races of apes and monkeys who can walk erect, and imitate the manners, gestures, and mode of life of men ; thus endeavouring to prove a near connexion and relationship be- tween man and these animals. It is undoubtedly the case, that man, in his external form, resembles this order of animals much more nearly than any other ; but he is yet by no means more nearly allied to them in this respect, than they are to some others, which are yet always considered of a distinct kind. The fact is, that since the animal kingdom forms a series of individuals rising, by a regular gradation, from a very humble and imperfect struc- ture, up to a very perfect one, there will necessarily be cer- tain points of resemblance between those which stand nearest to each other in this series. Hence the apes, which stand nearest to man, resemble him more than any other animal does, but not so much as many other animals resemble them. There is a greater difference between man and those species which are next below him, than there is between any other two species, which rank next to each other in the whole ani- mal kingdom. So that there is, in truth, no more reason for saying that man is only an improved and educated ape, than there is for saying that a bee is only an improved and educat- ed fly, a cow an improved sheep, or a horse a perfected ass. Man is distinguished from all other animals of the class Mammalia, by his erect attitude, and his power of walking upon two legs. This is naturally the case with no other one. Some are capable of being taught to walk upon their hind legs ; but they never do it with ease or from choice. The ape and monkey have, it is true, hands, very like those of the human species, which they are capable of using with great address and effect; but then they have not feet or legs which enable them to walk upright; their feet are, in fact, formed like hands, having a palm, and a distinct thumb, opposed to the four fingers, and are thus able to grasp objects. The foot of man is very different. It has nothing which does the office of a thumb, and the sole does not perform that of a palm. It is flat, inflexible, and fit only for the purpose of walking. Apes, on the contrary, are adapted for climbing ; and hence the peculiarity of their structure, which enables them to grasp