The gorilla : being a sketch of its history, anatomy, general appearance and habits / by Leonard J. Sanford.

  • Sanford, Leonard J. (Leonard Jacob), 1833-1896.
Date:
[1862?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The gorilla : being a sketch of its history, anatomy, general appearance and habits / by Leonard J. Sanford. 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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    [From the American Journal of Science and'Arts, Vol. XXXIII, Jan. 1863.] THE GORILLA; BEING A SKETCH OF ITS HISTORY, ANATOMY,* GENERAL APPEARANCE AND HABITS. BY LEONARD J. SANFORD, M.D. (Read before the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, December I8tb, 1851.) Some writer has observed that Africa every year produceth some strange creature before not heard of, peradventure not ex- tant. In this spirit, many have contemplated the Gorilla Ape— an incredulity not to be wondered at, for it must be acknowledged that its antecedents and history are bad. Too often in the past, has the world heard the cry, ' gorilla,' when there was no gorilla, and the public faith now, is hardly equal to accepting the veri- table animal, though as an inducement to recognition, he pre- sents to us his very bones. But unfortunately, with this otherwise indubitable proof in 1846, came innumerable fictions which at- tributed wonderful achievements and superhuman intellectual sis well as physical power to the animal. Those who were permit- ted the vision, said the bones were bones, but of what creature, who could tell?—The conjectures on this question have ranged the newly arrived animal from a specimen of monkey, up to Mr. Harris's Pre-Adamic Man. Gradually however, fiction has given place to fact; the change has been working through a period of fifteen years, and now, we are in possession of the animal's zoological position and know him tolerably well, in temperament and habits. ^ In the present article we propose to ' show him up' so far as the sources of information at our command will suffice. * In tbe description of its anatomy, we have compared the gorilla with other anthropoid apes, and with man, in order to show its apish characteristics to the best advantage, and also to be able, in a more intelligible manner, to indicate its position among the' apes relatively to man. The writer would here state that the anatomical specifications of the gorilla which he has given, are mainly obtained from a, nearly complete, skeleton of the animal in his possession.