Even among brute animals, though deprived of the thinking principle, those whose education is the longest are also those which seem to have the greatest share of intelligence: the elephant, who takes the longest time in completing its growth, and which requires the assistance of its mother for the whole of the first year, is also the most intelligent animal. The Guinea-pig, which requires only three weeks to accomplish its growth, and be in a generating state, is perhaps, for this reason alone,one of the most stupid animals in Nature. With respect to the ape, with a view to ascertain whose nature we have gone into this investigation, whatever resemblance he may bear to man, yet his affinity to the brutes is evident from the moment of his birth; he is then proportionably stronger, and more completely formed than the infant, and the time of his growth bears no comparison; the assistance of his mother is only necessary during a few months; his education is purely individual, and consequently as sterile as that of other animals.
The ape, therefore, notwithstanding his resemblance to the human form, is a brute, and so far from being second in our species, he is not even the first in the order of animals, because he is not the most intelligent among them; therefore it is only on account of the corporeal resemblance that prejudice has been formed in favour of the great faculties of the ape. He resembles man it is said both externally and internally, and therefore he must not only imitate us, but also of his own accord, act in the same manner as we do. We have seen that every action which we call human is relative to society: that they depend, at first on the mind, and afterwards on education, the physical principleof which is the necessity there is for the long intercourse between parents and children: that this intercourse is very short with the ape; that, like other animals, he only receives an education purely individual, and is not susceptible of any other; consequently he cannot act like man, since no action of the ape has the same principle, nor the same end. With respect to imitation, which appears to be the strongest and most striking character in the ape kind, and which the vulgar refer to him as a peculiar talent, before we decide, we must examine whether this imitation be spontaneous or forced. Does the ape imitate the human species from inclination, or from possessing an innate capacity of performing those actions without choice or exertion? I willingly appeal to all those who have observed this animal without prejudice, and I am convinced they will agree with me, that there is nothing voluntary in their imitation. The monkey having arms and hands, makes use of them as we do, but without any idea of copying our example. The similitude of his limbs and organs necessarily produces motions resembling ours; being formed like man he must be enabled to move like him; but this similarity of motion by no means proves that he acts from imitation.Let us, for instance, construct two pendulums of the same form, and give them an equal motion, would it not be absurd to say that these machines imitate each other? It is the same with respect to the ape, relatively to the body of man; they are two machines, similarly constructed, and by the impulse of Nature move nearly in the same manner: however, parity must not be considered as imitation; the one depends on matter, and the other exists only in reason. Imitation supposes a design of copying; the ape is incapable of forming this design, which requires a train of thought and judgment; for this reason, man, if he choose, can imitate the ape, but the ape cannot have an idea of imitating man.
This parity is no more than the physical part of imitation, and not so complete as the similitude, from which, however, it proceeds as an immediate effect. The ape resembles man more in his body and limbs than in the use he makes of them. By observing the ape attentively we shall perceive that all his motions are sudden, intermittent, and precipitate; and to compare them with those of man we must suppose a different model. Every action of the ape strongly partakes of his education, which is purely animal; and they appear to beextravagant, ridiculous, and inconsequential, because we judge of them by our own, which is a false comparison. As his nature is vivacious, his temperament warm, his disposition petulant, and none of his affections have been polished by education, all his habitudes are excessive, and more resemble the actions of a lunatic than those of a man, or even those of a peaceable animal: from the same reason we find him indocile, and receiving with difficulty the impressions we wish him to imbibe. He is insensible to kindness, and only to be rendered obedient through fear of chastisement. He may be kept in captivity, but not in a domestic state. Always sullen, stubborn, or making grimaces, he may rather be said to be subdued than tamed; therefore none of this species has ever been domesticated in any part of the world, and consequently is more distant from man than most other animals, for docility supposes some analogy betwixt the giver and the receiver of instruction; a relative quality, which cannot be exercised but when there is a certain number of common faculties in both, which only differ from each other because they are active in the master and passive in the scholar. Now the passive qualities of the ape have less relation to the active qualitiesof man than those of the dog or elephant, who only require good treatment to receive the kind and even delicate sentiments of a faithful attachment, voluntary obedience, grateful service, and an unreserved and ready attention to the commands of their master.
The ape is, therefore, further removed from the human species in relative qualities, than most other animals: He likewise differs greatly by temperament. The human species can dwell in every climate; he lives and multiplies in the northern as well as in the southern regions; but the ape lives with difficulty in temperate countries, and can only multiply in the hottest parts of the earth. This difference of temperament supposes others in organization, which though concealed, are no less real; it must also have a great influence on his natural dispositions. The excess of heat so necessary to this animal renders all his affections, and all his qualities, excessive; and we need not seek for any other cause to account for his petulance, his lubricity, and his other passions, which seem to be as violent as they are extravagant.
Thus the ape, which philosophers, as well as the generality of people, have regarded as a being difficult to define, and the nature of which was at least equivocal, and intermediate between that of man and the brute, is, in fact, no other than a real brute, wearing externally a human mask, but internally destitute of thought, and every other attribute which constitutes the human species: an animal inferior to many others in his relative faculties, and most essentially different from the human race in his nature, temperament, and also in the time necessary to his education, gestation, growth, and duration of life; that is, in every real habitude which constitutes what we callNaturein a particular being.
Engraved for Barr’s Buffon.
FIG. 195.Jocko.
FIG. 196.Small Gibbon.
THE ORANG-OUTANG[L], OR THE PONGO, AND THE JOCKO.
[L]Orang-outang is the name this animal bears in the East-Indies;pongo, its denomination at Lowando, a province of Congo; and Kukurlacko in some parts of the East-Indies.
[L]Orang-outang is the name this animal bears in the East-Indies;pongo, its denomination at Lowando, a province of Congo; and Kukurlacko in some parts of the East-Indies.
WE shall present the Orang-outang and the Jocko together, because they, possibly, belong to the same species. Of all the ape and monkey kinds, these bear the greatest resemblance to the human form, and consequently,those which are most worthy particular notice. We have seen the small orang-outang, or jocko (fig. 195.) alive, and have preserved its skin; but we can only speak of the pongo, or great orang-outang, from the accounts given us by travellers. If their relations might be depended on, if they were not often obscure, faulty, and exaggerated, we should not doubt of its being a different species from the jocko, a species more perfect, and approaching still nearer to the human race. Bontius, who was head physician at Batavia, and who has left some excellent observations on the Natural History of that part of India, expressly says, that he saw with admiration, some individuals of this species walking erect on two feet, and among others a female (of which he gives a figure) who seemed to have an idea of modesty, covering herself with her hand on the appearance of men with whom she was not acquainted; who sighed, cried, and did a number of other actions, so like the human race, that she wanted nothing of humanity but the gift of speech. Linnæus, upon the authority of Kjoep and other travellers, says, that even this faculty is not wanting in the orang-outang, but that he thinks, speaks, and expresses his meaning in a whistling tone. He calls him theNocturnal Man,and at the same time gives such a description of him, that it is impossible to decide whether he is a brute or human being. We must, however, remark, that, according to Linnæus, this being, whatever he may be, is not above half the height of a man; and as Bontius makes no mention of the size of his orang-outang, we should imagine them to be the same: but, then, this animal of Linnæus and Bontius would not be the true orang-outang, which is of the size of a very tall man: neither can he be what we call theJocko, which I have seen alive; for although he was of the same size as that described by Linnæus, yet he differed in every other character. I can affirm, from having repeatedly seen him, that he neither spake nor expressed himself by a whistling noise, and that he did not perform a single thing which a well instructed dog could not perform: He differed in almost every respect from the description which Linnæus gives of the orang-outang, and agreed much better with that of thesatyrusof the same author. I therefore greatly doubt the truth of the description of thisnocturnal man; I even doubt his existence; and it was probably a white negro, aChacrelas, whom those travellers, which Linnæus has quoted, have but superficially seen, and as blindly described, for the Chacrelas, like thenocturnal man of this author, has white, woolly, frizly hair, red eyes, a weak sight, &c. But then they are men, and do not whistle; nor are they pigmies of only 30 inches in height; they think, speak and act, like other men, and their stature is exactly the same.
Discarding, therefore, this ill-described being, and supposing a little exaggeration in Bontius’s relation concerning the modesty of his female orang-outang, there only remains a brute animal, namely, an Ape, of which we have information from authors of more credit; and which is described with the greatest exactness by Edward Tyson, a celebrated English anatomist. This learned gentleman says, that there are two species of this ape, and that the one he gives a description of is not so large as the other calledbarris, orbaris, by travellers, anddrillby the English. Thisdrillis, in fact, the large orang-outang of the East-Indies, or the pongo of Guinea; and the pigmy described by Tyson is the jocko, which we have seen alive. The philosopher Gassendi having advanced, on the authority of a traveller, named St. Amand, that in the island of Java there was a creature which formed the shade between man and the ape, the fact was positively denied. To prove it, Peiresse produced a letter from M. Noël, aphysician, who lived in Africa, in which it is asserted, that there is found in Guinea a large ape, calledbarris, which walks erect on its two feet, has an appearance of more gravity and sagacity than any of the other species, and has a very strong inclination for women. Darcos, Nieremberg, and Dapper, speak nearly the same of the barris. Battel calls it pongo, and assures us, “that, excepting his size, he is exactly like a man in all his proportions; but he is as tall as a giant; his face is like that of a man, his eyes deep sunk in the head, and the hair on his brows extremely long; his visage is without hair, as are also his ears and hands; his body is lightly covered with hair. He scarcely differs from man, except not having any calf to his legs; yet he always walks on his hind legs: he sleeps under trees, and builds himself a shelter against the sun and the rains. He lives only upon nuts and fruits, and is no way carnivorous: he cannot speak, and has no more understanding than any other animal of the brute creation. When the people of the country travel in the woods they make fires by which they sleep in the night, and being gone, in the morning this animal comes and sits by it until it goes out, but he has not skill enough to keep the flame aliveby feeding it with fuel. They go together in companies, and if they happen to meet with one of the human species, remote from succour, they shew him no mercy. They even attack the elephants, whom they beat with their clubs, and oblige them to leave that part of the forest which they claim as their own. These creatures are never taken alive, for they are so strong that ten men would not be able to hold one of them. They sometimes destroy the young ones; the mother carries them, she herself being in an erect posture, and they cling to her body with their hands and knees. There are two kinds of this animal, both very much resembling the human race, the one the natives call pongo, is taller and thicker than a man; and the otherengeco, or jocko, whose size is much smaller.” It is from this passage that I derived the namespongoandjocko. Battel further observes, that when one of these animals dies the rest cover his body with leaves and branches of trees. Purchas adds, in a note, that in the conversations he had with Battel he learned that a negro boy was taken from him by a pongo, and carried into the woods, where he continued a whole year, and that on his return he said, that they never attempted to do him any injury; thatthey were generally about the height of the human race, but much larger, and nearly double the bulk of a man. Jobson asserts to have seen, in places frequented by these animals, a sort of habitation composed of interwoven branches, which might serve them at least as a shelter from the heat of the sun. “The apes of Guinea, says Bosman, which are calledsmittenby the Flemings, are of a yellow colour, and grow to a very large size. I have seen some above five feet high. These apes are of a very disagreeable appearance, as well as those of another species, which resemble them in every particular except in size, not being one fourth part so big. They are very easily taught to do almost whatever their masters please.” Schouten says, “That the animals which the Indians call orang-outangs are nearly of the same height and figure as man, but that their back and loins are covered with hair, although they have none on the fore part of their bodies; that the females have two large breasts, that their face is coarse, their nose flat, and their ears like those of men; that they are robust, active, bold, and defend themselves against armed men; that they are passionately fond of women, who cannot pass through the woods which they inhabit, withoutthese animals immediately attacking and ravishing them.” Dampier, Froger, and other travellers, assert, that young girls, about eight or ten years old, are taken away by these animals, and carried to the tops of high trees, and that it is a very great difficulty to rescue them. To all these testimonies we may add that of M. de la Brosse, mentioned in his voyage to Angola, in 1738, wherein he says that the orang-outangs (which he callsquimpezés) often attempt to surprise the Negresses, whom, when they succeed, they detain for the purpose of enjoying, feeding them very plentifully all the time. “I knew (says he) a Negress at Loango who had lived among these animals for three years. They grow from six to seven feet high, and are of great strength. They build sheds, and make use of clubs for their defence. They have flat faces, broad flat noses, ears without a tip, and their skins are fairer than that of a mulatto, but they are covered on many parts of their bodies with long and tawny-coloured hair: their bellies are extremely tense, their heels flat, rising behind about half an inch: they sometimes walk upright, and sometimes upon all fours. We purchased two of these animals, a male of about fourteen months old, and a female about twelve, &c.”
Thus we have given the most precise and perfect account we could collect of the greatorang-outang, orpongo; and as magnitude is the only striking character in which it differs from the jocko, I must persist in my belief that they are of the same species; for two things are at least possible. 1. That the jocko may be a constant variety; that is, a much smaller race than that of the pongo; in fact, they are both of the same climate, they live in the same manner, and consequently ought to resemble each other perfectly, since they equally receive, and are subject to the same influences of earth and sky. Have we not an example of a like variety in the human species? The Laplander and Finlander, though living under the same climate, yet differ almost as much in size, and much more in other attributes, as the jocko differs from the great orang-outang. 2. The jocko, or small orang-outang, which we have seen alive, as well as those of Tulpius, Tyson, and others which have been transported into Europe, were, perhaps, only young animals which had not attained the whole of their growth. That which I saw was about two feet and a half high, and the Sieur Nonfouix, to whom it belonged, assured me that it was not above two years old; therefore,it possibly might have attained to the height of five feet if it had lived, supposing its growth to be proportionate to that of the human species. The orang-outang described by Tyson, was still younger, as it was not above two feet high, and its teeth were not entirely formed. Those of Tulpius and Edwards were nearly of the same size as that which I saw, therefore it is very probable that these animals, had they been at liberty in their own climate, would have acquired the same height and dimensions which travellers ascribe to the great orang-outang. From these circumstances we shall consider these two animals as belonging to one species, till a more precise knowledge of them shall be obtained.
The orang-outang which I saw walked always upright, even when carrying heavy burthens. His air was melancholy, his deportment grave, his movements regular, his disposition gentle, and very different from that of other apes. Unlike the baboon, or the monkey, whose motions are violent, and appetites capricious, who are fond of mischief, and only obedient through fear, a look kept him in awe. It may be urged that he had the benefit of instruction; but equally so had those with whom I mean to compare him, andyet neither the baboon, nor other apes, could be brought to obey without blows, while a word was enough for him. I have seen this animal give his hand to shew the company to the door that came to see him, and walk about as gravely with them, as if he formed one of the company. I have seen him sit down at table, unfold his napkin, wipe his lips, make use of a spoon or a fork to carry the victuals to his mouth, pour out its drink into a glass, and touch glasses with the person who drank with him; when invited to take tea, he would bring a cup and saucer, lay them on the table, put in sugar, pour out the tea, and leave it to cool before he drank it. All this I have seen him perform without any other instigation than the signs, or the commands of his master, and often of his own accord. He was gentle and inoffensive; he even approached strangers with respect, and appeared rather to solicit caresses than inclined to offer injuries. He was singularly fond of sweetmeats, which every body was ready to give him; and as he had a defluxion upon the breast, together with a cough, so much sugar contributed, no doubt, to shorten his life. He continued at Paris one summer, and died in London the following winter. He would eat almost every thing that was offered,but preferred dry and ripe fruits to all other aliments. He would drink wine, but in small quantities, and willingly left it for milk, tea, or any other sweet, or mild liquor. Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, had one of these animals presented to him, the figure and description of which is given by Tulpius, and who relates nearly the same circumstances respecting him as we have done. But if we would know what peculiar instincts belong to this animal, and distinguish him from the improvements he had received from his master; we must compare those facts which we have witnessed, with the relations which travellers have given who have seen this animal in a state of nature, and in captivity. M. de la Brosse, who bought two orang-outangs from a negro, and which were but a year old, does not mention their having been educated; on the contrary, he asserts, that they performed many of the above actions by natural instinct. “These animals, says he, sat at table like men, they eat every sort of food without distinction, made use of a knife, a fork, or a spoon, to eat their meat and help themselves; they drank wine and other liquors. We carried them on ship board, and when they were at table, they made signs to the cabin-boy expressive of theirwants; and whenever the boy neglected or refused to give them what they wanted, they became in a passion, seized him by the arm, bit and then threw him down. The male was sea-sick, and required attendance like a human creature: he was even twice bled in the right arm; and every time afterwards, when he found himself indisposed, he held out his arm, as if conscious of having been relieved by that operation.”
Henry Grose relates, “that these animals are to be met with to the north of Coromandel; that Mr. Horne, governor of Bombay, had two of them, a male and a female, sent him from a merchant of the name of Vancajee, who lived upon the sea-coast in that country, by Captain Boag, the master of a trading vessel; who, as well as some of his people, gave the following description of them: they were scarcely two feet high, but their form was entirely like the human: they walked erect upon their two feet, and were of a sallow white, without any hairs on any other part than those on which mankind generally have them. Many of their actions perfectly resembled the human, and their melancholy plainly evinced they felt the weight of their captivity. They made their bed very orderly in the cage in whichthey were sent on board the ship. When any person looked at them they hid those parts which modesty forbids to expose. Whether the sea air affected them, or they pined at their confinement, or whether the captain did not provide them proper food, the female first sickened and died, upon which the male shewed all the real signs of grief, and took the death of his companion so greatly to heart that he refused his food, and did not survive her more than two days.”
Such was captain Boag’s account to Governor Horne, on his return to Bombay; and upon being asked what he had done with their bodies, said he had thrown them overboard, not at the time thinking of preserving them. The governor was so desirous of possessing such a curiosity, that he sent to Vancajee, requesting him to procure more; to which Vancajee replied, he was afraid that would not be in his power, as they were caught upon the skirts of a forest about seventy leagues up the country, but they were so shy and cunning, that the inhabitants were scarcely able to take them, it not happening more than once in a century.
Francis Pyrard relates, “that in the province of Sierra Leona in Africa, there is a species of apes calledbaris, who are strong andmuscular, and so very industrious, that, if properly fed and instructed, they serve as very useful domestics: they usually walk upright, will pound any thing in a mortar, fetch water from the river in little pitchers, which they carry on their heads; but if the pitchers be not taken off immediately on their return they let them fall to the ground; but when they see them broken, they begin to lament and cry for the loss." Father Jarrie says nearly the same, and almost in the same words. The testimony of Schouten agrees with Pyrard’s, on the education of these animals. “When taken, he says, they are taught to walk erect on their hind feet, and to make use of those before as hands, for certain works, as rinsing glasses, carrying the beer, and waiting at table, turning the spits, and other domestic business.” “I saw at Java (says Guat) a very extraordinary female ape; she was very large, and often walked erect on her hind feet, at which time she hid with her hands the parts which distinguish the sex. She had no hair on her face, except the eyebrows, and her face much resembled those grotesque ones of the Hottentot women which I have seen at the Cape. She made her bed every day with great neatness, slept with her head on a pillow, and covered herself with aquilt. When she had the head-ache, she would bind it round with a handkerchief, and it was amusing to see her thus dressed in bed. I could relate a number of other little circumstances which appeared extremely singular, but I own I did not admire them so much as most people; because I was aware of the design of bringing her to Europe to gratify curiosity, and was therefore inclined to suspect that she had been taught a number of these tricks, which the populace looked upon as natural to the animal. She died in our vessel about the latitude of the Cape. This ape greatly resembled the human species in figure, &c.”
Gemelli Careri speaks of one he saw which cried like a child, walked erect on its hind-feet, and carried a mat under its arm, on which it laid down to sleep. “These apes (he adds) seem in some respects to be more sagacious than men; for when they no longer find fruits on the mountains, they descend to the seashore, where they catch and feed on crabs, oysters, and other shell-fish. There is a species of oyster, calledtaclovo, which weighs several pounds, and often lies upon the shores with its shell somewhat open; but this animal being sufficiently sagacious to suspect they may close upon him, if he uses his paws, first putsa stone between the shells, and then eats the oyster at his pleasure.”
“On the coasts of the river Gambia (says Froger) there are apes larger and more mischievous than in any other part of Africa: the negroes are afraid of them, and they cannot travel alone where they frequent, without running a risk of being attacked by these animals, who make use of huge clubs. The Portuguese say that they frequently take away young girls of seven or eight years of age, and carry them up to the highest trees. Most of the negroes regard these animals as foreigners who are come to establish themselves in their country, and that their not speaking arises from a fear of being obliged to work.” Another traveller remarks, that at Macacar there are apes which walk upon their hind-feet like the human species, that they go in numbers, and that an encounter with them often proves fatal.
Thus we have nearly given every particular circumstance concerning this animal which has been related by travellers who may be the most depended upon. I have given their accounts entire, because every passage is important in the history of a brute which has so great a resemblance to man; and inorder to determine its nature with the greater certainty, we shall now mention those differences and conformities which divide him from or give him an approximation to the human species. The first external difference is the flatness of the nose, the shortness of the forehead, and the defect of prominence in the chin. The ears are proportionally too large, the eyes too close to each other, and the interval between the nose and the mouth too great: these are the only differences between the face of the orang-outangs and that of man. With regard to the body and limbs, the thighs are proportionally too short, the arms too long; the fingers too small, the palms of the hands too narrow, and the feet rather resemble the hands than the human feet. The parts of generation differ only from those of man, by their having no frænum to the prepuce; but in the females the organs externally are nearly like those of women.
Internally this animal differs from man in the number of its ribs; having thirteen, whereas man has only twelve. The vertebræ of the neck are also shorter, the bones of the pelvis narrower, the haunches more flat, and the orbits of the eyes sunk deeper. There is no spiny apophysis to the first vertebræ of theneck; the kidnies are rounder than in the human species, and the ureters have a different figure, as well as the bladder and gall-bladder, which are much longer and narrower. In almost every other part, as well externally as internally, there is so perfect a resemblance to those of the human species, that we cannot compare them without expressing our wonder and admiration, that from such a similar conformation and organization the same effects are not produced. For example, the tongue, and all the organs of the voice, are exactly the same as in man, and yet this animal does not speak; the brain is absolutely of the same form and proportion, and yet it does not think. Can there be a more convincing proof, that matter alone, however perfectly organized, cannot produce either speech or thought, unless animated by a superior principle? or, in other words, by a soul to direct its operations? Man, and the orang-outang, are the only animals which have calfs to their legs, and their posteriors formed for walking erect. They likewise are the only ones which have a broad chest, flat shoulders, and the vertebræ conformable to each other; and the only animals whose brain, heart, lungs, liver, spleen, stomach, and intestines, are perfectly alike, and who have a vermicularappendix. In short, the orang-outang has a greater resemblance to man than even to baboons or monkeys, not only by all the parts which I have indicated, but also by the largeness of the visage, the form of the cranium, the jaws, teeth, and other bones of the head and face; by the thickness of the fingers and thumb; by the shape of the nails; by the articulations of the joints, sternum, &c. So that since we find, by comparing this animal with those which resemble it most, such as the magot, baboon, or monkey, it has a greater conformity with the human than the animal species, which have all been mentioned under the general name of apes, the Indians are excusable for having associated it with man by the name oforang-outang, or thewild man of the woods. As some of the facts we have mentioned may appear suspicious to those who have not seen this animal, we shall support them by the authority of the two celebrated anatomists Tyson[M]and Cowper, who dissectedit with a most scrupulous nicety, and have given the results of the comparisons they made of all its parts with the human species. I shall only observe, that the English are not confined, like the French, to one single word to denote animals of this kind: they have, like the Greeks, two different denominations, one for those without tails, which they call apes, and the other for those with tails, which they term monkeys. Those which Tyson speaks of by the wordapesmust be the same animals as we have called pithecos, or pigmy, and the cynocephalus, or Barbary ape. I must also remark, that this author gives some characters of resemblance and difference which have not a sufficient foundation. I have therefore thought it necessary to make some observations on those particulars, as we cannot too minutely examine a creature, which, though it has the form of a man, nevertheless belongs to the brute species.
[M]The orang-outang bears a greater resemblance to man than to the apes or monkeys; because, 1. The hairs on his shoulders are directed downwards, and those on the arm upwards. 2. His face is broader and flatter than that of the apes. 3. The form of his ears resembles that of man, excepting the cartilaginous part being thin, like the apes. 4. His fingers are much thicker in proportion than the apes. 5. He is, in every particular, formed for walking erect, which apes are not. 6. His posteriors are thicker than those of apes. 7. He has calfs to his legs. 8. His breast and shoulders are broader than those of any ape. 9. His heels are longer. 10. He has a cellular membrane, like man, under the skin. 11. His peritonæum is entire. 12. His intestines are longer than those of apes. 13. The intestinal canal is of different diameters, as in man, and not nearly equal, as in apes. 14. His cæcum has a vermicular appendix, which is not the case in any other ape, nor is the neck of the colon so long as in the latter. 15. The insertions of the biliary and pancreatic ducts have but one common orifice in the orang-outang as well as in man, but in all apes and monkeys they are two inches asunder. 16. The colon is longer than that of the apes. 17. The liver is not divided into lobes as in the apes, but entire, like that of man. 18. The biliary vessels are also the same: as are, 19. The spleen. 20. The pancreas; and 21. The number of lobes in the lungs. 22. The pericardium is attached to the diaphragm, as in man. 23. The cone of the heart is more blunt than in apes. 24. He has no pouches at the bottom of the cheeks, as other apes have. 25. His brain is larger than that of apes, and formed exactly like the human brain. 26. The cranium is rounder, and double the size of that of monkeys. 27. All the sutures of the cranium are similar to those of man, which is not the case in other apes or monkeys. 28. He has theos cribriformeand thecrista galli, which the monkeys have not. 29. He has thesella equinaexactly the same as in man, while the apes and monkeys have it more prominent. 30. They have theprocessus pteregoideslike man, while the others have not. 31. The temporal bones, and theossa bregmatisare the same as in man, but in apes and monkeys these bones are of a different form. 32. The latter have theos zygomaticuslarge, whereas it is small in this animal. 33. The teeth, particularly the grinders, are more like man’s than those of the ape or monkey, as also are, 34. The transverse apophyses of the vertebræ of the neck, and the sixth and seventh vertebræ. 35. The vertebræ of the neck are not perforated as in apes, but entire as in man. 36. The vertebræ of the back and their apophyses, are the same as in man; and in the lower vertebræ, there are only two inferior apophyses, but in the apes there are four. 37. As in man there are only five lumber vertebræ, but in monkeys there are six or seven. 38. The spinal apophyses of the lumber vertebræ are straight as in man. 39. Theos sacrumis composed of five vertebræ, as in man, but in apes or monkeys of only three. 40. As in man, thecoccixis composed of four bones, and not perforated, whereas in apes, it is composed of a greater number of bones, all of which are perforated. 41. In the orang-outang, there are only seven true ribs, and the extremities of the false ribs are all cartilaginous and articulated with the vertebræ; but in apes and monkeys, there are eight true ribs, and the extremities of the false ribs are osseous, and their articulations are placed in the intestines between the vertebræ. 42. His iternum is broad like that of man, but which is narrow in monkeys. 43. The bones of the four fingers are thicker than those of apes. 44. The thigh bone is like that of man. 45. The rotula is round, long, and single, but double in the apes. 46. The heeltarsusandmetatarsusare like those of man. 47. The middle toe is not so long as that of the apes. 48. Theobliquus inferior capitis,pyriformis, andbiceps femorismuscles, are like those of man, but which are different in the apes or monkeys.The orang-outangdiffersfrom the human species more than from apes and monkey: 1. The thumb is proportionally smaller than that of man, but larger than that of the apes. 2. The palm of the hand is longer and narrower. 3. The toes approach those of the ape, by their length. 4. As he does by having the large toe of the foot placed at an inch distance from the next one, and which makes him rather be considered as a four-handed animal than a quadruped. 5. His thighs are shorter than those of man; and 6. His arms are longer. 7. The testicles are not pendulous. 8. The epiloon is larger. 9. The gall-bladder is longer. 10. The kidneys are rounder, and the ureters are also different from man. 11. The bladder is longer. 12. He has nofrænumto the prepuce. 13. The bone in the orbit of the eye is sunk deeper. 14. He has not the two cavities below thetella turica. 15. The mastoid and styloid processes are extremely small. 16. The bones of the nose are flat. 17. The vertebræ of the neck are short, flat before, and their spinal apophyses are not forked. 18. He has no spinal apophyses in the first vertebræ of the neck. 19. He has thirteen ribs on each side. 20. Theossa iliaare longer, narrower, and less concave than in man. 21. He also wants the following muscles, which are found in man: theoccipitales,frontales,dilitatories alarum nasi seu elevotores labij superioris,interspinales calli glutæi minimi extensor digitorum pedis brevis et transversalis pedis. 22. The following muscles are sometimes found in man, but not in the orang-outang, thepyramidales,caro musculosa quadrata, the long tendon and the fleshy body of thepalmaris, theattolens, andretrobans oriculam. 23. Theelevatormuscles of the claricles of the orang-outang are like those of the ape, and different from man; as are also 24. The muscles called,longus colli,pectoralis,latissimus dorsi,glutæus maximus et medius,psoas magnus et parvus,iliacus,internus,et gasteronamius internus. And 25. He differs from man in the figure of thedeltoides,pronator,radi teres,et extensor pollicis brevii.—Tyson’s Anat. of the Orang-Outang.
[M]The orang-outang bears a greater resemblance to man than to the apes or monkeys; because, 1. The hairs on his shoulders are directed downwards, and those on the arm upwards. 2. His face is broader and flatter than that of the apes. 3. The form of his ears resembles that of man, excepting the cartilaginous part being thin, like the apes. 4. His fingers are much thicker in proportion than the apes. 5. He is, in every particular, formed for walking erect, which apes are not. 6. His posteriors are thicker than those of apes. 7. He has calfs to his legs. 8. His breast and shoulders are broader than those of any ape. 9. His heels are longer. 10. He has a cellular membrane, like man, under the skin. 11. His peritonæum is entire. 12. His intestines are longer than those of apes. 13. The intestinal canal is of different diameters, as in man, and not nearly equal, as in apes. 14. His cæcum has a vermicular appendix, which is not the case in any other ape, nor is the neck of the colon so long as in the latter. 15. The insertions of the biliary and pancreatic ducts have but one common orifice in the orang-outang as well as in man, but in all apes and monkeys they are two inches asunder. 16. The colon is longer than that of the apes. 17. The liver is not divided into lobes as in the apes, but entire, like that of man. 18. The biliary vessels are also the same: as are, 19. The spleen. 20. The pancreas; and 21. The number of lobes in the lungs. 22. The pericardium is attached to the diaphragm, as in man. 23. The cone of the heart is more blunt than in apes. 24. He has no pouches at the bottom of the cheeks, as other apes have. 25. His brain is larger than that of apes, and formed exactly like the human brain. 26. The cranium is rounder, and double the size of that of monkeys. 27. All the sutures of the cranium are similar to those of man, which is not the case in other apes or monkeys. 28. He has theos cribriformeand thecrista galli, which the monkeys have not. 29. He has thesella equinaexactly the same as in man, while the apes and monkeys have it more prominent. 30. They have theprocessus pteregoideslike man, while the others have not. 31. The temporal bones, and theossa bregmatisare the same as in man, but in apes and monkeys these bones are of a different form. 32. The latter have theos zygomaticuslarge, whereas it is small in this animal. 33. The teeth, particularly the grinders, are more like man’s than those of the ape or monkey, as also are, 34. The transverse apophyses of the vertebræ of the neck, and the sixth and seventh vertebræ. 35. The vertebræ of the neck are not perforated as in apes, but entire as in man. 36. The vertebræ of the back and their apophyses, are the same as in man; and in the lower vertebræ, there are only two inferior apophyses, but in the apes there are four. 37. As in man there are only five lumber vertebræ, but in monkeys there are six or seven. 38. The spinal apophyses of the lumber vertebræ are straight as in man. 39. Theos sacrumis composed of five vertebræ, as in man, but in apes or monkeys of only three. 40. As in man, thecoccixis composed of four bones, and not perforated, whereas in apes, it is composed of a greater number of bones, all of which are perforated. 41. In the orang-outang, there are only seven true ribs, and the extremities of the false ribs are all cartilaginous and articulated with the vertebræ; but in apes and monkeys, there are eight true ribs, and the extremities of the false ribs are osseous, and their articulations are placed in the intestines between the vertebræ. 42. His iternum is broad like that of man, but which is narrow in monkeys. 43. The bones of the four fingers are thicker than those of apes. 44. The thigh bone is like that of man. 45. The rotula is round, long, and single, but double in the apes. 46. The heeltarsusandmetatarsusare like those of man. 47. The middle toe is not so long as that of the apes. 48. Theobliquus inferior capitis,pyriformis, andbiceps femorismuscles, are like those of man, but which are different in the apes or monkeys.
The orang-outangdiffersfrom the human species more than from apes and monkey: 1. The thumb is proportionally smaller than that of man, but larger than that of the apes. 2. The palm of the hand is longer and narrower. 3. The toes approach those of the ape, by their length. 4. As he does by having the large toe of the foot placed at an inch distance from the next one, and which makes him rather be considered as a four-handed animal than a quadruped. 5. His thighs are shorter than those of man; and 6. His arms are longer. 7. The testicles are not pendulous. 8. The epiloon is larger. 9. The gall-bladder is longer. 10. The kidneys are rounder, and the ureters are also different from man. 11. The bladder is longer. 12. He has nofrænumto the prepuce. 13. The bone in the orbit of the eye is sunk deeper. 14. He has not the two cavities below thetella turica. 15. The mastoid and styloid processes are extremely small. 16. The bones of the nose are flat. 17. The vertebræ of the neck are short, flat before, and their spinal apophyses are not forked. 18. He has no spinal apophyses in the first vertebræ of the neck. 19. He has thirteen ribs on each side. 20. Theossa iliaare longer, narrower, and less concave than in man. 21. He also wants the following muscles, which are found in man: theoccipitales,frontales,dilitatories alarum nasi seu elevotores labij superioris,interspinales calli glutæi minimi extensor digitorum pedis brevis et transversalis pedis. 22. The following muscles are sometimes found in man, but not in the orang-outang, thepyramidales,caro musculosa quadrata, the long tendon and the fleshy body of thepalmaris, theattolens, andretrobans oriculam. 23. Theelevatormuscles of the claricles of the orang-outang are like those of the ape, and different from man; as are also 24. The muscles called,longus colli,pectoralis,latissimus dorsi,glutæus maximus et medius,psoas magnus et parvus,iliacus,internus,et gasteronamius internus. And 25. He differs from man in the figure of thedeltoides,pronator,radi teres,et extensor pollicis brevii.—Tyson’s Anat. of the Orang-Outang.
1. Tyson gives, as a particular character of man and the orang-outang, the having the hair on their shoulders inclined downward, and that on the arms upwards. It is true that most quadrupeds have their hair directed downwards, or backwards, but this is not without some exceptions. The sloth and the smallest species of ant-eater have the hair on their anterior parts inclined backward, and that on the crupper and loins directed forwards; therefore thischaracter carries no great weight in comparing the orang-outang with man.
2. The four first differences also in the passage I have quoted are very slight, or ill-founded. The first is the difference of size, which character is very uncertain, especially as the author himself observes that his animal was very young. The second, third, and fourth, are drawn from the form of the nose, the quantity of hair, and other trivial circumstances. It is the same with many others, which may be retrenched; for example, the twenty-first character is drawn from the number of the teeth. It is certain that both this animal and man have the like number of teeth, and if the one in question had only twenty-eight, it ought to be attributed to its youth, for we know that the human race have not more in the early part of their days.
3. The seventh difference is likewise very equivocal; the scrotum of children is in general very tight, and this animal being young ought not to have had them pendulous.
4. The forty-eighth character of resemblance, and the twenty-first, twenty-second, twenty-third, twenty-fourth, and twenty-fifth marks of difference, only denote the presence or shape of certain muscles, which as theyvary in most individuals of the human species, ought not to be considered as essential characters.
5. Every difference and resemblance drawn from parts too minute, such as the apophyses of the vertebræ, or that are taken from the position and magnitude of certain parts, should be considered only as accessory characters; so that Tyson’s whole anatomical table may be reduced to the essential differences and resemblances which we have already mentioned.
6. I have thought it necessary to point out other more general characters of this animal, some of which have been omitted by Tyson, and others but badly indicated. First, The orang-outang is the only one of all the apes that has no pouches within his cheeks on each side of the jaw, in which to put the provisions before they swallow them, for the inside of his mouth is perfectly like that of man. Secondly, the gibbon, the Barbary ape, and all the baboon and monkey kind, except the douc, have their posteriors flat, with callosities on them. The orang-outang is the only one which has those parts plump, and without callosities. The douc also has no callosities, but then his posteriors are flat and covered with hair, so that in this respect thedouc forms the shade between the orang-outang and the monkeys; as the gibbon and magot form the same knot with respect to the pouches on each side of the jaw. Thirdly, the orang-outang is the only animal who has the calfs of the legs, and fleshy posteriors. This character shews that it is formed much better than any other animal to walk upright; but as its toes are very long, and its heels higher situated than in man, it runs with greater ease than it walks, and there would be occasion for artificial heels higher than those of our shoes to enable it to walk easily for a long time together. Fourthly, though the orang-outang has thirteen ribs, and man only twelve, this difference does not approximate it nearer to the baboon or monkey than it removes it from man, because the number of ribs varies in most of those species, some of them having twelve, others eleven, ten, and so on. So that the only differences between the body of this animal and that of man are reduced to two, viz. the figure of the bones of the pelvis, and the formation of the feet; these, therefore, are the only considerable parts by which the orang-outang bears a greater resemblance to the other apes than it does to the human species.
From this examination, which I have made with all the exactness I am capable of, we may form a tolerably correct judgment of this animal. If there were a step by which we could descend from human nature to that of the brutes, and if the essence of this nature consisted entirely in the form of the body, and depended on its organization, the orang-outang would approach nearer to man than to any other animal. Seated in the second rank of beings, if it could not command in the first, it would at least make others feel its superiority. If the principle of imitation, by which he seems so closely to copy the actions of man, were a result of thought or reason, this ape would be at a still greater distance from the brute species, and nearer the human; but, as we have observed, the interval which separates them is not trifling, and the resemblance in form, conformity of organization, and motions of imitation, which seem to result from those similitudes, neither bring it nearer the nature of man, nor raise it above that of the brutes.
Distinctive Characters of this Species.
The orang-outang has no pouches on the sides of the jaws, no tail, nor any callositieson the posteriors, which last are plump and fleshy: all his teeth are similar to those of man: his face is flat, naked, and of a swarthy colour; his hands, feet, ears, breast, and belly, are also naked: the hair on the head descends on the sides of the temples like tresses; on his back and loins there is but a very small quantity of hair[N]: he is about five or six feet high, and always walks erect on his two hind feet. We have not been able to verify whether the females are subject to periodical courses like women: analogy will scarcely suffer a doubt to arise to the contrary.