Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1882 — Resemblance Between Men and Monkeys. [ARTICLE]

Resemblance Between Men and Monkeys.

Ts the skeletons of an orang-outang and a chimpanzee be compared with that of a man there will be found to be the most wonderful resemblance, together with a very marked diversity. Bone for bone, throughout the whole structure, will be found to agree in general form, position and function, the only absolute difference being that the oraug has nine wrist-bones, whereas man an 1 the chimpanzee have but eight; and the chimpanzee has thirteen pairs of ribs, whereas the oraug, like man, has but twelve. With these two exceptions, the differences are those of shape, proportion and direction only, though the resulting differences in the external form and motions are very cousiderable. The greatest of these are, that the feet of the anthropoid or man-like apes, as weU as those of all monkeys, are formed Tike hands, with large opposable thumbs fitted to grasp the branches of trees, but unsuitable for erect "walking, while the hands have weak small thumbs but very long and powerful fingers, forming a hook rather than a hand, adapted for climbing up trees and suspending the whole weight from horizontal branches. The almost complete identity of the skeleton, however, and the close similarity of the musolea and of all the internal organs, have produced that striking and

ludicrous resemblance to man which every one recognizes in these higher apes, and in a less degree in the whole monkey tribe; the face and features, the motions, attitudes and gestures being often a strange caricature of humanity. — Prof. Wallace, in Popular Science Monthly.