The Relation of Science and Religion.pdf - Online Christian Library

HIGBER ORGANISMS. 223is given to the bulbs of smell, which arespread out quite conspicuously in front of thebrain,-implying, as in lower examples, a lifelargely governed by sense of smell.Omitting special reference to animals ofgreat bulk, and possessing enormous muscularpower, such as the elephant and the whale,both of which have singularly complicated andbeautiful brains, I pass.to the races of nznkeysand apes, which are nearest in structure toman. In these animals the configuration ofbody is certainly the nearest approach to thehurnan figure which is to be found anywherein the animal kingdom. They can not, indeed,assume the perfectly erect posture ofman, but they come very near to it; andthough they move on all four limbs, feelingthemselves more secure in that mode of advance,they have a formation of hand analogousto that of man, with a distinctly formedthumb, enabling them to grasp an object in amanner closely resembling the human grasp.The apes have even an advantage over thehuman race, for they have a thumb on thefoot, as well as on the hand; which may alsohave its own disadvantages, for it might proveno convenience to us if we were so endowed.