The Descent of Man

with precision, or to form a flint into a rude
tool, could, with sufficient practice, as far as
mechanical skill alone is concerned, make almost
anything which a civilised man can make.
The structure of the hand in this respect may be
compared with that of the vocal organs, which
in the apes are used for uttering various signalcries,
or, as in one genus, musical cadences; but
in man the closely similar vocal organs have
become adapted through the inherited effects
of use for the utterance of articulate language.
Turning now to the nearest allies of men, and
therefore to the best representatives of our early
progenitors, we find that the hands of the
Quadrumana are constructed on the same general
pattern as our own, but are far less perfectly
adapted for diversified uses. Their hands
do not serve for locomotion so well as the feet
of a dog; as may be seen in such monkeys as
the chimpanzee and orang, which walk on the
outer margins of the palms, or on the knuckles.