These examples might be greatly multiplied, but they suffice to show
that, in whatever proportion of its limbs the Gorilla differs from Man,
the other Apes depart still more widely from the Gorilla and that,
consequently, such differences of proportion can have no ordinal value.
We may next consider the differences presented by the trunk, consisting
of the vertebral column, or backbone, and the ribs and pelvis, or bony
hip-basin, which are connected with it, in Man and in the Gorilla
respectively.
In Man, in consequence partly of the disposition of the articular
surfaces of the vertebrae, and largely of the elastic tension of some
of the fibrous bands, or ligaments, which connect these vertebrae
together, the spinal column, as a whole, has an elegant S-like
curvature, being convex forwards in the neck, concave in the back,
convex in the loins, or lumbar region, and concave again in the sacral
region; an arrangement which gives much elasticity to the whole
backbone, and diminishes the jar communicated to the spine, and through
it to the head, by locomotion in the erect position.
Furthermore, under ordinary circumstances, Man has seven vertebrae in
his neck, which are called 'cervical'; twelve succeed these, bearing
ribs and forming the upper part of the back, whence they are termed
'dorsal'; five lie in the loins, bearing no distinct, or free, ribs, and
are called 'lumbar'; five, united together into a great bone, excavated
in front, solidly wedged in between the hip bones, to form the back of
the pelvis, and known by the name of the 'sacrum', succeed these; and
finally, three or four little more or less movable bones, so small as to
be insignificant, constitute the 'coccyx' or rudimentary tail.
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