"
As to the muscles, there is a short flexor, a short extensor, and a
'peronaeus longus', while the tendons of the long flexors of the great
toe and of the other toes are united together and with an accessory
fleshy bundle.
The hind limb of the Gorilla, therefore, ends in a true foot, with a
very moveable great toe. It is a prehensile foot, indeed, but is in no
sense a hand: it is a foot which differs from that of man not in any
fundamental character, but in mere proportions, in the degree of
mobility, and in the secondary arrangement of its parts.
It must not be supposed, however, because I speak of these differences
as not fundamental, that I wish to underrate their value. They are
important enough in their way, the structure of the foot being in
strict correlation with that of the rest of the organism in each case.
Nor can it be doubted that the greater division of physiological labour
in Man, so that the function of support is thrown wholly on the leg and
foot, is an advance in organization of very great moment to him; but,
after all, regarded anatomically, the resemblances between the foot of
Man and the foot of the Gorilla are far more striking and important than
the differences.
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