DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18825#0280
lec. Till.] proportions of the figure. \Ql
not only discernible, but conspicuous, in his appear-
ance. As this has been strongly denied, and as the
inquiry is not altogether foreign from our subject, I
shall intreat your candor to a few observations.
It is not denied, that, in some respects, the gene-
ral idea evident in the construction of the human
frame, and in that of animals, have a certain simila-
rity : the trunk, the limbs, the extremities, are often
composed, as it were, on the same plan ; and are no
further varied than attitude or destination require :
nevertheless, the parts are rarely similar in their con-
formation ; and the features hardly ever ; but if it be
insisted, that the features sometimes approach resem-
blance, to this I would answer, that, notwithstanding
the resemblance of the features of some animals to
those of mankind, there are yet the following perma-
nent distinctions :
I. The human Eyes are placed on a line which
directly crosses the auditory-nerve, while those of
brutes are considerablv lower down in their faces,
and are more, or less, inclined toward the nose.
Even the eyes of the Orax-otax (that nearest ap-
proach in form to mankind) are so far below his ears,
that the horizontal line of the eyes, which in a hu-
man face passes through the top (or nearly) of the
ears, passes through his ears at bottom, if it may not
be said to avoid them totally.
II. Man has power to elevate the ball op his
eye (i. e. of looking upward) without turning up his
nose ; of which motion animals are incapable : their
eye-balls may turn downward ; and this so much as
to
not only discernible, but conspicuous, in his appear-
ance. As this has been strongly denied, and as the
inquiry is not altogether foreign from our subject, I
shall intreat your candor to a few observations.
It is not denied, that, in some respects, the gene-
ral idea evident in the construction of the human
frame, and in that of animals, have a certain simila-
rity : the trunk, the limbs, the extremities, are often
composed, as it were, on the same plan ; and are no
further varied than attitude or destination require :
nevertheless, the parts are rarely similar in their con-
formation ; and the features hardly ever ; but if it be
insisted, that the features sometimes approach resem-
blance, to this I would answer, that, notwithstanding
the resemblance of the features of some animals to
those of mankind, there are yet the following perma-
nent distinctions :
I. The human Eyes are placed on a line which
directly crosses the auditory-nerve, while those of
brutes are considerablv lower down in their faces,
and are more, or less, inclined toward the nose.
Even the eyes of the Orax-otax (that nearest ap-
proach in form to mankind) are so far below his ears,
that the horizontal line of the eyes, which in a hu-
man face passes through the top (or nearly) of the
ears, passes through his ears at bottom, if it may not
be said to avoid them totally.
II. Man has power to elevate the ball op his
eye (i. e. of looking upward) without turning up his
nose ; of which motion animals are incapable : their
eye-balls may turn downward ; and this so much as
to