MAN ALWAYS A BIPED

Evening Star, Issue 19222, 13 April 1926, Page 1

MAN ALWAYS A BIPED

Alan has steed on his own logs from the time of h a origin, according to Hr Ihidlay .1. .'iortoa, of (.ho department of surgery ot Yale University. Dr Morton told members' of tho Amoni-an Anthropological Association in Now Haven recently that fossil evidence shows an oied, posuire in the anthropoid ape slam a„ i.ir hack possibly ns tho Oligoeene period of geological time. 10 quote hc.eino Son-ice’s ‘ I>a. l ly .Science News Bulletin ' •AViir.hmgtoii) : ‘(lf all Ihe even!, apes, the ohimmnzco, the gorilla, (he oi-nng. and gibbon, the Blender and apil-o gibbon is The only one who liars preserved good proportions be(ween leg and body, although this 'fact is obscured by ii.s long, strong arms,’ Dr .Morton said. ‘lt, is an crect-nnining tailless bipod, both in the trees and on the ground. The other apes have long, powerful amis, shoulders, and chests, weak pelvis and short legs, wliich mow that they are p.cdomi--11 i ntly troe-cliinbing.’ "Troe life may have enabled animals to develop the upright post,me, Or 'Morion explained, for all 'animals which are familiar wiih tree life, or come, from compare lively .recent, a r box oil ancestry, assume oicet squatting position easily and habitually. But all the arboreal animals but the primates, to which man belongs, are. nevertheless essentially quadrupeds, for their thighs are not extended as in man. "The ancient apes walked better than the modern ones,’ Pr Morton said. ‘The antiquity of the erect posture in this line of creatures and the recognition of t-lio physical changes that hand locomotion in trees will bring about show that tho quadruped posture must have resulted from the en two Semen I of the legs from under-use and the bad balance of the upper part of the body from over-development. Just, as tho ImL arms of the npes -VTO due to their troecliniliing ha bins, so tho greater leg development in man re.-iilled from his habit of walking on iho ground.’ ‘ Thorn nmst have boon a time, Dr Alorton believes, when this development had gone about hail wav, when the. arms and legs or both groups were of the same length, ouch a condition, he thinks, would bo Hie point where Hie ape and human iuom Repainted. To the original human creature erect standing on the ground was a real pnysioal effort, in spite of his previous experience ol tree life,’ Dr Morion said, ‘ Without holding on to something, it would have been extremely difficult, to stand for a long time.’ Their feet were nil toes, valid more was no heel to support the bodv weight. Their knees were still beta ami their hips p.anly flexed, and the spine bent leeward at the shoulders. Tho perfect body pose of modern man was of Blow development, in which great changes took pare m the feet, log, hips, spine, and other parts of the bodv.

'Tlie entire human tx>dv,’ Dr Morton said, ‘ has become remodelled on a central axis plan, and that weight of different pails of the body is so balanced tlm only slight muscular effort is needed to maintain tho equilibrium ot tbe whole. 1 Man is the only anmul fco-dav that grows straight up like a lily on a stem. ‘ArboeraJ man, as a tiea-Jivmg human being, must bo coneide.rsd a myth,’ Dr Marton said, ‘for the characteristics which definitely mark the human being as man are ones which are assoc atfxl with terresirml biped-ism. Tho tree-living habits must have been given up long before tho skeletal cha-mges could have occurred.’ ”