ASCENT OF MANKIND.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 10472, 30 December 1927, Page 2

ASCENT OF MANKIND.

WOMAN MORE LIKE THE ARE

' 1 Woman resembles tiie ape more than does the- man, for her legs are usually shorter and her arms longer” said Professor Arthur Thomson, speaking on “Anatomy,” at the Royal Academy in .London recently. It was only conceit, he added, which made man think that lie was not descended from the ape. “Though the generations have wrought great changes, yet the similarities are too great to be ignored. The chief things which distinguish the human race from its. 'forefather’s are difference in length of leg and arm, the erect posture, and the hand. This latter member is one of the greatest we ■have, and is the principal means of our coming into contact with the world. Through its repeated functioning through the ages, it inis developed its present structure, and it is the hand which is the most striking difference between us and the apes. “A baby, until it can walk alone, resembles the ape in nearly fcv-ary respect. First, its (vertical column or spine has the uniform curve of the- monkeys without the hollow at the loins, which develops later through standing and walking erect. Secondly its arms, which are longer in proportion to its legs, are by far the strongest part of its anatomy, for it has been proved that a new-born baby can grasp a stick held above it, and raise its limp, helpless body by this means as can an ape. And, thirdly, the child of nine or ten months uses both arms and legs with wmcii to propel himself along by crawling and clinging on to various objects. These characteristics disappear as the human grows, for the legs grow stronger arid longer than the arms,- the spine changes its curve, and the man, unlike the ape, becomes master of his environment, instead of subject to it, as are apes and other animals.’’