Review of Flourens on the nervous system : review of Vrolik on the Chimpanzee : review of Albers, Kerst &c on morbid anatomy [incomplete].

Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Review of Flourens on the nervous system : review of Vrolik on the Chimpanzee : review of Albers, Kerst &c on morbid anatomy [incomplete]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    A 1843.] in the line of the axis of the trunk: the alia are long, straight, and ver- tical, concave on their posterior (outer), and convex on their anterior (in- ternal), surface: and hence the upper strait of the pelvis is narrow and elongated, and in a horizontal front view one can see the whole length of the sacrum and coccyx. The anterior inferior spine of the ilium is absent; the symphysis pubis very deep; the angle very acute; the tube- rosities of the iscliii are on almost the same level as the lower edge of the symphysis pubis, and are large, flat, triangular, and curved outwards. The orang’s vertebral column is less like that of man, especially in the great length of the spinous processes of the cervical vertebrae, their di- rection straight backwards or even, in those below the third, somewhat upwards, in adaptation to the weight of the head naturally hanging for- wards. The cervical part of the siamang’s spine is more man-like, but still is widely distinguished by the characters of its spinous processes. The orang has but twelve dorsal vertebrae; in which respect it is nearer to man than either the chimpanse or the siamang, for both of them have thirteen. The spinous processes of the upper dorsal vertebra are, in both the orang and the siamang, unlike those of the chimpanse, directed straight backwards. The lumbar vertebrae of the orang and siamang are four in number, and are distinctly different from those of man in their articular processes being not vertical, but inclined obliquely outwards, so that they are not capable of that characteristic movement in a quadrant which is adapted to the biped gait of man. The sacrum of the siamang is more man-like than that of the orang or chimpanse, inasmuch as all its four false vertebra are united in one bone, which is short, broad above and gradually tapering downwards, but forms only a slight promontory, and wants the excavations, both vertical and transverse, which the human sacrum presents. In like manner, the whole pelvis of the siamang has, of those of the three species, most nearly human form, and approaches closely to that of the Bosjes-woman, of which the elder Vrolik has, in his well-known work on the national forms of the pelvis, given so complete an account. The ilia are very broad above; hollowed out on their anterior surface; and have a rounded crest and a rudiment of an anterior inferior spine. The horizontal rami of the ossa pubis form a well-marked crest, and their symphysis is narrower and more oblique than in the other species. The rami of the ischia, more- over, are not transverse, but are directed obliquely towards the ossa pubis, as in the human skeleton ; their tuberosities and spines are large ; and on the posterior aspect of the ilia there is the same sinuous surface as that of man presents. The thorax has a greater width and a more rounded form, as one as- cends from the lower monkeys towards man. The sternum in the chim- panse has a general resemblance to the human form, but its superior border has not a transverse notch, and the three pieces, analogous to those which compose the second portion of the sternum of man, remain separate. In the orang, the sternum is shorter and broader; and, up to a certain period oflife, is composed of separate and symmetrical portions, of which five on each side are connected at the middle line. The two portions of the manubrium unite first, and the union seems to proceed from above downwards ; but in the skeleton of even an old orang, at Leyden, it has not taken place in the two lower portions. In the siamang
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