The Nevada Democrat., 1859-04-20
WHOLE NO. 2S9.
Prom the Illustrated London Times, Jan. %.
THE ,ssGORuLA.,,

1 the traveller was excited, und with coneldera=
ble trouble he obtained possession of the idol,
and forwarded ii to Professor Owen for his
opinion respecting the nature of the animal of
which it had once formed part. Professor
| Owen decided that the creature was altogether
unrepreseuted by any specimen Of natural hiss
tory known to the scientific world; and the
learned Professor embodied his views on the
subject in very interesting paper, which he
read before the Geological Society. Ofcourse
everybody begged TO differ from the conclu-
sions 10 which he had arrived, and there were
not a few who ridiculed as completely fancifui
the drawing of the restored animal, which the
Professor had made without any other intorma-
ton to guide him than the structure Of the
skull. At length, after extraordinary exer-
tions, an animal was captured, and packed 10
a cask of spirits Of wine, duly arrived in this
country few weeks since; aud it is found to
correspond closely with the description ofit By
Professor Owen.
The gorilla is a native of Western Africa,
and is known to exist, in very large numbers,
in the Gaboon districts, where they are among
the most formidable of the wild animals Of the
forest. The present specimen, which has been
most carefully skinned and preserved by Mr.,
Bartlett, under the direction ofProfessor Owen,
| is rather more than five feet In height. 1t is
male, known to be young by the state of his
teeth and the condition of the suturcs of the
skull. 10 features the animal is very much
like negro, aud the orbits of the eyes are
considerably projected. The teeth are formed
almost precisely as 10 man; and, unlike those
of the monkey, chlmpanzee, or ourang-outang,
they are of great strength. In the skull, which
was first sent over to this country, the CANNES
were nearly as large and as strong as those of
| lion. The hair on the upper part of the head
of the gorilla is reddish brown, upon the
cheeks the smooth hair is of u grayish huei the
back is covered with dun or mouse-colored
! hair; the hair upon the arm from the hand TO
| the elbow is black, aud 1t grows upward from
the hand toward the elbow. The chest is near
ly bare. There were thirteen wounds In the
body Of the animal, and two bullets were eN-
tractcd from il, one from wound which had
been a long time healed over The negroes Of
Africa live In constant terror of these animals,
which are gregarious; aud ii is stated by the
natives that they frequently descend in consld4
cradle force, sack the villages, carry away tho
| young children and devour them; and further,
! that they have very ugly custom OF attacking
men, aud wrenchiug of the heads of those
whom they attack. Ii one of the creatures Is
fired at or attacked, the whole tribe come down
| TO the rescue, and escape from the combined
assault is impossible How far these state
ments may be correct there is at present no
means Of knowing; but it is certain that tho
gorilla is not vegetarian in his habits, and
! that he would have no scruple in dovourlng
any flesh that might chance to come in his
way.
4 specimen Is now in the British Museum,
together with skeleton of an old male gorilla
A few days since Professor Owen lectured be-
fore the Geological Society on the external
characteristics of the animal. He first called
attention to the shortness. almost absence, OF
ueck to the great length of the cervical spincs,
causing the "nape" to project beyond the ''oc-
cput;" TO the great size and elevation Of the
blade-bones; and to the oblique rising of the
colar-bones above the level of the angles of
| the jaw. The brain-case was low and narrow,
aud thick intcgumeut overlapping that ridge
forms a scowling penthouse over the eyes The
nose is more prominent than 10 the chimpanzee
or orang.outang, not only at its lower expand-
ed part but at its upper half; the mouth is ve-
ry WIDE the lips large, Of uniform thickness,
the upper one with straight margin, not
showing the coored lining membrane when the
mouth is shut; the chin very short and rece-
ding; the muzzle very prominent; the eyeli Is
with eyeashes, the eyes wider apart than in
! tho oraug or chimpanzec; the ears smaller In
proportion than in man, much smaller than in
! the chmpauZee, but the structure of the auri-
Gle more like that of man. On direct front
view Of the face, the ears are on the same par
alle with the eyes. The huge CANNES in the
male give a most formidable aspect to the beast
The profile of the trunk describes slight con-
vexty, there being no in-bending at the loins
The chest is Of great capacity; the shoulders
very wide across; the abdomen somewhat prom
inent both before aud at the sides The chief
deyations from the human structure were seen
IN the limbs, which are of great power, the up
per ones prod giOusy strong. A uniform cir
cumstance prevails in the forearm; the leg in-
creases in thickness from below the knee to the
ankle These characters Of the limbs are due
to the general absence of those partial muscu-
lar enargements which impart the graceful va
ryng curves TO the outlines OF the limbs IN
man. Yet they depended. the Professor re-
marked. rather on excess than defect OF deyel-
opment of the carneous as compared with the
tendiuOus parts of the limb muscles which thus
continue of almost the same size from their orl-
! gin TO their Insertion, with proportlonate gain
! OF strength to the beast. The difference In the
length OF the upper limbs between the gorilla
aud man s but little in comparison with the
trunk. The hair of the arm inclines downward,
that OF the forearm upward. as in the chin-
paneese. The thumb is much larger than IN
the chimpaneese--a fact of great Significance.
The forearm in the gorilla passes into the
hand with very slight appearance OF the wrist,
the circumference Of which, without the hair,
was fourteen inches, that Of a strong man av-
eraging eight inches. The hand is remarkable
for its breadth and thickness, and for the great
length Of the palm, partly oceasloned by the
extent of undivided integument between the
fingers The fingers are thus short, and appear
as If swollen and equity; and are conlcal 10
shape after the first joint, by tapering to nails,
which, being not larger or longer than those of
man, are relatively to the fingers much smaller,
The circumference of the middle digit at the
first joint 10 the gorilla is 5! inches; in man, at
the same part it averages n inches. The skin
covering the middle joint IS thick and callous
on the backs Of the fingers; the habit Of the an
imal to apply those parts to the ground IN oc-
casioned progression, is manifested Dy theso
callosities. The back of the hand is hairy as
far as the divisions Of the 1ngers the palm is
naked and callous. The thumb, besides its
sbortness according to the standard of the hu-
man hand, is scarcely half so thick as the fore
finger.
In the hind limbs appearances leads to an in
ference that the gorilla resorts to them in sta
ton and progression more than any other ape