The St. Louis Republic., 1901-11-03

There was a saying among the ancient
Romans that you could recognize Hercules
by his feet. so large and powerful were
| they. Naturalists have always paid at
tention TO the feet of animals. as these
bear so close relation to their habits and
relationships. 1t was not unnatural. there
fore. when the resemblances between mon
keys and men first attracted the serious
attention of naturalists that the foot of
man was compared with that Of apes.
Before the time of Darwin groteque car
features of men that We call apes and mon
kew. were classified as forming group OF
animals next to man. but In order to en-
phasize the distinction between them, the
apes and monkeys were called qradrumana.
or the ur-handed animals.
II was Huxley who caused that erroneous
term to be abandoned. as he conciusiveiy
proved that the hind feet Of monkeys were
in all essential points similar to the feet or
man. Indeed, the same set OF oohes , oceui
i'm the hind limbs of all the land mammals
The fore paws OF monkeys also are equaiiy
similar to the hands of man. Slight diner-
ences have arisen between the feet CT man
and those of apes because men more per
s,stentIy walks on his feet, whereas the
apes do so only intermittentfy.
Two main features of tn human loot nave
resulted from this change in the mode OF
progression-that is, from climbing 10 Walk
ing. These are the loss of its primitive pre-
hensile or grasping power and a diHerence
in form, especially in the relation OF the big
toe to the rest Of the foot
II has been shown that II the sole OF
newly born infants foot be examined num-
erous well marked creases are visible
which tend to become fiatteued out with
age These creases. like those OF the palm
of the hand. about which so much nonsense
has been spoken and written. have been
held to represent the folds which must
have been present In the feet of the pre-
human ancestors Of man when they were
tree climbers. Our big toe differs in one
or two respects from that OF the apes. 1t
is larger. is placed in a line with the other
toes and there Is no space between 1t and
them.
Three years ago, when I was In British
New Guinea. / had the good fortune TO come
across some natives from the mountains OF
the interior of that wonderful island. One
of them had such q remarkable foot that
photographed II. 1t Is at once evident from
the illustration that there is a very wide
space between the big toe and the others.
II you will take the trouble to compare
the photograph with your own foot you will
at once see how different they are. In this
respect It recalls the big toe Of apes. but
which 1 referred are present and we must
deny ourselves the pleasure CT speaking of
1t as an apelike foot. We cannot from this
foot alone recognize a missing link.
Many primitive peoples have such great
command over their feet that with them
they can firmly grasp anything or can pick
up very small objects. More than one trav-
eler while unsuspiciously talking to saw
ages. has lost articles which have been sly
ly abstracted by the dexterous prehensile
powers Of the toes Of the apparently un-
sophisticated children of nature. Although
we have gained incalculably by civilization,
We have lost, on the other hand, several
skillful and delicate aptitudes that primitive
people possess. On the whole. however, our
thieves can manage very well without en-
ploying their toes.
New Guinea is Inhabited by but single
race of people, the Papuans or Melanesians,