The Washington times., 1919-12-07
s.. Toe Enabled
Him to Stand
Erect with
Free Hands and
Head, While
81 the Ape $
a"Hind Thumb
Forced Him to
Be a Tree
:. Dweller and
Cramped
His Brain

big toe is the feature which frst
made him really human. which now
distinguishes him from apes and all the
lover snimals and which has set him free
during his evolutionary history to develop
his great mental powers.
Professor John C. Merriam, of the Uni
versity Of California, expressed this inter,
estihg view during recent address before
the National Academy Of Sciences. explain
ing the descent of man as read from the
geological record.
I'm the foot Of man, with the same fun.
damental plan seen in the apes said
Professor Merriam, I'VE and an extreme
modification rarely duplicated In yerte-
brates, in that the normally short AFsi
digit tbig toe), while retaining the normal
number OF phaIanges for mammals, has
been greatly enlarged and elongated until
it equals or exceeds the LONGEST Of the
other digits. . This extreme modi.
fcation Of the human foot is clearly 70 be
coupled with the specialization Of the
whole limb for running in a longlsgged
two-footed form, running normally with
eYerted toes"
A little farther on Professor Merriam.
explaining the bearing Of the very pecu.
har human foot and big toe upon the de-
yelopment of the human brain. said:
"It seems that we must set the human
type OF as very unusually modified for the
special function OF bipedal 1ocomotion so
necessary If the hands are to be set free to
~serve the head"
Few people probably stop to think OF the
Importance of the big toe. II they do they
will realize that it is this feature which
enables man to stand erect, to attend to
! hts work efficiently. to run and walk, and
to perform most OF his remarkable feats
,-et endurance and agility. Professor Merri.
-Rm's address viii help us TO understand.
s-9hy the big toe has come to play such an
sfmportant part in our development
This study of mans big toe is an effort
10 make clearer the difficult subject Of eyo-
ltion. Most of US understand in a, cen.
Eeral way that the theory of evolution is ac-
.cepted by science, that man has evolved
LION lower animal forms and that among
..ats more immediate ancestors were forms
: resembling the existing monkeys and apes.
eFewer perhaps understand that there are
between man and the ape which
1shOw that this creature is following a diff.
ferent line Of development and that man
has lived on the earth about as long as the
sexisting apes, during which period DO ape
uhp fha gIf 49,,
sop into man. 1t has been argued that
sman started to evolve towards his human
term many stages earlier than the existing
.Spes or monkeys. Some of these stages
have been lost to sight and can only be re-
placed alphabetically. The evidence indf.
Gates that little animal similar to the
lemur marked the point where mans line
OF ancestry started out Other branches.
taking different line from this point. de-
yeloped into the monkeys and apes.
p Such observations as Professor Mer-
riam's concerning the Importance of mans
Bag toe help to explain the course Of man,
evolution during those countless ages in
(which he has grown from a little lemur.
Ike or monkeyIike animal
Professor Merriam says that mans rela.
honship to the anthropoid apes is evident
and that It is more important to study the
differences between the two than the sim.
ilarities
The most striking contrasts between
man and the apes are the shape and size
Of the head, and after that come the differ.
z