he family of the
Simiidae, because, of all the ape-world, they most closely resemble man.
This family includes four kinds, the gibbons of S.E. Asia, the orangs of
Borneo and Sumatra, the gorillas of W. Equatorial Africa, and the
chimpanzees of W. and Central Equatorial Africa. Each of these apes
resembles man most in some one physical characteristic: the gibbons in
the formation of the teeth, the orangs in the brain-structure, the
gorillas in size, and the chimpanzees in the sigmoid flexure of the
spine. In general structure they all closely resemble human beings, as
in the absence of tails; in their semi-erect position (resting on
finger-tips or knuckles); in the shape of vertebral column, sternum and
pelvis; in the adaptation of the arms for turning the palm uppermost at
will; in the possession of a long vermiform appendix to the short caecum
of the intestine; in the size of the cerebral hemispheres and the
complexity of their convolutions. They differ in certain respects, as in
the proportion of the limbs, in the bony development of the eyebrow
ridges, and in the opposable great toe, which fits the foot to be a
climbing and grasping organ.

Man differs from them in the absence of a hairy coat; in the development
of a large lobule to the external ear; in his fully erect attitude; in
his flattened foot with the non-opposable great toe; in the straight
limb-bones; in the wider pelvis; in the marked sigmoid flexure of his
spine; in the perfection of the muscular movements of the arm; in the
delicacy of hand; in the smallness of the canine teeth and other dental
peculiarities; in the development of a chin; and in the small size of
his jaws compared to the relatively great size of the cranium. Together
with man and the baboons, the anthropoid apes form the group known to
science as Catarhini, those, that is, possessing a narrow nasal septum,
and are thus easily distinguishable from the flat-nosed monkeys or
Platyrhini. The anthropoid apes are arboreal and confined to the Old
World. They are of special interest from the important place assigned to
them in the arguments of Darwin and the Evolutionists. It is generally
admitted now that no fundamental anatomical difference can be proved to
exist between these higher apes and man, but it is equally agreed that
none probably of the Simiidae is in the direct line of human ancestry.
There is a great gap to be bridged between the highest anthropoid and
the lowest man, and much imp