little bones at the lower end of the vertebral column,
constituting the coccyx, and this is just where the abbreviated tail of
the ape and the still longer prehensile tail of the monkey arises from the
body. Unless the coccyx is a tail, what can it be? And if it does not
represent a reduced counterpart of the tails of other mammals, what does
it represent?

Many of the vestigial structures of man appear more clearly in infancy and
in embryonic development. The human embryo possesses a complete coat of
hair, called the lanugo, which usually disappears before birth. This hair
cannot be regarded as any less significant than the coat of hair which the
infant whale possesses; it means a completely haired ancestor. The
elements of this coat are arranged precisely as they are in the apes; upon
the arm, for example, they point from shoulder to elbow and from wrist to
elbow. Unless the anterior limb of the hairy human ancestor was held in
the position of the climbing ape's, this arrangement would be
disadvantageous, for the hair as a rain-shedding thatch would be effective
only upon the upper arm, while the hairs upon the forearm would catch the
rain. In a word, this vestigial coat indicates in the clearest possible
manner that the ancestor of the human species was not only hairy, but also
arboreal in its mode of life.

Every human infant is bow-legged at birth, and the natural position of its
curved limbs is like that of the gorilla's, for the soles of the feet are
turned toward one another. Again, the so-called great toe is at first
shorter than the others, and for a time it retains the power of free
movement that indicates a handlike character of the lower limb in the
ancestor. Many savage human races, however, whose feet remain unshod, make
use of the primitive grasping power of the foot which the higher races
lose completely. An Australian and Polynesian can pick up small objects
with the foot very much as we may with the hand.

Among the wonderful reminiscent characters displayed by the human infant
is the firm clasping power of the hand, which it possesses for a time
after birth and which enables it to hang suspended for several minutes
from a stick placed in its grasp. The muscles which enable the infant to
do this gradually dwindle, so that the two-year-old child can hang
suspended for only a few seconds. This grasping muscle is a heritage from
the ape, where there is an obvious necessity for the newborn individual to