Comparison of the Hand and the Foot of a Monkey and Human

The power possessed by the hand of a human is chiefly depended upon the size and power of the thumb, which is more developed in humans than it is in the highest apes. The thumb of the human hand can be brought into exact opposition to the extremities of all the fingers, whether singly or in combination; while in those quandrumana which most nearly approach man, the thumb is so short, and the fingers are so weak that they can never be opposed to each other with any degree of force. The human foot is, in proportion to the side of the whole body, larger, broader, and stronger than that of any other mammal.

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