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Darwin - Descent Of Man
Atec Февраль 16 2008 19:58:54
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. This would be a parallel case with that of
those large and heavy birds, which, from inhabiting oceanic islands,
have not been exposed to the attacks of beasts of prey, and have
consequently lost the power of using their wings for flight. The
inability to move the ears in man and several apes is, however, partly
compensated by the freedom with which they can move the head in a
horizontal plane, so as to catch sounds from all directions. It has
been asserted that the ear of man alone possesses a lobule; but "a
rudiment of it is found in the gorilla";*(4) and, as I hear from Prof.
Preyer, it is not rarely absent in the negro.
* Canestrini quotes Hyrtl. (Annuario della Soc. dei Naturalisti,
Modena, 1897, p. 97) to the same effect.
*(2) The Diseases of the Ear, by J. Toynbee, F. R. S., 1860, p.
12. A distinguished physiologist, Prof. Preyer, informs me that he had
lately been experimenting on the function of the shell of the ear, and
has come to nearly the same conclusion as that given here.
*(3) Prof. A. Macalister, Annals and Magazine of Natural History,
vol. vii., 1871, p. 342.
*(4) Mr. St. George Mivart, Elementary Anatomy, 1873, p. 396.
The celebrated sculptor, Mr. Woolner, informs me of one little
peculiarity in the external ear, which he has often observed both in
men and women, and of which he perceived the full significance. His
attention was first called to the subject whilst at work on his figure
of Puck, to which he had given pointed ears
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