Archive image from page 39 of The descent of man, and. The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex descentofmansel01darw Year: 1871 22 TnE DESCENT OF MAN. [Part I. Fig. 2.—Human Ear, modelled and drawn by Mr. Woolner. a. The projecting point. ing. (Fig. 2.) Those points not only project inward, but often a little outward, so that they are visible when the head is viewed from directly in front or behind. They are variable in size and somewhat in po- sition, standing either a little high- er or lower; and they sometimes occur in one ear and not on the other. Now the meaning of these
Archive image from page 39 of The descent of man, and. The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex descentofmansel01darw Year: 1871 22 TnE DESCENT OF MAN. [Part I. Fig. 2.—Human Ear, modelled and drawn by Mr. Woolner. a. The projecting point. ing. (Fig. 2.) Those points not only project inward, but often a little outward, so that they are visible when the head is viewed from directly in front or behind. They are variable in size and somewhat in po- sition, standing either a little high- er or lower; and they sometimes occur in one ear and not on the other. Now the meaning of these projections is not, I think, doubt- ful ; but it may be thought that they offer too trifling a character to be worth notice. This thought, however, is as false as it is natural. Every character, however slight, must be the result of some definite cause; and if it occurs in many individuals deserves consideration. The helix obviously consists of the extreme margin of the ear folded inward; and this folding appears to be in some manner connected with the whole external ear, being per- manently pressed backward. In many monkeys, which do not stand high in the order, as baboons and some species of macacus,' the upper portion of the ear is slightly pointed, and the margin is not at all folded in- ward ; but if the margin were to be thus folded, a slight point would necessarily project inward and probably a little outward. This could actually be observed in a specimen of the Ateles heelzebuth in the Zoological Gar- dens ; and we may safely conclude that it is a similar structure—a vestige of formerly-pointed ears—which oc- casionally reappears in man. The nictitating membrane, or third eyelid, with its ' See also some remarks, and the drawings of the ears of the Lemu- roidea, in Messrs. Murie and Mivart's excellent paper in ' Transact. Zoo- log. Soc.' vol. vii. 1869, pp. G and 90.
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