DIFFERENCES OF THE MEMBERS OF MAN FROM THOSE OF OTHER ANIMALS

Latine · Mayhoff 1906

Terrestrium solus homo bipes. uni iuguli, umeri, ceteris armi; uni ulnae. quibus animalium manus sunt, intus tantum carnosae, extra nervis et cute constant.

Digiti quibusdam in manibus seni. M. Corani ex patricia gente filias duas ob id Sedigitas accipimus appellatas et Volcacium Sedigitum, inlustrem in poetica. hominis digiti ternos articulos habent, pollex binos; et digitis adversus universis flectitur, per se vero in oblicum porrigitur, crassior ceteris. huic minimus mensura par, ac duo reliqui sibi, inter quos medius longissime protenditur. quibus ex rapina victus quadripedum, quini digiti in prioribus pedibus, in reliquis quaterni. leones, lupi, canes, panthera in posterioribus quoque quinos ungues habent uno iuxta cruris articulum dependente; reliqua, quae sunt minora; et digitos quinos.

Bracchia non omnibus paria secum. Studioso Threci in C. Caesaris ludo notum est dexteram fuisse proceriorem.

English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57

Of all the terrestrial animals, man is the only biped: he is also the only one that has a throat, and shoulders, or “humeri,” parts in other animals known by the name of “armi.” Man, too, is the only animal that has the “ulna,” or elbow. Those animals which are provided with hands, have flesh only on the interior of them, the outer part consisting of sinews and skin.

Some persons have six fingers on the hands. We read that C. Horatius, a man of patrician rank, had two daughters, who for this reason had the name of “Sedigitæ;” and we find mention made of Volcatius Sedigitus, as a famous poet. The fingers of man have three joints, the thumb only two, it bending in an opposite direction to all the other fingers. Viewed by itself, the movement of the thumb has a sidelong direction, and it is much thicker than the rest of the fingers. The little finger is equal in length to the thumb, and two others are also equal in length, the middle finger being the longest of all. Those quadrupeds which live by rapine have five toes on the fore feet, and four on the hinder ones. The lion, the wolf, and the dog, with some few others, have five claws on the hind feet, one of which hangs down near the joint of the leg. The other animals, also, which are of smaller size, have five toes. The two arms are not always equal in length: it is a well-known fact, that, in the school of gladiators belonging to Caius Cæsar, the Thracian Studiosus had the right arm longer than the left. Some animals also use their fore-paws to perform the duties of hands, and employ them in conveying food to the mouth as they sit, the squirrel, for instance.