It in turn recalls the dwellers in the primeval
forest. In most cases--not all, because the wearing of clothes
for ages has modified this feature--it will be found that the
hairs on the arm tend upward from the wrist to the elbow, and
downward from the shoulder to the elbow. This very peculiar
feature becomes intelligible when we find that some of the apes
also have it, and that it has a certain use in their case. They
put their hands over their heads as they sit in the trees during
ram, and in that position the sloping hair acts somewhat like the
thatched roof of a cottage.
Again, it will be found that in the natural position of standing
we are not perfectly flat-footed, but tend to press much more on
the outer than on the inner edge of the foot. This tendency,
surviving after ages of living on the level ground, is a
lingering effect of the far-off arboreal days.
A more curious reminiscence is seen in the fact that the very
young infant, flabby and powerless as it is in most of its
muscles, is so strong in the muscles of the hand and arm that it
can hang on to a stick by its hands, and sustain the whole weight
of its body, for several minutes.
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