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The Simian Basis of Human Mechanics or Ape to Engineer*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Earnest A. Hooton*
Affiliation:
Peabody Museum, Harvard University

Extract

My subject should not be construed by the refined as a malicious innuendo, nor by the vulgar(unrepresented here, of course) as a ‘ dirty dig ’. The transition from ape to engineer is from the ridiculous to the sublime-or, at any rate, from a little short of one to a little short of the other. This handsome statement must serve as my panegyric on mechanical science. As an anthropologist, I am perturbed by the fact that human invention has outstripped man's organic development, and his control of nature his control of himself. So I propose to discuss the organic basis of mechanical achievement and the cause of man's physical and social lag in relation to his material progress.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 1938

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References

1 The Mentality of Apes, by Köhler, , pp. 139172, N.Y., 1925.Google Scholar

2 The Great Apes, by Yerkes, Robert M. and Yerkes, Ada W., p. 513, New Haven, 1929.Google Scholar