Bimana

Bimana (Lat., 'two-handed'), a term first employed by the Göttingen anatomist Blumenbach (1752–1840) to describe the human species in con- trast to other mammals. The separate order thus designated was recognised by Cuvier (1749-1832), and by most of his contemporaries and immediate successors. But in 1863 Huxley pointed out in his work entitled Man's Place in Nature, that as far as the term Bimana was concerned, it was equally deserved by some of the higher apes. In ordinary civilised man it is indeed obvious that the foot does not grasp in the way the hand does, but this is largely a matter of use and disuse. Many men in all races have learned to use their big toes as if they were thumbs, even to the extent, in more than one case, of playing on the violin; in less civilised races, the foot is not unfrequently used in rowing, climbing, and handiwork; and our own schoolboys and sailors exhibit considerable power of foot-grip. Haeckel notes how a young infant can grasp a spoon with the big toe as with a thumb. In short, man is four-handed if he chooses. The title is now rarely used, and man and monkeys are zoologically united in the old Linnæan order—Primates. See MONKEYS.