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HOMO

Volume 10 · 143 words · 1815 Edition

MAN, is ranked by Linnaeus under the order of primates; and characterized by having four parallel fore teeth both in the upper and lower jaw, and two mammas on the breast. The species, according to this author, are two, viz. the homo sapiens, and the homo troglodytes.

He subdivides the homo sapiens into five varieties, viz. the American, the European, the Asiatic, the African, and what he calls the monstrosus. See MAN.

The troglodytes, or orang-outang, is a native of Ethiopia, Java, and Amboina. His body is white; he walks erect, and is about one-half the ordinary human size. He generally lives about 25 years. He conceals himself in caves during the day, and searches for his prey in the night. He is said to be exceedingly sagacious, but is not endowed with the faculty of speech. See TROGLODYTES and SIMIA, MAMMALIA Index.