man. The peculiarity consists in a little blunt point, projecting from
the inwardly folded margin, or helix. When present, it is developed at
birth, and, according to Prof. Ludwig Meyer, more frequently in man
than in woman. Mr. Woolner made an exact model of one such case, and
sent me the accompanying drawing. (Fig. 2). These points not only
project inwards towards the centre of the ear, but often a little
outwards from its plane, so as to be visible when the head is viewed
from directly in front or behind. They are variable in size, and
somewhat in position, standing either a little higher or lower; and
they sometimes occur on one ear and not on the other. They are not
confined to mankind, for I observed a case in one of the spider-monkeys
(Ateles beelzebuth) in our Zoological Gardens; and Mr. E. Ray Lankester
informs me of another case in a chimpanzee in the gardens at Hamburg.
The helix obviously consists of the extreme margin of the ear folded
inwards; and this folding appears to be in some manner connected with
the whole external ear being permanently pressed backwards. In many
monkeys, which do not stand high in the order, as baboons and some
species of macacus (32. See also some remarks, and the drawings of the
ears of the Lemuroidea, in Messrs. Murie and Mivart s excellent paper
in Transactions of the Zoological Society, vol. vii. 1869, pp. 6 and
90.), the upper portion of the ear is slightly pointed, and the margin
is not at all folded inwards; but if the margin were to be thus folded,
a slight point would necessarily project inwards towards the centre,
and probably a little outwards from the plane of the ear; and this I
believe to be their origin in many cases. On the other hand, Prof. L.
Meyer, in an able paper recently published (33. Uber das Darwin sche
Spitzohr, Archiv fur Path. Anat. und Phys., 1871, p. 485.), maintains
that the whole case is one of mere variability; and that the
projections are not real ones, but are due to the internal cartilage on
each side of the points not having been fully developed. I am quite
ready to admit that this is the correct explanation in many instances,
as in those figured by Prof. Meyer, in which there are several minute
points, or the whole margin is sinuous. I have myself seen, through the
kindness of Dr. L. Down, the ear of a microcephalous idiot, on which
there is a projection on the outside of the helix, and not on the
inward folded edge, so that this point can have no relation to a former
apex of the ear. Nevertheless in some cases, my original view, that the
points are vestiges of the tips of formerly erect and pointed ears,
still seems to me probable. I think so from the frequency of their
occurrence, and from the general correspondence in position with that
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