Page:A discourse upon the origin and foundation of the inequality among mankind (IA discourseuponori00rous).pdf/256

But there are, I imagine, much ſtronger Reaſons to affirm that Man is a Biped. In the firſt Place, ſuppoſing it could be demonſtrated that, tho' originally formed otherwiſe, he might nevertheleſs become in Time what he now is, would this not be enough to make us conclude that it really happened ſo? For, after ſhewing the Poſſibility of theſe Changes, it would be ſtill neceſſary, in order to eſtabliſh them, to ſhew at leaſt ſome Probability of their having really happened. Moreover, allowing that Man's Arms might have ſerved him as Legs in caſe of Neceſſity, it is the only Obſervation favourable to this Syſtem, whereas there are many others which contradict it. The principal are, that the Manner, in which the Head of Man is fixed to his Body, inſtead of giving his Eyes an horizontal Direction, ſuch as all other Animals have it, and ſuch as he himſelf has it when walking upright, would have fixed them directly upon the Earth, a Situation very unfavourable to the Preſervation of Individuals; that the Tail, which Nature has not given him, and which he has no Occaſion for in walking,