BIMANA (

See also:

• LAT

Lat. " two-handed ")  , a word first used by the naturalist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach to distinguish the order of man from Quadrumana or other mammals . The term was popularized by Cuvier, and the majority of writers followed him in its adoption . In 1863, however, Huxley in his Man's Place in Nature demonstrated that the higher apes might fairly be included in Bimana . Again and again it has been proved that the human great toe can be by constant practice used as a thumb; artists exist who have painted pictures grasping the brush with their toes, and violinists have been known to play their instruments in the same manner . Among many savage races there is developed a remarkable power of foot-grasp, which in a lesser degree is often so noticeable among sailors . Haeckel calls attention to the fact that a baby can hold a spoon with the big-toe as with a thumb . Man, in a word, is potentially quadrumanous .