Edward Tyson, the anatomist who dissected a young chimpanzee in 1698, used his findings to argue that the pygmies, cynocephali and satyrs of classical writers were apes misreported by travellers. Bertram Windle’s long introduction adds a survey of pygmy and fairy peoples in myth and folklore, and of the theory that such tales recall real aboriginal races.
A landmark of early comparative anatomy and a curious study in how legends are explained. Download the free EPUB.