I 



240 THE DOWNWARD TENDENCY OF HUMAN STATURE. 



lias followetl the debasing, UUling, inclinations of his bad nature — his 

 nerves, his muscles, his limbs, his flesh, his bones, liis body have been 

 perverted, warped, abused, and consequently dtoarfed by his constant 

 devotion to pleasure, luxury, and licentiousness : and hence we believe 

 that so long as his nature is evilly inclined his body will diminish, and 

 as Pelagrarism is effete there is no prospect before us but continual, reg- 

 ular, bodily diminution. 



But then again there may be another reason — it may be man''s destiny, 

 the spirit of progress ; though of course the destiny cannot be styled a 

 great one, it may be a noble one : though the progress be not a high 

 one, yet it may be towards perfection. We are inclined to this latter 

 opinion : and we think that small men, instead of being behind the age, 

 are in advance of it. See Napoleon, Tamerlane, Melancthon, King Al- 

 fred, Robert of Normandy, Dr. Channing, Solyman the magnificent. 



The Patagonians are the simple children of nature ; the Lilliputians 

 have weli nigh fulfilled their calling and worked out their destiny. 



And the diminution is not with man only ; but with animals, trees, 

 rivers, worlds, systems, every thing has a tendency to smallness.— 

 "Diminute," is stamped on all the greatness of nature, and on every 

 ■work of art, — on man, the lord, and on the great globe itself, and all its 



"gorgeous temples and cloud-capped towers." 

 At rierschel's last measurement the Sun was 158.612 miles less in di- 

 ameter than at the time of Copernicus. Francis Drake sailed round the 

 world in 300 days, Capt. Stocliton can do it in 190. The largest tiee 

 in Southampton forest, in William Rufus' reign, measured seventeen feet 

 in circumference, now none can be found above twelve. Topeehooche 

 could scarcely see across the Mississippi two hundred and fifty years ago, 

 and a lloosier's ball will reach from Kentucky to the Missouri shore. 

 The duodecimos of Magliabechi are the octavos of Home. The lap- 

 dogs of the court of Belilarius were as large as our terriers. The earth 

 is shrinking into itself; the oceans are wasting away. Man is growing 

 shorter. What a terrible prospect! Our grand-children will be as much 

 shorter than we, as we are shorter than our ancestors. 



And thus it will go down and down and down to the lowest point, 

 and m^n^ j)rogressing to the smallest atom of matter — the indivisible 

 point — incapable of further diminution, will vanish into thin air, and 

 shrunk into nothing, will be dissipated like 



"The baseless fabric of a vision." 



