ANIMALS. 



1-19 



proportion as the child increases in age, the 

 inferior parts are found to lengthen; so that 

 the body is not equally divided until it has 

 acquired its full growth. 



The size of men varies considerably. Men 

 are said to be tall who are from five feet eight 

 inches to six feet high. The middle stature 

 is from five feet five to five feet eight : and 

 those are said to be of small stature who fall 

 under these measures. " However, it ought 

 to be remarked, that the same person is al- 

 ways taller when he arises in the morning, 

 than upon going to bed at night ; and some- 

 times there is an inch difference; and I have 

 seen more. Few persons are sensible of this 

 remarkable variation; and I am told, it was 

 first perceived, in England, by a recruiting 

 officer. He often found that those men whom 

 he had enlisted for soldiers, and answered to 

 the appointed standard at one time, fell short 

 of it when they came to be measured before 

 the colonel, at the head-quarters. This di- 

 minution in their size proceeded from the dif- 

 ferent times of the day, and the different states 

 of the body, when they happened to be mea- 

 sured. If, as was said, they were measured 

 in the morning, after the night's refreshment, 

 they were found to be commonly half an inch, 

 and very often a whole inch, taller than if 

 measured after the fatigues of the day ; if they 

 were measured when fresh in the country, 

 and before a long fatiguing march to the re- 

 giment, they were found to be an inch taller 

 than when they arrived at their journey's end. 

 All this is now well known among those who 

 recruit for the army, and the reason of this 

 difference of stature is obvious. Between all 

 the joints of the back-bone, which is compo- 

 sed of several pieces, there is a glutinous li- 

 quor deposited, which serves, like oil in a 

 , machine, to give the parts an easy play upon 

 each other. This lubricating liquor, or sy- 

 novia, as the anatomists call it, is poured in 

 during the season of repose, and is consumed 

 by exercise and employment; so that in a 

 body, after hard labour, there is scarce any 

 of it remaining; but all the joints grow stiff, 

 and their motion becomes hard and painful. 

 It is from hence, therefore, that the body di- 

 minishes in stature. For this moisture being 

 drained away from between the numerous 

 joints of the back-bone, they lie closer upon ! 



each other; and their whole length is thus 

 very sensibly diminished ; but sleep, by re- 

 storing the lluid again, swells the spaces be- 

 tween the joints, and the whole is extended 

 to its former dimensions. 



" As the human body is thus often found to 

 differ from itself in size, so it is found to dif- 

 fer in its weight also; and the same person, 

 without any apparent cause, is found to be 

 heavier at one time than another. If, after 

 having eaten a hearty dinner, or having drunk 

 hard, the person should find himself thus hea- 

 vier, it would appear no way extraordinary ; 

 but the fact is, the body is very often Ibuud 

 heavier some hours after eating a hearty meal 

 than immediately succeeding it. If, for in- 

 stance, a person, fatigued by a day's hard la- 

 bour, should eat a plentiful supper, and then 

 get himself weighed upon going to bed; after 

 sleeping soundly, if he is again weighed, he 

 will find himself considerably .heavier than 

 before ; and this difference is often found to 

 amount to a pound, or sometimes to a pound 

 and a half. From whence his adventitious 

 weight is derived is not easy to conceive; 

 the body, during the whole night, appears ra- 

 ther plentifully perspiring than imbibing any 

 fluid, rather losing than gaining moisture : 

 however, we have no reason to doubt, but that 

 either by the lungs, or perhaps, by a pecu- 

 liar set of pores, it is all this time inhaling a 

 quantity of fluid, which thus increases, the 

 weight of the whole body, upon being weigh- 

 ed the next morning." 11 



Although the human body is externally 

 more delicate than any of the quadruped kind, 

 it is, notwithstanding, extremely muscular; 

 and, perhaps, for its size, stronger than that 

 of any other animal. If we should offer to 

 compare the strength of the lion with that of 

 man, we should consider that the claws of 

 this animal, give us a false idea of its power ; 

 we ascribe to its force what is only the effects 

 of its arms. Those which man has received 

 from Nature are not offensive ; happy had Art 

 never furnished him with any more terrible 

 than those which arm the paws of the 

 lion ! 



a From the experiment also, the learned may gather 

 upon what a weak foundation the whole doctrine of'Sanc- 

 torian perspiration is built: but this disquisition more pro- 

 perly belongs to medicine than natural history. 

 2F* 



