ANIMALS. 195 



animal at different ages. The bosom, in females, seems to unite al 1 

 our ideas of beauty, where the outline is continually changing, and th 

 gradations are soft and regular. 



" The graceful fall of the shoulders, both in man and woman, con- 

 stitute no small part of beauty. In apes, though otherwise made like 

 us, the shoulders are high, and drawn up on each side towards the 

 ears. In man they fall by a gentle declivity ; and the more so, in 

 proportion to the beauty of his form. In fact, being high-shouldered, 

 is not without reason considered as a deformity, for we find very 

 sickly persons are always so ; and people when dying are ever seen 

 with their shoulders drawn up in a surprising manner. The muscles 

 that serve to raise the ribs, mostly rise near the shoulders ; and the 

 higher we raise the shoulders, we the more easily raise the ribs like- 

 wise. It happens, therefore, in the sickly and the dying, who do not 

 breathe without labour, that to raise the ribs, they are obliged to call 

 in the assistance of the shoulders ; and thus their bodies assume from 

 habit, that form which they are so frequently obliged to assume. Wo- 

 men with child also are usually seen to be high-shouldered ; for the 

 weight of the inferior parts drawing down the ribs, they are obliged 

 to use every effort to elevate them, and thus they raise the shoulders 

 of course. During pregnancy, also, the shape, not only of the shoul- 

 ders, but also of the breast, and even the features of the face, are 

 greatly altered ; for the whole upper fore-part of the body is covered 

 with a broad thin skin, called the myoides, which, being at that timo 

 drawn down, it also draws down with it the skin, and consequently tho 

 features of the face. By these means the visage takes a particular 

 form ; the lower eye-lids, and the corners of the mouth, are drawn 

 downwards, so that the eyes are enlarged, and the mouth lengthened ; 

 and women, in these circumstances, are said by the midwives, to be 

 all mouth and eyes." 



The arms of men but very little resemble the fore-feet of quadru- 

 peds, and much less the wings of birds. The ape is the only anima! 

 that is possessed of hands and arms ; but these are much more rudely 

 fashioned, and with less exact proportion, than in men ; " the thumb 

 not being so well opposed to the rest of the fingers in their hands, as 

 in ours." 



The form of the back is not much different in man from that of 

 other quadruped animals, only that the reins are more muscular in him 

 and stronger. The buttock, however, in man, is different from that o t 

 all other animals whatsoever. What goes by that name in other crea- 

 tures, is only the upper part of the thigh ; man being the only animal 

 that supports himself perfectly erect, the largeness of this part is owing 

 to the peculiarity of his position. 



Man's feet, also, are different from those of all other animals, those 

 even of apes not excepted. The foot of the ape is rather a kind of 

 awkward hand ; its toes, or rather fingers, are long, and that of the 

 middle, longest of all. This foot also wants the heel, as in man ; the 

 sole is narrower, and less adapted to maintain the equilibrium of the 

 body in walking, dancing, or running. 



The nails are less in man than in any other animal. If they were 

 niuc.h longer than the extremities of the fingers, they would rather be 



