200 A HISTORY OF 



prejudicial than serviceable, and obstruct the management of the 

 hand. Such savages as let them grow long, make use of them in flay- 

 ing animals, in tearing their flesh, and such like purposes ; however, 

 though their nails are considerably larger than ours, they are by no 

 means to be compared to the hoofs or the claws of other animals. 

 " They may sometimes be seen longer, indeed, than the claws of any 

 animal whatsoever: as we learn that the nails of some of the leained 

 men in China are longer than their fingers. But these want that so- 

 lidity which might give force to their exertions, and could never, in a 

 state of nature, have served them for annoyance or defence." 



There is little known exactly with regard to the proportion of the 

 human figure ; and the beauty of the best statues is better conceived, 

 by observing than by measuring them. The statues of antiquity, which 

 were at first copied after the human form, are now become the models 

 of it ; nor is there one man found whose person approaches to those 

 inimitable performances that have thus, in one figure, united the per- 

 fections of many. It is sufficient to say, that from being at first models, 

 they are now become originals, and are used to correct the deviations 

 in that form from whence they were taken." I will not, however, 

 pretend to give the proportions of the human body as taken from these, 

 there being nothing more arbitrary, and which good painters them- 

 selves so much contemn. Some, for instance, who have studied after 

 these, divide the body into ten times the length of the face, and others 

 into eight. Some pretend to tell us, that there is a similitude of pro- 

 portion in different parts of the body. Thus, that the hand is the 

 length of the face, the thumb the length of the nose, the space be- 

 tween the eyes is the breadth of an eye ; that the breadth of the thigh, 

 at thickest, is double that of the thickest part of the leg, and treble 

 the smallest ; that the arms extended, arc as long as the figure is 

 high ; that the legs and thighs are half the length of the figure. All 

 this, however, is extremely arbitrary ; and the excellence of a shape, 

 or the beauty of a statue, results from the attitude and position of the 

 whole, rather than any established measurements, begun without ex- 

 perience, and adopted by caprice. In general, it may be remarked 

 that the proportions alter in every age, and are obviously different in 

 the two sexes. In women, the shoulders are narrower, and the neck 

 proportionably longer than in men. The hips, also, are considerably 

 larger, and the thighs much shorter than in men. These proportions, 

 however, vary greatly at different ages. In infancy, the upper parts 

 of the body are much larger than the lower ; the legs and thighs do 

 not constitute any thing like half the height of the whole figure ; in 



Kroportion as the child increases in age, the inferior parts are found to 

 jngthen ; 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 wm 

 die from five feet eight inches to six feet hign. The middle stature 

 is from five feet five to five feet eight: and those are said to be of 

 srnal! stature who fall under these measures. " However, it ought to 

 be remarked, that the same person is always taller when he rises in 

 the morning, than upon going to bed at night ; and sometimes there is 

 an inch difference ; and I have seen more. Few persons are sensible 



