PERSONAL APPEARANCES IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 7 



course there are some who, " framed in the prodigality of 

 nature," seem to approach to that ideal which we 

 associate with the beautiful, just as there are others so ill- 

 fashioned, " cheated of feature by dissembling nature, 

 deformed, unfinished," as to excite in the beholder feelings 

 of quite an opposite nature. And yet both may equally 

 enjoy all that we know as health, and indeed the latter 

 may, like the mis-shapen Richard, be endowed with a 

 mental and a bodily vigour far surpassing the former. 



Our subject then being " Personal Appearances " in 

 their widest sense, there is no need to dwell upon indi- 

 vidual variations ; but dealing with the matter broadly, 

 we shall have to ascertain what it is that contributes to 

 the form, size, and colour of the body, and what is the 

 significance of departures from the normal in these re- 

 spects. The subject is a wide one. We can but touch 

 upon its threshold. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE FORM AND SIZE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 



THOSE animals which come nearest to man in physical 

 conformation have at all times been objects of interest 

 and of study. Their habits of life, no less than their 

 bodily structure, have been investigated so far as oppor- 

 tunities have occurred, and even their mental attributes 

 weighed in the balance with those shown to be possessed 



