56 



Astley's Amphitheatre at London in 1790, and 

 whose height did not exceed twenty-seven inches. 

 But it is needless to proceed farther with this 

 subject ; the average size of man has probably 

 been in all ages, and in all countries, nearly the 

 same as at present ; and it is to this size of man 

 that the size of all the objects which surround 

 him seems to be best adapted. The admirable 

 fable of Gulliver at Lilliput, where he was a 

 giant, and at Brobdignag, where he was a pig- 

 my, beautifully illustrates the inconvenience and 

 dangers which would have encompassed man on 

 all sides, had his relative size been different from 

 what it is. 



Then, as to the other circumstances of exter- 

 nal nature ; what is there even of her humblest 

 arrangements that we could omit or modify ? 

 The air which surrounds us is, in its chemical pro- 

 perties, precisely that which is adapted to sup- 

 port respiration ; and, in its mechanical proper- 

 ties, precisely that which is calculated, by its 

 pressure, to preserve the body in health and 

 vigour. If, instead of the two principles called 

 oxygen and nitrogen in certain definite propor- 

 tions, it had consisted of any other ingredients, 

 or even of these two in any other proportions, 

 death would in a short time have ensued had 

 the oxygen been in excess, from the stimulus 

 which it imparts being so violent as to produce 

 inflammation ; and, had the nitrogen been super- 

 abundant, from the inadequate supply of that 

 principle, on which the purification of the blood 



