98 JIISTORY OF 



or more civilized manners, would, in a course of 

 centuries, very probably remove. 



CHAPTER VII. 



OF MONSTERS. 



HITHERTO I have only spoken of those varieties 

 in the human species that are common to whole 

 nations ; but there are varieties of another kind, 

 which are only found in the individual, and, being 

 more rarely seen, are therefore called monstrous. 

 If we examine into the varieties of distorted na- 

 ture, there is scarcely a limb of the body, or a 

 feature in the face, that has not suffered some re- 

 probation, either from art or nature; being en- 

 larged or diminished, lengthened or wrested from 

 its due proportion. Linnaeus, after having given 

 a catalogue of monsters, particularly adds, the flat 

 heads of Canada, the long heads of the Chinese, 

 and the slender waists of the women of Europe, 

 who, by strait lacing, take such pains to destroy 

 their health, through a mistaken desire to improve 

 their beauty.* It belongs more to the physician 

 than the naturalist to attend to these minute de- 

 formities ; and, indeed, it is a melancholy contem- 

 plation to speculate upon a catalogue of cala- 

 mities, inflicted by unpitying nature, or brought 



* Linncei Syst. vol. i. p. 29. Monorchides ut minus fertiles. 



