722 STATURE OF EUROPEANS. 



to the Osages and Blackfeet Indians of North 

 America, who are sometimes above seven feet in 

 height, according to Catlin, whose portraits re- 

 present them as smaller round the chest than 

 Europeans. 



But the Irish giant, whose skeleton is now in 

 the London College of Surgeons, measured eight 

 feet four inches, one of the guards belonging to 

 the King of Prussia, 'eight feet six inches, a 

 yeoman in the service of Duke Frederic of Han- 

 over, the same. There have also been men in 

 England, Scotland, Sweden, Denmark, and Rus- 

 sia, above eight feet in height, and many who 

 have measured from fifty-two to fifty-six inches 

 around the thorax, without being unusually fat. 

 According to numerous measurements of M. Que- 

 telet and Professor Forbes, the average stature of 

 the Irish, Scotch, and English adult students in 

 the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh, is 

 above five feet nine inches ; which exceeds that 

 of the French and Belgians, who are taller than 

 the inhabitants of Spain, Portugal, Italy, and 

 Greece. The beautiful Adonis was five feet eight 

 inches, and the Venus di Medici about five feet, 

 which may be regarded as the mean stature of 

 the men and women of southern Europe.* 



* But there is reason to believe that in all parts of Europe, the 

 finest specimens of manly beauty, strength, activity, and intelli- 

 gence, have been found most frequently among individuals of 

 moderate stature, corresponding with the Grecian model ; which 



