22 PHYSIOLOGY. 



7. Though man surpasses all other animals in dexterity, yet 

 there are many that exceed him in strength, swiftness, and 

 the acuteness of many of the senses. The eagle excells him 

 in acuteness of vision, the grey hound in delicacy of smell, 

 and a vast number of animals in strength, yet reason makes 

 up for all other deficiences. Though physically defenceless, 

 yet the whole brute creation is subjected to his control. 



8. It was formerly supposed that man, because gifted with 

 the highest mental endowments possessed the largest of all 

 brains. But as elephants and whales surpass him in this 

 respect, and the sagacious monkey and dog have smaller 

 brains ,than the comparatively stupid ass, hog, and ox, the 

 opinion was relinquished, and man was said only to have 

 the largest brain in proportion to the size of his body. But 

 more extensive observation proved that canary and other 

 birds, and some varieties of the monkey tribe, have larger 

 brains than man in proportion to the body, and several 

 mammalia to equal him in this particular ; and as rats and 

 mice too, surpass the dog, 1 horse, and elephant in the com- 

 parative bulk of their brains ; this opinion gave way to the 

 one now generally adopted by physiologists, viz. that man 

 possesses the largest brain in comparison with the nerves 

 arising from it. 



9. In consequence of the great size of his brain, man has 

 a larger facial angle, which is the space included by lines 

 drawn from the centre of the ear to the root of the nose, and 

 from thence to the forehead. In the best formed human 

 heads, this angle is equal to 80 or 90 degrees. In man also, 

 the chin is more prominent, and the lower front teeth more 

 perpendicular ; his teeth also are of the same length, which 

 is not the case in the inferior animals. Man only can adapt 

 himself to the great varieties of climate, and of food, which 

 exist on the surface of the earth. 



10. Lastly, man is possessed of faculties that enable him 

 to trace effects to their causes, to distinguish between virtue 

 and vice, to reflect upon events that have passed, to anti- 



