408 GENERAL ANATOMY. 



skeleton, both with respect to dimensions, and with reference 

 to proportion, configuration, want of symmetry, &c. 



The stature of the body, which is determined by the dimen- 

 sions of the skeleton, is about five feet four inches in the adult 

 man, and about five feet in the female; but this length, which 

 varies somewhat in the different races, and even in still more 

 restricted varieties of the human species, presents considerable 

 differences in the individuals of the same race or nation. These 

 differences, like those of the other species of animals, are con- 

 fined within certain limits. Thus, dwarfs are seldom of less 

 than half the mean stature, and giants are very seldom more 

 than a half higher than the ordinary stature. What has been 

 said of giants from seventeen to twenty -five feet high, must be 

 referred to bones of animals mistaken for human bones. 



The proportions which the limbs bear to the trunk and its 

 different parts, or those of the limbs to each other, also present 

 numerous individual varieties, determined by those of the 

 bones. This is also the case with the general configuration 

 and symmetry of the body, their variations being almost all 

 determined by those of the skeleton. 



648. The osseous system terminates the systems which 

 have for their basis the mucous substance or the cellular tissue 

 variously modified. The tissues which remain to be described 

 are, on the contrary, essentially formed of globules united by 

 the same substance. 



