^30 HISTORY OF 



are narrower, and the neck proportionably loiif^er, than in 

 men. The hips also are considerably larger, and the thighs 

 much shorter, than in men. These proportions, however, vary 

 greatly at different ages. In infancy, the upper parts of the body 

 are much larger than the lower ; the legs and thighs do not con- 

 stitute any thing like half the height of the whole figure ; in pro- 

 portion as the child increases in age, the inferior parts are foimd 

 to lengthen ; so that the body is not equally divided until it has 

 acquired its full growth. 



The size of men varies considerably. Men are said to be tall 

 who are irom five feet eight inches to six feet high. The mid- 

 dle stature is from five feet five to five feet eight : and those are 

 sai^ to be of small stature who fall under these measures. 

 " However, it ought to be remarked, that the same person is 

 always taller when he rises in the morning, than upon going to 

 bed at night ; and sometimes there is an inch difference ; and I 

 have seen more. Few persons are sensible of this remarkable 

 variation ; and I am told, it was first perceived in England by a 

 recruiting officer. He often found that those men whom he had 

 enlisted for soldiers, and answered to the appointed standard 

 at one time, fell short of it when they came to be measured be- 

 fore the colonel at the head-quarters. This diminution in their 

 size pi'oceeded from the different times of the day, and the dif- 

 ferent states of the body, when they happened to be measured. 

 If, as was said, they were measured in the morning, after the 

 night's refreshment, they were found to be commonly half an inch, 

 and very often a whole inch, taller than if measured after the 

 fatigues of the day •, if they were measured when fresh in the 

 country, and before a long fatiguing march to the regiment, they 

 were found to be an inch taller than when they arrived at their 

 jowTicy's end. All this is now well known among those who 

 recruit for the army, and the reason of this difference of stature 

 is obvious. Between all the joints of the back-bone, which is 

 composed of several pieces, there is a glutinous liquor deposited, 

 which serves, like oil in a machine, to give the parts an easy 

 play upon each other. This lubricating liquor, or synovia, as 

 the anatomists call it, is poured in during the season of repose, 

 and is consumed by exercise and employment ; so that in a body, 

 after hard labour, there is scarce any of it remaining ; but all 

 the joints grow stiff, and their motion becomes hard and painful 



