24 LECTURE II. 



duce lines to inclieSj and inches to feet. The foot has no de- 

 finite relation to the mile^ nor the latter to the degree of lati- ' 

 tude. Pounds^ ounces^ and scruples vary for different objectSj 

 just as formerly apothecary and market-weight were in use in 

 Germany ; and they, also, cannot be reduced without cal- 

 culation, and have no relation to the measurements of solids 

 and liquids. This nonsense even extends to the thermometer, 

 the Fahrenheit scale being the only one in use. How simple, 

 compared with all this, is the French system ! How easily is it 

 applied in making calculations and noting the results. 



After this digression, let us return to our subject. It is no 

 small task to measure a living man. On looking at the sys- 

 tematic scheme made use of by Scherzer and Schwarz* in 

 the Novara expedition, we find that it takes several hours to 

 note in the register the seventy-eight data required. In the 

 general part, the age, name and sex of the individual, colour and 

 structure of the hair, the growth of the beard, colour of the eyes, 

 and other peculiarities, are noted first ; then the number of pul- 

 sations, the strength, by means of Regnier's dynamometer, and 

 finally, the weight and height of the naked body, are deter- 

 mined. Next foUow the measurements of the head, the trunk, 

 and the extremities ; twenty-one of them relate to the head, 

 seventeen to the trunk, and twenty to the extremitieSj,^ I can- 

 not particularise them here; those who wish to render them 

 more complete, or criticise them, must make themselves ' 

 familiar with them by practical manipulation. This much 

 may be said, that the scheme gives a tolerably complete repre- 

 sentation of the body measured, and thus attains the object in 

 view, as far as is practicable. 



The first requisite for every measurement is that fixed points 

 should be discovered, which may easily be found in all objects of 

 the same kind, and to determine the lines and planes from which 

 further points may be determined. Such requisites seem at first 

 sight very easy to obtain ; but on examination they wiU be found 

 attended with so many difficulties, that we need not wonder at 



* I have added to this lecture Messrs. Schwarz and Scherzei-'s scheme, 

 which is so arranged that every instrument is only laid aside after it has 

 answered aU its purposes. 



