82 



SCIEJSTCE. 



[Vol. VII. , No. 155 



the Proceedings contains an interesting essay on 

 * Some higher aspects of mesmerism,' by Messrs. 

 F. W. H. Myers and Edmund Gurney, who treat 

 of the existence, limits, and varieties of mesmer- 

 ism as a therapeutical agency ; and a further 

 report on ' Thought-transferrence/ with numerous 

 statistics and diagrams, by Malcolm Guthrie, J.P. 

 While many of Mr. Guthrie's experiments are 

 novel, and as a rule more difficult than usual, yet 

 they are of the same general character as those 

 with which those who have followed the progress 

 of the societies for psychical research, both in Eng-- 

 land and in this country, are already familiar. 



Nicholas Murray Butler. 



GIANTS AND DWARFS. 



The above title is prefixed to a series of articles ' 

 recently published, but is, however, somewhat 

 misleading. What is attempted is. not the con- 

 sideration of the causes and consequences of ab- 

 normal deviations in height in the human species, 

 but a presentation of the differences resulting from 

 the absolute size of an animal, — a sort of ' animal 

 mechanics,' which, in the author's opinion, is to 

 become an important chapter of morphological 

 science. The speculations presented are not with- 

 out some value and considerable ingenuity : but 

 they are characterized by a passion for reducing 

 every thing to mechanical terms in a way which 

 does not fit biological facts ; by a peculiar anthro- 

 pomorphic point of view, which gauges the actions 

 of animals as though the animals were men ; and 

 by an avoidance of evolutionary principles, which 

 one would think would be especially important in 

 this connection. Perhaps it will not be altogether 

 without interest to sketch very briefly the author's 

 methods and his conclusions. 



If a body is ten times smaller in one dimen- 

 sion, say in height, than another, and is to 

 retain the same shape as the first, all linear di- 

 mensions will be reduced to 1-10, all surface dimen- 

 sions to 1-100, and all solid dimensions to 1-1000. of 

 their size in the original body. For brevity's sake, 

 we will call an animal of average size a meso- 

 animal (Me) ; an animal 1-10 as large will be a 

 micro-animal (Mi) ; one 10 times as large, a 

 macro-animal (Ma). Keeping these statements 

 in mind, we will review the differences which 

 would be caused in the several vital systems by 

 a reduction of an animal to 1-10 its size. 



Beginning with the skeleton. We will measure 

 the strength of a bone by the multiple of the 

 weight of the animal necessary to crush it. Now, 

 as the strength of a beam (the bone) varies (1) as 



■ K. Fuchs, KotmOMt 1885, ii„ Nos. 3, 4, 5. 



the square of the thickness, (2) directly as the 

 breadth, (3) inversely with the length, if the 

 bone is reduced 1-10 in length, breadth, and thick- 

 ness, it can carry 1-100 of its former weight, while 

 it has been reduced 1-1000 in volume; i.e., it is 

 relatively 10 times stronger than the large bone. 

 If the tooth of a meso-dog can just bear the dog's 

 weight, then the tooth of a micro-dog can carry 

 10 micro-dogs ; or, if it is to carry its own weight, 

 it can become 1-5 smaller in cross-section. The 

 smaller an animal, the more tender, weak, and 

 soft may its skeleton be to satisfy its needs. This 

 principle accounts for the presence of teeth in 

 micro-animals of such a shape as would be use- 

 less in meso-animals. 



Next the muscles. Tf 1,000 micro-animals were 

 to jump against one meso-animal, each Mi would 

 jump as high as the Me; for relatively equal 

 muscles, with a single contraction, do relatively 

 equal work. But altogether they will do abso- 

 lutely as much work as the Me. The jump will 

 depend on the ratio of the muscular system avail- 

 able for jumping-pur poses to the whole body. A 

 thousand small muscles will lift 10 times as much 

 as one muscle 1,000 times its weight. Moreover, 

 the small muscles would contract quicker than 

 the large one. If one meso-man can throw stones 

 the size of his fist for a distance of 50 of his own 

 steps in 1 second, then a micro-man could throw 

 stones the size of his fist for a distance of 500 of 

 his own steps in 1-10 of a second. A micro-girl 

 would knit a stocking of an equal number of 

 meshes in 1-10 the time required by a meso-girl. 



Again, take walking. The vibration of the 



leg of the micro-man will take about i ^ "v\^ °^ 



the vibration-time of the leg of the meso-man. The 

 small man will walk very rapidly ; but, as fatigue 

 depends on the number of contractions, he will 

 tire easily, will be out of breath soon, and will have 

 covered very little distance. If we reduced our 

 man by 1-100, the walking w r ould be so rapid as to 

 give forth a low tone ; and if to 1-1000, the vibra- 

 tion of his legs would give a shrill note. Hand- 

 shaking would take the form of a gentle chirp. 

 The micro-man is evidently at a great disad- 

 vantage in walking : this can only be remedied 

 by giving him different locomotive organs and 

 a different mode of locomotion. If we give 

 him very long extra legs on each side, and 

 put his body bet ween them, he will be able to 

 overcome the inertia of his body much more 

 readily; he will be able to resist small shocks 

 without shifting to a great extent the centre of 

 gravity ; and he w ill acquire a hopping gait, 

 which is much better suited to small animals. 

 Id short, he will approximate the arthropod, in 



