100 
L AVATER’s 
It is true, that a bear is likewife large-footed, and 
accuftomed to raife himfelf up when he is going to 
fight j fo do monkies, in fome degree, imitate the 
poftures of men, as well as that fpecies of beings 
the ouran-oLitangs, who come neareft to the human 
fpecies. But an ape has not fo broad a foot ; nor 
need we doubt of the ftanding attitude being pe- 
culiar to us, if we reflect that it has been preferved 
not only by favages, but likewife in fuch perfons as 
have grown up wild and ignorant among their only 
companions the beads of the field. 
Indeed, it is out of the power of a four-footed 
animal to keep himfelf firm in the fituation where 
a rational creature (lands upon a direct line, paff- 
ing by the centre of gravity between the os pubis 
and the breech, down to the fquare left between 
the foies of his feet, or fuch a line muft fall upon 
one foie, in cafe he flood upon a fingle foot. 
We likewife know, that it would be labour in 
vain to make a corpfe Hand erect in that manner, 
for want of thofe pullies which fullain the living 
man, in the direfition that he takes to balance his 
weight, by the command of fuch mufcles as are 
pliable and fubfervient to the main pillars of his 
frame. 
We may furejy be difpenfed from giving a full 
explanation of the admirable machinery that deli- 
neates a falling, rifing, or flippery poflure ; but let 
us add, that, as a man’s thighs llretch out more 
than 
