The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1856-07-05
Original.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MAN
LECTURE No. 8.

DY 7. H. IL, y. D.
Varieties in Me size and forol Of certain parts
Of he body.
The ears are movable, and stand at some
distance from the head in many savages !;
when they have not been confined by dress
The lobulus is increased and elongated con.
siderably by art fetal means in some Of the
South Sea Islanders, and in other instances
Many travellers have remarked that, the
mammae are long and ponderous in yera
savage tribes, particularly in Africa, and the
South Sea Islands, aud in Mexico The cause
seems to consist in long continued nursing,
and in the habit of of nursing the children At
the back Of the mother. In some cases by
artificial means. A large and swollen state Of
the mammae was f,lmerly observed Of the
Egyptians. Portuguese women were remark
able for the same in modern times. Negroes
are particularly famous for many anatomical
parts of the system, as likewise the Hotentot
women.
The legs Of the Hjndoos are said to be par
.iculsry long, and tlose of the Mongrels
short; it has long been observed thatthe con-
s,aut practice Of riding On horseback renlers
them crooked in the Camucks. In tn. Ne
gro .aey are curved SO as to render the in
tiy ,uaI knocktneed and the calf of the leg
remarkably high they are likewise distinguish
5I b. aa broad and fl 1t form Of the folt, and
'-a projection Of the heel bone. We cannot
.su ary satisfactory reason for all these
,aDies, yet Eone which does not exist in
Sill -reot,r degree in animals of the same
Witness the diff, renee in The figure
..- sr zion OF the pats, n the Arabian
ra- Bnb, and the German. The
ference between the long legged
.ae cape, and the short legged of
..... The same contrast is seen in the
Ehecows have no horns in some parts
and, Ireland and America, whilst in
SaIly they are very large, and breed of
sheep with from two to five horns, mere
mariety (oris poly crota.) The Cretan breed
with large and twisted horns, the Solidangu-
lar swine with undivided hcof, oilers with
three divisions.
The five toed fowl (gallae penta dactylus y
the broad tailed sheep of Tartary, Tibet,
&C., in which the tail grows so large as to be
placed on board with wheels and the
rumpless fowl of America, galas Esuadotus,)
which is undoubtedly of English origin.
Stature. No part of our subject has been
more disgraced by fables and hyperbolical ex-
agerations, than the present division. The pig
mics and giants of antiquity, ascrbed to hu-
man subjects of immoderate stature and those
of an inferior race, and by such men as Button,
renders it of itself ridiculous. Modern inves-
tigation however, has completely exposed the
fallacy. All the remains of antiquity, which
afford us any inferences on the subject Of
stature, such as mummies, human bones, and
particularly teeth taken from the Oldest burial
places and urns, armour, &c., concur in
proving, that the ancients did not exceed the
moderns in this respect. But there are OBJ
yiously national differences. OF European
nations some parts of Sweden and Switzer-
land are distinguished for tallness, as Lap
land is in the contrary respect. The Abpons
are of large sizes, and the Europeans small !;
but nothing very remarkable, and no such
difference between any modern nations, but
what admits of easy explanation from the
common cases of degeneration, and analogous
phenomena furnished By the natural history
Of other animals.