The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1897-02-11

IOr WnlCn hClenOe Gun as YET give no reh- |
son. No resemblance could ever be |
traced between him and any of his rela-
tives near or remote. No two men Of |
the same race could we'll be more unlike |
than he and his father, and Of his three |
sons none showed any great likeness to |
him In form or features or any sugges-
tion Of the same mental or moral traits. |
From the social, domestic and physical |
standpoint alike he seemed indeed "the |
man without a model and without
shadow" a being sent into our sphere
for specific purpose, and, because of
his mission, not permitted to become a
part Of the stock in which he was born
or too deeply rooted in its social organ.
ism.
It is in his physical structure, am
persuaded, that the key is to be found
to those amazing episodes which alarm
ed or disgusted his friends and have
puzzled his biographers. Caricature dur
ing his life made the public familiar
with some of his oddities, but measure
ments taken after his death and pre-
served in the public archives show that
caricature, envenomed though it was
by the fiercest political strife, had fallen
short of the reality. His physical struc-
ture was at war with itself. He was
feet inches in height, yet all that
length and more was in the upper part
Of his legs and chest, for his lower body
was but average and his diaphragm less
than average. His stomach was small
and his appetite feeble. To borrow
phrase from mechanics, the boiler was
too small to supply power to SO large a
machine, and there was necessarily q
deficiency somewhere. He had scarcely
an ounce Of fat on his body. He was a
small eater, disliked spirits and tobacco,
cared not at oil for fruit or sweetmeats,
and even in the hottest weather or after
the greatest exertion a moderate drink
of cold water satisfied his thirst. 1t was
from no calculating prudence that he
was thus abstemious. His system craved
no more, and, though temperance could
not bring him happiness, indulgence in
stimulants would have brought.
The beautiful science of comparative
anatomy. has enabled the biologist to re-
construct an entire animal from the
knowledge furnished by single bone.
The law of harmony of parts requires
that certain jaw should hold a certain
kind Of tooth and that thigh bone Of
given length should be part of the frame
work of body of corresponding size.
But there are are curious exceptions, and
Abraham Lincoln was one. Had Gu.
vier or an Agassiz pronounced upon the
separate parts he might have assigned
them thus: Thigh bone Of "a man feet
high; diaphragm Of one feet inches
high; foot that Of nh Indian, and rather
tall one, with an abnormity of the pha-
langes; stomach that of small and
weakly man; arms of a very large and
powerful man, and chest that Of large
man with slight tendency to consump-
tion. When Lincoln sat in his home
Office in his favorite position, his chair
leaning against the wall and Ills feet on
the lower round, his knees we're on
level with his forehead, and writer
who saw him first in this position, not.
ing also his very long feet, remarked
that without the slightest exaggeration
q silhouette of him would serve as the
initial w for comic illustrated paper.
One of his most marked peculiarities
was IN the feet. The normal man in
walking touches with the heel first and
gradually brings the pressure forward
to the toes, from which there is O sort
Of spring to the next step, the feet thus
describing successive arcs Of circles, but
Lincoln planted his whole foot evenly
on the ground and lifted it in the same
way, so that his track was like that
which may be made by a heavy man on
stills, tho bottom of the stit being
shaped like a perfectly fat foot. 1t
would be wearisome repetition to give
the many statements about the awk-
wardness of his movements due to this
very peculiar structure. Itmay be noted
once more, however, that, oddly as he
appeared to strangers when standing or
walking, this was greatly increased
when he was lying down, as then his
outline appeared in full relief When
the caricaturist OF 1860 stated that he
was "thin as a lath and cast shadow
like Lightning rod, it was but mod
kerate exaggeration for that heated cam
paign, Such was this odd combination
the legs of o giant, with the stomach
of dwarf; the arms of an athlete hung
upon the chest of oonsumptive; man
Of immense physical strength who was
never really well, and born humorist
with an intractable liver.
Extraordinary as this combination of
untitled parts was, it was no more ex.
traordinary than the combination of
warning temperaments which animated
the whole. The basis was an extreme
bilious temperament, and there is rea-
son to believe that the bile duct ended
too near the pylorus, as sometimes oc-
ours, the result being that the secretion
therefrom works backward into the
stomach, producing the trouble popular
ly known as Chronic biliousness. He
also possessed the enoephalio tempera-
ment and another element which gave
to his mind in certain respects the
dreamy softness of poetical and deli
cate woman. In snort. as Abraham Lin
coin was not one man physically, but
parts of three men awkwardly Joined in
one, so he had as many temperaments,
and eye. hair and beard and vital organs
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