VARIATIONS IN THE FORM AND SIZE OS' CERTAIN PARTS OF THE BODY.
The ears are movable, and stand at some distande froth the head in many sa-• vages, where they have not been confin &I by dress.
The lobulus is increased and elongated considerably by artificial means in some of the South Sea islanders, and in other instances.
Many travellers have remarked, that the breasts are long and pendulous in several savage tribes, particularly in Af rica and the South Sea islands ; but some of the accounts are undoubtedly exagge rated, and the circumstance does not in any case seem common to a whole tribe or nation. The cause seems to consist in long continued suckling, and in the ha bit of suckling the children at the back of the mother. In some cases artifi cial means of elongating these parts are employed, from peculiar notions of beauty. A large and swoln state of the breast altogether was observed formerly in the Emptians ; and the Portuguese women of modern days are said to be re markable in the same way.
Negroes are particularly famous for their organs of generation : and specimens preserved in anatomical cabinets seem to justify their celebrity for the size of these parts ; but it is doubtful whether this be a general character. The Hottentot wo men possess large nymplar, which cover the opening of the vagina, and have given rise to some absurd reports of travellers.
The legs of the Hindoos are said to be particularly long, and those of the. Mon guls short : it has also been stated, that the constant practice of riding renders them crooked in the Calmucks. In the Negro they are curved, so as to render the individual knock-kneed ; and the calf is remarkably high : they are also dis. tinguished by the broad and fiat form of the foot.
Although we cannot assign any satis factory reasons for 'all 'these varieties, there is none which does not exist in a still greater degree in animals of the same species. What differences in the figure and proportion of parts do we observe in the various breed of horses ; in the Ara bian, the Barb, and the Berman ! How striking the contrast between the long legged cattle of the Cape, and the short legged of England I The same differ ences in the legs are seen in swine. The
cows have no horns in some parts of Eng. land and Ireland; in Sicily, on the con trary, they are very large. We should also mention here a breed of sheep with an extraordinary number of horns, as three, four, or five, occurring in northern countries, and accounted a m9re variety, the Cretan breed of the same animal, withloeg, large, and twisted horns ; the Solidungular swine, with undivided hoof; as well as others with three divisions of that part ; the five toed fowl (Coitus poodactgh4.9) ; the broad-tailed sheep of Tartary, Thihet, &c. in which the tail grows so large, that it is placed on a board, supported by wheels, for the convenience of the aril- peal ; and the rumpless fowl of and particularly, Virginia Ecauda t718), which has undoubtedly descended from the English breed.
Stature. No part of our subject has been more disgraced by fables and hy perbolical exaggeration, than the present division. Not to mention the pigmies and giants of antiquity ; the bones of dif ferent large animals, ascribed to human subjects of immoderate stature, even by such men as Buffon, sufficiently prove our assertion. The accuracy of modern investigation has, however, so completely exposed the extravagance of such sup positions, that we are relieved from the necessity of a detailed consideration. Ali the remains of antiquity, which afford us any inferences on the subject of stature, such as mummies, human bones, and par ticularly teeth taken from the oldest bu rial places and urns, armour, &c. concur in proving, that the ancients did not ex ceed the moderns in this respect. Yet, amongst, the latter there are obvious na tional differences. Of European nations-. some parts of Sweden and Switzerland are distinguished for tallness, as Lapland is in the contrary respect. The Abipon% in the new World are of large size, and. the but neither are; very remarkable: and there is no such: difference between any two modern,na,. tions, but what admits of easy explana tion from the common causes of degene ration, and the analogous phenomena fur nished by the natural history of other ani mals.