viduals of the human species whose height is much less than the average height of their race. Strictly speaking, however, the word should be restricted to those cases in which there is a general and uniform arrest of growth, except, perhaps, iu the nervous system, which is often fuliy developed in dwarfs.
The ancients believed not only in dwarfs of extreme minuteness, but in nations of them. Aristotle, the greatest naturalist that perhaps ever existed, declared that the report of trustworthy witnesses testifies to the existence of a minute race of men, with minute horses, living in the caves which are washed by the waters of the Nile; and Pliny gives various details regarding their habits and their geographical position. Amongst the extreme cases recorded on ancient authority, we may notice that of Phile tas, a poet who was a contemporary with Pippocrates, and who was obliged to balast himself, to avoid being blown away by the wind; that of the Egyptian dwarf mentioned by Nicephorus Calistus, who, at the age of 25 years, did not exceed a partridge in size; and lastly, that of the poet Aristratus, of whom Athenteus records that his stature was so small that no one could see him.
We shall now briefly notice a few of the most remarkable dwarfs of modern times. All the readers of Peveril of the Peal: are acquainted with sir Geoffrey Hudson. Up to the age of 30, his height was only 18 in.; from that age, lie rapidly grew to the height of 3 ft. 9 inches. He had an enormous head and large hands, but in other respects was well proportioned. He died at the age of 63. Count Joseph Borowlaski was the son of well-formed healthy parents of the ordinary size, who had 6 children, of whom the first, third, and fifth were dwarfs. Joseph, who wrote a history of his own life, records that his eldest brother was 3 ft. 6 in. high; then came a son who was 5 ft. 10 in.; then came Joseph himself, whose height at 20 was 2 ft. 4 in., and at 30, 3 ft. 3 inches. He was succeeded by three others, the middle one being a girl, who died at 22 of the small-pox, being then 2 ft. 2 in., but of admirable proportions. Joseph Borow laski was very well proportioned, was married to a woman of ordinary size, who brought him several well-formed children, and died at Bank's cottage, near Durham, in 1837, at the age of great age for an ordinary man, and without example in the history of dwarfs. Nicholas Ferry, commonly known under the name of Bebe, was another cele brated dwarf. His parents and his brothers and sisters were all well-formed persons. He was a 7 months' child, and at birth measured less than -8 in., and weighed less than a pound. When 5 years old, a physician, who examined him, reported that he then weighed 9 lbs. 7 oz., and stood 22 in. high, but was formed like a young man of 20. He
died in his 23d year, being then under 3 ft. high. (Humphrey, On the Human Skeleton, p. 101.) In the museum of the faculte de medicine of Paris, there is a wax-model which represents him at the age of 18; and in the museum d'histoire naturelle is his skeleton, which in the complete ossification of the bones, and in the disappearance of the cranial sutures, resembles that of an aged person. According to C. G. Carus (Sjmbolik der • lifenschlkhen Gestalt. Zweite Aultage, 1858, p. 83), gen. Tom Thumb, the dwarf, exhibited some years ago in this country, was 25 in. in height, and weighed 25; lbs.; and prince Cotobri, a Slesvig dwarf, who was being exhibited in Dresden in 1851, was a similar. height and weight, his age being 21 years. Carus likewise examined, in the year 1857, a Dutch dwarf, who took the name of Toth Thumb. He was aged 18 at the time of the examination, and then measured about 2 ft. 4 inches. (These are probably Prussian measures, which slightly exceed those of this country.
On comparing the data in our possession regarding giants and dwarfs—and for most of these data we must refer the reader to Geoffrey Sainl-Hilaire's hlistoire des Anomalies —it appears (1) That giants are of rarer occurrence than dwarfs; (2) That giants are usually of a lymphatic temperament, and of ii very delicate complexion, often deformed, and almost always badly proportioned; that their muscles are flabby, and their voice • weak; while dwarfs are often perfectly well-proportioned, and for their size; (3) That giants are never long-lived—O'Byrne died at 22, Magrath at 20—while dwarfs seem to attain the full period of human existence—Borowlaski died at 98, Hudson at 63; and although we do not know the age at which Therese Souvray—a dwarf described by Virey—died, we know that at the age of 73 "elle etait encore vire, gale, bien partant, et dansait d la mode de son pays•" (4) That while giants usually exhibit a want of activity and energy, and are feeble both in body and in mind, dwarfs are in general lively, active, and irascible (Borowlaski in his memoirs gives a good illus tration of the last characteristic, as exhibited by the dwarf Bebe: "When he perceived that the king took pleasure in may society, he conceived the most violent jealousy and hatred of me . . . . and endeavored to push me on to the fire ;" and sir Geoffrey Hud son's irascibility is well depicted in Peveril of the Peak). That the intellectual power of dwarfs is sometimes considerable, is sufficiently evidenced in the cases of Borowlaski, gen. Tom Thumb, and the Dutch Tom Thumb, who, according to Carus, spoke four languages.