Were any individual measured by these rules, those we consider as the most perfect would be found highly deficient. These correspondences are, however, extremely arbitrary. In infants the upper parts of the body are larger than the lower; the legs and thighs do not constitute any thing like half the length of the body; as the child increases in age the inferior parts increase more than in proportion, so that the body is not equally divided till it has acquired its full growth. In women the anterior part of the chest is more prominent than in men; but as in the former the chest is more thick, so in the latter it is more broad. In women too the hips are considerably more bulky, and so different is the conformation of those two parts, that it is sufficient to distinguish the skeleton of a woman from that of a man. The total height of the human figure varies considerably. Men are said to be tall who are from five feet eight or nine inches to six feet. The middle stature is from five feet two to five feet seven inches; and such as fall under these measures are said to be of small stature. Women in general are two or three inches shorter than men. As for giants and dwarfs, of them we shall have occasion to speak in another place. Though the body of a man is more externally delicate than that of any animal, it is exceedingly muscular, and for its size perhaps more strong. Were we to compare the strength of a lion with that of a man, we ought to consider that the former is armed with teeth and talons, which give a false idea of its power. The arms which man has received from Nature are not offensive; and happy were it if Art had never furnished him with weapons more terrible than those which arm the paws of the lion. But there is another, and perhaps a more just manner of comparing the strength of man with that of animals, namely by the weights which either can carry. We are assured that the porters of Constantinople carry burthens 900 pounds weight; and M. Desaguliers tells us of a man in an upright posture, who, by distributing a certain number of weights, in such a manner that every part of his body bore its share, was able to support a weight of 2000 pounds. By the same expedient a horse, which is at least six or seven times our bulk, ought to be enabled to carry a load, of 12 or 14,000 pounds; an enormous weight in comparison of what that animal can support, even when the weight is distributed with every possible advantage.