We must not, however, look for perfection in the overgrown beings which occasionally 'astonish us by their magnitude. Beyond a given proportion, bulk and height are sources of weakness; for a greater exertion is required to raise a longer lever to an equal height, or to support an equal weight. It is not, indeed, necessary to limit the muscular power, since we know that it differs in different persons; but we seldom find a vast bulk connected with great strength. When it thus happens, the monster is truly formidable. Goliah of Gath could wield weapons of considerable size and weight, but the Irish giant was comparatively weak; and the strongest men have been only of a moderate size. Giants have certainly existed of eight, perhaps of ten feet; but when bones are shown, which, according to their proportion, must give a height of eighteen, or even thirty-six, feet, we may reasonably conclude that the bones of other animals must have been mistaken for human. The greater number of the Patagonians did not exceed nine feet, though some were said to be nearly equal to twelve.

The sexual varieties are most singular, though, fortunately in the human species, less common. In the lower orders of animals the sexes are often united in a single individual; and, as wc rise in the scale, anomalies in these respects are more uncommon. We shall only mention, in the quadrupeds, the circumstance of the free martin. When twin calves are produced, and the one is female, she never breeds. It is the

"taura" of the scriptores rei rustics, fattens freely, is of a more delicate fibre than the bull, and bellows like the ox. Mr. Hunter found it, on dissection, of neither sex. We mention this chiefly to add that it is not an universal rule, for we have known a free martin breed; and this peculiarity is not found in the human race, for the twin female is always perfect. Indeed anomalies in these organs arc very rare among mankind, and we have said that the reputed hermaphrodites are generally female. The variations in individuals, the lusus naturae, do not belong to the history of the human race, and arc scarcely the objects of this work, as they admit of no practical application. A full account of these misfortunes of mankind may be found in Cheselden's Anatomy, Dr. Parson's Essay, and the first numbers of the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, to which the reader who is curious on this subject may be referred, and in these works he will receive full information.

Climate, though it may not influence the colour of the skin, greatly varies the forms of mankind. We have, in part, anticipated this subject, in the article Cold, q. v.; and have already mentioned the diminutive form of the Lapland race, though naturalists do not give full credit to the Abbe de la Chappe's descriptions. The most general source of the population of the globe, the family that escaped from the general destruction of the deluge, was placed in the high mountains in the centre of Asia; in a climate temperate from its height; fertile from the numerous rivers derived from its elevated plains; in short, a spot in which the human race may be expected to reach, and in which it apparently did reach, all the perfection of which the species was susceptible. Asia was the parent of the Goths, the Greeks, the Arabs, who attained successively the dominion of the world, and established their power in every region where they carried their arms. Heat or cold has not greatly changed them; but there are apparently other races, in different circumstances, greatly affected by their situation, either as it is cold or hot, wet or dry.

Moderate cold, alternating with a more temperate air, gives firmness and solidity, increases the muscular power and the mental energy; gives animation, ingenuity, and activity. It is not, however, the temperature best adapted for the more perfect evolution of the form. From the thirty-fifth to the forty-fifth degree of northern latitude, in features, stature, and proportion, mankind appear most perfect, at least those of the Asiatic or Gothic race. When we approach nearer the equinoctial line, men lose their energy and activity, while the spirits and imagination appear to be animated to a degree which occasions uncommon, and often irregular, exertions of fancy, new, unexpected combinations.

Every race, however, is not equally affected by heat or cold. The Asiatic, we have said, seldom loses his pre-eminence, wherever he is placed. The Negro bears with impunity the greatest heat, and the tropical sun seems his natural climate. The Ethiopian feels no inconvenience from the burning sun, but becomes torpid in a temperate climate.

The differences in the human race occasioned by dryness or moisture vary as these are connected with heat or cold. Dry countries render the fibres rigid, the inhabitants thin, active, laborious, irritable, but courageous, and capable of the greatest enterprises. When combined with heat, the active spirit, the enterprise, is less, but the ingenuity apparently greater. Such were the Greeks, on the barren rocks of the Archipelago: such were the Moors in Spain, the Arabs on the banks of the Euxine. Humidity, on the contrary, softens the fibres, renders the body flaccid, the mind dull and inac tive, but capable of much labour, cool and persevering. The inhabitants of such countries receive an im pulse slowly; but, when impelled, steadily persist. Such were formerly the Boeotians: such are now the inhabitants of Holland, the Low-countries, and the Swiss of the valleys. When heat is united with humidity, the inhabitants are softened and weak, incapable of labour or active enterprise, as the slightest motion is highly inconvenient. They are indolent and contemplative; but their meditations are seldom directed to important purposes, and they have never made any improvement in science. Their utmost efforts are exhausted in patient industry, in works of imitation, an d which require little exertion. Such are the inhabitants of Bengal, of Ava, of Guiana, &c