The Proportions of the Limbs
A few years ago I took the measurements of numerous skeletons which I found in the museums in France, Germany, and England, and made the following table to shew the proportions of the several parts.
The length of the foot and hand is in all somewhat greater than it should be, in consequence of the bones composing them being usually less closely articulated in the artificial skeleton than they are in nature.
From this it appears that the limbs of Man differ from those of the Ape, chiefly, in the proportionate length of the thigh and arm, and in the shortness of the foot and hand. And it will be seen that, in both these particulars, the Negro differs from the European and exhibits some approximation to the Ape.
MEASUREMENTS OF SKELETONS (IN INCHES).
| Height. | Middle point of. | Spine, length of. | Circumference of Skull. | Humerus. | Radius. | Hand. | Femur. | Tibia. | Foot. | Pelvis. | ||||
| Trans. diameter. | Ant-post. diameter. | |||||||||||||
| European (average of 25) | 65 | Symphysis pubis. | 22.2 | 20.5 | 12.7 | 9.2 | 7.3 | 17.88 | 14.4 | 10.6 | 5.2 | 4.3 | ||
| Negro (average of 25) | 62 | 1 inch below Symphysis. | 19.3 | 19.8 | 12.1 | 9.4 | 7.7 | 17 | 14.4 | 11.11 | 4.6 | 4.1 | ||
| Bosjesman (average of 3) | 54 | Symphysis. | 17 | 19.6 | 10.8 | 8.3 | 6 | 15 | 12.9 | 7.5 | 4.4 | 3.5 | ||
| Idiot (in Berlin Museum) | 57 | 19.5 | 13.5 | 12 | 8.8 | 7 | 16 | 12.5 | 8.5 | 5 | 3.8 | |||
| Chimpanzee (average of 4) | 50 | 3 inches above Symphysis. | 17 | 12.2 | 11 | 9 | 12.4 | 10 | 10.5 | 4 | 5.5 | |||
| Orang (average of 2) | 44 | 31/2 inches above Symphysis. | 18 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 10.6 | 9.2 | 12 | 3.8 | 4.5 | |||
| Gorilla (average of 3) | 58 | 4 inches above Symphysis. | 21 | 16.6 | 12.9 | 9 | 13.9 | 11.3 | 12 | 5.7 | 7.3 | |||
I found, also (the tables shewing this are given in my work on the Human Skeleton), that these characteristic proportions of the European are brought out only during growth; for that in the early periods of infancy the foot and hand are, relatively, very long, and the thigh is actually shorter than either the leg or the foot, and the arm is shorter than either the forearm or the hand; and it is only, gradually, during the advance to manhood, that the proper proportions are attained. So that the transient or immature condition of the human frame shews certain resemblances to the permanent Negro type and to that of the quadrumanous animals; and these resemblances become obliterated during further growth.
The accounts of travellers indicate that some other nations present great varieties in the proportion which the length of the foot and hand bears to the height. Bushmen and Hottentots are very diminutive, commonly under 5 feet in height; and their hands and feet are remarkably small and delicate, in which respect they differ from Negroes. Mr Bartram observes with regard to the Cherokees or Muscogulges—a tribe of North American Indians—that the women are, perhaps, the smallest race of women yet known, almost all under 5 ft.; and their hands and feet are not larger than those of Europeans of 9 or 10 years of age. He tells us, also, what is very strange, that the men of this same tribe are of gigantic stature, “a full size larger than Europeans,” many of them above, and a few under, 6 ft.; but he says nothing of the size of their hands and feet. The hands and feet of the Patagonians are said to be very small. This may be contrary to what we might expect; but it accords with what I found to be the case in the skeletons of some Giants which I measured; for in all of them the feet and the hands were disproportionately short. It would seem, therefore, that, whether the stature of the individual be diminutive or gigantic, the foot and the hand, in either case, are, usually, less than their proper relative length. A greater number of accurate data are, however, necessary to enable us to generalise correctly upon this and other points of a like nature, or to decide what truth there is in the common remark, that a long foot in a child indicates a tall man.
In former times the parts of the human body were used as measures; and it was not uncommon to illustrate the tables of measures by drawings of the human body, with descriptions of the foot, palm, &c. One of the tables of the 16th century, derived in great part from the Romans and the Greeks, is founded upon the notion, which is not very far from the truth, that in the well proportioned man, the breadth of the palm is a 24th part of the whole stature, and the length of the foot a 6th part, and the length of the cubit—from the elbow to the end of the fingers—a 4th. The measures, however, varied at different times and in different countries, even though the names were the same. The latter have, in several instances, remained, though the definite measure which they now indicate is different from what it was, and differs from that of the part of the body from which the name was taken. Thus, our present foot measure (twelve inches) is considerably more than the length of the human foot.