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belly. The neck is roundish, and shorter than the head; its vertebræ, or chine-bones, are not, as in most animals, connected by a suspensory ligament; the nape is hollowed; the throat, immediately below the chin, is hollowed at its upper part, and protuberant in the middle a little lower down. The breast is somewhat flattened both before and behind; on the fore-part there is a cavity or depression where it joins with the neck; the arm-pits are hollow and hairy; the pit of the stomach is flat; on the breast are two distant, round, protuberant mammæ, or dugs, each having a cylindrical, obtuse, wrinkly, projecting nipple, which is surrounded by a darker coloured circle, called the areola. The back is flat, having protuberances on each side at the shoulder-blades, with a furrow or depression between them. The abdomen or belly is large and protuberant, with a hollow at the navel; the epigastric region, or situation of the stomach, is flat; the hypogastric regions, or sides of the belly, are protuberant; the groin flattish and hollowed.

The limbs consist of arms and hands instead of fore-legs; and of thighs, legs, and feet. The arms are placed at a distance from each other; they are round, and about a foot in length from the joint of the shoulder to the elbow; the fore-arm, or cubit, contains two bones, and is obtusely prominent; the ulna, which forms the principal thickness of the member, is round, and somewhat flattened on the inside. The hands are broad, flat, and rounded; convex on the outside or back of the hand, and concave on the inside or palm. Each hand has five fingers, one of which, named the thumb, is shorter and thicker than the rest, and is placed at some distance from them; the others are near each other, and placed parallel, the outer or little-finger, being the smallest; the second, named index or fore-finger, and the fourth, called the ring-finger, are next in length and in size; and the third, or middle-finger, is the longest; the point of this last, when the arm and hand hang down, reaches to the middle of the thigh. The nails are rounded and oval, being flatly arched or convex upwards, and each has a semilunar whitish mark at the root or lower extremity.

The lower limbs are placed close together, having brawny muscular haunches, and swelling fleshy hips; the knees are obtuse,

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bend forwards, and have hollow hams behind. The legs, which are nearly of the same length with the thighs, are of a muscular make behind, where they swell out into what is called the calf; they are lean and free of flesh on the shins or fore-parts, and taper downwards to the ancles, which have hard hemispherical projections on each side, named the ancle-bones or malleoli. The heel is thick, prominent, and gibbous, being longer and broader than in other animals, for giving a firm support to the body; it joins immediately with the sole of the foot. The feet are oblong, convex above, and flattened on the soles, which have a transverse hollow about the middle. Each foot has five toes, somewhat bent downwards, and gibbous or swelled underneath at their extremities; they are all placed close together, the inner or great-toe being thicker and somewhat shorter than the rest; the second and third are nearly of equal length; and the fourth and fifth are shorter than the others, the last-mentioned or little-toe being the shortest and smallest. The toe-nails resemble those on the fingers, which are already described.

To Man alone nature bas denied a covering; but still he is her master-piece, the last work which came from the hands of the Almighty Artist, the sovereign and the chief of animals, a world in miniature, the centre which connects the universe together. The form of his body, the organs whereof are constructed in such a manner as to produce a much greater effect than those of other animals, announces his power. Every thing demonstrates the excellence of his nature, and the immense distance placed by the bounty of the Creator between man and beast. Man is a reasonable being; brute animals are deprived of that noble faculty. The weakest and most stupid of the human race is able to manage the most sagacious quadruped; he commands it, and makes it subservient to his use. The operations of brutes are purely the effect of mechanical impulse, and continue always the same; human works are varied without end, and infinitely diversified in the manner of their execution. The soul of Man is free, independent, and immortal. He is fitted for the study of science, and the cultivation of art; he has the exclusive privilege of examining every thing

which has existence, and of holding communication with his fellowcreatures by language, by particular motions of the body, and by marks and characters mutually agreed upon. Hence arises that physical pre-eminence which he enjoys over all animals; and hence that power which he possesses over the elements, and, so to speak, over nature itself. Man, therefore, is unequalled in his kind; but the individuals thereof differ greatly from one another in figure, stature, colour, manners, and dispositions. The globe which Man inhabits is covered with the productions of his industry and the works of his hands: it is his labour, in short, which gives a value to the whole terrestrial mass."-Encyclop.

The history of Man is an object of attention highly interesting, whether we consider him in the different periods of his life, or take a view of the varieties of the species, or examine the wonderful organization of bis frame. We shall, therefore, attempt to give a short sketch of him in these different points of view.

A Being, consisting of a rational soul and organical body. By some he is defined thus: "He is the Head of the animal creation: a being who feels, reflects, thinks, contrives, and acts; who has the power of changing his place upon the earth at pleasure; who possesses the faculty of communicating his thoughts by means of speech, and who has dominion over all other creatures on the face of the earth."

According to LINNEUS and BUFFON, there are six different species among Mankind. The FIRST, are those under the polar regions, and comprehend the Laplanders, the Esquimaux Indians, the Samoiea Tartars, the inhabitants of Nova Zembla, Borandians, the Greenlanders, and the people of Kamtschatka. The visage of Men, in these countries, is large and broad; the nose flat and short; the eyes of a yellowish brown, inclining to blackness; the cheek-bones extremely high; the mouth large; the lips thick; the voice thin and squeaking; and the skin of a dark grey colour. They are short in stature, the generality being about four feet high, and the tallest not more than five. They are ignorant, stupid, and super

stitious,

The SECOND are the Tartar race, comprehending the Chinese and the Japanese. Their countenances are broad and wrinkled, even in youth; their noses short and flat; their eyes little, cheek-bones high, and teeth large; their complexions are olive, and the hair black.

The THIRD are the Southern Asiatics, inhabitants of India. These are of a slender shape, have long straight black hair, and generally Roman noses. They are slothful, submissive, cowardly and effemi

nate.

The Negroes of Africa constitute the FOURTH striking variety in the human species. They are of a black colour, having downy soft hair, short and black; their beards often turn grey, and sometimes white; their noses are flat and short, their lips thick, and their teeth of an ivory whiteness.

The Natives of America are the FIFTH race of men. They are of a copper colour, with black thick straight hair, flat noses, high cheek-bones, and small eyes.

The Europeans may be considered as the SIXTH and last variety of the human kind, whose features we need not describe.

Buck's Theological Dictionary.

Man has been defined "a rational creature ;" but some of the brute creation, such as the horse, dog, elephant, &c. discover such traits of reason, as show them to be by no means peculiarly and exclusively confined to Man. He is therefore, and perhaps with more propriety, called a religious animal, since no creature, except Man, appears to have any sense of religion.

Deep in the bosom of his universe,

Bishop Wilkin.

Dropt down that reas'ning mite, that insect, Man,

To crawl, to gaze, to wonder at the scene.

YOUNG.

Man is the most wonderful and unaccountable composition in the whole creation. He hath capacities to lodge a much greater variety of knowledge than ever he will be master of, and an unsatisfied curiosity to tread the secret paths of Nature and Providence; but with organs, in their present structure, rather fitted to serve the necessities of a vile body, than to minister to his understanding:

and, from the little spot to which he is chained, he can frame but wandering guesses concerning the innumerable worlds of light that encompass him; which, though in themselves of a prodigious bigness, do but just glimmer in the remote spaces of the heavens; and when, with a great deal of time and pains, he hath laboured a little way up the steep ascent of truth, and beholds with pity the grovel-. ling multitudes beneath-in a moment his foot slips, and he tumbles headlong into the grave. Spectator.

To take the character of Man from history, he is a creature capable of any thing; the most infernally cruel and horrid, when actuated by interest or passion, and not in immediate fear of punishment from his fellow-creatures; for damnation lies out of sight.

Gent's Political Disquisitions.

Man is a very worm by birth,

Vile reptile, weak and vain!

Awhile he crawls upon the earth,

Then sinks to earth again.

РОРЕ.

The greatest miracle in Man is the successive renovation and duration of the species, without knowing how; we think, without perceiving the cause of thought. Matter is foreign covering, united to us in a manner unknown. Fourcray.

The height of our stature may be six or seven feet, and we would fain have it sixteen; the length of our age may reach to a hundred years, and we would fain have it a thousand; we are born to grovel upon the earth, and we would fain soar up to the skies. We cannot comprehend the growth of a kernel or seed, the frame of an ant or a bee; we are amazed at the wisdom of the one, and industry of the other; and yet we will know the figures, the courses, the influences of all those glorious celestial bodies, and the end for which they were made. We pretend to give a clear account how thunder and lightning (the great artillery of God Almighty) are produced; and we cannot tell how the voice of Man is framedthat poor little noise we make every time we speak. The motion of the sun is plain and evident to some astronomers, and that of the

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