peculiar to the human face; it is represented very prominent, or raised much above the level of the orbits. The Greeks thought it most beautiful when it proceeded in a straight line from the forehead, whilst the Romans preferred it arched. The nostrils are formed as little like a snout as possible; they are apertures for respiration, and for smelling, in the human subject, and their motions contribute to expression. The orifice of the mouth seems chiefly constructed, in the human face, for the articulation of our words; and the motions of the lips are also strongly indicative of our feelings. The Greeks represented the mouth according to these views of the subject. They made it as little like a devouring aperture as possible. They made the orifice of small dimensions; the lips thin, but muscular and expressive; and they sometimes even flattened the arch of the jaws in an excessive degree. The chin, which is peculiar to the human countenance, they made to project very considerably, and in men they represented it broad." "This," Abernethy concludes by saying, "is a subject rather of taste than science; yet design all this, effect but this, and you will form the front of Jove himself."

Such is the beau-ideal of the Greeks. In striking contrast with this, are the head and features of the African Negro. Camper and Hunter, at the same time, were occupied in tracing the descending series apparent in the construction of the heads of animals. The head of the Negro, Abernethy observes, does really in some degree, and in some individuals more particularly, approximate in form to that of the monkey; in the sloping direction of the forehead, the size

and depth of the temporal fossa, in the flatness of the nose, the projection of the teeth, and the diminution of the chin. This approximation is observable also in the length of the loins, and in that of the forearm and leg, compared to the arm and thigh; in the flatness of the foot, and projection of the heel. In the head of the monkey, we distinguish the same things, but in so aggravated a degree, that we at once recognize the head of a brute, possessing little cranium and much face, a mere approximation of form to the human head, a mockery, with which, in general, we are more disgusted than pleased. In the quadruped, the forehead is nearly an horizontal continuation of the face, and the jaws so greatly extended, that the cranium is but little apparent, and the face constitutes the chief part of the head. In the bird, and in the fish, we observe the same circumstances, but in a much more striking degree. So greatly did these observations interest Sir Joshua Reynolds, that, in his portrait of Mr. Hunter, he has left his portfolio open at that part where that descending series is sketched." Abernethy has thought it right to add, that well-educated Negroes, notwithstanding their approximation in form to the brute, have displayed great mental powers.

After the above general observations on the form of the human head, the mansion of the mind, and the index of its character, Abernethy proceeds to describe the teeth which, with the single exception of the human race, Mr. Hunter did not consider subservient principally to the purpose of mastication; and he has given them a place, accordingly, among the instruments and weapons allotted to animals.

"That nature meant man to grind his food by means of his teeth is evident, from their form, and from the mechanism of his jaws; but we do not seem to be warranted to infer, from the teeth alone, what kind of food nature designed us to live on. Some vegetables and animals are peculiar to certain districts, and will not thrive in other situations; whilst other kinds of vegetables and animals are found more generally distributed over the surface of the globe. Grass and corn thrive everywhere.

animal. He can, and does

Man also seems an universal

live, in some places, upon

vegetables only; whilst in a Greenland winter, his chief sustenance is derived from oil and fish. Nature may have given man means to grind his food, that he may extract the greatest quantity of nourishment from a deficient supply of it; and he can, by mixing different kinds of food, qualify substances for trituration, which, by themselves, would be unsuited to that process. It is also one of his characteristics, one in which he seems much to delight, that he is a cooking animal. The human teeth are likewise of great use in our articulation of words."

Mr. Hunter bestowed surprising labour in investigating the structure and functions of animals of the whale kind. In his paper * relative to them, there is abundant evidence of the peculiar character of his mind. We see the student of nature on the most extended scale solicitously inquiring into all the circumstances which adapt these animals to the peculiar situation they occupy in the scale of existence.

* Philos. Trans., 1787.

For minute particulars, I must refer to Mr. Hunter's own paper, and shall merely transcribe the few following passages from Abernethy :-" Many of the whale tribe have teeth, although we cannot consider them as predacious animals, for these in general are suspicious, cunning, and solitary, whilst the whale tribe have an opposite character. They probably chiefly feed upon medusæ, sepiæ, shrimps, &c. For so monstrous a creature as the great whale to obtain a supply of food for its vast bulk, would appear to us, were we ignorant of the means which nature has contrived, a subject of the greatest difficulty. But she has made his mouth an enormous trap, and has given him whalebone teeth, the fringed edges of which form a finely meshed net to encompass his prey. We must suppose him groping along the bottom of the ocean, his jaws extended, his mouth a vast chamber, twenty or thirty feet in length, and ten or twelve in breadth, filled with water, containing medusa, sepiæ, shrimps, and small fish; when gently closing his jaws, they are encompassed in a net formed by the decussating fibres of the fringed edges of the whalebone teeth. The tongue, which is soft like a bed of feathers, and very thick, being applied to the roof of the mouth, the water is expressed through the apertures of the net, and then the food is swallowed. Thus is the most powerful Leviathan obliged to obtain his livelihood by the exercise of the wily arts of the fisherman.”

CHAPTER XII.

HUMAN OSTEOLOGY.

THE admirable construction of the human skeleton forms the subject of the third lecture, in which just so much comparative anatomy is introduced as tends to throw light upon the perfection of various parts of the human frame. I have seen it remarked, that minutiæ have been dwelt upon somewhat unnecessarily, considering the quality of the audience before whom these lectures were delivered; but, with all due deference to the seniors of the profession, I cannot think that there was any harm in bringing to the recollection of some, and to the fresh attention of all, such numerous, varied, and interesting particulars, as must have produced feelings of self-gratulation by the lustre they throw over the field of their own anxious, yet honourable labours. To the younger part of the audience, in attending such lectures, it must have appeared as if they were conducted through a beautiful and well-arranged museum, illustrative of their pursuits, by the head curator, whose province it was, and equally his delight, to gratify their curiosity, inform their minds, and cultivate their best affections. Other works, embracing the whole sphere of Natural Theology, may claim more general admiration, but I know not any in which the wonderful mechanism of