The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c9.143

v1.c9.143

The disparities observable under the different heads of the above are so great that I cannot in any way reconcile them. It should be noticed, however, that even in classic art the disparities are also glaring. Bearing also in mind the caprice of nature and of artists, the changes which the human form undergoes from infancy to old age, and in different nationalities, climates, habits, and professions, as also the exigencies of art, it must be admitted that such measurements cannot be fixed by any ideal standard, nor can any deduction of material importance be drawn from them. This much, however, may be said that the human figures appear generally to be well proportioned; their hands and feet are small, the arms are in keeping with the body, and the lower limbs are divested of the great length so ungainly and peculiar to the aboriginal form. In several figures which I have measured, the feet are, all but exactly, one-sixth of the body, and the hand two-fifteenths. The feminine hands are generally very small, and the fingers light and taper. In human statues the second toe is in many instances somewhat longer than the great toe.