CHAPTER I

Of the Erectness of Man.

[Sidenote: _What figure in animals is properly erect._]

That only _Man_ hath an Erect figure, and for to behold and look up toward heaven, according to that of the Poet,

_Pronaque cum spectant animalia cætera terram, Os homini sublime dedit, cælumque tueri Jussit, et erectos ad sydera tollere vultus,_

is a double assertion, whose first part may be true, if we take Erectness strictly, and so as _Galen_ hath defined it; for they only, saith he, have an Erect figure, whose spine and thigh-bone are carried in right lines; and so indeed of any we yet know, _Man_ only is Erect. For the thighs of other animals do stand at Angles with their spine, and have rectangular positions in Birds, and perfect Quadrupeds. Nor doth the Frog, though stretched out, or swimming, attain the rectitude of _Man_, or carry its thigh without all angularity. [SN: _What seiante or sitting._] And thus is it also true, that Man only sitteth, if we define sitting to be a firmation of the body upon the _Ischias_: wherein if the position be just and natural, the Thigh-bone lieth at right angles to the Spine, and the Leg-bone or Tibia to the Thigh. For others when they seem to sit, as _Dogs_, _Cats_, or _Lions_, do make unto their Spine acute angles with their Thigh, and acute to the Thigh with their Shank. Thus is it likewise true, what _Aristotle_ alledgeth in that Problem; why _Man_ alone suffereth pollutions in the Night [SN: ἐξονειρωκτικός.], because _Man_ only lyeth upon his Back; if we define not the same by every supine position, but when the Spine is in rectitude with the Thigh, and both with the arms lie parallel to the _Horizon_: so that a line through their Navel will pass through the Zenith and Centre of the Earth. And so cannot other Animals lie upon their Backs: for though the Spine lie parallel with the _Horizon_, yet will their Legs incline, and lie at angles unto it. And upon these three divers positions in _Man_, wherein the Spine can only be at right lines with the Thigh, arise those remarkable postures, prone, supine and erect; which are but differenced in situation, or in angular postures upon the Back, the Belly and the Feet.

But if Erectness be popularly taken, and as it is largely opposed unto proneness, or the posture of animals looking downwards, carrying their venters or opposite part to the Spine, directly towards the Earth, it may admit of question. For though in _Serpents_ and _Lizards_ we may truly allow a proneness, yet _Galen_ acknowledgeth that perfect Quadrupeds, as _Horses_, _Oxen_ and _Camels_, are but partly prone, and have some part of Erectness. And _Birds_ or flying Animals, are so far from this kind of proneness, that they are almost Erect; advancing the Head and Breast in their progression, and only prone in the Act of volitation or flying. And if that be true which is delivered of the _Pengin_ or _Anser Magellanicus_, often described in Maps about those _Straits_, that they go Erect like _Men_, and with their Breast and Belly do make one line perpendicular unto the axis of the Earth; it will almost make up the exact Erectness of _Man_ [SN: _Observe also the_ Vrias Bellanii _and_ Mergus major.]. Nor will that Insect come very short which we have often beheld, that is, one kind of Locust which stands not prone, or a little inclining upward, but in a large Erectness, elevating alwaies the two fore Legs, and sustaining it self in the middle of the other four: by _Zoographers_ [SN: _Describers of animals._] called _Mantis_, and by the common people of _Provence_, _Prega_, _Dio_, the Prophet and praying Locust; as being generally found in the posture of supplication, or such as resembleth ours, when we lift up our hands to Heaven.

As for the end of this Erection; to look up toward Heaven; though confirmed by several testimonies, and the _Greek_ Etymology of _Man_, it is not so readily to be admitted; and as a popular and vain conceit was Anciently rejected by _Galen_; who in his third, _De usu partium_, determines, that _Man_ is Erect, because he was made with hands, and was therewith to exercise all Arts, which in any other figure he could not have performed; as he excellently declareth in that place, where he also proves that _Man_ could have been made neither Quadruped nor Centaur.

And for the accomplishment of this intention, that is, to look up and behold the Heavens, _Man_ hath a notable disadvantage in the Eye lid; whereof the upper is far greater than the lower, which abridgeth the sight upwards; contrary to those of _Birds_, who herein have the advantage of _Man_: Insomuch that the Learned _Plempius_[SN: Plemp. Ophthalmographia.] is bold to affirm, that if he had had the formation of the Eye-lids, he would have contrived them quite otherwise.

The ground and occasion of this conceit was a literal apprehension of a figurative expression in _Plato_, as _Galen_ thus delivers; To opinion that _Man_ is Erect to look up and behold the Heavens, is a conceit only fit for those that never saw the _Fish_ Uranoscopus, that is, the Beholder of Heaven; which hath its Eyes so placed, that it looks up directly to Heaven; which _Man_ doth not, except he recline, or bend his head backward: and thus to look up to Heaven, agreeth not only unto _Men_, but _Asses_; to omit _Birds_ with long necks, which look not only upwards, but round about at pleasure. And therefore _Men_ of this opinion understood not _Plato_ when he said that _Man_ doth _Sursum aspicere_; for thereby was not meant to gape, or look upward with the Eye, but to have his thoughts sublime; and not only to behold, but speculate their Nature, with the Eye of the understanding.

Now although _Galen_ in this place makes instance but in one, yet are the other fishes, whose Eyes regard the Heavens, as Plane, and Cartilagineous _Fishes_; as _Pectinals_, or such as have their bones made laterally like a Comb; for when they apply themselves to sleep or rest upon the white side, their Eyes on the other side look upward toward Heaven. For _Birds_, they generally carry their heads Erectly like _Man_, and have advantage in their upper Eye-lid; and many that have long necks, and bear their heads somewhat backward, behold far more of the Heavens, and seem to look above the æquinoxial Circle. And so also in many Quadrupeds, although their progression be partly prone, yet is the sight of their Eye direct, not respecting the Earth but Heaven; and make an higher Arch of altitude then our own. The position of a _Frog_ with his head above water exceedeth these; for therein he seems to behold a large part of the Heavens, and the acies of his Eye to ascend as high as the Tropick; but he that hath beheld the posture of a _Bittor_, will not deny that it beholds almost the very _Zenith_. [SN: _Point of heaven over our heads._]