Proportional Measurement of Limbs

It was carefully observed, however, we note that the tailors still understand so much of human studies (despite it not being entirely useless for them to understand it) such that they will calculate the measurements of sleeves not straight but bent; knowing that this has significantly lengthened.

The foot is about four noses long; the first portion is the heel. The second and third part goes up to the fold of the big toe. This toe itself is the fourth length. They then match it again with the measurement of the head, which coincides well. Others, including Albrecht Dürer, divided the foot in three: they assigned one part for the toes, where the split of the little toe begins; the second part up to just under the shinbone, with the third part reaching to the circumference of the heel.

Historically, Eudoxus wrote that in certain parts of East India, there were men whose feet measured an ell-long, and that women there had unusually small feet that were called "Strucopodes" or "tight-fettered-footings." It can very easily be examined that in well-proportioned bodies, the foot is the sixth part of the whole body, which follows, then, that since the head is similar to the foot, one will not find general human figures of eight heads, but only of six heads. Therefore, we are surprised that Albrecht Dürer called a statue using seven own feet a sturdy peasant man, and that he also presented models of ten or more heads.

Surely, one sees that one should not rigidly apply the rules of measurement alone.

Translation Notes

Eudoxus: Ancient scholar who commented on proportions in anatomy.
Ell: An old measurement roughly equivalent to the length of a human arm.
Strucopodes: Greek term used here for small or tightly bound feet.
Albrecht Dürer: A noted artist from the German Renaissance who explored human proportions.