Human Limbs

Women's limbs, but they have a delicate and weak body. There is a Gladiator or Roman Fencer on hand, and also cast in plaster, who is strong and masculine from the thighs, and agile of legs. Those who have rough and hairy thighs are often playful people, resembling satyrs in lustfulness. The legs are joined by the bending joint of the knees to each other and only bend in ways that are suitable for walking, sitting, and kneeling. They cannot bend sideways or forward: For if the knee bends both backward and forward, or to one of either side, falling or kneeling would make it impossible for the person to rise again. Just as it can be seen from the jaw and the joint links of the legs. Porta noted from the ancient anthropologists that those with short legs are often malevolent people, who find pleasure in wrongdoing. About Selimus, the son of Bajazet the tenth of the Turkish tyrants, it is testified that he was tall, but had very short legs; being a traitor and an unnatural fornicator, with great aversion to women. The Latins call the shin bone Tibia, and also a Flute: Because in earlier times, flutes were made from the leg bones of calves. Here it is said against a Spindle-Leg: Do not go past the flute-maker’s door, you would be embraced. Thick shin-bones show nobility of nature; Strength and cruelty. But the small and soft shins, weakness and Der...

Translation Notes: The term "Menschenkunde" should not be translated as 'anthropology' but as either 'human studies' or 'figure studies'.