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Article Untitled Article ← Page 6 of 6 Article THE AZTECS AND THE ERDMANNIGES. Page 1 of 4 →
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were not only reduced to their old condition again ^ but hundreds of executions evinced the vengeance and hatred of their masters . Another age of slavery followed before the wretched peasantry were allowed to be considered in the light of men . The change was
gradual , and . has left fewer traces in history than might have been expected . The shadow of the old state of things is still preserved in many of our local manorial customs ; and the memory of the old feeling of the lords towards their dependants has been perpetuated in the signification now attached to the word villain .
The Aztecs And The Erdmanniges.
THE AZTECS AND THE ERDMANNIGES .
Fbom the fact that we have no authentic accounts of races of men at present differing materially in magnitude from the average stature of the human family ( which may be rudely estimated at five feet and a half , or upwards , all over the known regions of the globe ) , stories of Griants and Lilliputians , Titans and Pigmies , are universally
considered as fables . Men and women of stunted growth occasionally appear in all nations , but their heads are invariably large . These we call dwarfs , and consider as exceptions which prove the rule , that whatever marked diversities occur in colour , configuration of the head , features , and form—dividing mankind into what are called races—there does not exist that diversity as to stature which would lead us to put faith in the present existence of gigantic or diminutive
nations . Hence the very general opinion entertained by those who have not seen the Aztecs and Erdmanniges ( an opinion in which the author of these remarks shared until he enjoyed such an opportunity ) , that they are merely dwarfs of unusual symmetry , andjis such worthy of little or no curiosity . No intelligent person who goes to see
them , we will venture to assert , carries away such an impression . We were among the sceptical ones , and shall not easily forget the effect created by the first sight of the Aztecs and Erdmanniges . Not being of that very large and respectable multitude , both in Europe and America , so severely " sold " by Barnum with his exhibition of Tom Thumb , we cannot plead the distaste caused by reaction as
an excuse for not entertaining the slightest sympathy whatever with dwarfs , viewed in the light of an exhibition . In gazing upon the Aztecs and Erdmanniges , the previously-entertained idea associating them with dwarfs must at once be discarded . Neither of these types of two races most distinct possesses any of the characteristics of the dwarf . The heads of the Aztecs are in due proportion to their bodies ; the hands and feet perfectly formed ; ^ the legs and arms , though spare , are symmetrically shaped ; and , in short , the relative proportions of the well-made human figure are preserved in these little men and women only three feet and a half high . So utterly at variance do t \\ ey appear with all our past experience , that it is
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
were not only reduced to their old condition again ^ but hundreds of executions evinced the vengeance and hatred of their masters . Another age of slavery followed before the wretched peasantry were allowed to be considered in the light of men . The change was
gradual , and . has left fewer traces in history than might have been expected . The shadow of the old state of things is still preserved in many of our local manorial customs ; and the memory of the old feeling of the lords towards their dependants has been perpetuated in the signification now attached to the word villain .
The Aztecs And The Erdmanniges.
THE AZTECS AND THE ERDMANNIGES .
Fbom the fact that we have no authentic accounts of races of men at present differing materially in magnitude from the average stature of the human family ( which may be rudely estimated at five feet and a half , or upwards , all over the known regions of the globe ) , stories of Griants and Lilliputians , Titans and Pigmies , are universally
considered as fables . Men and women of stunted growth occasionally appear in all nations , but their heads are invariably large . These we call dwarfs , and consider as exceptions which prove the rule , that whatever marked diversities occur in colour , configuration of the head , features , and form—dividing mankind into what are called races—there does not exist that diversity as to stature which would lead us to put faith in the present existence of gigantic or diminutive
nations . Hence the very general opinion entertained by those who have not seen the Aztecs and Erdmanniges ( an opinion in which the author of these remarks shared until he enjoyed such an opportunity ) , that they are merely dwarfs of unusual symmetry , andjis such worthy of little or no curiosity . No intelligent person who goes to see
them , we will venture to assert , carries away such an impression . We were among the sceptical ones , and shall not easily forget the effect created by the first sight of the Aztecs and Erdmanniges . Not being of that very large and respectable multitude , both in Europe and America , so severely " sold " by Barnum with his exhibition of Tom Thumb , we cannot plead the distaste caused by reaction as
an excuse for not entertaining the slightest sympathy whatever with dwarfs , viewed in the light of an exhibition . In gazing upon the Aztecs and Erdmanniges , the previously-entertained idea associating them with dwarfs must at once be discarded . Neither of these types of two races most distinct possesses any of the characteristics of the dwarf . The heads of the Aztecs are in due proportion to their bodies ; the hands and feet perfectly formed ; ^ the legs and arms , though spare , are symmetrically shaped ; and , in short , the relative proportions of the well-made human figure are preserved in these little men and women only three feet and a half high . So utterly at variance do t \\ ey appear with all our past experience , that it is