68 Ulysses Aldrovandi

matches that space which winds its way from the chin to the lower lip. Furthermore, the third part of the middle finger, when including the nail, measures the entire philtrum of the upper lip in the same way. By this logic, we can use the hand as a perfect ruler to explore the arrangements of the face, and then employ the face itself to distinguish, without error, the remaining parts of the entire body according to the proportions assigned by nature.

Therefore, if the whole body is to be reduced to such symmetry, we establish that the common length of the body consists of nine times the length of the entire face—at least when considering the people of our own region. We do not deny that people can be found whose physical nature is stretched to a larger measure or contracted to a smaller one; indeed, some may fill ten face-lengths in total body height. Conversely, the stature of some might contain the face only eight times, or occasionally—though rarely—only seven. Taller individuals, however, yield a total body height equal to ten times their face.

Thus, for the present, we deemed it necessary to recall both of these sizes: namely, the one completed by nine face-lengths, which applies to most people, and the one that exceeds this size, which belongs to very few. In a face correctly formed by nature, three equal spaces are observed. The first is between the hairline and the bridge of the nose. The second occupies the entire nose. The third extends from the nose to the tip of the chin. Consequently, the first measure is the face itself; the second is the space from the throat to the end of the chest where the ensiform cartilage is found; the third is from that spot to the navel; the fourth from there to the start of the hips; the fifth and sixth reach from there to the knees; and the seventh and eighth reach to the ankles. The ninth measure consists of three different parts, which exactly correspond to one another and to the three divisions described in the face. The first of these is the arc extending from the hairline to the crown of the head. The second is the throat, reaching from the tip of the chin to the hollow of the chest. The third is the section descending from the ankle to the sole of the foot.

It seems that Mother Nature, in the initial formation of man, aimed for a perfect, equilateral, and square figure; for she placed the center at the groin and fashioned man to be as wide as he is long. Indeed, those nine parts by which the length of the whole body is measured are similarly observed in the extended arms along with the chest. Whether we measure from the shoulders externally through the elbow to the first knuckle of the fingers, or from the armpits internally to the boundary of the palm and fingers, we will complete three face-lengths by this calculation. The span of the fingers of both hands together will contain the face once; thus, the two arms and hands together yield seven face-lengths in their total span. The width of the body from shoulder to shoulder is equal to the face itself taken twice. In this way, the extended arms form the same measurement that nature outlined from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot. Thus far, we have discussed the man who is generally described by nine face-lengths.

Now we must say something of the man who, exceeding the aforementioned measure, is subject to a new one. For him, the first measure is taken from the crown of the head to the tip of the nostrils; the second from the nostrils to the start of the chest; the third from there to the end of the thorax; the fourth reaches the navel; and the fifth extends to the groin, where the center of the human body is usually located. The remaining five parts are then described by the proper spaces along the thighs and legs.

With these things established, it must now be understood that just as we divided the face into three equal parts, the rest of the body likewise admits three equal divisions: namely, that of the mid-body, that of the thigh, and finally the third from the end of the hips down to the feet. Furthermore, this threefold division is also found in the middle of the body: specifically, the space from the pubes to the navel, then from there to the nipples, and finally from there to the base of the neck. Moreover, the space enclosed between the nipples equals the circumference of the forehead, but the forehead tripled in length provides the exact dimensions of the back. Just as the length of the face taken nine or ten times measures the height of the entire body, so too the height of the forehead, taken nine or ten times,