Yet overlook the far more furprifing Curiofities, which abound in the Compofition of our own Bodies. The Rarities, the Myfteries, the Miracles, inlaid or locked up in these Cabinets of Flesh and Blood.

Since you infift upon it, my Obfervations, crude and extemporaneous as they are, shall submit themfelves to your Judgment. Provided, You will be content to receive, only a few of the Outlines, and nothing like a finished Draught.

Afp. Let me juft hint, that the more circumftantial your Account is, fo much the more welcome will it be to your Friend, and so much the more honourable to our common CREATOR. Let me alfo remind You of Galen's Declaration: which, as it is judicious and important, will, I hope, induce You to enlarge your Plan, and give full Scope to your Imagination." Thofe Treatifes, which dif

play the tranfcendent Excellencies of the great " CREATOR, compose one of the nobleft and "most acceptable Hymns. To acquaint Ourfelves with his fublime Perfections; and point out to "Others his infinite Power, his unerring Wifdom,

his boundlefs Benignity; this is, according to "my Opinion, a more fubftantial Act of Devotion, "than to flay Hecatombs of Victims at his Altar, 66 or kindle Mountains of Spices into Incense *."Theron, after pausing a few Minutes, thus refumed the Difcourfe.

Ther. When fome Mafter-builder undertakes to erect a magnificent Edifice, He begins with the lefs decorated, but more fubftantial Parts. Those which L 4

* Gal. de Ufu Part. Lib. III.

are

are to fupport, or those which are to contain the reft. This Order, if You please, We will follow, in confidering "the earthly Houfe of our Ta"bernacle *."

First, You have a Syftem of Bones; caft into a Variety of Moulds; enlarged or contracted into a Variety of Sizes. All ftrong, that they may commodiously bear up the Machine; yet light, that they may not encumber or clog the Animal. Some continuous, and folid throughout. Some bored with an internal Cavity, to contain the moistening Marrow; and perforated with exceedingly fine Ducts, to admit the nourishing Veffels.-Infenfible themselves, they are covered with a Membrane + of exquifite Senfibility. Which warns them of the Approach, and fecures them from the Annoyance, of any injurious Friction. At the fame Time, it preserves the adjoining muscular Parts, from being fretted in their Action, by the hard and rough Substance of the Bones.-Their Figures are always moft precisely fitted to their Ufes. They are generally larger at the Extremities, than in the Middle; that they may

be

*2 Cor. v. 1. St. Paul very pertinently compares the bodily Structure to a Houfe. And adds, in that Strain of godly Edifying, which runs through all his Writings, our earthly and tent-like Habitation, os x Conves. Referring to its mean Original, as it was formed out of the Duft; and to its fhort Continuance, as it muft foon return to Duft again. Being, though commodious as a Houfe, yet tranfitory as a Tent: not like the everlasting Mountains, which stand fixed and rooted to the Center; but like thofe portable Tenements, which are fet up in the Evening, are taken down in the Morning, and then their Place is known no more.--The Word Booth, would give a more clear and exact Idea to the English Reader, than Tabernacle.

+ The Periofleum.

be joined more firmly, and not fo eafily dislocated. -The Manner of their Articulation is truly admirable *, and remarkably various: yet never varied, without demonftrating some wife Design, and anfwering fome valuable End. Frequently, when two are united, the one is nicely rounded, and capped with a smooth Subftance; the other is fcooped into a Hollow of the fame Dimenfions, to receive the polished Knob; and both are lubricated with an unctuous Fluid, to yield the readiest Rotation in the Socket.

The Feet compofe the firmeft and neatest Pedeftal infinitely beyond all that Statuary or Architecture can accomplish; capable of altering its Form, and extending its Size, as different Circumftances require. Befides performing the Office of a Pedestal, they contain a Set of the niceft Springs; which place the Body in a Variety of graceful Attitudes, and qualify it for a Multiplicity of advantageous Motions. For the decent Step, and the ftately Stride; the Dance which fwims, and the Race We run. The undermoft Part of the Heel, and the Extremity of the Sole, are fhod with a tough, infenfible, finewy Subftance. This We may call, a Kind of natural Sandal. It never wears out; never wants Repair; and always prevents that undue Compreffion of the Veffels, which the Weight of the Body, in walking or standing, might otherwife occafion. The Legs and Thighs, are like fubftantial and stately Columns ; articulated in fuch a Man

CIC.

ner,

* Mirabiles Commissuras habent. + Styled therefore by the facred Philofopher, The Arong Men, Ecclef. xii. 3. And compared, by the fame

4

beautiful

ner, that they administer most commodiously to the Act of Walking, yet obftruct not the eafy Pofture of Sitting. The Legs fwell out, towards the Top, with a genteel Projection; and are wrought off, towards the Bottom, with neat Diminutions. Which Variation leffens their Bulk, at the fame Time that it increases their Beauty.

The Ribs, turned into a regular Arch, are gently moveable, for the Act of Respiration. They form a fecure Lodgment for the Lungs and the Heart : which, being fome of the most diftinguished and important Organs of Life, have their Refidence fortified by this ftrong femicircular Rampart *.-The Backbone is intended, not only to ftrengthen the Body, and fustain its moft capacious Store-rooms; but also to bring down that Communication of the Brain, which is usually termed the spinal Marrow. As an open Channel, it conveys, as a well-clofed

Cafe,

beautiful Writer, to Pillars of Marble, Cant v. 15.-As thefe are the frongeft Parts of the Body, and the Support of all the other, hence, I prefume, arofe that proverbial Expreffion, which occurs in the Hiftory of Samfon, Typ Judg. xv. 8. Rendered by the Septuagint, not very exactly, and poor; by our English Tranflators, rather too vulgarly, as well as fomewhat inaccurately, Hip and Thigh. I believe, the Word p fignifies Here, as it certainly fignifies in many other Places, what the Latins call Armus. And that the Image is taken from fome robuft and fierce Animal, whose Shoulders before, and whose Thighs behind, are broken in Pieces. Then, what Mischief can He do? What Resistance can He make? He is utterly difabled. So that the Expreffion feems to denote (and might perhaps, without Violence to the Original, be tranflated) A total Overthrow.

*Thou haft fenced me, fecured my inward and vital Parts, with Bones and Sinews, Job x. 11.-Crates Pectoris, is Virgil's Expression.

Cafe, it guards this vital Silver *; and, by feveral commodious Outlets, tranfmits the animating Treafure into all the inferior Parts. Was it only large, ftrait, and hollow, it might have ferved thefe feveral Purposes. But then the Loins must have been inflexible, and every Man impaled (not by the Executioner, but by Nature) on a Stake co-eval with his Existence. To avoid which, it confifts of very fhort Bones, clofely knit together by intervening Cartilages. This Peculiarity of Structure prevents Dislocation; and gives the main Pillar of our Frame the Pliancy of an Ofier, even while it retains the Firmness of an Oak.-By this Means, it is a Kind of continued Joint; capable of various Inflections, without bruifing the foft medullary Substance, which fills its Cavity; without intercepting the nervous Fluid, which is to be detached from this grand Refervoir; or diminishing that Strength, which is ncceffary to fupport all the upper Stories.-A Formation so very peculiar in any other of the Solids, muft have been attended with great Inconveniencies. Here, it is unfpeakably serviceable. Is, both for Workmanship and Situation, a Mafter-piece of creating Skill, never enough to be admired.

The Arms, pendent on either Side, are exactly proportioned to each other; that the Equilibrium of the Structure may not be difconcerted. Thefe, being the Guards which defend †, and the Minifters which ferve the whole Body, are fitted for the most

diver

*This is fuppofed to be the Part, which Solomon defcribes by The filver Cord: and is indeed like a Cord, on Account of its Shape; like Silver, on Account of its Colour. Ecclef. xii. 6.

+ Called, in Solomon's figurative but elegant Sketch of Anatomy, The Keepers of the Houfe, Ecclef. xii. 3.