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329 mutual and very intimate Correspondence and Concern with each other, more than is in other Creatures; or as one of the moft curious Anatomifts and Observers of thefe Things faith (c), “Brutes "are as 'twere Machines made with a fimpler, "and lefs operofe Apparatus, and endowed there "fore with only one and the fame Kind of Mo❝tion, or determined to do the fame Thing: "Whereas in Man, there is a great Variety of "Motions and Actions. For by the Commerce

of the aforesaid Cervical Plexus (d) he faith, "The Conceptions of the Brain prefently affect "the Heart, and agitate its Veffels and whole "Appendage, together with the Diaphragm. From "whence the Alteration in the Motion of the "Blood, the Pulfe and Refpiration. So alfo on "the contrary, when any Thing affects or alters

the Heart, thofe Impreffions are not only re

torted to the Brain by the fame Duct of the "Nerves, but also the Blood it felf (its Course "being once changed) flies to the Brain with a "different and unufual Courfe, and there agita "ting the animal Spirits with divers Impulfes, "produceth various Conceptions and Thoughts "in the Mind. And he tells us, "That hence it was that the ancient Divines and Philofophers too, made the Heart the Seat of Wisdom; and

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(e) Id. ib. Dum hanc utriufque fpeciei differentiam perpendo, Juccurrit animo, Bruta effe velut machinas, &c.

(d) That our great Man was not mistaken, there is great Reafon to imagine, from what he obferved in diffecting a Fool, Befides, the Brain being but small, he faith, Pracipua autem difcriminis nota quam inter illius & viri cordati partes advertimus, hacce erat; nempe quòd pradictus Nervi Intercacoftalis Plexus, quem Cerebri & Cordis internuncium & Homi nis proprium diximus, in Stulto hoc valde exilis, & minori Nervorum fatellitio ftipatus fuerit. Ibid. ·

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"certainly (faith he) the Works of Wisdom and: "Virtue do very much depend upon this Com"merce which is between the Heart and Brain: "And fo he goeth on with more to the fame purpofe. Upon the Account of this Intercofal Commerce with the Heart, being wanting in Brutes, there is another fingularly careful and wife Provifion the infinite Creator hath made in them and that is, That by Reafon both the Par Vagum and the Intercostal too, do not fend their Branches to the Heart, and its Appendage in Brutes, therefore, left their Heart fhould want a due Proportion of Nervous Veffels, the Par Vagum fends more Branches to their Heart than to that of Man. This as it is a remarkable Difference between Rational and Irrational Creatures; fo it is as remarkable an Argument of the Creator's Art and Care; who altho' he hath denied Brute-Animals Reafon, and the Nerves miniftring thereto, yet hath another Way fupplied what is neceffary to their Life and State. But let us hear the fame great Author's Defcant upon the Point (e);

In

afmuch, faith he, as Beafts are void of Difcre"tion, and but little fubject to various and different Paffions, therefore there was no need that "the Spirits that were to be convey'd from the

Brain to the Precordia, thould pass two different "Ways, namely, one for the Service of the vital "Functions, and another for the reciprocal Impref"fions of the Affections; but it was fufficient that "all their Spirits, whatever Ufe they were de "figned for, fhould be conveyed one and the fame "Way.

(e) Id. ib. cap. 29. In quantum Beftia prudentia carent, & variis diverfifque paffionibus, &c.

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Here now in the Nervous Kind we have manifeft Acts of the Creator's Defign and Wifdom, in diftinct a Provifion for Rational and Irrational Creatures; and that Man was evidently intended to be the one, as the Genus of Quadrupeds was the other.

CHAP. VII.

The CONCLUSION.

A

reflect upon the whole. And as from the Confiderations in the preceding Book, we have efpecial Reason to be thankful to our infinitely merciful Maker, for his no lefs kind than wonderful Contrivances of our Body; fo we have Reason from this brief View I have taken of this laft Tribe of the Creation, to acknowledge and admire the fame Creator's Work and Contrivances in them. For we have here a large Family of Animals, in every particular Refpect, curiously contrived and made, for that efpecial Pofture, Place, Food, and Office or Business which they obtain in the World. So that if we confider their own particular Happinefs and Good, or Man's Ufe and Service; or if we view them throughout, and confider the Parts wherein they agree with Man, or thofe especially wherein they differ, we fhall find all to be fo far from being Things fortuitous, undefigned, or any way accidental, that every Thing is done for the belt, all wifely contrived, and incomparably fitted up, and every way worthy of the great Creator. And he that will fhut his Eyes, and not fee

God

God (a) in thefe, his Works, even of the poor Beafts of the Earth, that will not fay (as Elibu hath it, Job xxxv. 10, 11.) Where is God my Maker, who teacheth us more than the Beafts of the Earth, and maketh us wifer than the Fowls of the Heaven? Of fuch an one we may use the Pfalmift's Expreffion, Pfal. xlxix. 12. That he is like the Beafts (b) that perish.

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Deum namque ire per omnes

Terrafque tractufque Maris, Cœlumque profundum. Hinc Pecudes, Armenta, viros, genus omne Ferarum. Virgil Georg. L. 4. (b) Illos qui nullum omnino Deum effe dixerunt, non modò non Philofophos, fed ne homines quidem fuiffe dixerim ; qui, mutis fimillimi, ex folo corpore conftiterunt, nihil videntes Lactant. L. 7. c. 9.

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BOOK VII.

A Survey of BIRDS.

AVING briefly, as well as I could, dispatch'd the Tribe of Quadrupeds I fhall next take as brief and tranfient a View of the feather'd Tribe. And here we have another large Province to expatiate in, if we fhould defcend to every Thing wherein the Workmanship of the Almighty appears. But I muft contract my Survey as much as may be; and fhall therefore give only fuch Hints and Touches upon this curious Family of Animals, as may ferve for Samples of the reft of what might be observ❜d..

CHAP. I.

Of the MOTION of Birds, and the PARTS miniftring thereto.

A

S this Tribe hath a different Motion from that of other Animals, and an amphibious Way of Life; partly in the Air, and partly on the Land and Waters; fo is their Body accordingly fhap'd, and all their Parts incomparably fitted for that Way of Life and Motion; as will be found by a curfory View of fome of the Particulars. And the 1.1

I. And

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