Book V. Party made of the most proper Strength and Texture; fhaped in the compleatest Form; and in a word, accouter'd with every thing neceffa

ry for it's Motion, Office, Nourishment, Guard, and what not! What fo commodious a Structure and Texture could have been given to the Bones, for inftance, to make them firm and ftrong, and withal Light, as that which every Bone in the Body hath? who could have fhaped them fo nicely to every Ufe, and adapted them to every Part, made them of fuch juft Lengths, given them fuch due Sizes and Shapes, channelled, hollowed, headed, lubricated, and every other thing miniftring in the beft, and moft compendious manner to their feveral Places and Ufes? What a glorious Collection and Combination have we alfo of the moft exquisite Workmanship and Contrivance in the Eye, in the Ear, in the Hand (2), in the Foot (3), in the Lungs, and other Parts already mentioned? What an Abridgment of Art, what i

a

(2) Galen having defcribed the Mufcles, Tendons, and other Parts of the Fingers, and their Motions, cries out, Confidera igitur etiam hic mirabilem CREATORIS Japientiam. De Uf. Part. L. 1. c. 18:

(3) And not only in the Hand, but in his account of the Foot (L. 3) he frequently takes notice of what he calls Artem, Providentiam & Sapientiam Conditoris. As Ch. 13: An igitur non aquum eft hic quoque admirari Providentiam Conditoris, qui ad utrumque ufum, etfi certe contrarium, exacte convenientes & confentientes invicem fabricatus eft totius membri [tibie] particulas? And at the end of the Chap. Quod fi omnia que ipfarum funt partium mente immutaverimus, neque invenerimus pofitionem aliam meliorem eo quam nunc fortita funt, neque figuram, neque magnitudinem, neque connexionem, neque (ut paucis omnia complectar) aliud quidquam eorum, que corporibus neceffario infunt, perfectiffimam pronunciare oportet, undique rectè conftitutam præfentem ejus confructionem. The like alfo concludes, Ch, 15.

a Variety of Ufes (4) hath Nature laid upon that one Member of the Tongue, the grand Inftrument of Taft, the faithful Judge, the Centinel, the Watchman of all our Nourishment, the artful Modulator of our Voice, the neceffary Servant of Maftication, Swallowing, Sucking, and a great deal befides? But I muft defift from proceeding upon Particulars, finding I am fallen upon what I proposed to avoid.

W

And therefore for a Clofe of this Chapter, I fhall only add part of a Letter I received from the before-commended very curious and ingenious Phy fician Dr. Tancred Robinson, What (faith he) can poffibly be better contrived for Animal Motion and Life, than the quick Circulation of the Blood and Fluids, which run out of fight in Capillary Veffels, and very minute Ducts' without Impediment (except in fome Difeafes) being all directed to their peculiar Glands and Channels for the different Secretion, Senfible and Infenfible; whereof the last is far the greatest in Quantity and Effects, as to Health and Sickness, acute Diftempers frequently arising from a Diminution of Tranfpiration through the cutaneous Chimneys, and fome Chronical ones from an Augmentation: whereas Obftructions in the Liver, Pancreas, and other Glands,may only caufe a Schirrus, a Jaundice, an Ague, a Dropfy, or other flow Difeafes. So an increase of that Secretion may accompany the general Colliquations, as in Fluxes, Hectick Sweats and Coughs, Diabetes, ond other Confumptions. What a mighty Contrivance is there to preferve thefe due Secretions from the Blood(on which Life fo much depends) by frequent Attritions and Communications of the Fluids in their paffage through the Heart, the Lungs, and the whole Syftem of the Muscles? What Meanders and Contortions

que

of

ad alium

(4) At enim Opificis induftrii maximum eft indicium (quemadmodum ante fæpenumero jam diximus) iis ufum fuerunt comparata, ad alias quoque utilitates abuti, que laborare ut fingulis utilitatibus fingulas faciat proprias particulas, Galen, ub, fupr. L. 9. c. 5.

(1)

of Vessels in the Organs of Separation? And what a Concourfe of Elaftick Bodies from the Air to Supply the Springs and continual Motions of fome Parts, not only in Sleep and Reft, but in long violent Exercifes of the Mufcles? whofe force drive the Fluids round in a wonderful rapid Circulation through the minuteft Tubes, affifted by the conftant Pabulum of the Atmosphere, and their own Elaftick Fi bres, which imprefs that Velocity on the Fluids.

Now I have mentioned fome Ufes of the Air in carrying: on feveral Functions in Animal Bodies, I may add the Share it bath in all the Digeftions of the Solid and Fluid Parts. For when this Syftem of Air comes, by divine Permittance, to be corrupted with poyfonous, acrimonious Steams, either from the Earth, from Merchandife, or Infected Bodies, what Havock is made in all the Operations of living Creatures? The Parts gangrene, and mortify under Carbuncles, and other Tokens: indeed the whole Animal Oeconomy is ruined of fuch Importance is the Air to all the Parts of it. Thus my learned Friend.

1

CHAP. VI..

Of the PLACING the PARTS of Man's Body. N this Chapter, I propofe to confider the Lodgment of the curious Parts of Man's Body, which is no lefs admirable than the Parts themfelves, all fet in the most convenient Places of the Body, to minifter to to their own feveral Ufes and Purposes, and affift, and mutually to help one another. Where could thofe faithful Watchmen the Eye, the Ear, the Tongue be fo commodiously placed, as in the upper part of the Building? where could we throughout the Body find fo proper a Part to lodge four of the five Senfes, as in the Head (1), near the

Brain

(1) Senfus, interpretes ac nuntii rerum, in capite, tanquam in arce, mirifice ad ufus neceffarios & facti, & collocati funt. Nam oculi tanquam fpeculatores, altiffimum locum obtinent;

299 Brain (2), the common Senfory, a Place well guarded, and of little other Ufe than to be a Seat to thofe Senfes.?. And how could we lodge the Fifth Senfe, that of Touching otherwife(3), than to difperfe it to all Parts of the Body? Where could we plant the Hand (4), but just where it is, to be ready at every Turn, on all Occafions of Help and Defence, of Motion, Action, and every of its ufeful Services? Where could we fet the Legs and Feet, but where they are, to bear up, and handsomely to carry about the Body? Where could we lodge the Heart, to labour about the whole Mass of Blood, but in, or near the Center of the Body (5)? Where could we find Room for that noble Engine to play freely in, where could we fo well guard it againft external Harms, as it is in that very place in which it is lodged and fecured? Where could we more commodioufly place, than in the Thorax and Belly, the ufeful Viscera of thofe Parts, fo as not to fwagg, and jogg, and overfet the Body, and yet to minifter fo harmoniously, as they do, to all the fe veral Ufes of Concoction, Sanguification, the Separation of various Ferments from the Blood, for the great Uses of Nature, and to make Dif

charges

ex quo plurima confpicientes, fungantur fuo munere. Et aures cum fonum recipere debeant, qui natura in fublime fertur; rete in llis corporum partibus collocata funt. Cicer. de Nat. Deor. L. 2. c. 56. ubi plura de cæteris Senfibus.

(2) Galen well obferves, that the Nerves miniftring to Motion, are hard and firm, to be lefs fubject to Injury: but thofe miniftring to Senfe, are foft and tender: and that for this Reafon it is, that Four of the Five Senfes are lodged fo near the Brain, viz, partly to partake of the Brain's foftnefs and tendernefs, and partly for the lake of the ftrong guard of the Skull, vid. Gal. de Uf. Part, L. &. c. 5. 6. (3) See Book 4. Chap. 6. Note 3.

(4) Quam vero aptas, quamque multarum artium minifras Manus natura homini dedit? The particulars of which, enumerated by him, fee in Cic ubi fupr. c. 60.

(5) See Book 6. Ch. 5.

(6)

Book V. charges of what is ufelefs, or would be burden→ fome or pernicious to the Body (6)? How could we plant the curious and great Variety of Bones and of Mufcles of all Sorts and Sizes, neceffary as I have said to the Support, and every Motion of the Body? where could we lodge all the Arteries and Veins, to convey Nourishment; and the Nerves,Senfation throughout the Body? where I fay, could we lodge all thefe Implements of the Body, to perform their several Offices 2 how could we fecure and guard them fo well, as in the very Places, and in the felf fame manner in which they are already placed in the Body? And laftly, to name no more, what Covering, what Fence could we find out for the whole Body, better than that of Nature's own providing, the Skin (7)? how could we fhape it to, or brace it about every part better, either for Convenience or Ornament? What better Texture could we give it, which altho' less obdurate and firm, than that of fome other Animals, yet is so much the more fenfible of every Touch,and more compliant with every Motion? and being easily defenfible by the Power of Man's Reafon and Art, is therefore much the propereft Tegument for a Reafonable Creature.

CHAP.

(6) Ut in edificiis Architecti avertunt ab oculis & naribus dominorum ea, qua profluentia neceffario tetri effent aliquid babitura fic natura res fimiles (fcil. excrementa) procul amandavit a fenfibus. Cicer. de Nat. Deor. L. 2. c. 56.

1

(7) Compare here Galen's Obfervations de Uf. Part. L. 11. c. 15. Alfo L. 2. c. 6. See alfo Cowper. Anat. where in Tab, 4. are very elegant Cuts of the Skin in divers parts of the Body, drawn from Microscopical Views, as alfo of the Pa pille pyramidales, the Sudoriferous Glands and Veffels, the Hairs, &c.