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4. The Place, in which they live and act.

5. The Balance of their Numbers.

6. Their Food.

7. Their Cloathing.

8. Their Houfes, Nefts, or Habitations,
9. Their Methods of Self-Prefervation.

10. Their Generation, and Confervation of their Species by that means.

CHAP. I.

Of the five Senfes in general.

HE firft Thing to be confidered in common to all the Senfitive Creatures, is their faculty of Seeing, Hearing, Smelling, Tafting, and Feeling; and the Organs miniftring to these five Senfes, together with the exact Accommodation of thofe Senfes and their Organs to the State and Make of every Tribe of Animals (2). The Confideration of which Particulars alone, were there no other Demonftrations of God, is abundantly fufficient to evince the infinite Wisdom, Power and Goodness of the great Creator. For who can but ftand amazed at the Glories of thefe Works; at the admirable Artifice of them, and at their noble Ufe and Performances! For fuppofe an Animal, as fuch, had Breath and Life, and could move it self hither and thither; yet how could it know whither to go, what it was about, where to find its Food, how to

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(2) Ex fenfibus ante catera Homini Tactus, deinde Guftatus: reliquis fuperatur à multis. Aquila clariùs cernunt; Vultures fagacius odorantur: liquidiùs audiunt Talpa obruta terra, tam denfo atque furdo nature elemento. Plin. Nat. Hift. L, 10. c. 69.

avoid thousands of Dangers (3), without Sight! How could Man, particularly, view the Glories of the Heavens, furvey the Beauties of the Fields, and enjoy the Pleasure of beholding the noble Variety of diverting Objects, that do, above us in the Hea vens, and here in this lower World, prefent themfelves to our View every where; how enjoy this, I fay, without that admirable Senfe of Sight (4)! How could alfo the Animal without Smell and Tafte distinguish its Food, and difcern between wholfome and unwholfome; befides the pleasures of delightful. Odours, and relishing Gufto's! How, without that other Senfe of Hearing, could it difcern many Dangers that are at a diftance, understand the Mind of others, perceive the harmonious Sounds of Mufick, and be delighted with the Melodies of the winged Choir, and all the reft of the Harmonies the Creator hath provided for the Delight and Pleasure of his Creatures! And laftly, how could Man, or any other Creature distinguish Pleasure from Pain, Health from Sickness, and confequently be able to keep their Body found and entire, without the Sense of Feeling! Here, therefore, we have a glorious Economy in every Animal, that commandeth Admiration, and deferveth our Contemplation: As will better appear by coming to Particulars, and distinctly confidering the Provifion which the Creator hath made for each of these Senfes.

(3) Oculi, pars corporis pretiofiffima, & qui lucis ufu vitam diftinguant à morte. Plin. Nat. Hift. 1. 81. c. 37.

(4) Famine aliqua Megarenfes folis oculis difcernere valebant inter Ova que ex Gallinâ nigrâ, & quæ ex albâ nata funt, is what is affirmed (how truly I know not) by Grimald, de Lumin. & Color. Pr. 43. 4.60.

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CHA P. II.

Of the Eye.

OR our clearer proceeding in the Confideration of this noble Part (1), and understanding its ŒEconomy, I fhall confider,

1. The Form of the Eye.

2. Its Situation in the Body.
3. Its Motions.

4. Its Size.

5. Its Number.

6. Its Parts.

7. The Guard and Security Nature hath provided for this fo ufeful a Part.

As this eminent Part hath not been pretermitted by Authors, that have made it their particular Defign and Business to speak of the Works of God; fo divers of the aforefaid Particulars have been touched upon by them. And therefore I fhall take in as little as poffible of what they have said, and as near

(1.) In Diffectionibus anatomicis vix aliquid admirabilibus, aut ar tificiofius, ftructurâ Oculi humani, meo quidem judicio, occurrit ; ut merito, per excellentiam, Creatoris appelletur Miraculum. Gul. Fabr. Hildan. Cent. 2. Obferv. 1.

So likewife that accurate Surveyor of the Eye, Dr. Briggs, whose Ophthalmography I have met with fince my penning this part of my Survey. His Character of this curious piece of God's Work is, Inter pracipuas corporis animati partes, que magni Conditoris noftri fapientiam oftendunt, nulla fanè reperitur, qua majori pompâ elucet quam ipfe Oculus, aut que elegantiori forma concinnaDeum enim alia partes vel minori Jatellitio ftipantur, vel in tantam venuftatem haud assurgunt; Ocelli peculiarem honorem decus à fupremo Numine afflatum referunt, & nunquam non ftupenda fue Potentia characteres repræfentant. Nulla fanè pars tam divino artificio & ordine, &c. Cap. 1. §. 1.

tur.

as

as I can, mention chiefly what they have omitted. And,

1. For the Form of the Eye, which is for the moft part Globous, or fomewhat of the sphæroidal form: Which is far the moft commodious optical Form, as being fitteft to contain the Humours within, and to receive the Images of Objects from without (2). Was it a Cube, or of any multangular Form, fome of its Parts would lie too far off (3), and fome too nigh those lenticular Humours, which by their Refractions caufe Vifion. But by means of the Form before-mentioned, the Humours of the Eye are commodioufly laid together, to perform

(2) It is a good Reason Frier Bacon affigns for the Sphæricity of the Eye: Nam fi effet plane figura, Species rei majoris oculo non pof. fet cadere perpendiculariter fuper eum.- -Cum ergo Oculus videt magna corpora, ut ferè quartam cœli uno afpectu, manifeftum eft, quod non poteft effe plana figura, nec alicujus nifi fphærice, quoniam Super Spheram parvam poffunt cadere perpendiculares infinite, que à magno corpore veniunt, & tendunt in centrum Sphere: Et fic magnum corpus poteft ab oculo parvo videri. For the Demonstration of of which he hath given us a Figure. Rog. Bacon, Perfpect. Diftin&t. 4. Cap. 4.

Dr. Briggs faith, Pars antica, (five Cornea,) convexior eft poftica: hâc enim ratione radii meliùs in paupillam detorquentur, & Oculi fundus ex alterâ parte in majorem (propter imagines rerum ibidem delineandos) expanditur. Ibid. §. 2.

(3) Suppofe the Eye had the Retina, or back part flat for the Reception of the Images, as in Fig. 1. ABA: it is manifeft, that if the Extremes of the Image AA were at a due focal distance, the middle B would be too nigh the Crystalline, and confequently appear confufed and dim; but all parts of the Retina lying at a due focal diftance from the Crystalline, as at ACA, therefore the Image painted thereon is feen diftinct and clear, Thus in a dark Room, with a Lens at a hole in the Window, (which Sturmius calls his Artificial Eye, in his Exercit. Acad. one of which he had made for his Pupils, to run any where on Wheels. In this Room, I fay, if the Paper that receives the Images be too nigh, or too far off the Lens, the Image will be confufed and dim, but in the Focus of the Glafs, diftinct, clear, and a pleasant Sight.

their Office of Refraction; and the Retina, and eyery other part of that little darkned Cell, is neatly adapted regularly to receive the Images from without, and to convey them accordingly to the common Sensory in the Brain.

To this we may add the aptitude of this Figure to the Motion of the Eye. For it is neceflary for the Eye to move this way, and that way, in order to adjuft it felf to the Objects it would view, fo by this Figure it is well prepared for fuch Motions, fo that it can with great Facility and Dexterity direct it felf as occafion requires.

And as the Figure, fo no lefs commodious is,

2. The Situation of the Eye, namely in the Head (4), the moft erect, eminent Part of the Body, near the most fenfible, vital Part, the Brain. By its Eminence in the Body, it is prepared to take

in the more (5) Objects. And by its Situatione

in

the Head, befides its Proximity to the Brain, it is in the moft convenient Place for Defence and Security. In the Hands, it might indeed (in Man) be rendered more eminent than the Head, and be turned about here and there at pleafure. But then it would be expofed to many Injuries in that active Part, and the Hands (6) rendered a less active and

(4) Blemmyis traduntur capita abeffe, Ore & Oculis pectori affixis. Plin. Nat. Hift. 1. 5. c. 8. Occidentem verfus quofdam fine cervice Oculos in humeris habentes. Ib. 1. 7. c. 2. From thefe, and other fuch like Fables, in this laft cited Chapter of Pliny, no doubt our famous Romancer Sir J. Mandevile, had his Romantick Stories, related in his Travels.

(5) See Book V. Chap. 2. Note 5.

(6) Galen deferves to be here confulted, who in his Book De Ufu Partium, from many confiderations of the Hand, fuch as what is here mentioned, as alfo its Structure, Site and Ufe, largely proves and reflects upon the Wisdom and Providence of the Contriver and Maker of that Part.

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