larly Birds (35), fome Part of thofe Tunicles have the Nature, and Hardness of Bone, or Horn. utsla

But for Creatures, whofe Eyes, like the reft of their Body, are tender, and without the Guard of Bones; there Nature hath provided for this neceffary, and tender Senfe,, a wonderful kind of Guard, by endowing the Creature with a Faculty of withdrawing its Eyes into its Head (36), and lodging them in the fame Safety with the Body.

Thus have I furvey'd this firft Senfe of Animals, I may fay in a curfory, not accurate, ftrict manner, confidering the prodigious Workmanship thereof; but fo, as abundantly to demonftrate it to be the Contrivance, the Work of no lefs a Being than the infinite Wife, Potent, and Indulgent Creator (37). For none lefs could compofe fo admirable an Organ, fo adapt all its Parts, fo adjuft it to all Occafions, fo nicely provide for every Ufe, and for every Emergency: In a Word, none lefs than GOD, could I fay, thus contrive, order, and provide an

(35) Although the Hardness and Firmness of the Adnata, or Sclerotica in Birds, is a good Guard to their Eyes, yet I do not think it is made thus, fo much for a Defence, as to minister to the lengthning and fhortening the Eye, mentioned before in Note

27

به مجد

(36) Cochleis oculorum vicem Cornicula bina pratentu implent. Plin. Nat. Hift. 1. 11. c. 37. . See more of the Eyes of Shailes before in Note 10: and in Note 11, I said that I fufpected Moles alfo might thruft out, or withdraw their Eyes more or less within the Hair or Skin.

(37) The diligent Sturmius was fully perfwaded there could not be any fpeculative Atheism in any one that fhould well furvey the Eye. Nobis, faith he, fuit perfuafiffimum, Atheismum quem vocant fpeculativum, l. e. obfirmatam de Deitate in Univerfo nullâ perfuafionem, habere locum aut inveniri non poffe in eo homine, qui vel unius corporis organici, & Speciatim Oculi fabricam attento animo afpexerit.Sturm. Exerc. Acad. 9. De Vif. Organ. & Rat. in Epilogo.

Organ,

Organ, as magnificent and curious, as the Senfe is
ufeful. A Senfe without which, as all the Animal
World would be in perpetual Darknefs, fo it would
labour under perpetual Inconveniencies, be expofed
to perpetual Harms, and fuffer perpetual Wants and
Diftreffes. But now by this admirable Senfe, the
great GOD who hath placed us in this world, hath
as well provided for our comfortable Refidence in
it; enabled us to fee, and chufe wholfome, yea de-
licate Food, to provide our felves ufeful, yea gau.
dy Cloathing, and commodious places of Habita-
tion and Retreat. We can now dispatch our Affairs.
with Alacrity and Pleafure, go here and there as
our Occafions call us. We can, if need be, ranfack
the whole Globe, penetrate into the Bowels of the
Earth, defcend to the bottom of the Deep, travel
to the fartheft Regions of this World, to acquire
-Wealth, to encreafe our Knowledge, or even only
to please our Eye and Fancy. We can now look
about us, difcern and thun the Precipices, and
Dangers, which every where enclofe us, and would
deftroy us. And thofe glorious Objects which fill
the Heavens and the Earth, those admirable Works
of God which every where furround us, and which
would be as nothing to us, without being feen, do
by means of this noble Sense present their Glories to
us (38), and fill us with Admiration and Pleasure.
But I need not expatiate in the Usefulness and
Praifes

(38) The Glorious Landskips, and other Objects that prefent themselves to the Eye, are manifeftly painted on the Retina, and that not erect, but inverted as the Laws of Opticks require; and is manifeft to the Eye, from Monfieur Cartes's Experiment, of laying bare the Vitreous Humour on the back part of the Eye, and clapping over it a bit of white Paper, or the Skin of an Egg; and then placing the fore-part of the Eye to the Hole of the Window of a darkned Room. By which means, we have a pretty Landskip of the Objects abroad invertedly painted on

the

1

Praises of this Senfe, which we receive the Benefit of every Moment, and the want, or any defect of which, we, lament among our greateft Misfor

tunes.

Leaving then this Senfe, I fhall proceed to the other Four, but more briefly treat of them, by reafon we have fo ample a Sample of the Divine Art in the laft, and may prefume that the fame is exerted in all as well as one. For a demonftration of which, let us in the next place carry our Scrutiny to the Senfe of Hearing,

the Paper, on the back of the

79.2W 9017

the question is

how in this cafe the Eye comedenste erect?. Mon

But

fieur Cartes's answer is, Notitia illius ex nulla imagine pender, nec ex ulla actione ab objectis veniente, fed ex folo fuu exiguarum partium cerebri, è quibus Nervi expullulant.E. g. cogitandum in aculo- -fitum capillamenti nervi optici -respondere ad alium quendam partis cerebri qui facit ut Anima fingula loca cognofcat, que jacent in rectâ, aut quafi recta lineâ ; ut ita mirari non debeamus corpora in naturali fitu videri, quamvis imago in oculo delineata contrarium habeat. Dioptr. c. 6. But our most ingenious Mr. Molyneux anfwereth thus, The Eye is only the Organ or Inftru ment, 'tis the Sout that fees by means of the Eye. To enquire then how the Soul perceives the Object erect, by an inverted Image, is to enquire into the Soul's Faculties.-- But erect and inverted are only Terms of Relation to up and down, or farther from, or nigher to the Center of the Earth, in parts of the fame thing. the Eye, or vifive Faculty takes no notice of the internal Poffure of its own Parts, but ufeth them as an Inftrument only, contrived by Nature for the exexcife of such a Faculty. Let us imagine, that the Eye [on its lower Part] receives an Impulfe [by a Ray from the upper part of the Object] must not the vifive Faculty be neceffarily directed hereby to confider this Stroke, as coming from the top rather than the bottom of the Object] and confequently be directed to conclude it the Reprefentation of the Top? Hereof we may be fatisfied, by Suppofing a Man ftanding on his Head. For here, though the upper Parts of Objects are Painted on the upper Parts of the Eye, yet the Objects are judged to be erect. What is faid of Erect and Reverse, may be understood of Sinifter and Dexter. Molyneux's Dioptr. Nov. Part 1. Prop. 28.

1

CHA P. III.

Of the Senfe of Hearing.

Oncerning the Senfe of Hearing, I fhall take notice of two Things; the Organ, the Ear; and its Object, Sound.

1. For the Organ, the Ear. Ifhall pass by its convenient Number of being double, which (as in the last Senfe) serves for the commodious Hearing every way round us; as alfo a wife Provifion for the utter Lofs, or Injury (1) of one of the Ears. But I fhall a little infift upon its Situation, and its admirable Fabrick and Parts.

I. It

(1) I prefume it will not be ungrateful to take notice here of the admirable, as well as ufeful Sagacity of fome deaf Perfons, that have learnt to fupply their want of Hearing by understanding what is faid, by the Motion of the Lips. My very ingenious Friend Mr. Waller, R. S. Secr. gives this account, There live now and have from their Birth in our Town, a Man, and his Sifter, each about fifty Years Old, neither of which have the leaft Senfe of Hearing,both of thefe know, by the Motion of the Lips only, whatever is faid to them, and will answer pertinently to the Question proposed to them. The Mother told me they could hear very well, and speak when they were Children, but both loft that Senfe afterwards, which makes them retain their Speech though that, to Perfons not used to them, is a little uncouth and odd, but intelligible enough. Phil. Tranf. Nr. 312.

yet

Such another Inftance is that of Mr. Goddy, Minister of St. Gervais in Geneva, his Daughter. She is now about Sixteen Years old. Her Nurfe had an extraordinary Thickness of Hearing at a Year old, the Child fpake all those little Words that Children begin to speak at that Age.•At two Years old they perceived fhe had lost her Hearing, and was fo Deaf, that ever fince, though she hears great Noifes," yet fhe hears nothing that one can speak to her. But by obferving the Motions of the Mouth and Lips of others, she hath acquired fo many Words, that out of these the hath formed a fort of Fargon, in which she can hold Conversation whole Days with those, that can

Speak

1. It is fituated in the moft convenient Part of the Body, (like as I faid the Eye is,) in a part near the common Sensory in the Brain, to give the more speedy Information; in a Part where it can be beft guarded, and where it is moft free from Annoyances and Harms it felf, and where it gives the leaft Annoyance, and Hindrance to the Exercifes of any other Part; in a part appropriated to the peculiar Ufe of the principal Senfes; in the moft lofty, eminent Part of the Body; where it can perceive the most Objects, and receive the greatest Information: And lastly, in a Part in the Neighbourhood of its Sifter Senfe the Eye; with whom it hath peculiar and admirable Communication by its Nerves, as I intend to fhew in its proper Place. In refpećt then of its Situation and Place in the Body, this Senfe is well defigned and contrived, and may fo far be accounted the Work of fome admirable Artist. But,

2. If we furvey its Fabrick and Parts, it will appear to be an admirable Piece of the Divine Wif dom, Art, and Power. For the Manifeftation of which, let us distinctly furvey the outward, and the inward Part of its curious Organ.

I. For the outward Ear. If we obferve its Stru &ture in all kinds of Animals, it muft needs be ac

Speak her own Language. I could understand some of her Words, but could not comprehend a Period, for it feemed to be but a confused Noife. She knows nothing that is said to her, unless she feeth the Motion of their Mouths that speak to her, so that in the Night, when it is neceffary to speak to her, they muft light a Candle. Only one thing appeared the frangest part of the whole Narration: She hath a Sifter, with whom he hath practifed her Language more than with any other And in the Night by laying her Hand on her Sifter's Mouth, She can perceive by that what she faith, and fo can discourse with her in the Night. Bishop Barnet's Let. 4. p. 248.