884 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



we have a passage opened from this 

 cavity to the lungs, for the admis- 

 sion of air, exclusively of every 

 other substance: we have muscles, 

 some in the larynx, and without 

 number in the tongue, for the pur- 

 pose of modulating that air in its 

 passage, with a variety, a compass, 

 and precision, 'of Avhich no other 

 musical instrument is capable. And, 

 lastly, which, in my opinion, crowns 

 the whole as a piece of machinery, 

 "vve have a specific contrivance for 

 dividing the penumatic part from the 

 mechanical, and for preventing one 

 set of actions interfering with tlie 

 other. Where various functions arc 

 united, the difficulty is to guard 

 against the inconvcniencies of a too 

 great complexity. In no apparatus 

 put together by art, and for tlie pur- 

 poses of art, do I know such multi- 

 farious uses so aptly combined as in 

 the natural organization of the hu- 

 man mouth: or where the structure 

 compared with the uses, is so simple. 

 The mouth, with all these intentions 

 to serve, is a single cavity; is one 

 machine; with its parts neither 

 crowded nor confused, and each 

 mncmbarra.^sed by the rest : each at 

 least at liberty, in a degree, sullici- 

 ent for the end to be attained. If 

 wi- cannot eat and sing at the same 

 moment, we can eat one moment, 

 and sing the next ; the respiration 

 proceeding freely all the while. 



There is one case, however, of 

 this double office, and that of the 

 (earliest) necessity, which the mouth 

 alone could not perform ; and that 

 is, carrying on together the two ac- 

 tions of sucking and breathing. 

 Another route, therefore, is open- 

 ed for the air, namely, through the 

 nose, which lets the breath pass 

 backward and forward, whilst the 

 Kps, itt ths act of- supking, are neces- 



sarily shut close upon the body, 

 from which the nutriment is drawn. 

 This is a circumstance which always 

 appeared to me worthy of notice. 

 The nose would have been neces- 

 sary, although it had not been the 

 organ of smelling. The making it 

 the seat of a sense, was superadding 

 a new use to a part already wanted ; 

 was taking a wise advantage of an 

 antecedent and a constitutional ne- 

 ccssity. 



Of tlie S'Kfcesaioti of Plants and Ant' 

 nulls-, trom the same. 



The generation of the animal no 

 more accounts for the contrivance of 

 the eye or the ear, than, uponasup- 

 jiosition stated in a preceding chap- 

 ter, the production of a watch by 

 the motion and mechanism of a 

 former watch, would account for 

 the skill and intention evidenced in 

 the watch so produced; than it 

 would account for the disposition of 

 the wheeJs, the catching ,of their 

 teeth, the relation of the several 

 parts of the works to one another, 

 and to their common end, for the 

 suitableness of their forms and 

 places to their offices for their con- 

 nection, their operation, and the 

 useful result of that operation. I 

 do insist most strenuously upon the 

 correftncss of this comparison; that 

 it holds as to every other mode of 

 specific propagation ; and tliat what- 

 ever was true of the watch, under 

 the hypothesis above mentioned, is 

 true of plants and animals. 



1. To begin with the fru6tifica. 

 tion of plants. Can it be doubted 

 but that the seed contains a particu- 

 lar organization ? Whether a la- 

 tent plantule with the means of tem- 

 porary nutrition, or whatever else it 



be 



* 



