Review. 179 



« The organs of the senses are so many guards or 

 centinels placed at those avenues, where death is most 

 likely to enter. For illustration, let us suppose a 

 man cast ashore on some uninhabited island, and 

 roaming among unknown fruits and herbs, with a de- 

 sire to satisfy his hunger; he knows not whether 

 what he finds be wholesome, or poisonous. What 

 naturally follows ? The first examination, which the 

 vegetable undergoes, is that of the eye; if it incur its 

 displeasure, by looking disagreeable and forbidding, 

 even this may induce him to throw it away ; but if 

 it be agreeable to the sense of seeing, it is next sub- 

 mitted to the examination of the smell, which, not un- 

 frequently, discovers latent mischief, concealed from 

 the sight ; if not displeasing to the sight, nor disagree- 

 able to the smell, he readily submits it to the scrutiny 

 of the next guard, the tongue ; and if the taste too ap- 

 probate the choice, he no longer hesitates, but eating 

 it, conveys it into his stomach and intestines ; both of 

 which, like faithful body-guards, are endowed with a 

 nice perception, and prompt action, by which, if what 

 was eaten as wholesome food should, notwithstanding- 

 all the former examinations, still possess a latent qua- 

 lity, injurious to life, the stomach is stimulated to 

 reject it upward, or the intestines to expel it down- 

 wards. These internal perceptions, and consequent 

 exertions, are the first and most simple acts of na- 

 ture, being purely instinctive, constituting what phy- 

 sicians call the " Vis medicatrix natural or re-action 

 of the system*. 



* « Sec Mr. Mudgc's Essay on the VU fit*. 



