24 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. 



or drum of the ear, which consists of a dry, thin, 

 and round membrane, stretched upon a bony ring, 

 so as actually to resemble the instrument we call 

 a drum. Under this membrane is a small nerve, 

 or string, stretched tight, for the purpose of 

 stretching or relaxing the drum, and increasing 

 or diminishing its vibrations, so as to render it 

 capable of reflecting every possible tone. Be 

 hind it is a cavity, hewn out of the temporal bone, 

 the hardest one in the body, in which there si-ems 

 to be an echo, by which the sound is reflected 

 with the utmost precision. This cavity contains 

 four very small, but remarkable bones, denomi 

 nated the hammer, the anvil, the orbicular bone, 

 and the stirrup, all connected together, and ne 

 cessary for contributing to the extension and vi 

 bration of the tympanum. In this cavity are also 

 formed various windings or cavities filled with 

 air ; and, in order that the air may be renewed, 

 there is an opening which communicates with 

 the back part of the mouth, called the Eustachian 

 tube. 



The next apparatus belonging to this curious 

 machine, is the labyrinth, which is composed 

 of three parts, the vestibule or porch, three semi 

 circular canals, and the cochlea. This last is a 

 canal, which takes a spiral course, like the shell 

 of a snail, and is divided by a very thin lamina, 

 or septum of cords, which keeps decreasing 

 from the base to the top. The air acting on 

 either side of these diminutive cords, produces 

 a motion, nearly in the same manner as the 

 sound of one musical instrument excites a tre 

 mulous motion in the cords of another. All 

 these tubes, and winding canals, may be consi 

 dered as so many sounding galleries, for aug 

 menting the smallest tremours, and conveying 

 their impressions to the auditory nerves, which 

 conduct them to the brain. Besides the seve 

 ral parts now mentioned, a number of arteries, 

 veins, lymphatics, glands, and a variety of other 

 contrivances, which the human mind can neither 

 trace nor comprehend, are connected with the 

 mechanism of this admirable organ. 



All this curious and complicated apparatus, 

 however, would have been of no avail lor the 

 purpose of hearing, had not the atmosphere been 

 formed, and its particles endowed with a tremu 

 lous motion. But, this medium being prepared, 

 a sounding body communicates an undulatory 

 motion to the air, as a stone thrown into a pond 

 produces circular waves in the water ; the air, 

 thus put in motion, shakes the drum of the ear; 

 the tremours, thus excited, produce vibrations 

 in the air within the drum ; this air shakes the 

 handle of the hammer ; the hammer strikes the 

 anvil, with which it. is articulated ; the anvil 

 transmits the motion to the stirrup, to which 

 its longer leg is fastened ; the stirrup transmits 

 the motion it has received to the nerves ; and 

 the nerves, vibrating like the strings of a violin, 



or lyre, and the motion being still further aug 

 mented in the labyrinth, the soul, in a man 

 ner altogether incomprehensible to us, receives 

 an impression proportioned to the weakness or 

 intensity of the vibration produced by the sound 

 ing body. Such is the exquisite and complicated 

 machinery which required to be constructed, 

 and preserved in action every moment, before 

 we could enjoy the benefits of sound, and the 

 pleasures of articulate conversation. 



Again, before we could enjoy the pleasures of 

 feeling, an extensive system of organization re 

 quired to be arranged. A system of nerves, 

 originating in the brain and spinal marrow, and 

 distributed, in numberless minute ramifications, 

 through the heart, lungs, bowels, blood-vessels, 

 hands, feet, and every other part of the body, 

 was requisite to be interwoven through the 

 whole constitution of the animal frame, before 

 this sense, which is the foundation of all the other 

 sensations, and the source of so many pleasures, 

 could be produced. Wherever there are nerves, 

 there are also sensations ; and wherever any 

 particular part of the body requires to exert a 

 peculiar feeling, there the nerves are arranged 

 and distributed in a peculiar manner, to produce 

 the intended effect. And how nicely is every 

 thing arranged and attempered, in this respect, 

 to contribute to our comfort! If the points of 

 the fingers require to be endowed with a more 

 delicate sensation than several other parts, they 

 are furnished with a corresponding number of 

 nervous ramifications; if the heel require to be 

 more callous, the nerves are more sparingly dis 

 tributed. If feelings were equally distributed 

 over the whole body, and as acutely sensible as in 

 the membranes of the eye, our very clothes would 

 become galling and insupportable, and we should 

 be exposed to continual pain ; and if every part 

 were as insensible as the callus of the heel, 

 the body would be benumbed, the pleasures we 

 derive from this sense would be destroyed, and 

 the other organs of sensation could not perform 

 their functions in the manner in which they now 

 operate. So that in this, as well as in all the 

 other sensitive organs, infinite wisdom is admi 

 rably displayed in executing the designs of 

 benevolence. 



In order that, we intent derive enjoyment from 

 the various aliments and delicious fruits which 

 the earth produces, a peculiar organization, dif 

 ferent from all the other senses, was requisite to 

 be devised. Before we could relish the peculiar 

 flavour of the pear, the apple, the peach, the 

 plumb, or the grape, the tongue, the principal 

 organ of taste, required to be formed, and its 

 surface covered with an infinite number of ner 

 vous papillae, curiously divaricated over its sur 

 face, to receive and convey to the soul the 

 impressions of every flavour. These nerves 

 required to be guarded with a firm arid proper 



