OF ANIMAL BODIES, 109 



in their separate but their collective action ; in their mutual 

 subserviency and dependence : in their contributing togeth- 

 er to one effect, and one use. It has been said, that a man 

 cannot lift his hand to his head without finding enough to 

 convince him of the existence of a God. And it is well 

 said ; for he has only to reflect, familiar as this action is, 

 and simple as it seems to be, how many things are requisite 

 for the performing of it : how many things which we un- 

 derstand, to say nothing of many more, probably, which we 

 do not ; viz. first, a long, hard, strong cylinder, in order 

 to give to the arm its firmness and tension \ but which, 

 being rigid, and in its substance, inflexible, can only turn 

 upon joints ; secondly, therefore, joints for this purpose, one 

 at the shoulder to raise the arm, another at the elbow to 

 bend it ; these joints continually fed with a soft mucilage 

 to make the parts slip easily upon one another, and held 

 together by strong brakes to keep them in their position : 

 then, thirdly, strings and wires, i. e. muscles and tendons, 

 artificially inserted for the purpose of drawing the bones in 

 the directions in which the joints allow them to move. 

 Hitherto we seem to understand the mechanism pretty well ; 

 and understanding this, we possess enough for our conclu- 

 sion ; nevertheless, we have hitherto only a machine stand- 

 ing still, a dead organization, an apparatus. To put the 

 system in a state of activity (to set it at work) a further 

 provision is necessary, viz. a communication with the brain 

 by means of nerves. We know the existence of this com- 

 munication, because we can see the communicating threads, 

 and can trace them to the brain ; its necessity we also 

 know, because, if the thread be cut, if the communication 

 be intercepted, the muscle becomes paralytic ; but beyond 

 this we know little ; the organization being too minute and 

 subtile for our inspection. 



To what has been enumerated, as officiating in the single 

 act of a man's raising his hand to his head, must be added, 

 likewise, all that is necessary, and all that contributes, to the 

 growth, nourishment, and sustentation of the limb, the re- 

 pair of its waste, the preservation of its health ; such as the 

 circulation of the blood through every part of it ; its lym- 

 phatics, exhalants, absorbents ; its excretions and integu- 

 ments. All these share in the result ; join in the effect ; 

 and how all these, or any of them come together without a 

 designing, disposing intelligence, it is impossible to con- 

 eeive. 



