116 OF THE ANIxMAL STRUCTURE 



together with it. Now the mesentery, having a considera- 

 ble dimension in breadth, being in its substance withal, 

 both thick and suety, is capable of a close and safe folding, 

 in comparison of what the intestinal tube would admit of, 

 if it had remained loose. The mesentery likewise not only 

 keeps the intestinal canal in its proper place and position 

 under all the turns and windings of its course, but sustains 

 the numberless small vessels, the arteries, the veins, the 

 lympheducts, and, above all, the lacteals, which lead from 

 or to almost every point of its coats and cavity. This 

 membrane, which appears to be the great support and se- 

 curity of the alimentary apparatus, is itself strongly tied to 

 the first three vertebrae of the loins.* 



III. A third general property of animal forms is beauty, 

 I do not mean relative beauty, or that of one individual 

 above another of the same species, or of one species com- 

 pared with another species ; but I mean generally, the pro- 

 vision which is made in the body of almost every animal,, 

 to adapt its appearance to the perception of the animals 

 with which it converses. In our own species, for example^ 

 only consider what the parts and materials are, of which 

 the fairest body is composed ; and no further observation 

 will be necessary to show, how well these things are wrap- 

 ped up so as to form a mass, which shall be capable of 

 symmetry in its proportion, and of beauty in its aspect ; how 

 the bones are covered, the bowels concealed, the rough- 

 nesses of the muscles smoothed and softened ; and how 

 over the whole is drawn an integument w^hich converts the 

 disgusting materials of a dissecting-room into an object of 

 attraction to the sight, or one, upon which it rests, at least, 

 with ease and satisfaction. Much of this effect is to be at- 

 tributed to the intervention of the cellular or adipose mem- 

 brane, which lies immediately under the skin ; is a kind 

 of lining to it; is moist, soft, slippery, and compressible; 

 every where filling up the interstices of the muscles, and 

 forming thereby their roundness and flowing line, as well 

 as the evenness and polish of the whole surface. 



All which seems to be a strong indication of design, and 

 of a design studiously directed to this purpose. And it be- 

 ing once allowed, that such a purpose existed with respect 

 to any of the productions of nature, we may refer, with a 

 considerable degree of probability, other particulars to the 

 same intention ; such as the tints of flowers, the plumage 



* Keill's Anat. p. 45. 



