NATURAL THEOLOGY. 17 



of such exquisite tenderness, that it would be injured 

 by the least pressure of surrounding parts. The skill 

 of the architect is here displayed, in causing the 

 brain to occupy a separate apartment. 



B. How striking when it is mentioned ! and yet 

 I doubt whether one person in a million has ever 

 thought of the circumstance. 



T. Perhaps not ; and yet, I presume, nothing is 

 more true, than, that if the brain had been placed in 

 the chest, or in any such situation as is assigned to 

 the other vital organs, the pressure upon this tender 

 substance would have been instantly fatal. Do you 

 think of any evidence of design in the form of the 

 head? 



A. Round vessels are the least liable to be bro- 

 ken, or pressed in. Thus a thin watch-glass, be- 

 cause it is rounded up in the middle, will bear a very 

 bard push. A full cask may fall with impunity, 

 where a square box would be dashed to pieces. A 

 very thin, globular flask or glass, corked and sent 

 down many fathoms into the sea, will resist the pres- 

 sure of water around it. where a square bottle, with 

 sides of almost any thickness, would be crushed to 

 atoms. The common egg-shell is another example 

 of the same class. What hard blows of the spoon or 

 knife are often required to penetrate this wonderful 

 defence, provided for the dormant life, or living prin- 

 ciple, contained within the egg ! * The arches of 

 bridges, the roofs of houses, the helmets of soldiers, 



* Arnott 



