BOOK III. CHAP. I. 367 



ties. 8tb, One may know the dejiination, and general power, of man, 

 in the fame manner as we know the peculiar deftinatlon of the eye, 

 arm, or leg ; the proportion of thefe inftrtwients, with certain cffeSlSy 

 points out to us the intention oj the Creator. 9th, One might be apt 

 to think, that his ftomach confounds him with the other animals, fince 

 they all have a ftomach, and digeft; as well as he does ; yet his verv 

 ftomach ferves to evidence his general dominion. The cormorant, the 

 diver, and the hern, have a ftomach fitted to digeft the flefli of a fifli. 

 They are never feen obferving, as the dove does, the departure of the 

 ploughman, who has been juft fovvlug his ground. The lion and 

 tiger have a ftomach fit to digeft the flefli of terrcftrial animals ; you 

 would in vain tie them up to the rack or manger, and reduce them to 

 a few oats, or the grafs of your meadows. The horfe overlooks the 

 hen, that turns up the ftraw he treads upon. The beafts of burthen,, 

 who exhauft their itrength in our fervice, are no lefs valuable on ac- 

 count of the cheapnefs of their food ; and in vain fhould we attempt 

 to reward their labour, by offering them meats of the moft exquifitc 

 tafte, from which they would turn away with loathing. Thele ani- 

 mals are then, from the very dilpofition of their ftomach, tied dov/n 

 to a certain kind of food j but man alone is unreftraiued ; and, as he 

 has on his tongue the difi.ernment ot all the favours that are diftri- 

 buted among other animals, he has likewife ia his ftomach the faculty 

 of digefting whatever is wholefome and nourilhing. God has given- 

 him hands, that he might lay hold of, and falhion, whatever can nou- 

 rifli» cure, and defend him j and a ftom.ich capable of digefting the 

 foods tried by his palate. But the ftomach of man is not the prin- 

 cipal part of his body ; that lecms by its runfticns to have a nearer 

 affinity with that of anim ils, at the lame time that it has a degree of 

 excellence that raijes it much above thc.'i. It is the fame with his- 

 other organs. 10th, The lips are the ramparts of the gums ; the lat- 

 ter are the fence of the tongue, and of the roof of the mouth. They 

 are a couple of true bulwirks, not only form:ng an incloilire round 

 the tongue, hut alfo ferving as a balis to the two rows of teeth. 

 Thefe inflruments,. chiefly appointed to grind and difTolve, are a bony, 

 fubftance, perfectly hard, and covered with enamel, which embellifhes- 

 the mouth by its whitenefs, and preferves, by its firmnefs, thofe 

 precioui tools from the friction of mafly foods, and the infinuation- 

 3. of. 



