69 



1718, in Ireland, in the parish of Hillsborough. His 

 mother could not be delivered till th'e surgeon totally 

 separated the arms of the child from the body. Ne- 

 vertheless he lived, and in the room of his arms, had 

 little protuberances that appeared as stumps. He 

 grew to be six feet high, slender, and active. u He 

 sits a saddle, says an eye-witness, upright and firm, 

 will ride 40 miles a day to a fair, and deals in buying 

 and selling horses,which he dresses and curries as well 

 as any groom can do, holding the curry-comb between 

 his chin and shoulders. The same way he holds the 

 goad in driving the plow, and the spade when he 

 digs. He throws a stone from the top of his foot 

 with greater force than most men can with their 

 hand, and seldom fails to hit his mark. He mounts 

 a horse without any assistance, and shuffling the bri- 

 dle over his head, till he gets it on his shoulders, guid- 

 ing his horse with as little fear, and as much skill as 

 any man." 



49. The Thigh consists of one bone, the largest and 

 longest in the whole body. It is a little crooked, 

 bending forward before, that there may be more room 

 for the muscles. The bones of the leg are two, distant 

 from each other in the middle, but joined together at 

 each end. They are nearly of the same length, but 

 the inner is much thicker than the outer. The bones 

 of the foot are twelve, beside fourteen in the toes' 

 which like those in the hands, are most aptly con- 

 nected by ligaments, and fitted with muscles of various 

 kinds, serving for equally various motions. 



50. Thus far we have spoken concerning the solid 

 parts of the body. Among the fluid are usually reck, 

 oned the animal spirits, supposed to be secreted in, 

 the brain, to flow through the nerves, and to be the in. 

 strumcnts of sense and motion. 



" But are the uerves in general hollow canals, 

 which contain a circulating tiuid ? Or are they solid 

 threads, which being highly elastic, vibrate variously 



