meat of the fabric, and actuate its organs afresh, 

 It has been suggested, that "a pair of bellows 

 might be applied, better than a man's mouth. " But, 

 I. Bellows may not be at hand; 2. The lungs of 

 one man may safely bear as great a force, as the 

 lungs of another can exert, which by the bellows can- 

 not always be determined : 3. The warmth and mois. 

 tare of the breath may likewise be of use. 



But what is properly a natural death ? From the very 

 birth, every vessel in the human body grows stiffer 

 and stiffer bythe adhesioriof more and more earthy par- 

 ticles to its inner surface. Not only solid food sup- 

 plies it with these, but every fluidthat circulates through 

 it. Hereby more and more of the small vessels are 

 so filled up, as to be no longer pervious. In pro- 

 portion, the coats of the larger vessels grow; harder, 

 and their cavities narrower. Hence the dryness arid 

 Stiffness of all the parts, which are observable in old 

 age. By this means, more and more of the vessels 

 are destroyed, the finer fluids secerned in less quan- 

 tity, the concoctions weakened, and the reparation of 

 the decayed and injured parts prevented. So that 

 only the coarser juices continue to run slowly through 

 the larger vessels. Soon these also not only become 

 narrow, but stiff, bony, and imelastic,. till even the 

 great artery having lost its spring, can propel the 

 blood no longer. .And then follows death by -old age, 

 which is a purely natural death. But this is a very 

 rare case, it is seldom life is so long protracted, the 

 lamp of life being easily blown out, when it burns 

 with so feeble a ilame. So that the a^e oi man, sci- 

 doin exceeds three scoreyears and ten before dust re . 

 turns to dust. 



The term of life can be prolonged but a very little 

 time, by any art we can use. A few only have lived 

 beyond the ordinary duration ot human existence ; 

 such as Parre and Jenkins : yet these men used no 

 particular arts to prolong life; on the contrary, they 

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