THE MUSCLES. 101 



joint, which course allows to the sinew more liberty, and a 

 more commodious action than it would otherwise have been 

 i-apable of exerting.^ There is nothing, I believe, in a silk 

 or cotton mill, in the belts, or straps, or ropes, by which 

 motion is communicated from one part of the machine to 

 another, that is more artificial, or more evidently so, than 

 this 'perforation. 



111. The next circumstance which I shall mention un- 

 der this head of muscular arrangement is so decisive a mark 

 of intention, that it always appeared to me to supersede, in 

 some measure, the necessity of seeking for any other obser- 

 vation upon the subject ; and that circumstance is, the ten- 

 dons which pass from the leg to the foot, being bound down 

 by a ligament to the ankle. The foot is placed at a consid- 

 erable angle with the leg. It is manifest, therefore, that 

 flexible strings passing along the interior of the angle, if left 

 to themselves, would, when stretched, start from it. The 

 obvious preventive is to tie them down. And this is done 

 in fact. Across the instep, or rather just above it, the anat- 

 omist finds a strong ligament, under wliich the tendons pass 

 to the foot. The tOect of the ligament as a bandage can be 

 made evident to the tenses ; for if it be cut, the tendons start 

 up. The simplicity, yet the clearness of this contrivance, 

 its exact resemblance to establishet^ resources of art, place 

 it among the most indubitable manifestations of design with 

 which we are acquainted. 



There is also a further use to be made of the present ex- 

 ample, and that is, as it precisely contradicts the opinion 

 that the parts of animals may have been all formed by wdiat 

 is called apioetency, that is, endeavor perpetuated and im- 

 perceptibly working its eflect through an incalculable sericfi 

 of generations. We have here no endeavor, but the reverse 

 of it — a constant renitency and reluctance. The endeavor 

 is all the other uay. The pressure of the ligament con- 

 Btraiiis the tendons ; the tendons react upon the pressure of 

 * Ches. Anat., p. 119. 



