474 THE MIX' HAN UAL FUNCTIONS. 



makes a near approach to the Quadrumana ; yet 

 there exist many peculiarities of structure, which 

 entitle Man to be placed in a separate order, where 

 disclaiming any close alliance with inferior crea- 

 tures, he proudly stands alone, towering far above 

 them all. 



It is not, however, on a pre-eminence in any 

 single physical quality or function that this title 

 to superiority can be founded ; for in each of these 

 endowments man is excelled in turn by particular 

 races of the lower animals ; but the chief perfection 

 of his frame consists in its general adaptation to an 

 incomparably greater variety of objects, and an 

 infinitely more expanded sphere of action. As the 

 beauty of an edifice depends not on the elaborate 

 finishing of any one portion, but results from the 

 general suitableness of the whole to the purposes 

 for which it was constructed, so the excellence of 

 the human fabric is to be estimated by the exquisite 

 proportion and harmony subsisting among all its 

 parts, and pervading the whole system of its func- 

 tions. The design of its structure and economy 

 embraces widely different, and far higher aims 

 than those contemplated in the organization of any 

 of the inferior animals. Destined to possess an in- 

 tellectual, a social, and a moral existence, Man has 

 had every part of his organization modified with an 

 express relation to these great objects of his forma- 

 tion. This will best appear when we come to exa- 

 mine the organs which are subservient to the sen- 

 sitive and active faculties ; but even here, where 

 our views must, for the present, be limited to the 

 mechanical circumstances of his structure, the proofs 

 are sufiiciently numerous to warrant this general 

 conclusion. 



