106 NATURAL THEOLOGY 



Now the spine was not only to furnish the main 

 trunk for the passage of the medullary substance 

 from the brain, but to give out, in the course of 

 its progress, small pipes therefrom, which, being 

 afterwards indefinitely subdivided, might, under 

 the name of nerves, distribute this exquisite supply 

 to every part of the body. The same spine was 

 also to serve another use not less wanted than the 

 preceding, viz., to aftbrd a fulcrum, stay, or basis 

 (or, more properly speaking, a series of these,) for 

 the insertion of the muscles which are spread over 

 the trunk of the body ; in which trunk there are 

 not, as in the limbs, cylindrical bones to which 

 they can be fastened : and likewise, which is a 

 similar use to furnish a support for the ends of 

 the ribs to rest upon. 



Bespeak of a workman a piece of mechanism 

 which shall comprise all these purposes, and let 

 him set about to contrive it ; let him try his skill 

 upon it ; let him feel the difficulty of accomplish- 

 ing the task, before he be told how the same thing 

 is effected in the animal frame. Nothing will en- 

 able him to judge so well of the wisdom which 

 has been employed ; nothing will dispose him to 

 think of it so truly. First, for the firmness, yet 

 flexibility, of the spine ; it is composed of a great 

 number of bones (in the human subject, of twenty- 

 four.) joined to one another, and compacted by 

 broad bases. The breadth of the bases upon 

 which the parts severally rest, and the closeness 

 of the junction, give to the chain its firmness and 



