212 NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



rally thought to be ; which is the faculty of stand- 

 ing : and it is more remarkable in two-legged ani- 

 mals than in quadrupeds, and, most of all, as being 

 the tallest, and resting upon the smallest base, in 

 man. There is more, I think, in the matter than 

 we are aware of. The statue of a man, placed 

 loosely upon a pedestal, would not be secure of 

 standing half an hour. You are obliged to fix its 

 feet to the block by bolts and solder ; or the first 

 shake, the first gust of wind, is sure to throw it 

 down. Yet this statue shall express all the me- 

 chanical proportions of a living model. It is not 

 therefore the mere figure, or merely placing the 

 centre of gravity within the base, that is sufficient. 

 Either the law of gravitation is suspended in favour 

 of living substances, or something more is done for 

 them, in order to enable them to uphold their pos- 

 ture. There is no reason whatever to doubt, but 

 that their parts descend by gravitation in the 

 same manner as those of dead matter. The gift 

 therefore appears to me to consist in a faculty of 

 perpetually shifting the centre of gravity, by a set 

 of obscure, indeed, but of quick-balancing actions, 

 so as to keep the line of direction, which is a line 

 drawn from that centre to the ground, within its 

 prescribed limits. 



Of these actions it may be observed, first, that 

 they in part constitute what we call strength. 

 The dead body drops down. The mere adjust- 

 ment therefore of weight and pressure, which may 

 be the same the moment after death as the mo- 



