NATURAL THEOLOGY. 253 



call the pax-wax. No person can carve the upper 

 end of a crop of beef without driving his knife 

 against it. It is a tough, strong, tendinous sub- 

 stance, braced from the head to the middle of the 

 back; its office is to assist in supporting the 

 weight of the head. It is a mechanical provision, 

 of which this is the undisputed use; and it is 

 sufficient, and not more than sufficient for the 

 purpose which it has to execute. The head of an 

 ox or a horse is a heavy weight, acting at the end 

 of a long lever (consequently with a great pur- 

 chase,) and in a direction nearly perpendicular to 

 the joints of the supporting neck. From such a 

 force, so advantageously applied, the bones of the 

 neck w^ould be in constant danger of dislocation, 

 if they were not fortified by this strong tape. No 

 such organ is found in the human subject, be- 

 cause, from the erect position of the head (the 

 pressure of it acting nearly in the direction of the 

 spine,) the junction of the vertebrae appears to be 

 sufficiently secure without it. This cautionary ex- 

 pedient, therefore, is limited to quadrupeds ; the 

 care of the Creator is seen where it is wanted.^^ 



^^ The author is not quite correct here, inasmuch as elastic 

 ligaments are Uberally supplied in the human spine : a range of 

 peculiar ligaments, the " ligamenta subflava," run along the course 

 of the spine, and are highly elastic. The ligamentum nuchce is 

 that ligament which runs from the prominence of the spine be- 

 tween the shoulders to the back of the head ; and the student who 

 hangs his head over his book enjoys the advantage of this elastic 

 su pport : so that it is strictly a matter comparative ; we may trace 

 it with increasing strength from the ligament that sustains a man's 



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