64? THE PHILOSOPFIY 



defign. Befide the organs of lenfation, of circulation, of di- 

 geftion, and of generation, without which moft animals could 

 neither fubfift nor multiply, there is, even among thofe parts 

 that chiefly contribute to variety in external form, fuch a 

 wonderful refemblance as necelTarily conveys the idea of an 

 original plan upon which the whole has been executed. For 

 example, when the parts conflituting a horfe are compared 

 with the human frame, inftead of being ftruck with their 

 difference, we are aftoniflied at their Angular and almoft 

 pe5-fe61: refemblance. Take the ilieleton of a man, fays Buf- 

 fon, incline the bones of the pelvis ; fliorten thofe of the 

 thighs, legs, and arms •, join the phalanges of the fingers and 

 toes ; lengthen the jaws by Hiortening the frontal bones ; and, 

 laftly, extend the fpine of the back. This fl^eleton would 

 no longer reprefent that of a man ; It would be the flcele- 

 ton of a horfe. For, by lengthening the back-bone and the 

 jaws, the number of the vertebrae, ribs, and teeth, would be 

 increafed ; and it is only by the number of thefe bones, and 

 by the prolongation, contra6lion, and junction of others, that 

 the fkeleton of a horfe differs from that of a man. The ribs, 

 w^hich are effential to the figure of animals, are found equally in 

 man, in quadrupeds, in birds, in fifhes, and even in the tur- 

 tle. The foot of the horfe, fo apparently different from the 

 hand of a man, is compofed of Ihnilar bones ; and, at the 

 extremity of each finger, we have the fame fmall bone, re- 

 fembhng the flioe of a horfe, which bounds the foot of that 

 animal. Raife the fkeletons of quadrupeds, from the ape-kind 

 to the moufe, upon their hind-legs, and compare them with 

 the flveleton of a man, the mind will be inflantly ftruck 

 with the uniformity of ftru^ture and defign obferved in the 

 formation of the whole group. This uniformity is fo con- 

 frant, and the gradations from one fpecies to another are fo 

 imperceptible, that to difcover the marks of their difcrimina- 

 tion requires the mofl minute attention. Even the bones of 

 the tail will make but a flight impreffioa on the obferver. 



