NATURAL THEOLOGY. 25 



much more than others, of the wisdom of the human 

 frame. 



T. I could detain you much longer, however, up- 

 on this wonderful workmanship. 



B. No particular can be uninteresting, where the 

 band of a Divine Architect is seen. 



T. Do you know the use of those iron pieces, in 

 the shape of the letter S, you will often see on the 

 outside of brick buildings ? 



B. I presume they are connected with the beams 

 upon the inside, and serve to keep the walls from 

 spreading apart. 



T. And you must be sensible, as the dome of the 

 head is composed of several bones, in case of a vio- 

 lent pressure or blow upon the top, some security 

 might be useful for the same purpose. It is said, that 

 when a man falls, so as to strike the crown of his 

 head upon the ground, if the skull yields, it yields in 

 the temples, or it spreads out at the bottom of the 

 dome ; just where any other dome would spur out, 

 should the roof be too heavy for the support. Now, 

 is there any architecture of the head, that manifests a 

 knowledge of this danger ? 



A. Anatomists describe a remarkable structure 

 which evidently contemplated it : wonderful as it 

 may seem, there is a bone, called the sphenoid bone_, 

 which runs across the bottom of the skull, and turns 

 up with a plate at each extremity, so as to overlap 

 the walls upon the outside. The plate, (see b, in 

 Fig. 1.), is thin in the head, but stronger, compara- 

 c 



