AN ATOM!. 



circumspection and delicacy ; and where 

 we must not, upon any account, attempt 

 it This informs the "head, gives dexte- 

 rity to the hand, and familiarizes the heart 

 with a sort of necessary inhumanity, the 

 use of cutting instruments upon our fel- 

 low-creatures. 



Were it possible to doubt of the advan- 

 tages which arise in surgery, from a know- 

 ledge of anatomy, we might have ample 

 conviction, by comparing 1 the present 

 practice with that of the ancients: and 

 upon tracing the improvements which 

 havebeenmade inlater times, they would 

 be found, generally, to have sprung from 

 a more accurate knowledge of the parts 

 concerned. In the hands of a good anato- 

 mist, surgery is a salutary, a divine art ; 

 but when practised by men who know 

 not the structure of the human body, it 

 often becomes barbarous and criminal. 



The comparison of a physician to a ge- 

 neral is both rational and instructive. The 

 human body, under a disease, is the coun- 

 try which labours under a civil war or an 

 invasion. The physician is, or should be, 

 the dictator or general, who is to take the 

 command, and to direct all the necessary 

 operations. To do his duty with full ad- 

 vantage, a general, besides other acquire- 

 ments, useful in his profession, must make 

 himself master of the anatomy and physi- 

 ology, as we may call it, of the country. 

 He may be said to be master of the ana- 

 tomy of the country, when he knows the 

 figure, dimension, situation, and connec- 

 tion, of all the principal constituent parts; 

 such as the lakes, rivers, marshes, moun- 

 tains, precipices, plains, woods, roads, 

 passes, fords, towns, fortifications, 8cc. By 

 the physiology of the country, which he 

 ought likewise to understand, is meant 

 all the variety of active influence which 

 is produced by the inhabitants. If the 

 general be well instructed in all these 

 points, he will find a hundred occasions 

 of drawing advantages from them ; and 

 without such knowledge, he will be for- 

 ever exposed to some fatal blunder. 



GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE COMPOSITION 

 OF THE BODY. 



After having considered the rise and 

 progress of anatomy ; the various disco- 

 veries that have been made in it from 

 time to time ; the great number of dili- 

 gent observers who have applied them- 

 selves to this art ; and the importance of 

 the study, not only for the prevention and 

 cure of diseases, but in furnishing the 

 liveliest proofs of divine wisdom ; the 

 following questions seem naturally to 

 arise. For what purpose is there such a 



variety of parts in the human body? Why 

 such a complication of nice and tendep 

 machinery? Why was there not rather a 

 more simple, less delicate, and less ex- 

 pensive frame? 



That beginners in the study of anatomy 

 may acquire a satisfactory, general, idea 

 of these subjects, we shall furnish them 

 with clear answers to all such questions. 

 Let us then, in our imagination, make a 

 man : in other words, let us suppose that 

 the mind, or immaterial part, is to be pla- 

 ced in a corporeal fabric, to hold a corres- 

 pondence with other material beings, by 

 the intervention of the body ; and then 

 consider, a prieri, what will be wanted for 

 her accommodation. In this inquiry we 

 shall plainly see the necessity, or advan- 

 tage, and therefore the final cause, of 

 most of the parts, which we actually find 

 in the human body. And if we consider, 

 that, in oi-der to answer some of the requi- 

 sites, human art and invention would be 

 very insufficient, we need not be surpris- 

 ed if we meet with some parts of the body, 

 the use of which we cannot yetmake out; 

 and with some operations or functions 

 which we cannot explain. We can see 

 and comprehend that the whole bears the 

 strongest marks of excelling wisdom and 

 ingenuity ; but the imperfect senses and 

 capacity of man cannot pretend to reach 

 every part of a machine, which nothingless 

 than the intelligence and power of the Su- 

 preme Being could contrive and execute. 



To proceed then ; in the first place, the 

 mind, the thinking immaterial agent, 

 must be provided with a place of imme- 

 diate residence, which shall have all the 

 requisites for the union of spirit and body; 

 accordingly, she is provided with the 

 brain, where she dwells as governor and 

 superintendant of the whole fabric. 



In the second place, as she is to hold a 

 correspondence with all the material be- 

 ings which surround her, she mtistbe sup- 

 plied with organs fitted to receive the dif- 

 ferent kinds of impressions that they will 

 make. In fact, therefore, we see that she 

 is provided with the organs of sense, as 

 we call them ; the eye is adapted to light, 

 the ear to sound, the nose to smell, the 

 mouth to taste, and the skin to touch. 



In the third place, she must be provid- 

 ed with organs of communication be- 

 tween herself, in the brain, and those or- 

 gans of sense, to give her information of all 

 the impressions that are made upon them: 

 and she must have organs between her- 

 self, in the brain, and every other part of 

 the body, fitted to convey her commands 

 and influence over the whole. For these 

 purposes the nerves are actually given. 



