ANATOMY. 



for preparing them in a variety of differ- 

 ent ways for the mouth. These supplies, 

 which we call food, must be considerably 

 changed; they must be converted into 

 hlood : therefore she is provided with 

 teeth for cutting and bruising the food, 

 and with a stomach for melting it down ; 

 in short, with all the organs subservient to 

 digestion. The finer parts of the aliments 

 only can be useful in the constitution : 

 these must be taken up, and conveyed in- 

 to the blood, and tne dregs must be thrown 

 off. With this view the intestinal canal is 

 constructed. It separates the nutritious 

 part, which we call chyle, to be conveyed 

 into the blood by the system of absorbent 

 vessels ; and the feces pass downwards, 

 to be conducted out of the body. 



Now we have got our animal, not only 

 furnished with what is wanted for its im- 

 mediate existence, but also with the pow- 

 er of spinning out that existence to an in- 

 definite length of time. But its duration, 

 we may presume,must necessarily be limi- 

 ted : for as it is nourished, grows, and is 

 raised up to its full strength and perfec- 

 tion, so it must, in time, in common with 

 all material things, begin to decay, and 

 then hurry on to final ruin. Hence we 

 see the necessity of a scheme for renova- 

 tion. Accordingly, a wise Providence, to 

 perpetuate, as well as to preserve his 

 work, besides giving a strong appetite for 

 life and self-preservation, has made ani- 

 mals male and female, and given them 

 such organs and pasjiions as will secure 

 the propagation of the species to the end 

 of the world. 



Thus we see, that by the very imper- 

 fect survey which human reason is able 

 to take of this subject, the animal man 

 must necessarily be complex in his cor- 

 poreal system, and in its operations. He 

 must have one great and general system, 

 the vascular,branching through the whole 

 for circulation: another, the nervous, with 

 its appendages, the organs of sense, for 

 every kind of feeling : and a third, for the 

 union and connection of all those parts. 



Besides these primary and general sys- 

 tems, he requires others, which may be 

 more local or confined : one for strength, 

 support, and protection ; the bony corn- 

 pages : another for the requisite motions 

 of the parts among themselves, as well as 

 for moving from place to place ; the mus- 

 cular part of the body : another to pre- 

 pare nourishment for the daily, recruit of 

 the body ; the digestive organs : and one 

 for propagating the species ; the organs 

 of generation. 



In taking this general survey of what 

 would appear, a priori, to be necssaryfor 



adapting an animal to the situations of 

 humanity, we observe, with great satis- 

 faction, that man is in fact made of such 

 systems, and for such purposes. He has 

 them all, and he has nothing more, except 

 the organs of respiration. Breathing we 

 cannot account for a priori, we only know 

 that it is in fact essential to life. Not- 

 withstanding this, when we see all the 

 other parts of the body, and their func- 

 tions, so well accounted for, and so wisely 

 adapted to their several purposes, we can. 

 not doubt that respiration is so likewise. 

 We find, in fact, that the blood in its cir- 

 culation becomes altered in its properties, 

 and that these are renewed by the ab- 

 sorption of the oxygenous or pure part of 

 the atmosphere in the lungs ; we find, al- 

 so, that this function is the means of sup- 

 porting the temperature of the animal. 



The use and necessity of all the differ- 

 ent systems in a man's body is not more 

 apparent,thanthe wisdom and contrivance 

 which has been exerted in putting them 

 all into the most compact and convenient 

 form, and in disposing them so, that they 

 shall mutually receive and give helps to 

 one another, and that all, or many of the 

 parts, shall not only answer their princi- 

 pal end or purpose, but operate success- 

 fully and usefully in many secondary 

 ways. 



If we understand and consider the 

 whole animal machine in this light, and 

 compare it with any machine, in which hu- 

 man art has done its utmost, suppose the 

 best constructed ship that ever was built, 

 we shall be convinced, beyond the possi- 

 bility of doubt, that there is intelligence 

 and power far surpassing what humanity- 

 can boast of. 



In making* such a comparison, there is 

 a peculiarity and superiority in the natu- 

 ral machine, which cannot escape obser- 

 vation. Itisthis; in machines of human 

 contrivance or art, there is no internal 

 power, no principle in the machine itself, 

 by which it can alter or accommodate it- 

 self to any injury which it may suffer, Cr 

 make up any injury which is reparable. 

 But in the natural machine, the animal 

 body, this is most wonderfully provided 

 for by internal powers in the machine it- 

 self, many of which are not more certain 

 or obvious in their effects, than they arc- 

 above all human comprehension as to the 

 manner and means of their operation. 

 Thus, a wound heals up of itself ; a bro- 

 ken bone is made firm again by callus ; a 

 dead part is separated and thrown off; 

 noxious juices are driven out by some of 

 the emunctories ; a redundancy is remo- 

 ved by some spontaneous bleeding ; a 



