THE ORGANS OF VOLUNTARY MOTION. 431 



unknown final causes in physiology, has given rise 

 to the science. The two branches of speculation, 

 Physics and Physiology, were equally led, by every 

 new phenomenon, to ask their question, "Why?" 

 But, in the former case, "why" meant "through 

 what cause ?" in the latter, " for what end ?" And 

 though it may be possible to introduce into physio- 

 logy the doctrine of efficient causes, such a step can 

 never obliterate the obligations which the science 

 owes to the pervading conception of a purpose con- 

 tained in all organization. 



This conception makes its appearance very early. 

 Indeed, without any special study of our structure, 

 the thought, that we are fearfully and wonderfully 

 made, forces itself upon men, with a mysterious 

 impressiveness, as a suggestion of our Maker. In 

 this bearing, the thought is developed to a consi- 

 derable extent in the well-known passage in Xeno- 

 phon's Conversations of Socrates. Nor did it ever 

 lose its hold on sober-minded and instructed men. 

 The Epicureans, indeed, held that the eye was not 

 made for seeing, nor the ear for hearing ; and As- 

 clepiades, whom we have already mentioned as an 

 impudent pretender, adopted this wild dogma 15 . 

 Such assertions required no labour. "It is easy," 

 says Galen 16 , "for people like Asclepiades, when 

 they come to any difficulty, to say that nature has 

 worked to no purpose." The great anatomist him- 

 self pursues his subject in a very different temper. 

 In a well-known passage, he breaks out into an 



15 Spr. ii. 15. l6 De Usn l\trt. v. .">. (on the kidneys.) 



