MENTAL AND- COBPOREAL. 275 



animals, many of whom, were they conscious of 

 their own physical power and degradation* 

 would never submit to his controul. From 

 this important attitude also, he is enabled to 

 investigate the different parts of the universe, 

 celestial, and terrestial, and assisted by his in- 

 tellect, to ascertain the principles by which they 

 are regulated, and the effects likely to be pro* 

 duced ; and from the same source, he can per- 

 form actions, and from those actions produce 

 consequences, which no other animal can accom- 

 plish ; Providence, therefore, has not left this 

 property in man open to chance, or to human 

 contrivance; but from the arch-like form of the 

 human spine, from the great width of the pelvis 

 and through that the extension outward of the 

 thigh bones, from the increased bulk of the mus- 

 cles of the lower extremities, and from the 

 form and complete flatness of the foot, it has 

 made it an invariable law from which it is 

 not in man's power to deviate, that his position 

 should be erect; and he consequently is by 

 nature a biped animal only, distinct in his atti- 

 tude and actions from every other part of the 

 creation. For though the flexibility of his body 

 admit of his moving upon his hands and feet for 

 a short time like the quadruped, yet from the 

 shortness of his arms in proportion to his lower 

 extremities, in which by far the greatest muscular 

 power is vested, he soon tinds it necessary to 



