go LECTURE I. 



sight. Yet there are some who assert, that 

 by the aid of powerful lenses, each fibre, 

 though slender as the threads of flimsy 

 gossamer, appears but as a muscle in minia- 

 ture, being composed of a number of 

 smaller fibres. There are others who main- 

 tain the contrary, and affirm that they can 

 see the ultimate muscular fibres. It would 

 seem to me a waste of time to detail to you 

 the reports of various microscopical ob- 

 servers, respecting the ultimate fibres of 

 muscles, since there is so little concurrence 

 or certainty in their descriptions. The 

 opinion which such contradictory statements 

 have impressed on my mind, is, that per- 

 haps the ultimate arrangement of matter, 

 like its ultimate particles, may form a sub- 

 ject too subtile for human perception. Our 

 information in these respects must be li- 

 mited, as our powers of perception have 

 their bounds. The imperfection of the 

 human senses, does not, however, seem a 

 subject of regret ; because it induces a 

 greater necessity for the exertions of intel- 

 lect ; and many subjects appear far more 

 demonstrable to reason than to sense. 



