152 LECTURE III. 



mechanism of the human skeleton. An 

 excellent anatomist once said, there was 

 not a well made joint in the whole body ; 

 but he was then talking as a carpenter, like 

 one who had no means of judging of the 

 works of nature, but by comparing them 

 with our own limited designs and perform- 

 ances. It was however the comparing the 

 mechanism of the hand and foot that led 

 Galen, who they say was a sceptic in his 

 youth, to the public declaration of his opi- 

 nion that intelligence must have operated 

 in ordaining the laws by which living be- 

 ings are constructed. That Galen was a man 

 of very superior intellect could be readily 

 proved were it necessary. I have often 

 known the passage I allude to, made a sub- 

 ject of reference, but not of quotation, and 

 therefore I recite it on the present occa- 

 sion, and particularly because it shews that 

 Galen was not in the least degree tinctured 

 with superstition. " In explaining these 

 things," he says, " I esteem myself as com- 

 posing a solemn hymn to the great archi- 

 tect of our bodilv frame ; in which I think 

 there is more true piety, than in sacrificing 



