74 



Ghazzalfs Alchemy of Happiness. 



tures either externally or internally, and that his power 

 and wisdom pervade every organ and particle. 



Beloved, in proportion as a man analyzes the nature of 

 his body and the variety of uses of its several members, his 

 reverence and love for its Creator and Maker will increase. 

 Let a man observe, for example, that his hands are made 

 like columns and separated from the body, to serve as an 

 instrument to seize, or take hold of, or to defend it from 

 an enemy. At the extremity of the hands are five fingers, 

 four of which are in a row, and some long and some short, 

 so that when they take hold of anything, they may come 

 equally together in the palm of the hand. The thumb, 

 which is opposite to the four fingers, is shorter than any 

 of them and stronger, that it may be a help to the whole 

 and render them capable of retaining and grasping. The 

 four fingers have three joints each, and the thumb has but 

 two, that when contracted they may become like the bowl 

 of a spoon or ladle, and that when open they may become 

 like a plate, and so discharge an infinity of services. The 

 front teeth were formed sharp, to cut and separate the food : 

 the side teeth were formed broad to mash and grind the 

 food. The tongue was formed like a spoon to throw > the 

 food into the throat. There is, also, under the tongue, an 

 organ by which water is poured out, and the food is made 

 of the consistence of dough, that it may be more easily 

 swallowed and digested. All the organs, in short, have 

 been devised with tjie best arrangement and form for use, 

 and each one of them is punctual day and night in dis- 

 charging its function. Think not, that they are lazy or 

 sleeping. If the minds of the intelligent, the science of 

 the learned, and the wisdom of the sage had been united 

 and had been employed since the beginning of the world, 

 in reflection and contrivance, they could not have discov- 

 ered anything more excellent than the present arrange- 



