REGARDED AS A MASS. 
115 
its substance, withal, both thick and suety, is capable of a 
close and safe folding, in comparison of what the intestinal 
tube would admit of, if it had remained loose. The me¬ 
sentery, likewise, not only keeps the intestinal canal in its 
proper place and position, under all the turns and windings 
of its course, but sustains the numberless small vessels, the 
arteries, the veins, the lympheducts, and, above all, the 
lacteals, which lead from or to almost every point of its 
coats and cavity. This membrane, which appears to be 
the great support and security of the alimentary apparatus, 
is itself strongly tied to the first three vertebrae of the loins. # 
III. A third general property of animal forms is beauty. 
I do not mean relative beauty, or that of one individual 
above another of the same species, or of one species com¬ 
pared with another species; but I mean generally, the pro¬ 
vision which is made in the body of almost every animal, 
to adapt its appearance to the perception of the animals 
with which it converses. In our own species, for example, 
only consider what the parts and materials are, of which 
the fairest body is composed; and no farther observation 
will be necessary to show, how well these things are wrap¬ 
ped up, so as to form a mass, which shall be capable of 
symmetry in its proportion, and of beauty in its aspect; how 
the bones are covered, the bowels concealed, the rough¬ 
nesses of the muscles smoothed and softened; and how 
over the whole is drawn an integument, which converts the 
disgusting materials of a dissecting-room into an object of 
attraction to the sight, or one upon which it rests, at least, 
with ease and satisfaction. Much of this effect is to be at¬ 
tributed to the intervention of the cellular or adipose mem¬ 
brane, which lies immediately under the skin; is a kind 
of lining to it; is moist, soft, slippery, and compressible; 
everywhere filling up the interstices of the muscles, and 
forming thereby the roundness and flowing line, as well as 
the evenness and polish of the whole surface. 
All which seems to be a strong indication of design, and 
of a design studiously directed to this purpose. And it be¬ 
ing once allowed, that such a purpose existed with respect 
to any of the productions of nature, we may refer, with a 
considerable degree of probability, other particulars to the 
same intention; such as the tints of flowers, the plumage 
of birds, the furs of beasts, the bright scales of fishes, the 
painted wings of butterflies and beetles, the rich colors and 
spotted lustre of many tribes of insects. 
* Keill’s Anat. p. 45. 
