CHAP. V.
Of the Structure of the Parts of Man’s Body.
Having thus taken a View of the Posture, Shape, and Size of Man’s Body, let us in this Chapter survey the Structure of its Parts. But here we have so large a Prospect, that it would be endless to proceed upon Particulars. It must suffice therefore to take Notice, in general only, how artificially every Part of our Body is made. No Botch, no Blunder, no unnecessary Apparatus (or in other Words) no Signs of Chance[a]; but every Thing curious, orderly, and performed in the shortest and best Method, and adapted to the most compendious Use. What one Part is there throughout the whole Body, but what is composed of the fittest Matter for that Part; made of the most proper Strength and Texture; shaped in the compleatest Form; and in a word, accouter’d with every Thing necessary for its Motion, Office, Nourishment, Guard, and what not! What so commodious a Structure and Texture could have been given to the Bones, for Instance, to make them firm and strong, and withal light, as that which every Bone in the Body hath? Who could have shaped them so nicely to every Use, and adapted them to every Part, made them of such just Lengths, given them such due Sizes and Shapes, chanelled, hollowed, headed, lubricated, and every other Thing ministring, in the best and most compendious manner to their several Places and Uses? What a glorious Collection and Combination have we also of the most exquisite Workmanship and Contrivance in the Eye, in the Ear, in the Hand[b], in the Foot[c], in the Lungs, and other Parts already mention’d? What an Abridgment of Art, what a Variety of Uses[d], hath Nature laid upon that one Member of the Tongue, the grand Instrument of Taste, the faithful Judge, the Centinel, the Watchman of all our Nourishment, the artful Modulator of our Voice, the necessary Servant of Mastication, Swallowing, Sucking, and a great deal besides? But I must desist from proceeding upon Particulars, finding I am fallen upon what I propos’d to avoid.
And therefore for a Close of this Chapter, I shall only add Part of a Letter I receiv’d from the before-commended very curious and ingenious Physician Dr. Tancred Robinson, What, (saith he,) can possibly be better contriv’d for animal Motion and Life, than the quick Circulation of the Blood and Fluids, which run out of Sight in capillary Vessels, and very minute Ducts, without Impediment, (except in some Diseases,) being all directed to their peculiar Glands and Chanels, for the different Secretion, sensible and insensible; whereof the last is far the greatest in Quantity and Effects, as to Health and Sickness, acute Distempers frequently arising from a Diminution of Transpiration, through the cutaneous Chimneys, and some chronical Ones from an Augmentation: Whereas Obstructions in the Liver, Pancreas, and other Glands, may only cause a Schirrus, a Jaundice, an Ague, a Dropsy, or other slow Diseases. So an Increase of that Secretion may accompany the general Colliquations, as in Fluxes, hectick Sweats and Coughs, Diabetes, and other Consumptions. What a mighty Contrivance is there to preserve these due Secretions from the Blood, (on which Life so much depends,) by frequent Attritions, and Communications of the Fluids in their Passage through the Heart, the Lungs, and the whole System of the Muscles? What Mæanders and Contortions of Vessels, in the Organs of Separation? And, What a Concourse of elastick Bodies from the Air, to supply the Springs, and continual Motions of some Parts, not only in Sleep, and Rest; but in long violent Exercises of the Muscles? Whose Force drive the Fluids round in a wonderful rapid Circulation through the minutest Tubes, assisted by the constant Pabulum of the Atmosphere, and their own elastick Fibres, which impress that Velocity on the Fluids.
Now I have mention’d some Uses of the Air, in carrying on several Functions in animal Bodies; I may add the Share it hath in all the Digestions of the solid and fluid Parts. For when this System of Air comes, by divine Permittance, to be corrupted with poysonous, acrimonious Steams, either from the Earth, from Merchandise, or infected Bodies, What Havock is made in all the Operations of living Creatures? The Parts gangrene, and mortify under Carbuncles, and other Tokens: Indeed, the whole animal Oeconomy is ruin’d; of such Importance is the Air to all the parts of it. Thus my learned Friend.
FOOTNOTES:
[a] It is manifestly an Argument of Design, that in the Bodies of different Animals, there is an Agreement of the Parts, so far as the Occasions and Offices agree, but a difference of those, where there is a difference of these. In an Human Body are many Parts agreeing with those of a Dog for Instance; but in his Forehead, Fingers, Hand, Instruments of Speech, and many other Parts, there are Muscles, and other Members which are not in a Dog. And so contrariwise in a Dog, which is not in a Man. If the Reader is minded to see what particular Muscles are in a Man, that are not in a Dog; or in a Dog that are not in an Humane Body, let him consult the curious and accurate Anatomist Dr. Douglass’s Myogr. compar.
[b] Galen having described the Muscles, Tendons, and other Parts of the Fingers, and their Motions, cries out, Considera igitur etiam hìc mirabilem Creatoris sapientiam! De Us. Part. L. 1. c. 18.
[c] And not only in the Hand, but in his Account of the Foot (L. 3.) he frequently takes notice of what he calls Artem, Providentiam & Sapientiam Conditoris. As Ch. 13. An igitur non equum est hìc quoque admirari Providentiam Conditoris, qui ad utrumque usum, eisi certè contrarium, exactè convenientes & consentientes invicem fabricatus est totius membri [tibiæ] particulas? And at the end of the Chap. Quòd si omnia quæ ipsarum sunt partium mente immutaverimus, neque invenerimus positionem aliam meliorem eâ quam nunc sortita sunt, neque figuram, neque magnitudinem, neque connexionem, neque (ut paucis omnia complectar) aliud quidquam eorum, quæ corporibus necessariò insunt, perfectissimam pronunciare oportet, & undique recte constitutam præsentem ejus constructionem. The like also concludes, Ch. 15.
[d] At enim Opisicis indistrii maximum est indicium (quemadmodum antè sapenumerò jam diximus) iis quæ ad alium usum fuerunt comparata, ad alias quoque utilitates abuti, neque laborare ut singulis utilitatibus singulas faciat proprius particulas. Galen. ub. supr. L. 9. c. 5.