FOOTNOTES:
[] Tria proposita ipsi Naturæ in Nervorum distributione fuerunt. 1. Ut sensoriis instrumentis Sensum impertiret. 2. Ut motoriis Motum. 3. Ut omnibus aliis [partibus] daret, ut quæ si dolorem adferrent, dignoscerent. And afterwards, Si quis in dissectionibus spectavit, consideravitque justéne, an secus Natura Nervos non eâdem mensurâ omnibus partibus distribuerit, sed aliis quidem liberaliùs, aliis verò parciùs, eadem cum Hippocrate, velit nolit, de Naturâ omnino pronunciabit, quod ea scilicet sagax, justa, artificiosa, animaliumque provida est. Galen. de Us. Part. L. 5. c. 9.
[d] Dr. Willis gives the Reason, cur mutua Amasiorum oscula labiis impressa, tum præcordia, tum genitalia afficiendo, amorem ac libidinem tam facilè irritant, to be from the Consent of those Parts, by the Branches of this fifth Pair. Nerv. Deser. c. 22.
And Dr. Sachs judges it to be from the Consent of the Labia Oris cum Labiis Uteri, that in April 1669, a certain breeding Lady, being affrighted with seeing one that had scabby Lips, which they told her were occasion’d by a pestilential Fever, had such like Pustules brake out in the Labia Uteri. Ephem. Germ. T. 1. Obs. 20.
[e] Consult Willis ubi suprà.
[f] Tears serve not only to moisten the Eye, to clean and brighten the Cornea, and to express our Grief; but also to alleviate it, according to that of Ulysses to Andromache, in Seneca’s Troas, ℣. 762.
Tempus moramque dabimus, arbitrio tuo
Implere lacrymis: Fletus ærumnas levat.
[g] Plin. Nat. Hist. L. 11. c. 37.
[h] Nihil altius simul abruptiusque invenit.
CHAP. IX.
Of the Variety of Mens Faces, Voices, and Hand-Writing.
Here I would have put an End to my Observations relating to Man; but that there are three Things so expressly declaring the Divine Management and Concurrence, that I shall just mention them, although taken Notice of more amply by others; and that is, The great Variety throughout the World of Mens Faces[a], Voices[], and Hand-writing. Had Man’s Body been made according to any of the atheistical Schemes, or any other Method than that of the infinite Lord of the World, this wise Variety would never have been: But Mens Faces would have been cast in the same, or not a very different Mould, their Organs of Speech would have sounded the same, or not so great a Variety of Notes; and the same Structure of Muscles and Nerves, would have given the Hand the same Direction in Writing. And in this Case, what Confusion, what Disturbance, what Mischiefs would the World eternally have lain under? No Security could have been to our Persons; no Certainty, no Enjoyment of our Possessions[c]; no Justice between Man and Man; no Distinction between Good and Bad, between Friends and Foes, between Father and Child, Husband and Wife, Male or Female; but all would have been turn’d topsey-turvey, by being expos’d to the Malice of the Envious and Ill-natur’d, to the Fraud and Violence of Knaves and Robbers, to the Forgeries of the crafty Cheat, to the Lusts of the Effeminate and Debauch’d, and what not! Our Courts of Justice[d], can abundantly testify the dire Effects of mistaking Men’s Faces, of counterfeiting their Hands, and forging Writings. But now, as the infinitely wise Creator and Ruler hath order’d the Matter, every Man’s Face can distinguish him in the Light, and his Voice in the Dark; his Hand-writing can speak for him though absent, and be his Witness, and secure his Contracts in future Generations. A manifest, as well as admirable Indication of the divine Super-intendence and Management[e].