"Except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air."—Corinth. xiv.
Hiccough is caused by a spasmodic twitching of the diaphragm, a thin muscular membrane which divides the chest from the abdomen. It generally arises from sympathy with the stomach; and it is highly probable that the muscular twitches and jerks are so many efforts on the part of the diaphragm to assist the stomach to get rid of some undigested matter.
Snoring is caused by air sweeping through the passages that lead from the mouth through the nostrils, and which, in our waking moments, are capable of certain muscular modifications to adapt them to our breathing. But as in sleeping the nervous controul over them is withdrawn, they are left to the action of the air which, in sweeping by them, sets them in vibration.
We have endeavoured, by the employment of the simplest language, and by reference to some of the most familiar phenomena of nature, to impart to the reader a clear conception of those sublime laws which control our being, and afford evidence of the goodness and power of that Almighty God to whom we are indebted for the life that we enjoy, and the varied and beautiful existences which, to the rightly constituted mind, make the earth a vast aggregation of interesting objects. We will now, before we pass on to the final section of our work, review some of the more important facts that have been communicated, and devote a few pages to meditations upon the formation of the human body—that wonderful temple of which each of us is a tenant.
We have described man's organisation. What is that organisation for? It is to make use of the elements upon which man exists. The lungs make use of the air; the eye makes use of the light; the stomach, and the system generally, make use of water; every part of the body uses heat; and all parts of the system demand food. The hand feeds as constantly as the mouth. The mouth is the receptacle of food, by which the body is to be fed; the stomach is the kitchen in which food is prepared for the use of the body; and the blood-vessels are the canals through which the food is sent to those members of the body that are in need of it. When we speak of man's "organs" or "members," we speak of those parts of the living machinery by which the elements are used up, or employed, for man's benefit. And this view of the subject, bearing in mind that the body is held together as the temple of a living Spirit, superior to mere flesh and blood, gives us a higher and clearer perception of the distinction between the body and the soul than that which we might otherwise entertain. The body is a machine, working for the spirit, which is its owner. While the machine works, the spirit directs and influences its actions. But when the machine stops, the spirit resigns its power over a ruined temple, quits it, and flies to a region where, as a spirit, it becomes subject to a new order of existence consistent with its severance from earthly things and laws, and there it enters upon its eternal destiny, according to the judgments and appointments of God. It is no longer dependent upon a relation between spiritual and material laws.