But among all Creatures, none more elegant than the sizing the Body of Man, the gauging his Body so nicely, as to be able to stand erect, to stoop, to sit, and indeed to move any way, only with the Help of so small a Stay as the Feet[r]: whose Mechanism of Bones, Tendons and Muscles to this purpose, is very curious and admirable.
FOOTNOTES:
[a] That the Muscles are compounded of Fibres, is visible enough. Which Fibres, the curious and ingenious Borelli saith, are cylindraceous; not hollow, but filled with a spungy, pithy Substance, after the manner of Elder, as he discovered by his Microscopes. Borel. de Mot. Animal. Part 1. These Fibres, he saith, are naturally white; but derive their Redness only from the Blood in them.
These Fibres do in every Muscle, (in the Belly at least of the Muscle,) run parallel to one another, in a neat orderly Form. But they do not at all tend the same Way, but some run aslant, some longways, &c. according to the Action or Position of each respective Muscle. The Particulars of which, and of divers other Observables in the Muscles, would, besides Figures, take up too much room in these Notes; and therefore I must refer to the Anatomists, particularly Steno, Borelli, Cowper, &c.
[] The infinite Creator hath generally exerted his Art and Care, in the Provision made by proper Muscles and Nerves, for all the different Motions in animal Bodies, both involuntary, and voluntary. It is a noble Providence that most of the vital Motions, such as of the Heart, Stomach, Guts, &c. are involuntary, the Muscles acting whether we sleep or wake, whether we will or no. And it is no less providential that some, even of the vital Motions, are partly voluntary, partly involuntary, as that for Instance, of Breathing, which is performed both sleeping and waking; but can be intermitted for a short Time on occasion, as for accurate hearing any Thing, &c. or can be encreased by a stronger Blast, to make the greater Discharges of the Blood from the Lungs, when that any Thing overcharges them. And as for the other Motions of the Body, as of the Limbs, and such as are voluntary, it is a no less Providence, that they are absolutely under the Power of the Will; so as that the Animal hath it in his Power to command the Muscles and Spirits of any part of its Body, to perform such Motions and Actions as it hath Occasion for.
[c] Quid dicam de Ossibus? quæ subjecta corpori mirabiles commissuras habent, & ad stabilitatem aptas, & ad artus finiendos accommodatas, & ad motum, & ad omnem corporis actionem. Cicer. de Nat. Deor. l. 2. c. 55.
By Reason it would be endless to mention all the Curiosities observable in the Bones, I shall for a Sample, single out only an Instance or two, to manifest that Design was used in the Structure of these Parts in Man.
The first shall be in the Back-Bone, which (among many others) hath these two Things remarkable. 1. Its different Articulations from the other Joynts of the Body. For here most of the Joynts are flat, and withal guarded with Asperities and Hollows, made for catching and holding; so as firmly to lock and keep the Joynts from Luxations, but withal to afford them such a Motion, as is necessary for the Incurvations of the Body. 2. The difference of its own Joynts in the Neck, Back and Loins. In the Neck, the Atlas, or upper Vertebra, as also the Dentata, are curiously made, and joynted (differently from the rest) for the commodious and easie bending and turning the Head every way. In the Thorax, or Back, the Joynts are more close and firm; and in the Loins, more lax and pliant; as also the Spines are different, and the Knobs and Sockets turned the quite contrary way, to answer the Occasions the Body hath to bend more there, than higher in the Back. I shall close this Remark with the ingenious Dr. Keil’s Observation.
The Structure of the Spine is the very best that can be contrived; for had it been all Bone, we could have had no Motion in our Backs; had it been of two or three Bones articulated for Motion, the Medulla Spinalis must have been necessarily bruised at every Angle or Joynt; besides, the whole would not have been so pliable for the several Postures we have occasion to put our selves in. If it had been made of several Bones without intervening Cartilages, we should have had no more Use of it, than if it had been but one Bone. If each Vertebra had had its own distinct Cartilages, it might have been easily dislocated. And lastly, The oblique Processes of each superior and inferior Vertebra, keep the middle one that it can neither be thrust backwards nor forwards to compress the Medulla Spinalis. Keil’s Anat. c. 5. §. 8.
Compare here what Galen saith of the Articulations, Ligaments, Perforation, &c. of the Spine, to prove the Wisdom and Providence of the Maker of animal Bodies, against such as found fault with Nature’s Works; among which he names Diagoras, Anaxagoras, Asclepiades and Epicurus. V. Galen. de Us. Part. L. 12. init. and Chap. 11, &c. also L. 13. init.