himself into the Bufinefs of his own Profeffion. What will all this end in? We are afraid it portends no Good to the Publick. Unless you very speedily fix à Day for the Election of new Members, we are under Apprehenfions of lofing the British Spectator. I hear of a Party of Ladies who intend to addrefs you on this Subject, and question not, if you do not give us the Slip very fuddenly, C that you will receive Addreffes from all Parts of the Kingdom to continue . fo useful a Work. Pray deliver us out of this Perplexity, and among the Multitude of your Readers you will particularly oblige

C

C

Your most Sincere Friend and Servant,

Philo-Spec.

Satur

N° 543. Saturday, November 22.

·Facies non omnibus una

Nec diverfa tamen

T

Ovid.

HOSE who were skilful in Anatomy among the Antients, concluded from the outward and inward Make of a Human Body, that it was the Work of a Being tranfcendently Wife and Powerful. As the World grew more enlightened in this Art, their Discoveries gave them fresh Opportunities of admiring the Conduct of Providence in the Formation of a Human Body. Galen was converted by his Diffections, and could not but own a Supreme Being upon a Survey of this his Handywork. There were, indeed, many Parts of which the old Anatomists did not know the certain ufe; but as they faw that most of those which they examined were adapted with admirable Art to their several Functions, they did not question but thofe, whofe Ufes 6

they

they could not determine, were contrived with the fame Wisdom for refpefpective Ends and Purposes. Since the Čirculation of the Blood has been found out, and many other great Discoveries have been made by our modern Anatomifts, we fee new Wonders in the human Frame, and difcern several important Uses for those Parts, which Ufes the Antients knew nothing of. In fhort, the Body of Man is fuch a Subject as ftands the utmoft Teft of Examination. Tho' it appears formed with the niceft Wisdom, upon the most fuperficial Survey of it, it ftill mends upon the Search, and produces our Surprize and Amazement in proportion as we pry into it. What I have here faid of a Human Body, may be applied to the Body of every Animal which has been the Subject of Anatomical Obferva

tions.

THE Body of an Animal is an Object adequate to our Senfes. It is a particular Syftem of Providence, that lies in a narrow Compafs. The Eye is able to command it, and by fucceffive Enquiries can fearch into all its Parts. Could the Body of the whole Earth, or indeed the whole Universe, be thus fubVOL. XIV. L mitted

mitted to the Examination of our Senfes, were it not too big and difproportioned for our Enquiries, too unwieldy for the Management of the Eye and Hand, there is no queftion but it would appear to us as curious and well-contrived a Frame as that of a Human Body. We fhould fee the fame Concatenation and Subferviency, the fame Neceffity and Usefulness, the fame Beauty and Harmony in all and every of its Parts, as what we discover in the Body of every fingle Animal.

THE more extended our Reafon is, and the more able to grapple with immenfe Objects, the greater still are those Discoveries which it makes of Wisdom and Providence in the Work of the Creation. A Sir Ifaac Newton, who ftands up as the Miracle of the present Age, can look through a whole Planetary Syftem; confider it in its Weight, Number, and Measure; and draw from it as many Demonftrations of infinite Power and Wisdom, as a more confined Understanding is able to deduce from the Syftem of a Human Body.

BUT to return to our Speculations on Anatomy. I fhall here confider the Fabrick and Texture of the Bodies of Animals

Animals in one particular View; which, in my Opinion, fhews the Hand of a thinking and all-wife Being in their Formation, with the Evidence of a thoufand Demonftrations. I think we may lay this down as an incontested Principle, that Chance never acts in a perpetual Uniformity and Confistence with it felf. If one should always fling the fame Number with ten thousand Dice, or fee every throw juft five times lefs, or five times more in Number than the throw which immediately preceded it; who would not imagine there is fome invifible Power which directs the Caft? This is the Proceeding which we find in the Operations of Nature. Every kind of Animal is diverfified by different Magnitudes, each of which gives rife to a different Species. Let a Man trace the Dog or Lion-kind, and he will obferve how many of the Works of Nature are published, if I may use the Expreffion, in a variety of Editions. If we look into the Reptile World, or into thofe different Kinds of Animals that fill the Element of Water, we meet with the fame Repetitions among feveral Species, that differ very little from one another, but in Size and Bulk. L 2

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