There is a farther excellence or su periority in the natural machine, if possi ble, still more astonishing, more beyond all human comprehension, than what we have been speaking of. Besides those internal powers of self-preservation in each individual, when two of them co operate, or act in concert, they are en dued with powers of making other ani mals or machines like themselves, which again are possessed of the same powers of producing others, and so of multiplying the species without end. These are pow ers which mock all human invention or imitation, they are characteristics of the Divine Architect.
As the body is a compound of solids and fluids, anatomy is divided into, 1. The anatomy of the solids, and 2. The anatomy of the fluids.
The solids of the human body consist of, 1. Bones, which give support to the other parts of the body; 2. Cartilages, or gristles, which are much softer than the bones, and also flexi ble and elastic; 3. Ligaments, which are more flexible still, and connect the ends of the bones to each other; 4. Membranes, or planes of minutely interwoven and condensed cellular sub stance; 5. Cellular substance, which is formed of fibres and plates of animal matter more loosely connected, and which forms the general smiting medium of all the struc tures of the body ; 6. Fat, or adipous substance, an animal oil contained in the cells of the cellular membrane; 7. Muscles, which are bundles of fibres, endued with a power of contraction ; in popular language they form the flesh of an animal; 8. Tendons, hard inelastic cords, which connect the muscles or moving powers to the bones or instruments of motion ; 9. Viscera, which are various parts, adapted for different purposes in the ani mal economy, and contained in the cavi ties of the body, as the head; chest, abdo and pelvis; 10. Glands, organs which secrete or se
parate various fluids from the blood; 11. Vessels, which are membranous ca nals, dividing into branches, and transmit ting blood and other fluids; 12. Cerebral substance, or that which composes the brain and spinal marrow, which is a peculiar soft kind of animal matter : 13. Nerves, which are bundles of white fibrous cords, connected by one end to the brain, or spinal marrow, and thence expanded over every- part of the body, in order to receive impressions from exter nal objects, or to convey the commands of the will, and thereby produce muscular motion.
The fluids of the human body are, 1. Blood, which circulates through the vessels, and nourishes the whole fabric.
2. Persipirable matter, excreted by the vessels of the skin; 3. Sebaceous matter, by the glands of the skin; 4. Urine, by the kidneys; 5 Ceruminous matter, secreted by the glands of the external ear; 6. Tears, by the lachrymal glands; 7. Saliva, by the salivary glands; 8. Mucus, by glands in various parts of the body, and by various membranes ; 9. Serous fluid, by membranes lining circumscribed cavities ; 10. Pancreatic juice, by the pancreas; 11. Bile, by the liver; 12. Gastric juice, by the stomach; 13. Oil, by the vessels of the adipose membrane ; 14. Synovia, by the internal surfaces of the joints, for the purpose of lubricating them ; 15. Seminal fluids, by the testes; 16. Milk, by the mammary glands. The account of these animal fluids will be found chiefly under the article Pursio