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النشر الإلكتروني

ON THE

ADAPTATION OF EXTERNAL NATURE

TO THE

PHYSICAL CONDITION OF MAN.

CHAPTER I.

Introduction.

SECT. I.

The Physical Condition of Man.

WHEN Hamlet, in contemplating the grandeur of creation, breaks forth into that sublime apostrophe on man-"How noble in reason! how "infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how 66 express and admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a God! the

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beauty of the world! the paragon of ani"mals!"—who does not feel elated by the description? who does not feel conscious of its truth?

Nor is its truth the less admissible, because the poet, in concentrating the powers of his imagination on the excellencies of that work of

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creation which bears the stamp of the Creator's image, has omitted to present to our view the reverse of the impression, the frailty namely of our fallen nature: for although, on moral and religious considerations, each individual is bound habitually to take the one view in conjunction with the other; in a simply philosophical contemplation of human nature we are not precluded by any reasonable barrier, from taking such a partial view of the subject as the occasion may suggest.

In the present instance, indeed, I am strictly called upon to consider, not the moral, but the physical condition of man: and to examine how far the state of external nature is adapted to that condition; whether we regard the provisions made for the supply of man's wants, either natural or acquired; or those which are made for the exercise of his intellectual faculties. The following treatise naturally, therefore, divides itself into two parts: in the first of which it is intended to investigate and describe the physical condition of man; in the second, the adaptation of external nature to that condition.

But a wide field here opens to our view: for man cannot, under any circumstances, be considered as an insulated being; or unconnected with the rest of animated nature. He is indeed but one link in the great chain of animal creation; and not only does the contemplation of his

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