ing and applying all; and may therefore be consider. ed as an art antecedent to all others. Thus man alone, of all animals, possessing in his soul this general and original capacity, is justly endued in his body with this general and original instrument."

*"Let us then scrutinize this member of our body; and inquire, not simply whether it be in itself useful for all the purposes of life, and adapted to an animal endued with the highest intelligence; but whether its entire structure be not such, that it could not be improved by any conceivable alteration.

"In the first place, it possesses in an eminent degree a leading quality of an organ of grasp; since it readily applies itself to, and securely holds, bodies of every form and size that are capable of being moved by human strength. Nor need we inquire whether it be better for this purpose that it should be divided into several parts; or, that it should be altogether undivided for is it not apparent without further reasoning, that had it been undivided, it could have grasped only just such a portion of every object presented to it, as was equal to itself; but that, being divided into many parts, it can both easily grasp bodies much larger than itself; and can accurately search out, and lay hold of, the smallest particles of matter? For to the former it is capable of generally applying itself so, as to encompass them by the separation of the fingers; while in laying hold of very minute objects, the entire hand is not employed, but only the tips of two of the fingers: because from the grasp of the whole hand minute objects would easily

escape.

"Thus then the hand is framed in the manner most convenient for laying a firm hold on objects both greater and less than itself. And in order to enable it to apply itself to objects of various shapes, it is evidently most convenient that it should be divided into many parts, as it is: and it seems to be better

* Lib. i. cap. 5.

constituted for this purpose than any similar instrument; for it not only can apply itself to substances of a spherical form, so as to touch them with every part of itself; but it also can securely hold substances of a plane or of a concave surface; and, consequently, it can hold substances of any form.

66

And, because many bodies are of too great a size to be held by one hand alone, nature has therefore made each hand an assistant to its fellow; so that the two, when together laying hold of bodies of unusual bulk, on opposite sides, are fully equivalent to a single hand of the very largest dimensions: and, on this account, the hands are inclined towards, and in every point are made equal to, each other; which is at least desirable, if not necessary, in instruments intended to have a combined action.

"Take then any one of those unwieldly bodies, which a man can only lay hold of by means of both his hands, as a millstone or a rafter; or take one of the smallest objects, as a millet-seed or a hair, or a minute thorn; or, lastly, reflect on that vast multitude of objects of every possible size, intermediate to the greatest and the least of those above mentioned; and you will find the hands so exactly capable of grasping each particular one, as if they had been expressly made for grasping that alone. Thus the smallest things of all we take up with the tips of the fingers; those which are a little larger we take up with the same fingers, but not with the tips of them; substances still larger we take up with three fingers, and so on with four, or with all the five fingers, or even with the whole hand: all which we could not do, were not the hand divided, and divided precisely as it is. For suppose the thumb were not placed as it is, in opposition to the other four fingers, but that all the five were ranged in the same line; is it not evident that in this case their number would be useless? For in order to have a firm hold of any thing, it is necessary either to grasp it all round, or at least to grasp it in two opposite points; neither of which

D

would have been possible, if all the five fingers had been placed in the same plane: but the end is now fully attainable, simply in consequence of the position of the thumb; which is so placed, and has exactly such a degree of motion, as, by a slight inclination, to be easily made to co-operate with any one of the four fingers. And no one can doubt that nature purposely gave to the hands a form adapted to that mode of action, which they are observed to have ;* while in the feet, where extent of surface is wanted for support, all the toes are arranged in the same plane. † But, to return to a point which we were just now considering, it is not merely necessary in laying hold of minute objects to employ the extremities of the fingers opposed to each other, but that those extremities should be exactly of the character they are, namely soft, and round, and furnished with nails: for if the tips of the fingers were of bone, and not of flesh, we could not then lay hold of such minute bodies as thorns or hairs; or if they were of a softer and moister substance than flesh, neither then could such small bodies have been secured. For, in order that a body may be firmly held, it is necessary that it be in some degree infolded in the substance holding it; which condition could not have been fulfilled by a hard or bony material; and on the other hand, a material too soft would easily yield to substances of which it attempted to lay hold, and would continually let them escape: whereas the extremities of the fingers are just of that intermediate degree of consistence, which is calculated for their intended use.

"But, since tangible substances vary much in their degree of hardness, nature has adapted the structure of the extremities of the fingers to that circumstance: for they are not formed either entirely of flesh, or of the substance called nail; but of a most convenient combination of the two: thus those parts which are capable of being mutually brought in appo

* Lib. ii. cap. 9.

+ Lib. i. сар.

6.

+ Lib. i. cap. 7.

sition, and which are employed in feeling for minute objects, are fleshy; while the nails are placed externally, as a support to the former. For the fingers are capable of holding soft substances, simply by the fleshy or soft part of their extremity; but they could not hold hard substances without the assistance of nails; deprived of the support of which the flesh would be forced out of its position. And on the other hand, we could not lay hold of hard substances by means of the nails alone; for these being themselves hard, would easily slip from the contact of hard bodies.

"Thus then the soft flesh at the tips of the fingers compensating for the unyielding nature of the nails, and the nails giving support to the yielding softness of the flesh, the fingers are hereby rendered capable of holding substances that are both small and hard. And this will be more evident, if you consider the effect of an unusual length of the nails; for where the nails are immoderately long, and consequently come in contact with each other, they cannot lay hold of any minute object, as a small thorn or a hair: while, on the other hand, if, from being unusually short, they do not reach to the extremities of the fingers, minute bodies are incapable of being held through defect of the requisite support: but if they reach exactly to the extremities of the fingers, they then, and then only, fulfil the intention for which they were made. The nails, however, are applicable to many other purposes besides those which have been mentioned; as in polishing and scraping, and in tearing and peeling off the skin of vegetables, or animals: and in short, in almost every art where nicety of execution is required, the nails are called into action."

In alluding to the sceptics of his time, the language of Galen is as follows. *"Whoever admires not the skill and contrivance of nature, must either be defi

* Lib. iii. cap. 10.

cient in intellect, or must have some private motive, which withholds him from expressing his admiration. He must be deficient in intellect, if he do not perceive that the human hand possesses all those qualifications which it is desirable it should possess; or if he think that it might have had a form and construction preferable to that which it has: or he must be prejudiced, by having imbibed some wretched opinions, consistently with which he could not allow that contrivance is observable in the works of nature."*

Galen then thus sums up this part of the argument. "The contrivances of nature are so various, and so consummately skilful, that the wisest of mankind, in endeavouring to search them out, have not yet been able to discover them all."+ And nearly in the same words, expressive of the same sentiment, does Solomon say-" Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea farther; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it."

I may be permitted, perhaps, to subjoin a passage from another part of the same work of Galen, though not confined to the same subject; in which, after having noticed many evidences of design in the construction of the human body, particularly the adap

* Galen adds: "Such persons we are bound to pity, as being originally infatuated with respect to so main a point; while at the same time it behooves us to proceed in the instruction of those happier individuals, who are not only possessed of a sound intellect, but of a love of truth."

On another occasion, in reprobating such cavillers, he says: (lib. iii. cap. 10.) "But if I waste more time on such profligates, virtuous men might justly accuse me of polluting this sacred argument, which I have composed as a sincere hymn to the praise and honour of the Creator; being persuaded that true piety to him consists, not in the sacrifice of whole hecatombs of oxen, nor in the offer of a thousand varieties of incense; but in believing within ourselves, and in declaring to others, how great he is in wisdom, power, and goodness." Eccles. viii. 17.

† Lib. x. cap. 10.