4

Hands and Knees; fo that it is plain that Nature intended us to walk as we do, and not upon all Four.

2. I argue from the Situs or pofition of our Faces; for had we been to walk upon all Four, we had been the most prone of all Animals, our Faces being parallel to the Horizon, and looking directly downwards.

3. The greatness and ftrength of the Muscles of the Thighs and Legs above those of the Arms, is a clear indication, that they were by Nature intended for a more difficult and laborious Action, even the moving and transferring the whole Body, and that Motion to be fometimes continued for a great while together.

1

As for that Argument taken from the contrary flexure of the Joynts of our Arms and Legs to that of Quadrupeds; as that our Knees bend forward, whereas the fame Joint of their Hindlegs bends backward; and that our Arms bend backward, whereas the Knees of their Fore-legs bend forward. Although the Observation be as old as Ariftotle, because I think there is a miftake in it, in not comparing the fame Joynts (for the firft or upperinoft Joynt in a Quadrupeds Hind-legs bend forward as well as a Man's Knees, which anfwer to it, being the uppermoft Joynt of our Legs; and the like mutatis mutandis may be faid of the Arins) I fhall not infift upon it.

Another

Another Particular which may ferve to demonstrate that this erect Pofture of the Body of Man was intended and defigned by the Wife and Good Author of Nature, is the Fastening. of the Cone of the Pericardium to the Midriff: An Account whereof I fhall give the Reader out of the ingenious Dr. Tyfon's Anatomy of the Orang-Outang, or Pygmie, p. 49.

Vefalius (faith he) and others make it a Pe culiarity to Man, that the Pericardium, or Bag that inclofes the Heart, fhould be faftned to the Diaphragm. Vefalius tells us, (De Corporis Humani fabrica, lib. 6. cap. 8.) Cæterùm Involucri mucro, & dextri ipfius lateris egregia por tio Septi tranfverfi nerveo circulo validiffimè amploque admodum fpatio connafcitur, quod Hominibus eft peculiare. The Point of the Pericardium, and a very confiderable Portion of its right Side, is most firmly faftned to the nervous Circle of the Midriff for a large Space, which is peculiar to Mankind. So Blancardius Anat. reformat, cap. 2. p. 8. Homo pra cæteris Animalibus hoc peculiare babet, quod ejus Pericardium Septi tranfverfi medio femper accrefcat, cùm idem in Quadrupedum genere librum & aliquanto Spatio ab ipfo remotum fit. Man hath this peculiar to him, and different from other Animals; That his Pericardium doth always grow to the Middle of the Midriff, whereas in the Quadrupedkind it is free and removed fome Distance from

it.

The Pericardium in Mah is therefore thus faftned, that in Expiration it might affift the Diaftole

Diastole of the Diaphragm: For otherwife the Livor and Stomach being fo weighty, they would draw it down too much towards the Abdomen, fo that, upon the Relaxation of its Fibres in its Diastole, it would not ascend fufficiently into the Thorax, fo as to cause a Subfidency of the Lungs by leffening the Cavity there. In Quadrupeds there is no need of this Adhesion of the Pericardium to the Diaphragm. For in them, in Expiration, when the Fibres of the Diaphragm are relaxed, the Weight of the Vifcera of the, Abdomen will easily prefs the Diaphragm up into the Cavity of the Thorax, and fo perform that Service. Befides, were the Pericardium faftned to the Diaphragm in Quadrupeds, it would hinder its Systole in Infpiration, or its Defcent downwards upon the Contraction of its Muscular Fibres; and the more, because the Diaphragm being thus tied up, it could not then fo freely force down the Weight of the Vifcera, which are always preffing upon it, and confequently not fufficiently dilate the Cavity of the Thorax, and therefore must hinder their Inspiration. Thus we fee how neceffary it is, that in Man, the Pericardium fhould be faftned to the Diaphragm, and in Quadrupeds how inconvenient it would be. And fince we find this Difference between the Hearts of Brutes and Men in this particu lar; how can we imagine but that it must needs be the Effect of Wisdom and Defign, and that Man was intended by Nature to walk erect, and not upon all Four, as Quadrupeds do?

II. The

II. The Body of Man may thence be proved to be the Effect of Wisdom, because there is nothing in it deficient, nothing fuperfluous, nothing but hath its End and Ufe. So true are thofe Maxims we have already made ufe of, Natura nihil facit fruftra; and Natura non abundat in fuperfluis, nec deficit in neceffariis, no Part that we can well fpare. The Eye cannot fay to the Hand, I have no need of thee, nor the Head to the Feet I have no need of you, I Cor xii. 21. that I may ufurp the Apostle's Simili tude.

The Belly cannot quarrel with the Members; nor they with the Belly for her feeming Sloth! As they provide Meat for her, fo fhe concocts and diftributes it to them. Only it may be doubted to what Ufe the Paps in Men should ferve. I answer, partly for Ornament, partly for a kind of Conformity between the Sexes, and partly to defend and cherish the Heart in fome they contain Milk, as in a Danish Fa mily we read of in Bartholine's Anatomical Obfervations. However, it follows not that they or any other Parts of the Body are useless, because we are ignorant.

I have lately met with a Story in Seignior Paulo Boccone his Natural Obfervations, printed at Bologna in Italy, 1684. well attefted, concerning a Country-man, called Billardino di Billo, living in a Village belonging to the Ci ty of Nocerd in Umbria, called Somareggio, whofe Wife dying, and leaving a young Infant, he nourished it with his own Milk. This Q2

Man,

Part II. Man, either becaufe in the fmall Village where he lived there was not a wet Nurfe to be had, or because he was not able to hire one, took the Child, and applying it to his own Bofom, and putting the Nipples of his Breasts into its Mouth, invited it to fuck, which the Infant did, and after divers times drawing, fetch'd fome Milk. Whereat the Father encouraged, continued to apply it, and so after a while it brought down the Milk fo plentifully as to nourish it for many Months, till it was fit to be weaned. Hereupon my Author having proved by fufficient Authority of able Anatomifts, fuch as Francifcus Maria Florentinus, and Marcellus Malpighius, that the Paps of Men have the fame Structure and the fame Veffels with thofe of Women, concludes, that Nature hath not given Paps to Men, either to no Purpose, or for meer Ornament, but, if Need requires, to fupply the Defect of the Female, and give Suck to the Young.

Had we been born with a large Wen upon our Faces, or a Bavarian Poke under our Chins, or a great Bunch upon our Backs like Camels, or any the like fuperfluous Excrefcency, which fhould be not only useless but troublesome, not only stand us in no ftead, but also be illfavoured to behold, and burdenfome to carry about, then we might have had fome Pretence to doubt whether an intelligent and bountiful Creator had been our Architect; for had the Body been made by Chance, it must in all