Page:Letters on the Human Body (John Clowes).djvu/22

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2
ON THE EXTERNAL FORM

mean the material mortal covering of your immaterial and immortal spirit, whilst I attempt to develop the various and important lessons oi instruction, which the GREAT CREATOR, in His adorable mercy, intended to be presented daily and hourly to man, by its admirable form, and by its equally stupendous organs of Sense, appetites, operations, &c.

I shall begin with its admirable form.

Perhaps, however, I ought rather to say forms; since it must be obvious to the most careless observer, that the human body, notwithstanding its aspect under a single form, is nevertheless a complex of forms, consisting of an indefinite variety of members, organs, &c. all of which, in their combined state, make one; whilst, in their separate state, they are each of them distinct forms, manifesting in their distinctness the same wonders of organization as in their combination. It is remarkable too, that each distinct form is, at the same time, a complex one; since, whether we regard the head, or the foot, or the hand, or the fingers of which it is composed, we discover in each a combination of various constituent particulars, such as bones, muscles, nerves, skin, &c. all arranged in the most exact order, and all tending to make one form, whilst an indefinite variety of these one forms constitute the grand total or the form of the human