tween the first bone of the neck and the second. We see the same
contrivance and the same principle employed in the frame or mounting of
a telescope. It is occasionally requisite that the object end of the
instrument be moved up and down as well as horizontally or equatorially.
For the vertical motion there is a hinge upon which the telescope plays,
for the horizontal or equatorial motion, an axis upon which the
telescope and the hinge turn round together. And this is exactly the
mechanism which is applied to the action of the head, nor will anyone
here doubt of the existence of counsel and design, except it be by that
debility of mind which can trust to its own reasonings in nothing."[15]

. . . . . .

"The patella, or knee-pan, is a curious little bone; in its form and
office unlike any other bone in the body. It is circular, the size of a
crown-piece, pretty thick, a little convex on both sides, and covered
with a smooth cartilage. It lies upon the front of the knee, and the
powerful tendons by which the leg is brought forward pass through it (or
rather make it a part of their continuation) from their origin in the
thigh to their insertion in the tibia. It protects both the tendon and
the joint from any injury which either might suffer by the rubbing of
one against the other, or by the pressure of unequal surfaces. It also
gives to the tendons a very considerable mechanical advantage by
altering the line of their direction, and by advancing it farther out of
the centre of motion; and this upon the principles of the resolution of
force, upon which all machinery is founded. These are its uses. But what
is most observable in it is that it appears to be supplemental, as it
were, to the frame; added, as it should almost seem, afterwards; not
quite necessary, but very convenient. It is separate from the other
bones; that is, it is not connected with any other bones by the common
mode of union. It is soft, or hardly formed in infancy; and is produced
by an ossification, of the inception or progress of which no account can
be given from the structure or exercise of the part."[16]

It is positively painful to me to pass over Paley's description of the
joints, but I must content myself with a single passage from this
admirable chapter.

"The joints, or rather the ends of the bones which form them, display
also in their configuration another use. The nerves, blood-vessels, and
tendons which are necessary to the life, or