h we
have describ'd, and these were the first part of that great Mass which
was form'd; now they stood in need of one another's assistance; the
first wanted the other two as Servants, and they again the assistance
and guidance of the first, as their Master and Director; but both these
Receptacles, tho' inferior to the first, were nevertheless superior to
all those Members which were form'd afterwards. The first Receptacle, by
the power of that Spirit which was joyn'd to it and its continual
flaming Heat, was form'd into a Conical figure, like that of Fire, and
by this means that thick Body, which was about it, became of the same
figure, being solid Flesh cover'd with a thick Membrane. This is what we
call the Heart. Now considering the great expence of Moisture, which
must needs be where there is so much Heat, 'twas absolutely necessary,
that there should be some part form'd, whose Office it should be
continually to supply this defect; Otherwise it would have been
impossible to have subsisted long. 'Twas also necessary that [this
forming Spirit] should have a Sense both of what was convenient for him,
and what was hurtful, and accordingly attract the one and repel the
other. For these Services there were two parts form'd, with their
respective Faculties, _viz_. the Brain and the Liver: the first of these
presided over all things relating to Sense, the latter over such things
as belong'd to Nutrition: both of these depended upon the Heart for a
supply of Heat, and the recruiting of their proper Faculties. To
establish a good Correspondence between all these, there were Ducts and
Passages interwoven, some bigger, some lesser, according as necessity
requir'd; and these are the Arteries and Veins.
Thus much for a Taste; they that tell the Story go on farther, and give
you a particular account of the Formation of all the parts, as the
Physicians do of the Formation of the _Foetus_ in the Womb, omitting
nothing till he was compleatly form'd, and just like an _Embryo_ ready
for the Birth. In this account they are forc'd to be beholding to this
vast Mass of Earth, which you are to suppose was of a most exact
mixture, and contain'd in it all manner of materials proper for the
making Man's Body, and those Skins, _&c._ which cover it; till at last,
when he was Compleat in all his parts, as if the Mass had been in
labour, those Coverings, which he was wrapp'd up in, burst asunder, and
the rest of the Dirt dry-d and crack'd in piec
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