bone of a circular figure,
which is placed on purpose on the joint, in order to fill it up, and
preserve it, when the bones fold, for the bending of the knee. Each
column or pillar has its pedestal, which is composed of various
inlaid parts, so well jointed together, that they can either bend,
or keep stiff, as occasion requires. The pedestal, I mean the foot,
turns, at a man's pleasure, under the pillar. In this foot we find
nothing but nerves, tendons, and little bones closely knit, that
this part may, at once, be either more supple or more firm,
according to various occasions. Even the toes, with their articles
and nails, serve to feel the ground a man walks on, to lean and
stand with more dexterity and nimbleness, the better to preserve the
equilibrium of the body, to rise, or to stoop. The two feet stretch
forward, to keep the body from falling that way, when it stoops or
bends. The two pillars are jointed together at the top, to bear up
the rest of the body, but are still divided there in such a manner,
that that joint affords man the conveniency of resting himself, by
sitting on the two biggest muscles of the body.

The body of the structure is proportioned to the height of the
pillars. It contains such parts as are necessary for life, and
which consequently ought to be placed in the centre, and shut up in
the securest place. Therefore two rows of ribs pretty close to one
another, that come out of the backbone, as the branches of a tree do
from its trunk, form a kind of hoop, to hide and shelter those noble
and tender parts. But because the ribs could not entirely shut up
that centre of the human body, without hindering the dilatation of
the stomach and of the entrails, they form that hoop but to a
certain place, below which they leave an empty space, that the
inside may freely distend and stretch, both for respiration and
feeding.

As for the backbone, all the works of man afford nothing so artfully
and curiously wrought. It would be too stiff, and too frangible or
brittle, if it were made of one single bone: and in such a case man
could never bend or stoop. The author of this machine has prevented
that inconveniency by forming vertebrae, which jointing one with
another make up a whole, consisting of several pieces of bones, more
strong than if it were of a single piece. This compound being
sometimes supple and pliant, and sometimes stiff, stands either
upright, or bends, in a moment, as a man p