tage, and with the least risk of injury? In such a case machines are to be selected or invented for the due application of the force; and even though such instruments should be obvious, the use of them may be attended with disastrous results, if attention be not given to their mechanical effects. A pulley might be used, which by a very slight application of manual -force would tear off a limb. The want of mechanical knowledge in the surgeon, cannot be defended by saying that he may resort to the engineer; unless the engineer be also an anatomist, he cannot assist him; to contrive the machine, it it necessary to know minutely the structure, form, and strength of the parts to which it is to be applied, as well as the exact quantity of motion or force which must be produced. But, indeed, the necessity of mechanical knowledge in the selection, invention, construction, and use of surgical instruments, and in all surgical operations and inquiries, is so very obvious, that it is almost an insult to your understandings to dwell upon the subject; and it is lamentable to think that even an illusion to it should be called for at this time and in this place.

'If the mere skeleton exhibit such multifarious illustrations of physical principles, what shall we say, when the sinews, tendons, muscles, nerves, veins, arteries, integuments, skin, and all the concomitant apparatus of the organized body are added? The mere skeleton is a machine, it is true, but it is one, whose properties and functions are explicable on the statical and dynamical principles of what is technically called an invariable system, the most simple form in which bodies can be mechanically considered. The sinews, tendons, muscles, and nerves, on the other hand, are variable systems, require the application of different reasoning, and fall under a different branch of the science. Partial rigidity, imperfect flexibility, tension, contraction, and elasticity, are here to be considered. It is in the last degree absurd, to suppose that we can have any distinct ideas of the powers and the action of those parts of the body, without having at least a general acquaintance with that part of the Physics which treats of the forces which I have just mentioned. It would seem almost an offence against the common sense of my hearers, were I to insist on proving that the action of the vascular system involves hydrodynamical principles; that the organs of respiration are pneumatical; that the oral and vocal organs are constructed on the principles of acoustics; that the principles on which the structure of the eye depends, cannot be intelligible without learning optics; that capillary attraction determines, in a great degree, the functions of all the pores, and of those delicate tubes called hairs. In fact, it is impossible to

look for a moment to the animal body, or any part of it, without observing the illustration of some scientific principle; every joint is a physical theorem, and every limb is a volume of mechanical philosophy.'-pp. 26-30.

The objection which some have made to the study of natural science, and especially against considering the human body as a machine, is very ingeniously and satisfactorily answered by our author.

6

'In mechanical philosophy,' he observes, the superficial physiologist will learn how unphilosophical it is to assume, that matter in different arrangements obeys different and inconsistent laws, and he will become convinced that such an hypothesis is as untenable as it is unnecessary. The zealous professor of a pure religion will be taught, that so far from mechanical reasoning having a tendency to prove that the body derives the principle of life from its own mechanism, all the anologies take a diametrically opposite direction, and demonstratively establish the impossibility of such a phenomenon.

That you may not receive this assurance merely as a dictum, let us consider what constitutes a Machine, whence it derives its virtue, and what are its objects? A machine is a combination of parts composed of material substances, solid or fluid, or both, as the case may be, having certain definite forms and arrangements, and possessing certain capabilities of transmitting force or motion. Its objects are to move, press, sustain, combine, divide, or otherwise modify, those substances to which it is applied. But the machine itself, merely as such, cannot accomplish this. It possesses not its own principle of motion; it cannot urge its own levers, or stretch its own cords, or turn its own wheels, or put its own fluids into circulation. The application of some efficient cause extrinsic to, and altogether distinct from the machine itself, is necessary to accomplish this. This extrinsic cause, whatever it be, from which the machine derives its motion and efficacy, is called the prime mover. point on which I desire now to fix your attention is, that this prime mover is altogether distinct from, and independent of, the machine; that it possesses, or at least may possess, no property in common with it, and that its existence or non-existence is not decided by the existence or non-existence of the machine. The machine may be broken, destroyed, worn by age, or otherwise disabled, and yet the prime mover may still retain its original energy. Thus a steam-engine is moved by fire, a mill by wind or water the steam-engine may deteriorate by age, and the mill be broken to pieces by accident, and yet the fire, and

The

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the wind, and the water, will still preserve their powers. Now, these observations, which I think correctly describe a Machine, may, mutatis mutandis, be applied to the Human Body. This body is also a combination of parts composed of material substances, solid and fluid, having certain definite forms and arrangement, possessing certain capabilities of motion and force," destined and admirably adapted to obey the dictation of its Prime Mover, the living principle, the immaterial spirit. So long as it pleases the great Engineer who constructed this body, to permit its connexion with that intellectual spirit, so long will it obey the impulses which it receives; nor does the decay of this Bodily Machine infer any corresponding decay in the moving Spirit, any more than the wear and tear of a Steam-engine proves the destruction of the principle of Heat which gives it motion. Neither are we to infer, because this Bodily Machine in its obedience to the Vital Spirit acts mechanically, and follows all the ordinary properties and laws of Matter, that, therefore, the Spirit which moves it partakes of the nature of Matter, or is amenable to its laws, any more than we should infer that the levers, wheels, pumps, chains, cords, and valves of a Steamengine are regulated by the laws which govern Heat. On the contrary, I submit it to the candor of the most sceptical materialist, whether the whole tendency of analogy does not directly overthrow the hypothesis that the principle of life is organic. We are told in THAT BOOK, of which both Christian and Jew equally acknowledge the authority, however they may otherwise differ, that, in the first instance, "God formed man of the dust of the ground;" that is to say, he created that curious and beautiful machine, the organized Human Body-but that body was still an inert structure without the principle of motion or spontaneity; a more noble work remained to be performed, the immaterial spirit, the divine essence, the prime mover of this machine was to be applied, and accordingly we learn that God "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life," and then, and not till then, MAN BECAME A LIVING SOUL.".

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-Pp. 31-33.

Dr Lardner has already done much, by several very valuable works, to improve elementary instruction; and he is still largely engaged as an author. His talents, and learning, and indefatigable industry, and practical acquaintance with the business of instruction, are such as eminently qualify him for the conspicuous station which he holds; and the greatest good may be expected from his labors.

THE CHRISTIAN EXAMINER.

NO. XXXVI.

NEW SERIES-NO. VI.

JANUARY, 1830.

ART. I.-A Discourse concerning the Influence of America on the Mind, being the Annual Oration delivered before the American Philosophical Society, at the University in Philadelphia, October 18, 1823. By C. J. INGERSOLL. Philadelphia, A. Small. 8vo. pp. 67.

We shall use the work prefixed to this article, as ministers are sometimes said to use their texts. We shall make it a point to start from, not the subject of our remarks. Our purpose is to treat of the importance and means of a National Literature. The topic seems to us a great one, and to have intimate connexions with morals and religion, as well as with all our public interests. Our views will be given with great freedom, and if they serve no other purpose than to recommend the subject to more general attention, one of our principal objects will be accomplished.

We begin with stating what we mean by national literature. We mean the expression of a nation's mind in writing. We mean the production among a people of important works in philosophy, and in the departments of imagination and taste. We mean the contribution of new truths to the stock of human knowledge. We mean the thoughts of profound and original minds, elaborated by the toil of composition and fixed and made immortal in books. We mean the manifestation of a nation's intellect in the only forms by which it can multiply itself at home, and send itself abroad. We mean that a nation shall take a place, by its authors, among the lights of the world. It will be seen, that we include under literature all the writings of 35

VOL. VII.-N. S. VOL. II. NO. III.

superior minds, be the subjects what they may. We are aware that the term is often confined to compositions which relate to human nature, and human life; that it is not generally extended to physical science; that mind, not matter, is regarded as its main subject and sphere. But the worlds of matter and mind are too intimately connected to admit of exact partition. All the objects of human thought flow into one another. Moral and physical truths have many bonds and analogies, and whilst the former are the chosen and noblest themes of literature, we are not anxious to divorce them from the latter, or to shut them up in a separate department. The expression of superior mind in writing, we regard then, as a nation's literature. We regard its gifted men, whether devoted to the exact sciences, to mental and ethical philosophy, to history and legislation, or to fiction and poetry, as forming a noble intellectual brotherhood, and it is for the purpose of quickening all to join their labors for the public good, that we offer the present plea in behalf of a national literature.

No

To show the importance which we attach to the subject, we begin with some remarks on what we deem the distinction which a nation should most earnestly covet. We believe that more distinct apprehensions on this point are needed, and that for want of them, the work of improvement is carried on with less energy, consistency, and wisdom, than may and should be brought to bear upon it. The great distinction of a country, then, is, that it produces superior men. Its natural advantages are not to be disdained. But they are of secondary importance. No matter what races of animals a country breeds. The great question is, does it breed a noble race of men. matter what its soil may be. The great question is, how far is it prolific of moral and intellectual power. No matter how stern its climate is, if it nourish force of thought and virtuous purpose. These are the products by which a country is to be tried, and institutions have value only by the impulse which they give to the mind. It has sometimes been said, that the noblest men grow where nothing else will grow. This we do not believe, for mind is not the creature of climate or soil. But were it true, we should say, that it were better to live among rocks and sands, than in the most genial and productive region on the face of the earth.

As yet, the great distinction of a nation on which we have insisted, has been scarcely recognised. The idea of forming a