It is Rational, from the Manifest Fitness of some things to Cosmical or Animal Ends or Vses, to Infer that they were Fram’d or Ordain’d in reference thereunto, by an Intelligent and Designing Agent.
Divers things have Incidentally been said in this Paper, especially in the first Section of it, and others may hereafter be Occasionally added, that may justly be imploy’d against that part of the Epicurean Hypothesis, which Ascribes the Origine of Things to Chance, and Rejects the Interest of a Deity, and the Designing of Ends, in the Production and Management of Natural things. But because I observe, not without grief, that of late years too many, otherwise perhaps Ingenious Men, have with the Innocent Opinions of Epicurus, embrac’d those Irreligious ones, wherein (as I was saying) the Deity and Providence are quite Excluded from having any Influence upon the Motions of Matter, all whose Productions are refer’d to the Casual Concourse of Atoms: For this Reason, I say, I thought it a part of my Duty, as well to the most Wise Author of Things, as to Their Excellent Contrivance, and Mutual Subserviency, to say Something, tho’ but briefly, yet distinctly and expresly, to shew, That, at least in the Structure and Nature of Animals, there are Things that argue a far Higher and Nobler Principle, than is Blind Chance. But, that I may do what I here intend, with as much brevity as I can, I will do little more than name some Particulars, that I have not observed to be so usually reflected on, to the Purpose for which I mention them. And I shall Confirm these Considerations but with One Instance, and That too, taken from a Sort of Parts that are as little Elaborate, and therefore seem to be as little Fit for my Purpose, as almost any in the Humane Body.
I will not now inculcate what has been delivered, and may be farther said, of that Exquisite Structure of the Bodies of Dead Animals, that is discoverable by the Knives of Anatomists; (tho’ I shall not Scrupulously forbear to touch lightly on a few things of that kind, that are requisite to my Purpose:) My present Design being, to set down very briefly a few Arguments, to Strengthen the Proposition lately delivered.
First then, I observe, That there seems to have been Care taken, that the Body of an Animal should be furnished, not only with all things that are Ordinarily Necessary and Convenient, but with some Superabundant Provision for Casualties. Thus, tho’ a Man may Live very well, and Propagate his Kind, (as many do,) tho’ he have but One Eye; yet Nature is wont to furnish Men with Two Eyes, that, if One be Destroyed or Diseased, the Other may suffice for Vision. And so, if One Ear grow Deaf, a Man may be Conversed with, by the help of the Other that remains Sound. In short, Nature has furnished Men with Double Parts of the same Kind, where that Duplicity may be highly Useful, and can be permitted without Incongruity to the rest of the Body. And this is the more Considerable, because in Other Parts Nature appears to Husband things, so, as to Shun doing things Superfluous: As within the Skull, some Vessels that would in other Parts of the Body have Double Coats like other Arteries, are much Thinner, almost like Veins; the Thickness of the Skull being ordinarily a sufficient Fence to them from External Injuries.
Another Argument, That divers Things that Nature does about Animals, are done with Design, may be taken from what Anatomists Observe of Those Parts of the Womb or the Foetus, that are to be found but at Certain Times, at which there is Need of them, and not at Others, when they would be Useless. Thus, when a Woman is with Child, the Vasa Vmbilicalia are produc’d, to be Channels either for the Blood or Alimental Juice and Spirits, that then ought to pass between the Womb and the Foetus; which is to be Nourished, either only or chiefly, by the Liquors derived to It through those Vessels, assisted by the Placenta, that Supply to it the want of Eating with the Mouth, which the Unborn Infant either does not at all, or does but very imperfectly, employ to Feed himself. And though, as long as he continues Imprison’d in the Womb-state, these Temporary Parts, (if I may so call them) continue with him; yet, as soon as he comes abroad into the World, these Umbilical Vessels, particularly the Two Arteries and the Vein, together with the Membranes they are wrapt up in, and Those (commonly call’d the Chorion and the Amnios,) that Involve the Foetus, are Thrown off, as Unnecessary to the Born Infant’s New State; and when It has quitted the Womb, are Expell’d after it, whence they are call’d the After-birth; there remaining only that Part of the Umbilical Vessels that lies within the Child’s Abdomen, between the Navel and the Liver, where its Use is Considerable, tho’ New; it Serving no more to convey Blood, or an Alimental Liquor, to and fro, but Degenerating into a Ligament.