b. It cannot be doubted but that the human head, here annexed, has something of the ox; though it appears to me rather to partake of the ox and lion, than the ox singly. The wrinkling of the forehead has something of the ox, but the nose has more of the lion; and the middle line of the mouth is essentially different, not only from the ox, but from all kinds of beasts. The nostrils of the human countenance are also completely human, and have nothing characteristic of, or peculiar to, beast. I shall say nothing farther concerning the chin, which is the peculiar excellence and honour of humanity. We must ever rejoice at the remembrance of our species, when we contemplate the unattainable advantages which the Author of our nature has imparted to humanity.

II.

AMONG a thousand million of men, where might two be found so resembling the brute animal? And, even if they could, how immensely superior would they still be to the ox, deprived as the latter is of forehead, nose, chin, and back of the head! The mouth in the first profile is too human for the exaggerated ox eye. In other respects, the countenance has brutal rudeness, stupid strength, immoveable obstinacy, with an incapacity for improvement, affection, or sensibility.

157

E.

ON THE SCULLS OF BEASTS.

A GENERAL difference between man and beast is particularly conspicuous in the structure of the bones.

The head of man is placed erect on the spinal bone; his whole form is as the foundation pillar for that arch in which heaven should be reflected, supporting that scull by which, like the firmament, it is encircled. This cavity for the brain constitutes the greatest part of the head. All our sensations, as I may say, ascend and descend above the jaw-bones, and collect themselves upon the lips. How does the eye, that most eloquent of organs, stand in need, if not of words, at least, of the friendly cooperation, or angry constraint of the cheeks, and all the intervening shades, to express, or rather to stammer, the strong internal ṣensations of man!

How directly the reverse of this is the formation of beasts! The head is only attached to the spine. The brain, the extremity of the spinal marrow, has no greater extent than is necessary for animal life, and the conducting of a creature wholly sensual, and