check on the cultivation of waste lands in particular? And so long as this system continues, to say that we give proper encouragement to agricultural improvements I consider as an insult to plain common sense.' It would be an easy matter to carry this argument to greater length and to illustrate it by many examples, but to every reflecting mind it is so obvious that I will not lengthen this essay by any farther remarks, but proceed to my last proposition, which was to consider the effects of the tithe system in a political point of view, or rather to make some observations on the general effect which the present laws and regulations must naturally When the seeds of discontent are sown, unless the cause is completely removed, they will continue to grow and increase in strength till some dreadful convulsion produce a change, if not always a cure. For the truth of the above observations I can appeal to the united voice of history down to our present most eventful times. That the present system of tithes has a natural tendency to produce evils of the greatest magnitude appears to me clearly evident, and I can only hope that some effectual remedy may be applied to avert the evil before it is too late. SIR, produce on the minds of the people. As I have already proved that the collection of tithes, particularly from the lower orders of the people, has a most baneful effect on their religion and morals; and I believe no maxim is more generally admitted than that the strength and stability of every kingdom depend on the morals of the people and their attachment to the government. But how is it possible for pure morality to be maintained amongst a people whose minds are almost constantly in a state of irritation against those appointed to be their instructors? I must likewise observe, that the united affections or attachment of a people can only be maintained from a thorough conviction that their government or governors are constantly acting towards them with the tender care and solicitude of a parent. I am well aware that circumstances sometimes occur when the people will make great exertions and submit to many sacrifices, even at the very time that they feel much op. pression from their government; this is sometimes produced from an immediate sense of some impending danger, or from that innate love of their country which is happily impressed on the minds of the people; but all these will only be of a temporary nature. I think it is here necessary to remark, that, if we consider the check which the tithe system has on the improvements of waste lands, and add to this the enormous expense of obtaining an act of parliament for inclosures, I really think any impartial person will say, that in place of giving encouragement to cultivate waste lands we have laid an embargo on every exertion of the kind. JAMES GRAHAM. Islington, Sept. 2, 1815. I am, Sir, yours respectfully, SIR, To the Rev. J. EVANS. Raunds, near Thrapston, Northamptonshire. Having read in the 79th page of your useful Sketch the brief statement of the affair of Calvin and Servetus, I I should be happy to see noticed, in any future edition. the following particulars, which tend to relieve the character of that eminent reformer from the great weight of odium incessantly and almost exclusively cast upon him. 1. Calvin had forewarned Servetus of his danger before he came to 2. He was convicted by due process Geneva-" forewarned-forearmed." of law and condemned, not by Calvin, but by the laws and magistrates of the city. 3. Calvin tried to obtain for him a mitigation of punishment. 4. The reformers stood upon very delicate ground-every heresy was laid to their charge with a view to their prejudice, and Servetus being a Socinian it was Compulsory in them to give their verdict against him. 5. To the persecuting spirit of the times the greatest blame is attributable: and the mode of his death it was the error and infection of those days, when the nature and foundation of religious liberty was not understood. Lastly, several eminent divines approved of the action after it was done, viz. Bucer, colampadius, Farel, Beza, and the humane Melancthon himself, in a letter addressed by him to Calvin on the subject. Vide Sennebier's account of Calvin's treatment of Servetus, in Dr. Erskine's Sketches and Hints of Church History, vol. ii. 277, and Bayle's Dictionary, art. Calvin. I think the above will suffice to clear off a little obloquy which the Papists always used against the Reformers (in which they have been too hastily followed by others), and shew that the disgrace of burning Servetus (an act which makes us shudder in these enlightened times) was at least not peculiar to Calvin. I am, Sir, yours very truly, 31 Aug. 1815. ON W. H. N. SIR, Sept. 3, 1815. N opening your last number, I perceive that I must not yet repose like "him that putteth off the harness." Three more antagonists appear, and others may be advancing. I shall not regret their number, even though they "contend earnestly," while "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal." V. F., who has often communicated valuable information to your pages, first claims my attention. That signature, originally adopted, if I guess aright, as a grateful record of filial affection, is now honourably employed to vindicate the memory of a friend, unjustly, as I think, supposed to have been misrepresented by me. I respect the motives of V. F. too much not to avoid scrupulously any expression which might hurt his feelings, though he has borne rather hard upon me. Were he a Dictator, I fear he would too readily degrade me from the only nobility of which I believe either of is is tenacious, the rank of noble Bereans, because, though I inquired whether the things were so, the inquiry was not conducted according to his judgment. Yet V. F. will allow it to have produced the best possible result, in a public refutation of a public censure; a result which I am glad to have occasioned, for I never had the slightest ill-will to the memory of Dr. Enfield, who was indeed a stranger to me, but to whose various writings I have been indebted for much valuable knowledge, familiarized by the ease and perspicuity of his style. To his posthumous Sermons I had no immediate access, nor any distinct recollection of their subjects; when, looking for another article in Mr. Chalmers's Biography, I accidentally fell upon his censure of their tendency. That censure I should have known to be unjust, had I then possessed the information which I thank Vindex for affording me; though recollecting only the Sermons published in 1769, I confess that I feared such a censure might have been too justly incurred. As to the point for which alone I first mentioned that publication, I am quite satisfied with V. F.'s estimate of his friend's "juvenile compositions." I have often read and admired them as "beautiful essays," though I would rather have found in "Sermons for the Use of Families" a developement of Christian doctrines, accompanied, as such should always be, with a moral application. V. F. must allow me to say that, as often happens among rival forensic advocates, he has proved for me my case. Scrutator described a number of aged Unitarian ministers who had spent their youth, according to his representation, in opposing popular errors, like our missionaries, not merely negatively, but by contending, through evil report and good report, for what we esteem the truth as it is in Jesus. I demurred to this statement, and instanced the Sermons of Preachers among those called Rational Christians, especially the small volume by Dr. Enfield in 1769. That volume V. F. is constrained to admit to be a proof in point, for he finds himself obliged to pass from " the juvenile compositions" to the "later discourses" of his friend, before he finds any which he can satisfactorily advise me "to read and study" that I may become "a more enlightened Unitarian," though I am conscious that any of the Discourses of 1 Dr. Enfield, practically applied, could not fail to make me "what is," as V. F. justly observes, " of much greater consequence, a better man." I have occasion to trouble your respectable correspondent from Norwich with only a short reply. He brings forward against my opponent-statements most honourable to his congregation and those who have served them, in the Christian ministry. But I cannot perceive that there is really any question between Mr. Taylor and Bereus, whose " heavy charge," should he examine the juvenile volume so often mentioned, he may find not entirely groundless. That Dr. Enfield soon corrected his views of the Christian ministry, and made the New Testament more exclusively “the man of his counsel" till he had become in 1785 all that Mr. Taylor knew and justly admired, is highly creditable to his piety and discernment, but no refutation of my statement respecting the Christian deficiencies of the volume published in 1769. That volume I had never noticed in the manner which has called forth so much animadversion, had I not been of opinion that the story of the dead, comprehending their virtues and failings, the "fears of the brave and follies of the wise," was their bequest to the living, and that it became the duty of every one to claim his life-interest in that valuable legacy whenever circumstances supplied the occasion for its honourable use. BEREUS. Natural Theology, No. IX. side is somewhat concave, to fit on the convexity of the ribs on which it is placed, though it is not in immediate contact with them, but separated from them by layers of muscular flesh, by means of which this bone may glide upon the trunk and increase the motion of the limb which is suspended from it. The scapula is not articulated with any bone of the trunk which would impede its motions, but is securely held to the trunk by those very muscles which perform its movements. The arm-bone is articulated with the scapula, and a high ridge called the spine rises from the back or external surface of the scapula, and traversing its whole length runs forward to terminate in that high point or promontory which forms the tip of the shoulder, and overhangs and defends the joint. This projecting point of the scapula is called the acromion process; it almost makes a part of the shoulder-joint, preventing luxation upwards. There is another process which stands out from this angle of the scapula, and is intended to secure the joint and prevent dislocation. The shoulder-blade is in some respects a very singular bone, appearing to be made expressly for its own purpose, and independently of every other reason. In such quadrupeds as have no collar-bones, which are by far the greater number, the shoulder-blade has no bony communication with the trunk, either by joint, or process, or in any other way. It does not grow to, or out of, any other bone of the trunk. It does not apply to any other bone of the trunk: it forms in strict fact, no part of the skeleton. It is bedded in the flesh, attached only to the muscles. NACH superior extremity consists. It is a foundation-bone for the arm laid and hand. The shoulder includes two bones, the clavicle and scapula: the former, called also the collar-bone, extends across from the tip of the shoulder to the upper part of the breast-bone, and serves to the shoulder as an arch supporting and preventing it from falling in and forwards upon the breast. The two collar bones also make the hands strong antagonists to each other, which without them they could not have been. is The scapula or shoulder-blade broad and flattish, and serves as a base to the whole superior limb. Its under fication. The lower limbs connect themselves at the hip with bones which form part of the skeleton; but this connexion, in the upper limbs, being wanting, a basis, on which the arm might be articulated, was to be supplied by a detached ossification for the purpose. The ARM is divided into two parts, which are articulated or joined at the elbow. The upper part, or os humeri, retains the name of arm properly so called, and the lower part between the elbow and wrist is called the fore-arm. The arm, or that part extending from the shoulder to the elbow, has only one bone, which is articulated at the shoulder by a round head, and connected to it by ligaments, which inclose the whole joint as in a bag. That the joint may have the freest motion the hollow for receiving the arm-bone is extremely shallow: the end of the bone and the hollow are lined with cartilage, and the latter is constantly moistened with an oily fluid supplied for the purpose. The lower end of the arm-bone is articulated with the bones of the fore-arm at the elbow, carrying them with it in all its motions. The fore-arm is composed of two bones, called the ulna and the radius. The ulna, so named from its having been used as a measure, is the longer of the two, and is extended from the wrist on the side of the little finger to the point of the elbow. The radius is but partially articulated with the end of the arm-bone, it carries the wrist with a rotatory motion, and for this purpose it is so articulated with the ulna at the ends, the only points where these bones meet, that it turns upon it in half circles. There is in these bones much mechanical contrivance. For the perfect use of the limb two motions are wanted; a motion at the elbow backward and forward, called a reciprocal motion; and a rotatory motion, by which the palm of the hand may be turned upwards. To manage this, the fore-arm, as we have seen, consists of two bones, lying by the side of each other, but touching only towards the ends. One of these only is joined to the arm at the elbow, and the other is joined to the hand at the wrist. The former, by means of a hinge joint at the elbow, swings backward and forward, carrying with it the other bone and the whole fore-arm, and in turning the hand upwards that other bone to which the hand is attached rolls upon the first, by the help of a groove near each end of the bone, to which is fitted a corresponding prominence in the other. If both bones had been joined to the upper arm at the elbow, or both to the hand at the wrist, the thing could not have been performed. The first was to be at liberty at one end, and the second at the other, by which means the two actions may be performed together. The great bone which carries the fore-arm may be swinging upon its hinge at the elbow, at the same moment that the lesser bone which carries the hand may be turning round it in the grooves. The hand comprehends all from the joint of the wrist to the ends of the fingers; its back part is convex for greater firmness and strength, and it is concave before for containing more conveniently such bodies as we take hold of. Anatomists divide the hand into the carpus or wrist-bones; the metacarpus or bones that stand upon the wrist, and serve as a basis to the fingers; and the fingers, consisting each of three joints. The carpus or wrist is composed of eight bones, disposed in two rows, so formed and arranged as to allow motion on all sides; and by a quick succession of these motions the hand may be moved in a circle. The lower row is articulated with the bones of the metacarpus, to which they serve as a solid foundation or centre. The metacarpus consists of four long round bones for sustaining the fingers: they are founded on the wrist-bones, but depart from them as from a centre in a radiated form, in order to allow the fingers a freer play. The thumb and fingers are each composed of three bones. The bones of the thumb are stronger than those of the fingers, because the former are intended to counteract the latter. All the bones of the fingers are placed in three rows, called phalanges. The first set is articulated with the bones of the metacarpus and consists of the largest bones; the second stands out from the first, and the last row or phalanx grows out from the second and completes the fingers. The different bones composing the fingers are all regularly jointed with each other, and in such a manner as to allow not only a hinge joint, but also a rotatory motion. The human hand has always been an object of admiration to the philosopher. Thus Galen, in speaking of the uses of the several parts of the body, says, "As man is the wisest of all animals, so the hands are the organs most suited to a being endowed with wisdom. For man is not wise because he has hands, as was the opinion of Anaxagoras; but Nature gave him hands, because he was endowed with wisdom to make use of them." Th same philosopher inquires, Whether the hand has not the best possible conformation? And in speaking of the different VOL. X. lengths of the fingers, he says, "the reason of this mechanism is, that the tops of the fingers may come to an equality." When they lay hold of and grasp circularly any large body, they meet as it were in the circumference of a circle. Each of the lower extremities comprises the thigh, the leg and the foot, and bears some analogy in the structure and distribution of its parts with the upper extremities. The thigh, like the arm, has but one bone, which is the longest in the whole body, and the largest and strongest of all the round bones. The articulation of the thigh-bone with the trunk is secured by two strong ligaments; one of these grows out of the articulating cavity, and is inserted directly into the head of the bone: the other passes over the whole joint, embraces the head of the thigh-bone as in a purse, and is inserted into this bone at its neck. This bone serves not only as a fixed point for performing several motions of the trunk, which it sustains like a pillar, but it also affords a base for the leg to carry on its own motions, and is principally concerned in walking, running, &c. The leg is composed of three bones, two small ones, named the tibia and fibula, and a small one placed at the knee. The tibia, so called from its resemblance to an old musical pipe, is the long triangular bone at the inside of the leg; it runs nearly in a straight line from the thigh-bone to the ankle, supporting the whole weight of the body, and has its upper end spread into a large surface for receiving the lower end of the thigh-bone and forming the knee-joint. This articulation admits flexion and extension, and is secured by very strong ligaments, to compensate for the weakness of its bony structure, arising from the flatness of the articulating surfaces. At the sides of the joint the capsular ligament is peculiarly strong. The contrivance of a ligament within the cavity of the joint, and directly connecting the two bones, is improved upon by a striking adaptation to the necessities of the case. Instead of one, there are two ligaments that cross each other, and, by a varied tension of each in different positions of the joint, they check its motions and secure its safety. Moreover, on the top of the tibia are placed two moveable cartilages, of a crescent-like form. Their outward edges are thick, while their inward borders are extremely thin, and they thus form a hollow in which the protuberances of the thighbone play with security, and with a facility that is much increased by their loose connexions. The lower end of the tibia is articulated with the foot, and forms the inner ankle. The fibula is a long slender bone placed at the outside of the tibia: its head is connected to that bone by ligaments, but does not reach high enough to enter into the composition of the knee-joint; it lies along-side the tibia, somewhat like a splint, increasing the strength of the leg, and, like the double bone of the fore-arm, also completing its form. This bone descends to the foot, where it forms the external ankle, and is connected to the tibia, along its whole length, by a broad thin ligament. The knee-pan is a small thick bone, of an oval or rather triangular form. The base of the triangle is turned upwards, to receive the tendons of the great muscles which extend the leg; the pointed part of this triangle is turned downwards, and is tied by a very strong ligament to the upper part of the tibia, just under the knee. The patella or knee-pan is intended as'a lever; for by removing the direction of the extensor muscles of the leg farther from the centre of motion, it enables them to act more powerfully in extending the limb: to facilitate its motions, its internal surface is smooth, covered with cartilage, and fitted to the pulley of the thigh-bone, upon which it moves. The foot, like the hand, is divided into three parts, viz. the tarsus or instep, the metatarsus and the toes. The tarsus or instep is composed of seven bones, firmly bound together by strong ligaments, and forming an arch for supporting the body. The metatarsus is composed of five bones, which correspond in their general character with the metacarpal bones of the hand. The bases of these bones rest upon the tarsus or instep, while their extremities support the toes. When we stand, the fore-ends of these bones and the heel-bone are our only supporters. Each of the toes, like the fingers, consists of three bones, except the great toe, which has only two bones. In walking, the toes bring the centre of gravity perpendicular to the advanced foot. |
