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    the same bone at once . Flat bones that have their fibres directed to all sides , be ^ in to ossify in a middle point but those that have their fibres nearly parallel , begin in a transverse middle line , that is in the middle of each fibre ; so also do the cylindrical bones in a middle ring , from which they shoot forth to their extremities . From

    every view of the subject , it will appear that ossification is an animal process , and that the bone is a regularly organized substance , whose form subsists , from the first , even in the soft fibres , which in time are changed into cartilage and from cartilage into the solid and hard substance intended

    as the prop-work for the whole fabric . It is also clear that bone partakes by its vessels of the general changes with all the other parts of the body ; the absorbents removing or carrying away the old and wasted parts , while the arteries are constantly depositing a new substance , and thus it lives ,

    grows , and is enabled to repair its injuries . In the early stages of the process , ossification is at first rapid : it then advances slowly , and is not completed in the human body till the twentieth ye&r . The bones of an animal connected

    together is called a skeleton : it is a natural skeleton when they are kept together , as in the living state , by their own ligaments , but artificial if they are joined with wire , strings , &c . The human skeleton is usually divided for the purposes of description , into the head , the trunlt the superior and inferior extremities .

    By the head is meant all that part which is placed above the first bone of the neck , and comprehends the bones of the skull and those of the face . Tlie skull , or as it is sometimes calkd the brain-case , consists of eight bones , which form a vaulted cavity % lodging and defending the brain . A hese bones ' do not at first meet and

    J ^ i te , but at length they are joined to gether , by what anatomists call sutures , which are indented , or what {!! ners ca 11 d <> ve-tailed seams . The ^ s of the skull ossify from the centr eto the circumference , their fibres

    spreading and extending on every * , till at last they meet , and shootln in between each other form the ^ ture or saw-like line of union . The « aom of the Creator is evidently ^ Played in hastening the ossification

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    of these bor > Qs by beginning the process , in many points , and the same law is observed in healing a broken bone , as well as in the first formation of the skull . Had the process ^ of ossification in the head heen confined

    to one or a few points oply , it must necessarily have been slow and imperfect , and the brain would have continued a long time exposed to injuries from without ; but , instead of this , we find a distinct system of ossification going forward , at the sattie

    time ,, m each of the bones composing the skull , all spreading from their centres , and approaching each other to make one perfect bony case for the brain . The imperfectly ossified state of the skull appears better suited to the growth and increase of the brain , than if its ossification had been

    complete at once ; as in this case the flex * - ibility of the ' skull must be less and its capacity not so easily enlarged by increasing * the bulk of the brain . There are other reasons for this structure which display the wisdom and intelligence of the Creator , but to which it is not necessary , in thi * work , to refer .

    The face comprises the irregular pile of bones composing the fore and under part of the head , and it constitutes the bony portion or some of the organs of sense , affording sockets for the eyes , an arch for the nose , and a support for the palate . It form * also the basis of the human

    trnvsiosr-CA'lOV L 11 V < JlSdOAO VA l / AJIV . A-I 14 JLBICLKJL * JXAJ -JlVC nomy , and enters into the composition of the mouth . The face may be divided into the upper and lower jaws . The upper or superior jaw is bounded above by the transverse suture , which joins the bones of the . face to those of the skull : it consists of six

    bones on each side , and of a thirteenth placed in the middle , and of sixteen teeth * The thirteen bones are as folio vv : ( 1 . ) Two nasal * vVhich form the root and arch of the nose . ( 2 ) Two ungular , so called from their resembling the nail of one * s finger , these are sometimes called ossa lachrymalia .

    as each of them has a deep perpendicular Canal for lodging a part of the lachrymal sac and duct , by which the tears ar £ cohv <* yed into the nose . ( S ) The two <» 4 teA-bonesy which ' forirt the upper part of the cheeks , and constitute a distinguishing feature in th £ human countenance . ( 4 ) Th £ tfv ' o maxillary bdiae ^ Which msfte tfre mo st

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    Natural Theology . No . VIL—Mechanical Arrangement of the Body . 4 $ 5

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1815, page 435, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1762/page/35/