On the adaptation of external nature to the physical condition of man : principally with reference to the supply of his wants, and the exercise of his intellectual faculties / by John Kidd.

  • Kidd, John, 1775-1851.
Date:
1833
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the adaptation of external nature to the physical condition of man : principally with reference to the supply of his wants, and the exercise of his intellectual faculties / by John Kidd. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    which give him dominion over the inhabitants as well of the water as of the air and earth : with his hand he constructs the lyre and lute, and the numerous instruments employed in the several arts of life; with the hand he erects altars and shrines to the im- mortal gods; and, lastly, by means of the same in- strument he bequeaths to posterity, in writing, the intellectual treasures of his own divine imagination: and hence we, who are living at this day, are en- abled to hold converse with Plato and Aristotle, and all the venerable sages of antiquity. In reasoning on the utility of the hand, as charac- teristic of the human species, Galen thus expresses himself:* Man being naturally destitute of corpo- real weapons, as also of any instinctive art, has re- ceived a compensation, first in the gift of that pecu- liar instrument the hand, secondly in the gift ol rea- son ; by the employment of which two gifts he arms and protects his body in every mode, and adorns his mind with the knowledge of every art. For since, had he been furnished with any natural weapon, he would have possessed the use of this alone on all oc- casions ; or had he been gifted with any instinctive art he would never have attained to the exercise ol other arts ; hence he was created destitute of those insulated and individual means and arts, which cha- racterize other animals; inasmuch as it is manifestly preferable to have the power of making use of va- rious means and various arts. Rightly, therefore, has Aristotle defined the hand to be the instrument antecedent to, or productive of, all other instruments: and rightly might we, in imitation of Aristotle, define reason, as opposed to instinct, to be the art antece- dent to, or productive of, all other arts. For as the hand, though itself no particular organ, is yet capa- ble of beinl adapted to all other organs, and is con- sequently antecedent to them; so reason, though itself no particular art, is yet capable of comprehend-