Galen : two bibliographical demonstrations in the library of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, 9th December, 1891, and 30th March, 1893 / by James Finlayson.

  • Finlayson, James, 1840-1906.
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Galen : two bibliographical demonstrations in the library of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, 9th December, 1891, and 30th March, 1893 / by James Finlayson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    animates the body, and of which the body is merely the organ ; and on this account the component parts of animals differ according to the nature of this principle; for some animals are bold and fierce, others are timid and gentle ; some are gregarious, and co-operate for their mutual sustenance and defence; others are solitary, and avoid the society of their fellows; but all have a form or body accommo- dated to their natural dispositions and habits. Thus the lion has powerful fangs and claws ; the hare has swiftness of foot, but in other points is defenceless. And the fitness of this arrangement is obvious; for those weapons with which the lion is furnished are as appropriate to his nature as they would be useless to the timid hare; whose safety, depending entirely on flight, requires that swiftness of foot for which she is so remarkable. But to man, the only animal that partakes of divine intelligence, the Creator has given in lieu of every other natural weapon or organ of defence, that instrument, the hand; an instrument applicable to every art and occasion, as well of peace as of war. Man, therefore, wants not a hoof or horn, or any other natural weapon ; inasmuch as he is able with his hand to grasp a much more effective weapon, the sword or spear. Besides which, natural weapons can be employed only in close conflict; while some of the weapons employed by man, as javelins or arrows, are even more effectual at a distance. And, again, though man be inferior to the lion in swiftness, yet by his dexterity and skill he breaks in to his use a swifter animal, the horse; mounted on whose back he can escape from or pursue the lion, or attack him at every advantage. He is enabled, moreover, by means of this instrument to clothe himself with armour of various kinds, or to entrench himself within camps or fenced cities. Whereas, were his hands encumbered with any natural armour, he would be unable to employ them for the fabrication of those instruments and means, which give him such a decided advantage over all the other animals of creation. Nor have we yet enumerated the most important of those privileges which the hand imparts to man. With this, he weaves the garment that protects him from the summer's heat or winter's cold ; with this, he forms the various furniture of nets and snares 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