It contains the brain, whose moist, soft, and spongy
substance is made up of tender filaments or threads woven together;
this is the centre of all the wonders we shall speak of afterwards.
The skull is regularly perforated, or bored, with exact proportion,
and symmetry, for, the two eyes, the two ears, the mouth, and the
nostrils. There are nerves destined for sensations, that exercise
and play in most of those pipes. The nose, which has no nerves for
its sensation, has a cribriform, or spongy bone, to let odours pass
on to the brain. Amongst the organs of these sensations the chief
are double, to preserve to one side what the other might happen to
be defective in by any accident. These two organs of the same
sensation are symmetrically placed either on the forepart or on the
sides, that man may use them with more ease to the right or to the
left or right against him--that is to say, towards the places his
joints direct his steps and all his actions. Besides, the
flexibility of the neck makes all those organs turn in an instant
which way soever he pleases. All the hinder part of the head, which
is the least able to defend itself, is therefore the thickest. It
is adorned with hair which at the same time serves to fortify the
head against the injuries of the air; and, on the other hand, the
hair likewise adorns the fore part of the head and renders the face
more graceful. The face is the fore part of the head, wherein the
principal sensations meet and centre with an order and proportion
that render it very beautiful unless some accident or other happen
to alter and impair so regular a piece of work.
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