Wisdom, which is the wealth of the mind, every one must acquire for himself, since it cannot, by hereditary right, descend from father to son. We are born with the faculty of acquiring wisdom, but not born wise. The use of the faculty produces knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom, but the abuse of it is shewn in insanity, foolishness, and ignorance. So again we are born with the faculty of speech, but not with speech itself; for this is acquired in after-life by the proper use of the faculty. By speech, the pleasures of life are increased; it is the means of improving each other in the wisdom that leads to heaven. Incalculable as are the pleasures of speech, yet because we speak with the utmost ease, we set it down as a common gift: but were we to contemplate the operations and changes which take place before the production of speech, we should be astonished beyond measure. In speech the mind is first engaged; for love or affection in the will, is as the hidden life of speech; this is immediately clothed in the understanding by a corresponding thought, which becomes the clothing of affection, and when affection and thought are thus matured, they are transmitted to others in speech. But before oral communication can be completed, many operations of the bodily organs must unite, and each perform its own part to effect the desired object. The lungs, various parts of the throat, the windpipe, tongue and lips, have all their work to do. First the air is drawn into the lungs, this fills the vessels called the bronchia[1] and lobes; they emit it into the trachea,
- ↑ The Bronchia, Bronchiæ, or Bronchi, now mean the two tubes which arise from the bifurcation of the trachea, and carry air into the lungs.
