Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. II.djvu/42

52 heads are young and beautiful; the cheeks bloom, whilst the eye gazes in fixed unconsciousness. Round the throat of one young and beautiful female figure, a string of glass beads has been placed, and the hands play with the rich plaits of hair, whilst the whole form from the throat downward is opened—laid bare!—Is this in derision?—It produced on me, a painful impression. I lingered with sincere admiration, contemplating the upper portion of the human body, the structure of the veins, which like the many-branched crown of a tree, extend themselves over the head of the heart upon its crook between the lungs—two mysterious wings;—of the eye so beautifully projecting from its sheltering sockets. I endeavored to neutralize the effect produced by these opened bodies in the contemplation of their most significant, symbolic, and prophetic parts—because the whole of nature is indeed represented there, mountains and rivers, trees, flowers, and animals! even physically, man is a microcosm, a little world, in which the great world is represented or comprehended. The human body is a rich symbolism, which awakens great thoughts and presentiments! And I repeated to myself the prophetic words, man has a natural body; man has also a spiritual body—“It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory!”

I endeavored to behold the new man on a new earth, surrounded by all nature and all animal creation, glorified like him and through him. All this, however, was not sufficient; the forms of death and corruption had taken hold upon my mind; three excellent, but