our makeup is so weak , so awkwardly conceived ; our body is encumbered with organs that are always tired , always being strained like locks that are too complicated ; it lives like a plant and like an animal nourishing itself with difficulty on air , herbs , and flesh ; it is a brute machine which is a prey to maladies , to malformations , to decay ; it is broken-winded , badly regulated , simple and eccentric , ingeniously yet badly made , a coarse and yet a delicate mechanism , in brief , the outline of a being which might become intelligent and great .