any that I have seen in Europe for their Furs are very fine and dear their very Fur Caps cost sometimes 20 or 30 Guineas they change the Fashion of making their Clothes as often as our Western Countries do The King was a well spoken Prince of very easy Access and extream civil and had most of the good Qualities requisite in a Gentleman he was not only well vers'd in all Military Affairs but likewise in all Polite and Scholastick Learning besides his own Tongue the Sclavonian he understood the Latin French Italian German and Turkish Languages he delighted much in Natural History and in all the parts of Physick he us'd to reprimand the Clergy for not admitting into the University and Schools the Modern Philosophy he lov'd to hear Persons discourse of those Matters and had a particular Talent to set People about him very artfully by the Ears that by their Disputes he might be diverted as hapned often in my time especially once when I was undesignedly concerned my self the King being at Dinner and having the Bishops of Posnania Plosko Vilna and other Divines about him particularly Father Vota an ingenious Jesuit the King ask'd me in Latin What part of the Body I thought the Soul was in I was willing to decline talking of that Subject and told the King That being a Physician my chief Enquiry was about the Body and that the Divines there present were able to satisfy his Majesty The King reply'd That since the Soul has an Influence upon the Body and since the Passions of the Mind as Anger and Fear breed Fevers and other Distempers it was necessary that the Physicians should examine the Soul in that respect as well as the Body I answer'd That Physicians did enquire into the Nature of Passions and observ'd that there was such an Influence of the Soul upon the Body and of the Body upon the Soul that alter'd the thoughts of the one as well as the Operations of the other but that the Soul being a Substance invisible and without Extension it was impossible for Physicians to conceive the Nature of it themselves or explain it to others as they do that of the Body which they take into pieces by Anatomy and resolve into its minutest Elements by Chymistry that the Physicians only agree in the main that the supreme Author of things has establish'd such Laws between the Soul and the Body which make a mutual Correspondence between them that as for the Seat of the Soul I might perhaps differ from the Divines then present and consequently oppose the common Doctrine of the Schools for they hold with Aristotle that the Soul is entire in all the Body and wholly in every part of the Body which was impossible to conceive for if the Soul was entire in every part of the Body there would be as many Souls in the Body as there are Parts since it is impossible that the self-same Substance tho an indivisible Spirit can ever be in two places at the same time besides the Soul can't be but where it does think and every one finds by Experience that his Thought is not in his Hands nor Feet but is conscious to himself that his Thought is in his Head and that consequently the Soul must be only in the Brain which is the Seat of Sensation and the Origin of all the Nerves which are the Organs of Perception and Motion Father Vota being alarm'd at this Doctrine which seem'd altogether new in that part of Europe said That if the Soul was only in the Head the rest of the Body would be dead since the receiv'd Opinion was that the Soul was the Life of the whole Body and that to enliven the whole Body the Soul must be wholly present in every part of it This drew on a longer Dispute than I expected for I answer'd That the Rational Soul was not the Life of the Body but the Blood only and the Animal Spirits and that this Blood and Spirits circulated equally all over the Body and gave it its natural Heat and Motion which is properly its Life and that this Circulation of the Blood and Spirits could not possibly depend on the Rational Soul because it was an involuntary Motion formed by the Mechanic Structure of the Body and by the natural Impulse of the Heart which is the Primum Mobile of the whole Machine and that tho they all held not only in Poland but in other Countries that the Rational Soul perform'd every minute Action in the Body yet this Opinion was irreconcilable with the free Will of the Mind which they all admitted for since they allow that whatever the Soul does not only it is conscious of it but likewise does it freely without being necessitated thereto when as it is evidently obvious to every one that the vital Motions in our Bodies I mean the Motion of the Heart and that of Respiration with the Peristaltic Motion of the Stomach and Guts are perform'd naturally with such Mechanism that the Soul can't stop them no nor as much as hasten or retard them and that the Soul is not at all conscious of them for if we think of any Object or not think at all as when we are asleep or in an Apoplex those vital Motions go on equally the same The Bishop of Posnania who was bred up in his Youth a Physician seem'd to speak in favour of this Opinion as did likewise some others of the Company which made the Jesuit very angry insomuch that he acquainted them in a kind of Passion That neither the King nor they ought to hearken to any Discourse contrary to the receiv'd Opinion of the Church that it might have been a pernicious Discourse had it been publick for says he if the Soul be not in all the Body and if it does not animate the Body and perform all its vital Functions it would be of no use and consequently we should live like other Animals I answer'd him That doubtless the Operations of Life were perform'd by the same Mechanism in us as they were in Brutes since we have the same Organs with them as likewise the same Fluids to enliven us That the Prerogatives of the Soul are not less for its not being present to every Action of the Body for the Soul tho it is not the cause of spontaneous or vital Motion in us yet it performs all voluntary Actions as speaking walking and all other free Motions of the Body it receiv'd all Impressions from the five Senses it forms to it self all Ideas of ambient Objects it reasons upon them to know what 's most useful and hurtful to it self and to the Body The Soul in short is like the Pilot tho it does not set the Body in motion as the Wind does a Ship yet it is capable of governing its Actions and directing voluntarily its Course The King being thus satisfied that the rational Soul did not actuate as they call it or enliven all the
it a glutinous oily Substance called Seed In short after knowing Man in himself I examine the natural Ways which he uses to propagate his Kind in begetting another by way of Generation Man as I said before is made of two Substances Soul and Body The Soul preserves the Body by Reason and governs it by voluntary Motion The Body furnishes the Soul with Ideas of Corporeal Beings The Life of Man is the Correspondence between Soul and Body but the Life of the Body is the natural Motion of the Blood and Splrits the Cessation of which Motion is Death The solid Parts of the Body have no Motion or Life of their own but such as they borrow from the Blood and Spirits The Blood and Spirits have none neither but such as they are allowed by the general Laws of Nature establish'd by a Supreme Being To maintain this mutual Correspondence and Dependance between Soul and Body all the Organs Springs and Humours of the body must be in their due Disposition for the Death of the Body is properly the loss of this Disposition and not the Separation of the Soul as is commonly believ'd for the Body is dead before the Soul is gone out of it and the going out of the Soul is but the Cessation of its Correspondence with the Body for want of Motion in the latter This Disposition is disordered or ruined by Diseases all which Diseases have their first Seat in the Blood from whence they are communicated to the solid Parts and the solid Parts being affected they reciprocally insect the Blood But tho the Blood was never infected and Man never sick yet he should die of course by the Relaxation and Attrition of his solid Parts from the long and continual Circulation of the humours through them which we call Old Age. As to what relates to the Materia Medica or the Account I have given of the Virtue and due Application of inward Medicines in the Practice of Physick I should likewise give you a Series of the different Subjects I treated of as I have in my Plan of the Animal Oeconomy but finding it too tedious and needless I will only mention in general that all inward Diseases have their first Seat in the Mass of Blood that they are caused by a Ferment or Matter hid in it which deriv'd its Origin from some outward Causes That there are no Specific Medicines for any part of the Body as for the Head Heart Liver Stomach Spleen but that they must all operate upon the whole Mass of Blood that consequently outward Applications cannot avail much for inward Distempers that the Medicines must be carried in a convenient Vehicle through the Blood to the place where the Distemper lies and that then they either carry its Cause out of the Body by Evacuation or change the Nature of it within by altering the Mass of Blood I may therefore reasonably divide all the Materia Medica described by so many voluminous Authors only into two Classes of Medicines Evacuating and Alterating I did not so much talk of those Remedies that evacuate only from some parts of the Body as Bleeding Clysters Leeches Issues Blisters Setons Gargles Snush and the like for they can hardly ever cure any inward Disease but of such as evacuate the Morbific Matter from the whole Mass of Blood by the five general ways Stool Vomit Vrine Sweat and Salivation where without recurring to occult or precarious Qualities I reduced to the Principles of Chymistry and Reason the Nature and Operations of Purgatives Emetics Diuretics Diaphoretics of Antimony and Mercury of Venereal and other Diseases as likewise the Nature and Usefulness of Baths and other Mineral Waters I have likewise examin'd and endeavour'd to explain the Nature and different Effects of Alterating Medicaments which operate in the Mass of Blood without any Evacuation such as sweeten the Blood when sowr that thin it when gross and thick that hasten it s too slow Circulation that stop it s too rapid Motion as in Fevers that cool the Blood that heat it and raise the Spirits as Cordials that calm the Spirits as Narcotics that strengthen the Tone of the Parts as Styptics and Astringents that open Obstructions as Aperitives Here therefore I had occasion to consider the Vertues and Operations of Steel Opium Jesuits Powder of Alcalious and Acid Medicines and of the whole Tribe of other alterating Remedies It would Sir be too prolix and needless to mention to you all that can be said in this nice and weighty Subject which includes in a manner the whole Machine of the Universe which requires several Years fervent Application for any one to attain a tolerable Knowledge of and which cost me some Months Labour to demonstrate at Oxford what small Insight I was thought to have in it Yet still I am not unwilling to comply with your Desires and to spare some time from my other Business here to communicate what I know of these Matters to any Persons of both Universities or to such other ingenious Gentlemen as have a Curiosity for things of this Nature And I shall take care that all be perform'd in such a decent and creditable manner as may be for the Benefit and Satisfaction of others as well as my own particular Reputation For not only my Duty but likewise the Usefulness and Agreeableness of my Profession tho in it self very abstruse and difficult inclines me naturally to improve it as much as I can and I hope I shall be able in few Years to publish a Latin Treatise of the Principles of Physick and of the Oeconomia Animals which perhaps then will give You and the Publick more Satisfaction than they or your self can at present expect from From Bow-street in Covent-Garden London Nov. 2. 1695. SIR Your very Obedient Servant B. Connor A LETTER to James Tyrrel Esq from Dr. Connor Fellow of the Royal Society Containing a further Explanation and Vindication of the Plan of the Animal Oeconomy or of the Chymical and Anatomical Method for understanding the Fabrick Springs Tempers and Diseases of the Human Body SIR IT is upon all hands acknowledg'd that the Acquaintance of Men of Learning and Worth is of great benefit towards acquiring not only the Knowledg of Men and Manners but of Nature too But of all the Advantages to be reap'd from their Conversation that of correcting our Prejudices or Mistakes and of setting us in the right way is the most valuable I should be too disingenuous Sir if I should not concur with the Publick in justly allowing you to be as discerning a Judg as you are a true Friend The World is convinc'd of the first by your shewing your self so great a Master as well of the Laws of Nature and Nations as of those of your own Country and none that have the Honour to know you can be ignorant of your Sincerity aâ—â—d Zeal in correcting the Errors and Oversights of your Friends To whom then should I more allowably communicate
the Principles of the Blood and of all Remedies likewise I know that the Chymists will immediately answer That they have with a great deal of Toil and Labour not only separated from mixt Bodies the before mentioned four Principles but also discovered their Nature for they confidently tell us that the nature of Earth is to be porous to absorb Water Salt and Oil that the nature of Water is to dissolve Salt of Sulphur to be inflammable and of Salt to prick and be dissolved by Water But they need not take so much pains to tell us of a thing that every body knows without the least insight in Chymistry A Country-man knows that a Pot full of Ashes will soak a great deal of Water or any other fluid Body That Water dissolves Sugar and Salt that Oil burns and Salt pricks the Tongue This is not answering the Question for they take the Effects of those Elements for their Nature To say that Earth absorbs that Water dissolves Salt that Oil takes flame and that Salt bites is to tell me only what these Principles are capable of doing not what they really are in themselves If being asked by a Person What is Man I should answer that he is a reasonable Animal or an Animal capable of Reason he should not doubtless be satisfied with my Answer because I tell him what Man can do not what he is since he exists before he can reason I desire to know what is the particular Figure the Specifick Fabrick and the inward Nature of Earth that makes it produce an Effect different to that of Water and of Salt to produce a different Effect to that of Oil. Until therefore we are more intimately acquainted with the different Bulk Texture and Figure which are the ground of the Virmes and Qualities of all these Elements we can give no satisfactory Account of their Effects and we must consequently be uncertain as to the Operation of a Remedy which has any of 'em predominating in it I confess it will be a difficult matter to determine the different bulk and figure of the Atoms of Principles à priori as they term it for they are so small and imperceptible that we cannot discern any of 'em even with the most refin'd Microscopes Yet I do not despair but by calculating and summing up all the Effects and Proprieties of each of 'em by Reason I may discover at least à posteriori as they call it their different Bulk and Figure which are the only primary Qualities they differ in For it is plain to me that when I consider that a drop of Water is insipid transparent easily evaporated that it penetrates most Bodies and dissolves all Salts I can reasonably determine the Figure and Bulk of its Particles that are sutable to these Phenomena I can say as much of a spoonful of Earth when I observe that it is spongy solid poroud friable opaque insipid that it sinks in Water that it cannot be raised by Fire in Distillation that it is the Matrix and Support of the rest of the Principles of any mixt Body Likewise of Oil or Sulphur when I find it is fluid insipid ropy inflammable extreamly penetrating and immiscible with Water I can guess the Nature or Texture of Parts which is capable of such Effects When I see that an Acid Salt is always of its own nature fluid sharp transparent penetrating that it dissolves solid Bodies and coagulates sulphureous ones as Blood Milk c. When I consider that an Alkali Salt is always of its own nature solid white porous friable sharp dissolvable by Water easily movable that it ferments with Acids absorbs them and dissolves sulphureous Bodies I can reasonably conjecture the Figure that renders both Salts capable of producing such different nay contrary Effects which I endeavour to perform in the Chymical and Anatomical Experiments which I make at present in my Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury's Library which his Grace out of his wonted Inclination to serve the Publick has been pleased to give me the use of for this purpose After having examin'd the nature of the different Atoms of Matter I trace their Effects and Operations all which I find are perform'd by Motion which is the only Cause of all things and which has no other Cause or Nature it self that I know but the pure Will of the Deity For a Body cannot be moved without it receives all its Motion from another Body that is in motion which Motion this second Body receiv'd from a third that was put in motion by a fourth and this fourth by a fifth So tracing backward to the Creation the successive Transit of Motion from one Body to another we must come to a first Motion of Bodies which flowed immediately from the Creator A Body cannot lose its Motion without communicating it all to another Body consequently there must be the same quantity of Motion now in the World as was in the beginning For no Motion can be lost and no new Motion can be produced By examining the Laws and Occasions of Motion I consider the Nature Conditions and Effects of Fermentation which is the chiefest and most universal Motion in Nature by the means of which are formed so many different Minerals Vegetables and Animals of the different Proportion different Situation and different Application of our four Elements Earth Water Salt and Sulphur But my chief Design is to shew how the different Parts of Man's Body which is the principal Subject of this Animal Oeconomy are made of them For out of his Bones his Flesh his Viscera and even his Blood and other Humours I draw in more or less quantity first Water then Volatil Spirit or Salt afterwards an inflammable Oil and there remains the Earth out of which I draw by Water a fixt Salt I do not only examine the Nature and Proportion of the four essential Principles of our Body but also what is more necessary I design by Anatomy to demonstrate to the Eye the Structure Texture and Use of its solid sensible and integrant Parts as Bones Cartilages Ligaments Muscles Membranes Veins Arteries Nerves Lymphatic Vessels and Glands all which I find to be formed of vascular Fibres of the same kind for I do not see that the Fibres of a Muscle differ from them of a Tendon nor the Fibres of a Membrane from them of a Ligament nor them of a Cartilage from the Fibres of a Bone nor the Fibres of any part as for their Structure from the Fibres of all the parts I confess the Fibres of some parts of the Body are more strictly united together than others which makes the Compactness of some Parts and the Limberness of others so all parts differ from one another only in a stricter or looser Union of their Fibres since we find by Experience that Flesh becomes as hard as Bone and Bone as soft as Flesh For we frequently discover in dissecting dead Bodies that the Center of the Heart which is naturally
with a Castle well fortify'd against the Tartars Resovia has in it a considerable Castle with several Monasteries and a Fair kept on the Feast of St. Albert. This Town is famous for a Linen Manufacture perform'd by the Germans whose Ancestors having been taken Prisoners by Casimir the Great were settled in and about this Place The Standard or Arms of this District are an Eagle expans'd with two Heads both Crown'd Or in a Field Azure The third District of the Palatinate of Russia is that of Halicz encompass'd towards the West with the Mountains of Transylvania to the South by the Boechy-Woods of Walachia and towards the East is divided into two Parts by the Tyra or Niester a rapid River which arises among the Carpathian Mountains and discharges it self into the Euxine Sea The South Division of this District is call'd Procutia The whole District contains these remarkable Cities and Towns Viz. Halicz Cap. Sniatin Cap. of Procutia Colom Martinow Dolina Strium Podock Brezana Buczavia or Busko and Podhajecia The chief all which is Halicz formerly Metropolis of the Russian Kingdom which was then divided into several Tetrarchies each of which had its proper Duke It is a large Timber-built City divided from Moldavia by the River Prud and on the other side wash'd by the Niester It has a wooden Castle situated on an Eminence hard by the Niester Its Inhabitants are somewhat Rustical and addicted more to Agriculture than Trade Sniatin a wooden Palisado'd Town on the Borders of Walachia water'd by the Prud and is Capital of Procutia In it were wont to be Fairs kept which the Valachians made their Magazine whence it became very well furnish'd with Cattle Honey Wax and an excellent Breed of brave Horses in great Numbers Colom a wooden Town built under a Hill near the River Prud. It is very much frequented on account of its Refining Salt with which it furnishes all the rest of Russia and Lithuania there being none in those two Provinces except only in the District of Premislaw Almost all over this District there are deep Wells whose Water is boil'd up into Salt In the Desarts likewise of the Vkraine near the Boristhenes there is a certain Lake whose Water by the power of the Sun is congeal'd into solid Lumps of Salt and which the Inhabitants thereabouts only use Martinow a Town in Procutia having a Castle built among the Marshes Dolina a wooden-built Town situated among the Hills Strium built likewise with Wood near the River of its own Name Podock on the other side of the Niester defended by a Castle and adorn'd by a fair Monastery built by Steven Potucius Palatin of Braclaw who dy'd and lies bury'd there Brezana a populous Town built with Wood having a wall'd Castle on a Hill hard by Buczavia or Busko built among the Marshes near which the River Bug has its Rise by means of which several Merchandizes are transported to Leopol Podhajecia environ'd with a Wall and other Fortifications having not far off the famous Castle of Zavalovia The fourth District of the Palatinate of Russia is that of Sanoch near the Mountains of Hungary and Transylvania and consequently abounding in little Hills except only towards Crosna In it are these Cities and Towns Viz. Sanoch Cap. Crosna Brozovia Rimanovia Dinovia and Lesko Of all which the principal City is Sanoch built with Wood among the Hills and near the River San. It has a no-ways contemptible Castle founded upon a Rock Crosna the Staple of the Hungarians whither they bring all their Merchandizes and Wines and therefore the Fairs and Marts here are more celebrated than those of their Neighbours In this City likewise the Jesuits have a College for Human Learning It exceeds Sanoch in its Number of Inhabitants and Concourse of Strangers The other Cities and Towns of Brozovia Rimanovia Dinovia and Lesko are Places of no small Strength against the Incursions of the Tartars The Senators of the Palatinate of Russia are The Archbishop of Leopol The Bishops of Premislaw and Kiovia The Palatin of Russia The Castellans of Leopol Premislaw Halicz and Sanoch The Second Palatinate of the Province of Red Russia is that of Podolia famous for the frequent Irruptions of Barbarians and the many Battles fought with them there If these People says Starovolscius might enjoy a wish'd-for Peace like the Western Countries of Europe they would have no reason to envy either the Plenty or Riches of Italy or Hungary This Palatinate has in it divers sorts of Marble and Alabaster in several Places and is divided into three Districts Viz. The Districts of Caminiec Trembowla and Laticzow In all which are these principal Cities and Towns Viz. Caminiec Cap. Trembowla Laticzow Bar. Husiatinow Czartikow Janow Czvaniec Chmielnic Miedzibosz or Misdzibozia Zinkow Jesupolis Jacloveck Satanow Tarnopolia Kitaigrod and Dunaigrod The Chief City of all which is Caminiec situate on the Confines of Walachia among Rocks and Hills It is well fortify'd both by Nature and Art and has a very strong Castle built on an adjacent Rock which commands the Town It s Avenue is cover'd with a Horn-work which is separated from the Body of the Place by a deep Moat Both City and Castle are almost encompass'd by the River Smotrzick which a little below falls into the Niester The Rocks lie every way so high about this City that you can discover only the Tops of the highest Houses It lies fifteen Polish Miles from Bar to the West thirty from Leopol thirty six from Jassy thirty from Kiow eighty from Warsaw and about a hundred and seventy from Constantinople This strong City which is the See of a Prelat Suffragan to the Arch-bishop of Leopol was very much damag'd by a Fire in the Year 1669 and has been often in vain attackt by the utmost Fury of the Turks and Tartars till in the Year 1672 it fell into the possession of the former in which it still continues It was blockt up by Motula General of the Cosacks in the Year 1687 and the Poles afterwards made great Preparations to join his Troops but were both oblig'd to retire upon the Approaches of the Ottoman Forces Afterwards another Blockade was form'd by the Polish Army in 1688 and the next year they actually invested the Place and began a formal Attack in the Month of August but the Siege was rais'd in September following and never since attempted so that the Infidels remain at present in quiet possession hereof together with several other considerable Places in this Palatinate Trembowla a City lying under a great Mountain with a Castle built upon an adjoining Hill Laticzow well fortify'd against Incursions with an adjoining Castle and Warlike Inhatants Bar a City built and palisado'd round by Buona Daughter of John Sforza Duke of Milan and Queen to Sigismund King of Poland so naming it
1290 46 XXXIII Henry I. 1290 6 1296 48 XXXIV Premislus 1296 7 Mon. 1296 ib. XXXV Vladislaus Locticus 1296 4 1300 49 XXXVI Winceslaus K. of Bomia 1300 5 1305 ib. XXXVII Locticus restor'd 1305 28 1333 50 XXXVIII Casimir III. the Great 1333 37 1370 54 XXXIX Lewis K. of Hungary 1370 12 1382 56 XL. Queen Hedwigis 1382 4 1386 58 XLI Jagello or Vladislaus V. 1386 49 1435 59 XLII Vladislaus VI. 1435 21 1446 60 XLIII Casimir IV. 1446 43 1493 63 XLIV John Albert 1493 8 1501 66 XLV Alexander 1501 6 1507 67 XLVI Sigismund I. 1507 41 1548 69 XLVII Sigismund II. 1548 26 1574 75 XLVIII Henry of Valois 1574 5 Mon. 1577 85 XLIX Stephen Batori 1577 10 1587 88 L. Sigismund III. 1587 45 1632 106 LI. Vladislaus VII 1632 16 1648 121 LII John Casimir 1648 22 1670 124 LIII Michael Wiesnowiski 1670 4 1674 145 LIV. John Sobieski 1674 23 1697 163 LV. Frederic Augustus now reigning 1697 5 Mon. 207 FINIS Partis Prima A Compendious Plan OF THE Body of Physick A Letter from a Gentleman in Cambridg to Dr. Connor concerning the Method he us'd in his Physical and Anatomical Lectures and in explaining the Materia Medica at Oxford in the Year 1695. SIR WE have here some Account of the accurate Course of the Chymical and Anatomical Lectures which you perform'd last Spring at Oxford and of your new method of explaining the Virtues of Medicines there with the Approbation and Improvement of all that had the Happiness to assist at them I have spoke with some curious Genntlemen that some Years ago saw your Dissections at Paris with the like good Success And I doubt not but your Skill and Insight in all the Parts of Physick is considerably augmented since by your Travels into Italy Germany Poland and the Low Countries having had thereby the Opportunity of conversing with Malpighi Bellini Redi and the most celebrated Physicians of those Places I have also with a great deal of Pleasure perused your ingenious Dissertationes Medico-Physicae or Latin Treatises lately printed at Oxford concerning malignant Damps pestilential Steams infectious Air and Subterraneous Poisons with certain other stupendous and rare Phaenomena From all this I conclude that you not only understand Chymistry Anatomy and the Materia Medica very well your self but that also you are capable to lead others into the Knowledg of them by a most easy and compendious Method in which Opinion I am confirmed by my Correspondent in Oxford Many besides my self in this University do earnestly wish that your other Occupations would permit you to pass some Months here with us as indeed we expected you should when you left Oxford last Summer But since it so falls out that your Practice keeps you at London we intreat the Favour of you to let us understand whether we may obtain a Scheme of your Method in those Physical Exercises or whether at London you can spare any time to such as are desirous to wait upon you to this purpose Sir by so doing you are like to oblige several but more particularly Cambridg Octob. 15. 1695. Your most humble and obedient Servant C. P. Dr. Connor's Answer containing a Plan of his Corpus Rationale Medicum or of his new and compendious Method Chymical and Anatomical for understanding the Oeconomia Animalis the nature of Diseases and the Materia Medica SIR WHatever you are pleased to say in Commendation of me or my Book I must wholly attribute to your Civility and will return no other Compliment to you for it but that I shall endeavour to deserve your good Opinion I am extreamly oblig'd to your Correspondent in Oxon for the advantagious Character he gives of me and I assure you that I have not met with better Discipline nor with Persons more universally learned in any University of Europe As for the Method or Scheme I observed at Oxford to lead the Proficients in Physick and other ingenious Gentlemen there into the Knowledg of the Fabrick natural Functions and Distempers of the Human Body as likewise into the Knowledg of the Materia Medica to cure the same Diseases it is as follows I consider'd Man in the first place as a Being compounded of Spirit and Matter But seeing it is only the last of these Parts wherein our Faculty is concern'd I took a stricter veiw of the Human Body and find the Structure of it like that of most other Animals But to have any accurate Knowledg of Man we must not only have a distinct Account of his constituent Parts but likewise of all the external Bodies which any way affect him or contribute to his Preservation Since therefore he cannot live without Earth to tread upon Air to breath Animals and Vegitables to feed upon Sun and Stars to afford him Warmth and Light c. we must by consequence examine the System and Elements of the World and particularly as they concur to the Preservation or Destruction of Man We must be very well acquainted with the nature of the three mixt Bodies of our Globe viz. Animals Vegetables and Minerals before we can give any tolerable Account of the Generation Nourishment Health Diseases or Death of Man before we can discover the admirable Fabrick and Contexture the Mechanick and Hydraulical Actions Chymical Preparations the various Operations of Medicines and an infinite number of other surprizing Phoenomena in the Human Body The best Method therefore I presume is to proceed Analytically from the previous Examination of all the known Parts of the great World to particular Enquiries into the Microcosm Now the first step to this Method is a good Insight by Chymical Experiments into the Nature more especially the Figuration and Qualities of the Principles of mixt Bodies and chiefly of the Blood For the want of such a Discovery which is not impossible has hitherto been a great Obstruction to the Improvement of Natural Philosophy and the Practice of Physick It is plain to me that a Man void of all Prejudice and who considers that all the Operations of Bodies are perform'd by natural Causes without Miracles may be easily convinc'd that the Causes of Diseases and the true use of Applications to cure them can be render'd very intelligible so that vulgar Axiom That there 's no certainty in Physick will be found most erroneous I don 't Sir pretend to have discover'd this just Method which I hold necessary to lead us into the abstruse Secrets of Nature but I would fain hope that the following Scheme which is that I observ'd at Oxford may approach it in some degree which Method tho it may be call'd altogether new may perhaps be a just Model for others to imitate hereafter in the true Theory and Practice of Physick which rightly consider'd are one and the same thing A NEW PLAN OF AN Animal Oeconomy Demonstrated at Oxford in the Spring Anno 1695 at London the Winter following and at Cambridg in the Year 1696. 1. OF the Elements
Fabrick and System of the World with the mutual Cohesion Influence and Dependance of its Parts 2. Of the Elements of Terrestrial Bodies where after various Chymical Experiments are consider'd the Nature Properties Figures and Effects of the four Chymical Principles Earth Water Salt and Sulphur and their main mutual Action Fermentation as also the Productions of Animals Vegetables and Minerals 3. Of the Structure of the Human Body and its division into fluid and solid Parts where a particular and new Account is given of the Nature and Contexture of the solid Parts being all made of Vascular Fibres and demonstrated to the Eye by Dissection 4. Of the fluid Parts of the Human Body of the Nature Principles Fermentation and Circulation of the Blood of Nutrition of the Temperaments of the Humours contain'd in the Blood of the seat and nature of Fevers where likewise of Youth old Age and Death 5. Of the Reparation of the Blood of the Chyle Lacteous Vessels Chyliferous Duct of Appetite Mastication Digestion and the Ferment of the Stomach of the Precipitation or Separation of the Excrements from the Chyle where of the Structure of the Oesophagu Or Gullet of that of the Stomach and all the Intestines of the Peristaltic and Antiperistaltic Motions of the Guts of the Glands of the Mesentery of the Lympha and the Lymphatic Vessels 6. Of the Structure Motion and Vse of the Heart where of the various kinds of Pulses of the Polypus in the Heart Palpitation and Swooning likewise a new Hypothesis of the Motion of the Heart and of Sanguification 7. Of the Contexture of the Windpipe or Trachea Arteria and the Lungs where of the Cause and Vse of Respiration a new Account of the Nature of the Air Nitre and of the Vnvoluntariness of Respiration of the Hiccock 8. Of the Praecordi Or sanguiferous Vessels appended to the Heart where the Structure Motion and Difference of the Veins and Arterics are demonstrated 9. Of the numerous Ramifications of the Vena Porta and both the Vena Cava 's of Varix 's Hemorrhoides Bleeding c. 10. Of the Ramifications of both the Aorta 's throughout the whole Body of an Anevrism 11. Of the Brain and Cerebellum a new Account of the Animal Spirits their Generation Motion and Vse of Perception Sleeping Waking and the Influence of the Soul upon the Body where of Sensation and the five Senses 12. Of the Eye Tears Nasal and Aqueous Ducts Of Sight Blindness Light Colours and the sharp Sight of some Animals 13. Of the Fabrick of the Nose the Membrana Pituitaria Snot Smelling and Sneezing Of the mutual Influence of the Nose and Tongue 14. Of the Tongue Palat and Gums of the Muscles and Motions of the Tongue of Taste Voice Stuttering and Dumbness 15. Of the Larynx Pharynx the Os Hyoides Of the Glands Salivation and Spittle of the Almonds and Uvula c. 16. Of Feeling the Cuticula Skin Hairs milliary Glands the mucous and reticular Bodies of Fat Transpiration Sweat the Itch cutaneous Diseases Palsy and Plica Polonica 17. Of the Ear Aquaeduct Hearing Deafness Tinnitus c. 18. Of the Structure Vse and Number of the Nerves of Motion and Sense of the Par vagum and the Intercostal Nerves spread over all the Viscer Of the Breast and Abdomen 19. Of the Structure and various Figures of the Muscles the vascular Fibres where Muscular Natural and free Motion are explain'd as likewise stretching and gaping leaping swimming and flying with Convulsive Tonic Systaltic Epilectic and Hysteric Motions of Vapours and Rheumatisin 20. Of the Liver Gall and Pancreas where the Secretion Motion and Mixture of the Bile and Pancreatic Juice with the Chyle are shewn of the Green Sickness Yellow Jau idice and Pica 21. Of the Nature and Differences of all the Glands or Strainers of the Body a new account of the various Filtrations of the excrementitious and recrementitious Humours as Lympha Spittle Gall Vrine Seed c. Of Obstructions and Dropsies 22. Of the Structure and Vse of the Spleen and what Melancholy is what Symptoms happen when the Spleen is taken out of the Body 23. Of the Reins or Kidneys the Atrabilary Glands the Vreters and Bladder where of the Scrum of the Blood Vrine and what is contained therein of the Stone and Gravel 24. Of the Structure and Vse of the Bones Marrow Ligaments Periosteum and Apophyses of the different Articulations or Joints of the Nature and Seat of the Gout Spina Ventosa Caries Exfoliation and Rachitis 25. Of the Parts of Generation in Man of the Nature and Formation of the Seed with its Effects in the Body of the Woman the Cause and Seat of Venereal Diseases 26. Of the Parts of Generation in the Woman of the Eggs and Ovarium of Generation Conception going with Child Flowers Birth Monsters Floodings false Conceptions Whites c. 27. Of the Posture and Nourishment of the Embryo in the Womb of the Vmbilical Vessels the After-birth the Force of the Mother's Imagination and the peculiar way of the Circulation of the Blood in the Foetus of Longings 28. S ome Considerations of the Vnion of the Soul and Body where the Laws and Effects of that Vnion are inquired into You see Sir that after having examin'd the different Parts of the World and the Elements of Bodies by Chymistry I have divided the Human Body into solid and fluid Parts Before I consider'd the solid Parts in particular I thought it necessary by way of Chymistry to be acquainted with all the Humours and specially with the Principles and Motions of the Blood which is the Primum Mobile of the whole Machine for which purpose it is fit to know how by Digestion the Meat becomes Chyle the Chyle becomes Blood how the Blood becomes Flesh and Bone and consequently how it must be continually repaired by Aliment how the Heart is put in motion to communicate the same to the Blood how the Blood expelled by the Heart after having been rarefied by the Air in the Lungs is convey'd by Arterial Tubes to all the Parts of the Body and from these Parts is brought back again by the Veins to the Heart To know why this Blood is carried to all the Parts and what Alteration it receives in them we must by ocular Inspection see the different Structure of all the Parts of the Body and first follow the Blood to the Brain to generate Animal Spirits which Spirits furnish the Soul with Ideas in the Brain and convey'd through the Nerves to all the Parts of the Body they are the Causes of Motion in the Muscles and of Sense in the five Organs which convey the Impression of exteriour Bodies to the Soul I follow the same Blood into the Liver where it discharges its Bilious Juice and into all other Glands where it leaves some superfluous Humonr into the Spleen where its Motion is moderated into the Reins where it leaves its serous Particles into the Testicles where is strained from
my Designs After begging your Pardon therefore for the Ambition of numbring my self with your Friends I must tell you that being desir'd by several and willing my self not to conceal the small Insight I was thought to have in Anatomy Chymistry and the other parts of Physick I thought first convenient to borrow from some Antient or Modern Authors the most easy and compendious Method for the benefit of my Auditors But I was frustrated of my Expectations for after having examined the voluminous Works of most Writers in our Faculty I did not find it altogether fit to follow their Method nor safe to espouse their Opinions But the best course I think is to pick the best out of each especially what relates to Matters of Fact applying their Observations to my own Design and taking Reason and Experience to be my surest Guides But seeing several Persons either out of Malice or Rashness have very industriously misrepresented my Undertaking I shall now give a larger Account of it than formerly as well to satisfy my Friends as for my own Justification My Design therefore Sir is to find a short easy and clear Method to be acquainted with the Fabrick Functions Tempers and Diseases of the Human Body For which purpose I must not only know Man in himself but must also know all Bodies that are about him and concur to his Preservation or Destruction For as I cannot understand all that belong to my Finger without I understand my whole Body which serâ—â—es to nourish and move it so I cannot understand my Body without I understand the whole Universe And as I cannot reasonably know any one Distemper of my Body without I know the general Sources of all Distempers so I cannot methodically cure any one Distemper without I understand the Rules of curing all Distempers Which shews that Quacks and other ignorant Pretenders may not presume to have methodical Cures for any one Distemper whatsoever Since therefore it is necessary to have a general view of the whole Universe to be competently acquainted with Man the first thing we must examine is Matter which is the general Principle of all Bodies or rather all Bodies are Matter Matter is the only thing in my mind that we have any clear Notion of if we have of any We conceive very well that an Atom has at least six Sides or Surfaces of which one is nearer the East than the West another nearer the South than the North and another nearer the Zenith than the Nadir consequently between all the six Surfaces we conceive a Space or Extension which we call Matter or Body tho never so little and since we consider a real Space between them we can mentally divide it into several lesser Spaces and each lesser Space into as many other lesser ones as we please so that every minute Particle will be infinitely divisible Besides the distance between the six Sides of the Atom is so filled up and occupied by the Atom or its Extension that it is impenetrable by any other Extension whatsoever By an Atom I mean the minutest part in a Body actually divided from others and still divisible in it self Then the Properties of Matter will be Divisibility and Impenetrability There is no essential Difference between one piece of Matter and another since all Matter is extended divisible and impenetrable But since the Machine of the World is form'd of different Bodies and all Bodies form'd of Matter we must derive their difference at least from the Accidents of Matter We find then that one part of Matter cannot be different from another but in Bulk Motion or Figure and according as it differs from others in one or more of these Qualities they will constitute different Bodies By these three Qualities of Matter we can give a general account of the different parts of the World as the Aethereal Fluid and Terrestrial Bodies We may observe that the Stars and Planets the Air the Earth and the Water are made of three different sorts of Matter The Atoms of the first Matter have a lesser Bulk and more Motion than all the rest The Atoms of the second Matter are probably spherical have as little Bulk as the first and less Motion The Atoms of the third Matter are of an irregular Figure but have greater Bulk and have none or a slower Motion than all the rest We may lawfully suppose all the Stars to be made up of the first Matter The Aetherial Fluid or the Heavens of the second and the Planets and Terrestrial Bodies to be made of the third For the Parts of the first being extream subtile and extreamly rapid must be fluid and thin enough to pass through the Pores and Intestices of all other Bodies and leave no Vacuities and influence upon us the same way as the Sun does by keeping the Air in a perpetual Fluidity and by producing Fermentations in the Ground in such solid Bodies as have no invincible Resistance in their Parts The Parts of the second Matter being likewise subtile round and consequently agitated perpetually by the Subtilty and Rapidity of the first Matter which pass through it must form a Fluid and Transparent Extension as the Expansum or the Heavens are The Parts of the third Element being more bulky more irregular and having no Motion or at least an inconsiderable one must form gross irregular solid opaque and sensible Bodies such as we see the Planets and Terrestrial Bodies to be The two first Matters which I made mention of are exterior Agents which Nature or God makes use of rather to influence a Motion into Terrestrial Bodies than to enter into their Composition contrary to Monsier des Cartes So this last Element of the World is that which I am to consider most being the only thing that our Faculty is concern'd in because it constitutes Minerals Vegetables and Animals which are the three Things that I design chiefly to examine because they furnish us with Aliments and Remedies and are the Causes of most Distempers Tho we find an innumerable variety of Terrestrial Bodies and this variety depending upon the difference of their Atoms yet by tracing exactly the particular Effects of these Atoms and by several Experiments of Chymistry I can reduce all parts of Bodies to four only viz. Atoms of Earth Atoms of Water Atoms of Salt and Atoms of Sulphur But when for Example I am to give Rhubarb Jesuits Powder or any other Remedy to a Patient to be sure of its Effects and due Application it is not enough to know that it is made of Earth Water Salt and Sulphur but also I must know what Earth Water Salt and Oil themselves are Besides I am to know their Proportion and which of them predominates in it which Physicians neglecting to discover have left the Practice of Physick very obscure and will ever continue so until they give themselves the trouble to examine with more Exactness and Nicety the Nature I mean the Figure and Effects of
shew'd it to some Friends They owned the Notions I advanced and the ways of Explication I proposed were new to them and might be so to others and tho they were not nor could be convinc'd that these were the very ways the Supream Power proceeded in the effecting of such Operations yet they seemed inclinable to imagine that upon these Principles supernatural Effects and the Operations of them were conceivable by such as know any thing of the Nature and Laws of Motion This Communication of my Thoughts gave oecasion to others to discourse with me about them and to desire that if I did intend to publish them I would in the mean time give them at least the general Heads of my Design This I was willing to have been excused in as having not digested them into that Order I might at last publish them in and was willing to reserve to my self a Power of making what Additions or Retrenchments I should afterwards think fit to make but the Plan of the Essay happening not to be fully represented and afterwards being worse understood and commented upon I at last resolv'd to publish it as soon as I could seeing Persons industriously reported things I never thought of My Design therefore Sir is to endeavour to make it no longer a Difficulty to conceive and make evident by Reason and the Principles of Physick I mean the Principles of Nature all the supernatural Effects authentically delivered to us concerning Bodies chiefly but particularly the Humane I mean supposing those Effects to be true Matters of Fact and all Matters of Fact as well Natural as Supernatural to be immediate Effects of a Supream Being which must be granted it is as easy to conceive the manner how this Infinite Power may be apply'd to Bodies to work supernatural Effects as to produce the common Phaenomena of Nature By this I hope to convince our Scepticks the Deists who must give their Assent when they have the same evident Reason to conceive the Possibility and consequently to believe the Truth of such miraculous Effects that are authentically related as they have to conceive that Straw can burn in a flaming Fire The Foundation I go upon is the Structure of the Human Body which I have often taken to pieces by Anatomy and resolv'd into its essential Elements or minute Particles by Chymistry for I find it as necessary to be acquainted with its Fabrick to give an Account of the miraculous States it is supposed to have been in supernaturally as it is to explain the natural Effects commonly produc'd in it For want of a sufficient Insight in this matter several Divines of the latter Ages have given very gross Ideas of the supernatural Effects they have pretended to explain and in several places where I have been I saw them either through Ignorance or for Interest give out for Miracles Phaenomena that were only surprizing Effects of Natural Causes which has given so great an occasion to Scepticism and increase of Deism Having laid down for my Basis the Structure of the Human Body as far as I could discover from my Senses Anatomy Fire Microscopes and Experiments I proceed to examine and endeavour to explain the different ways its natural State is suppos'd to have been supernaturally alter'd by an Infinite Power For finding that the Human Body is all Matter and that all this Matter is nothing but a Union of Particles with Bulk Figure and respective Situation I thought that all the Alterations that could supernaturally happen to this Bulk Figure or situation could be conceiv'd But before I enter upon those nice Subjects I find it first necessary to enquire into the Cause Nature and Laws of Motion because Motion is the only true Cause of all Natural Phaenomena and the Suspensions of the Laws of this Motion are the only Causes of all supernatural Effects I conceive the Laws of Motion can be suspended three different ways and by one or more of those Laws of Suspension it is as easy to solve clearly all supernatural Effects as it is to explain the most evident Effects of Natural Causes by the common Laws of Motion Tho I mention that all supernatural Effects whatsoever can be easily reduc'd to some of the three Laws of Suspension of Motion notwithstanding I do not design to speak of them all in particular but of such only as are most in dispute among the Learned Yet any understanding Man may easily make his Application and resolve all other miraculous Effects into one or other of ' em By the Suspension of the Laws of Motion I do not mean that these Laws are changed or abrogated but only that their Course is stopt while an Effect is produc'd by the immediate Action of the Deity without any Influence of theirs for some particular end and it cannot be denied but that the Supream Legislator who made first the Laws may suspend them when he pleases and in that state of Suspension produce of himself alone without their Concurrence the same Effects which are wont to be produced only by the same Laws put in Execution So that tho a Body for Example of a hundred Pound Weight by the established Laws of Motion must be moved by another that has several degrees of Motion yet an Infinite Power may of himself either move it without the Concurrence of another Body or hinder its being moved by any other Body of what weight soever tho put into the most rapid Motion as if combustible Matter should be in a flaming Fire without burning Because my Design in that Book is to explain all the supernatural States that our Body is supposed to have been put into and since its being in two places at once is the State the most disputed and doubted of I thought it convenient to examine the Reasons of those that assert it capable of being in several places at once to see whether they are reconcileable with our Senses and with the Nature and Structure of a Human Body which is the chief thing to be consider'd I find it impostible to conceive that a Human Body can be in two places at the same time after the manner they have hitherto describ'd since the same Human Body can never be in two places at once with the same Bulk and with the same quantity of Matter It is true that considering the Divisibility of Matter the Structure of the Human Body the smalness of the first Stamina of the Embryo and Foetus and the Principles and Mechanism of Generation I have thought of one particular way different from all that has ever been said upon this Subject by which I may conceive that tho the self-same numerical Particles of Matter can never be in two places at once yet a Human Body tho not the rational Soul can be multiplied by an Infinite Power But since we have no evident Proof or Experience that any Human Body has ever been thus multiplied and because from conceiving the poslibility of it it is thought