Muscles of the Breast The Pulse is nothing else but a percussion of the Arteries upon the variety of which the difference of Pulses depends The Cause of the Pulse according to Aristotle is the Natural heat of the Heart according to Galen it is the moving faculty according to Harvey this motion of the Heart and Pulse of the Arteries depends upon the circulation of the Blood which we will examine in the next Chapter Breathing comprehends two actions Inspiration and Respiration by the action of the first the Lungs receive the external Air and by the help of the last they drive it out The first is made by a dilatation of the Lungs and Breast as also by the motion of the Diaphragme by which the Lungs are opened like a pair of Bellows and are by that means filled with Air the second is made by a pressing downwards of the Diaphragme by which the Lungs are unlocked and the Air driven forth Breathing conduces to the tempering the heat of the Heart and to the exciting and preserving Natural heat besides it conduceth to the forming the Voice to perceiving Smells to expelling Excrements and dissipating the fumes of the Blood and lastly to produce vital Spirits in promoting their motion by which it happens that we dye when breathing ceaseth or when we take our last Breath CHAP. XVII Of the Motion of the Heart THat I may rightly explain the motion of the Heart I suppose it is moved by two different motions the first of which is Natural the second against Nature That resembles the motion of Machines and Clocks which are moved by help of Strings and Wheels So the Heart is the principal and chief Wheel of this animated Machine and moves and drives on all the others and takes its motion from the weight and impression of certain Fiery and Coelestial Atoms which like the Silk-Worm are shut up in the Seed and its covering and which give motion to it until they flye away from it which slight of the Atoms Death follows and an end of motion The Authors of the circulation of the Blood deduce the motion of the Heart from the Bloods entring into it saying that the Heart is opened by the motion commonly called Diastole the Blood entring into the Heart and that by the motion commonly called Systole the Blood returns back and this returning is the Cause of those two motions but it is more reasonable to say that the motion of the Heart hath its Principle in its self for it is Vital and the passing through of the Blood is rather an effect than a Cause of this motion for the Heart opens it self before the Blood enters in nor does the Blood go out but as it is driven by the opened Heart The second motion of the Heart is accidental and against Nature and proceeds from the intemperies of the Blood that passeth through the Heart and which impresseth this febrile motion whether as being more hot and subtile than it should be or having certain foreign Corpuscles mixed with it or being too thick and viscous or else offending in quantity it overwhelms the Heart and hereupon depends the difference of motions contrary to Nature as also the difference of Pulses and Feavers from hence proceeds the palpitation of the Heart intermitting Pulses Convulsions Suffocations and sudden Death And it is commonly said that the Life is in the Blood nor does any thing hinder why we should not say that Death is in it too when it is corrupted or very sharp and corroding or unfit for motion and containing such like Bodies as lie hid in Venoms and Narcoticks The motion which is observed in the Hearts of Animals taken out of their Bodies as for Example that of a Viper which continues a long while does not disanul Circulation but only lets us see that Circulation is not the Cause of the Natural motion of the Heart and if you stretch it never so far it is only its condition which makes it continue and keeps the same in its Natural state Whatsoever we say concerning the Heart and its motions does not make up that Idea which we conceive in our mind nor does it satisfie the mind of the Reader who expects we should explain from whence this motion of the Heart while it is in its natural state proceeds and what is the Cause of its immoderate motions That I may therefore satisfie the Reader I Affirm the Natural Motion of the Heart to be in the motion of the Vital Spirits shut up in the central Vacuum of the Heart where they are detained by little Membranes made firm by the interweaving of Fibres and of thin threads so that they cannot escape out since the Pores of these membranes have a Figure opposite to the Pores of those Spirits or Vital Atoms And seeing that Atoms enjoy an actual motion and which can no more be separated from their Essence than Intelligence from an Angel or separated Soul or the Inclination from the Will it follows that they are always in motion and by their motions by turns dilate the Heart This Doctrine supposes what has been said of Vital Spirits being as it were the internal Principles of Life and Motion as also of the essential and proper motion of Atoms and of Bodies compounded of Atoms but it is convenient that we remember that we have said that motion is Natural to Atoms and that God who hath created them essentially moveable preserves their motion and moveable Nature in the same action that he Created them Besides it may be convenient to remember that there are such a sort of Atoms which may be detained and constitute the parts of a Compound Body and others which are not Naturally such yet may be shut up such as those are which we have said are shut up in the central Vacuum of the Heart of Living Creatures And these indeed are shut up by the decree of the Creator and the determination of the seminal covering The Comparison of an Angel and the Rational Soul seems to contribute much to the illustrating this Doctrine An Angel is a certain indivisible spiritual thing and an Intelligence free from Matter and the Rational Soul is no less a certain indivisible Spiritual thing endowed with Understanding and Will as an Angel yet they differ in this that theSoul is consined or as being a part of the Compound can be consined by a material Body whereas an Angel neither is nor can be confined which notwithstanding does not hinder but that it may be shut up into a Body as it were an assisting Form yet it hath not any respect to an internal and substantial Form. Besides I look upon an Angel and consider it under the notion of Atoms naturally free and the Rational Soul under the notion of those which are subject to confinement It is true that a Rational Soul going out of this Dungeon or Physical Prison by reason of the Corruption of the Body which permits it a free exit is
that my Remedy is infallible For truly I believe and not a few of the most eminent and ablest Physitians of the Faculty in Paris are of the same Opinion with me that there is not a Remedy which can be called infallible and made publick Of which thing in the occasion of the fermentation of humours I will a little more specially treat in my Philosophical Reflections which in a little time will see the Light. I only add this here that the Heat which follows the shakeing does proceed from an agitation of the Spirits stimulated by the violent motion and repeated stroke of the emancipated Atoms which are at last expelled through the Pores of the Body as the Rebellious Angels were thrown out of Heaven by the more powerful good Spirits CHAP. XIX Of the Circulation of the Blood. AS many as have delivered themselves from the prejudices of Antient Physick and Vulgar Philosophy have taught after Harvey That the blood in our Bodies is moved in a circular motion from the extream parts to the Centre and not from the Centre onely to the extream parts as was heretofore believed Gassendus does not disapprove this Opinion although he does not embrace it for Reasons alledged in a particular Treatise set forth by him I use his Reasons to establish it as being better founded in Reason and more agreeable to the disposition of the Veins and Arteries Let us see therefore how the Circulation of the Blood is made according to Harvey and the most Learned Physitians The Blood say they passeth into the Heart from the Vena Cava and Arteria Venosa by two Valves where they are ended and as often as the Heart dilates it self a drop of Blood falls into each of its Cavities and as often as the Heart contracts it self the Blood passeth into the Lungs from the right Cavity through the Vena Arteriosa and from the left Cavity into the Aorta so that the Blood is moved from the extream parts of the Body to its Centre into which it is carried by the Vena Cava where it exonerates it self in the Right Cavity from whence it passeth into the Vena Arteriosa and drives on the Blood which is contained in that through Anastomoses already discovered and through Pores less sensible into the Arteria Venosa And as much Blood as the Arteria Venosa hath received so much of it deposits into the left Cavity from whence passing into the Aorta it is carried into the extream parts of the Body through Branches which go to the Branches of the Vena Cava from hence the Blood being brought into the Trunk continuing its journey by the same way it returns to the Heart and by the same reason as I said it wonderfully and without intermission performs the Circulation This Circulation of the Blood relies upon some Experiments the first of which is taken from Blood-letting For Chyrurgeons when they Bleed a Vein tye the Arm above the Orifice and if they put their Finger upon the Vein on the other side of the Ligament the Blood is stopped immediately From whence it is apparent that it comes from the extremity of the Fingers to the Trunk and not from the Trunk to the extremity of the Fingers but by Circulation of which we are discoursing The Second Experiment is made if a Vein be tyed in a part of the Body separated from the Artery for it will be emptied on that side towards the Trunk and it will be swelled on the other side on that side that is to say from whence the Blood according to this Opinion ought to proceed There is nothing therefore so certain as this Circular motion of the Blood and its passage into the Heart but here are three things to be observed First that the motion of the Heart does not depend upon this Circulation of the Blood although it conduce to its conservation and inordinate motion as this Circulation is made more or less hastily and as the Blood is more or less temperate in the disposition of its particles and in its saline serosities which serve for a vehicle to it and render it more fluid Secondly that the Circulation of the Blood as the Moderns indeed will have it may be performed three times in an hour yet so that all the Blood does not enter into the Cavities or Ventricles of the Heart as not once every hour but either sooner or later according to the greater or lesser quantity or greater or lesser subtilty or mobility of the Blood. Thirdly I say that the Blood in some cases cannot pass out of the Arteries into the Veins through the extremities that is when the extremities are cut off in which Case it goes on another way through insensible Pores which they call Transpiration or Transudation CHAP. XX. Of the Inward Senses and the Inferiour Appetite BEsides the exteriour Senses of which we have spoken there are also found to be in Man interiour Senses to wit the Imagination common Sense and Sensitive Memory The first forms a lasting Image of Objects The Second judgeth of the agreeableness or disagreeableness of them The third retains and preserves these Images or Ideas which is manifest in Dogs who represent to themselves persons absent and distinguish both between the good and the evil that hath befallen them witnessing that they remember the thing by running away if they have an opportunity or by Fawnings Appetite follows the interiour Senses and is common to all Animals and which is performed by the weight of Atoms whereby it comes to pass that an Animal hath a propensity and is driven to seek for that with which it is delighted and to abstain from that which might bring trouble So that Delight and Pain are the two great importances of the Life of an Animal Pleasure according to the Opinion of Epicurus depends upon Corpuscles which have a soft round and agreeable Figure especially to the Brain as to which the Object is represented by the imagination and from which it is carried by the Senses Pain on the contrary and both of them are performed by those Corpuscles whether they come to or go from or continue In Morals we will speak concerning these Passions as the two Scales of sensitive actions in the mean time I may here say that the interiour Senses receive these Corpuscles which bring pleasure or pain by the ministery of the exteriour Senses from whence it comes that those that Sleep or are Lethargick or Apoplectick feel nothing though they are pricked For the Brain is filled with strange Humours which hinder the motion of the aforesaid Corpuscles or else that motion is stopped by Vapours brought from the lower parts to the Brain which happens to those that are asleep CHAP. XXI Of Sleep Wakefulness and Death SLEEP is the Image of Death for all the Senses are at rest nor is there any motion left but that of the Heart Lungs and Arteries this Rest proceeds from Vapours arising out of the Stomach which by their
upon the Regulus with their distinct Rays dispersed into one another and if the Regulus be driven to the last degree of perfection the Star disappears and there is seen in the room of it a little thin Net like a Fishers Net I am so far from delivering any thing upon the Credit of others that I set down nothing but what I my self have done and seen Having let you see the manner how it is done there remains only that I should give such a Reason of it as may in some measure satisfie the Readers understanding I do not Brag that I am able to do it for there are few Men which are rational I mean who are contented with Reason nevertheless you shall have my thoughts of the Matter No Man doubts but that Iron represents the Planet Mars Copper Venus Gold the Sun Silver the Moon and Tin Jupiter if the Qualities of these Mettals be compared with those of the Planets as the Heavens do incessantly influence the Earth and the Earth sends back its Corpuscles to the Heavens in the form of Vapours in the same manner do the Heavens return them to the Earth in Rain and Dew and though there is a general Commerce between the Heavens and the Earth yet no Man will deny but that there is a certain invisible and particular Commerce betwixt them and that we may not speak of things so general there is a more special Commerce betwixt the Sun and Gold and betwixt the Moon and Silver Mars and Iron Venus and Copper so every Planet hath a special influence upon its Mettal and the Nature of it by the means of the invisible Atoms and Corpuscles which proceed from the Body of the Planet which plainly appears by all the former instances and amongst the rest for that the day and hour of the Planet contributes to the formation and perfecting of either the single or double Star as we have observed about the Starry Regulus These things being supposed I conceive that while Antimony is Melting with Iron there is much Vapour and Smoak arising and this is most certain that the Smoak evaporates in such plenty that it is troublesome to the Artist who is obliged to stand at some distance if he will have a care of himself These Vapours and Smoak do ascend up which being met with by the Spirit and Corpuscles of their Planet do mingle with them and descend upon the Mettal and penetrate it because being melted it is open Therefore these emancipated Spirits do return more pure than they were and do so well intermix themselves with the open Mettal when it is melted and that they draw others to stick unto them whence the Spirit of the Planets though invisible descending from the Body of the Planets not being able to enter into the Regulus when it is removed from the Fire and begins to coole are forced to stick upon the upper and superficial part of the Mettal and there form the Figure of the Planet or Planets from whence they did proceed and when Copper is put to it there appears a double Star and this Star is the more elevated when the Spirits of the Planets are more copious which they are at the day and hour where in the Planet Rules All these things agree with experience for the single or double Star doth not appear till the Mettal begins to cool which requires about the space of an hour and this Star is formed by degrees which is strange nay to be wondred at whence it appears that there is an agreeableness between Mars and Iron and betwixt Venus and Copper and that there is an influence of their Planets upon these two Mettlas by the intervention of their Corpuscles As for the Net which we spoke of it shews the Conjunction of the Planets of both Mettals having the Sun in the middle and I am not able to give any other reason for it unless that when the Mettals which are melted with the Antimony begin to grow cold and that when the Star enters into the Body of the Mettal and disappears there are still remaining certain Corpuscles of the Planets of both Mettals which are interwoven in the middle of the Mass which makes this Net whereof the Fables seem to leave us an Idea We must confess by the by that there are certain things in Nature which surpass our understanding and that we ought not to imagine with our selves that we are able to satisfie all the Learned in every thing But to go on with this Chapter I observe likewise as there are Mettals which rejoice at the Commerce which they have with the influence of some Planets so there are parts found in our Body which correspond with Particular Planets as the Heart with the Sun the Brain with the Moon the Liver with Mars the Spleen with Saturn the Lungs with Jupiter and the Reins with Venus so we see that Gold which is the Terrestial Sun is a Soveraign Cordial or a Medicine for the Heart and truly universally for all Bodies as the Coelestial Sun is for the whole World as I shall shew when I come to discourse of Mettals Silver in the same manner is a Cephalick Medicine whereof are made wonderful Remedies for Diseases in the Head the same may be said of Iron in respect of the Liver when it opens its obstructions and fortifies Copper affords a Spirit which wondefully heals the Reins and also Venerial Distempers I shall speak something of every Mettal in its proper place and we shall more plainly see how every Mettal doth administer a Specifick Remedy for that part which it hath relation to as experience shews As for Sudorificks I will not speak of them Medicinally in this place neither will I explain the matter whereof those Remedies so benificial to Mans Body are made It is sufficient for me to speak of them Philosophically and it being supposed which I have not seldom seen that one only Grain of Powder plainly insipid and of the Colour of calcined Gold given in half a Glass of Wine doth provoke Sweat in abundance from the whole Body from head to foot without any violence or alteration This I have seen and have done it and can do it again at any time when I please Nothing remains but that I should give the Reason of this Phoenomenon and that we know whether it ought to be attributed to Sympathy or Antipathy I suppose and I know it very well that this Powder is compounded of the Spirit of Gold and all other Mettals reduced into one so that it ought not to be admired that the Atoms of which it is composed should be so penetrating that they are carried from the Stomach through the whole Body and that in their passage they fix the most subtile Corpuscles of humours which pass through the Pores in the likeness of Vapours and meeting with the cold outward air are reduced to the likeness of Dew which is called Sweat. There are other Sudorifick Powders but they are
the Eyes are of that Figure that they cannot be placed elsewhere without a violent concussion of these mutually self impelling Atoms and these concussions are sometimes the cause why when the Women are hurt the Child is not at all formed and that by reason of the sole inordinate motion of one Corpuscle which either does not or being hindred by others which cause this motion cannot find a place due to its Figure It is plain therefore that seminal Corpuscles have the Figure of that part from whence they are derived and the whole humane Body is no otherwise shut up in a small part of Matter than an whole Oak in an Acorn and an Apple in a Kernel The example brought by me above concerning the divers kinds of Salt dissolved in water which in evaporating part asunder from each other and each possesseth his place not without a difference of Figures will give some light to this my Doctrine CHAP. V. Of Nutrition which Plants and Brute Beasts have common with Man. NUtrition is a vital action and so proper to Living Creatures that as there is nothing nourished that is not Living so there is no Living thing that is not nourished All the difficulty lies in the manner of Nutrition for no Man doubts but Animals and Plants at the beginning of their existence are nourished and grow which could not be without the addition of new Matter which is changed into the substance of the thing Living This addition of Matter takes in its attraction preparation digestion and its distribution through all the Parts of the Body nourished These opperations appear in Plants wherein it is amiss to attribute that to Nutritive Attractive Digestive and Distributive Qualities which may be explicated by the motion of the Atoms or seminal Corpuscles contained in the Seed But because Nutrition is much more conspicuous in Living Creatures and especially in Man it will be necessary to explain the Reason how that is performed in him in the first State after Conception and afterwards when the Organs are formed For there is need of Aliment that the Organs which are just formed and tenderer then to be sufficient to undergo their Operations may grow and be encreased So that at the very moment he begins to live there is a necessity that he should be nourished CHAP. VI. How and with what Aliment an Embryo is nourished 'till the time of his Birth THe first thing that is done after the laying together of the parts of the Embryo and the disposition of its Organs is the infusion of the Rational Soul which God in one and the same moment Creates and gives to this little Body as its Lodging Forty or sometimes more days after its Conception what is done before the infusion of this Soul to speak properly is nothing else but a disposition of the Organs to receive it This admirable Structure begins from the Heart Head Bones and other particular Fundamentals and when it is already compleated and the Soul infused the seminal Atoms Presidents of the formation of the Body persevere in performing their works taking as Companions of their Office these Particles of the Mothers Blood which may serve to nourish the Infant being sensibly solicitous for its increase 'till the time of its Nativity Yet nevertheless it is very difficult throughly to declare the true Reason of the Nutrition and Life of the Infant for seven or eight Months together Gassendus recounts three Opinions of the Antients concerning this thing the first is of Alcmaeon in Plutarch affirming the Infant to be nourished by all parts of the Body drawing in by the help of the Pores a necessary Aliment The second Opinion is by the same Plutarch attributed to Democritus this Philosopher teaches that the Infant is nourished in the Mothers Womb in the same manner as it is nourished when born to wit by the Mouth and this is the Cause he says why the newly born seek the Breast with open Mouth The third is Aristotle's Galen's and many others who conclude that the Infant takes no nourishment in the Womb but by the Umbilical Veins which taking their Original from the bottom of the Matrix insinuate themselves into the middle of the Abdomen or Belly where being collected into one Trunk they lead on the Mothers Blood into the hollow part of the Liver where part of it is carried into a Branch of Vena-Cava and part into a Branch of the Vena-Porta and the two Arteries which accompany the Umbilical Veins having passed the Liver each of them apart go to the two Branches of the Aorta or great Artery and carry the Arterial Blood which they bring thither that it may all be distributed through the whole Body of the Infant and changed into a substance fit for its Nutrition This Opinion is confirmed by the refutation of the two former For the first is false For if the Infant was like a Sponge it would not be nourished but swelled by the Water or serous humour in which it swims and which is contained in the Amnion The second Opinion is not probable For the Infants head is placed betwixt both knees nor can it suck the Caruncles which are covered with a Skin as is supposed unless at one and the same time it should attract the water wherein it lies hid or penetrate the Membrane in which it is involved The third Opinion standing firm which I believe rests upon a better foundation nor does the Infants Stomach generate Chyle nor its Liver Blood the Mothers Blood subministring all those things And from hence it is that a Woman with Child communicates to the fruit of her Womb the purity or impurity of her Blood her good or ill nourishment as also her Health and Diseases and these Diseases are hereditary not but that there are some which proceed from the Fathers whose impure Blood licentious living ill nourishment and frequent excesses afford matter to these evils Besides we may say that the Infant in the Mothers Womb does neither live nor breath but by the Mouth Heart and Lungs of the Mother from whence it comes to pass that the Infant for the most part follows the Mothers affections and inclinations and seeing that in the state wherein it is in the Womb it is tyed to its Mother in so strict a bond of Union it is impossible that she alone should be feaverish nor that the big-bellied Woman should dye the Child remaining alive and healthful CHAP. VII How Man is Nourished after he is Born. AMan Born hath need of Nourishment now nothing can nourish him which hath not some Spirit of Life So Roots Plants Corn Pulse Flesh serve to the nourishing of a Man and all this business is performed by the benefit of Atoms and vital Corpuscles passing from one Compound Body to another This Nutrition is necessary to encrease the substance of the born Infant and so there is need of a new Compound Body to serve it for Aliment And this Compound Body must of