in pulmone vas dextri ventriculi haec enim e corde recipit ut Arteria magna similiter fabricatum est ejus corpus Vas autem sinistri ventriculi non pulsat quia introducit tantum ejus corpus simile est reliquis venis He holds that the motion of the Heart and Arteries depends not upon any pelsifick Faculty but that it ariseth from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ebullition or effervescency of the blood in the Ventricles and that the Heart and Arteries are dilated at the same time the blood dilating the Heart and issuing out thorough the valves of the Aorta and Pulmonique Artery at the same instant which is pure Cartesianism He holds that the Blood comes up from the veins to the Heart and there acquires the last Perfection and becomes vital and spirituous in the mention of the Arterious Blood he useth indifferently the termes of Blood spirit and natural heat which I desire may be observed lest the proofs seem not full enough and he be construed to speak of nothing but spirits and natural heat in the Arteries He saith that this Blood having acquired its Perfection in its passage through both the ventricles is distributed through all the parts of the body for its nutriment by the Arteries in which Arteries there is such a constant quantity of Blood that the effervency of that in the Heart impells the whole continuation of the Arteries so that they beat all at once Cum enim pulsatio Cordis Arteriarum sit accidens quoddam quod ex necessitate insequitur humoris in corde effervescentiam qua sanguinis generatio per ficitur ut in caeteris quae igne elixantur accidit lib. de vita mort c. â— intumescente corde necesse est simul omnes Arterias dilatari in quas derivatur fervor non enim repleri potest una pars quin totum fiat majus ubi non omni ex parte vasa quae continua sunt fuerint exinanita Nam nullo intus existente corpore non contingit simul repleri principium extrema cum motus non fiat in instanti existente autem per totos canales aliquo spiritu simul ac in principio alius fuerit genitus necesse est totum simul dilatari unum enim sit spiritus accedens cum toto Cum ergo totum reddatur majus simul ac accesserit pars non potest una pars dilatari quin eodem tempore dilatetur totum Est autem veluti totum quoddam Arteriae omnes cum corde Continuum enim est vas sanguinis perfecti Spiritu autem efflante inhabitum corporis distributo particulis sanguine necesse est tumorem vasorum desidere quae est pulsus contractio Continue autem hoc fit quia continua est partium nutritio continua sanguinis generatio in corde Elevatio igitur Spiritus a calore fit non tamen temere sed alicujus gratia Nam sine hujusmodi amplificatione non fieret distributio alimenti in omnes partes He plants a kind of Flammula cordis or fire in the heart which causeth the ebullition and imprints a spirituousness in the blood that issueth out into the Arteries Hujusmodi locâ—s Cor est in quo secundum Naturam elementum praeparatum ardere possit fieri spiritus venae alimentum suppeditant Arteriae flammae spiritum recipiunt He saith that the Blood moves towards the Heart as the Oyle to the flame of the burning Lamp and that the Valves as the orifice of the Vena Gava which immit the blood are placed there to moderate the source of the blood lest it should fall in too fast extinguish the vital fire and that the valves at the entrance of the Aorta do flie open upon the effervescency of the blood by the pressure of it every way to get more room it finding no out-let but by those yielding valves which were so placed lest upon any accident or viclent passion the arterious blood should regurgitate into the Heart Motus fit ex venis in Cor caliditate alimentum trabente ex corde autem in arterias quia hac solum patet iter propter membranarum positionem positae autem sunt hoc modo membranae ne unquam contingeret contrarium motum fieri quod accidere posset in vehementibus animi perturbationibus aut aliis causis a quibus sanguinis retractio fit ad Cor Obsistunt enim huic motui membranae Nam si hoc modo condite non essent ignis cordis vel levi causa extingueretur Si enim metus fieret contrarius simile esset ac si flamma compingeretur deorsum ad alimentum quod cum minime sit praeparatum aut cepiosius quam oportet ignem suffocat Oportet enim alimentum praeparari paulatim dispensari ad locum flammae He saith that this arterious blood or spirit is distributed into all parts of the body with great celerity and that it is that which nourisheth the parts and that upon its diffusion into the habit of the body the spirits are very much exhausted and the corpulent part of the aliment doth remain being coagulated partly by heat and partly by cold He saith that the variety of the pulse as to strength or debility celerity and slowness depends upon the nature of the vital fire the nature of the aliment with which it is fed and sometimes upon the particular Fabrick or conformation of the Heart in which that Fire is seated He placeth Anastomoses betwixt the veins and arteries every where in the body Osculorum communio est non solum in corde sed etiam per totum venerum arteriarum ductum He saith that the blood is never extravasated but where it is aggregated to any part by way of nourishment or else it putrifies he doth not understand how it should not coagulate if once extravasated nor can he comprehend how it should be reassumed into the veins in such a case Venam continuam esse oportet usque ad cordis ventriculos ut inde omnis virtus descendat nec ullibi contingit disjunctam esse sanguis enim calore cordis destitutus concrescit tandem putrescit He makes the Blood to pass betwixt the right and left ventricle of the Heart partly by the Lungs and partly by the Septum Cordis Pulchre igitur condita sunt omnia Cum enim fervere oporteret in corde sanguinem ut fieret alimenti perfectio primo quidem in dextro ventriculo in quo crassior adhuc continetur sanguis deinde autem in sinistro ubi sincerior sanguis est partim per medium septum partim per medios pulmones refrigerationis gratia ex dextro in sinistrum mittitur Interim autem pulmo abunde nutriri potest totum enim eum sanguinem absumere quem recipit egreditur fines rationis Non enim rara esset ejus substantia levis ut videtur si tantum alimenti vim in suam naturam converteret This he
thus further explains Pulmo per venam arteriis similem ex dextro cordis ventriculo fervidum hauriens sanguinem eumque per anastomosin arteriae venali reddens quae in sinistrum cordis ventriculum tendit transmisso interim aere frigido per asperae arteriae canales qui juxta arteriam venalem protenduntur non tamen osculis communicantes ut putavit Galenus solo tactu temperat Huic Sanguinis Circulationi ex dextro cordis ventriculo per pulmones in sinistrum ejusdem ventriculum optime respondent ea quae ex dissectione apparent Nam duo sunt vasa in dextrum ventriculum desinentia duo etiam in sinistrum Duorum autem unum intromittit tantum alterum educit membranis eo ingenio constructis Vas igitur intromittens vena est magna quidem in dextro quae cava appellatur parva autem in sinistro ex pulmone introducens cujus unica est tunica ut caeterarum venarum Vas autem educens Arteria est magna quidem in sinistro quae Aorta appellatur parva autem in dextro ad pulmones derivans cujus similiter duae sunt tunicae ut in caeteris arteriis He holds that the spirituous or arterious blood is cast ouâ— and diffused vigorously into the habit of the body that the veins and arteries being continuous by Anastomosis it returns to the Heart again vigorating the blood of the vena peria and Cava as it returns which is sufficiently intimated in that he deduces all the vigour and vitality of the blood from the Heart and that this vigour or natural hear is carried over the body by the Arteries alone and that it is necessary that the whole venous Systeme or contexture of Arteries and veins be continuous lest the blood in the veins being destitute of the cordial heat should coagulate and putrifie He holds that this motion or Circulation of the blood is without intermission and that the swelling of the veins upon the Ligature is a sufficient proof of it But he holds that the recourse of the blood by the veins is greater in the sleep then when we awake which he proves thus in that the veins are more full and tumid during sleep then waking and the pulse weaker and more slow as any man may observe From whence he concludes that the natural heat which is the Arterious blood as I observed before to prevent all possible mistakes which was otherwise in great part expended upon the nerves and sensories doth in sleep return and fill the veins more visibly that exhaustion ceasing then when we are not asleep His opinion will be best set down in his own words and I think it necessary to do it because Nardius hath done it so imperfectly that one would attribute as little to his allegations as to those which are cited out of the Ancients and if I had not read Caesalpinus long before I should have thought the Florentine to have intitled Caesalpinus to the opinion out of envy to Harvey or out of a partial desire to advance the glory of the Tuscan Academy at Pisa when Caesalpinus was Professour Thus that learned man writ about the year 1590. or a little after Andraeas Caesalpinus Quest Medic. l. 2. Qu. 17. edit venetae secunda in 4 to A. D. 1593. fol. 234. col 1. Sed illud speculatione dignum videtur Propter quod intumescunt venae ultra locum apprehensum non citra quod experimento sciunt qui vena secant vinculum enim adhibent citra locum sectionis non ultra quia tument venae ultra vinculum non citra Debuisset autem opposito modo contingere si motus sanguinis spiritus a visceribus fit in totum corpus intercepto enim meatu non ultra datur progressus tumor igitur venarum citra vinculum debuisset fieri An folvitur dubitatio ex eo quod scribit Aristoteles de Som c. 3. ubi inquit Necesse enim quod evaporatur aliquousque impelli deinde converti permutari sicut Euripum calidum enim cujusque animalium ad superiora natum est ferri cum autem in superioribus locis fuerit multum simul iterum revertitur ferturque deorsum Haec Aristoteles Pro cujus loci explicatione illud sciendum est Cordis meatus ita a natura paratos esse ut ex vena Cava intromissio fiat in Cordis ventriculum dextrum unde patet exitus in pulmonem ex pulmone praeterea alium ingressum esse in Cordis ventriculum sinistrum ex quotandem patet exitus in Arteriam Aortam membranis quibusdam ad ostia vasorum appositis ut impediant retrocessum Sic enim perpetuus quidam motus est ex vena cava per Cor pulmones in Arteriam Aortam ut in Quaestionibus Peripateticis explicavimus Cum autem in vigilia motus caloris nativi fiat extra scilicet ad sensoria in Somno autem intra scilicet ad Cor putandum est in vigilia multum spiritus sanguinis ferri ad arterias inde enim in nervos iter est In somno autem eundem calorem per venas reverti ad Cor non per Arteriam Judicio sunt pulsus qui expergicentibus fiunt magni vehementes celeres crebri cum quadam vibratione in somno autem parvi languidi tardi rari notante Galeno 3. de caus pul 9 10. Num in Somno calor nativus minus vergit in arterias in casdem erumpit vehementius cum expergiscuntur Venae autem contrario se modo habent nam in somno fiunt tumidiores in vigilia exiliores ut patet intuenti eas quae in manu sunt Transit enim in somno calor nativus ex arteriis in venas per osculorum communionem quam Anastomosin vocant inde ad Cor. Ut autem sanguinis exundatio ad superiora retrocessus ad inferiora ad instar Euripi manifesta est in somno vigilia sic non obscurus est hujusmodi motus in quacunque parte corporis vinculum adhibeatur aut alia ratione occludantur venae Cum enim tollitur permeatio intumescunt rivuli qua parte fluere solent From hence it is clear that He held that the blood did circulate continually falling into the Heart by the vena Cava and issuing out by the Aorta into all parts of the body that this motion of the blood was perceivable by the Ligatures at any time but most manifest in the intumescence of the veins in sleep at what time also the blood or natural heat which is all one to him did pass by way of Anastomosis out of the arteries into the veins as well as at other times So that we are not to imagine any interrupted circulation in him but that it did constantly flow night and day sleeping and waking though with unequal celerity In letting of blood he tells us that the blood which first issues out is venous and blacker then that which follows and comes more immediately
known nor the dose and consequently the Project not like to improve Physick at all unless our Magistrates will licence men to try so many Experiments even to the apparent hazard or certain death of the parties and may regulate and authenticate the practice in such manner as becomes a Baconical Experiment and to encourage Rational men to this procedure there ought to be a greater deficiency in Physick then yet appears and a more hopeful success then any man can yet expect supposed by this way A Paynim told us Nulla unquam de morte hominis cunctatio longa est A sober Physician will look upon the act to be as indiscreet as the Comedian describes love to be Quaeres in se neque consilium neque modum habet ullum eam consilio regere non potes That there is no probability that this way of Medicine can ever amount to any thing appears from this consideration that Liquors immediately injected into the blood have a different Operation there then when taken in by the Stomach and that the mixtures of Liquors with blood upon Phlebotomy in a Pottinger gives no light to the Experiment As I shall now shew Seignior Fracassati Professor of Anatomy at Pisa tried these Experiments by injecting Medicaments 1. Having injected into the jugular and crural veins of a Dog some Aqua fortis diluted the Animal died presently and being opened all the blood in the vessels was coagulated and fixed but that which was in the Viscera which I dare not English Guts but take it to denote the Heart Liver Lungs Spleen where the blood passes extravasated through though the Transactions render it Guts and destroy the antithesis betwixt vasa and viscera did not so easily coagulate It was also observed that the great vessels were burst or as it were cut asunder yet have I known who hath put Aqua fortis into cooling Juleps in Fevers as others do spirit of Vitriol without any harm 2. There was also infused into another Dog some spirit of Vitriol which had not so present an effect for the Animal complained a great while and foamed like Epilepticks and had its respiration very thick and observing the beating of his breast one might easily judge the Dog suffered much who dying at last his blood was found fixed in the veins and grumous resembling Soot whereas in the Experiment with Aqua fortis which may as easily be given inwardly as spirit of Nitre the blood is not said to have been changed in its colour from other coagulated blood It was also observable though the Transactions minde it not that the blood in this last Dog was not upon coagulation continuous in the veins but broken and severed into parcels 3. There was also injected into the jugular of another dog some oyle of Sulphur per campanam but he died not of it though this infusion was several times tried on him And the wound being closed and the dog let go he went into all the corners of the room searching for meat and having found some bones he fell to gnawing them with a strange avidity as if this Liquor had caused in him a great appetite 4. Another dog into whose veins some Oyle of Tartar per deliquium was injected did not escape so well for he complained much and was altogether swoln and then died Being opened the Spectators were surprised to finde his blood not curdled but on the contrary more thin and florid then ordinary 5. Dr. Lower having extracted half a pound of blood out of the crural urine of a Mastiff dog did inject the like quantity of warm milk into him within half an hour the dog became very sick breathed with difficulty and seemed to labour much with his heart and diaphragme and after to palpitate tremble and sigh grievously and at length miserably died Upon dissection he found the vena cava the ventricles of the heart the vessels of the Lungs and the Aorta full of blood and milk coagulated together and the concretion was so hard that it was not easie to part it This he tried but once But Monsieur Dennys the French Physician saith he tried it with a different success For having syringed about a quarter of a pint of milk into the veins of an Animal he tells not what and having opened the same some time after he found the milk so perfectly mixed with the blood that there was not any place in which appeared the least footstep of tho whiteness of the milk and all the blood was generally more liquid and less apt to coagulate 6. I received an account of some Experiments from one much versed in these injections which he may one day acquaint the world with to this effect That the infusion of Crocus Metallorum injected in a less quantity then otherwise viz. ℥ β will work by vomit in a dog almost presently and very strangely and make him grievously sick Yet Dr. Wren informs Mr. Boyle that a moderate dose of the infusion of Crocus Metallorum did not much move the dog that he injected it into but a large dose of two ounces or more wrought soon and so violently that he vomited up life and all That a dog will take two drams of Opium into his Stomack and seem never the worse if you keep him from lying down half an hour after but two drams of Poppy-seeds made into an Emulsion and injected into his veins will kill him presently 7. Mr. Boyle saith that he conveyed a small dose of the tincture of Opium into a dog this way which began to work so speedily upon the brain that he was scarce untied before the Opium began to disclose its Narcotick quality and almost as soon as he was upon his feet he began to nod with his head and reel and faulter in his place but being kept awake and in motion by whipping up and down the Garden after some time he came to himself again and not only recovered but began to grow fat so manifestly that'twas admired 8. A certain German Count coming into England relates an Experiment which he saw in the presence of Pr. Rupert After some blood taken from a dog there was injected into him a small quantity portiuncula of Spanish wine within sometime after the dog was perfectly drunk being giddy performing sundry ridiculous actions then vomiting with a profound sleep 9 Dr. Fabricius Physician to the City of Dantzick injected purgatives into humane bodies with this effect A strong bodied Souldier being dangerously infected with the Pox and having grievous protuberations of the bones in his armes two drams of a purgative liquor were injected he presently complained of great pains in his elbows and the little valves of his arm did swell so visibly that it was necessary by a great compression on 's fingers to stroke up that swelling towards the Patients shoulders Some four hours after it began to work not very troublesomely and so it did the next day in so
excrements resulting from it It is in the Stomach and first digestion where food is so concocted by the Humane heat or Acidity as to turn to a chyle adequate to the nourishment of man and generating such blood and such excrements as are the result of such a concoction as is agreeable to the nature of man And so it is in all creatures Thus we see that in different Animals different Excrements are generated nor is it to be doubted but that the concoctive principle differs as much in a dog or cat as do those excrements which differ much from those of men though both eat the same meat Sicut acidus spiritus quilibet animam inseparabiliter in ventre suo portat atque in illud corpus cuâ—infunditur dominium suscipit illudque confestim juxta sui naturam format hinc spiritus salis in Alcali Tartari fusus statim sibi format corpus salinum propriae naturae consentaneum fit sal aceti spiritus vel acetum distillatum in eodem Alcali tartari sibi format corpus adaequatum suae propriae naturae fit tartarus vini sic de vitriolo reliquis acidis Ita quoque acidum Stomachi humani cum apprehendit panem vel quicquam alibile in quod dominari possit illud convertit commutat in chylum exinde in carnem humanam eundem panem Acidum Stomachi canini convertit transmutat in carnem caninam uti de reliquis viventibus quotidie docemur eo quod natura in omnibus iisdem instrumentis operatur If the Case be such and that the blood transfused hath received those impregnations of vitality which are agreeable to the nature of the Animal whence it is transfused and is qualified to generate such nourishment and such excrements as are the consequences of those digestive characters if I may so call them and impressions How can we imagine that such blood being immediately transfused into our veins without those previous alimental sigillations and digestions produce those effects which are to be expected in humane bodies and are though irrationally in this case wished for But perhaps they think to atchieve their design by introducing a new texture in the vitiated blood and vessels or fermentation whereupon should ensue the amendment I perceive indeed by their stories a new fermentation that the dogs piss blood no desirable or trivial accident But what a little time is there for the blood to pass unto the heart and mix with those other Liquors and ascending blood and so to pass into the Heart and Lungs How do they know that the blood they transfuse is good Upon burning they shall finde a difference in blood of beasts and a different taste and coagulation in the Serum Besides that the blood of young Animals is generally less balsamical and inflammable of another texture and colour the Serum very saline and in a word exceeding different from what is in men and women of years And in the blood of men and women there are often defects not to be perceived but by coagulating and burning of the Serum and blood I have taken the Serum of a Maid seemingly healthful only pained at Stomach and abounding in blood it coagulated and looked like tallow and would not burn at all and smelt noisomely after coagulation not before I have several strange instances of this kind If there be such indiscernable causes of distempers and mixtures in blood of persons that are not well if they neither know what they aim at in transfusing in nor what they transfuse Let Mr. Glanvill talk of great Advantages to be expected and let them try it for me Sure I am that the Transactions report an Untruth in saying that Coga was ever the better for it I am told his Arm was strangely ill after it and difficultly cured and if all the great likelihood of Advantages from Transfusion that are in their present Prospect arise from no other grounds they are very improbable The Parliament of Paris have forbid it to be prosecuted but by the allowance of the Parisian Faculty of Physicians A Swedish Baron died upon it and to argue from the cures of Madmen or from what they suffer without hurt is not for a Physician but for one that deserves to be sent to Bedlam for mad people endures a thousand ills and strong Physick such as others cannot endure and if they find any amendment sometimes by uncouth means it is by accident as it makes them ill which sometimes prove their recovery As for dogs they cannot declare what they suffer but I am in haste and refer my Reader to the perusal of the Histories in the Transactions in which what I last objected is all confessed and if after all I have said he find encouragement to try a remedy that hath sometimes proved not unfortunate but is always rash let him do it for me I am satisfied That the operation carries more of terror and many swoon upon bleeding then a potion or Galenical Physick and that the greatest part of our distempers do not arise from the scarcity or malignant tempers and corruption of our blood is as manifest as can be more arise from the depraved motion and redundancy of the blood and serosities in and about the brain and the laxity and strictness of the habit and pores of the body and in these cases Transfusion is no remedy much less in malignant diseases in which to let blood is often mortal commonly dangerous and it always must be antecedent to Transfusion excepting only the scarcity of blood in which case what strength is there to assimilate or ferment with the new blood As to the Transfusion of blood in Pleurisies the attempt is very ridiculous considering what an Ebullition and Inflammation of the blood there is then in the Lungs whither the transfused blood immediately flows what extravasated serosities do afflict those parts how unfit are they for any seasonable fermentation And in the Small Pox how few are they in England which allow of Phlebotomy in that disease at all and how irrational must that Transfusion seem which disturbs and diverts nature in her present work what hazard must the Patient run amidst a Fever and that violent commotion of humors which afflicts his head back heart and lungs at that time should he besides all other accidents fall into pissing of blood a symptom so dangerous in that disease and so usual a consequent of this Operation Having dispatched these papers thus far the length of time since they were sent to London to be transcribed perused and several insertions made according as my memory amidst a constant employment suggested any thing new unto me and the delay of the Printing till Michaelmass-Tearm gives me an opportunity to relate some Observations I made at Bath during my stay there this Summer As famous as the Bathes are and of as general an use as they are there being no better Remedy in the world for
is such that had not Harvey and others dilucidated the point we had never I believe fixed this explication upon him which amounts to no more then a new gloss upon an old Text which yet is sufficient to check the largeness of Mr. Glanvills assertion The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Plato and his making the Heart to be the original of the veins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these are something more then is to be found in the first of Genesis And that passage of Aristotle de Gen. Anim. l. 4. c. ult is so unlike any thing of Moses's and so like to the doctrine of Harvey that any man must blame Mr. Glanvill for rashness of what he says The words are thus set down by Riolanus and I have not the Original by me to consult Cum coelestia corpora circulariter moveantur inseriora ' corpora motum illum imitari debent cumque Oceanus fluxu refluxu moveatur ab influxu Lunari similiter humores talem motum habere necessum est Which words seem clear enough so as to justific the Epiphonema of my Author in opposition to our Virtuoso Quid ista significant nisi sanguinis Circulationem He that would be informed more fully about the judgement of the Ancients whether there be any thing in them that discovers the Circulation of the blood to have been known unto them or that they were not totally-ignorant and without any apprehensions of it let him reade the first letter of Walaeus and the several Pieces of Joannes Riolanus about the Circulation of the blood and the disputations of Vander Linden about the Circulation of the blood in which he vindicates it in a prolixe discours unto Hippocrates I wil not trouble my self to transcribe them It is evident that all men do give unto Harvey the credit of having so explicated it and Anatomically proved it that he may as well be termed the Author of it as Epicurus and others the Authors of that Philosophy which they derived from Pythogoras Democritus Leucippus and Ocellus Lucanus Nor hath Harvey any other Plea and Right to the Invention then that he did more fully and perspicuously declare it and in the most judicious and solid manner assert what others had but hinted at or fainily insisted on Nor is Mr. Glanvill any better acquainted with the notions of the Modern Writers then he is with those of the Ancients He saith that some have ascribed the Circulation of the blood to Paulus Venetus I must inform the Reader who may easily mistake if he be one of the ordinary Comical Wirs that it is not to be ascribed to Paulus Venetus the great Traveller who is generally understood when that name is mentioned none can say that he brought it from the Kingdom of Cathay But Pater Paulus Sarpa or Serpa or Father Paul the famous Venetian Monk of the order of the Servi who signatised himself during the time that Venice was interdicted He was a Student at Padoa at the same time that Harvey was there and discovered to Aqua pendens the valves in the veins which discovery that great Anatomist appropriated to himself and so Harvey was thought to have abused the same Father But since Fulgentio in the life of Padre Paolo doth not challenge Harvey for this Cheat as he doth Fabricius for that other and since Marquardus Slegelius could not hear of any such thing upon a strict Enquiry at Venice and Padua I know not any since Walaeus and Franciscus Ulmus that have ascribed the invention to Paulus Venetus Servita Neither did I ever reade of any man that attributed it to Prosper Alpinus nor is it credible that any ever did so For that great Physician established his glory by being an excellent Practitioner and not by any Anatomical curiosities which he rather contemned then pursued and till I know what Author Mr. Glanvill follows I believe the mentioning of him was occasioned by that way of discoutse which is common to the Wits of this Age to blunder out any thing and by laughing at improbabilities of their own suggestion to explode substantial truths or represent them as forgeries But if any did deceive the world in attributing the Circulation of the blood to Padre Paolo and Prosper Alpinus it doth not follow but that Andreas Caesalpinus was the first Inventor of it and proposed it to the world in his Medical and Peripatetical Questions thought not in any Set Discourse but as it casually falls into the discussion of other Problems Whereupon it was little regarded and not enquired after the book being also scarce and he being of that faction of Physicians which adheres to Aristotle against Galen whence it hapned that few read his Paradoxes and one of the bravest men of the latter Age hath been almost buried in oblivion However an ingenious Florentine call'd Joannes Nardius hath asserted the repute of Andraeas Caesalpinus for precedency to Harvey in the Discovery nor doth the same Author doubt but that Erasistratus was of the same opinion but he saith of Caesalpinus this Foelix cui contigit post mortem nancisci clarissimum Patronum Guglielmum Harveium Regium Medicum nobisque per charum qui abortivam illam opinionem excoluit adeo ut nihil cultius nostro seculo nilque mirabilius occurrerit curiosis amaenarum literarum amatoribus To decide this question and to put an end to those disputes which trouble some of our Virtuosi so much by reason of that little converse they have with Books I shall draw out the opinion of Caesalpinus as he expresseth himself in his Disputations As a great abettour of Aristotle he avows that the Heart is the principal part in man and the original of the veins arteries and nerves which is the opinion of Hofman Van der Linden and other Aristotelian Physicians He describes the Fabrick of the Heart as exactly as any of the Circulators in reference to the Valves so much talked of but he declares not their shape Vasorum in Cor desinentium quaedam intromittunt contentam in ipsis substantiam ut vena Cava in dâ—â—tro ventriculo arteria venalis in sinistro quadam educuâ— ut arteria aorta in sinistro ventriculo vena arterialis pulmonem nutriens iu dextro omnibus autem membranule sunt appositae officio delegatae ut oscula intromittentia non educant educentia non intromittant And for the account of the Vena arteriosa and Arteria venosa in the Lungs Harvey is not more perspicuous then he is afterwards where he makes the one to be an Artery the other a veine viz. Putaverunt autem Medici usum hunc non videntes commutatae fuisse vasa in pulmone ut Arteria quidem similis esset venae vena autem similis Arteriae appellantes venas vasa omnia quae in dextrum ventriculum desinunt Arterias autem quae in sinistrum figmenta multa absurditates excogitantes ut usum invenirent Pulsat igitur
Democriti legitur dictum aut factum fuisse illam cum Hippocrate collocutionem atque annum agentem 109. ab hujus vitae Statione decessisse I finde also that Menagius suspects those Letters though he confess them to be very ancient Extant hodie Hippocratis de sua ad Democritum profectione Epistolae sed supposititiae licet perantiquae Whereas I say pag. 114. that I have observed in some that their pulses have suffered no alteration at least kept no time or palpitated as did their hearts I shall illustrate this with an observation in a young Lady which I had too fatal an opportunity lately to make she died of a very malignant Feaver joyned with the Measils two nights before she died I watched with her and frequently observing the variety of her pulse I determined to minde whether there were any such alteration in the beating of the Heart as I then observed in her Arteries I laid my hand upon her Breast and I found that her heart did not beat as usually it doth the bâ—â—e erecting it self and impelling the left side but it seemed like a great bullet transcending any proportion that is natural to the Heart as it rolled in the Thorax from the right to the left side as much one way as the other with an uniform and equable revolution and thus it continued to do for an houre during which time I observed all the varieties almost that are recorded about evil pulses as quick slow great small unequal deficient dicrotus c. Nor is this new for Riolanus saith in Exam. Harvey c. 3. Notavi multoties in palpitationibus cordis vehementibus arterias non sequi motum Cordis sed bis terve pulsare Cor pro una diastole Arteriarum quod indicat Arterias in sanis aegris corporibus non semper sequi motus cordis So doth Mercatus teach Fit interdum palpitatio cordis nihil mutatis pulsibus Tom. 2. de Philos. differ l. 2. tr 1. c. 28. tom 3. l. 2. c. xj Since the writing hereof being casually in the shop where an old man was blooded who upon the healing up of an old sore in his leg was very ill I observed his blood to have very little of what was crimson in it but it seemed all a fluid Serum to the bottom which was pellucid not of a turbid white in some Pottingers in one Pottinger that ran last it was coagulated into a thicker mass on the top whereof was coagulated a translucid gelatine over most of the Pottinger the rest being of a fluid Serum like to the other I took some spirit of Vitriol and poured a pretty quantity viz. about 20 drops on that which was partly coagulated upwards partly not and all that part which was not blood did coagulate into a mass like unto the white of an Egge when hardened by the fire but without that smell which is usual to it when coagulated upon a gentle fire the blood under it coagulated into a consistence much like wax but of a dark red inclining to black into another Pottinger I poured some of the salt-peter-liquor that had passed the Ashes but this latter caused no change at all I then poured on the same some spirit of Vitriol as in the other and it did immediately turn lacteous and coagulated into a mass like to that of ordinary custards and the blood under which seemed but very little and scarce coagulated appeared thereupon as a large quantity equalling three parts of the Pottinger upon which all the Serum was thus coagulated I went to bâ—â—n these that blood which had only spirit of Vitriol did not crackle and scarce burn though a little it did the pure coagulated Serum did not burn at all yet crackled like decrepitating Salt a little that with the spirit of Vitriol and Lixivium of Nitre did burn with a vivid and lasting flame a long time I think my self obliged to adde one thing more where I speak as if Dr. Willis had had little to do in the discoveries of Dr. Lower about Anatomy that although that great Physician had not leisure to attend the Anatomical Inquiries yet did he propose new matter for improving the discoveries and put Dr. Lower upon continual investigation thereby to see if Nature and his Suppositions did accord and although that many things did occur beyond his apprehension yet was the grand occasion of that work and in much the Author This Intelligence doth not cross what I related before from good testimony yet I thought my self obliged to declare the whole truth and such I beleeve this to be I must also profess that I think the Sinus venarum vertebrales whose invention I ascribe to Dr. Lower may without considerable injury be ascribed unto Fallopius in his Anatomical Observations pag. 193. edit Coloniens 1562. in 80. Thus much I thought fitting to annex lest the Virtuosi should censure me as partial to my old School-fellow Dr. Lower or swayed by any regard then that of Truth The Hogs-blood which I last mentioned as poured upon the Mothers of Salt-peter after it had stood above three weeks unmixed did at last cast down about half of it self below the Mothers it continuing in that place it turned crimson that on the top did not change its colour but on the surface there gathered a crust or mass not very thick as before nor of so solid a coasistence FINIS To divert my Reader after so tedious a discourse I shall here adde the Letter of Coga their Patient that they may see how efficacious the Transfusion hath been on him and what returnes he makes for his Cure To the Royal Society the VIRTUOSI and all the Honourable Members of it the Humble Address of AGNUS COGA. YOur Creature for he was his own man till your Experiment transform'd him into another species amongst those many alterations he finds in his condition which he thinks himself oblig'd to represent them finds a decay in his purse as well as his body and to recruit his spirits is forc't to forfeit his nerves for so is money as well in peace as warre 'T is very miserable that the want of natural heat should rob him of his artificial too But such is his case to repair his own ruines yours because made by you he pawns his cloaths and dearly purchases your sheeps blood with the loss of his own wooll In this sheepwrack't vessel of his like that of Argos he addresses himself to you for the Golden Fleece For he thinks it requisite to your Honours as perfect Metaplasts to transform him without as well as within If you oblige him in this he hath more blood still at your service provided it may be his own that it may be the nobler sacrifice The meanest of your Flock AGNUS COGA. Plus Ultra pag. 23. Page â— Plus Ultra Pag. 7. and 8. Corn. Celsus in Praâ—at Dieg. Laert. in vita Arist. Suidas in Nicomacho Ammonius in vita Arist. Vide notas Menagii in