the effort of that part We shall not make it our business to oppose this circulation and though it be accompany'd with great difficulties yet may it nevertheless be affirmed that it is true and that it is effectually wrought though haply not after the same manner as is held by the maintainers thereof It is sufficient for the prosecution of our design to shew that the beating of the Heart is not the cause of the blood's motion especially that which comes into the veins For that done it will be easie to make it appear that they are only the Spirits which can transport it to the places whither it goes and consequenlty that they are bodies distinct from the humours which follow the motions of the Soul and not that of the Heart and may be mov'd by an agitation different from that of the latter Art 8. The heating of the Heart forces not the Blood into all the Parts IT being suppos'd then as the Patrons of this opinion would have it that the Heart by a certain compression or contraction of it self drives out into the arteries the blood which it hath receiv'd into its ventricles and that by the violence of that motion it forces it even to their extremities so to make its passage into the small veins which are near them and thence into the hollow vein and at last to the Heart whence it afterwards passes back again into the arteries and then into the veins perpetually running out of one into another by a continuall circulation This I say being sâ—ppos'd it might be said that there is some probability that this impulsion which it receives from the Heart may cause it to flow along into the arteries but it can never be conceiv'd how this impulsion should be continu'd even into the veins after that its force hath been check'd and broken by so many windings and so many obstructions which the blood must needs meet with in its way What! it shall open the moâ—ths of the vessels it shall force its passage through the fleshy parts as they pretend it shall surmount the impressions which the air and other external causes every moment make in the parts and after all this by vertue of that first impulsion it shall reascend to the Heart with the same agility that it descended thence But this is a thing cannot enter into a man's imagination I am content that as it passes through the small vessels the compression it suffers therein may continue the impetuosity of its motion but that it should be so when it flows into the greater veins and the spaciousness of their channels gives it more liberty is a thing which cannot be affirm'd without a defiance of experience and reason and there is a necessity it should have the same fate as rivers and torrents which flowing out of a narrow into a broad channel abate much of the impetuosity of their course And certainly if the beating of the Heart and arteries causes the blood to be thus moved Nature hath forgot her self extreamly that she gave not the same agitation to the veins especially those in the lower parts where the blood is more gross and heavy and hath so great a way to get up to the Heart For there it is that the cause and instruments of this miraculous transportation ought to be the more powerful having a greater and heavier weight to conduct nay indeed to force upward then is the arterial blood which is more subtile more susceptible of motion and at that time only descends downwards It may then be conceiv'd that those who first advanc'd this opinion never consider'd that fluid bodies cannot long conserve the vertue and impulsion if it be not extreamly strong and that that which is made in the Heart is too weak to maintain the motion of the blood in so long a course and through so many obstacles That if it were forc'd out as they pretend it would so much swell the veins that they would alwayes seem full and stretch'd out especially when it should be forc'd to ascend And in fine that opening the veins it should issue out by certain sallies and reiterations as that which comes out of the arteries since it is the same impulsion that makes both move and that we find in Water-Engines that the water alwayes flows proportionably to the violent shocks it received at the entrance of its channell But why should there be imagin'd in the veins a motion of the blood different not only from that which is made in the bones into the depth whereof it penetrates in order to their nourishment but also from that which conveys the sap of plants to all their parts For this sap and the blood we speak of is the last Aliment whereby they are sustein'd and therefore it is but one and the same Faculty that hath the direction and conveyance thereof and Nature who loves uniformity in all her operations will not easily change this since it may and ought to be performed after the same manner Moreover if the impulsion be the only cause of the motion of the blood it must be also the same of all the natural motions whereby it is agitated And yet that transportation of the humours which Nature makes in Crises and the regularity punctually observ'd by her when she conveys them from one place to another depends on another principle For the violence done in the Heart ought to be equally communicated to all the vessels and cannot determine the blood to flow towards one part rather then another How shall it then cause it to ascend to the left nostril in Inflammations of the Spleen rather then to the right Shall it be also the impulsion that shall force choler to the Intestines in Fluxes without inflammation And convey the serosities to the skin in critical sweats For all these sorts of motions proceed from nature and are made or at least begun in the veins though the beating and impulsion of the Heart and Arteries contribute nothing thereto To conclude since Nature multiplies not the ways of acting in those operations which are of the same kind it is necessary that she cause the blood to ascend by the same vertue whereby she causes the chylus to do so making it to pass out of the Intestines into the Vessels and afterwards conducting it to those places where it is necessary Now I do not think there is any body will affirm that the beating of the Heart contributes ought to this motion as having no communication with the Intestines at least so great as to force the chylus upwards and consequently it may be said that the blood is no more mov'd then it by that impulsion We must therefore find out some other cause then that whereto we may referr not only the ordinary transportation of the blood and all its other motions which though they seem extraordinary are nevertheless natural thereto as those which happen in the Passions but also those of the chylus and the other
being mixt therewith passes and insinuates it self into the Heart and Arteries through the Pores of the Vessels Hence it comes that Animals are sensible of the qualities of the air which they respire and Hippocrates affirms that the most sudden nourishment is wrought by odors But this is a thing happens by chance and is not to be admitted into the design of Nature And as to the cooling or refreshment which is caused by the air it is not intended to moderate the excess of the heat but for the reason given by us before which is common to fire and the spirits For the coldness of the air condenses the exhalations which should be enflam'd it gathers them together and hinders their rarefaction and dispersion And therefore when it is very cold the fire is the more violent and scorching in regard the matter of the flame suffers a greater contraction And the light of the Sun diminishes the heat of the fire in regard it rarifies and disperses the exhalation which feeds it Not but that the air does moderate the heat of the Heart when it is violent but that is not the main end at which Nature aims it is only a slender service and convenience which she derives by the by from her principal design But howere it be this is certain that after the blood which came out of the right ventricle hath travers'd the Lungs it is discharged into the left where it may be said it is return'd into the furnace and is stirr'd and agitated afresh and where it s more subtile parts are so refin'd that they acquire all the dispositions necessary to Spirits to make them vital and then they are endu'd with the form and vertue thereof and assume the place and function of those which have been distributed to the parts Art 5. Why the heart moves FRom what hath been deliver'd it may be inferr'd that the motion of the Heart serves for the generation of Spirits But that that should be the principal motive which oblig'd Nature to give it that motion is what cannot be easily affirm'd For in a word all Animals have those sorts of spirits but all have not that motion so that this may be stood upon that it is not absolutely necessary to their generation For my part I am of opinion that in this Nature had a greater regard to the conservation of the Spirits then to their production For whereas chings are conserv'd by that which is conformable and natural thereto and that motion is natural to the Spirits which are of a fiery nature and proportion'd to the Element of the Stars as Aristotle speaks it is accordingly requisite that they should be in perpetual motion as those bodies are And in effect we cannot stop the motion of fire without quenching it and all those things which hinder the Spirits from moving as Narcoticks and fulness deprave them and destroy the Animal It therefore concern'd the providence of Nature to find out some artifice whereby the vital Spirits should be continually stirr'd to the end they might be conserv'd by that which is most proper and natural to them And there could not be a more commodious way found then the motion of the Heart and Arteries which ever and anon excites and awakens the Spirits which are intermix'd with the blood For that humour being gross and heavy there would have been some danger of its smothering them by its weight if that miraculous ressort which gives a continual motion to the arterial blood should not hinder that disorder Hence it comes that the arteries alwayes accompany the greater veins that their agitation might excite the Spiâ—its which are mixt with the blood the lesser veins standing not in need of that attendance by reason of the small quantity of humour which they contain as such as is not capable of hindring their motion And in those Animals which have no blood that motion is neither so sensible nor so necessary in regard the humours there are more subtile and for the most part are only serosities which are in a more easie subjection to the Spirits It was therefore the principal intention of Nature to bestow motion on the Heart in order to the conservation of the Spirits yet with this precaution that it hinder not but that she may employ it to other uses For as a frugal and provident Housewife she makes that which is necessary to her main design to be subservient also to other conveniences which were it not for that she might have been without Upon this account is it that she employes the motion of the Heart to subtilize the matter of the Spirits to force away the impurities that are therein to moderate the heat thereof which might become excessive and to force the Spirits to the extremities of the Arteries so to disperse the heat and vital vertue into all parts Now of all these employments there are certain advantages yet are they not absolutely necessary since all this is done in many Animals without any motion of the Heart Art 6. That the Spirits are moved for three ends TO resume our discourse of the motion of the Spirits we said before that it was design'd for the communication of the vital heat to all the parts to convey into them the blood whereby they are to be nourish'd and to translate the humours from one place to another as it happens in the Passions in Crises and upon such other occasions As to the first it will be no hard matter to prove it for it is generally acknowledg'd and sense and reason teach us that all the heat and vigour of the parts proceeds from the vital Spirits which are produced by the Heart and as soon as this influence ceases they become cold and languishing Art 7. That the Spirits convey the blood into the parts BUt for the conveyance of the blood into the several parts there are not any Philosophers that have made it the employment of the Spirits but it is generally attributed by them either to the impulsion which it receives from the beating of the Heart or to some attractive vertue which draws it forth into every part It is therefore requisite we make it appear that these opinions cannot be maintain'd and that it is the proper work of the Spirits to dispose it into the veins For there is a necessity that it should be either forc'd out or attracted or convey'd so that when it shall have been shewn that there is not any thing whereby it is either forc'd out or attracted it will follow that there must be something to convey it and that only the Spirits can be capable of the employment Most of those who maintain the circulation of the blood do not admit of the Spirits at least as bodies distinct from the blood and affiâ—m that it is not mov'd in the veins but only by the impulsion which it receives from the beating of the Heart and that it admits not of any motion but that which proceeds from
Medicine have sufficiently explain'd themselves upon this Subject and the difficulties they have left therein give every man the liberty to propose his conjectures in order to the clearing up of a thing so obscure and so intricate Art 1. Of the Nature of the Spirits WIthout engaging our selves upon an exact disquisition of the Elements whereof bodies are compos'd it is a thing both certain and sensibly acknowledg'd that there are three sorts of parts which enter into the composition of all mixt bodies Of those parts some are subtile active and volatile others gross passive and heavy and the third are moist as being design'd to joyn together those two so opposite extreams For they have somewhat of the subtilty of the first and of the grossness of the others and when these are resolved the whole mixt body is destroy'd in regard they are the cement whereby all the parts are united together Those subtile parts are called Spirits inasmuch as they have so little matter and so much activity that they seem not fit to be ranked among bodies and while they are united with the others they serve for principal Organs to the forms as being the most active parts and they are as it were the bond which keeps them within the body The reason whereof is that Nature which ever joyns the extreams by a certain mean that hath some rapport thereto employs the subtile parts which have little of matter to joyn and unite the forms which have not any to the grosser parts that have much True it is that they may be separated and yet be afterwards conserv'd as we find by experience in distillations for so it is that the Spirit of Wine Sulphur c. is extracted And being so extracted though they lose the use they had when they were united to their natural forms yet do they not lose any thing of their substance or subtilty Art 2. Of the matter of the Spirits NOw as Plants are nourish'd by the juices which they draw out of the Earth so have these juices their subtile and spirituous parts as well as all the other Mixt bodies which parts not being lost as we said before pass into the Animals which feed on those Plants as those of the Animals pass into such as they become nourishment to So that it is not to be doubted but that the blood is full of these subtile essences which the natural heat afterwards digests and refines in the veins to be made the instruments of the Soul and that they are the matter us'd by Nature to frame and entertain the vital Spirits since subtile things are to be made of those which are of the same nature with them Art 3. How the Spirits are framed BUt to find out the secret of all this Oeconomy we are to represent to our selves that the blood which is in the Hollow Vein enters into the right ventricle of the Heart where it is warm'd by the heat and motion of that part which is the hottest of any about the body After its being warm'd there it issues out boyling and reeking and enters into the Lungs where it meets with the air attracted in by respiration which by its coolness thickens the fumes which it exhales from all parts which fumes are no other then the spirituous parts wherewith it is fill'd and which upon the accession of the least heat are separated and evaporated So that Nature does in this what commonly happens in the distilling of Aqua-Vitae in which work there is cold water cast about the Recipient as it were to gather together and reduce into a body the spirits of the wine then chang'd into vapour and to promote their passage along with the others Thence it comes that the vein which carries this reeking blood into the Lungs is as big as an Artery as it were to prevent the dissipation which might be made thereof before it be so cooled On the contrary the Artery which receives it after it hath been cool'd is as small as any vein there being not then any fear of dissipation And it is not unlikely that this is the reason why that Artery hath but two valvula whereas the other Vessels which enter into the Heart have three For as these valvulae whatever some others may be pleased to say were made only to prevent the impetuosity of the blood which is to enter into the heart and afterwards to come out of it so was there not any necessity that the veiny Artery should have so many obstacles to retain the impetuosity of the blood it carries in regard it must needs have left much thereof after it hath been cool'd and temperated by the air which is in the Lungs But however it be hence proceeds the indispensable necessity of respiration for if those parts of the blood which are so reduc'd into fumes should not be condens'd and reassume a kind of body they would be immediately dissipated And whereas this must be the matter of the Spirits as being the most subtile and most pure portion thereof there would not be made any new generation if nature had not found out a means to condense these vapours by the coolness of the air which is continually attracted by the Lungs Thence it comes that there is no possibility of continuing long without respiration in regard that all parts of the body standing in need of the continuall influence of the Spirits it is requisite the Heart should continually repair them and that cannot be done without respiration for the reason we gave before Art 4. An Objection against the precedent Doctrine answered I Know well enough that the common Doctrine would have the Air to enter into the composition of the Spirits and that natural heat nay indeed fire it self stands in need of air to moderate thâ—m as not being able to conserve themselves without it And that this is the reason why respiration is necessary in regard it conducts air to the Heart and moderates the excessive heat thereof But we are taught by Anatomical observations that there is not any vessel which conducts the air into that part and that the veiny Artery which was heretofore conceiv'd to serve for that use is alwaies full of blood and does undoubtedly convey to the Heart all that which is entered into the Lungs Besides it may be urged that Fishes have their vital Spirits though there be not any air which may contribute to their production True it is they have the motion of the Gills as also of the holes at which they sprout out the water and that is answerable to that of the Lungs and causes the same effect with the water which they ever and anon attract as the Lungs do with the air they respire Yet is there not any thing to be deduc'd hence which may imply my not being of opinion that the air respir'd which is all full of these spirituous parts exhal'd by all bodies do not furnish the vitall Spirits with some portion of themselves which
of the Heart and Arteries though no doubt but the Spirits are therein agitated And indeed they are bodies so light and susceptible of motion that the least agitation of the Soul must needs stirr them Which thing cannot be said of the Heart which is massy and heavy of it self and hath a function so necessary to life that it ought not without great necessity or a great effort to interrupt or disturb it In light Passions therefore the Spirits only are agitated and stirr'd but when they become strong not only the Spirits but the Heart also follows the emotion and disturbance of the Soul SECT 2. Why the Heart and Spirits move in the Passions BUt what end does the Soul propose to her self in all these motions What advantages can she receive thereby It is not to be doubted but that as she hath a design to be united to the good and to shun or oppose the evil so does she imploy these Organs to attain those ends and believes that the motions she puts them upon are absolutely necessary thereto And it is true there are some which produce the effect she expects from them but there are also some that contribute nothing to the obtaining of her desires For example when in Anger the Spirits separate the venome and the choler and convey them into the teeth and tusks of animals it is certain they are so many offensive arms fit to assault and destroy the enemy When in Love and Joy the Spirits stirr the purest and gentlest part of the blood that is conformable to the condition the Soul is in which then requires only agreeable objects would not be disturbed by the agitation of choler and melancholy which are troublesome and malignant humours And so it may be affirm'd that in all the other Passions the Spirits are put upon such motions as are conducible to the designs of the Soul as we shall make it appear when we come to discourse of every one of them in particular But for one of this nature there are a thousand others which are no way advantageous and which rather serve to discover the precipitation and blindness the Soul is in then to obtain what she proposes to her self For that the Heart opens and dilates it self in Love and Joy that it shuts and contracts it self in Fear and Sadness That the Spirits should diffuse themselves and issue out in the former and that they should retreat and draw up together in the latter all this contributes nothing towards the attainment of her end I know her persuasion is that opening the heart she makes a freer passage for the Good to enter in that shutting it she excludes the Evil that commanding the Spirits to march out she imagines that she comes neerer the objects and ordering them to retreat to the Heart she is at so much the greater distance from them But the troth on 't is that neither Good nor Evil enter into the Heart and the motion of the Spirits causes not a greater or a lesser distance between the Soul and them then there was before For it being acknowledg'd that she is spread over the whole Body she is already where the Spirits conduct her and quits not those places from which they endeavour to remove her Yet are we not much to wonder at the errour she falls into upon those occasions for having not an exact knowledge of all things that concern her she is surpris'd by the unexpected arrival of the Good and Evil which present themselves to her and in the distraction they put her into she does all that lies in her power she bestirs her self and sets her organs in motion according to the aim she takes and among many things which contribute to her design she does an hundred others that are of no advantage thereto nay may be prejudicial In the actions which are ordinary to her and have been ascrib'd her by Nature she is very seldom deceived for she regularly commands the Spirits into the parts to inspire them with vital heat to supply them with the blood whereby they are to be nourish'd to make the evacuations which are necessary it being the instinct which guids her and justly appoints her what she ought to do But when this assistance fails her she does as a man who punctually executes what he finds in his Instructions but is extreamly at a loss when he is to do something which he finds not in his papers He then regulates himself according to what he had done before upon the like occasions and being in hast he hazards the success of the affair which sometimes comes to a good period but most commonly happens otherwise then the man had imagin'd The case is the same with the Soul when Good and Evil surprise her For she not finding in the instructions of the Instinct what she ought to do upon such occasions proceeds according to her ordinary manner of action she causes the Spirits to advance forwards or retreat as she is wont to do in the necessary actions of life and considering the precipitation she is in and the little knowledg she hath she has neither the time nor discernment to see whether they will be advantageous or disadvantageous to her design SECT 3. What Faculty it is that moves the Spirits IT is therefore manifest that the Soul causes the Spirits to move to the end they should communicate the vital heat to all the parts that they should supply them with the blood whereby they are to be nourish'd and that they should transport the humours from one place to another when she thinks it necessary as it happens in the Passions in Crises and others The question now is to know what part of the Soul gives them their motions whether the Vegetative or the Sensitive As to the distribution of the vital heat and aliment as also for the transportation of the humours in diseases it is most certain that the Vegetative soul is the principle of all these actions But the difficulty still remains concerning the motions of the Spirits in Passions For on the one side it seems that the sensitive Soul ought to move them since she it is that excites the Passions that they move in effect with a respect to the sensible Good and Evil and that they propose to themselves the same end as she does On the other side the motions of the sensitive Soul are voluntary and may or may not be made at the pleasure of the animal as may be seen in the motion of the Members In the mean time that which the Spirits suffer is necessarily made and the Soul can neither excite nor hinder it when she pleases So that it seems that belongs to the jurisdiction of the Vegetative Soul and that in the association there is between the faculties and the mutual assistance they give each other this latter is joyn'd with the Sensitive to promote its possession of the good or recession from the evil which presents it self to
her Notwithstanding these last reasons whereto it is no hard matter to answer we must stick to the former which prove that it is the Sensitive Soul that causes the Spirits to move in the Passions True it is that the motions of the Vegetative are many times joyn'd with hers as we find by experience in extraordinary Griefs but it is when the Good and Evil are considerable and make so deep an impression that they force their way quite to her for when they are light she is not mov'd thereat and leaves the Sensitive part to act alone which yet fails not to stir the Spirits In effect they are the general Organs of all the functions of the Soul and all the faculties what order soever they are of equally employ them in their service They are serviceable as to life sentiment motion nay reason it self and in the highest meditations they are stirr'd as well as in natural actions They are like an Instrument whereof divers Artizans make use in several works For as the same pair of Compasses wherewith a Mason hath taken his measures serves the Geometrician to draw his figures and the Astronomer to measure the Heavens and the Stars So the Spirits which have serv'd the natural faculty for the meanest actions of life are employ'd by the sensitive Soul in the animal functions and the Understanding it self makes use of them in operations of the highest consequence But what their motion is not free in the Passions as it might seem it ought to be if the sensitive Appetite were Director thereof as it is of voluntary motions It matters not since even the Animal Spirits which flow through the nerves to make those motions and no doubt are mov'd by the sensitive Appetite have not their motion more free then that which is made in the Veins and Arteries The necessity of motion is many times found in the sensitive faculty as well as in the natural and though the Muscles be the Organs of free motion yet we find that respiration which is wrought by their means is necessary that the motion of the Heart which is as it were a composure of several Muscles and receives a Nerve from the Brain to give it sentiment and motion is not to be ranked among those that are voluntary Nay the Will it self notwithstanding that Soveraign liberty which it hath is not free in its first sallies and what time soever it may take to consider of the Good and Evil yet is it not in its power to hate the Good and love the Evil. Whence then proceeds this diversity Doubtless from the Instinct which is a Law that forces the Soul to do what it commands for the welfare of the Animal It is this Law that guids all the actions of the Natural faculty that assigns the sensitive Soul the motions which she ought to make not only those that are not to be balked as those of the Heart and Lungs and those of the Animal Spirits but also all those that are done casually wherein the knowledge of the Senses is of no advantage For though the motion of the Spirits in the Passions be not made precisely by it yet does the Soul cause them to do it according to the coppy which the Instinct gives her upon other occasions as we have shewn elswhere Art 1. Of what kind the motion of the Heart and Spirits is in the other Passions THus far as to what concerns the motion of the Heart and Spirits in the Passions of the sensitive Appetite we now come to examine whether it be performed after the manner in those of the Will and natural Appetite We may in the first place affirm that there are many Passions rais'd in the Will so as that neither the Heart nor Spirits are thereby stirr'd in regard it is a spiritual Faculty which may act of it self without the assistance of any Organ But it is to be observ'd that they must be very slight ones for when they come to be of any force they fail not both of them to be mov'd thereby as well as in the Passions of the sensitive Appetite Not but that the Will consider'd in it self might be able alone to excite the most violent Passions as we know it does in Angels But in Man in whom there is an union between the Corporeal and Spiritual faculties it is impossible but that one must assist and relieve the other when any considerable Good or Evil presents it self to either of them Which happens either hence that there is a necessary communication of their motions one to the other as we have declared or that the Soul upon such occasions is distrustful of her own strength and would rally together all the forces she hath Thence it comes that she thinks it not enough to move the sensitive Appetite in extraordinary Griefs to shun the Evil that presses hard upon her but she also excites sadness in the superiour part in order to the same design and as if all that were not sufficient she many times raises a Fever in the natural Faculty to force away and destroy that enemy As to the Passions of that inferiour part of the Soul there is not any one wherein the Spirits are not stirr'd but it is requisite they should be violent ere they can move the Heart For the case is not the same in them as in those of the other Appetites which though ever so much inclining to mediocrity are nevertheless capable of altering her motion Accordingly we find that in wounds and swellings the Spirits have their recourse thither with a certain impetuosity yet so as there happens not any change in the beating of the Heart and Arteries and there are considerable evacuations made in Crises without any alteration in those motions But in a Fever which is the choler of the natural Appetite in the Consternation which Nature is sometimes subject to in malignant diseases and in the agonies immediately preceding death there may be observ'd a remarkable alteration in the Pulse The reason of this difference proceeds from the nature of the Vegetative Faculty which is more material and consequently more heavy then the Sensitive For as a slothful person engages himself only in those things that are most easily done and never undertakes the more difficult but when he is thereto constrain'd by necessity So that faculty which is mov'd with some trouble thinks it enough in the lighter Passions to stirr the Spirits because they are easily mov'd but it attempts not therein the moving of the Heart by reason that is an Engine stirr'd with greater difficulty unless it be when the Evil seems considerable and that it thinks it requisite to imploy all its organs and all its force towards the resistance thereof SECT 4. How the Soul causes the Body to move BUt we are not yet come to the most difficult point of any in this whole matter to wit how the Soul gives motion to the Heart and Spirits and to express it in a
its substance it being a thing may be confidently affirm'd that there is not any disease which so much corrupts the nature of the Liver and destroys not only its vertue but also its substance as this does which upon that accompt is called the Universal Cancer of the Liver and the whole mass of bloud Galen no doubt was ignorant of this sympathy as being a thing which pure Ratiocination could never have discover'd when to be inform'd thereof it was requisite it should be reveal'd to him in a dream For he relates that being troubled with a violent pain which put him into a fright of being troubled with an Imposthume in the Liver he had an advice in his sleep to open the Artery which runs along that finger and that the said remedy immediately appeas'd the pain whereto he had been subject a long time before Which is a manifest sign that there is a particular communication between those two parts and a certain secret friendship and combination whereby they are united together Art 12. That there is a Sympathy between the Heart and the Ring-finger THe second Observation shall be to shew that there is sympathy between the Heart and the fourth finger which in regard Rings are worn on it is commonly called the Ring-finger For it is a thing cannot be reflected on without something of wonder that when the Gout falls into the Hands that finger is the last which it fastens upon And Levinus relates that in all those whom he met with troubled with that Disease the fourth finger of the left Hand that is the Ring-finger was ever free from it while all the others were extremly subject to pains and inflammations Now whereas the parts make a stronger or weaker resistance against Diseases according to the greater or lesser force they have and that their force depends on the greater or lesser degree of natural heat which is in them it must needs be inferr'd that that finger must have more of it then any of the others since it makes a greater resistance against the evil then they do And whereas the distribution of the natural heat proceeds either from the first Conformation of the parts or from the influence communicated to them by the principle of heat and that there is no probability the said finger having the same structure and composition with the rest should have a greater portion then they of that fixt and original heat whereof there is a distribution made at the birth it must needs follow that the divident it hath thereof should proceed from the influence which the principle of heat sends it in greater abundance then to any of the rest and consequently that there is a greater communication a greater dependence and connexion between it and the Heart which without all dispute is the principle of that heat then there can be between the Heart and all the other fingers put together Nor was Antiquity wholly ignorant of this sympathy in as much as History informs us that the Antient Physicians were of Opinion that this finger had a certain cordial vertue as making use of it exclusively to all the rest in the mixture of those medicaments whereof they made their Antidotes And thence it came that they gave it the denomination of the medical finger which it still keeps in the Latine Tongue that this is one of the reasons why Rings have been ever since worn on it and that many apply thereto remedies for the weaknesses of the Heart as Levinus affirms that he had often made experience as also for the curing of intermittent Fevers as some do still with good success Nor is it of late onely that some have made it their business to find out the cause of this intelligence and relation between these two parts For some as Appion in Anlus Gellius have affirmed that there was a nerve which proceeding from the Heart ended at the said finger others that that connexion was wrought by an Artery and that it is manifestly perceiv'd to beat in Women during the time of their Travel as also in those who are wearied with over-working and in all the Diseases which assault the Heart But though this last Opinion be the more probable yet doth it not absolutely take away the difficulty in as much as the other fingers have each of them an Artery at well as this which Artery proceeds from the same branch and the same source as that of the other does Whereto it may be added that it is not necessary there should be manifest conduits for the conveyance of these vertues Nature her self as Hippocrates affirms making secret paths and ways for the passage not onely of her own faculties but also for that of the humours themselves which she would rid her self of Art 13. That there is a like Sympathy between the Spleen and the Middle-finger I might add for a third observation to discover the Sympathy there is between the Spleen and the Long or Middle-finger the miraculous effects which the opening of the Salvatella produces in diseases of the Spleen For that Vein passing commonly between the Middle-finger and the Ring-finger as Hippocrates affirms or between the latter and the Little-finger but sending some branch to the Middle-finger it may with much probability be imagin'd that the vertue of the Spleen is convey'd by the said Vein to that Finger and that the Ring-finger being wholly taken up with the influence of the Heart cannot entertain that of the Spleen if it be true that the vertues are not confounded as we have shewn elsewhere And indeed what ever some late Practicers of Physick may say experience back'd by the authority of the first Masters of that Science is of more force then all the reasons can be alledged by them For besides that it is a thing of dangerous consequence for any one to think to make all the rules of Medicine subject to ratiocination which is many times weak and deceitful and to discard the sentiments of the Ancient Professors of that Art who were more exact observers of things then those who have come after them this I say not urg'd I can truly and safely affirm that having caus'd this vein to be opened in Quartan Agues above sixty times it never fail'd after the preparations necessary thereto either quite to take away the Fever or abate much of the violence of it and made the fits more easily supportable Let them not therefore argue any thing from the distribution nor yet from the largness of the Vessels For as one and the same boal of a tree hath several branches which have not the same vertue and that of these some bear flowers or fruits others nothing at all In like manner though all the veins of the Arm and Hand proceed from the same trunk yet have they not the same employments and they are only so many channels through which the several faculties may flow So that the faculty which proceeds from the Spleen may pass wholy in the
the Reins the third in the Liver the fourth in the Eyes and the Fift in the Head from whence he draws four pair of Veins which are afterwards spread into divers places Art 17. That the distribution of the Veins made by Hippocrates for the discovery of the said Sympathy was not understood either by Aristotle or Galen FRom what is abovesaid it is not to be inferr'd that Hippocrates was of opinion that those were the first Sources from which the Veins derive their origine as Aristotle Galen and in a manner all their followers have impos'd upon him since he could not be ignorant that all of them have their root in the Liver whence they are distributed into all the parts of the Body in order to the conveyance of their nourishment into them as he afterwards makes it appear in the distribution he hath made of the Liver-vein and whereof he hath given a further account in the second Book of Popular diseases But it was only to denote the correspondence there is between those five parts and the rest the diseases and symptomes which they mutually communicate Accordingly when he saies that the left Eye receives a Vein from the Right and the latter another from the Left it is not to be taken literally as if those Veins did really derive their origine from those places but it is to shew that the indispositions of one eye are communicated to the other as if they had veins whereby they might be directly convey'd True indeed it is that this communication is wrought by the interposition of the veins and that these veins do also proceed from some common branch but that is at such a distance from the Eyes that it cannot be precisely affirm'd there is any intercourse of veins between them upon any other account then that of the sympathy there is between them And this is so certain that many times Hippocrates considers not the continuity of the veins in the distribution he makes thereof since he shews that the Head and Lungs hold a correspondence with the Spleen though the veins of the Spleen are not united nor continuous with those of the aforesaid parts in as much as it is sufficient in order to the correspondence whereof he speaks that there should be some kind of communication between those veins by some means or other as we shall shew hereafter But to make a more particular discovery of the secret and advantage of this admirable distribution it is requisite we should examin some articles of it For when he tells us that from these four pair of veins which issue from the Head there is one which hath two branches which falling from the Temples descend into the Lungs whereof one passes from the right side to the left and spreads into the Spleen and left Kidney and the other passes from the left side and goes into the Liver and right Kidney and afterwards both those branches end at the Hemorrhoidal veins Does he not thereby teach us not only why the opening of the Hemorrhoidal veins is good for those who are troubled with pains in the Reins Plurifies and Inflammations of the Lungs but also why the suppression of them causes the Dropsie and the Phthisick For though there be other places where it should seem that the reflux of the blood which they contain might be made yet the correspondence there is between them and the Liver and Lungs is the only reason why it is not made elsewhere And questionless those branches which descending from them pass from the right side to the left and from the left to the right acquaint us with the cause which hath been sought after to so little purpose to wit why the imposthumes and swellings which happen from the upper part to the lower are not alwayes on the same side where the source of the disease is observ'd but sometimes on the right sometimes on the left whereas those which happen from the lower part to the upper are alwayes consonant to the regularity of the part where the seat of the indisposition is For without this distribution of the Veins it is impossible to give a reason for all these accidents Nay further without the said distribution it would not be known why there is so great a correspondence between the Breast and the Genitals that the Cough ceases when those are swell'd that the swelling is asswag'd when the Cough follows nay that the swellings of the Veins which happens to them correct the defects that make the voice small or hoarse In a word this is the only secret to discover the wayes which Nature observes in her transportation of the humours from one part to another and for the discerning of the veins which are to be opened in every particular indisposition For though they have all the same root though divers of them have common branches which should equally distribute unto them the blood and humours which they contain yet the correspondence and friendship there is between the parts prevails with Nature to force them rather by one vein then another and she making choice of that which is most convenient for her purpose meddles not with the others which are near it and proceed from the self-same origine And this is evidently remarkable in the sympathy whereof we have heretofore given such pressing examples For in all probability it is by the Veins and Arteries that the secret vertue which is communicated from the Heart and Liver to certain fingers is convey'd into them and yet all those which are in the Hand are not employ'd in that conveyance and though they proceed from the same branch yet is there not any more then one whereby the vertue of the Heart and another whereby that of the Liver is convey'd Otherwise there would be no determinate place for the reception of their influence and all the fingers of the Hand which have veins and arteries would receive it equally the contrary whereof we find by experience Accordingly to say the truth all these vessels are only channels and conduit-pipes which cannot no more then those of springs or fountains give any motion to the humours But they are the Spirits only which convey and force them to those places where they are ordered to go And as the correspondence there is between the members is carry'd on and improv'd by means of these Spirits so is it not to be doubted but that the blood wherewith they are intermix'd marches along with them from one part to another and consequently occasions that miraculous harmony of the veins observ'd by Hippocrates For no doubt that Harmony was the ground upon which he and the ancient Masters of Medicine have in the same member observ'd veins that held a certain correspondence with several parts as in the Arm the Head-vein the Liver-vein and the Spleen-vein which they alwayes punctually opened in the particular indispositions of those parts slighting or at least not minding the weak reasons which the inspection of Bodies