and digested are convey'd into ‖ In re iquum Corpus The Meat being thus exquisi ely cook◠is by the Pilorus Janitor or Inferiour Orifice of the Stomach discharg'd into the Intestines or Guts which are Double or rather of Two sorts the Thin three in number and the Thick three also and by their Immutative Action atteins one degree more of elaboration and fermentation other parts of the Body And then for the * The Lungs have a peculiar power to dilate and contract themselves are mov'd at one and the same Instant with the Thorax and in magnitude proportionably exceed any other of the Viscera that a plentifull proportion of air might be suckt by and conteined in them Lungs they are Rare and of a Softness like a Spunge and so most convenient for the drawing in of Air And they also contract themselves in taking in breath and dilate in returning it back to the end That Animating Nourishment whereby living Creatures do more immediately subsist may be frequently drawn Now That * i. e. The Chyle or rather the Bloud which the first concoction being finish'd is by the vermicular exuction of the Mi kie slender Veins that are in infinite numbers with open Orifices inserted into the Intestines attracted pre-dispos'd to sanguification and by distribution convey'd to the Liver To which that the Milky Liquour may arrive more pure and defecated in its journey thither the feculent part together with the Laxiviated serosity is extracted and by the Spleeny Branch deriv'd into the Spleen which converts as much of it as its Haematopoietic power can conquer into Bloud for the maintenance of it self and the remainder is excluded partly into the Haemorrhoid-veins partly into the Trunk of the Port-vein and partly by the Splenetick Arteries Juice by which we are sustein'd being by the Guts and Ventricle sever'd from the †i. e. The Grosser part thereof rest of the Meat flows to the ‖ The Liver in Galen's opinion is the first of all the parts of the Body that is finisht in Conformation It is the Shop and Authour of the Bloud and the Original of the Veins Gibbous of figure Rising up and Smooth toward the Midriff toward the Stomach is the sinous or hollow side of it somewhat unequal and rough by reason of the Distance of the Lobes the Original of the Hollow-vein and the Site of the Bladder of the Gall And its chief Connexion is with the Stomach and Guts by the Veins and Membranes of the Peritonaeum by the Hollow-vein and Artery with the Heart by the Nerve with the Brain and by the same Ligatures with all the parts of the whole Body Being hot and moist of Temper and converting the Chyle into Bloud the work of the second Concoction Liver through certain open and direct passages that from the * Media Intestina which is between the Paunch and the Lower parts Middle Entrail run along to it even as far as the very †i. e. The Vena Porta or Gate-vein which is situate in the sinous or hollow part of the Liver and divided into six branches four Simple and two Compound Its Action being to suck the Chyle out of the Ventricle and Guts and so to take and carry it unto the Liver unill it may convey back the same turn'd into Bloud for the Nutriment of the Stomach Spleen and Guts Ports thereof as they name them and cleave * i. e. to the Liver thereunto And from Thence are Other Veins propagated through which the Nourishment has its Course when slipt out of the Liver Now when the †As in every Concoction so in This of Sanguification there redound two invincible superfluities Choler or the Firy Excrement and a salt Whey or lixiviated Serosity Choler and those Humours that are pour'd forth of the ‖ The Reins or Kidney◠are of a substance fleshy dense and solid lest they should be hurt by the sharpness of the Vrine in number Two lie upon the Loins at the sides of the great Vessels on which they depend by their proper Veins and Arteries hot and moist of Temper and their Action is to cleanse the Mass of the Bloud from the greater part of the serous and cholerick Humour Reins are separated from this consistence the Residue turns to Bloud and flows to the above-nam'd Ports of the Liver whereunto all its other * i. e. Veins Passages do extend And through Them the Food being from this same place brought into the Vessel term'd the †Vena Cava which rises out of the Gibbous part of the Liver and going forth like the body of a tree is divided into two great Branches the Lesser of which goes to the Vital and Animal parts the Greater descends from the back-part of the Liver above the Vertebra's of the Lions to the parts beneath This same Vena Cava is an ample and patent Orifice that looks into the Right sinus of the Heart and drops bloud into it for the generation of Arterial Bloud the Vital Spirits and provision for the Lungs Some Opinion that the Bloud re-distill'd and elaborated in this Preparatory is immediately distributed through the whole Body Hollow Vein it is mingled together and being now clarifi'd and elaborated is through it carry'd to the Heart and from Thence distributed into every part by a great many Veins spread all over the ‖ There are four conspicuous Vessels as Sluices ordein'd in the basis of the Heart viz. Vena Cava and Vena Arteriosa which is the derivative of bloud from the Right Ventricle of the Heart to the Lungs for their Nutrition and the principal Material of the Vital Spirits and Bloud in the Right and Arteria Venosa which conducts the Air extrinsecally advenient and prepar'd in the Lungs and the bloud effused by the Vena arteriosa from the Right into the Left Ventricle and expels the fuliginous Exhalations and at the same Instant conveys a parcel of the Vital Spirits into the Lungs and Arteria Magna which dispenses the Vital Spirits and Arterial Bloud after their exaltation in the Left Ventricle into the whole Body in the Left But more to the point When the Chyle is clarify'd by the official selection of the Spleen it is deliver'd up to the Liver and by the Transubstantiating Haematopoiesie thereof perfectly Metamorphoz'd into Bloud which from Thence by the ascendent and descendent Trunk of the Hollow Vein and its capillary Disseminations is by universal Distribution communicated to all the parts of the Body Body It were no hard matter to say after what manner the Excrementitious parts of the Food are detruded by girding and relaxing the Guts but That must be pass'd over for * Nè quid habeat Injucunditatis Oratio I shall venture to say for all This piece of Modesty that the Choler being collected into the Bilous Receptacle or Gall is after a convenient Interval of time from Thence through the Cholerick
Chanel excern'd into the Duodenum-gut and becomes the Bodies Natural Clyster by its acrimony extimulating the Bowels to the Exclusion of Ordure And then the Salt Whey is through the Emulgent Veins suckt in by the Kidneys in Them percolated and from Them discharg'd through the Vreters into the Vrinary Receptacle or Bladder and Then call'd Vrine For Vrine is nothing else but the Aquosity or serous Humidity of the Chyle impregnated or satisfy'd with the superabundant and indigestible Salt of our Diet. Good manners sake And I shall rather proceed to Treat of this Wonderfull Fabrique of Nature For the Air drawn into the Lungs in Breathing is made †In regard the Inspir'd Air must part with its Intense frigidity before it penetrate to the Heart the Prudent Conformator has provided Respiratours Lungs as the precipuous Organs thereof For thô the Thorax and other neighbouring parts may be allow'd Causes sine quâ non and contribute their Inserviency to Respiration modo secundario yet primarily as from its Causator this Motion flows from the Lungs to which as well as to the Heart and Brain by the Inviolable Charter of Nature is granted a peculiar Innate quality to dilate and contract themselves warm First by the Breath it self and Then by the Coagitation of the same Lungs and of it part is sent forth again by Respiration and part also taken into a certain place of the Heart call'd the * i. e. The Left which is for taking in Air into the Heart Ventricle of the †The Situation of the Heart is in the Centre of the Body if in our measure we except the Thighs and Legs and its Basis or Centre fixt in the middle of the Thorax or Chest or middle Region of the Body that from It as from a plentifull Fountain the Vital Heat and Spirits may be promptly diffus'd into the whole Body Now all the Appetitions or Irascible and Concupiscible Motions cannot be executed but by the Agitation of the Heart Arteries and fervent Spirituous Bloud Which may satisfie why the facultas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of necessity has its residence assign'd it in a Part of the hottest Temperature and indu'd with the power of Perpetual Agitation Heart which has ‖ i. e. The Right another of the same belonging to it whereinto through the aforesaid Hollow Vein the Bloud flows from the Liver And Thus from These Parts is it convey'd all over the Body by * A Vein is the Vessel Pipe or Chanel of the Bloud or bloudy Matter it has a Spermatick Substance and consists of one Coat compos'd of three sorts of Fibres Veins and Breath by †An Artery is also the Receptacle of Bloud but That spirituous and yellowish and it likewise consists of a Spermatick Substance But it has two Coats with three sorts of Fibres It contains a serous Humour too which we may believe because there are two Emulgent Arteries as well as Veins And then the Anastomasis of the Veins and Arteries that is the Application of the Mouths of of the one to the other by benefit of which they mutually communicate and draw the matters contein'd in them is very Remarkable Arteries The great numbers of both which so disseminated every where do manifest a certain Inconceivable Virtue of an Artificial and Divine Work What now shall I say of the Bones which supporting the Body are strangely tackt together and apt as well for stability accommodate for bending the Limbs as for Motion and every Action Add to This the * A Nerve is a Simple part of the Body bred and nourisht by a gross and phlegmatick humour such as the Brain the Original of all Nerves and also the Spinal Marrow indu'd with a faculty of Feeling and often times of Moving too It is cover'd with a Double Cover from the two Membranes of the Brain and besides also with a Third proceeding from the Ligaments which fasten the hinder part of the head to the Vertebra's or else from the Pericranium Nerves whereby the Joynts are contein'd and the winding Extension thereof for They like the Veins and Arteries that derive and proceed from the Heart are run along into all the Body To This so exact and curious Providence of Nature might a great deal be adjoyn'd The Particular Favours of the Divinity to Human Nature and the Convenient Situation of the Senses to insinuate how many how valuable things have by God been conferr'd upon Men. For First of all he constituted them Rais'd Upright and Erect from the Ground that by beholding the Heavens they might conceive an Apprehension of the Deity Man being upon the Earth not as a Dweller and Inhabitant but as a Contemplatour I may say of matters Celestial and Above the prospect whereof is not vouchsaf'd to any other kind of Animal And then the Senses the Interpreters and Distinguishers of things are in a wonderfull manner for necessary uses both fram'd and seated in the Head as in a Tower For the Eyes The Eyes being as Centinels do hold the highest place by which means seeing further they perform their Function It being the business of the Ears The Ears to take in Sounds which naturally Ascend they are rightly fixt in the Vppermost parts of the Body So too the Nostrils The Nostrils in that all Scents are carri'd upward are properly plac'd Above And since they have much judgment of Meats and Liquours it is with good Reason that they are near the Mouth The Taste The Taste being to discern the quality of what we feed upon abides in That * i. e. The Inward part of the Mouth near the Throat The Touch. Part wherein Nature has open'd a Passage for the Receipt of things fit to be eaten or drunk But the Touch is proportionably diffus'd thorough the whole Body that so we might be sensible of Blows and the more violent Approaches of †The precipuous Organ of the Touch is the Skin chiefly that part wherewith the Hands are lin'd as destin'd to the Common Apprehension of all things Tangible But the Adaequate are the Membranes by the benefit whereof all other parts the Skin excepted obtein the Sense of Feeling Heat and Cold. And as in Buildings the Architect averts from the Eye and Nose of the Master things that in their Course were of necessity to be Offensive so likewise has Nature plac'd at a distance from the Senses All that is of that kind The Exquisit Frame of the respective Organs of the Senses And first the Eyes and their appertenences dâ—scours'd of But what Artificer save only Nature than whom none is more Skilfull could ever have attein'd unto and discover'd so much Art as is in the Senses First she has overcast and bounded the Eyes with very Thin Membranes making them both Transparent that the Sight might work thorough them and Firm to keep them in She likewise fram'd the Eye-balls slippery and rolling that so they might
pag. 165. The First Passage of the Chyle according to the Opinion of the Ancients lin 3 4. being sever'd from the rest of the Meat flows from the Small Guts and Ventricle to the Liver thorough certain Open Passages scil the Mesaraique Veins direct from the Mesentery which is a sort of Membranous Body made up of Two Coats almost Numberless Veins and Arteries and much Kernel and Fat whereunto the Guts stick and are fasten'd that from the same Middle Entrail or Mesentary even as far as that which they call the Port Vein these Mesaraique Veins being all Branches of the Porta run along to the Liver and cleave Thereunto c. lin 9 c. Thence c. pag. 166. pag. 166. lin 1. scil from the Ports of the Liver or Port-Vein propagated lin 2. through the whole 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they term it of the Liver Nourishment lin 3. i. e. the Chyle now turn'd to Bloud Liver lin 4. scil to the Heart and other parts of the Body pour'd forth of distill'd says Laurentius from the Reins The Office of the Reins scil the Right and the Left whose Office it is to receive these Humours sever'd from the Bloud as the Bladder of the Gall takes in the Yellow Choler and the Spleen the Black thorough those Capillary Disseminations First into certain Caruncles next How and whither they convey what they receive into the Membranaceous Tube andVrinary Vessels usually term'd theVreters and then into the Bladder Consistence scil the Chyle that is brought to the Liver it s other Passages the Other Veins scil of the Liver do The Passage of the Bloud from the Port to the Hollow Vein c. lin 9. And lin 10. all the Nourishment Chyle or Bloud in this same Place scil the Port-Vein being thorough Them slipt to the Vessel term'd the Hollow Vein in consideration of its remarkable Size and Cavity it flows in so says Tully The Watry Humour when separated from the Bloud according to Modern Anatomistâ— But at this day 't is generally thought that after both the Cholers are sever'd from the Bloud the Serous Humidity still remains with it that by the help thereof it may the more easily get through those so narrow Passages which lead from the Port to the Hollow Vein and that this Watry Humour is not separated from the Bloud till after by this Vehicle as it were it has enter'd the Hollow Vein The Liver the Chief Instrument of Sanguification in the opinion of the Ancients and of Galen But Aristotle and the Stoâ—ques make the Heart to be it elaborated shut up in Vessels c. lin 14. The Ancients ran into the Mistake of the Liver 's being the almost only Instrument of Sanguification by reason they had not found out the Milky Veins since discover'd and the new-Office invented for the Liver by Later Anatomists Galen was for the Liver to be the Authour of Bloud Aristotle for the Heart Balbus here in making it first to slow from the Liver then from the Heart seems to side first with the one then with the other and scarce to agree with himself all Physicians allowing the Original of the Bloud and of the Veins to be one and the same See Averrhoës Vesalius c. for Aristotle and Laurentius c. for Galen Girding scil above and Relaxing below the Crasse Entrails pag. 167. pag. 167. lin 2. it belonging to Them to detrude the Excrementitious parts of our Food The Office of the Entrails Their Description may be seen in Laurentius Nature lin 5. scil of Man Man a Little World the Epitome of the World or of Universal Nature as Laurentius Lib. 1. Cap. 2. Anatom clearly shews in Breathing by Aspiration c. lin 6. Breath Spirit it c. lin 7. Coagitation Contact of c. lin 8. from These Parts scil the Two Ventricles of the Heart it c. pag. 168. pag. 168. lin 8. Breath i. e. the more Subtle part of the Bloud term'd the Vital Spirit by c. lin 9. Theodoret referr'd Theodoret's Third Oration concerning Providence furnishes an Elegant Description of the Admirable Contexture of the Veins and Arteries in all the Body Supporting being put under the Other parts of the Body to support them are c. l. 14. contein'd tackt together c. p. 169. pag. 169. lin 2. They c. lin 3. Galen delivers that the Stoiques Whence the Nerves are Deriv'd with the Peripatetiques held the Nerves as well as the Veins and Arteries to proceed from the Heart the First Made they thought of all the Parts We derive them from the Brain Providence Workmanship of Divine Nature c. lin 6 7. Erect from the Ground c. lin 11. Laurentius Lib. 1. c. 2. gives the Efficient Material and Final Causes of This Rectitude deriv'd even from Nature it self upon arisen out of the c. lin 14. Inhabitant upon it but lin 15. Other Animal c. lin 18. and yet Naturalists affirm the Elephant to Worship the Sun Moon and Stars The Religion of the Elephant and the Eagle also the Sun Judgment c. pag. 170. pag. 170. lin 3. in that it very mu h belongs to Them to Judge of Meats and Drinks c. approaches Attempts Attacks of c. lin 12. Nature the Maker of Man plac'd c. lin 17. none is more skilfull none can be more Sagacious could so industriously and ingeniously have contriv'd the Senses c. lin 20 c. in their proper place she c. lin 27. shutting up Covering the c. pag. 171. pag. 171. lin 9. Hearing Ear c. lin 28. it This Sense even c. lin 29. Flexucus Tortuous c. lin 31. Horny and have many windings that c. pag. 172. pâ—g 170. lin 6. And therefore Wherefore i. e. by reason of the same Hardness do Lutes and Harps send forth Musical Sounds which from their Tortuous and Recluse Bellies are return'd much Lowder c. lin 9 c. Fram'd Plaister'd c. p. 173. pag. 173. l. 12. Vertues and Vices c. pag. 174. pag. 174. lin 2. This is not spoken out of a Philosophical but only a kind of Civil Opinion Aristotle c. making Colour and Light to be the Proper and Adequate Objects of Sight as well in Beasts as Men. Emprovement c. for the Perceiving and Relishing the Delicacies of which Senses are c. l. 17. Delicacies c. whatever may render the Body Trim and Gay are c. l. 22. have no claim to be without any c. lin 27. Understanding c. Notion of Principles Then c. lin 31. Define Particular Things and Comprize them in a few Words and so c. pag. 175. pag. 175. lin 1 2. think c. Extenuate or absolutely Deny in that we perceive what 's without us i. e. External Objects both by the Senses and the Mind of which
Epicurus So that there must be neither Sun Moon nor Stars then because in your Opinion nothing can have a Being which we have not either seen or felt Did you ever see the Gods themselves Why then do you conceive that there are any If This Principle hold good we must also disclaim whatever History or New Art shall furnish Neither are the In-Landers to believe that there is a Sea Which are such narrownesses of Thought that had you been born in Seriphus and never stir'd out of an Island where you had only seen Foxes and Leverets you were not to be perswaded that there could be any Lions and Panthers when told what kind of Beasts they are nor so much as hear mention made of the Elephant without taking your self to be play'd upon Now as for You Velleius Vâ—lleius's sylâ—o gistical gradation examin'd and prov'd to be irregular you have wound up the Bottom of your Disputation in a course of Argument not so much like That of your own Party as of the Dialectiques whose * Epicurus sâ—ighteâ— Logique as unprâ—fitable Doctrine few of you are at all acquainted with First you assum'd that the Gods are Happy And I gainsay not Next that nothing can so be without Vertue I willingly admit That too Then that Vertue cannot be where Reason is not And that must also be allow'd Lastly you add Nor Reason abide in any other then Human shape But who think you will grant That And were it True you needed not to have come to it so gradually But what has This last part of the Gradation to rest upon other then your own Phansie From Happiness to Vertue and from That to Reason the descent was natural enough but how can you proceed from Reason to Human shape That 's not a â—tep but a Precipice * Rather our Figure is Divine then that of the Gods Human Nor yet can I see wherefore Epicurus rather chose to phansie Gods to be like men then men to be like Gods Do you find out what Difference there is betwixt them for if This Resemble That That I think must needs Resemble This too †He feigns a Difference and applies it This indeed there is that the Gods borrow'd not their Figure from Men for they ever were and never had a beginning Otherwise they were not likely to be Eternal Whereas We had a Birth and therefore the Form could not but bear date before Vs the Gods themselves were of it Their shape then is not to be call'd Human but Ours Divine His fortuitous concourse of Atoms inquir'd into BUT be This as you will Now to an enquiry into that great good Fortune of yours For you deny a Divine Wisdom to have assisted in the forming of any thing whatsoever But whence came That so lucky Chance then Whence so happy a Conflux of Atoms as in a Trice to produce Men in the Likeness of Gods Must we suppose that the Divine Seed fell from Heaven and was scatter'd upon the Earth and so Men came to Resemble their Begetters I should be glad you would say as much and very readily acknowledge my Similitude and Alliance to the Deities But we hear no * It was meerly by Chance the Epicureans say that Men came to be like the Gods such matter from you You are Peremptory that This Resemblance was purely Casual And must Arguments now be sought whereby to refell This Assertion Truly would I could as easily find out what 's Right as I can confute what 's Otherwise †The Opinion confuted I must confess you have been so Ready and Large in Reporting the Opinions of Philosophers down even from Thales Milesius touching the Nature of the Gods that it was some surprize to me to find so much Learning in a Roman But Then do you suppose them all to have doted and been mistaken for conceiving that The Divinity might subsist without Feet or Hands Nay or can you your self either in your Reflections upon the Vse and Intent of Human Members avoid a perswasion that the Gods can have no need of them ‖ No need of Feet where there is no Walking For what necessity can there be of Feet without walking Of Hands where there 's no Grasping And so for the whole order of the Other Parts of the Body which has nothing * Nothing superfluous in Human Bodies much less in the Divinities Vain in it Useless or Superfluous In so much that no Art is able by Imitation to equal the Handy-work of Nature Must God therefore have a Tongue and speak not Teeth a Palate Jaws to no manner of purpose and the Instruments of Generation too uncapacitated to employ them Nay as great a Superfluity of Inwards also as of the Other The Heart Lungs Liver and the Rest which abstracting their use what Comeliness can they pretend to Since you make Him to have all These upon the account of Beautifulness The Epicureans twitted for much Wrangling And yet relying upon these Dotages not only Epicurus Metrodorus and Hermachus have presum'd to grapple with Pythagoras Plato Empedocles but even that little Strumpet Leontium the Slut indeed had a neat Attique stile has dar'd to Write against Wise Theophrastus And thô Epicurus's * The School where he taught which was a little Garden Garden has been so Luxuriant in This respect †Being guilty of it themselves they ought not to blame it in Others you are still complaining and crying out against it Not Zeno himself for such as Albucius are not worth taking notice of was free from Wranglings Phaedro I must needs say was Human and Elegant the Old man would be offended at any Tart Word of mine ‖ Epicurus Rude Contentious While Epicurus himself despitefully treated Aristotle smuttily bespatter'd Socrates's man Phaedo pelted Timocrates the Brother of his Crony Metrodorus with whole Volumes only for dissenting from him in I know not what Philosophical Punctilloes was * And Vngrateful Ungrateful to Democritus himself whom he copy'd after and gave not his very Master Nausiphanes under whom he profited Little one jote better quarter As for †An Epicurean Zeno he not only heapt scandals upon such as were Then Living as Apollodorus Sylla and Others but call'd Socrates himself who was the Father of Philosophy the Attique Buffon and Chrysippus never other then Chesippus Nay your very self erewhile in reckoning up a whole Assembly as it were of Philosophers stuck not to say that the greatest men doted talkt Idly and were beside themselves thô if none of them all has hit upon the True Nature of the Gods it may be justly doubted whether there be any Gods or no. * The Epicurean Tenets Idle For as to what you deliver upon the Point 't is all meer Whimsie scarce worthy the Thumbing of old Wives †The Consequence of admitting the Gods to be of Human shape You are not aware what a great deal more you
must undertake for thô you should prevail for an admittance that the shape of the Gods and of Men is one and the same For Then the Divinity would require all the Tricking and Tendance that we bestow upon our Bodies have his goings runnings lyings down leanings sittings holdings and in Brief be capable of speech and discourse ‖ And Male and Female Neither are the consequences of your making them Male and Female less palpably incommodious Insomuch that I can never wonder enough how that * Epicurus Prince of Yours should come by these Opinions BUT you are continually pressing us to hold This for a Certain Happiness as Consistent with the Form of the Sun c. as with a God of Human Figure that the Deity is both Happy and Immortal And why may he not be Happy thô not Two-footed Or This Beatitude or Blessedness they are both of them harsh Words but must be mollify'd by use but be it what it will why I say may not either That Sun This World or some Eternal Wisdom destitute of Human Shape and Members be capable of it * Epicurus further press'd upon for not allâ—wing any thing to be believ'd which we do not either See or Feel All that you urge to the contrary amounts only to This that you never saw any Happiness the Sun or the World had in them Well! And did you ever see any Other World then This either You 'l say No. How durst you give out then that there â—re not six hundred Thousand only but Innumerable of them Reason taught as much And will not Reason teach you †The Gods as much exceed us in Form as in Mind and Immortality This sooner that since in our Re-searches touching the Best Nature Happiness and Eternity are only to be met with in the Divine it cannot but as much surpass us in Excellency of Mind as in Immortality and as of Mind so of Shape likewise Wherefore Then being Inferiour in Other respects do we pretend to an Equality with it in point of Figure ‖ Our Vertues rather Divine then our Figure Man's Vertues one would think should come near to the Divinity in Resemblances then his Form But to press the * Of not Believing where there 's no seeing or feeling Other Topique yet a little further Can any thing be more Childish then for a body to deny the Being of those Monsters that are generated in India and the Red Sea It is not possible even for the most inquisitive to make a Discovery of the many Creatures that abide in the Earth Seas Fens Rivers And none of these now must be allow'd to Be because we never saw them †Like Forms like Dispositions no True Assertion Nor again is your Similitude of Dispositions inferr'd from likeness of Shape that you so highly account of any thing at all to the Purpose For is not the Dog like the Wolf and That filthy Creature as Ennius calls it the Ape likest to Man When as they are not of a Little contrary Dispositions The Elephant comes short of no other Beast in Prudence and yet of how much Larger a Size is he Here I speak only of Beasts But even amongst Men too find we not different manners in Bodies much alike and Dispositions unworthy of their Forms Should then your late * Velleius's sâ—phistical gradation way of Argumentation Velleius once take place see what would come of it You took for granted that Reason could not be in any other Figure then what is Human and another may assume in any Other but what is Earthy had a Birth Growth a time of Instruction but what is compounded of Soul and a frail fading Carcasse In short but in a Man a mortal Man †Reason mâ—â— be in any form since Our Bodies are as frail and infirm as any Now if you can put over all these hard things what need you stickle so much for a bare Figure You could see it seems that Man was indu'd with Reason and Understanding thô attended with all these Infirmities that I have advanc'd Which when taken away you are nevertheless able to ‖ They make God to have the shadow only of our Bodies not the Substance know God you tell us provided the Shadow or Lines of them do but remain This is not to speak deliberately but to talk at a venture * All superfluities incommodious For surely you did not consider what a comber and hinderance any thing useless or Superfluous is not in Men only but even in Trees How Troublesome is it to have a Finger too much And why so Because there 's no need of a Fifth either for Use or Ornament Whereas your Deity now abounds not in a Finger only but in a Head too a Neck Shoulders Sides a Paunch Back Hams Hands Feet Privities Thighs If you suppose These to be contributary to his Immortality wherein I pray'd are any of Them nay or even the Visage it self either necessary to Life * What Mâ—mbers are Vital and Essential to Life These rather the Brain Heart Lungs Liver for They are the seats of Life To which the Features of the Face are no way Essential You found fault with †The Stoiques c. whose Opinions drive to a certain point those who from the Marvellousness of the Works upon a view of the whole World and its respective Parts Heaven Earth Water and the Ornaments and Imbellishments of the same the Sun Moon Stars as also upon an Observation of the Changes Complements and Vicissitudes of Times and Seasons collected and presum'd that there could not but be some Excellent and Admirable Essence interested in the Creating Actuating Governing and Administring of them Who though they should be out in their Conjectures yet a Body may see what they would be at ‖ Which these of the Epicureans do not But as for You what notable atchievment do you reckon upon that may seem worthy of a Divine Wisdom and afford ground for a perswasion that Gods there are I bear in my Mind say you an unaccountable prenotion of a Deity * Their prenotion of a Dâ—iâ—y invalidated Of a Bearded Jupiter no doubt or a Helmeted Minerva * The Gods not such as the Statuaries represent them to be But do you take them to be such then How much more tolerable are the Phansies even of the Ordinary sort in This Particular In that †The Opinions of the Common People adjudged more Rational they do not only allow the Deities Human Members but a capacity to make use of them too and therefore assign them a Bow and Arrows a Spear a Buckler a Trident and a Thunder-bolt And thô they cannot see what they do yet will they not hear of their being altogether Idle ‖ And those of the Aegyptians too because they only Deifie Beasts in consideration of the good they receâ—ve by them Even the so much undervalu'd Aegyptians
It is hot and moist of Temper like all other flesh And its Actions are three to be an Organ of the Sense of Tasting an Instrument to distinguish the Voice and to help to Chew and Swallow the Meat Tongue seeming to contribute somewhat toward this Confection To the Roots * i. e. of the Tongue Hereof cleaves the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly the Ventricle but Here it may seem to be us'd for a part that reaches to it the Meat pipe or Gullet which is of a substance betwixt flesh and sinew as consisting of one nervous Membrane and another fleshy and which is plac'd between the Back-bone and the Weazon from the Roots of the Tongue even to the Ventricle or Stomach In Swallowing the Gullet is drawn downward and the Weazon upward which is the cause that we cannot sup and blow swallow and breath together at the same time Stomach and is next below it Into which what is taken into the Mouth descends first And reaching to the Two ‖ These are two Glandules call'd the Almonds because like Almonds in figure and magnitude which Nature has plac'd opposite to each other at the Jaws near the Roots of the Tongue and close to the Gullet in the end of the Throat Their Office being to receive the spittle falling down from the Brain both that the too violent falling down of the humour might not hinder the Tongue in speaking and also that the Tongue might always have moisture as it were laid up in store lest by continual speaking it should grow dry and fail Tonsils on either side it determins at the lowest and innermost * i. e. The lowest part of the Mouth the Throat Now the Palate or as it is commonly call'd the Roof of the Mouth is nothing else but the upper part of the Mouth bounded with the Teeth Gums and upper Jaw In which place the Coat Common to the whole Mouth is made rough with divers Wrinkles that the Meat put up and down between the Tongue and the Palate might be the better chew'd and broken This same Coat is woven with nervous Fibers that like the Tongue it may judge of Tasts And these Fibers again compose a Coat that has a middle consistence betwixt Soft and Hard for if it should have been any harder like a Bone or Gristle it would have been without sense and if softer hard acid and sharp Meats would have hurt it Palate And having receiv'd the Food put or as I may say thrust into it by the rolling and agitation of the Tongue it sends it down In which Action the parts of it †i. e. Of the Gullet that are below what is swallow'd are dilated but those above contracted As for the ‖ Aspera Arteria the Weazon or Windpipe whose superiour part from the Larynx to the Bronchi is one single Trunk contriv'd of many round or rather sigmoïdal Cartilages connext by intermediate Ligaments that by this Structure it might be kept open and we secur'd from Strangulation which immediately succeeds its Concision but the Inferiour is divaricated into Innumerable smaller Branches or Disseminations by Hippocrates surnam'd Syringae and distributed into all the quarters of the Lungs for their total Impletion with Air which the Vessels extended from the Heart receive and convey into the Ventricles of the Heart Rough Artery as Physicians call it in regard the * i. e. the Larynx or Head or Extremity of the Throttle Orifice of it is joyn'd to the Roots of the Tongue somewhat higher than where the †i. e. the Gullet Stomach is annext and that it reaches as far as the Lungs taking in the Air that is drawn by Breathing and by Respiration returning the same back again from the Lungs it is cover'd with a kind of ‖ i. e. the Epiglottis Throat-flap or After-tongue closing the Larynx It is a soft cartilaginous flap in figure representing a Tongue or if we applaud the phansy of Hippocrates an Ivy-leaf and when we swallow down our Throat shuts the chink of the Aspera Arteria or Weazon for every Morsel that descends this forbidden way has a dangerous hautgust of Anacreon's grape with a stone whereof getting in here that Topeing Poet is said to have been choakt and denounces the same Harsh Fate And yet this Body does not so wholly shut up the Throttle but that some small quantity of moisture still runs down by the Inner sides as the Walls thereof to moisten the Lungs for were not This so Eclegma's were of no use in the diseases of the Chest Lid as it were which was contriv'd to the end lest any Morsel should chance to slip into it that might stop the Breath Now whereas the Capacity of the * Natura Alvi the Stomach or Ventricle the more proper Connexion whereof is with the Gullet and Guts by its two Orifices with the Brain by its Nerves with the Liver and Spleen by its Veins with the Heart by its Arteries and with all the Natural Parts by its Common Membrane Paunch that is below the †i. e. the Gullet Stomach is the Receptacle of Meat and Drink and that the Lungs and the * The Heart is of a figure Pyramidal compos'd of the most dense flesh of all the body by the affusion of bloud at the divisions and foldings of the Vessels and there concrete as it happens also to the rest of the Vessels and is the Chief Mansion of the soul the Organ of the Vital faculty the beginning of Life the fountain of the Vital Spirits and so consâ—quently the continual nourisher of the vital heat the first Living and the last Dying being made of a more dense solid and compact substance than any other part of the Body because it must have a natural Motion of it self Heart draw in breath from without the Composure of †i. e. the Paunch This which almost wholly consists of ‖ The Ventricle is of a Substance rather spermatick than sanguine in that for one fleshy Membrane it has two nervous and is the seat of Appetite by reason of the Nerves dispers'd into its upper Orifice and so into its whole Substance Nerves is very admirable It is full of Folds and * i. e. on the Inner side of it Wrinkles and so presses and reteins what it admits whether Dry or Liquid as that it becomes easily chang'd and concocted By being sometimes bound in and relaxt at others overcoming and confounding whatever is †The Stomach by the ministerial contraction of oblique fibres welcoms the Meat sent down from the Mouth with with close Embracement and Coarctation and firmly retains it untill by its concoctive faculty and proper heat it be transform'd into a Mass or Consistence not much unlike the Cream of a decoction of blaâ—ch'd Barly within it So that both by Heat much whereof it is indu'd with for the attenuating of Meat and likewise by Breath all things being refin'd