Attenuation and Dilution of the Chyle without any preternatural Commotion to disorder or disturb one another Nor does the Blood quarrel with the well prepared Chyle but amicably receives it from the Ductus Thoracicus into the Subclavian Vein and as amicably passes with it into the right Ventricle of the Heart where though in the Diastole they are more mixt together yet they stay not to make that bustle some have thought but by the Systole or Contraction of the Heart are soon driven out again the Chyle accompanying the Blood to the greatest amongst all the Viscera for Sanguification I mean the Lungs where they both receive a florid Red and by the admission of new Particles are more perfectly assimulated or united with each other So that even in Fevers which seem to give the greatest disturbance to the Humors of our Body the disturbance does not first arise from a quarrel raised amongst the Humors of our Body for as long as no strange ill Guest comes in to disturb them they all perform their natural offices in their wonted order but if they are hindred or disturbed in their Operations by an Enemy they then fall into tumult and disorder The Blood does not quarrel with its self nor one part of it with another for really there is no Fermentation truly and properly so called in it neither according to the supposed Fermentation does one part act upon or against another For I consider the Blood not as it is Chymically analyzed into their Principles but as it is a viscous Humor whose Particles are not fermented but combined together by an Aereal Salt receiving Heat from its own Motion and Circulation round the Body whose Recrements are separated from it by the various and admirable Contexture and Configuration of the Vessels through which they pass whilst the viscid Humor or thick part of the Blood keeps close and entire and by the Anastomases which I suppose whether visible or not of the Veins and Arteries is brought back to the Heart a languid Pulse being continued by the extremities of the Arteries to every Vessel which helps forward the Separation Secretion Percolation or which you shall please to call it of the thinner Humors I shall not stay here further to shew either the incapacity of the Blood or unfitness of the Vessels through which it passes nor the danger of such Heterogeneous fermenting Liquors especially near the extremity of such small fine and thin Vessels through which these Liquors of such different fermenting Particles must violently pass neither shall I shew how the Viper and several other Animals that sleep all Winter whose Blood is not denied to Circulate all that while neither void any Excrements all that while nor is their Bladder of Gall fuller when they first come forth in the Spring than when in Winter they first took their Beds to demonstrate that either the Blood does not always Ferment or that the Gall is not thrown off by such a Fermentation So that as I cannot believe Diseases with the Ancients so often to arise from the solid Parts nor the Blood to consist of their four Humors neither can I believe such a bustle kept in our Body as hath of late been talkt of I neither believe the solid Parts nor Humors of our Body to conspire our ruine CHAP. II. SO that whatever Commotion Fermentation Ebullition or Disturbance there is raised in the Blood or Humors must arise preternaturally and ab extra for else neither Blood nor Humors will of themselves raise such violent Commontions or Disturbance in Man's Body It is unquestionably true That the Air above all the other Non-naturals is the great Cause of our Epidemick Fevers the best way therefore to know the nature of such Fevers next to the knowledge of the Blood will be to consider the Nature of the Air we breath in I shall not enlarge here concerning the various Opinions of Philosophers concerning the Nature of Air neither shall I determine from whence it does arise or of what composed it being two larger discourse for my present purpose but I shall only suppose the Air to be a very thin and fluid Body combined most strictly with a Nitrous Salt and by the pressure of other Particles together with its own natural fineness and subtilty pervading every Patulous Pore in Earth and Water I say Patulous because I deny not nay I affirm there are many Pores especially in the Earth which the Aereal Particles are not fine enough to enter and indeed both Earth and Water do resist its penetration but not with equal force for the Air cannot enter very far into the more strictly united and combined Particles of Earth but the grosser parts of the Aereal Salt are necessitated to stick fast from whence with easie trouble we extract our common Niter Whereas the Particles of Water being more flexile and not so closely combined together recede and give way to its penetration So that this Aereal Salt enters to the bottom of the deepest Waters without which the very Eels though bedded in the Mud cannot live and Carps have been known to live by Air only two or three days out of Water both which Experiments are best manifest in extreme cold and frosty times when the Ice does prevent the ingress of Aereal Particles into the bottom of the Water and the Cold does condense them for the others preservation In great Frosts I have known in Ponds quite frozen over multitude of Fishes for want of Air sometimes as it were smothered sometimes sick and faintly swimming towards small vent-holes where Air was let in to them by breaking the Ice to keep them alive But to this I have heard some answer That they have never broke their Pools at all add yet their Fish have done well and it may be so sometimes for in a great Frost the Water is very apt to sink from the Ice and leave a hollow in the sides for the Air to enter and I have been certainly told of Eels that have crept out of the Deep and their warmer Mud-beds for want of Air and have lain dead at the sides in the extreme cold Winter Which had they been so much offended with cold as some have thought they are they might easily have kept their former stations and so have remained ab hac coeli inclementia tuti Or else perhaps such Pools had Quick-springs running into them unto the heads of which Springs the Eels will commonly swim up for Air when the body of the Pool is quite froze over Where by the bye let me also make this further Observation That the greater and more subtle Fish tho' they swim near the bottom yet they chuse to be directly under those holes by which it is apparent that these Aereal Particles are neither reflected nor refracted but by the interposition of another body which they cannot enter being otherwise press'd directly downward But to return CHAP. III. THe Air having this penetrating force upon Earth and Water
let us next enquire how it does enter human Bodies And there are four ways by which it is commonly believed the Air may enter them Either First By its Mixing its self with what we eat and so is carried to the Stomach Or Secondly It is received by Inspiration into the Lungs and so is carried to the Heart Or. Thirdly By the Pores of the Body and from thence to the Mass of Blood Or Lastly In Inspiration to the Ventricles of the Brain The two first of which I think are only true As to the First I think it is undoubtedly true That the Air does or Aereal Particles do mix themselves with what we eat for whatever we eat must have numerous Pores or else we could never chew it with out Teeth nor digest it in our Stomach or separate Chyle from it and I believe the Air may sometimes enter these Pores however it does enter the Mouth and is pressed down the Oesophagus either by the Aliment or force of the Aereal Atoms naturally descending downward Secondly It is apparent both by dissection and inflation of the Lungs that the Air does enter from the Larnix and Bronchia into the Vesiculary Cells and there whether by Adhesion of Dissolution does deposite at least some part of this Aereal Salt where meeting with the occurring Humors is directly carried to the Heart and by its pungent Particles molesting and irritating the streight and oblique Fibres of the Heart does stir them up into a Systole or Contraction and so by streightning its Ventricles to drive forth the Blood contained in them into the Arteries And this I take to be the true Original of all Pulsation and first Motion of the Heart and Circulation of the Blood throughout the Body For when I observe the Motion of the Hearts of several Creatures exempt from their Bodies and exposed to the open Air I can never believe either the Influx of Animal Spirits much less the Ebullition Accension or Dilatation of the Heart to be the Cause of its Motion but rather the Effect of these pungent Particles pricking upon the Fibrous Parenchyma of the Heart in their natural descending Motion As to the other two ways of receiving Air viz. by the Pores of the Body when I consider the Nature of these Atoms pressing directly downward when I consider the great Quantity of Effluvia that are continually transpired by the Cuticulary Pores when I consider the Nature of those Pores and their action to be continued suitable to the utmost extremity of the Arteries from whence they originally are derived I cannot see how the Air can enter without either penetratione Corporum or an inversion of Natures constant Course à centro ad circumferentiam Corporis The Arguments that are brought to prove the Porosity of Animals by the taking in of Effluvia from without by the application of Oils and Plasters if rightly considered make nothing to this purpose to prove the entrance of this Aereal Salt by the Cuticulary Pores for setting aside a particular enquiry into the Nature of those Plasters their subtile active igneous violent cooling drying irritating stupifying obstructing and preternaturally disposing Particles the Cuticulary Pores are not placed for the due reception of this Salt nor have the points of this Salt a force upon them since they naturally descend perpendicularly downward Neither when I observe the difference between the Florid Aereal Coloured Blood returning from the Lungs and the Atropurpureal Blood contained in the Veins can I believe this Aereal Salt does enter by the Pores or is mixt with the Venal Blood when I see the Venal Blood both changed in colour and consistence from what I either find in the Lungs or Arteries And as to the last of these ways when the Authors acquaint us how the Particles of Air are parted assunder in Inspiration part of them ascending by the Mammillary Processes ad cerebri Vasa Ventriculos and part descending to the Pulmonary Vessels when they can I say explicate with any great probability how this is done for what end or use the Air thus impregnated with this Salt should come thither it will deserve further Consideration For Although the Mammillary Processes may be affected by the Points of this Salt and according to the various and different Modification of them so various and different smells may be conveyed unto the Brain Nay although the Particles of this Salt are very different as to their shape and bigness size and figure yet do I not see how nor for what end or use by these nervous Processes they should ever be conveyed neither can I see how these Nerves or even the Brain it self should escape a strong Vellication by them which being communicated by the Nerves might cause a Convulsive Motion in every Member in the Body CHAP. IV. NOw as I have owned but only two ways by which this Aereal Salt can be received into human Bodies so do I very much question whether any thing else is left in a healthy Air to joyn either with Chyle or Blood but this Aereal modified Salt only which of its self is able to produce these great and following Effects First This Salt as it is variously mixt or modified by the Aliment we take into our Mouths so different Tastes appear unto us and either descending or prest down by other Particles causes that disturbing Vellication on the inner Membrane of the Nerves that seem as it were placed there on purpose to communicate that Vellication to the Brain do occasion that Desire in us which we call Hunger and from hence the taking the fresh Air does make us hungry because we then receive this Aereal Salt both into our Lungs and Stomach But 't is not the Fibres of the upper Orifice alone but descending to the bottom of the Stomach with the Aliment or what we eat it has the same Operation on the other Fibres and moves them to eject out at the Pylorus and irritating all along on the Fibres of the Intestines is a great cause of and a considerable advantage to their Peristaltick Motion But though this Salt is so highly useful to the Motion of the Stomach yet the Stomachical Operations are not performed by it alone for I have observed near the Rugae of great Animals certain Papillae and a constant Juyce lodged in them which I believed to be an acid Lympha brought thither by invisible Lymphatick Vessels which we have great reason to believe do moisten the Fibrous Tunicles of the Ventricles although they are not perceptible to our sight I know I might have traced the generation of Animals and have shewn not only how the prima stamina vitae the Motion of the punctum saliens nay even the birth it self is owing to this Salt As likewise I might shew the Effects of different occurring Salts that meet together in the Duodenum But designing brevity I must hasten next to shew what great Effects this Nitrous Salt doth commonly produce upon our
Blood And First as to its Colour it does change the Blood from an Atropurpureal Venal Colour into a Coccineous Florid Red which is performed even by common Salt mixt with Blood Secondly to Combine which is the proper Nature of all Salt mixt with Blood as doth appear even from the vulgar and commonly known Methods of Lutation Cementation c. Thirdly To hinder the Coagulation of the Blood Fourthly By its lancinating and irritating Particles supposed by some of a Comical Figure to molest and vellicate the Fibres of the Heart and give occasion to its Motion from which Motion round the Body does depend its Heat and all things else will follow in their order The first Effect of this Salt may yet more particularly be observed in the Blood returning from the Pulmonary Vessels and from the Heart too even to the Capillaries of the Veins and Arteries Whereas the Venal Blood is changed both in Colour and Consistence by the returning sub-acid Lympha as Acids are used to operate upon it especially by Coagulation and changing its Florid Red into a Venal Atropurpureal Colour The Second Effect is also manifest by the exposing Venal Blood newly emitted from the Orifice unto the open Air for this Aereal Salt it is that does not only change its Colour but as far as it does penetrate its Pores it firmly combines its Particles together Thirdly To hinder the Coagulation of the Blood which is another very common Experiment for these Salts whether taken inwardly or else outwardly mixt with Blood which it does Effect by intimately mixing it self with the Blood and so preventing a Dislocation of the Sanguineous Particles Fourthly 'T is this Salt that by its irritating Particles is the great promoter of Secretion in our Bodies and yet maintains the Vinculum and due Crasis of the Blood entire for as it gives a Saltness to most so does it facilitate the Separation Secretion and Expulsion of almost every Humor And now we may see what gives disturbance unto the Humors of our Body for from the universal necessity of this Salt we may easily discern what will ensue upon a total or partial Deprivation of it Or Secondly what will follow upon a Depravation or Contamination especially in our Blood and Humors Now as to the first of these upon a total Deprivation of this Aereal Salt this Vinculum Mistorum Naturae what can ensue but as total a dissolution of Nature a returning of all things to their Primitive Chaos and Disorder an universal Mortality not only to Mankind but to all Creatures living Beasts and Serpents Fish and Fowl must all tumble together in one common ruine So that with a little variation I may use Lucan's Expressions for it Sic quum compage soluta Secula tot mundi suprema coegerit hora Antiquum repetens iterum Chaos omnia discors Machina divulsi turbabit faedera Mundi Lucan de bello Civ l. 1. Of partial Defects there are some more and some less destructive unto human Nature And so Secondly may Depravation or Contamination be considered as the Air is more or less depraved but as a total Defect of this Salt was never yet known so the direful Effects of a total Depravation were yet never felt since a total Depravation and a total Deprivation would prove alike equally pernicious So that the Plague its self and all other Pestilential Fevers must arise from either a partial Defect or partial Contamination or Depravation of this Salt from a total they can never come because that such a state there was never yet known in the which Mankind were all destroyed together For neither the Suffocations of Lightning nor hot Coals make such a total Defect nor the Damps in the Cryptae and Subterranean Vaults or Caverns are such a total Depravation of this Salt yet approaching only something near that Nature generally bring with them very sudden swift distruction and Death is either more swift or slow as this Aereal Salt is more or less deficient or depraved As for those partial Defects of this Salt that are occasioned by the default of the Organs of our Bodies some way or other hindred in their Natural Motions or Operations though they occasion a Defect yet generally very little compared with the Defect is made for want of this Salt in the Air we breath in which Nature cannot otherwise repair And yet even in these partial Defects when only one part of one Lobe of the Lungs is ulcerated yet in how short a time is the Motion Colour and Consistency of the Blood changed from what it was There needs not therefore any thing but a Defect of this Salt to make those Mutations in the Humors of our Body from whence these Disturbances which we call Diseases do arise as I might more particularly shew if I did not design brevity in this discourse Nay even the Air its self does more or less suffer according to the greater or less Defect of this Salt and I question not but even that venenate Miasme as Hippocrates first termed it owes its Original to this want and that his careful Description of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does not so much argue a Corruption or Putredo as his Commentators call it as this Defect which I plead for from the want of which the Humors of our Body will not only of themselves corrupt but if the want be great there will infallibly ensue some fatal or Pestilential Constitution Which Pestilential Constitution giving the greatest Disturbance unto our Blood and Humors must consequently be the most Destructive to Mankind For when the Air is most deficient of this Salt then other Heterogeneous Particles croud most into it and do most corrupt whilst in the mean time for want of this Combining Salt the Particles of our Blood are dislocated its Crasis made Lax and prepared very ready to Receive and Combine with this Aereal Depravation Haec ratio quondam Morborum Lucretius lib. vi A Plague thus rais'd laid learned Athens waste Through every Street through all the Town it past Blasting both Man and Beast with poys'nous Wind Death fled before and Ruine stalk'd behind Mr. Creech's Lucretius CHAP. V. SInce I have asserted a Pestilential Constitution to be nothing else but a Depravation of the Air arising from a great Defect of this Aereal Salt I need not determine on either side whether this Depravation arising from this Defect does consist in Acido or Volatili Aeri As for the Body the Consistency of the Blood being so almost totally altered Acidity Coagulation c. will naturally ensue as the Stagnation of the Bile will render it more Acrid Now there is nothing as I have yet observed doth more exactly represent or express the Nature of the Plague unto us whether we respect the dreadful Symptoms or the vulgar Method of Cure than the first biteings of a strong Viper whose Venom does not consist of a dull heavy sluggish Poyson like unto those Poysons Authors commonly represent