divine Operations But no Man unfolds that substantial Form that first Act that first Matter of Fermentation by which all animate Beings obtain Life and are thence said to live nor what that first Act that Form or Matter is but all Men acquiesce in the Name alone of a Vegetable Soul LXVIII This same Soul I call the vivific Spirit produced out of Corporeal Matter surpassing all other Spirits produced out of Matter Now altho' this Definition of mine be sufficient to denote the Substance it self of the Soul or rather the Subject wherein it abides nevertheless it will not satisfy many who desire a farther Explication of the Nature of this Spirit which however it is better to contemplate in Thought than to express in Words For how or with what Knowledg instructed it forms and joyns the Parts of the Body to be form'd so fitly and with so much decency of Order and Shape he only knows who alone and first of all created all things at the Beginning What it is that rowses it and frees it from the Incumbrances wherewith it is surrounded and brings it upon the Stage of Action has been already sufficiently explain'd that is to say the Heat acting in convenient place and time upon the Seed for that without such a Heat it cannot be dissolved or waken'd out of the thicker Matter LXIX Regius thinks he has found out a way to unfold this Gordian Riddle more clearly and after another manner promising to explain this obscure Mystery of Nature as do many others by manifest Reasons He writes that the Formation of the Birth is perfected by the heat as well of the Womb as of the Seeds by which their Particles are agitated in the Womb and being agitated by reason of their Shapes and Magnitudes which they have acquired in the seminary Passages tempered and shap'd after a certain manner of necessity become in the Womb a perfect prolific Principle of the Creature to be form'd furnished with Alimentary Iuice and cloathed with little Membranes in some Measure resembling the Seeds of Plants Then he adds that this Explication of the Formation of the Birth is so manifest that there is no farther Necessity of framing in the Womb or Seed any Idea Fantasie or Principle of a Soul or any other Faculty to be the Author of Formation But the most learn'd Gentleman who at first sight promises something of a Delphian Oracle in these words does but explain the lesser Obscurity by the greater Obscurity and swelling with an extraordinary Self-Conceit he is pleased with his own Invention as to believe that never any Man ever did or ever will invent any thing more subtilly and ingeniously when as there is nothing in it but Vanity and Ostentation For what others call the Soul of the Seed the vegetative Soul the Plastic Power the Architectonic Vertue c. that he calls certain Shapes and Magnitudes of the Particles of the Seeds more difficult to be apprehended than plastic Power or vegetative Soul And altho' perhaps some Persons may believe that the Artificial Formation of other things without Life may in some Measure be conceived by his mechanic Explication annexed yet does it not from thence appear how the Parts of our living Body are generated out of the diversity of the Shapes and Magnitudes of the Particles of the Seed what should occasion the Heart to be form'd in the middle of the Breast and not in the Abdomen or Head why there should be in that particularly eleven Valves and no more wherefore not two Hearts in one Birth how the Parts receive Life from the Principle of the Birth and what introduces Motion and Actions c. All which with an innumerable number of other things he that will refer to the Shapes and Magnitudes of the Particles of the Seed ought first to tell us what they are and how they are mixed Who does not this proposes his Shapes and Figures as meer Imaginary Chimeras and clears up no Obscurity but wraps us up in more Darkness and while he pretends to tell us something of Novelty and better says nothing at all but intangles an obscure thing in newer but obscurer Terms LXX Lately Tho. Willis has set forth the Substance and Nature of this Soul quite otherwise de an Brut. c. 2. Where after he has asserted the Soul of Brutes which we call Vegetative to be Corporeal and extended through the whole Body and divisible together with the Matter wherein it abides at length concludes that the Soul lying hid in the Blood or Vital Liquor is either a certain Fire or Flame But that we have affirm'd the Soul of a brute says he to be not only Corporeal and extended but that it is of a certain fiery Nature and its Act or Substance is either a Flame or a breath near to or a Kin to Flame besides the large Testimonies of Authors both Ancient and Modern Reasons and Arguments almost demonstrative have also induc'd me to it As to what appertains to the Suffrages of others that I may not seem to insist upon the Authority of a single Gassendus who has maintained this Hypothesis I shall here cite many both ancient Philosophers and Physicians For not to mention Democritus Epicurus Laâ—…rtius Lucretius and their Followers Hippocrates Plato Pythagoras Aristotle Galen with many others tho' disagreeing about other things Yet in this Opinion That the Soul was either a Fire or something Analogical to it they all shook Hands to whom among the Moderns Fernelius Heurnius Cartesius Hogeland and others also have joyn'd themselves and lately Honoratus Faber has delivered in express Words That the Soul of the brute is Corporeal and its Substance Fire LXXI But while the famous Thomas Willis with all those most ingenious Philosophers and Physicians asserts the Soul to be Fire he names indeed a Body of the greatest Activity but such a one as consumes and destroys all things in which and upon which it acts whereas the Soul by its Presence does not destroy those Bodies in which it is and acts but preserves 'em in their soundnss excites the Members to their Functions and defends 'em from Corruption till those Bodies wherein it abides are destroy'd by some other Cause together with the Soul it self Moreover among all those famous men not one could ever teach what it is that forces or instructs that Fire in the Generation of the Creature to adapt and joyn all and singular the parts in such an exact and admirable order together and in every one to perform such various and determin'd Operations as the making the Chylus in the Stomach Blood in the Heart Animal Spirits in the Brain Sight in the Eye Hearing in the Ear Taste in the Tongue why through its extraordinary activity and rapid Motion it does not hinder the Formation of the Organs and rather destroy 'em being form'd then form 'em it self and produce variety of Actions out of each LXXII Moreover the foresaid Thomas
distended but not contracted but the Muscles are both distended and contracted But all this signifies nothing to the Muscles which by their own ordinary voluntary Motion contract and relax but by some preternatural Cause are hindered from that Motion and many times distended when voluntarily they ought to be relaxed as in Convulsions and relax and flax when they ought to be contracted as in the Palsie XIX The Action of the Muscle is performed by its Fibres Tendons and Nerves The Fibres cause Contraction by which the Tendon is drawn to together with the Part which is fastned to it Through the Nerves the Animal Spirits flow in causing Feeling Swelling and Contraction But if one of these three be wanting or hindered the Action cannot be perform'd For if the Nerve be obstructed or cut then the Animal Spirits not flowing into it there can be no Swelling or Contraction of the Muscle If the Fibres are cut athwart their Contraction is made toward two several Parts upward and downward and so the Part to be moved is not brought to If the Tendon be wanting though the Muscles swell because it is not fastned to the Part that is to be moved it does not draw it As to the Flesh that is interlarded among the Fibers that contributes nothing to the Motion but only strengthens the Fibers and by its Heat cherishes and renders them nimble and defends them against the Injuries of Heat and Cold but is unfit for the Motion of Contraction by reason of its Softness and Loosness which renders it unable to contract it self or raise other Parts Which Vesalius Erastus and Laurentius not aware of erroneously affirming this Flesh to be the chief Instrument of Motion the Absurdities of which is apparent for that the Muscles of meager Men are stronger than the Muscles of those who are more fleshy If any one object that the Muscles of the Calves of the Legs and Arms draw with more force by reason of their Carnosity I answer that their Carnosity is not the reason but because they are furnished with stronger and more numerous Fibers than others XX. The Operations of the Muscles are various according to the Variety of the Muscles to which they are fastned In the Breast they dilate and contract in the Gullet they facilitate Swallowing in the Larinx they cause the Modulation of the Voice c. XXI But how the Animal Spirits causing the Operation of the Muscle flow and are determined in greater quantity at the pleasure of the Mind sometimes into these sometimes into those Muscles is a difficult Question some will have them conveighed through Imaginary Valves which they ascribe to the Nerves Others not satisfied with this Fiction have invented double Tubes so placed from one Muscle to the other that in the Contraction of the Muscle the Orifice guarded by a peculiar Valve opens and that through that same Passage the Spirits flow out of the relaxed Muscle into that which is to be contracted the Valve of the other Closing at the same moment so that they cannot flow forth again but of necessity must distend the Muscle until the Situation of the Parts being again altered that Valve opens and the other shuts by which means there is a Passage opened for the contracting the other Muscle This is indeed ingenious but little to the purpose 1. Because the Muscles that move the Part to the opposite Part are most commonly too far distant from the former so that those little Pipes must be very long as in those Muscles that move the Part forward and backward 2. These little Pipes if not every where yet would be some where visible seeing that the small little Nerves through which the Spirits flow are visible 3. For that in Wounds the Muscles are many times divided one from another and yet notwithstanding their Separation their Motion proceeds in good order every way Which could not be if there were any such intervening Pipes in those Places cut and then cicatrized For by reason of their smallness they must of necessity be quite closed up by the Scar. 4. The altered Situation of the Parts cannot cause an opening and shutting of the Valves For it is supposed that the Situation of the Parts alters as the Spirits flow into this or that Muscle and so the thing caused would precede the Cause and the Influx of the Spirits must be before the Cause of the Influx XXII Cartesius seems to favour this Opinion of the little Pipes For says he there are little gapings in every one of these Muscles through which those Spirits may slow out of one into the other and which are so disposed that when the Spirits come from the Brain toward one of those they have somewhat a greater force than those that go toward the other and together close up all those Passages through which the Spirits of this may pass into the other By which means all the Spirits before contained in these two Muscles immediately slow into one of them and so swell and contract it while the other relaxes This seems a fpecious Fiction and needs no other Refutation than the Story of the little Pipes Add to this that when a Body is bended forward and backward who can imagine such Gapings can be extended from the Muscles before to those behind Shall those Gapings and the Spirits pass in a streight Line through all the other Parts that lye between To this De la Forge answers that those Spirits do not pass through all the Parts that lye between but from the Tendon of the whole Muscle through the Pores and invisible Channels into the Tendon of the other for though the Muscles are remote one from another the Muscles lye close together This specious Fiction pretends that the Spirits flow rapidly from the Tendon of the acting Muscle through those supposed Channels in the Tendon and Belly of the Muscle which is to act but what if the opposite Muscle should not act but lye still wherefore then the action of the acting Muscle ceasing do not those spirits flow into the opposite that rests when the Passages are open and the Muscle is capable to receive them If it be impossible they should be so soon dissipated through the Pores of the Muscle or return into the Veins or Arteries where do they then remain Since they do not enter any other from the acting Muscle surceasing its action so suddainly Or if they cannot enter the Muscle that is to act by reason of the length of the distance What hinders their entrance into the next adjoyning Muscles or Tendon This the Valves occasion adjoyning to the Channels says de la Forge But wherefore are they not sufficiently open when the violent rushing of the Spirits into the acting Muscle and it's Tendon is sufficient to open the Valves of the Channels tending toward the other opposite and so to make a free passage for its self from that into this Besides that all Valves give
passage to one Part but still prevent the flowing back So that those Valves that open to transmit the Spirits from the right acting Muscle to the left which never permit the same spirits to pass back from the left to the right Besides if those spirits enter the Muscle which is to act through the Tendon then the Tayl of the Muscle will swell sooner then the Head and so the Tayl shall be drawn toward the Head and not the Head toward the Tayl. Then if the Muscles that are to act could not swell so soon as they ought unless they borrow'd spirits from the neighbouring Muscles ceasing to act nor fall again unless they discharg'd their spirits into the adjoyning Muscles what shall we think of the Sphincters that rise and fall act and surcease to act yet neither receive any spirits nor discharge any into any opposite Muscles as having no such Or else as if the spirits were endu'd with reason and knew when to open or when to shut the Valves or when to pass through and when not Certainly such Philosophers seek rather to wrest Nature to their conceits then to direct their conceits according to the Laws of Nature See more of this l. 8. c. 1. CHAP. II. Of the Muscles of the Head THE Muscles of the Head either move the whole Head or some parts belonging to the Head The whole Head is mov'd either Secundarily as it follows the Muscles of the Neck caus'd by the Muscles of the Neck or Primarily as it is turn'd by its proper Muscles above the First Verteber upon which it is immediately placed either forward backward or sideways also as it is turn'd above the Tooth-resembling Process of the Second Verteber as upon an Axle The First Motion is perform'd by Nine pair of Muscles I. The First Pair call'd Splenium oblong thick fleshy and spread over both Vertebers It rises from a Nervous beginning partly from the Spines of the five upper Vertebers of the Breast partly from the lower Spines of the Vertebers of the Neck and ascending upwards inserted with a broad end into the hinder part of the Head and draws the head directly to the hinder Parts or if one only act it draws the head backward toward the side II. The Second Pair call'd the Complex Pair because every Muscle seems to consist of three Muscles as having various beginnings and many Tendonous and Fleshy parts This Pair arises at the seventh Verteber of the Neck and the first second third fourth and fifth Vertebers of the Breast and is most firmly fasten'd to the hinder part of the Head sometimes with a single sometimes with a treble Tendon Whence Galen affirms these Muscles to be three fold Nevertheless that they are single is apparent because there is no separation of any Membrane but are included within their own Membrane only which could not be if they were divided into many Muscles For then they would have every one their proper Membrane by means whereof it might be separted from the other III. The Third Pair call'd the small and thick Pair â—…eated under the Second Pair rises with a Nervous beginning from the transverse Processes of the first Vertebers of the Neck rarely from the Five Pairs of the upper Vertebers of of the Breast and growing fleshy extends it self obliquely upward and inward and is inserted with a Nervous end into the hindermost root of the Mamillary Process and lighty draws the head backward but if one only act it bends it backward toward the side Riolanus believes this Pair to be nothing else but a production of the Spinatic Muscle reaching to the head near the Mamillary Process IV. The fourth Pair call'd the bigger streight Pair is small fleshy and slenâ—…er and rises from the top of the Spine of the Second Verteber of the Neck and ending in the middle of the hinder part of the Head assists the motion of the Third Pair V. The Fifth Pair call'd the lesser streight Pair lyes under the former and resembles it in substance shape and course It rises from the hinder part of the first Verteber and being inserted into the hinder part of the Head assists the motion of the Third and the preceding Muscle VI. The sixth Pair call'd the Upper Oblique Pair is seated under the right Pairs and resembles them in substance and shape It is small and rises from the Process of the first Verteber of the Neck and ends in the hinder part of the Head near the outward side of the right Pair Bauhinus says it rises in the hinder part of the Head and ends at the lateral Processes of the first Verteber of the Neck This acting we nod slightly streight forward if either act it inclines the Head backward to one side VII The Seventh is the Lower Oblique Pair oblong fleshly and round rising from the Spine of the Second Verteber of the Neck and inserted into the transverse Process of the first Verteber and turns it round with the Head annex'd to it to the sides VIII The eighth call'd Mastoides seated in the fore-part of the Neck strong long and round which by reason of its two beginings some assert to be two-fold It rises Nervous and broad from the upper part of the Sternon and Clavicle and with a fleshy Tayl is inserted into the Mamillary Process and the hinder part of the Head this Pair bends the Head forward and downward and if one act at a time turns it obliquely to the side IX The Ninth Pair discover'd by Fallopius which may be call'd the Inner Streight Pair seated under the Gullet in the fore-part of the Neck joyns to the First Pair of the Neck It rises with a Nervous beginning from the Ligaments of almost all the Vertebers of the Neck and with a Fleshy tayl is inserted into the Basis of the Head between both Processes where it is joynted with the first Verteber and bends the Head forward when we nod X. The Muscles which move the Parts contain'd in the Head are many and various two in the Forehead four belonging to the Eye-lids twelve to the Eyes eight to the Ears four to the Membranes of the Tympanum eight to the Nose fifteen to the Cheeks and Lips ten to the lower Jaw ten to the Tongue eight to the Hyoides bone the form beginning insertion situation and use of all which we have describ'd l. 3. So that the Muscles of the Head in all are Ninety and Nine CHAP. III. Of the Muscles of the Neck THE Muscles which primarily move the Neck and secondarily the Head are four on each side which move the Neck forward backward and sideways I. Two Long which lye hid under the Gullet These rise fleshy from the fifth and sixth Verteber of the Breast and ascending upward with a sharp Tendon are inserted together into the extuberant Processes of the first Verteber of the Neck sometimes they are fasten'd to the hinder part of the Head near
Secondly Because action is competible to the whole operating Organ but use to every part of the Organ for instance The action of a Muscle is to contract but the use of the Musculous Membrane is to contain its fibres and to seperate it from other Muscles of the Artery to bring blood to it as of the nerves animal spirits to support the fibres of the flesh Yet oftentimes use action and function are promiscously used by Anatomists And the action of a part because it tends to some end or other is often called use And also use because it excludes not action is called action But use is of greater latitude then action Hippocrates divided things that make up the whole into things containing things contained and things that move or have in themselves the power of motion Galen calls these three things Solid parts Humors and Spirits In this division the threefold parts of the body are not comprehended but only three things without which a man cannot continue entire that is alive For only the containing or solid parts are true parts of the body Yet these parts cannot continue alive except they be continually nourished by the humors Not that humors are parts of the body but the proximate matter which by coction is changed into the substance of the parts into which till they are changed they cannot be called parts and when they are changed they cannot be called humors for a bone is not blood and blood is not bone though the one be bred of the other The same must be understood of spirits which being made of the subtilest and hottest part of the blood do very much contribute to the nutrition of the body Therefore though a man cannot continue alive without these three yet it does not follow that all these three must necessarily be parts of the body A Vine consists of solid woody parts and a Juyce whereby it is nourished and yet it is evident this Juice is no part of the Vine because if a Vine be unseasonably cut abundance of it runs out the Vine remaining entire wherefore a blind man may see that it is no part if the Vine but only liqour which by further coction would be turned into a Vine Thus also when there is a Flux of blood by the Haemorrhoids Menses or any other part or when one makes water or sweats no man in his wits will say that then the parts of a mans body are voided although a man cannot live without blood and serum But if pieces of the Lungs be brought up in coughing or if piecesâ—… of the Kidneys be voided in Urine as it sometimes happens in their exculceration then it is certain that the true parts of the body are voided Besides these are parts of the body whence actions immediately proceed and they proceed not from the humors and spirits but from solids For the humors and spirits move not the Heart Brain and other parts but they both breed and move the humors and spirits for when the Heart Brain and other parts are quiet humors and spirits are neither bred nor moved this appears in a deep swoon and though there is abundance of them in the body and those very hot and fit for motion as in such as dye of a burning Fever yet as soon as the Heart is quiet they neither move through the Arteries Veins and Nerves nor are able to move the Heart or any part else which is a certain Argument that they are Passive and that no Action can proceed from them And that the humors and spirits are moved by the Heart and bred in it and other parts will more plainly appear lib. 2. cap. 11. and lib. 3. cap. 10 11. and in several other places And now though solids cannot act without the humors and spirits and by them their Actions in as much as by their quantity or quality as their heat cold c. they are able to cause this or that mutation or temper in Solids are made quicker slower stronger weaker better or worse yet they are without air yet air is no part of the body neither does the Action of respiration proceed from it but from the muscles of the breast forcing it out though in the mean time air by giving way to the motion of the muscles and passing in and out through the Aspera Arteria affords such an aptitude for respiration as without it no respiration could be performed though also by its heat or cold it may make respiration quicker slower longer or rarer according as by these mutations the heat of the parts is augmented or diminished and thereupon necessity obliges one to breath quicker or slower So the Heart and other solid Parts are not mov'd by the humors and spirits but act upon the humors and spirits they move attenuate and concoct them till at length they turn their apt particles into a substance like themselves and so apply and unite them to themselves and make them parts of the body which they were not before they were applied and assimilated For one part of the body is not nourished with another part of its whole a bone is not nourished with flesh nor a vein with a nerve c. Neither can that which nourishes the parts by any means be called a part for otherwise there would be no difference between a part and its nutriment With which Nourishment unless the Parts be daily cherished and their consumed particles restored their strength and substance would quickly waste and fail and by that failure at length their Action would be lost So that Man of necessity must have both Blood and Spirits for the support of Life hence saith the Text in Levit. 17. 11. the Soul that is the Life of the Flesh is in its Blood as being the nearest Support of the Body without which neither the Parts of the Body can act nor the Man himself live Yet it does not follow from thence that the Blood and Spirits are part of the Body For the same might be said of the external Air without which no Man can live For take away from a Man the use of external Air either by suffocation or drowning or any other way you presently deprive him of Life as surely as if you took from him his Blood and Spirits Yet no man of Judgment will say that the external Air is a part of the Body Seeing that most certainly if that without which Life cannot subsist were to be accounted a Part the external Air must of necessity be said to be a Part of our Body as well as the Blood and Spirits Moreover it is to be considered that if the Humors and Spirits have contracted any Foulness or Distemper they are by the Physicians numbred among the Causes of Diseases not among the diseased Parts Besides that if they were Parts they ought to be similar yet never any Anatomist that I ever yet heard of recken'd 'em among similar Parts For most of the Organic Parts
Nourishments which is call'd the Chyle XXIII The Chyle is a Milkie Iuice like the Cream of a Ptisan prepar'd and concocted out of the Nourishment received into the Stomach XXIV The Nourishment or Food is concocted in the Stomach by way of Fermentation by which means they dissolve and so the Iuice is extracted out of ' em XXV Fermentation is twofold One whereby the Particles of the Mixture are stirr'd about of themselves grow warm and are rarify'd and by dissolving the Salt which binds 'em together they are so separated that they become more full of Spirits and are then for the greatest part mixed together again and tho' more full of Spirits yet remain mix'd The other which is by many call'd Effervescency is that by which the Acid Particles of the Salt for the greatest part boyling together with some Watry and Tartarous Matter are concenter'd by Coagulation and so are separated from other Particles of the Mixture that they never return to an exact Union and Mixture with 'em again XXVI After the first Manner Fermentation causes Chylification tho' in our following Discourses when we design to express a vehement Fermentation we shall make use of the word Effervescency XXVII This Fermentation is made when the Salt parts of the swallow'd Food are by the heat of the Stomach and the acid Iuice dissolv'd melted and become full of Spirits and withal corrode and move about the Sulphurous Particles and so after a kind of Combat forsaking the strict Chains of their Mixture are expanded and shaken somewhat sowre and sharper as they are through the thicker Mass together with the sulphury spiritous Particles jogg'd together in like manner and because of their passage deny'd and mixture of the thicker Matter not yet fully dissolv'd being driven back again they assail that Mass with motion upon motion and divide and expand the smallest Particles of it one from another and dispose 'em to a more easie separation and to receive the form of another Pap-like and Milkie Mixture But as for what Particles cannot be sufficiently dissolv'd by this Fermentation or reduc'd to a Milkie Substance they become Excrement whose separation from the Milkie Juice is wrought in the Guts XXVIII This fermentative Concoction which is finish'd without any vehement Motion upward or downward or any tumultuous Agitation through the Cavity of the Ventricle as happens in Water boyling over the Fire is so violent that by the force of it the hardest Meats which can hardly be mollified with a whole days boyling over a Kitchin-fire in a few hours are not only soften'd but so dissolv'd and melted that the Particles being forc'd from their friendly Union and torn one from another and mix'd with the Liquor either inherent or infus'd into the Stomach they are turn'd into a Pap-like Consistency not unlike to the Cream of a Ptisan XXIX Now that the Food is rather turn'd into Chyle than into Choler Blood or any other Humour that is to be attributed to the peculiar Quality of the Substance of the Ventricle or to the Specific Temper and peculiar Structure and consequently to the Specific Ferment and manner of Fermentation as the peculiar Quality of the Liver and Spleen produces another Ferment and as Blood is made in the Heart However it is not done by the fermentative Particles alive which are mix'd with the swallow'd Food nor by a moderate Heat as some are of Opinion For they only conduce to the dissolution of the Nourishment but the moderate Heat to promote the said Concoction or Fermentation and excite the absconding Power to Action But why that Concoction and Dissolution produces the Chylus rather than any other Humour that is to be attributed to the peculiar Quality of the Substance there is no other Reason to be given for that but only the peculiar Quality of the Substance in respect of which the Heat operates otherwise in the Stomach than in the Heart or any other part and there disposes of the Ferment after another manner than in any other Bowel Thus as the Kitchin-fire mollifies one way by Boyling another way by Roasting another way that which is Fry'd in Butter or otherwise that which is prepar'd in Vinegar or Pickle and that by reason of the Substances by which and upon which that soft'ning is to be brought to pass Thus the Heat of our Body by reason of the proper disposition of the Ventricle and the Juices therein contain'd and bred therefore otherwise soften and dissolve the Nourishment in the Stomach than the other parts and disposes the Ferment after another manner to inable that Ferment to dissolve and concoct the swallow'd Nourishment in a distinct manner from the Reconcoction in other parts of the Nourishment already melted and dissolv'd for second Concoction So that by reason of this peculiar Quality while the Stomach is sane and acts according to Nature there can be no other Juice there made than a white Chyle XXX Paracelsus writes that Archaeus with his Mechanic Spirits could perfect Chylification in the Stomach but by Archaeus he means the innate Heat To this Opinion Riolanus seems to adhere in Not. ad Epist. Wallaei Nevertheless he admits something of a shadow of a peculiar Quality in these words I attribute the Cause to the diversity of the innate Heat in the manner of the Substance that is saith he the property of the innate Heat Not that the innate Heat differs of it self in Substance But when it cannot subsist without a Body or Substance without it self it must operate variously according to the diversity of that Substance in the several parts XXXI Hence it is apparent how frivolous that is which some assert That the Ventricle does not make the Chyle but is only an Instrument and Receptacle where the Chyle is made and that it no otherwise makes the Chyle than the Pot wherein the Meat is boyl'd makes the Broth. But I would fain know who is so blind as not to see that when Chylification is attributed to the Stomach we do not mean the bare Membranes of the Ventricle but a live and sound Ventricle that is furnish'd with its own Spirit and Heat and a Convenient proper Ferment generated out of the peculiar Quality of its own Substance with none of which things a Porridge Pot can be said to be endued XXXII The Colour of the Chyle is Milkie and somewhat white by reason of the sulphury Particles dissolv'd with the salt ones and mix'd with the acid Ferment of the Stomach For every Liquor impregnated with Sulphur and a Volatile Salt or a Salt admirably well dissolv'd presently turns to a kind of Milk if any thing of acid Moisture be pour'd upon it Which is prov'd sufficiently by the preparations of Sulphur and the Extracts of Vegetable Rosins Also Spirit of Hartshorn or Soot being sprinkled with any liquid Juice or only fair Water presently turns to a kind of Milk XXXIII Plempius and Walaeus are of
is thrown off into the Bowels raw and unconcocted as when it was first swallowed down But they being again restored to the Stomach the Concoction returns and the Appetite is restored Hence says Hippocrates 6. Aph. 1. In long Fluxes of the Belly if sowre Belches happen it is a good Sign XLVII Now how it comes to pass that the fermentaceous Particles obtain that embased Acrimony has bin already said by an apt Heat melting those salt Particles to a degree of being Liquid and ready to flow I say Apt. For as Bread becomes well leavened in a luke warm Place by the Ferment mixed with it in a cold Place in great difficulty but in a hot Oven can never be fermented So this Acidity which will not be excited but by a moderate Heat of the Stomach will not be stirr'd by too small a Heat and is scattered and dispelled by too great a Heat and thereby those Juices that should make the Ferment will be quite consum'd Hence Flegmatic People that are troubled with a cold Distemper of the Stomach have neither good Appetites nor good Concoctions and Choleric Persons who are infested with an over-hot Temper of the Stomach have none at all However it does not follow from this that the greater the Heat of the Stomach is the quicker must be the Appetite and the stronger and better the Concoction For the contrary appears in burning Feavers and an Inflammation of the Stomach As also in a Lyon whether he be accounted the hottest of all Creatures yet can he not digest Iron Gold Brass or the like which however are easily digested in the Stomach of an Estriche as being endued with a sharper Ferment tho' not with so fervent a Heat As Langius relates that he saw at the Duke of Ferrara's Court an Estriche both swallow and digest those Metals l. 1. Epist. 12. XLVIII Therefore it is not the Heat but the Ferment which in some is more sharp and acid in others more moderate which is the next Cause of the Appetite and Digestion of the Stomach But moderate Heat is the Cause which disposes the Matter which begets that Ferment that elevates and excites to Action XLIX But whereas this Power and Vertue in the Stomach of making this Ferment and of Chylifying by its Assistance cannot be excited into Action but by an apt and moderate Heat some there are who question what or rather where this Heat lies that produces this Action Whether it be the Heat of the Membranes of the Ventricle or the Parts that ly round it or of any Humor or any Spirits Certainly there is no difference of this Heat in the diversity of Subjects in relation to self for all Heat is excited by the Motion and Agitation of the least Particles and subtil Matter for because the Heat is fiercer in red hot Iron slacker in the Flame of Straw this does not argue the difference of the Heat it self but of the Quantity proceeding from the diversity of the Subject to which it is inherent But the Diversity of Operations proceeds from the diversity of the things themselves upon which and by virtue of which the Heat acts For the same Heat melts Wax hardens Clay wasts the Meat upon the Spit bakes it in the Oven and boyls in the Pot putrifys in a Dunghil and hatches Eggs in a Stove without the assistance of a Hen. In like manner to promote the Act of Chylification it is required that the moderate Heat which is no more than one and the same should be proportionably adapted in the Stomach that is both in its Membranes its Humours and Spirits and that it should be cherished and foster'd in like manner by the Heat of the Parts that lie round about it for so being truly and aptly proportion'd it is impossible but the Ventricle must act properly and naturally toward the Chylification of proper Matter by dissolving and extracting a Chylus out of it L. The Preparation of Nourishment for Chylification proceeds gradually after a certain kind of Method For first the Spittle is mixed with the Meat which is chewed and masticated in the Mouth not only softning them but infusing into them a fermentative Quality of which Quality see l. 3. c. 6. 24. then comes Drink Ale Wine or any other Liquor which for the most part contains in it self acid Particles and fermentaceous Spirits This Nourishment the Stomach strictly embraces and squeezes it self round about it by the help of its Fibres and mingles with it the Specific fermentaceous Juices as well those bred in the interior Tunicle as those that are affused upon the Spittle Then by an apt and proper Heat there is a Mixture and Liquation or Melting of the whole Substance of the Nourishment together For that the fermentaceous Particles sliding into the Pores of the Nourishment withal get into their very Particles themselves stir about melt and dissolve the more pure from the thick and render 'em more fluid to the end they may be able to endure another form of Mixture and be united among themselves into the form of a milky Cream Which being done by the squeezing of the Ventricle they fall down to the Intestins together with the thicker Mass with which they are intermixt in them to be separated by the mixture of Choler and the pancreatick or Juice after another manner of Fermentation and so to be thrust down to the milky Vessels LI. The certain Time for the finishing of Chylification cannot be determined For here is great Variety observed proceeding from the variety of the Temperament of the Stomach Age Sex Position and Disposition of the Parts adjoyning and the Nature of the Nourishment themselves LII But why some Meats are digested sooner some later the Reason is to be given from the variety of the Meats themselves in Substance Hardness Solidness Thickness Thinness Heat Cold c. For which reason some are dissolved with more case and sooner some with more Difficulty and later in the Stomach But then again why the same Meats are in others sooner in others later concocted and wherefore some Stomachs will easily concoct raw Fish hard Flesh half boyl'd or tho' it be raw but the Stomachs of others will with great Difficulty the tenderest and best prepared Dyet this proceeds from the various Constitution of the Stomach the Ferment and the proportion of Heat LIII What I speak of Meats the same is to be understood of Drinks Which for the same Reasons and because of the same Varieties are digested in others well in others ill in others sooner in others later and render the Digestions of the Stomach in others better in others worse For Example if Wine or any other Liquor be drank plentifully that is either quickly digested by reason of the great Plenty Thinness and Spirituosity of acid Particles and so flows down to the Intestines or else by reason of the extraordinary Quantity being very heavy and troublesome to the Stomach is thrust forth raw
Flowers flow being thrust into that Orifice may be there detain'd and squeez'd as happens in the Limeing of Bitches which that it has happen'd to some I am credibly inform'd Thus when I was a Student at Leyden I remember there was a young Bridegroom in that Town that being over-wanton with his Bride had so hamper'd himself in her Privities that he could not draw his Yard forth till Delmehorst the Physician unty'd the Knot by casting cold Water upon the part Certainly 't is a wonder how such a narrow Orifice of the Womb can be so much dilated as to receive the Nut of the Yard which is the reason some think it impossible to be done and look upon as Fables whatever has been said touching this matter But this is to be said that in a very fervent Lust all those obscene parts grow very hot and are relax'd to that degree as to receive the Yard with ease as appears by the Uterine Sheath which not being heated by libidinous Ardour is so strait that it will not admit the Yard without difficulty but in the Act of Venery thro' the more copious affluency of Blood and Spirits stiffens grows warm and swells and then becomes so loose and soft that it easily receives the Yard Therefore it would be no wonder if in some through extream Lust this Orifice of the Womb be so relax'd as to admit the Yard especially if the Sheath be short and the Yard so long as to reach and enter the Sybilline Chink Nor is this more to be admired at than that the Orifice it self in time of Labour should of its own accord be so relax'd for a large Infant to pass thorough or for the Chirurgeon to thrust in his Hand and part of his Arm to draw forth the Birth when necessity requires VI. Continuous to the bottom and neck of the Womb is the Greater Neck or Gate of the Womb commonly call'd the Vagina or Sheath because it receives the Yard like a Sheath This is a smooth and soft Chanel every way enclosing and grasping the Yard in Copulation furnish'd with fleshie Fibres running out in length by which it is fasten'd to the other adjacent parts and withinside full of orbicular furrows or wrinkles more in the upper part than the lower and more toward the Privity than toward the Womb and unequal to procure the greater pleasure of Titillation from rubbing to and fro of a membranous and as it were nervous and somewhat spungy Substance which swells in the heat of Lust the better to embrace the Yard about the length of the middle finger and as broad as the Intestinum Rectum Nevertheless the length breadth and loosness of it vary according to the Age of the Person her Use of Venery and her natural Constitution and sometimes this length and breadth of the Sheath varies according to the length or bigness of the Yard in Men. Whence Spigelius thus writes Annat l. 8. c. 22. The Sheath every where embraces the Yard and frames it self to all iâ—…s Dimensions so that it meets a short one gives way to a long one dilates to a thick one and straitens to a small one for Nature so manages all these differences in respect to the magnitude of the Yard that it is needless to endeavour to fit the Tools or regard their proportion for that the great Fabricator has every where done it so admirably In like manner in Virgins and Women not so prone to Venery as in those that never had Children or Labour under an immoderate Flux of their Flowers or their Whites the wrinkles are much deeper and thicker and more numerous but in Women that have had many Children as also in Harlots often lain withal they are neither so deep nor so numerous if not many times worn smooth VII This Sheath in Infants is remarkably capacious tho' the Orifice be very narrow as it is also in grown Virgins never lain with which in the first act of Coition is somewhat dilated with the rupture of the Hymen but in Women that use but moderate Copulation it remains still in such a condition that the Yard passes through a kind of looser sort of Sphincter Muscle toward the innermost Sheath VIII It is furnish'd with Vessels of all sorts It has two sorts of Arteries some from the Haemorrhoidal Arteries creeping through the lower part of it others from the Hypogastrics descending along the sides of it and then dispers'd through the whole Sheath and in the upper part for the most part adhering to the Arteries of the Womb. IX Several Veins it sends forth from its lower part to the Haemorrhoidals the rest far more in number and every way dispers'd into its Substance to the Hypogastrics into which they empty the Blood which is contain'd in 'em from thence to be conveigh'd farther to the greater Vessels and so to the heart And out of these Blood-bearing Vessels it is that that same little Net is form'd discover'd by Regner de Graef X. It receives its Nerves from those that run out from the Os Sacrum XI Regner de Graef also writes That he has here observ'd certain very small Lymphatic Vessels which in their ascent penetrating through the External Substance of the Womb meet together by degrees and increase like small Rivulets till they came to the great Receptacle of the Chylus and then open themselves into it Besides these Vessels there run out into the forepart of the Sheath those Chanels sticking to the Substance of the Urinary Passage of which hereafter XII To the end of it that is at its first entrance under the Nymphs both before and atop adheres the neck of the Piss-bladder wrapt about with the Sphincter having there an Exit but in the hinder part it is firmly fasten'd with the binding Muscle of the Intestinum Rectum Regner de Graef has well observ'd that the Sphincter of the Bladder embraces the lower part of the Sheath with a conveighance of Fibres three fingers broad to the end that in Coition it might be able gently to close it self about the Yard which Constriction he believes to be mainly helped forward by other Bodies found out by himself of which he thus writes To this Constriction those Bodies contribute after a wonderful manner which the fleshie Expansions arising from the Sphincter being remov'd appear on both sides near the Lips of the Privity in the lower part of the Sheath For they ascend on both sides to the membranous Substance which is fasten'd to the neighbouring Parts and to the Clitoris and there terminate and vanish so that the Bodies of the right and left side have no Communion one with another as may be seen if either be fill'd with Wine for the Body of the right side being blown up the left never swells neither if the left be fill'd is the right distended or the Clitoris erected The outward Substance of these consists of a very thin Membrane the inner
mov'd XLVI Here perhaps by way of a Corollary some one may ask me what is that same Architectonic Vertue latent in the prolific Seed which performs the Formation of the Parts In the foregoing Chapter we have discoursed at large concerning the enlivening Spirit implanted in the Prolific Seed as it is the Subject of the first forming Spirit but because no Spirit of it self and by its own Power seems able to perfect Generation unless it have in its self some effective Principle by virtue whereof it produces that Effect hence the Question arises what that is that affords that active Force to the Spirit and power to form a living body and endues the Matter with all manner of Perfection and produces Order Figure Growth Number Situation and those other things which are observed in living bodies Which is a thing hitherto unknown and has held the Minds of all Philosophers in deep Suspense Of whom the greatest part have rather chosen tacitly to admire the Supream Operator and his work than to unfold him and so affirm with Lactantius That Man contributes nothing to his Birth but the Matter which is the Seed but that all the rest is the handy work of God the Conception the forming of the Body the inspiration of the Soul and the conservation of the Parts In which sense says Harvey most truly and piously does he believe who deduces the Generations of all things from the same Eternal and Omnipotent Deity upon whose pleasure depends the Universality of the things themselves But others who believe that the Bounds of Nature are not so slightly to be skipped over nor think that in the Inquiries after the Principles of Generation there is such a necessity to have recourse to the first Architect and Governour of the whole Universe but that the first forming and efficient Cause created by God with the Things themselves and infus'd and planted within 'em is to be sought out of the Things themselves more arrogantly have presum'd to give us a clearer Explication of the Matter by Philosophical Reason yet differing in their Opinions which are various and manifold XLVII For Galen calls this Architectonic Power sometimes by the name of Nature sometimes Natural Heat sometimes the Inbred Temperament sometimes the Spirit which he affirms to be a Substance of it self moveable and always moveable Aristotle distinguishing between the Heat or Spirit of the Seed and Nature asserts the Artichectonic Power to be that Nature which is in the Spirit of the Seed and therefore distinct from the Spirit it self which is inherent in the Spirit as in its Subject and acts upon the Spirit as its Matter This Nature in the Spirit of the Seed was also acknowledged by Hippocrates saying That it is learned tho' it has not learnt rightly to act Not that it is Rational but because as Galen explains it it acts of it self all that is necessary to be acted without any direction Hence Deusingius defines it to be a certain immaterial Substance arising out of the Matter so determin'd to the Matter by the Supream God that it can neither be nor subsist nor operate without it This same Architectonic Vertue others with Avicen call the Intelligence others with Averrhoes and Scotus a Coelestial Force or a Divine Efficacy Iacob Scheggius calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 active or forming Reason and says that by the word Reason or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he understands a Substantial Form which is not to be apprehended by Sense but by the Understanding and Reason And so while he seems to speak something he says nothing at all XLVIII The Platonics call it a General Soul diffus'd through the whole World which according to the diversity of Materials and Seeds produces various Generations as a Plant from the Seed of a Plant a Man from the Seed of a Man a Horse from that of a Horse a Fish from that of a Fish c. But Plotin the great Platonist distinguishes this same Architectonic Vertue from the Platonic Soul of the World as produc'd from that by which it is produc'd and therefore he calls it Nature flowing from the Soul of the World which he says is the Essential Act of it and the Life depending upon it Themistius says that the forming Power is the Soul inclos'd in the Seed potentially enliven'd Deusingius in his Original of the Soul calls it Nature in the Seed that is as he explains himself a Soul potentially subsisting in the Seed being in it self the Beginning and Cause of Motion But in a Body already form'd he calls it the Soul actually subsisting And so without any necessity at all distinguishes one and the same thing into two and gives it two distinct names as it either rests or acts and according to the diversity of the Subject to be form'd or else already form'd Just as if a man distinguishing between a Painter lazily sleeping or painting awake should call the one Nature latent in his Spirit as one that could paint if he were awake and the other a real Painter as one actually painting as if the Painter that slept were not as much a Painter as he that actually painted Whereas as it appears by the Effects that which is able to form a Body at first out of the Seed and that which actually forms were not one and the same thing and so by a certain continuation the form of the thing formed remains This Opinion of his Deusingius seems to have drawn from the Institutes of the Platonists who distinguish between the Soul and Being a Soul that is between the Substance of the Soul which is said to be in the Seed and the Appellation of Nature and the Soul which acts at this prâ—…sent and is the form of the form'd Body Fernelius calls the Plastic Power a Spirit but he does not mean such a common Spirit which the Physicians say is rais'd by the preparations of the Bowels out of the Humours but some other Spirit of far sublimer Excellency For says he this Spirit is an Ethereal Body the Seat and Bond of Heat and the Faculties and the first Instrument of the Duty to be perform'd And Lib. 2. de Abdit c. 10. he believes it to be something that flows down from Heaven For says he the Heaven without any Seed produces many both Creatures and Plants but the Seed generates nothing without the Heaven The Seed only prepares aptly and conveniently Materials for the begetting of Things the Heaven sends into the Matter prepar'd Form and consummate Perfection and raises Life in all Things A little after he adds One Form of Heaven within its Power comprehends all the Forms that ever were or can be of all Creatures Plants Stones and Metals and impregnated with those innumerable Forms casts as in a Mold and generates all things out of it self XLIX Others believe the Plastic Vertue to be a certain Power flowing into the Seed from the Soul of
the least of any inward pain mov'd his Body of himself and when he was ty'd turn'd upon his side of his own accord and cough'd freely to promote the efflux of Blood out of his Wound that he eat and drank something every day till at last his Strength failing he dy'd having liv'd nine days and eight hours after he had receiv'd his Wound Having heard this Relation I went on to view the Body and shew'd the Wound that was given him between the fifth and sixth Rib of the Right Side about a Thumb's breadth before the Ribs run into Gristles Removing the Sternum-Bone I found the Cavity of the Breast upon the wounded Side to the Mediastinum fill'd with Blood which being dry'd up with a Spunge I perceiv'd where the Sword had gone in without touching the Lungs at the Heart under the Sternum through the Mediastinum and Pericardium and had penetrated directly into the upper part of the right Ventricle of the Heart between the treble pointed little Valves near the entrance of the hollow Vein and had gone no farther the Pericardium also was full and distended with coagulated Blood It will seem a wonder to many how this man after such a Wound could live so many days and hours however I believe the Reason was this because the Wound was very narrow and in the upper part between the little Valves so that in the contraction of the Heart all the Blood which flow'd out of the hollow Vein into the right Ventricle by reason of the obstruction of the Treble-pointed Valves could not be forc'd out of the Wound but that the greatest part of it was forc'd into the Lungs through the pulmonary Artery which was much wider than the Wound and from thence to the Left Ventricle and the Aorta-Artery so that but a very little at a time could be forc'd by the several Pulses out of the Wound into the Pericardium and Cavity of the Breast which was the Reason it was so long before his Strength fail'd him CHAP. VII Of the Motion of the Heart I Have said in the preceding Chapter that the Heart is the principal and perpetual Mobile of our Body from whence proceeds all the Natural Motion of the whole Boyd and perpetually lasts so long as the Motion of the Heart lasts But the Reason of its perpetual Motion is not so perspicuous which is the Reason that Opinions vary concerning it I. Some say That the Heart is mov'd by the Animal Spirits II. Others believe that the Heart is mov'd by the dilatation of the Blood in the Ventricles of the Heart III. Others are of Opinion That it is mov'd partly by the dilatation of the Blood and partly by the influx of Animal Spirits IV. Others say That it is mov'd by a Subtle or Ethereal Matter V. Others hold That it is mov'd by some certain Spirit in the Blood VI. Some assert That the Heart is mov'd by the Respiration of the Lungs I. The first Opinion produces Three very specious Reasons for its Support First Because that in our Bodies all apparent and violent Motions are made by the influx of the Animal Spirits and that therefore the Motion of the Heart must proceed from the same Influx Secondly Because the several little Nerves are not in vain inserted into the Basis of the Heart but rather to that end that they may convey the Animal Spirits to accomplish its Motion Thirdly For that it is manifest in the Passions of the Mind that the Heart is more or less mov'd by the greater or lesser Influx of those Spirits But though these Arguments are propounded with some appearance of Probability yet that this Opinion is far from Truth several Reasons make manifest 1. Because those Motions that proceed from the influx of Animal Spirits are arbitrary especially in the Muscles of which number they assert the Heart to be but the Motion of the Heart is not arbitrary seeing it is not perform'd nor can be perform'd or alter'd at our pleasure 2. Because the Heart beats in a Hen-Egg or other Conception before the Brain is perfected and begets Animal Spirits or before any Animal Faculty is produc'd into Acts of moving and feeling 3. Because the Nerves of the Heart are so small and slender that they cannot contribute a sufficient quantity of animal Spirits to perfect that same durable Motion For to all the moving Parts are allow'd Nerves according to the swiftness or diuturnity of the Motion The Eye that sees and is mov'd all the Day and rests all the Night besides the visual Nerve has another large moving Nerve So the Muscles of the Legs and Arms as they cause swifter or slower Motions have greater or lesser Nerves which happens also in all the other parts Seeing then that all the other moving parts which rest much longer than they are mov'd require large and conspicuous Nerves shall the Heart that moves with a continual motion day and night all a man's Life long and therefore requires a far larger quantity of Spirits than any other part that is mov'd is it possible I say that the Heart should be furnish'd with a sufficient quantity of Spirits to maintain that continual Motion by the means of such slender and almost invisible Nerves Besides that it is as yet uncertain whether those diminutive Nerves whose productions are seen to extend themselves to the Basis of the Heart the Pericardium the Orifices of the Ventricles and the external Tunicle enter any farther into the substance it self of Parenchyma many indeed assert it but no body demonstrates it Galen and Des Cartes very much scruple it and so does Thomas Willis an exact Searcher into the Brain and Nerves to whose Industry in that Particular we are very much beholding who dares not assert any such thing positively but says That more Branches of Nerves and Fibres are distributed into the little Ears of the Heart and Vessels appendent than into the Substance of it We say that very few Nerves enter the Substance it self of the Heart and that they are so small and few that cannot afford or convey sufficient Animal Spirits to perpetuate the Motion of the Heart but only contribute some few which assist to the Nutrition of the Heart 4. Because that to cause Motion there is required a great Quantity of Animal Spirits but that for the Sence of Feeling a very few suffice And therefore all the Parts that are apt to feel which receive many Spirits to perfect their Motion have also a most accurate Sence of Feeling But those which receive but few Spirits they are not mov'd at all and have but a dull sence of Feeling as is apparent in Palsies of the lesser Degree Nevertheless That the Heart has Membranes proper for the Sence of Feeling as the outward and inward enfolding Tunicle treble pointed and miterlike Valves and proper Fibres and yet is endu'd but with a dull Sence of Feeling is manifest from what has been said in the preceding Chapter and
the Spirit or vivific Juice which is in the Blood it self To which he adds an Axiom Because says he the same quatenus the same always operates the same And hence he concludes That the Cause that made the first Blood in the first Conception the same or at least a Cause aequipollent to it ought afterwards also to be esteem'd the Fountain of Sanguification This Opinion he confirms with many specious Reasons which I omit for Brevity's sake IV. But we answer to the most Learned Glisson That the Vivific Spirit is the first Mover in the Seed and that when it begins to rise into Act and enliven the Seed so disposes by its Motion the vital Iuice to which it adheres as to its Subject that out of some of its Particles are made the Heart out of others the Liver out of others the Vessels Membranes c. And so by that Motion they erect to themselves a Habitation the several and particular parts of which according to the various Disposition of the least Principles perform various and distinct Operations over all which that Spirit presides as General President For enlivening all the Parts together it excites every one to the Function properly allotted to them Not that the Spirit performs the peculiar part of every one but whatever Aptitude to act it bequeath'd to the several Parts in the first Confirmation that Aptitude it preserves by its presence without which they could perform no Operations at all Therefore the Vivific Spirit according to the Axiom fore-cited always performs one and the same Action in the whole Body that is to say it enlivens But it does not produce the Matter to be enlivened without which nevertheless it cannot subsist when the Consumption of its Subject that is the vital Juice requires daily reparation Therefore the several Parts enliven'd generate that Matter by degrees and by vertue of many and various Concoctions and other preparatory Operations which the Vivific Spirit cannot perform without those Parts For it could not Chylifie without the Stomach nor Sanguifie without the Heart And hence tho' that Spirit be the general Life of the whole Body without which nothing can be done and which is presuppos'd to abide and be in all and singular the Parts specially operating nevertheless because it cannot perform those Operations without the said Parts it cannot be said that it absolutely performs those peculiar Operations but it is better and indeed necessary to say That they proceed from the Nature of the several living Parts And so the Ventricle in respect of its proper Nature Chylifies and the Heart only sanguifies and no other Parts of the Body can perform the same Actions because no others have the same Propriety of Nature False therefore it is what Glisson says That it is not the Heart but this vivific Spirit which he certainly presupposes to be in the Blood that generates other new Blood in the Blood it self and is the Cause of the Motion of the Blood That the first is untrue is apparent from hence for that if the Blood were generated out of the Blood existing in the Blood then the Blood being out of order and distemper'd there will be a stop to Sanguification But the contrary appears in Persons Scorbutic and labouring under Cachexies in whom Sanguification nevertheless goes forward nay the Corruptions of the Blood are mended and corrected by the benefit of the Heart which otherwise could never be corrected by reason of the distemper of the Blood On the other side if the Heart be out of order presently there is a stop to Sanguification and the Blood it self is deprav'd The latter is false as appears by the Dissections of Living Animals For if the beginning of the Aorta-Artery be ty'd with a string near the Heart presently all Motion of the Blood ceases in the Arteries which would still continue if it contain'd within it such a Spirit-mover of it self and had not its Motion from without but cut the string and presently the Motion of the Heart returns by virtue of the Pulse of the Heart The same is also manifest in faint-hearted persons who at the time of letting Blood fall into a Swoon upon the Surgeon 's pricking the Vein nor can you hardly perceive their Heart to beat so that there is little or no Blood mov'd through the Vessels nor will the Blood flow from the small Wound but when the Patient comes again to himself and that the Heart begins to beat presently the Blood moves again and spins out at the little hole made by the Lancet Whence it appears that the Blood is not mov'd or generated by the Vivific Spirit which is in the Blood but by the Heart and that the Vivific Spirit abiding in all the Parts of the Body does only revive the Parts and that those enliven'd Parts according to the variety of their several Dispositions act specially and after various manners upon the Matter to be enliven'd V. Moreover I think it requisite more accurately to examin Whether any Vivific Spirit as Glisson presupposes be in the Blood I know indeed That the Vital Spirit generally so call'd is generated in the Heart that is to say apt to be enliven'd and to promote Sanguification by its Heat yet I cannot believe that this Vivific Spirit that is already actually living and enlivening is mingl'd with the Blood when that Spirit is of a higher Order and only abides in the German and Blossom of the Seed and the necessary primogenial moisture of the Parts themselves of the Body and must be rouz'd into Action by the flowing in of the hot vital Spirit in regard the Blood it self is not yet a Part of the Body nor enliven'd but to be enliven'd when it shall be assimilated to the Parts VI Thus an Artist who has made a Clock does not move the Wheels nor shew the Hours but he makes the Clock which could never move the Wheels nor tell the Hours unless the Artist had made that Engine and bequeath'd such an Aptitude to it which afterwards he preserves to it also So the Vivific Spirit although at the first Creation of the Parts it made the Heart and endu'd it with a Sanguifying Aptness which afterward it also preserves therein by its presence yet is it not that Spirit but the Heart which must be said to Sanguifie As to the first Principles of the Blood which as Glisson says are observ'd at the first time of Conception before the Heart appears I say that those Rudiments are also produc'd by the Heart for these Rudiments are not to be seen till the leaping Bubble begins to move which is the first beginning of the Heart and although the whole Structure of a live Heart does not appear to the Eye yet that it is there and generates the first Principles of the Blood the Effect teaches us I wonder indeed that Harvey who asserts the Blood to be made before other things did not take notice of this especially
Fermentation is prevented if the oily Particles too much exceed the salt Here it may be octjected That in Agues the sulphury Heat predominates and yet the Animal Actions are not always dull and numm'd in such Persons Which comes to pass because that in such Persons the sulphury and oily Particles of the Blood do not exceed nor stupifie the Salt with their Oiliness and Quantity but by their Heat and Motion stirring up their Acrimony to more vehement Action produce an Effervescency either too strong or vicious and Aguish VI. But to return to the Business Out of the Sanguineous Mass by convenient Concoctions and Fermentations of the Bowels double Spirits are rais'd that is to say Sulphureous and Salt the one sweetish and the other sowr both very subtil and thin and confus'd together and yet one more volatile than the other like the Sulphury Spirits in Oils chymically extracted out of Vegetables and the Salt Spirits Chymically drawn from Salts and salt things But that the Sulphury Spirits are more thin and volatile is apparent in the Distillation of Vegetables for they are first of all and most easily separated and ascend the Alembick unless too much perplex'd among the Salt or being less attenuated by them by reason of their Oiliness but the salt Spirits ascend last and with more difficulty whose Acrimony the Taste distinguishes from the Sweetness of the Sulphur But the foresaid Spirits of the Sanguineous Mass out of which they are rais'd by Fermentations are mingled with it and carry'd forthwith to the Heart and there being often attenuated and dilated are so exactly united that they wax as it were one Spirit which we call Vital VII Now the Vital Spirit is the most subtil and efficacious Part of the Blood generated out of its Sulphury and Salt Particles dilated by the Fermentation of the Heart I say the most subtile and efficacious Part of the Blood that is to say that which is rais'd out of its Sulphury and Salt Particles for every thin and vaporous Substance as that which is raised out of the serous part of the Blood is not so be call'd a Spirit because it is no efficacious part of the Blood though sometimes less to be discern'd than the effectual Spirit it self but that which through the copious admixture of it self breaks the efficacy of its Spirits and withstands their Agility When the Blood slides into the Heart presently the frame and composure of the whole Liquor is dissolv'd and the Spirituous Particles the Bond of mixture being loosen'd are exactly united together and endeavour to expand themselves every way but being restrain'd by the Vessels on the inside they are mix'd with the other Liquor and so burst forth into the open Tubes or Channels of the Arteries through which together with the Blood they are poured forth over the whole Body with the Blood and Effluviums of Heat VIII Now some there are who with Argenterius stifly deny this Spirit different from the Blood to be in the Blood though others with no less heat assert it But this Contention seems easie to be compos'd if we allow it to be the most subtile part of the Blood free'd from the thicker Matter and exalted to an extraordinary Thinness mix'd indeed with the whole but easily separable from it for that the perfection of the Blood consists in its Mixture which without this Spirit would be only a crude and unprofitable Humor In like manner as in Wine the Spirit gives the Wine its perfection and is the subtilest part of it and by how much the Spirit is better by so much is the Wine better Yet this is separable by Chymistry from the Wine but then the remaining Substance of the Wine becomes a crude watery and unprofitable Liquor And therefore the foresaid Question may be thus decided If we mean good and perfect Blood then it may be well said that the Vital Spirit is in the Blood and that it is not different from it as being the most subtile part of it rais'd out of it self which by its presence constitutes the perfection of the Blood But if we mean Blood simply so call'd as being that which is dissipated from the Blood the Blood remaining such as is to be found in dead People which is not perfect because there is no volatile Spirit remaining therein then the Spirit may be said to be different from the Blood or to be generated in it the Blood still existing which moreover were it in it would predominate in it and agitate the thicker Particles of the Blood one with another But when as Aristotle witnesses nothing is agitated or mov'd by it self it may be well said that the other thicker particles of the Blood are not mov'd by themselves but by another Mover that is the Spirit which nevertheless is nothing else but a part of the Sanguineous Mass exalted to Spirituosity Here perhaps some will object If this Spirit agitates other Particles of the Blood one with another then the Blood contains in it self the Cause of its own Motion and is not mov'd by the Heart I answer That the Motion of the Blood is double one circulatory which without doubt proceeds from the Heart by which Motion being in good part spiritualiz'd it is carry'd through the Arteries to all the Parts of the Body The other Fermentaceous which is made by this Spirit by which the least Particles of it are agitated one among another while this Spirit passes through them like a Ferment and divides 'em one from another which vehement Fermentaceous Motion is observ'd in the Crisis's of Fevers and the Emotion of the Flowers But this Motion also proceeds from the Heart so far as it continually begets this Spirit by dilating the Blood mixes it with the Blood and quickens it by its Motion into Act so that the Motion of the Heart ceasing this also ceases IX This Vital Spirit while it always endeavors to fly away by reason of its extraordinary Volatility continually agitates the other thicker Particles of the Blood that retard it and re-assume its flight and by them shaken after a various manner and by reason of way deny'd it often beaten back again by which means it divides them one from another conquers subtilizes and detains them in a continual Fermentative Motion from which Motion and Agitation of the subtile Matter proceeds Heat which being moderate in a moderate Agitation small in a small one and violent in a violent Agitation hence it happens that the Blood according to the variety of this Agitation which may happen and alter upon divers Accidents becomes more or less hot By this Motion thus stirr'd up by the Spirit the Blood is not only preserv'd in its Heat and perfect Soundness that is by the bond of exact Mixture but is also render'd fluid thin and apt for Nourishment which depriv'd of that Motion and Spirit grows thick corrupts and grows unprofitable The same Spirit also contributes such a Thinness of
Hippocrates witnesses which could never be if they did not live However they who deny the Blood and Spirits Life seem in our Judgment to be most in the Right 1. Because the Blood and Spirits have not within themselves the Principle of their own Motion as bequeath'd to them from the Soul but because they have their Motion by force of the solid Parts which are mov'd by the Soul as the Heart Brain c. By the Force of which and that often according to the diversity of the Motions of the Mind the Motion of the Chylus Choler and sometimes of the Excrements and various other Humors is promoted and excited which no man however in his Wits will affirm to be living 2. That the Soul of the flesh is said to be in the Blood so far as animated or enliven'd Flesh wants Blood nay and Air too as the next Support without which his Life cannot subsist To the Third That Seed Potentially enliven'd and living is not generated out of the Blood and Spirits because the Spirituous Blood out of which it is made is living but by reason that by a new Specific Mixture and Disposition of the Sanguineous Mixture brought to Perfection by the Heat and Specific Property of the Seminifying Parts a new and potentially Vital Form is introduc'd which was not before in the Matter not Vital as we see dead Bodies rotten Wood Cheese Rain-water and Vinegar long expos'd to the Heat of the Sun will produce Worms alive whereas there is no Life in any of these things To the Fourth That Hippocrates does not ascribe Nourishment properly so call'd to the Blood and Spirits but only their continual Generation and Supply out of the Chylus As we say the Flame of a Lamp is nourish'd with Oil because the Oil is the next Matter with which the Flame is nourish'd To these I add That in an Animal Life cannot be but in the Parts of the Body out of which number that the Blood and Spirits are manifestly excluded we have sufficiently demonstrated l. 1. c. 1. Here some one will urge That the Seed is no Part of the Body and yet it lives Potentially and therefore why not the Blood I answer That though the Seed is a Part of the Body as of Peter being present from whom it was cut off and still perhaps remains in his Spermatic Vessels nevertheless it is only Part of the Body of a future Animal which is to live even such a Matter as contains in it self the Ideas of all the Parts of the Animal that is to be form'd But the Blood cannot be said to be a Part of Peter or the Living Creature but only a Humor or Juice next nourishing the Parts and to be agglutinated and assimilated to the Substance by new Concoction and so to be enliven'd with it at the same time XL. From what has been said the Use of the Blood appears to be for the Nourishment of all the Parts that is not only to afford Matter to be assimilated to every Part but to convey a hot Vital Spirit which excites the Actions and Concoctions of all and singular the Parts and to cause the fit Matter for Assimilation to be assimilated and supply'd in the room of that which is wasted and dissipated by the Heat XLI But seeing the Blood is carry'd as well through the Arteries as Veins the Question is Whether the Parts are nourish'd by Veiny or Arterious Blood Anciently it was believ'd that the Parts were nourish'd by the Veiney Blood because the Blood was thought to be made in the Liver and thence to be carry'd through the Veins to the Parts Which Error being discover'd by the Circulation of the Blood since which time it has been observ'd that the Blood is made only in the Heart and from thence forc'd through the Arteries to the Parts and only carry'd back from the Parts through the Veins thence it has been apparently made clear that the Body of Man is nourish'd chiefly by Arterious Blood I say chiefly because though it cannot be deny'd while the Blood returns through the Veins to the Heart but that some small part of it sweating through the Pores of the Vessels or Tunicles are fix'd up and down to various Parts and nourish them and that the Tunicles of the Veins themselves are nourish'd by the Blood which they carry and that the greatest part of the Liver receives its Nourishment from the Veiny Blood as is apparent from the vast number of Veins and small quantity of Arteries that creep through it yet in some other places where the Arteries accompany the Veins it is manifest that the Parts are chiefly nourish'd by Arterious Blood being more spirituous and concocted and with greater violence forc'd through the Ends of the small Arteries into the Pores of the Parts XLII This ancient Opinion receiv'd by all the Physicians in the Schools about the Nourishment of the Parts by the Blood has Gualter Charleton oppos'd with great Heat and endeavors to destroy it with most Strenuous Arguments as he believes by shewing the unaptness of the Blood for Nutrition The Sum of all his Arguments are these 1. The Blood consists of Four Juices which by farther Concoction degenerate all into Melancholy with which impure Juice all the Parts cannot be nourish'd yet all would be nourish'd with it were they nourish'd by the Blood 2. The Blood never comes to many Parts as the Brain the Bones the Sinews the Ligaments c. 3. Lean men who have most Blood eat most and are less nourish'd than fat People who have nevertheless less Blood whose Veins are narrower and their Diet more sparing 4. They that die famish'd or of a Consumption have a great quantity of Blood remaining in their Veins after their Decease which therefore might have serv'd for farther Nourishment and have prevented their Death 5. The Blood in all parts preserves its Redness neither does it lose its Colour in those parts that encline to White therefore it does not nourish them 6. Hippocrates cur'd a Consumptive Person whom Victuals did no good by frequent Blood-letting 7. The Blood is carry'd through the Arteries to the Parts is mix'd therein with a copious Serum and is there much less Fat and Oily than in the Veins through which it is carry'd back from the Parts 8. The Blood is of a quite different Nature from many Parts of the Body as the Brain Bones Membranes c. 9. The manner of Nutrition is the Progress of the Nourishment from a state of Crudity or Fixation to a state of Fusion by which its Spirits before fix'd are exalted to a farther degree of Activity which Spirits adhering to the Blood and like a Glutton devouring dissolving and dissipating the Nutritive Substance of the Parts render it unfit for the nourishment of the Parts for the consolidating of which a more fix'd nourishment is requir'd 10. The Blood it self is nourish'd by the Chylus therefore it cannot nourish other
several Parts which Salt and Sulphur are likewise the Principles of the Blood Moreover Similitude does not lie in the Colour which may be easily alter'd by any new Concoction but in the Particles that constitute the Substance as well of the Parts as of the Blood To the Ninth I say That Charleton confounds Nutrition with Sangnification and that what he speaks here of Nutrition belongs to Sanguification between which there is a great Difference For Aliment is not sublim'd to a greater Spirituosity for the Benefit of Nutrition but for the making of good Blood which afterwards undergoes another Change for the procuring of Nutrition which Nutrition does not consist in a farther Sublimation of the Spirits but rather in a certain new Fixation To which I farther add That the Vital Spirits do not like Cormorants consume the Substance of the Solid Parts but preserve it in its Saneness neither do they render the Blood unfit for Nutrition but fit and that those Spirits infus'd into the Parts with the Blood excite them to their Functions and as it were force them to an Assimilation with the Nourishment brought which Assimilation could never be brought to pass without the Assistance of these Spirits Now how the Spirituous Nourishment is again fix'd see l. 3. c. 11. To the Tenth I say It is no fair Consequence The Blood is nourish'd by the Chylus therefore it cannot nourish other Parts For so it would follow Wheat is nourish'd by the Iuice of the Earth therefore being eaten ot cannot nourish the Chylus So also I say of Heat Wine Wheat and other Nourishments contain in themselves a hot Spirit therefore they cannot be chang'd into Chylus and Blood Why Because a hot Spirit uses to prâ—…y upon the fluid Parts What vain Conclusions these are By reason of the Spirituous Heat of the Blood without which the Blood is altogether unprofitable for Nutrition it is said that it cannot nourish the Parts shall therefore any cold Body or Humor void of all Heat be Nourishment or profitable for Nourishment To the Eleventh I say That here Charleton altogether forgot himself For before out of Harvey he had asserted That the Blood was allow'd to be before any other Part of the Body appear'd and that out of that proceeded the Matter of which the Birth was form'd and its Nourishment If this Position of his were true where 's the Difficulty but that the Parts which are made out of the Blood should be nourish'd with the Blood Moreover if the Colliquation of the Seed be like the Parts that are to be nourish'd and that again like to the Blood then shall the Blood be like the Parts that are to be nourish'd Nevertheless we that do not believe the Parts to be fram'd out of the Blood give this Answer to his Proposition That the Parts are at first form'd out of the Spirituous Liquor of the Bubble and nourish'd with the Colliquation of the Seed but that the whole Substance of this Seed is taken out of the Arterious Blood flowing through the Spermatic Arteries to the Stones to which also the Animal Spirits are also sent through several little Nerves therefore the whole Matter of the Seed Bubble and Colliquament is in the Blood and being concocted specially in the several Parts acquires no less an Aptiude to nourish the several Parts than being generally concocted in the Stones it obtains an Aptness generally to form at first all those Parts and so we must conclude That all the Parts have their first Conformation and their subsequent Growth and Nutrition from a Juice altogether similar which is prepar'd before the one in the Stones before the other in the several Parts and so the Ancient Axiom is true We are nourish'd with the same things of which we consist And that other Oracle of Aristotle The Matter is the same which augments the Growth of a Creature with that out of which it was first form'd Lastly I answer to the Conclusion That the Comparison was ill made between the Fermentation in the Heart and the Flame of a Lamp Which Comparison is easily endur'd among Poets and Orators who only mind Ornament and Elegancy of Words but not among Philosophers that are enquiring after the Mysteries of Nature For Flame does not only dissipate the Subject to which it adheres but also destroys it and dissolves the whole Mixture of it and renders it useless but the Fermentation of the Heart does not destroy the Blood nor utterly dissolve its Mixture but by means of the dilatation of the whole Mass renders it more exact and strong and so brings the Blood to a greater perfection and generates Spirits therein which as they are thin hot and pure entring the whole Mass of the Blood preserve it in its perfection and together with the Blood which is their own Subject of which they are a part being infus'd into the Parts of the Body by their extraordinary Heat raise into Act the drowsie Heat of all the Parts True it is that those Spirits by reason of their extraordinary Subtility and Mobility continually exhale in great Quantity and by dissolving them with their Heat cause a Dissolution of many fluid Particles of the Body but this is not because of any Destruction but by reason of their extraordinary Subtility I will give you a Similitude Wine when it is distill'd the Spirit of Wine arising out of it is not destroy'd by the Heat of the Fire that promotes the Distillation but is sublim'd to a greater Subtility and Perfection there remaining all the while in it the Sulphury and Salt particles in a strict Union the most part of whose Subtility therefore exhales and is dissipated in the Air. But the contrary happens in the Oil of a Lamp which is indeed attenuated but so far from being brought to a greater perfection that it is totally destroy'd For the Oil is not made the better or more Spirituous but the whole Composition of it is destroy'd neither does it remain any longer Oil nor is made Spirit of Oil Like Wood when it is burnt is thereby reduc'd to Smoke and Ashes Or if the Spirit of Wine should take Fire it would not thereby be made more perfect but wholly destroy'd And thus it is with our Bodies as in Distillation and not as in the Flame and therefore the Comparison of Fermentation with Flame is altogether absurd I confess Blood is the Matter and Subject of the Animal Spirits but thence it does not follow that it cannot nourish all the parts of the Body Rather we are thence to infer that it nourishes all the parts seeing it contains the Nutritive Matter and the Vital Spirit that promotes that Nourishment And thus falls this new Opinion so obstinately by some defended and by others as unwarily embrac'd XLIII N. Zas In his Dutch Treatise Of the Dew of Animals believes That the Lymphatic Liquor only nourishes the Spermatic Parts For this is that which he understands by his Dew Of which