head being convulsed or pulled by turns from the right to the left and contracted before and behind yea and all her Limbs being bent inwardly here and there or distended outwardly in the Course of one Fit she exhibited all sorts of Convulsive gestures When at any time the Spasms of one sort continued longer in the Head or Limbs than usual it was the custom of the Servants about her to blow up strongly into her Nostrils the Fume of Tabaco which being done as the Spirits recovered within the present Spasms immediately remitted but upon them others of a new kind succeeded Of late the Legs of this Lady were so debilitated by being loosned that she could neither go nor stand yea her Tendons under either Ham being made tumid and shorter were so contracted that she could not stretch out her Legs straight Concerning the case of this sick Noble Lady it may be demanded wherefore upon the first coming of the Fit no throwing about of the Body or Limbs as is wont in most Convulsive or Epileptical people but only continued Spasms or Convulsions variously translated from one part to another and so others did arise For the solution of this we say that the Spasmodick matter is not only heaped up in the Brain and Nerves but also in the Muscles themselves and grows to the Spirits inhabiting the Tendons And as that matter is tenacious and the Spirits weak and unable for the striking off quickly or easily such a Copula therefore as often as these being irritated do leap out of the Tendons into the flesh the Muscles being first possest they cause strong and long Contractions in the mean time other Muscles especially their Antagonists or opposites being hindred and bound up from motion until the Convulsions of the former are remitted hence the Members however convulsed are not moved out of their place because the moving or carrying of the Body or any Members is not performed but by the help or duty of many Muscles whilst some of them either rightly cooperate with others or at least obey them to wit so that some respective Muscles observing due cooperation are contracted at once then those being loosned the contraction of others immediately succeeds But if they which are unequal and unlike are at once contracted and strongly convulsed and so continue long so that other Muscles in the mean time cannot be contracted there will be a necessity for the members bent or extended here and there to remain as they are wholly stiff But that the present Convulsions were always remitted by the blowing the smoke of Tabaco up her Nose the reason is because the region or some part of the bodily Soul being vehemently affected if by chance a new passion equally violent be brought upon another part the first is presently abolished or ceases For in truth it appears by constant observation where-ever the greater or fresher trouble is that thither greater plenty of Spirits presently flock and make a tumult wherefore any new irritation being excited in the Brain or its Meninges whatsoever others were begun outwardly among the Muscles immediately vanish or are obscured then as soon as this fresh trouble is passed over Convulsions outwardly arise forthwith again but in other parts where more heaps of Spasmodick matter lye not yet consumed But that long continued Spasms do arise either by reason of the Spirits being burdened with a more tenacious Copula or by reason of the Tendons being obstructed with a viscous or tartareous matter from either or both it appears from hence because this disease increasing as in the case of this Noble Lady the Tendons are at length so shortned by the more plentiful heaping up of the morbifick matter that they become stiff and shorter and for that reason they hardly or not at all grant any place to the Spirits for the constant performing of the motive function Thus much for the Musculary Motion both natural and convulsive and the reasons of both which we have proved with what diligence we were able and by Anatomical Experiments But if any one shall object that they are not very firm because we have noted in the cutting up of live Creatures that the Heart and Muscles of Respiration and the fleshy Pannicle after that the Nerves and Arteries are cut away do continue for some time their turns of Contraction and Relaxation whence it is argued against our Hypothesis that their motions do not depend upon the constant influx of the blood and animal Spirits it will be plain to return this Answer That in those about to dye it sometimes happens so because the Soul being then distracted and drawing near to dissolution all the implanted Spirits at once being cut off from the commerce of those influencing or flowing in do of their own accord exert themselves and perform as long as they are able their wonted motions which being continued for a little space only need not the subsidy or assistance of fresh forces because the veterane till they are quite worn out perform their wonted tasks yea also the old sanguineous Copula till it be wholly consumed receives and lets go their embraces with a constant change But this more rarely succeeds in other Muscles subject to the Empire of the Appetite and wont only to be exercised as occasion served Moreover as we have affirmed that the Instinct for the performing of Motions is brought altogether through the Nerves from the Head to the Muscle and as every Trunk of the same Nerve being oftentimes broken into many shoots variously distributing them sends it to many destinated Muscles it may very well be doubted how the animal Spirits conveying the Symbol of the motion to be performed with a certain choice do actuate only these or those branches apart from other branches of the same and do not indifferently enter all the branches or shoots of the same to wit as the blood passes through the Trunk of the Artery and all its ramifications equally The most Learned Regius that he might solve this knot supposes in the Nerves some little doors like to those which are found in musical Organs the apertures whereof admit the Spirits to these or those parts especially the rest being shut up But he ought to have shewn if not the little doors themselves yet at least by what instinct and by whose direction sometimes these sometimes those are locked up and others opened But in truth this may rather be said that all the shoots of the Nerves and lesser branches remain distinct and singular among themselves from the parts to which they are inserted even to their beginnings so that a peculiar tract of the Spirits or way of passage lyes open from the Brain and its medullary Appendix to every Muscle and nervous part for in truth although the Nerves according to their beginnings may seem to arise from the greater Trunks yet it will easily appear if you shall open the trunk and those branches that in them many little Nerves only like
perish Wherefore she institutes new and more firm and lasting Combinations of Spirit Salt and Sulphur For she selects from the whole Substance of the Plant the more noble and highly active Particles and these being gathered together with a little Earth and Water she forms in the Seed as it were the quintessences of every Plant in the mean time the Trunk Leaves Stalks and the other Members of the Plant being almost quite deprived of the active Principles are much depauperated and are of less Efficacy and Virtue About Autumn after the Seeds are framed as it were pledges left in memory of the Plant the Particles of Spirits Salt and Sulphur which remain being now placed in their Strength or Exaltation endeavour a Dissolution and Departing one from another And first of all the Spirits evaporate by degrees with the Watery humour through the Doors set open by the Summer Sun with which the more pure parts of the Sulphur make also their Journey in the mean time the Salt being fixed with the Earth and more thick Sulphur is left behind Wherefore in most the Leaves fall at this time and in those of a tender and light Constitution the Principles are wholly dissipated and the Trunk and Stalk together with the Root wholly die In some after the falling of the Seed with the Leaves the Stalks wither in the mean time the Principles which may renew the Plant in the next Spring are preserved in the Root Also Winter coming on the face of things is wholly changed and the Elements which in the Spring did affect to be Joyned and to Marry one with another seek nothing more than Divorces The Spirits fly away from very many things and wander in the Air in the mean time the Particles of Salt and Sulphur lie as it were benummed and asleep Not only the Bodies of Vegetables but of very many Animals are left as it were dead all the Winter till they are raised again to life by the Spirit returning with the Vernal Sun and as it were animated anew But this little Branch being made concerning the Vegetation of Plants it is now fit that we proceed on our Journey to Fermentation by the Rule of our before established Method to what is to be observed concerning the parts and humours of Living Creatures CHAP. V. Of things to be Observed of Fermentation about Animals IT is so certain that the Bodies of Animals consist of the aforesaid Principles that it wants no proof For they so plentifully swell up with Spirit Salt and Sulphur that their Particles are obvious to the sense Wherefore they are moved with a more swift motion and more excellent senses of Life and Functions of Heat in the Subjects in which they are implanted are inlarged It would be too much labour and tedious here to describe the several manners and processes of Fermentations The first beginnings of Life proceed from the Spirit Fermenting in the Heart as it were in a certain little punct The motion of this is not as in Vegetables slow and insensible and only to be known by their increasing but presently becoming rapid is conspicuous to the Eyes because the Spirit leaping from the Punct as from a Prison being stirred and having obtained the Vehicle of Blood swiftly runs forth and leaping forth it cannot wholy fly away it makes hollow spaces for it self in the thick substance in which it is included for its excursion being compelled some other way backward Lastly being returned to the Heart it Ferments the more wherefore it stretches forth further the spaces of its Excursion and so easily makes an hollow way for its return back and after this manner for the carrying about the Blood Arteries and Veins as Channels and Rivulets are framed through all the parts of the Body and on such a Vicissitude of Motion or Reciprocation depends the life of living Creatures which that Nature might preserve a long while she placed the Ferment in the Heart by whose instinct or endeavour the Blood grows impetuously Hot and as it were inkindled into a Flame by its Deflagration diffuses the effluvia of its Heat round about on every side for by the Fermentation or Accension which the Blood suffers in the Bosome of the Heart very many Particles of Spirit Salt and Sulphur endeavour to break forth from its loosened frame by which being much rarified and like Water boyling over a Fire the moved and boyling Blood is carried through the Vessels not without great Tumult and Turgescency We would speak more in this place both of the Natural Fermentation of the Blood and the Feaverish but that we reserve this Consideration for a peculiar Tract where we Treat of Feavers Besides this Ferment constituted in the Chimny of the Heart upon which the motion and heat of the Blood very much depends there are others laid up every where in the Bowels of a diverse disposition by the help of which both the Chyle which is the Rudiment or Beginning of the Blood and the Animal Spirits its Quintessence are truly framed There are others also which serve for the perfecting the Blood transmuting it into other Liquors and freeing it from Excrementitious Matter It will be too far from our proposed method to wander to insist upon each of these and to reap anothers Harvest Wherefore I will only add in this place some select instances which may illustrate the Doctrine of Fermentation It is commonly received that the Concoction of the Chyle in the Ventricle is made by the means of a certain Acid Ferment That such a thing is the Acid belching in a full Stomach and the want of it in the loss of Stomach in Feaverish and Dysenterical people do testifie c. and its restitution a sign of Health to which may be added this Observation Chalybeat Medicines being taken at the Mouth a little after excite a Sulfureous savour in the Throat as if hard rosted Eggs had been eaten which seems wholly to be made by the Acid Ferment of the Ventricle gnawing the Iron even as Spirit of Vitriol being sprinkled upon the fileings of Steel excites such a stinking and Sulphureous Odor Some say this Ferment is breathed into the Stomach from the Spleen but by what means that may be done doth not yet appear by Anatomical Observation It seems not improbable that this Ferment is implanted in the Ventricle that it is only made by some remains of the perfected Chyle which fixed in the folds of the Ventricle and there growing sowr puts on the Nature of Ferment even as a portion of Dough being fermented or levened and and kept to a sowrness becomes a convenient Ferment or Leven for the making of Bread In like manner this kind of Acid humour being prepared from the Aliments and long carried in the Ventricle promotes the Concoction and subaction or subduing of the Food For Acid things which are full of Salt carried out to a Flux excellently conduce both to the Fermenting and Dissolving of Bodies Wherefore by
involuntary Functions Therefore in the first place we observe of the fifth and sixth conjugation of Nerves that as this arises out of the Basis of the greater Ring and that from its sides both in man and in four-footed beasts the fifth pair being carried more forward distributes its branches into the Glandula's of the Eyes into the Nostrils into the Palate Teeth yea and into most parts of the Face and Mouth but the sixth pair is wholly bestowed on some Muscles of the Eyes Further out of the trunk of the fifth pair two shoots and another out of the Nerve of the sixth pair bending back behind meet together and what is wonderful and not before taken notice of by Anatomists the intercostal Nerves destinated to the Praecordia and Viscera do make a Trunk so that the Nerves of the fifth and sixth pair stretch out a double Ramification to wit one more above about the parts of the Mouth and Face and the other lower through the Viscera of the middle and lowest Belly But it will appear clearly to any one considering this thing more carefully that the chief branches of either partition are imployed about the involuntary offices of Motion and Sense of which sort those are chiefly that either cause the passions or perform the natural Instincts 1. Concerning the intercostal Nerve which as was said being radicated in the Nerves of the fifth and sixth pair depends as to its origine wholly on the Cerebel it is not here to be doubted but that it looking towards the Praecordia and Viscera in a man and towards these latter only in most four-footed beasts is bestowed on the Functions only vital and merely natural and so confers little or nothing to spontaneous actions Further forasmuch as this Nerve reaching forth into the Praecordia and Viscera of the whole Abdomen is continued by its superior ramification also into the Eyes as also into the parts of the Mouth and Face certainly from hence a true and genuine reason may be given wherefore in every passion the Eyes Face and Mouth do so correspond with the affections of the Praecordia often unknown to us or against our minds that oftentimes we are compelled to betray the most intimate sense of the Heart by the countenance and aspect Yea hence a reason may be brought why in sneesing yawning laughing and crying the Muscles of the Face conspire so in motion with the Praecordia Besides when in man different from any other living Creatures besides as we shall shew afterwards many shoots are sent from the intercostal Nerve to the Nerve of the Diaphragma this certainly is the cause why risibility is the proper affection of man But the Trunk of the fifth pair being carried more forward and distributing its branchings through the parts of the whole Face causes the same not only to be pathetically moved and figured according to the affections of the Praecordia but also produces some acts both of motion and sensation of another kind which for the most part are involuntary and so seem to depend wholly upon the Cerebel immediately For example this Nerve imparts shoots to either mandible requisite for the business of chewing but it is very well known that the taking in of the food at the mouth is the first and oldest business of every Animal which indeed is taught by natural Instinct before any knowledge of the Brain But as to the Senses the branches of this pair conduce something to the smelling but for the most part for the knowing and chusing of savors Hence it comes to pass that as odors refresh the Brain by the smelling Nerves so also they affect the Cerebel by the branch of this pair and are wont by that means to recreate the Viscera and Praecordia But sapors or tastes for that they are almost the peculiar Province of this carry whatsoever they have of pleasantness or trouble first to the Spirits inhabiting the Cerebel and then by their consent to the Praecordia and Viscera Hence it is that a Pectoral not only allays hunger but the very first tasting of Wine raises up those that are fainting or swooning away Moreover forasmuch as from this Nerve certain branches serve for the taste and others for the smell there is contracted so strict an affinity between either of these Sensories that nothing pleases the taste unless it be approved of by the smell and the loss of one of these senses oftentimes causes the privation or the diminution of the other 2. Concerning the Nerve of the sixth conjugation we observe that as one shoot is bent back for a root of the intercostal Nerve the remaining Trunk of it being carried forward towards the ball of the Eye is distributed to two of its Muscles viz. to the seventh proper to beasts and to the drawing Muscle Hence may be inferred that this Nerve besides the influence of it bestowed on the vital and natural Function serves also for the producing some pathetick motions of the Eye to wit such as are wont to obey the affections of the Praecordia and Viscera so that the whole provision of the animal Spirit which it receives from the Cerebel it bestows only on involuntary acts 3. The seventh pair or the hearing Nerves seem also to depend upon the Cerebel forasmuch as they take their originals out of the annular Protuberance but the use of them is a little otherwise in man than in four-footed beasts For in him the annular Protuberance is one and that very big from whose lower margin the auditory Nerves proceed but in Brutes the Protuberance is twofold viz. one greater sent down from the Cerebel in which the beginnings of the fifth and sixth pair of Nerves consist then near this there is another lesser and as it were secondary from which the auditory Nerves proceed This lesser and lower Ring doth not so manifestly depend on the Cerebel as the former but there is stretched out from either height of it a white medullar line upon the oblong Marrow in the bottom of the fourth Ventricle so as this seems to receive either the Spirits from the oblong Marrow or at least to carry into the same the sensible Species for what use it is so constituted shall be inquired into afterwards for concerning these Nerves of the seventh pair forasmuch as some offices of them very much illustrate the government or oeconomy of the Cerebel we shall discourse here a little more largely Therefore in man who hath got a great and undivided annular Protuberance the auditory Nerves coming out of its margin or brim shew its stock received of the Cerebel by which means we may see the tasks of those Nerves quadrate with the assigned government of this We have shewn before the Processes which in a manner may be called distinct Nerves of the seventh pair to be twofold on either side one the softer of these serves only for the sense but the other harder seems to perform some motions This latter Nerve being carried
matter apt for explosion is joyned to them For it is not possible that the immense loss of Spirits which happens in hard labours if they were wholly destroyed in so short a time should be able to be restored by supplements coming only through the Nerves We shall discourse more largely of these things if at any time hereafter we shall treat of the Motions of the Muscles The animal Spirits being disposed within the several Muscles according to the series of Fibres seem as it were so many distinct Troops or Companies of Souldiers all which being set as it were in a Watch-tower are ordained as a new impression is carried to them by the Nerves either from the objects outwardly or more inwardly from the Head forthwith into various forms and peculiar orders for the performing of motion or sense of this or that kind The carriage or behaviour of these is worth the seeing in an animal newly killed and its skin taken off For when life perishes and all the force of the Spirits flowing in through the Nerves hath quite ceased yet the Spirits implanted into the whole Body breaking forth from the Muscles still move and shake them and force them into several Convulsions and trembling motions From what hath been said we may gather what the disposition or order of the animal Spirits may be in the whole animal Body to wit those procreated in the cortical substance both of the Brain and Cerebel are congregated into the middles of either as it were into distinct Empories or Marts and an expansion being made in either they cause certain interior powers of the sensitive Soul to be exercised yet the same Spirits affecting more room enter the oblong Marrow as it were the Chest as hath been said of a musical Organ and fill it full within which flowing they carry to and fro the impressions of sensible Things and the Instincts of Motions From the oblong and spinal Marrow the same Spirits unless when they are otherwise busied tending outwardly flow towards the several parts of the whole Body which notwithstanding wandring so out of doors because they pass through very strait ways in their passage to wit the slender bodies of the Nerves they break not forth in heaps or in a thick troop but only contracted orderly and as it were by bands or divisions but they being carried beyond the extremities of the Nerves and there possessing the Membranes Muscles and other sensible parts dilate themselves as it were into a most ample field and with a very diffuse Army they dwell in the Pores and passages of the Fibres planted every where about where also being endowed from the blood with new food they become more lively and more expeditious or ready for the designed offices Here perhaps it may be demanded how the animal Spirits diffused in such numerous troops through the habit of the Body are able to be supplied by so strait chanels of the Nerves To which we reply That those which reside more outwardly do not quickly evaporate nor are remanded back by Circulation wherefore when all the Fibres are filled by an influx of the Spirits made by little and little from the beginning very small supplements suffice to repair their expence For neither are those dwelling more outwardly for that they are repaired by the bloody food much consumed though in frequent action Hence may be noted the difference between the distributions of the blood and animal Spirits That Latex because it is reduced in a circle its Vessels are in the whole passage proportionated as to the bulk of the Trunk and the branchings sent from it to wit so that the branches of the great Artery being carried from the Heart contain at the least so much of the blood as the shoots reaching forth from them into all the parts But because the animal Spirits being once begotten and carried more outwardly subsist longer there and evaporate very slowly and by little and little therefore the Vessels carrying them viz. the Nerves in respect of the Fibres receiving them are made much lesser in proportion lest perhaps by too great a supplement of the animal Spirits and the too thick gathering of the fresh ones still into the nervous parts the Army of the Veterans before instructed should be confounded and so the orders of all being disturbed the exercises of the animal Function should be performed any how For indeed when at any time the Spirits are made too sharp so that being therefore struck as it were with madness they rush upon the nervous System with tumult and impetuosity from thence a great unquietness and continual throwing about of the Members are wont to be excited to which sometimes madness and fury succeed In the order and ordination of the animal Spirits such as was but now described the Hypostasis or the Essence of the sensitive Soul consists to wit which is only a certain Systasis or shadowy subsistence of those Spirits which like Atoms or subtil Particles being chained and adhering mutually one to another are figured together in a certain Species Moreover the faculties of the same Soul depend upon the various Metathesis and gesticulation of those Spirits within the aforesaid Organs of the Head and nervous System But the consideration of this Soul and its powers requires a peculiar Tract which hereafter God willing we intend in the mean time our Method demands of us that according to our weak skill by the cense or numbering of the Nerves being particularly made we should deliver an exact Neurology or Doctrine of the Nerves But for that in the premised general consideration of the Nerves and Fibres there was mention made of the nervous and nutritious Juyce notwithstanding what belongs to their powers and natures hath been neither fully nor clearly enough delivered therefore we will a little divert here and make it our business to inquire what sort of Juyces and Humors are carried into the parts of the animated body for their nourishment and by what ways or passages then this difficulty being removed a plain and easie way leads into the Doctrine of the Nerves CHAP. XX. Of the Nervous Liquor and whether that or the bloody Humor be Nutritious SInce the Circulation of the Blood was made known and it hath been plainly made appear that it did no where stagnate and stand still long but was carried in a reciprocal motion always as in a circle it began to grow doubtful whether its Latex is nutritious or not For besides that the more rapid course of the blood as of a torrent might seem to wear the banks which it flowed between and to carry away some Particles from them rather than to be able to affix any thing to them the substance it self also of the blood for that it is more torrid and uneven is thought to be altogether unfit for nutrition Wherefore that a Juyce may be found more convenient or fit for this office the passages and hidden recesses of the Nerves are to be
how from them however Convulsive they be the Epileptick Paroxism should be induced It is affirmed that the meninges are not first of all affected As to the former it seems an impossible thing for the meninges to be so contracted as to their whole Concavities that being bound more strictly together like a purse they should on every side pull together their contents and draw them into a narrower space for that the Dura Mater sticks most firmly to very many places of the skull yea and the Pia mater is tyed to it near the processes of the hollow turnings by a mutual knitting of the membranes and every where besides with a Continuity of Vessells Hence it easily appears either that membrane as to the greatest part of it is immovable so that they cannot fall into so universal Spasms but in respect of lesser Spasms as when a certain portion of this or that meninge or both together is pulled indeed we grant such may happen for I have often heard those troubled with great headach to complain extreamly of a great constriction of the parts lying under the side of the skull sometimes on the right sometimes on the left and yet from thence no assault of falling down has followed Further as those membranes being notably hurt do cause great vellications or haulings yet upon it there is not wont to be an Epileptick sit to follow for I have known from an Imposthume in the Dura mater when being broken and that the stinking matter had knawn the more tender meninges and shell of the Brain that the sick have fallen first into an amazednesse and at length into a deadly Apoplexie who notwithstanding in the whole course of the Disease was free from any Epileptical Symtom Also I remember I have seen one who had the Dura mater very much torn by the instrument of an unskilfull Surgion and another that by a wound had that with part of his skull taken away so that a portion of the Brain swelled forth and yet to neither of them any Epilectical passion hapned wherefore neither is it likely that the blood or humors or if any shall so argue the vapours compacted within those meninges can bring in any greater evill than either a stroke or wound inflicted on them or filthy matter there poured out Besides those who are more lightly troubled with the Epilepsie so that they scarce fall down and have their minds free through the whole assault of the disease would perceive the membrans to be so contracted and the globe of the brain to be more straitly thrust together if there had bin any such kinde of affection The spirits inhabiting the middle of the brain are the primary Subject of the disease but they on the contrary seem to have the Brain as it were inflamed and to be sensible that the spirits leap forth and are as it were explosed with a certain fierceness And indeed I think it is very likely so that the Epileptick Paroxism is stired up from a certain suddain rarefication and explosion of the animal spirits inhabiting the Brain which are in truth the first and immediate subject of this Disease to wit whereby the Brain it self is inflated and rendered so insensible and the Nerves hanging thereto also put into convulsions For hence it comes to pass that the accession of this Disease begins so on a sudden and determines perfectly without any great provision or remains of the morbifick matter because the Infection is not brought so much to the solid parts as to the Spirits themselves We have already shown by what means the heterogeneous and explosive Copula consisting as it seems of nitro-Sulphurous particles cleaving to the spirituous particles of the animal Spirits and lastly being smitten and explosed by them by reason of plenitude or irritation produces Convulsive Symptoms But although this kinde of Spasmodick Copula is first distilled from the blood into the brain yet for the most part it does not take hold of the spirits there or at least it stays not long with them in that place but rather being thrust from thence towards the nervous Appendix causes particular and respective Spasms near the places affected But sometimes if the Spasmodic matter be more plentifull and strong and the constitution of the brain weak the heterogeneous Copula being fixed to the Spirits not only in the nervous stock but also to those planted within the Encephalon it self causes the Epilectick disposition and the explosive particles of the Spirits and this Copula knocking one against another stir up the falling fit For indeed since the assault of the Epilepsie urging the Insensibility and great disorder is for the most part the first Symptom and all the pathognomick it may be concluded that the animal Spirits lying within the middle of the brain it self are affected before others and that therefore that part is the principal seat of the Disease Then forasmuch as the falling of the sick or casting to the ground and spasms of rhe members and Viscera most often follow that Insensibility great disorder or leaping forth of the spirits it follows that the animal Spirits also inhabiting the nervous System are imbrued with the same explosive Copula and are drawn into consent with those inhabiting the brain it self and are excited by them to explosions purely inordinate although sometimes by the whole series of Spirits planted both in the brain and nervous stock being like a long train of gunpowder praedisposed to explosions an exterior Spasm beginning a great way off perhaps in some member or Inward may afterwards be carried to the Brain as shall be more fully shown hereafter In the mean time it is concluded that the region of the Brain it self is always the primary seat of this Disease and that we ought to suppose the conjunct cause of the Distemper not to be water heaped up within the ventricles of the brain nor a thick or clammy humour impacted in the passages of its pores for such Causes are begotten by degrees and therefore would shew some certain signes before-hand of the first coming upon one further the assault of the fit being over such a matter could not be wholly discussed in so short a time but that from its reliques some impediments of the animal function would remain which indeed rarely happens in the Epilepsie unlesse inveterate but for the exciting of the falling down no lesse can be imagined then that the animal Spirits which flowing within the marrowie substance of the brain perform the acts of the interior sense of the Imagination and appetite having gotten an heterogeneous Copula should be inordinately exploded and so they being disturbed beyond their orders and stations the Superior faculties of the animal regimen must suffer an eclipse then from this greater explosion of spirits as it were from a fiery enkindling other Spirits inhabiting the marrowy and nervous appendix being also praedisposed to explosions conceive the like disorder and in like manner cause
them drink a gentle Emetick of wine of squills or salt of vitriol when even the sicK are troubled with a striving to Vomit of their own accord but if the other Evacuation or down-wards shall seem better to be tryed they ought to take an Infusion of Rhubarb or the powder and Syrrop of succory with Rhubarb or of Roses with agaric and very often by these Remedies timely applyed I have seen the Convulsive Distempers in Children to be cured besides in this Case Clysters are frequently used but external Medicines are not to be omitted to wit fomentations oyntments plaisters applyed to the Belly Take of the flowers of Cammomel cut very small ii handfulls let them be put into two little bags made of fine Linnen or Silk which being dipped in warm Milk and wrung out may be applyed successively to the abdomen or lower region of the belly Take of the tops or flowers of Mallows in like manner but small let them be fryed in fresh butter of hogs Lard and in the form of a Liniment or a Cataplasm applyed to the Belly CHAPTER V. Of Convulsive Diseases of Ripe Age arising chiefly by reason of the Nervous origine being affected ALthough Convulsive Distempers which happen to those of riper years being known by other Names also are commonly reputed of some other stock and are wont to be referr'd to the passions called Hysterical Hypochondriacal or Colical or to the Scorbute yet if the matter be a little better consider'd it will easily appear that some Convulsive Symptoms both in Men and Women do come from the Brain which Convulsions properly and truly challenge to themselves the Name But these as we have already mentioned may be distinguished after a various manner by the manifold seat of the morbifick Cause but chiefly into these three kinds viz. Into Spasms or Convulsions stirred up by reason of the origine of the Nerves being chiefly affected into others being stirred up Three kinds of Convulsions hapning to those of riper years by reason of the extremities or ends of the Nerves being possessed by the morbifick matter and lastly into such from whose head the morbific matter descending fills the whole passages or the most part of some certain Nerves or of all together Therefore that we may proceed to unfold the Convulsions Distempers arising from the Nervous origine distinguished arising from the beginnings of the Nerves being affected take notice here that the morbifick matter beseiging the beginnings of the Nerves doth sometimes chiefly flow into the first pair of Nerves to wit which respect the Muscles of the eyes and face and from thence the contractions and tremblings now of the Nose Cheeks or Lips now of the Eyes or the distortions of the mouth follow Secondly 1 According to the various Nerves being affected sometimes the wandring and intercostal pair do chiefly imbibe the Heterogeneous particles and then Inflations or Contractions of the Abdomen and Hypochondria and also the palpitation of the Heart trembling difficult and interrupted breathing an intermitting pulse and other Symptoms of the middle and lower Belly do very much infest Thirdly but sometimes the morbifick Cause being placed lower affects chiefly the spinal marrow and therefore the outward members and limbs are rendred obnoxious to inordinate leapings forth and contractions Further in very many Cases of this nature because the Animal spirits being explosed about the origine of the Nerves do inordinately leap back towards the Encephalon for that reason to all Convulsions almost being excited by this means the Vertigo also the scotomie or giddiness the tingling of the eares and sometimes the amased Insensibility or falling down of the Spirits are joyned or follow But as we may Conjecture from the various figures of the Convulsive distemper it seems that the Convulsive matter hauling those or these nerves 2. According to the Various places of the same Nerves being affected or many of them together is lodged either about their beginings only so that the Spirits in that place being often explosed a frequent and very troublesome Vertigo arises besides tremblings and a short faintness about the Praecordia swoonings and often leapings and light contractions in the Viscera or muscles are felt Or Secondly the explosive particles being dilated to the beginings of the nerves enter more deeply into their processes and not seldom being slidden down into the nervous foldings belonging to the Praecordia or the Viscera of the lower belly or also to the exterior members procure there other as it were nests of Convulsive distempers that as often as the Spirits about the nervous origine are driven into explosions presently fits as it were hysterical asthmatical or otherways Convulsive arise in the Abdomen Thorax or Limbs Examples of these and by what means they are made shall be anon more clearly delivered In the mean time the spasmodic matter flowing into the pipes of the Nerves when it is transfer'd even to their processes and remote enfoldings yet forasmuch as it hath still its chief mine about the nervous original therefore after very grievous Convulsions of the Viscera or members a great perturbation of the Brain follows thereupon with a tingling of the eares a vertigo and often an Insensibility or amased excurtion of Spirits but sometimes the morbific matter as to the greatest part being translated to the farthest ends of the nerves from thence they become free or clear about their beginings For I have observed many who whilst at the begining they were infested with the vertigo often fainting away with fear head-ach and heavynesse about the hinder part of the head to have felt about the Praecordia or viscera only light inflations or tremblings but afterwards suffering more cruel Convulsions about these parts they did not complain of the former distempers of the Head By what maens the convulsive matter flows into the Nerves If it should be further demanded concerning the Convulsive matter from what place it should be brought and by what ways carried towards the beginings of the Nerves and what kinde of Settlement and as it were cherishing nests it there obtains we say that although we cannot detect the footsteps and manifest passages of this matter yet so much may be collected from certain observations and the analogie of things it may be supposed there are these two distinct manner of passages whereby the Convulsive particles being first poured out into the Brain and Cerebel from the blood are from thence carried towards the beginings of the Nerves viz. First sometimes this matter being imbibed by the Brain and Cerebel and by degrees passing thorow the pores of either slides into the Trunk of the oblong marrow whose tract being also overcome by it together with the nervous juice it slides forward towards the original of the Nerves and is heaped up neer their heads or within the medullarie trunk it self or within the annularie Prominencies in which places either a long while subsisting it stirs up frequent Vertigoes
white sagar ⥠ii make a Julap The dose 4. or 6. spoonfulls twice in a day after a dose of a solid medicine Take of millipedes or chesslogs cleansed i pint of Cloves cut ⥠ss put to them i quart of white-wine let them be distill'd in a glass-Cucurbit The dose ⥠i. to ⥠iss twice in a day For poor people medicines easie to be prepared may be prescribed after this manner Take of the Conserves of the Leaves of Rue made with an equal part of sugar ⥠vi take of it the quantity of a nutmeg twice in a day drinking after it of the decoction of the Seeds and Roots of Burdock in whey or posset-drink made of white-wine Or there may be prepared a Conserve of the leaves of the Tree of Life with an equall part of Sugar dose Êss to Ê i. twice in a day Take of millipeds prepared Ê iii. of ameos seedsÊ i. make a powder divide it into 10. parts take a dose twice in a day or 12 Sows or woodlice brused and white-wine put to them let the juce be wrung out make a draught let it be taken twice a day In the mean time while these Medicines are taken Inwardly it is sometimes convenient to raise blisters with Vesicatories in the nape of the neck and behinde the ears for so the serous and sharp humours are very much brought away from the head besides sneezing powders and such as purge Rhume from the head often give signal help The taking away of Blood from the Sedal veins or the foot ought sometimes to be itterated yea and the Distemper urging Plaisters or Cataplasms are profitably applyed to the soles of the feet It is also beneficial to apply drawing medicines about the calves and thighs CHAPTER VI. Of Convulsive Motions whose cause subsists about the extremities of the Nerves or within the nervous foldings SOmetimes Convulsive distempers do arise without any fault in the Head by the irritation and explosion of the spirits remaining about the extremities of the nerves which plainly appears because when medicines haul sharply the Ventricles or Intestines or worms gnaw them there do not only follow Convulsions in those parts but besides convulsive motions do sometimes torment or are retorted on the members and outward Limbs for indeed as we have shown elsewhere when the sense of a very grievous Trouble torments any part and from that is communicated to the chief Sensorie presently from thence an involuntary and irregular motion is wont to be reflected on the spirits in that place irritated and that not only by the same nerves to which the sense of the pain was carried but sometimes also the Convulsion is reciprocated by others either neighbouring or altogether extraneous So the Stone being fixed in the Ureters and irritating very much its nervous fibres excites Convulsive motions not only in the distemperd Vessell but almost in all the Viscera of the Abdomen So that the urine being suppressed Torments diffused here and there and very often horrid Vomitings follow Wherefore 't is not at all to be doubted but that both diseases and some Convulsive Symptoms are very often induced by reason of an outward hurt brought to the Tops of the Nerves terminating within the membranes muscles or Viscera yea in the hysterical hypochondriacal and certain other passions if at any time Convulsive motions are excited in the hurt head by the fault of the womb spleen or other Inward verily they arise by this only means to wit by the Trouble of the rest of the parts being translated this way through the Nerves but in no wise by the Vapours to the brain and are propagated all about into various Regions of the Body Convulsions begin from the ends of the Nerves both by reason of irritation But it should here be noted that although the evident Solitary cause forasmuch as it is strong and vehement may sometimes induce Convulsions of it self and without a praevious disposition because indeed the Animal Spirits being irritated beyond measure begin greater and more than ordinary explosions as in overgreat purging and Vomiting and the fits of the Collick and Stone is ordinarily wont to happen yet in many other Convulsive Distempers whose fits are often and habituall besides the irritation made about the extremities of the nerves which serves for the most part for the evident cause also a certain more remote cause is present to whose efficacy the assault of the disease is chiefly beholden to wit when Convulsive motions are wont to be excited and at every turn repeated by the fault of the Spleen womb or other private part it may be suspected that the animal Spirits of the Fibres in the distemperd part and those disposed in its neighbouring parts had first contracted an heterogeneous explosive Copula And by reason of an Explosive Copula by which being filled to a running over they were provoked by a light occasion to Convulsive explosions Then those being first begun about the extremities of the nerves creep upwards by the passage of the same nerves and are often caryed to the same nervous origine and sometimes beyond to the middle of the brain from whence lastly being reflected on the nervous stock they also secondarily cause the Convulsions of the members and Limbs But after the Brain and a Superior portion of the nervous System are wont to suffer and be affected often by the Convulsions below excited the spirits inhabiting those parts also begin to be themselves adulterated at length and to admit an heterogeneous and explosive Copula and so to acquire in part a procatartick cause hence at length a Convulsive procatarxis or more remote cause becomes Common to either end of the Trunk of the same nerves and the animal spirits of one nerve or more being evilly disposed both at the head and tail conceive explosions from either part and deliver them presently to the other as shall be more largely declared below when we treat particularly of hysterical and other passions in the meantime we will add some histories and observations of Convulsions arising from the farther ends or extremities of the Nerves Observation 1 A fine maid about the 16th year of her age falling from her horse and lighting upon a Stone grievously hurt her left breast from whence a Tumor arose with pain which Symptoms notwithstanding by the use of medicines at the beginning seem'd to be mitigated and to be indifferently well for a long time after Three years after she having taken cold and having observed but a bad course of dyet all things began to be exasperated the hurt part swelling into a bigger bulk troubled her with an accute and almost continual pain that the sick Virgin for the cruel torment could take no rest for many days and nights neither could she suffer the glandula's of her Breast being then made more tumid to be either touch'd or handled yea nor any noyse or shaking to be made in the Chamber When to this Tumour about
Medicines did her no good but were rather hurtfull and troublesome she received some benefit by the taking away of blood by Leeches and by the use of Asses milk and afterwards she was much eased by the long drinking of spaw-waters The reason of it The aforesaid Symptoms which commonly are ascribed to the hysterical passion and the vapours from the womb here plainly appear to have proceeded from a Tumour arising about the bottom of the ventricle for that the blood of this Lady being very hot and melanchollick when it could be no more purged by her courses flowing from her it laid up its recrements and adust faeculencies at first in her breast and then from a new beginning in the membranes of her stomach From the tumor there made sharp and heterogenious particles falling down perpetually entred the fibres and nerves planted round about which cleaving continually to the spirits dwelling in and flowing into those parts excited them to frequent explosions and so made Convulsive distempers in all the neighbouring parts But that sometimes the convulsive motions were more light in that place hence it appears that the whole nervous stock and the head it self as is wont to be in greater convulsions had not as yet been touched with the same distemper But the disorder of spirits arising about the parts affected and from thence transfer'd by a smaller undulation or waving to the head and so only lightly disturbing the spirits inhabiting it induced watchings with a great heat and perturbation of the phantasie what we have hitherto discoursed of Convulsions from the morbific cause setling upon either end of the nervous system will more clearly appear when we shall hereafter trear particularly of the chief kinds of convulsions viz. the hysterical hypochondriacall and other passions In the mean time there will be no need to add a Curatory method for this Hypothesis of convulsions arising by reason of the extremities of the nerves being affected because the ways of curing may be better accomodated to the passions of this kinde hereafter particularly to be spoken of But for the present it behoves us to proceed to the unfolding of the convulsive passions whose cause or morbifick matter seems to subsist within the nervous foldings We have largely enough in another place discoursed of the nervous foldings and in their description and use we have shown that 't is very likely the more grievous fits of convulsive motions beginning oftentimes within these parts are from thence propagated on every side into the neighbouring parts and not seldom to a great distance at least that it seems much more probable that the heterogenious and explosive particles after they have overcome the tract of the head and its medullary appendix and being more deeply slidden into the Channels of the Nerves and their passages together with the juce watering them do spread their stores within the nervous foldings as it were in Cross-streets and by paths and there sometimes make their stations untill at length being more plentifully heaped up they as it were with Collected forces produce the more cruel convulsive distempers This I say appears to be much more probable That the nervous foldings is the seat of Convulsive matter then what is commonly said to suppose them vapours arising from the womb spleen ventricle or any other inward in which all the fault is easily thrown For within these foldings there are spaces large enough for morbific mines that the matter may be there at leasure laid up and remain till it be gathered to a fullness But then because we believe that great plenty of spirits lodge there more than in any other little cells the heterogenious Copula growing to them lays as it were tinder for more grievous explosions so that the spirits being explosed within these bodies do not only inflate and dilate them but elevate and lift them up from their Place even as a house blown up with gun-powder wherefore the parts lying over them are suddenly lifted up into a tumour and loose are drawn violently hither and thither That after this manner the more cruell fits of Convulsions about the praecordia and Viscera are very often stirred up I have found to be true besides the Arguments taken from reason not long since by my own sight For when I opened the dead body of a Gentlewoman who had been exceedingly troubled with as they say the Mother fits or hysterical Distempers I found the womb wholly faultless but the Nerves near the foldings of the Mesentery as it seem'd only to be lifted up and elevated into a bulk and the membranes of that inward appeared torn and loosned one from another as being on every side tumid and loose as it were blown up into little bubbles or bladders Indeed there are more considerations of solid reasons whereby we are induced Observation 1 to believe that the passions called hysterical do most often arise from the convulsive matter heaped up within the Mesenterick enfoldings and by turns explosed which shall be more clearly manifested where we treat especially of those diseases But neither is it less probable that the Collick-pains do very often proceed from a more sharp and irritative matter contained in the same enfoldings Besides as often as the convulsive fits seem to begin from the spleen or ventricle by reason the beginnings of which are inflations and very great disturbances of those parts it is likely that the nest of the convulsive matter was hid within the nervous enfoldings belonging to the spleen or ventricle Also this kinde of matter seems to excite within the Cardiac foldings most heavy tremblings and passions of the heart and within the pneumonic or cervical or those belonging to the Lungs and throat enfoldings most terrible fits of the Asthma In our Treatise of the Nerves we have related a notable case of a worthy Gentlewoman to whom a serous matter wonted to distill from the forepart of her head through her left nostrill fell down behind her ear where when the most cruel pain did infest her Convulsions also and admirable contractions followed whereby the joynting or compaction now of the brain and the whole head seem'd to be pulled downward now the throat praecordia and Viscera upwards which kinde of Convulsions vexing the parts so opposite and at such distance by turns when they did proceed from one and the same seat of the disease planted in the midst it will be obvious to conceive that the grieved place as the origine of either convulsive affection was the ganglioform enfoldings planted near the Parotidae or the two chief Arteries of the throat into which the Nerves both of the wandring pair descending from the head are entred and out of which the shoots do stretch themselves into the muscles of the throat and branches into the praecordia and viscera Further front the same cause to wit the convulsive matter heaped up and by turns explosed within the ganglioform enfoldings we think and not undeservedly
ceasing performed most pleasantly and most elegantly beyond her proper capacity with these kinde of speeches and pleasant jeasts she fell upon all the standers by that nothing in a Comedy could be more pleasant then she utterd most sweet tunes of musick and more pleasant than any other could or her self at another time After she had past six or seven minutes of an hour thus jesting and singing the Convulsions of her Bowells and Praecordia and the want of speech came upon her as before and these soon remitting the force of the Spirits leaping back from the inferior nerves on the brain it was lastly imployed in the pleasantness of speech and Songs as often when she talkt to the by-standers as any of them replyed any thing bitterly or reproachfully she fell into those most grievous and longer continuing Convulsions of the Viscera After this manner she was wont to be molested with an alternate distemper of the Bowells and brain about the space of an hour Then towards the end of the Viscera the fit declining more light Convulsions being made they repeated three or four times without any intermission then these wholly ceasing the force of the disease brake forth into her outward members from whence it quickly vanished for her Arms and Legs for a minute of an hour suffer'd leapings forth and Contractions presently after the sick person being taken up left ber bed free from all Convulsion till a new fit returned yea indifferently well in strength she walk'd about the house and during the interval of her distemper she cheerfully performed the accustomed Offices of Life excepting that her stomack languishings all day she loathed food in the evening after the second fit she supp'd moderatly This was the present state of the Disease in whose fits the more clear use of some faculties seem'd in a manner to Compensate the irregularity of others But about the beginning of her sickness it was somewhat otherways for the Convulsions of her bowells were far more grievous and an insensibility was joyned to them besides in their intervall talking idly an incongruous singing yea both laughter and weeping without any known reason breaking forth were wont to follow one another but now the animal Spirits being forced into longer explosions performed them so regularly now this now that as a more Commodious way was made that they seemed after a manner to be done by the Command of the will and of Reason That we may therefore according to our hypothesis frame an Aetiology or rational account of this Distemper In the first place it seems The reasons of the aforesaid Distemper that a vehement fear did drive the Spirits inhabiting the brain and Praecordia into great disorders so that they being disturbed out of their ranks both the kinde of madness or foolishness and the frequent swooning succeeded Further it may be suspected that from the same impression the hurt was carried to the brain it self so that its conformation being somewhat vitiated the heterogeneous and morbific particles were admitted together with the nervous juice Then although the spirits at the beginning being confused and troubled after their short inordinations at last recovered themselves and performed the wonted offices both of the animal and vital function yet by reason of the taint impressed on the brain the heterogeneous particles being constantly admitted cleaving to those Spirits induced explosive endeavors as soon as the spirits were filled to a plentitude with the extraneous Copula they being irritated entred into Convulsive explosions for the shaking or striking it off About the beginning of the Disease when both the Disposition of the Brain and the Spirits inhabiting it was more perverse and vitious from the fresh received hurt a fullness of the heterogeneous Copula sooner happened and so its explosion following more often and more inordinately was dispatched with greater tumult But afterwards when the hurt of the animal regiment abating the supplements of that Copula even as thc nervous Liquor were dayly brought in with an equall dimention the explosions of the Spirits being made regular and more milde observed their just periods or set times That she felt upon the approach of the fit a fullness and as it were an inflation in her head with an heaviness and dullness of the spirits the Reason is because at this time the spirits inhabiting the brain being now prepared for explosions were wont first of all to be moved and as it were to swell up then that pulsation in her left hypochondria succeeded for that the Spirits inhabiting the nervous foldings and fibres thickly planted about the Spleen began to be exploded afterwards when the Spirits flowing both within the mesenteric and Cardiac enfoldings were exploded rogether those elevations and as it were leapings up of the Abdomen and Thorax were induced and when in this distemper the motions of the blood and heart were almost wholly stopped therefore there was a small and almost no pulse and she became Speechlesse and in a manner sensless The Convulsion of the Viseera and Praecordia remitting a pratling and singing succeeded because a falling down or removal of the Spirits as yet exploded being made from the nervous stock into the brain it changed the Convulsions into an exaltation of the fancy and more ready exercise of the phantasms or Representation of the Imagination So long as the Spirits within the middle of the brain are regularly and orderly exploded they bring forth the Acts of the habits and faculties so much more noble and as it were above the strength and tenour of Nature as in this sick Gentlewoman but on the contrary when the explosions of the Spirits in that Region happen to be inordinate they cause for the most part foolishness or at least the exercise of their powers are incongruous and absurd The Convulsions of the Bowels and the phantastic actions releiv'd one another mutually and by turns because plenty of Spirits being disposed to be struck off made their tendency as it were with a direct and reflected waving or undulation now on this part now on that by turns then lastly when they were almost all exploded the more often Convulsions of the Viscera were stir'd up and when a small handfull only remained to be exploded that being at last excluded both from the head and bowells it ran forth into the spinal marrow and employed the last assolt of the disease in the Convulsions af the Arms and Legs There yet remains one great difficulty in this Case why the fits of this disease were always repeated exactly at set hours and yet had so unequall periods to wit that the Coming of the first was only but six hours before the second and then the return of the next did not hapen but in 18 hours space For the solving of this it is to be supposed that these fits did depend upon the nervous juice being stuffed to a plenitude with heterogenious particles which particles were altogether conveyed thither from the bloody mass
frequently salling upon her rogether with it great swellings arose behinde her ears and in her neck of the same side to which she was never before obnoxious in all her life It is not to be doubted in this case but that from those Glandulas which are the Emunctuaries or sinks of the nervous Liquor being too much pressed together the superfluities of that humour wont to be sent away from thence by the Lymphatic vessells restagnating in the head brought forth those evills because the arising of the aforesaid symptoms so suddenly and manifestly followed upon the wearing of that Truss upon the Groin that even her Mother laid the cause of the Disease upon that occasion Besides also I have observed in others the recrements of the nervous humour being somewhere stopp'd in their Course restagnating towards the head have not only brought in convulsive symptoms but from thence the Kings Evill Objections against the aforesaid hypothesis answered So much for the formal Reason of the different original of the distemper called hysterical as also of the genuine Causes of its symptoms Out of which it seems to appear plainly that those passions do not depend always on the womb but much more often on the fault of the brain and of other parts of the nervous stock But many things are objected against these which according to the old opinion cast all the blame on the womb To wit it seems so to be done because the assault of this disease invades almost only women yea and women that are not well about their womb viz. Child-bearing women or such who have their courses stopt are chiefly obnoxious to it Besides it may be argued from things helpfull for it because a plaister worn upon the lower part of the belly also a strict girding of the belly and hypochondria by which the ascent of the womb may be hindred do not seldom drive away the fit just falling on them this also shews it that sweet things held to the nose brings on the fit and stinking things drive the same away it is said to happen quite contrary if the same things be laid to the belly or privy member That we may wipe off these objections we say first that the symptoms which seem hysterical do not only happen to women for we have shown already by the history brought by us that a certain man has been obnoxious to those kinde of fits with the ascention of a bulk in the bottom of the belly but that women are much more often troubled with those convulsive diseases than men two reasons may be shown viz. First for that their animal constitution is much weaker to wit they have the brain and nerves softer and of a less firm texture that they are not able to suffer any thing strongly or to resist every injury also the animal spirits in them being more prone to flight and distraction more easily admit an heterogeneous and explosive Copula from hence Women from any sudden terror or great sadness fall into mighty disorder of spirits when men from the same occasion are scarcely disturb'd at all Secondly women more readily receive the convulsive disposition because they gather a more plentifull heap of the morbific matter for that whilst they lead for the most part a sedentary Life the blood for want of ventilation becomes more impure besides in this sex it originally abounds with heterogeneous and fermentative particles wherefore it is convenient for it to be more often purged by the flux of their Courses by which notwithstanding not always what is extraneous and incongruous is wholly cast forth from the bloody Mass but that there remains that which being poured on the brain and its appendix as occasion is given becomes the cause of the convulsive distemper Moreover when the menstrual flux being stop'd a convulsive disposition is occasioned it is not therefore to be thought that such a distemper is rais'd up from the womb but that the bloody mass being more than usually imbued with heterogeneous particles carries them together with the nervous juice to the head yea chiefly for this reason also child-bearing women are found obnoxious to the passions as it were hysterical for besides that the membranes of the womb being hurt a convulsion there begun by reason of the felt trouble creeps upwards and is at last communicated to the head it most often happens that the blood being infected by the termes being retained grows hot with a feavourish burning and then instead of a crisis the malignant infection is carried to the brain from whence convulsive and not seldom soporiferous or sleepy distempers are excited But that it is argued that this disease seems to be hysterical because Remedies applyed about the abdomen often bring help it will be easy to shew that the morbific cause planted in the mesentery oftner than in the womb is sometimes either taken away by that means or restrained from its Influence besides the same kinde of applications about the hypogastrium are no less profitable altho the original of the distemper be derived from the head it self for we have shewn before that when the heterogeneous and explosive matter descending from the head brings a convulsive disposition to the spirits disposed within the whole processes of the interior nerves the convulsive motions therefore excited begin from the extremities of the nerves and so creep upwards towards their beginnings so that first of all the viscera of the lower belly then the praecordia and lastly the brain it self are affected but if the outmost spirits viz. those dwelling in the enfoldings of the mesentery be restrained from entring into explosions all the rest in the remaining nervous passage continue in their orders and this plaisters worn upon the navel do often effect for they repress and compel into order with their odour the spirits from leaping forth yea also not seldom they shake off and drive away the Copula cleaving to them wherefore when the explosions there about to be made are restrained the convulsive fit is wholly prevented which yet is more apparent for that if the Convulsion begun in the lower belly and from thence ascending like a Globe be presently suppressed and by a strong binding together of those parts it be hindred that it creep not upwards oftentimes the convulsive passion is broken off the praecordia and the brain being untouch'd wherefore it is a common custome for sick women to binde strictly the Epigastrium with swaths or rolers and so to stop the progress of the symptoms towards the upper parts For when the animal spirits enter into Convulsions successively as it were a fiery enkindling where-ever the tinder or cherishing matter is cut off or intercepted the distemper is there restrained As to the various effects of odors to wit that sweet things bring on the fit but stinking things drive the same away it may be said that the former do loosen the animal spirits by pleasing them and too much release them from their
are almost without Spirits or at least are contented with a few For the birth and growth of Vegetables they are required in a more moderate quantity In the Constitution of a living Creature where there is greater Use of Spirits for Sense and Motion a far more plentiful quantity is found In the works of Art and chiefly in those which ascend to perfection by Digestion and Fermentation there are found to be a sufficiently great proportion of Spirits but in all subjects whatsoever whilst the immersed Spirits are mingled with the other Principles their condition or state comes under a threefold consideration for they are either depressed and scattered and so involved with more thick Particles that they are very little seen or shew forth their powers as in things undigested crude and unripe may be perceived in which the Spirits can hardly extricate themselves into motion and from which they can hardly be drawn by Distillation Or secondly the Spirits flying forth from the thick substance of the rest are full of vigor shake and rightly dispose the more gross Particles subtilize the thick digest the crude and bring things to the steme or height of maturity and perfection or lastly Spirits having obtained the height of things do luxuriate and make excursions out of the Body hence those that remain are by degrees lessened of their plenty and strength until being less in power than the Particles of the Salts and Sulphur they are put under their yoak and by little and little are destroyed and driven away out of the Subject on this threefold state depends the beginnings or rudiments the maturity and exaltation and the defect and end of things It is observed when the Spiritous Latex is drawn forth of any Liquor by Distillation that the vapor or steam is not elevated into dew that is comes together in little drops or dew every where poured forth as it is wont to do in watery things but it is divided into streaks and many little rivulets and renders the Alembic mark'd in every part with straight lines only not meridional leading from the Centre of the top to the brim of the Circumference The cause of which seems to be this to wit since that the spirituous substance is very subtil it is not easily Collected into Liquor neither is it fixed every where about the sides of the Vessel in its ascent as watery Liquors but always stretches ãâã and unless when it comes to the top it self of the liâ⦠head doth in no wise ãâã but there the spirituous breath being restrained as it were in a punct and being brought backward it begins to gather into dew wherefore from that top as it were the Fountain the Spirits flowing forth on every side by streams descend in streaks towards the mouth or brim of the Alembic And when those lines wholly disappear it is a sign that the spirituous substance is quite still'd forth and that the watery breath only ascends 2 Sulphur is a Principle of a little thicker consistency than Spirit after that the most active for when the Spirits first break forth from the loosned subââânce of the mixture presently the Sulphureous Particles endeavour to ââ¦low The Temperament of every thing as to Heat Consistency and amiable frame or contexture depends chiefly on Sulphur from hence also for the most part arise variety of Colours and Odors the fairness and deformity of the Body also the divââsâây of tastes In the Bosom of this the Spirits immediately in which as in a Copula they are united by the more hard embraces of the rest The substance of Sulphur though less subtil is yet of more firceness and unruliness than the Spirits are for this unless it be restrained by the embrace of the others as it were in bonds and its Particles be detained one from another by the interjection or coming between of the rest not only leaves the subject but destroys it self with too impetuous an eruption Indeed the little bodies of this being gently moved do cause digestion and maturation sweetness and many perfective qualities in things being a little more strongly moved they induce heat and an excess of qualities inordinations and chiefly a stinking favour but being more impetuously moved or stirred up they bring in the dissolution of Bodies yea a flame and Burning The substance of Sulphur is never seen sincere yea it consists not of it self from others but vanishes away into Air its Particles being concreted and chained together with Salt and Earth are fixed as it were immoveable as is seen in Metals and some Stones or being Diluted with Spirit and Water and temper'd together with the rest exist in motion by which means as was before said of Spirit they are in a threefold state within the substance of the mixture for either first of all its little bodies being involved with Salt and Earth or too much drenched with a watery humidity are obscured so that they exercise but little of virtue from whence the humid and cold temper of things exists their qualities are Obtuse Dull and of small virtue or force and the Bodies less apt to be inflamed as is discerned in unripe Fruit raw Juices and green Wood. Or secondly The Particles of Sulphur begin to shine forth with Spirit to be more thickly heaped or rolled together and to appear eminent above the rest of the Principles And so by its motion they evaporate the superfluous moisture digest Crudities and induce a warm temper in things active qualities a lively force and maturation or ripeness which kind of exaltation of Sulphur may be observed in Wine and Liquors long Fermented in ripe Fruits in the Youth and florid Constitution of living Creatures Or thirdly The Sulphureous Particles being gathered into vigor grow too hot loose the bonds of mixture and desire to fly away and from their diverse manner of departure and separation the dissolution of Bodies variously happens For either they evaporate with Water and Spirit by degrees and without tumult and leave their subjects lean and dry which when the Sulphur is wholy gon fall into Ashes Or secondly in Bodis which abound with Sulphur when the mixture is loosned and the Spirits begin to fly away the remaining Particles of Sulphur are wont to be very much moved and to grow exceeding hot and being shut up in a thick substance are gathered together more nearly as in Dung and Hay growing hot and conceive heat and somtimes Burning breaking forth after this manner by heaps and impetuously they breath out a stinking smell and bring on a rottenness to the subject There is a third manner of eruption whereby the Sulphureous Particles go forth of Bodies when they withdraw themselves as it were with violence and being gathered together break forth into fire and flame whereby indeed becoming unbridled and untamed they break all bars or lets and wholly destroy the substance or frame of the Subject By this means by their own and proper effervescency they procure a Burning as
with their coming between and amplifie and enlarge the lineaments of the Body otherwise too short and contracted 4. Water is the chiefest Vehicle of Spirit and Sulphur by whose intervention they consociate one with another and with Salt for the other Principles being dissolved by a watery humor or at least diluted continue in motion without which they grow stiff as congealed things When Water is wanting the active Principles meet together too strictly and mutually rub against and consume themselves and when for this reason the suppliment of food is cut off the Body grows withered If humidity abounds too much these Elements are estranged or dissociated too much one from the other wherefore the subject becomes sluggish and slow and of less efficacy and unapt for motion Besides Bodies too moist are lyable very much to rottenness and Corruption because from too much Humidity the Combination of Spirit and Sulphur and Salt is too loosely effected that they do not mutually embrace one another nor are retained with their embracement in the subject Indeed Water abounding easily evaporates and then the frame of the mixture being loosened and the doors set open Spirit and Sulphur easily break forth the way being made and leave the subject as it were vapid or made sharp with Salt for from hence the infusions of Vegitables Decoctions Juices of Herbs and all Liquid preparations if the quantity of Water be greater than the rest of the Principles and improportionate quickly Corrupt Water is most easily drawn forth out of every thing by Distillation for when Spirit and Sulphur are often intangled with nets of Salt or Earth they hardly let go-their embraces and are not obedient but to a more intense heat and often times require a previous Putrefaction Water most easily and often with no labour is driven out of every Body But most often it snatches in its flying away some more loose Particles of Spirit and Sulphur and carries them with itself forth of doors 5. As the interjection of Water in Liquids so of Earth in Solids fills the empty little Spaces and Vacuities left by the other Principles For these hinder the active Principles from a too streight embrace whereby they should rub against themselves and cleave one to another also by its thickness it retains too Volatile things besides it inlarges the due substance and magnitude in Bodies The more that Earth abounds in any thing it is so much the less active but of longer duration hence Minerals endure a long while then next the greater Trees in the mean time Animals and the more slender Plants are but of short age In Distillations Earth ascends the Alembic almost not at all or but in a very little quantity for the most part it is left with a portion of Salt for a Caput Mortuum or Dead Head therefore it is called Terra Damnata or damned Earth because when the other Principles are freed the Prison being as it were broken this is still detained besides Earth being deprived of the Company of the rest is of no Use nor capable of change or exaltation Thus much for the Elements or Principles of Natural things considered apart and by themselves It follows that some of their Affinities and Conjugations be unfolded because these very strictly cohere with those and very hardly or not at all are joyned with others Out of the mutual Combination of some and disagreement of others various Affections arise the knowledg of which gives no little Light to the Doctrine of Fermentation There is a certain Kindred and Similitude of parts between Spirit and Sulphur which are agil or light and easily to be dissipated in both wherefore Spirit being driven forth of the Body draws abundantly with it Sulphureous Particles as is discerned in Spirituous Liquors Distilled out of any thing to some of which if you mingle Water the Liquor appears as it were troubled with precipitated Sulphur but the Spirit without the Sulphur is undiscernably mixed with the Water which however by reason of is Volatility may be also easily drawn away and separated by Distillation Altho Spirit and Sulphur are Principles very resembling and because of a ready motion either are inflameable yet they are not one and the same as is asserted by some For Sulphur Copiously subsists in Bodies almost destitute of Spirit to wit in common Sulphur Antimony and other Minerals in which its Particles are very fixed and of their own nature almost immoveable which is very far from the Nature of Spirits For they abounding in any mixture never lye idle and always in motion bring various alterations to the Subject where they dwell then if they abound in strength they easily and without tumult carry themselves forth of doors of their own accord But Sulphur altho it abound doth not easily evaporate but hath need of a strong heat or an actual fire that may make a way for it and lastly it breaks forth not without a stink or burning yea if you endeavour to Distil Oyly and Fat things although very Sulphureous with a moderate Fire they are wont to yield a Liquor only Waterish and not inflameable but if we provoke generous Wine which swells with Spirit by the gentle heat of a Bath a most burning Water will Still forth and apt wholly to be inflamed Spirit is not presently joyned with Salt For Sugar and Salts are scarcely dissolved by the rectified Spirit of Wine but are after a manner associated by a long digestion and circulation as is perceived in the Volatile Salt of Animals or Tincture drawn forth from the Salts of Herbs or of Minerals by the Spirit of Wine If that Spirits excel in plenty and virtue they assume to themselves and Volatilise the Saline Particles And therefore the Salt contained in the Juice or Blood of Animals being associated with Spirit is volatilised also the Spirit of Wine being Distilled by many Cohalations with the fixed Salt of Herbs renders it Volatile and makes it pass through the Alembic but if the power of the Salt be greater it tames the Spirit and fixes it Hence the blood being become Salt by means of an ill dyet becomes less Spirituous Fixed Salts and the Oyl of Vitriol fix the Spirits grown too volatile and unbridled and Coagulate the Spirit of Wine it self But Sulphur is a more fit subject of the Spirit by the coming between of which it easily is united with Salt and the other Principles and as Spirit best agrees with Sulphur and Water so Sulphur intimately cleaves to Earth and Salt As to Sulphur besides its affinity with Spirit it hath a great relation with Salt it self to the volatilisation of which it doth not a little help wherefore in Bodies which abound with a volatile Salt there is found plenty of Sulphur as in Amber Soot Hornes and Bones as also in the excrements of living Creatures where Salt and Sulphur are in motion and evaporate from the subject a very stinking smell is sent forth for Sulphur being
sharpned with Salt pricks more strongly the sensory and strikes it with its sharpness in the mean time Sulphur exhaling with Spirit both pleases the sense and excites a very pleasant Smell Sulphur is as it were distracted between Spirit and Salt and adheres at once to both parties In the Distillation of Amber Turpentine Harts-Horn and the like a certain lesser part of Sulphur being united to Spirit first ascends and causes a Yellow Oyl or clear Liquor of a grateful smell the other part of Sulphur being joyned to the Salt is driven forth in the second place and is Distilled with a most stinking smell in the form of a red or black Oyl In like manner in the Circulation of the blood a pure and delicate portion of Sulphur being mixed with the Spirit supplies both the Animal and Vital Spirit with matter the other more thick part being Boyled and Rosted with Salt is layd up in the Choledock Vessels or belonging to Choler as it were a certain excrement separated from the blood As Spirit does not easily Cohere with Salt so Sulphur does not with Water wherefore Fat and Oyly things as also Gumms and Sulphureous Refines either swim upon the Water or sink down to its bottom But Sulphureous things Salt coming between are commixed with a Watery Liquor as we see Oyls imbued with Sugar or Salt to be dissolved in common Water which otherwise would flow separate Sulphur is not so tractable in Distillation as Spirit Water or Salt for the Particles of this being very Viscous stick together among themselves and also to others that they cannot easily be pulled from their embrace Hence among Sulphureous things there are some which are not forced but by a strong and burning heat into a stinking Oyl and very empyreumatick or smelling of Fire but others more pertinaciously cleaving together are not to be loosened by Distillation but are only broken into integral parts and so ascend under the form of a dry Breath as common Sulphur Benzoin Camphor and the like Salt besides its affinity with Sulphur is also most strictly united with Earth wherefore Stones and the more hard Minerals consist chiefly of Salt and Earth The Acid Spirits of Minerals which are only Salts resolved into Liquor by Distillation if at last they be poured on the Caput Mortuum Cohere with a strict embrace to it that there will be need of a most strong Fire to drive them forth again Also in Glass the union of Salt and Earth is so strictly made that it will not suffer a Divorce by any means Salt also is most easily dissolved in Water and it melts of its own accord in a moist Air and these are as easily separated one from another By reason of these Combinations these Principles have got various Appellations and not Congruous in their own Nature to themselves For Sulphur for as much as it is Associated with Spirit is called pure and sweet when with Salt impure and stinking for as much as with Salt and Earth it is called thick and Earthly when the Spirit assumes to it self Sulphureous Particles in a moderate quantity it is seen to be sweet when saline sharp when both bitter Salt has a diverse disposition and is known by many names by reason of its various mixture with the other Elements and chiefly with Earth for besides the Titles of Fluid Fixed Volatile for this reason it is termed Marine Aluminous Nitrous Vitriolick Armoniack or of some other kind By some these kind of Conjugations are esteemed but wrongfully as so many divers Principles when they are but more simple mixtures by the coming together of the first Elements and being loosened by Distillation they openly shew their Race from whence they are For all Salts whatsoever being driven into a Flux by the Fire shew Liquors very near of Kin one to another to wit Acetous by the like means Spirit and Sulphur are compelled to put off their Masks and to resume the Native Species common to each And so much for the Principles of Natural Things and of their Affections and Conjunctions It is abundantly manifest that these kind of Substances are in every Body besides the Analyses of Bodies Chymically instituted also from the Mutations and effects of Things which happen of their own Nature When Must is Ripened into Wine is not Spirit a Sulphureous part also Salt and Earth Conspicuous to our Tast and Eyes besides the watery Liquor Also the Juice of every Plant being exalted by Digestion exhibits the same sincere and as it were distinct what is greater things subject to the Flame when they seem to be burnt and reduced almost to nothing they go into these kind of Particles besides the Salt remaining in the Ashes the Smoke and Flame grow together into Soot as it were a Meteor in which are comprehended together Spirit Sulphur Salt Water and Earth as it were in a certain compendium of the mixture For the active Principles abound in Soot more than in any other inanimate Body But because with some there hath spread a certain suspicion that those our Princiciples chiefly the Saline and Sulphureous are to be produced for the most part by Fire and are no ways to be found in mixt things unless after the coming between of that I will witness to you in some instances that the thing is plainly otherwise Concerning the first It is commonly known that the Ashes of every Plant being once Elixivated or made into a Lye if it be afterwards Calcined will not yield any thing of Salt besides if Concretes being Distilled Exhale or Breath forth a very sharp or acid Liquor their Calx is not saltish and on the contrary when the Salt being Volatilized or brought to a Flux ascends the Alembic you shall seek for it in vain in the dead head To prove the existency of the Sulphureous Principle in Vegetables take Guaiacum or a piece of any other ponderous Wood and being put into a Glass Retort draw it forth by degrees it shall exhibit together with an Acid Liquor which water is saltish in great quantity a blackish Oyl which part of it is Sulphureous It appears from hence that this was in the Body before the Distilling and in no wise produced by its Operation because if you proceed after another manner that the Sulphur may be taken out of the Concrete before Distillation the Liquor that comes forth will be almost wholy deprived of its Oyliness Wherefore if you pour Spirit of Wine to those Chips of Wood it will Extract in a great quantity by this Menstruum a pure Refine which is the Sulphureous part it self then if you Distil as before in a Retort the remaining Chips being washed in common Water and dryed you will have a very little Oyl only What is more to be admired and confirms also more fully the truth of this kind of Origination some Bodies which being almost destitute of Spirit and Sulphur because chiefly Volatile consist chiefly of Salt Earth and Water are separated
loosned even into a Vapour and then kneaded with an Earthy Matter or the moistning of Waters they cause Eruptions of Fountains and Acidulous or Spaw Waters which resemble the disposition of Vitriol Alum Nitre somtimes of Iron or Copper Also the Sulphureous little Bodies being loosned and gathered together inkindle an Heat and somtimes Subterraneous Fires by whose Breaths the Dens and Caverns being made Hot like an Hot-House whilst the Watery humors pass through them they from thence conceive their Heat and supply the Springs of Hot Fountains for Bathes In like manner in this visible and Etherial world Vapours both Sulphureous and Saline and of a diverse Kind and Nature perpetually breath forth and are diffused through the whole Region of Air. From hence the diversity of winds the vicissitudes of Cold and Heat Rain Snow Hail Dew and Hoar Frost and what are of this Nature have their Origine Concerning the particular instances of these the famous Gassendus may be consulted who in his Epicurean Philosophy most aptly deduces the Phaenomena almost of all Meteors and the reasons of them from the Exhalations of Sulphur and Salts either Nitrous Vitriolick Aluminous or Armoniack CHAP. IV. Of Fermentation for as much as is observed in Vegetables IN Vegetables Fermentation is yet more plainly discerned for whilst they Bud forth Grow Flower bear Fruit Ripen Decline and Dye we may observe the divers motions of Particles or Principles their various Habits and Tempers I intend not here to describe the several ways and proceedings of these It will be sufficient for the unfolding the Doctrine of Fermentation to take notice of some chief instances concerning this Subject If is manifest by dayly Experience that all Plants whatsoever exposed to a Spagyrical or Chymical Operation may with little labour be resolved into the aforesaid five-fold Elements But in some there is found a greater plenty of Salt in others of Sulphur in some Spirits abound Water and Earth are in most proportionated according to the Bulk and magnitude of the thing Plants in which Salt abounds with a mean of Sulphur and a little quantity of Spirits are for the most part of long Age somwhat big or flourish all the Winter or tho their Leaves fall they keep a Nutricious Juice under the Bark Of which sort are the Oak Ash Elm Box-Tree and all ponderous Woods and Shrubs In some Sulphur abounds with a little Salt and Spirit as are the Pine the Firr-Tree Cyprus Tree Juniper Ivy Olive Cedar and Myrtle Trees and all resinous Plants which for the most part have a sweet smell and are perpetually Green by reason the juice wherewith they are nourished is viscous and not easily to be dissipated In others besides plenty of Salt and Sulphur Spirits also are found in a greater proportion as are Fruit-bearing Trees and especially the Vine from whose Fruit the Juice being wrung out and purified by Fermentation grows very big with Spirit Of this rank are Plants for the most part Medicinal also such as produce Curious and Odoriferous Flowers But in some Water and Earth luxuriat in too great a quantity above the other Elements as in cold Plants and such as grow in too rank a Soil The Germination of Plants happens after this manner either it is made out of the Seed Root Trunk or of its own Nature from the naked matrix of the Earth First the Spirit being shut up within by the Ambient Heat and Moisture loosening the frame of the mixture being loosned it presently endeavours to fly away But being held back in its flight by the more thick Particles of the rest stretches forth more largely its Den and together with the other Principles with which it is bound thrusts forth on every side into length and breadth even as a little bundle of Silk being contracted into wrincles and folds is opened here and there In the mean time the little Spaces left by the enlargement of the Spirit and as it were made hollow are filled up by the next Matter driven even into the Vacuities And after this manner the Architect Spirit with his Ministers Salt and Sulphur still stretching forth it self like a Snail frames for it self an House whose Inhabitant it is and by dilating it self stretches forth that until at last it hath wrought the Plant into the due Bulk and Figure designed by Nature You may take notice that the times of the year for the Budding Flowring Ripening and decaying of Vegetables are of great Efficacy and Virtue All the Winter the Womb of the Earth as it were shut up is almost barren for the Spirituous Particles which are wont to actuate the rest and as it were to lead the dance of Natural Motions are either chased away by the Winters Cold or being Congealed in their Subjects are fixed Wherefore at this time Germination and Vegetation are very rare unless that some irregular Plants which are composed of plenty of Spirit Salt and Sulphur dare to break forth But in the Spring when the bowels of the Earth begin to be a little warm by the Vicinity of the Sun presently they are impregnated with a wonderful Fecundity and produce the effects of their Seminality Not only the Superficies of the Earth but also the Water and Air every where grow big with Spirituous Particles which as it were raise up from the Dead the little Bodies of Salt and Sulphur and bring them into Motion Therefore besides that the Plants Bud the Juice and Blood of living Creatures is quicker and more apt to abound At this time the Birds and Fishes build their Nests and bring forth Eggs also we may perceive in our selves the Blood to flow high in the Vessels and usually to Ferment too much For all things are then full of this Aetherial Substance and the whole Bulk of Nature as it were inspired by a lively Fermentation is abundantly fruitful of Motions and Generations Yea these our Principles at first separated and dispersed one from another led as it were by an Appetite of Copulation enter into mutual Marriages and being Married together almost with infinit Embraces cause a most ample Seeding and Germination of the Herby State At the beginning of the Summer and perhaps in some sooner in some later when sufficient time hath been granted for the Stature and Magnitude of every Plant and that it is now come to the highth of increase it behoves Nature to perfect her Work and to cook and ripen the Substance as yet rude and undigested Wherefore the active Principles leisurely extricate themselves from the more thick and creep forward towards the top there being placed with a mutual increase they are formed into Flowers and Blossoms from which at length for that they are of a soft and light texture Spirit and Sulphur easily evaporate and the frame of the mixture quickly decays But Nature careful of the perpetuating every thing when it cannot keep for ever the individuum is so provident that the Species may not wholly
Bodies are that are most fit for Fermentation and which are less convenient for it Secondly What things are requisite about Fermentation to wit what are wont to promote or also to hinder its motion in every Subject Thirdly How manifold the motion of Fermentation is and the end of it also what are the effects and alterations which follow it As to the first That all Bodies when tending to perfection may truely Ferment they are required In the first place That there be some parts loose and disjoyned otherwise the Fermentative Particles will not be stretched forth or move from place to place Wherefore in the more hard compacted things or in viscous things or too much boyled or evaporated to a spissitude or dryness Fermentation does not succeed What are Liquid as Wine Beer the Juices of Fruits and Herbs easily and quickly swell up next to these what are soft tho they are of a thicker Consistency as Bread and most Eatable things and Medicinal Compositions Secondly It is required that there be an Heterogeneity of parts or a confusion of all the Principles together to wit that some Particles do oppose others and stir them into motion For the more simple Bodies in which one or at most two Elements only are strong with a very small proportion of the rest are unapt to Ferment because like Particles or Symbolical Elements lie benumed and quiet But between the unlike there arises presently a strife for domination and some provoke others into motion Thirdly There is a third condition that there be neither too much Crudity nor Maturity of parts in the body Fermenting In the former the active and subtil Particles are not easily extricated from the more thick nor are brought into motion as it appears in Juices which are pressed forth from unripe Fruit also in Beer which is made of Barly or Mault not come forth or germinated In the latter the Particles being made too volatile are not contained in the bond of the mixture but presently evaporate and dispose their Subjects to Putrefaction Wherefore Juice expressed from Summer Fruits or others too ripe will not easily pass into Wine but it will quickly corrupt And for this reason extravasated blood milk and urine do not Ferment but quickly putrifie As to the second thing proposed there are many ways by which Fermentation is either promoted or hindred The first and chiefest is the adding of a certain Ferment to the body Fermenting the Particles of which when being first placed in vigor and motion may raise up the others idle and sluggish in the to-be-fermented Mass and may drive them into motion But there is a two-fold Ferment either absolute which is the same kind of Body in which the active Particles being altogether placed in their vigor are notably in motion and so whilst they are committed to the Subject in Fermenting snatch with them into motion other Particles there of the every kind before sluggish by this means Barm or Yest beaten Eggs and such like stir up a Fermentation almost in every thing Or the Ferment is respective to wit which consists of Particles very much of one kind which meeting other of another kind in the Mass to be Fermented grow hot with them and so produce in the mixture a turgency or rising up of all the parts together After this manner Saline Particles having gotten a Flux grow very hot with other Salines either fixed or alchalisate as appears when acetous Liquors are poured on Corrals Harts Horn shells of Fishes also when the Spirit of Vitriol and the Salt of Tartar are put together a great ebullition is excited There are some accidents and external circumstances which variously conduce either to the provoking or hindring the motion of Fermentation of which sort are chiefly the condition of the Ambient Air the placing or laying up of the body Fermenting and the means of conserving it The Southern Air in which hot and humid Particles every where abound which also entring easily any Bodies obtain the force and place of a Ferment impresses a notable motion of Fermentation in very many things Wherefore in drinkable Liquors it doth not only raise up at first the force of effervescency or growing hot but also for a long while after induces new swellings up in them being Fermented On the contrary the Cold and Northern Air binds up and very much fastens Bodies and in very many things hinders the fusions and flowings of the Elements and oftentimes either hinders Fermentation from being stirred up or restrains it being begun Also the hot Summer Air because it too much moves the active Principles drives away the Spirits and subtile parts exalts the Saline and Sulphureous into a Flux and so perverts their equal motion and either the Sulphur or Salt being too much carried forth it easily brings to Bodies a rancidness or putrefaction or a mouldiness which nothing favours the business of Fermentation It is a vulgar opinion that some select times of the year to wit those in which the Vegetables of every Kind flower cause anew the motion of Fermentation in the Juices and other things prepared of them after they had Fermented a long time before so that Beer when the Barly and Wines in the time that the Vine flowers conceive risings up or new Fermentations they say also that Bread and Flour when the Wheat is in Flower is want to become sooner musty and moldy also that spots or stains of the Juices of Fruits as the Mulberry Blackberry Rasberry and such like being in Cloaths are wont to be gotten forth again at that time when those Fruits are Ripe Concerning these things I ingenuously confess that I have not made tryal of them by my own proper observation so as to dare to affirm it for truth in every part I will therefore lightly pass them over for it would both grieve and shame me lest I should relate false things to Philosophize concerning doubtful things Concerning the laying up of the Fermenting Body these things are chiefly to be observed When things first being to Ferment that they are not to be shut up in too close Vessels neither while the Liquors are hot are they to be put into Bottles or Casks For the Particles at first boyling up and as it were rarified desire a very large space wherefore the Fermentation of Wine or Beer is begun in open large Vessels but when they grow less hot those kind of Liquors lest the Particles being set and moved into motion too much should fly away from the Subject they are kept best either in a cold Cellar or close Vessels In the preparation of Vinegar we observe the contrary to wit it is wont to be placed in a hot place near the Chimney or Oven or exposed to the Suns beams to the end that the vinous Spirit being depressed the Saline part might be exalted into a Flux and so might give a sharpness to the Liquor There is another observation that Liquors do Ferment better in
pass to Beer Beer is made of Mault or Barly germinated and dryed which is performed after this manner First the Barly is put into common water for three days that it may intumifie or swell then the water being let out from it it is flung in a heap upon a dry floor moving it twice or thrice a day lest it grow too hot until it begins to germinate or bud forth or put out little shoots of Roots Afterwards by frequent casting it about it is hindred from germinating or springing forth any farther and lastly being lay'd upon a Kiln it is made dry by rosting it by this means it yields a meat wonderfully sweet The reason of this kind of process is this the Barly is permitted to spring forth that its active Principles might be brought or set into their strength or exaltation for when it germinates the Spirit Salt and Sulphur at first asleep and sluggish do swell up or grow big together and their sluggishness being cast off they are prepared to exercise their powers The other preparations hinder the Barly from germinating further lest that its Principles being very much loosned should exhale too much and fly away from the Subject The Meal of the Barly thus prepared grows sweet because the active Principles are set in exaltation like Fruit brought to a maturity wherefore also the Liquor impregnated with this Meal grows very turgid or big with Spirituous and Fermentative Particles when the simple decoction of Barly scarce Ferments at all nor is kept long but that it becomes musty and insipid But Beer is made after this manner upon the Meal of the Barly prepared as above said boyled water is poured and is suffered to be macerated or mashed for some hours that it may be sufficiently impregnated with the active Particles of the germinating Barly now placed in their vigour This Liquor being satisfied or filled is drawn off clear from its setling and is lastly boyled that it might get a somthing more thick consistency and be able to be kept the longer Then when it is somwhat cold it is Fermented a Ferment or the flowring of Beer or Yest being put thereto and so tun'd up in a Barrel Concerning its Fermentation these things are especial worthy of observation If it macerate with or stand too long on the Maulted Meal the Liquor becomes thick and clammy and afterwards will hardly Ferment or Work at all the reason of this is because the active Principles in this work are of a prompt motion and move together with them the earthy Particles with which if by a long stay the passages and pores of the Liquor are filled being too full they are wholly obstructed and as the contents in the Stomach stuffed to a surfeit scarcely Ferment at all If too hot or too cold the Liquor be put into the Barrel as in the great heat of the Summer or the cold in the Winter Fermentation doth not rightly succeed for by too much heat the Particles are dissipated one from another that they cannot mutually take hold of one another and so work by too much cold they are bound up and fixed that they scarce enter into motion neither perform it strongly When the Liquor of the Beer Ferments in the Vat the active Principles do on every side explicate themselves they precipitate in the bottom the more thick and Earthy being partly driven as it were into flight and partly sticking to them they lead them as it were Captive to the top and there make hollow bubbles continually growing up and bring them as it were to servitude After a due Fermentation the whole space of the Liquor is rendered clear and without dregs in which the Spirits with a little Salt and Sulphur do abound in the mean time in the settlement or dregs a little of Spirit and Sulphur with a greater plenty of Salt and Earth remains So long as these shall be in their places the Liquor will be clear sweet and Spirituous but if long kept or not shut up closely in a Barrel great part of the Spirits will fly away in the mean time by the defect of these the Saline Particles being exalted and having gotten a Flux impregnate the whole Liquor and make it sowr for when Beer as also Wine goes into Vineger it doth not happen because they are wholly deprived of Spirits for so they would degenerate into a tastless thing but because the Tartareous or Saline parts are carried forth to a Flux and infect the Liquor with their sharpness in the mean time the Spirits being less in power are depressed that they cannot resist them Very hot weather Thunder the noise of great Guns or the tunning it in the open Air suddenly makes Beer grow sowr for by these means the Spirits being disturbed in their equal motion are dissipated and in the mean time the Saline or Tartarous parts being before separated and depressed are moved and carried forth into a Flux Indeed it plainly appears that the Spirituous parts in Vinegar are not wholly destroyed but suppressed only whilst the Saline are placed in a Flux because from Vinegar may be Distilled a Liquor exceeding hot and burning like the Spirit of Wine after this manner With the Distilled Vinegar a Salt is extracted from Minium or Lead Calcined of which you have plenty and shall distil it in a Retort the Vinous and burning Spirit is driven into the Receiver the reason of which is because when the Saline Particles of the Vinegar are united with the Salt of the Lead the Vinous Spirits yet remaining are then freed and having obtained their own right they are urged from their lurking places by the heat of the Fire but those Spirits are not produced from the Lead because if you give thereto a more vehement Fire the Salt of the Lead will be melted into a Metal But we will return to Beer from whence we have digressed to which how great a perfection happens by Fermentation appears by this experiment If you take Beer new made not yet purged by Fermentation and place it to be Distilled in a Bladder or Cucurbit only a vapid or tastless water ascends without any Spirits and strength at all but if you proceed after the same manner with Beer truly Fermented you will have a hot water and highly Spirituous And this takes away the objection of some who say that water being even impregnated with the Meal of Mault should not be any more boyled lest the Spirits should exhale because the Spirits before Fermentation are so obvolved with the more thick Particles of the rest that they cannot break forth from the Concrete The more the Beer is impregnated by the Mault the stronger it is keeps the longer without sowring which is helpt if Hops be boyled therein from which at first it grows bitter but afterwards recovers a grateful sweetness the reason of this is because the pores of Liquor which are empty of the Particles of the Meal when they are possessed by
those of the Hops the consistency is made more compact and is more full of Fermentative Particles wherefore there is not quickly given any room for the Flux of the Salt But that the Liquor being at first bitter afterwards grows sweet happens for this reason because the Spirituous and Sulphureous parts supplyed by the Meal of the Mault come not so soon to Maturity because of the others mixed with them from the hops being boyled therein but when this happens that they grow to maturity they easily excel all the others and impart a sweetness to the whole Not only Hops being boyled in Beer keep it long from sowring but also many other bitter or sharp things do the same for these forasmuch as they exceed in a Volatile Salt hinder the flowings of other Salt wherefore some are wont to put into the Barrel a piece of Sassafrass Wood the tops of Wormwood Broom the Firr-Tree the rinds of Oringes also Spices in a small quantity by which means the Drink tho of a smaller substance is kept a long while from sowring Thus much concerning the preparation of Beer on the consideration of which as also of Bread we have stayed long because the word Fermentation is chiefly due to these Let us pass next to Wines Excepting the Blood of Animals there are no Liquors that grow hot like Wines there is found in none a greater plenty of Spirits Salt and Sulphur or a more remarkable turgescency or swelling up The Fermentation of Wines and the handling of them Fermenting are wont to be taught among the Vintners or Wine-Coopers as a secret only to their Apprentices or the Adepti of their Art Among them there is delivered a certain Physical Science or Method of Medicine by which means the impurities of Wines are purged forth their heats attempered or also their defect or sickness may be healed There are many ways to be used besides that of sophisticating as a secret by which depauperated and tastless Wines are sold for sound and rich But as to our proposition that the Doctrine of Fermentation might be illustrated these three things ought chiefly to be considered concerning Wines First Their defaecation or cleaning and their going into parts Secondly Their immoderate effervescency or growing hot from what causes it is wont to be stirred up and by what means to be suppressed Thirdly The declination of them when they grow worse and by what remedies they are kept that they do not quickly pass into a tastlesness or Vinegar 1. As to First That Fermentation may begin in the Must there is not as in Beer required the putting to any Ferment for the Juice being expressed from the Grapes doth so greatly swell up with active Particles or Principles that it presently of its own accord grows remarkably hot but it is a usual thing in some regions when the Grapes are trod to besprinkle them with Quick Lime by the provoking of which as a Ferment the Liquor pressed forth grows more fervent and is sooner purged The Must or new Wine is at first put into open Tubs for that they cannot be contained in close Vessels for their great heat or working which so boyls up that water over a Fire grows not more hot when the Wine is a little cooler it is put into more close Vessels in which it is further purged by Fermenting In the purifying the Spirituous and Subtile Particles greatly shake the more thick dregs and dismiss them from themselves on every side that the Mass of the Vinous Liquor being made free from the mixture of the dregs is rendred clear and without dregs The Faeces or Lees of the Wine consist of Salt and Sulphur with a little Spirit and plenty of Earth which whilst the Wines grow hot being separated by degrees either by Coagulating themselves mutually are affixed to the sides of the Vessels under the Species of Tartar or like Lees or Mother settle to the bottom In the mean time the Liquor swimming over them is very clear and exceeding Spirituous Somtimes the defecation or clearing of Wines is hardly brought about as a Vinous Liquor is not easily freed from the mixture of Tartar wherefore Vintners are wont to put to the Wines some Bodies that either clear them or precipitate them so as the Earthy matter swimming in them may sooner settle to the bottom The things which so clarifie Wines are of two sorts for they have either viscous parts as Glew the Whites of Eggs and such like which stick close to the faeculencies of the Wine with laying fast hold on them and carry them with themselves towards the bottom Or else they abound in a precipitatory strength which while they enter into the pores of the Liquor thrust forth the more thick Particles from thence and strike them down to the bottom as are the dust of Alabaster Calcined Flints and such like 2. Wines tho at first they were well cleared yet afterwards they conceive immoderate effervescencies so that the Tartar being stirred up from the bottom it at length mingled with them also the Spirits being loosened now the Sulphureous Particles now the Saline being too much carried forth render the Wines unsavory clammy or sowr We will consider these things from what Causes they come to be so and by what means they are Cured Wines very often contract heats when they are full of Tartar or too rich Lees For Tartar or Lees tho separated from the Liquor of the Wine and depressed to the bottom of the Vessel yet for that they consist of plenty of Salt and Sulphur they still send from themselves Fermentative Particles by the inspiration of which the Wine is kept in an equal motion of Fermentation and as the Wines are leasurely ripened so the Salt and Sulphur which lurk in the Tartar are by little and little exalted until at length being carried forth to a Flux they infect the Vinous Liquor with a troubled feces or dregs and compel it to grow immoderately hot and to boil up Against these too great heats of Wines there is a necessity that they be presently drawn off or rack'd from this too rich Lees and put into another Vessel or else it comes to pass by reason of its too great disturbance the Sulphur being very much exalted that they become unsavory and ropy or the Spirit being lost and the Salt carried forth to a Flux they contract a sowrness and turn to Vinegar Neither doth Wine grow more hot than it should do only from Tartar or too rich Lees but by too great agitation immoderate heat or by an extraneous or strange Body put to it and not miscible or that cannot mingle with it for by these and other ways the Sulphureous part of the Wine grows hot and from thence conceives a fervour and undue boyling up for the setling of which besides the racking or drawing it off from one Vessel into another they use to pour plenty of Milk into the Pipe or Barrel by whose mixture the heats and
together disperse a very stinking smell together with these the watery parts flow forth and the frame of the subject breaks or falls down into Earth or a Caput Mortuum This kind of process may be observed both in natural things and also in Subjects prepared by Art Concerning Natural things the disjunction of the Elements and their separation into parts may be seen both in the death of living Bodies or the extinction of life and vegetation and also in the corruption of them being dead and in their reduction to a rottenness As in Vegetables the growth and maturity depend on the combination and mutual cleaving together of the Principles so the decay and death depend on their going asunder and separation in Plants and Fruits being by degrees exalted from a crude and sowr Juice by Spirit and Sulphur they come to maturity to which a sweet tast and smell and a pleasant colour happen then presently the same matter the Spirit and Sulphur and the rest of the Elements leisurely flying away from the subject is soon reduced to a filthiness and rottenness If after the subtil and more pure Particles of Spirits and Sulphur are flown away there still remain plenty of Earth and Salt with some Sulphur the matter does not putrifie but grows dry with an hoariness but if the thick Salt and Sulphur having gotten a Flux break forth from the Subject together with the rest the bond of the mixture being loosened presently the external humidity possesses the spaces left by these and the Body is resolved into rottenness Also all Animals whatsoever have set bounds of their growth and duration For they ascend from their beginning by slow increase to motion and sensation then to the strength and exaltation of Nature in which point they stay not but from thence by equal steps make hast towards their fall If the cause of this kind of limitation be required we say that Mother Nature hath placed in the primigenious seed of every thing such a stock of Spirit Salt and Sulphur which might suffice for the producing the utmost thrids or lineaments of Bodies so that the growth and ascent of the thing to its height or acme is only an evolution or unrowling of that radical matter and protension or stretching it self forth into a greater dimension in the mean time the little spaces and vacuities which are made by the protraction of this matter are filled up by the active Particles supplyed by Nutrition which also by a continual series of motion are ripened exhaled and give place to others succeeding As soon as this seminal matter is unfolded and exalted to the height that it cannot be moved or expanded further the matter is then brought to the state of its perfection from thence some Particles of this Radical substance together with the secondary supplyed from the Nourishment begin to evaporate and others dayly and then others being after this manner consumed both the solid parts by degrees decrease in their substance as also the Nutritious Juice and Blood even decline for the worse till by a long wasting the props of the Body are made dry or withered and the blood so depauperated that it will not suffice for sustenance to the vital fire just as it may be perceived in a Lamp if the Oyl being continually consumed in its place be put water the Liquor is rendered poor and diluted that it is not able any longer to cherish at all the flame of the wick When the Life of Animals perishes either it expires after the aforesaid manner leisurely and like a Candle or Lamp is extinguished the Oyl or Tallow being consumed or it is choaked by a hasty death being snatched away by Fate or the violence of a Disease presently the Spirits with Salt and Sulphur flowing together in the blood and also planted in every part cease from their regular motion and are moved into confusion then they partly exhale from the pores with the vanishing heat and partly being shut up within in the Cavities inordinately Ferment with the remaining Particles and make a swelling up of the inwards and of the whole Body But afterwards the frame of the solid parts being by degrees loosened and the Sulphureous Particles together with the Saline having gotten a Flux begin to evaporate from thence a strong stink and corruption arise The active Principles breaking forth by heaps do often mutually take hold of one another and being combined in the superficies of the Carcase produce Worms at length when they are wholly exhaled from the Subject what remains falls into dust It is a usual thing for Worms to be generated in Vineger when it is corrupted and lost its strength which being exceeding small and somwhat long and smooth like Eels swim in the Liquor and may by the help of Glass be exposed to our Eyes these beeing seen it is commonly said that the sharpness and pricking of the Vineger proceeds from these little Creatures which is a vain thought that deserves not a refutation for they are only to be found in dead Vineger and I pray from whence have they their teeth sufficient for the gnawing of Iron But the whole corrosive force of Vineger is more truly referred to the Salt having gotten a Flux in the mean time those little Creatures seem to be begotten by this means it is sufficiently known that when very many Subjects are brought to putrefaction the active Principles being thrust out of doors yet still affecting their old dwelling remain somwhere about the neighbourhood and being joyned together do often produce living Bodies wherefore when moist things putrifie most often little Worms grow on their Superficies but in Vineger the business is a little different to wit because the Elementary Particles are more fixed therefore when the mixture of the Liquor is wholly dissolved the active Principles although loosened yet breaking very hardly and difficultly from the substance meet together in the bowels of the Subject and there mutually cherishing one another cause those little Creatures in the midst of the waters Also the Bodies of living Creatures being prepared for our Food are disposed towards putrefaction if they are put up for some days till the active Particles are loosened and begin to be in motion tending to exhalation wherefore both the Flesh becomes more flaccid and in eating more tender and soft and if they are kept longer till the Saline and Sulphureous parts being carried forth into a Flux do break out presently a stinking smell and putrefaction is induced There are many ways whereby flesh is wont to be kept from putrefaction the chief of which are that it be pickled with Salt or Spices Things are kept a long time incorrupt and very grateful to the tast with Salt Dead Carkases are imbued with Spices that they may remain a long while in their Sepulchers As to the first Brine or salt Pickle hinders the eruption of the Sulphur and fixes it in the Subject by its embracement and retains it Spices
readily thrust out of the little spaces of the Menstruum and descend to the bottom We will in this place more sparingly insist upon instances of this nature because the more full handling of them belongs to the Chymical Work Precipitation is not only observed in the separation of a more thick matter from a serous latex and in the settling of the disturbed parts towards the bottom but somtimes the Particles shut up within the pores and passages of the Liquor are so small and subtil that being Precipitated they are not discerned by the sight neither do they quickly descend to the bottom but from their situation and position being variously changed the colour and consistency of the Liquor are diversly altered I was wont in times past to sport with the solutions of Vegetables and Minerals which being made by themselves were clear like Spring water and appeared bright being commixed shewed now a Black colour now a Milky Red Green Blue or some other kind The solution of Saturn or Lead being made with distilled Vinegar appears bright like common water if you add to this Oil of Tartar like clear water the mixture straight grows White like Milk If Antimony calcined with Nitre be boiled in Spring water the straining seems clear and almost without smell which yet being dashed by any Acid thing presently acquires a deep yellow colour with a most wicked stink Common water being imbued by an infusion of Mercury Sublimate is presently tinged with yellowness by Oyl of Tartar dropped into it Quicksilver and Sal Armoniack being beaten together and Sublimated in a Matrace by the heat of Sand go into a white powder this being soluted by melting shows like to clear Spring water which yet being smeared upon Brass or Copper appears like Silver and being lightly rubbed on brasen Vessels renders them as if they were perfectly silvered A solution of Calcined Tin being put to melted Salt of Tartar becomes bluish A clear infusion of Galls being mixt with a solution of Vitriol makes Ink if you add to this Spirit of Vitriol or Stygian water the black Liquor is by and by made clear like Spring water and this Oil of Tartar reduces again to Ink. And what is more wonderful if you write on Paper with the clear infusion of Vitriol and frame any Letters what you so write presently vanishes nor is there any marks of the Characters left but if you smear over the Paper with an infusion of Galls presently the Letters may be read as if wrote with Ink which yet with a Pen run over dipt in Spirit of Vitriol you may put quite out at once wetting and then again render them with wetting them with another Liquor of Tartar The Sky-colour Tincture of Violets being dashed with Oil of Vitriol becomes of a Purple colour to which if you add some drops of the Spirit of Harts Horn that Purple colour is changed into Green Brasil Wood being infused in common water leaves a very pleasant Tincture like to Claret Wine if you pour to this a little distilled Vinegar the Liquor appears clear like White Wine a few drops of Oil of Tartar reduces it to a deep Purple colour then if the Spirit of Vitriol be poured in it becomes of a pale yellow like to Sack if you add the Salt of Lead being soluted by deliquation the mixture grows presently Milky by this means you may imitate that famous Water-drinker who having swallowed down a great deal of Spring water was wont to vomit forth into Glasses placed before him diversly coloured Liquors resembling the ideas of divers kinds of Wines for Glasses being medicated with the aforesaid Tinctures so lightly that they may not be perceived by the standers by will not only cause the water poured into them to imitate every Wine but will exhibit the very Proteus himself of the Poets changed into waters and from thence putting on all colours and infinite forms If a Reason of these kind of appearances be asked it ought to be fought in the minute Particles contained within the pores of every Liquor which as to their site and position being diversly altered by another Liquor infused transmit variously the Rays of Light many ways break or reflect them and so make divers appearances of colours For when the Rays of Light pass through almost in right Lines they make a clear colour like Spring water but it in their passage they be a little broken the Liquor grows yellowish but being more refracted they cause a red colour if they are bowed back so as to be drained or that they cannot shew themselves a dark or black colour arises but if they are again reflected to the outmost Superficies of the Liquor they create the image of Whiteness after this manner we might variously Philosophise about other colours and their appearances the diversity of which and sudden alterations in Liquids depend chiefly on Precipitation because as the Particles conteined in the Liquor are driven somtimes more near by another infusion that they clasp themselves together somtimes are ordered into other series of positions the diverse representation of colours is made For Liquor being impregnated with little Bodies or Atoms or this Nature most minutely broken seems as an Army of Soldiers placed in their Ranks who now draw into close Order now open their Files and Ranks now turn to the left now to the right hand as is diversly shown in the exercising of Tacticks or the Art Military When two clear Liquors being mixed together shall make Ink it is because the Particles conteined in either approach near one another and as it were placed in their close Orders hinder the passage of the beams of light when afterwards this Ink is made clear by another Liquor poured in it is because the new Bodies of the thing put in disperse abroad the former close joyned Particles and drive them as it were into their open Orders CHAP. XII Of the motion of Fermentation as it is to be observed in the Coagulation and the Congelation of Bodies COagulation and Congelation of Natural Bodies no less than their Solution depend only on these our Principles The improportionate mixture of these and the exaltation and powerfulness of some above others are the cause of either Spirit and Sulphur being loosned from the bond do not only pull assunder the proper Subjects but they set upon whatever is next them and where they are mighty in number and strength they affect nothing more than divorces and separations from the rest of the Principles and suffer no delay but on the contrary Salts love to be united to the rest and to be made into hard and solid substances and being destitute of the Company of the rest presently to enter into new Friendships and desire only not to be joyned to any opposite If at any time they are more impetuously moved either by their own disposition or being soluted they destroy the substance of others this thing seems to be done for this end
destinated as it were by Nature that they might find out Subjects agreeable to themselves and having through War obtained Peace they might at length be more strictly united to them wherefore when Saline Menstruums corrode Stones or Metals they are Coagulated with their Particles and grow together into diversly figured Crystals When we here treat of Coagulation we do not take this word after the usual manner to wit as it is wont to be vulgarly usurped when Milk is become congealed that is departs from its simple and equal Liquor into Heterogeneous substances viz. Cheese or Curds and Whey or thick and thin in like manner when blood or other humors go into parts after that manner they are said to be coagulated also we have elsewhere given this sense to this word tho to speak properly these sort of motions ought rather to be referred to Precipitation than to Coagulation But here we would have to be understood by the term Coagulation an alteration in Bodies of the same kind as when things at first tender and soft grow hard into a stiff and as it were stony matter or any thing is said to coagulate when Saline little Bodies being dispersed abroad in any Subject begin to be congregated and joyned together and from thence united either among themselves or with Earth produce out of a soft and fluid substance a hard and compacted This may be perceived in the shells clearly stony of Fruits and Seed in Bones and Horns of living Creatures in Shells and Shelly scurffs of Fishes all which indeed very much abound with an Alcali Salt or the same Volatilized Among Handicrafts or preparations from human Industry the Crystalisation Vitrification of Salts or making of Glass also the baking of Pots and Earthen ware ought to be referred to Coagulation But it is properly called Congelation when the Saline Particles coming from elsewhere strictkly bind together the Subjects on which they fall fix the Particles variously moved within the substance of the mixture and gather them together that by that means the whole becomes stiff and as it were stony We may behold these kind of effects in Ice and Frost by which soft Mud or fluid Springs of waters grow stiff into a very Marble substance Also the same is manifestly beheld among the Operations of Art in the confusions of some Salts and mutual Concretion in Sublimating by which means they go into a substance now like to Ice now to Snow To which may be added the Artificial turning of water to Ice which is performed by the mixture of Salt and Snow but the instances which we have remarked in either of these about the Works of Art we will in this place briefly run through and a little consider the reasons of them and the ways of being done The Crystalisation of Salts is procured after this manner Salts of every kind are throughly dissolved in common water and their Particles being dispersed through the whole mass of the Liquor wholly disappear afterwards if this liquor be somwhat evaporated that its passages and pores be somthing bound together the little Bodies of the Salt close one with another and mutually take hold of themselves and joyn together the outward cold binding them and are figured in the midst of the water into Crystals proper to their Nature By this means Sal Nitre into Pyramids Sea Salt into Cubes Alum into eight cornered Figures Sal Armoniack into six cornered and other Salts are formed into other Figures of their own accord after a constant manner If the Reason of this be sought after we say that these kind of Salts are not simple Elements but Bodies made up of abundance of Salt with the other Elements mixed with them in small quantity which even as other Natural Concretes are allotted by the first Creator peculiar manners of figurations according to the surpassing strength of Salt and Spirit and commixion with the rest For in determining the Figures of Natural Bodies Spirit and Salt are as the Rule and Compass in describing Mathematical Figures Spirit as the moveable Foot of the Compass or as a Pensil in the hand of an Artist variously excurs and draws here and there diverse fashioned lineaments But salt as the applyed Rule moderates the excursions of the other and determinates them and restrains them within the confines designed by Nature when the Spirit is more powerful than the Salt there happens a greater variety in the Figuration of things as in Vegetables and Animals because the Spirit running forth more largely forms very many Marks of its Pourtracture and describes Bodies not in right Lines but intorted and very much variegated Where the Salt Lords it over the Spirit as in Mineral Concretes and chiefly Saline Bodies grow together in less adorned Figures and are accounted the first and more simple and of that sort as the Mathematical descriptions in right Lines or Circles For those Salts are as it were second Elements and from the implanting of them in Bodies the proper and native Figures of things very much depend and therefore they themselves are primitively imbued by Nature with a certain Elementary Configuration so that according to Plato God in truth exercises Geometry and the first regular Figures are formed in the more simple that things compounded of them might arise furnished with all manner of variety of figures The fixed Salts of Herbs being prepared by Calcination because they are almost destitute of the Fellowship of Spirits do scarce go at all into Crystals nor are they coagulated but by a long evaporation Sea Salt containing a very little Spirit with great Labour goes into Cubes Next to this Alum guifted with a little more Spirit is more easily coagulated and grows into more elaborate Figures viz. eight cornered Sal Nitre swelling with spirit is most easily coagulated and is framed into a more perfect Figure viz. Pyramidical which consists of both Spherical and Right Lines But Volatile Salt such as is distilled out of Urine Blood and the Horns of living Creatures being associated with a plentiful Spirit is drawn into Concretes very much varying which imitate now the Horns of Staggs now the Figures of Plants Out of Mercury with Salt or the Calx of Silver by an Amalgama in the midst of the waters a Silver Tree is formed with Stock Trunk and Branches painted to the Life It is a usual thing in the Winter time for the Air impregnated with Saline Vapors and fallen on the Glass Windows to be condensed into most fair Figures of Trees and Woods So much for the Crystallisation of Salts The other Species of Coagulation is Vitrification of which we will speak next Vitrification which is also said to be the last mutation of Bodies of which Nature is capable and from which there is no going back depends upon a fused Salt and united to an Earthy matter even to its smallest Particle for when either matter is fused by a most vehement fire and divided in its smallest parts the Bodies of
smalness of it in others the Coction of the Aliment is now quicker now slower performed in the Bowels and in the Vessels therefore the temper of the Blood tho but one and always the same Liquor becomes diverse and according to the various disposition of this it may be said that men are Choleric Melancholic or of another temperament Besides because whilst the Blood is made in its Circulation in the Vessels some parts continually grow Old and others are supplied anew hence from Crudity or too much Coction there is a necessity that what is excrementitious should be heaped together which notwithstanding by its effervescency as by the working or depuration of Wines it comes to pass it is separated from its Mass viz. the watry humor fixed in the Bowels or solid parts is it which is called Phlegm some Reliques of adust Salt and Sulphur being separated in the Liver and received by the Choleduct Vessels are called Choler the Earthy feculences being laid up in the Spleen are termed Melancholy In the mean time the Blood if rightly purified ought to want Choler Phlegm and Melancholy even as when some Wines or Beer are purified the more light Particles are carried upwards which constitute its Flowers or Head and the dregs are prest down to the bottom which grow together into Feces or Tartar yet none can truly say it Wine or Beer is composed of Froth Tartar and a Vinous Liquor But as these humors commonly so called are made out of the other Principles viz. Choler out of Salt and Sulphur with an admixtion of Spirit and Water and Melancholy out of the same with an addition of Earth and as the blood is immediately forged out of these kind of Principles and is wont to be resolved sensibly into the same I thought best the common acception of humors being laid aside to bring into use these celebrated Principles of the Chymists for the unfolding the Nature of the Blood and its affections There are therefore in the blood as in all Liquors apt to be Fermented very much of Water and Spirit a mean of Salt and Sulphur and a little of Earth The blood being loosned by putrefaction exhibits the same separated and distinct Also in the blood contained in the Vessels or being fresh let out from them we may discover their energies and effects besides when in the Food whereby we are fed by the juice of which the Liquor of the blood is made these same are implanted no man will go about to deny that the blood also is made from them wherefore I will briefly run through these and endeavour to shew by what means the Consistency the Properties and the Affections of the Blood are made by them 1. Spirits which readily obtain the chief place are a subtil and greatly volatile portion of the blood Their Particles always expansed and endeavouring to fly away do move about the more thick little Bodies of the rest wherewith they are involved and continually detein them in the motion of Fermentation The Liquor of the blood continually boils up with their effervescency or growing hot and equal expansion in the Vessels and the rest of the Principles are contained in an orderly motion and within the bond of the exact mixture if any Heterogeneous thing or unagreable to the mixture be poured into the bloody Mass presently the Spirits being disturbed in their motion rage shake the blood and force it to grow hugely hot until what is extraneous and not missible is either subdued and reduced or cast out of doors By the irradiation or rather the irrigation or watering of these the Bodies of the Nerves are inflated the Functions of the Viscera and also the Offices of motion and sensation are performed from the want of Spirits also from their motion being depraved or hindred arise great vices of the Natural oeconomy or Government The more quick motion and effervescency of these in the blood above what is in Wine chiefly depends upon the Ferment of the Heart because whilst the blood passes through the Bosom of the Heart its mixture is very much loosned so that the Spirits together with the Sulphureous Particles being somwhat loosned and as it were inkindled into a flame leap forth and are much expanded and from thence they impart by their deflagration a heat to the whole By reason of this kind of expansion and suffusion of heat there is made a continual expence of Spirits which being rarified as it were inkindled continually fly away and are evaporated forth a doors and as long as we live there is made a continual reparation of these by aliments chiefly the most delicate which contain in themselves very much of Spirit and swelling matter from which juice being drawn by digestion and collated to the blood is assimilated to it and fills up its defects When the Blood of Animals is distilled the Spirits like Aqua Vitae ascend of a limpid colour they are made very sharp and pricking by the adhesion of the Salt yet they are not so easily drawn off as the Spirits of Wine but that there is need of a more intense fire to force them because they are hardly driven from the fellowship of the thicker parts with which they are involved 2. That there is plenty of Sulphur in the blood it is plainly seen because we are chiefly fed with Fat and Sulphureous Aliments also the Nutriment from the blood carried to the solid parts goes into Sulphur and Fatness It is most likely from the dissolution of this that the red Tincture of the Blood doth arise for Sulphureous Bodies before any others impart to the solvent Menstruum a colour highly full of redness and when by reason of too great Crudity the Sulphur is less dissolved the blood becomes watery and pale that it will scarce dye a Linnen ragg red The Mass of blood being impregnated with Sulphur and together with Spirits it becomes very Fermentable which however whilst it enters the Ventricles of the Heart there suffers a greater effervescency or rather accension and on the Particles chiefly Sulphureous being inflamed and thence diffused through the whole the lively and vital heat in us depends When the Sulphureous part is carried forth and doth too much luxuriate in the blood it perverts its disposition from its due state that therefore the blood being either depraved or made more bilous or Cholerick doth not rightly Cook the nourishing juice or being inkindled throughout it conceives heats and ardours such as arise in a continual Feaver For the Sulphur being too much exalted and swelling more than it ought stirs up great heats in the blood and they whose blood is more plentifully impregnated with Sulphur are most obnoxious to Feavers By reason of the Particles of this being incocted with the Nutritious juice and from thence carried to the solid parts fatness softness and tenderness come to our Body From the Flesh or Blood putrefying by reason of the abundance of evaporated Sulphur a most evil stink
is only a double Tertian and doth arise from a dispersed matter having gotten a twofold Nest to which I cannot assent and I suppose its begining is to be attributed to a peculiar Dyscrasie of the Blood In this the symptoms of cold and heat are more remiss but its fit is longer continued and oftentimes it is wont to last eighteen or twenty hours This Feaver for the most part follows a Tertian for when the Vital Spirit is very much flown away by the frequent deflagration of the Blood and the Feaverish disposition still remaining the Blood is made weaker it doth not concoct the nourishing Juice or ripen it but perverts almost the whole into a Fermentative matter wherefore it comes sooner to its increase and is gathered together to a plenitude of swelling up within double the time than at first But because the congested matter participates equally of crudity and adustion therefore the heat of the burning is lesser and more unequal and like green wood laid on the fire slowly burns for which reason the fit endures longer Somtimes it happens that a Quotidian Feaver doth arise without a Tertian going before viz. when a Feaverish disposition falls upon a Cacochymic Body or full of evil humors and stuffed with depraved Juices for then the Blood being poor in Spirits perverts in a greater measure the nutritious Juice and in a shorter time gathers to a fulness of swelling up But that which begins an every days Ague oftentimes changes its figure and becomes a Tertian just as a Tertian often goes into a Quotidian because between these Feavers and their causes there is a great vicinity and the constitution of the Blood being a little changed it makes a transition from one to another A Quotidian Intermitting Feaver is not so easily cured as a Tertian For whether it comes at first simple or follows upon another Intermitting Feaver it is still excited from a stronger cause and argues a greater dyscrasie of the Blood which will not presently give way to Remedies But also if this Feaver be of long continuance or comes upon another Chronical Disease it has most often adjoyned to it besides the taint of the Blood the infirmities of the inwards to wit the Blood being spoiled easily affixeth its impurities by degrees heaped up on the Viscera whilst it passes through their Meanders from hence it is that in a Quotidian Feaver the weight of the Ventricle an extension of the Hypochondria Obstructions or Tumors now of the Liver now of the Spleen or Mesentery are joyned together but these kind of distempers are not the cause of the Feaver as is commonly believed but only its product Wherefore in this Feaver besides the simple method of Cure which is shown in the Tertian many other intentions or coindications come under consideration to wit that the Ventricle be cleansed from its load of humors the stuffings of the Inwards freed Infirmities corroborated and that together with these the Dyscrasie of the Blood may be mended and the Accessions of the Feaver may be restrained must by all means be endeavoured from whence by reason of these kind of various intentions we come to the Cure by a longer way In this case Vomits if strength will bear them are of benefit before all other Medicines also Purges whereby the assiduous supply of Excrementitious matter may be drawn forth are often to be repeated Besides these digestive Remedies openers of Obstructions such as restore the Ferment of the Viscera and Blood and correct their evil dispositions are frequently to be administred Wherefore the fixed Salts of Herbs and their Extracts Acid Spirits of Minerals and somtimes preparations of Steel do very much help concerning these main things the task will be hard when by reason of the manifold evil many things are to be done together yet by reason of the assiduity of the Feaverish fit there is leisure for the sick to use few only In Distempers so complicated tho the reason of the method requires the impediments to be first removed and then to Cure the Disease yet I have known this kind of Feaver beset with many other distempers in a Body full of humors often Cured without method and by an Empirical way viz. after a light provision of the whole Ague-resisting Remedies being outwardly applyed have at first stopped the Feaverish fit that then there was time for the Curing the other distempers and more happy occasions of healing were granted I lately visited a Noble Lady who being long indued with a Cachectical habit of Body a month after her lying in being weak and languishing was taken with a quotidian Intermitting Feaver after six or seven fits of it her strength was so much cast down that she could scarce rise out of or sit up in her Bed nor able to take never so little Food tho very slender but upon it most grievous molestations were raised up in her stomach besides the Region of her Ventricle and left Hypochondrium was wholly beset with a hard shining tumor and cruelly painful by reason of her strength being mightily cast down there was no place left for Evacuation but the use of Clysters also her Stomach being very weak loathed all other Remedies unless very grateful and only in a very small quantity In this difficult case circumscribed between narrow limits of Curing I counselled these few things to wit that twice in a day she should take this mixture viz. The magisterial water of Earth-worms two Ounces of Elixer Proprietatis twelve drops Moreover I ordered to be applyed to her Ventricle a Fomentation of the Leaves of Sea-Wormwood Centaury Southernwood with the Roots of Gentian boiled in White-Wine in an open Vessel also that after the Fomentation a Cake of Tosted-Bread and dipped in the same Liquor should be worn upon her Stomach besides Ague-resisting Medicines were ordered for her wrists and with these Remedies only she mist her Ague fit on the third day and remained free from it afterwards then by the use of Chalybeat Remedies she became perfectly well within a short time CHAP. VI. Of a Quartan Feaver IN a Quartan Feaver the period is longer than in the rest to wit which is extended to the fourth day inclusively also its continuance uses to be longer and its cure harder because this Disease is protracted for many months yea oftentimes for years and seldom or scarce at all is cured by Medicines The Fit for the most part begins with cold and shaking to which a very troublesome heat succeeds but more remiss than in a Tertian Sweat for the most part concludes the Fit At the first coming of the Disease the Fits are more grievous and very infestous and keep the sick in their Beds yea they make them lose their strength and vigour of Body But afterwards the trouble is more easily born so that the Fits are suffer'd out of Bed and somtimes in a Journy or being about any business If it continue long it induces the Scurvy or Hypochondriac
growing hot and which constitutes a distinct kind of continual Feaver is excited from a certain malignant and invenomed Ferment by which when the mass of the Blood is imbued and the Spirits and the Sulphureous part together conceive an heat and their burning is not sooner appeased than that either that malignant matter be consumed and cast forth of doors or else a certain coagulation and as it were putrefaction of the Blood from its corruptive venom is induced by which both circulation is hindered and the Vital Spirit extinguished This malignity is wont to arise either from a certain contagion received from without or from some infection begotten within us according to these ways the malignant Feaver Small-pox Measels and also the Plague draw their beginnings and by their contagion far and near set upon many There are therefore three degrees or manners of growing hot by which the kinds of continual Feavers are determined From the subtil portion of the Blood made hot or the Ebullition of the Spirits the Ephemera arises as also the Synochus of one or more days by the Sulphureous or Oily part of the Blood being too hot and inkindled the putrid Feaver is stirred up then thirdly upon an invenomed taint infecting the Blood and congealing its Liquor malignant Feavers depend In every one of these by the depravation or rather corruption of the Alible Juice fresh carried into the Blood the various fits inequalities and critical motions arise But before I enter upon the several kinds of a continued Feaver it is requisite for me to consider how the growing hot of the Blood in a continual Feaver differs from that other which constitutes Intermitting Feavers I say therefore that the growing hot of the Blood in an Intermitting Feaver depends only upon the commixtion of a certain Fermentative matter and not rightly miscible with the Blood and on its growing up to a fulness of boiling over Because of this heat with the Blood in the Vessels and of the deflagration in the Heart the fit is induced because of its growing cool the intermission follows that in the coming between of the fits neither the Spirits nor Sulphur become outragious but the bond of the mixture being kept whole the Liquor is circulated in the Vessels equally and without trouble on the contrary in a continual Feaver the disorders of the Spirits and of Sulphur of either or both together by their proper Ebullition also without the mixture of any other stir up the Ebullition of the Blood wherefore there are required for an intermission besides the difflation or cooling of the Excrementitious matter a deflagration of the inkindled Blood and a reduction of it to its due Temper The Constitution of the Blood in a continual Feaver is of the same sort as of Wines when they grow hot upon too rich a Lee to wit are mighty in Spirit and grow turgid with exalted Sulphur and therefore they conceive a Fervor and greatly boil up of their own accord without the mixture of any other thing In an Intermitting Feaver the Blood is moved after that manner as Wines when they conceive an heat because of somthing poured to them that is not miscible with them Moreover in this Feaver the disposition of the Blood is of that sort as of Wines when in their decay and declination they become ropy unsavory or acid to wit in which the Spirit is depressed that in the mean time either Salt or Sulphur or both together appear above the rest and infect the whole Liquor with their disorder An Intermitting Feaver for the most part is free from danger because the constitutive parts of the Blood altho they should somwhat change their disposition however keep the bond of mixture and whilst they are in power are circulated equally in the Vessels yea they pervert the nutritious Juice into a matter not altogether besides Nature but rather infesting with its fulness and turgescency In a continual Feaver besides the intemperance the mixture of the Blood and constitution of the Liquor are somwhat loosned and its corruption easily follows wherefore this Disease often ends in death further the nourishing Juice is depraved into a matter wholly vitious and altogether infestous to Nature CHAP. VIII Of the Ephemera or Feaver for a Day I Have said the least degree of heat which induces a continual Feaver is placed in the subtil and Spirituous part of the Blood being too much agitated and heated for this like the Spirit of Wine boils up on every light occasion and conceives a fervor by a too great motion of the Body or perturbation of mind by the ambient heat as of the Sun or vapours by hot things taken inwardly as the drinking of Wine and the eating of peppered meats and being irritated by such like For the Spirits of the Blood easily take fire and being impetuously moved are not presently appeased but they move throughly other Particles of the Blood variously confound and snatch them into a rapid and disorderly motion also from this motion of the Spirits the Sulphur or Oily part of the Blood is more boiled forth somwhat more dissolved and somthing more fully inkindled in the Heart by which means an intense heat is raised up in the whole Body But forasmuch as Sulphur is inkindled and inflamed only by small parts and not in the whole that fervor of the Spirits is quickly appeased and ceases wherefore the Feaver which is excited by this means for the most part is terminated within twenty four hours and therefore is called an Ephemera or a Feaver of a day If that by reason of a greater heat of the Spirituous Blood it is prolonged further it rarely exceeds three days and is called an Ephemera of more days or a Synochus not putrid but if it should happen to be lengthned beyond this time this Feaver easily passes into a putrid viz. from the dayly Ebullition of the Spirituous Blood the more thick Particles of the Sulphur at length begin to take fire and involve the whole mass of Blood in its Effervescency even as the Spirit of Turpentine being shut up in a Cucurbit and being put into a Sand Furnace if it be forced with a moderate heat boils up gently as the Blood in a Feaver of a day but if the heat be made more strong the Liquor grows impetuously hot till it breaks forth into a flame to which the inflamation of the Blood in a putrid Feaver may be very aptly compared The Days Feaver and Synochus simple rarely begin without an evident cause Besides what hath been but now said immoderate Labour Watchings a sudden passion of the mind a constriction of the pores a Surfeit also a Bubo or inflamed Sore a Wound the coming down of the Milk in Child-bearing Women are wont to induce them The procatartic Causes which dispose to this are an hot temper of Body an active habit a sedentary life and difuse of exercise The chief beginnings of this Disease depend upon the
presence of the evident cause for either little Bodies of extraneous heat being confused with the Blood like water boiling over the fire make it to boil up or this Feaver is induced by motion or by reason of transpiration being stopped even as Wines made hot by motion or when too closely stopped in the Ton are put into a Fervor but what way soever an inflamation is first excited presently the Spirits become enraged and being moved hither and thither compel the Blood to boil up and to be inlarged into a greater space with a spumous rarefaction wherefore the Vessels are distended and the membranous parts hauled hence follow pain chiefly in the Head and Loins a spontaneous weariness and as it were an inflation of the whole Body If that with the Spirit of the Blood a certain Sulphureous part be also in some measure inkindled a sharp heat is diffused through the whole the Pulse is vehement and quick the Urine red also thirst watchings and many other symptoms infest the reasons of which are added hereafter Concerning the Solution or Crisis of the Ephemeran Feaver and of the not putrid Synochus three things are chiefly requisite viz. a removing of the evident cause secondly a separation and a scattering of the depraved or excrementitious matter from the mass of Blood Thirdly a quieting of the parts of the Blood and a restitution of them to their natural and equal motion and site According as these succeed now more suddenly now more slowly and difficully this Disease is finished in a shorter or longer time 1. The evident cause which for the most part is extrinsick is easily removed and the sick are wont presently to avoid the presence or assiduity of that thing and do perceive a sense of any thing that is hurtful none taking a Feaver from Wine will still indulge the drinking of it as soon as any one grows more than usually hot in a Bath or the heat of the Sun 't is a trouble to them to stay longer 2. As to the Excrementitious matter which ought to be scattered and separated from the Blood this is either brought from without as when the Blood is infected by surfeit drinking of Wine sitting in the Sun or from a too hot Bath with Effluvia or little dry and Fermentative Bodies or this matter is begotten within as when its Liquor is stuffed with recrements or adust Particles from the deflagration of the Blood Either of these matters ought to be separated from the Blood to be dispersed and either by sweat or insensible breathing forth to be thrust out of doors before the Feaver be appeased wherefore when as the pores are bound up and transpiration hindred the Ephemeran Feaver is longer protracted and somtimes passes from a simple Synochus into a putrid 3. The evident cause being removed and this degenerate matter dispersed there is required for the remission a quieting and reducing into order the parts of the Blood for diverse Particles of the Blood being after this manner confused and by reason of the Feaverish heat carried up and down they do not presently get again the former order of situation and position but it is needful that they be by degrees extricated and by little and little restored to a just mixture Although this Disease after the removing of the evident cause for the most part ceases of its own accord within a while yet some Medicinal Remedies may be administred with good success especially when there is danger lest the Ephemeran Feaver should pass into a putrid The chief intentions should be to suppress the fervor of the Blood and to procure a more free transpiration to the which conduce first a breathing of a Vein a slender diet or rather abstinency cooling drinks and a bringing away the filth of the Belly by Clysters Sleep and Rest greatly help above all the rest which if wanting should be procured in time by Opiats and Anodynes Verily altho the Histories and Observations of those distempered with an Ephemeran Feaver contain in themselves nothing very rare yet I shall subjoin an example or two in this place whereby the delineation or type of this Disease may be illustrated A certain young Gentleman about twenty years of Age endued with a strong habit of Body by the immoderate drinking of strong Wine fell into a Feaverish distemper with thirst heat and with a great burning of his Precordia being let Blood he drank a great quantity of fair water and upon it presently a plentiful sweat following he grew shortly well In this case the more thin portion of the Blood being heated by the Spirits of the Wine fell into a rage caused the whole mass of Blood to be shaken and its frame to be loosned more than t was wont and for that reason that hapned to be more dissolved by the Ferment of the Heart and to be as it were inkindled by the active Particles loosned from the mixture until the Vessels being emptied by Phlebotomy the raging Blood was cooled and by the drinking of the water its fervor was attempered then the hot Effluvia being involved together with the adust matter with a copious Serum and sent away by Sweat the Blood at length recovered its due temper Moreover an ingenious young man of a sedentary life and also very much addicted to the Study of Learning when he had for somtime exercised himself beyond his strength in the hot Sunshine he began to complain of the pain of his head a want of Appetite a heat of his Precordia and of a Feaverish distemper all over to whom for that he was wholly averse to Physick I ordered an abstinence from all things whatsoever unless from Small-Beer and Grewel on the second day and so more on the third the symptoms remitted by little and little on the fourth he went home freed from the Feaver without any Medicine CHAP. IX Of a Putrid Feaver SO much for a Continual Feaver which is raised from the most simple heating of the Blood or its lowest degree of inordinate heat that which depends on a greater degree of heat follows viz. when the Oily or Sulphureous part of the Blood being too much heated swells up above measure and as it were forced into a flame and therefore from the similitude by which humid things putrifying conceive an heat this kind of Ebullition of the Blood because it induces an immoderate heat is called a putrid Feaver which name ought to be retained without injury because that in this Feaver the Synthesis of the Blood as is wont to happen in putrifying Liquors is very much unlocked When the Spirits only grow inraged as in an Ephemera the frame of the Blood is somwhat set open and loosened that it is more dissolved by the Ferment of the Heart than is wont and more Particles than naturally use to do leap forth and diffuse a more intense heat but yet the mixture of the Liquor as to its chief parts is conserved But when the Sulphureous matter taking
fire grows hot above measure the bond of the mixture for the greatest part is loosed that its Principles are almost wholly drawn away by the Ferment of the Heart and the active Particles being loosned from the mixture break forth as it were into a flame Wherefore the Liquor of the Blood being after this manner rarified in the Heart and as it were inkindled is from thence carried through the Vessels with a most rapid motion and disperses very many Effluvia of heat from its deflagration Hence the whole mass of Blood like water put over the fire continually boiling distends the Vessels pulls the Brain and Nervous parts raises up Convulsions and pains in them very much destroys the Vital Spirits with its heat wasts the Ferments of the Bowels hinders the Offices of concoction and dispensation often depraves the nourishing Juice destinated for the Nervous stock that from thence exceeding great disorders of the Animal Spirits follow yea almost perverts the whole oeconomy of Nature The course of this Disease shews it self after this manner It rarely begins without a procatartic cause or previous disposition to wit the Sulphureous or oily part of the Blood is first too much carried forth and exalted beyond its due tenor which afterwards either of its own accord like Hay not eventilated begins to grow hot or by the coming of an evident cause it is forced into a preternatural heat But when it grows turgid in the first place by reason of the admixtion of a crude Juice with the Blood now a shivering now heat infests which shew themselves unequally like fire which is covered with green wood sends forth now smoak now flame But at length the fire glowing more largely as here the victor fire spreads it self abroad so there sooner than said the whole mass of Blood is inflamed and is urged at once with heat and a most swift motion Nor is this immoderate heat of the Blood appeased before its active particles being loosned from the mixture and then successively inkindled in the Heart are wholly burned out which doth not happen but in the space of many days And then at length this Feaver ceases when the remaining Liquor of the Blood the Spirit and Sulphur being very much consumed being made lifeless and poor is fit only for a weak and small fermentation From this kind of deflagration of the Blood and also of the alible Juice by the same fire burnt out the recrements or little Bodies of torrified matter are heaped up in the Blood which yet do more promote its fervor and ebullition and for a time increase the Feaverish distemper After the Blood hath very much burned forth and these kind of little Bodies are gathered together to a fulness of swelling up the vital Spirit endeavors a separation and tries to concoct and to overcome what it may these adust recrements and then having put a great many of them into a swelling up a Flux being risen strives to shut them wholly out And indeed in the subaction and seclusion of this matter chiefly consists the event of this Disease for if the vital Spirit being strong the Bloody humor when it hath sufficiently burned forth and shall be freed from these adust particles should recover its pristine tenor whereby it is made fit for motion and a due fermentation in the Heart the sick tends towards health but if by a long deflagration and an inextricable confusion of the morbific matter the liquor of the Blood being wanting of Spirits and more pure Sulphur or those same by the impure mixture growing ill being as it were put under the yoak is rendred so lifeless that it is not any longer rarified by the ferment of the Heart or inkindled by degrees its heat and motion together with Life it self decays The procatartick causes which dispose to this Disease are an hot and humid Temper an active habit of Body a youthful Age the Spring time or Summer season a high and rich Dyet besides the often drinking of rich Wines a sedentâry and idle life a Body full of gross humors and stuffed with vitious Juices but above all the rest it appears by observation that the frequent letting of Blood renders men more apt to Feavers wherefore it is commonly said from whom Blood is once drawn that unless they do the same every year they are prone to a Feaver The reason of this is unless I am deceiv'd by the frequent letting of Blood the Sulphur is more copiously gathered together in the mass of Blood in the mean time the Salt which should bridle it and hinder it from raging by this means is drawn away for the Blood the older it grows becomes so much the more Salt the Salt of all the Elements not evaporating But by how much the more the Blood abounds in Salt by so much the less it abounds in Sulphur for Salt eats and consumes the Sulphur and makes it evaporate wherefore they who are lean and abound with a Salt Blood are less prone to Feavers But when by the letting of Blood the ancient Blood is drawn forth in its stead another more rich and more impregnated with Sulphur is substituted so that it becomes less Salt and more Sulphurous Hence it is that those who often let Blood are not only prone to Feavers but also are wont to grow fat because of the Bloods being more impregnated with Sulphureous Juice The evident causes which deduce the latent disposition of this Feaver into act are of the same sort which procure an Ephemeran Feaver and simple Synochus in this rank chiefly come Transpiration being hindred and Surfeiting By reason of the effluvia being restrained the mass of the Blood being increased in bulk grows turgid and conceives a Fervor as it were from a certain ferment inspired anew and cruelly boyls up from thence presently the pores are more obstructed by the infartion of the effluvia and the frame of the Liquor being loosned the particles of the Sulphur exuberating in the Blood leap forth from the mixture and are inflamed by the ferment of the heart as it were by fire put to them and so they enkindle a very intense Feaver But from a Surfeit both an immoderate fermentation is induced in the Blood and also a nitrous Sulphureous matter apt for adustion and an inkindling is conveyed as it were food to the burning Blood In this Feaver four times or seasons are to be observed in which as it were so many posts or spaces its course is performed These are then The Beginning the Augmentation the Height and Declination These are wont to be finished in some sooner in others more slowly or in a longer time The beginning ought to be computed from the time the Blood begins to be made hot and its Sulphur to conceive a burning untill the ardors and burnings are diffused thorow the whole mass of Blood The Increase or Augmentation is from the time that the Blood being made hot and inkindled thorow the whole burns forth
and goes about this work only when Nature is strong and quiet that she may at once be at leisure for the operation of the Medicine and may have sufficient strength Nor is there less need of circumspection in sweating Medicines and Cordials which if administred in the Feaverish fit do too much strengthen the former violent motion of the Heart and oftentimes break its strength also when the Pulse is very languid if hot and strong Cordials are administred as when a small flame is troubled with a more strong blast of wind life is easily extinguished wherefore t is a vulgar observation that Cordials often accelerate death for that by too much troubling the Blood they sooner beat down strength There is yet the most need of the caution and direction of the Pulse in exhibiting narcoticks for these because they perform their work by extinguishing and fixing the too fierce vital spirits if used in a weak or inconstant Pulse either by diminishing the vital spirits render them wholly insufficient for the Disease or by suffocating them too much cause a perpetual sleep wherefore in a languid unequal or formicating or creeping Pulse opiats are to be shun'd more than a mad Dog or a Snake An unequal and intermitting Pulse has a most evil report from the writings of Physitians yet altho of an ill note does not so certainly portend death as a weak Pulse for I have known many to have recovered tho by those kind of signs condemned to the Grave because the inordination of the Spirits and the Blood may be more certainly and easily composed or allayed than their dejection restored 2. The inspection of Urines in Feavers before all other Diseases whatsoever hath more of certainty and is of greatest use for from hence the conditions of the sick and of the Disease are best known and the medical intentions concerning what is to be done are better directed what observations and rules concerning this thing are vulgarly set forth are so many that it would be almost an infinite labour and tediousness to recount them all it will be sufficient here to note the chief of them Concerning the Urines of persons in Feavers there are chiefly to be considered the colour consistency contents and subsidency or setling The colour of the Urine shews the measure or excess of heat in the Blood which as it is increased and becomes more remiss the Urine also is more or less red the cause of which is the ebullition of the Blood or the effervescency induced from the Feaver to the Blood by reason of which the particles of Salt and Sulphur implanted in the Blood humors and solid parts are more dissolved and incocted with the serum and impart to it a redness even as when Salt of Tartar and common Sulphur being mixed one with another and boiled in water impart a deep red colour to the Liquor The Urines of some are highly red when they are but a little or lightly Feaverish and on the contrary the Urines of others labouring with a Feaverish burning are less coloured Who abound with lively heat and a very hot Blood or are obnoxious to the Scurvy phthifis or hypochondriac distemper when by taking cold condensation surfeit or drinking of Wine they are troubled by any little Feaver they render a Urine strongly red for that the particles of Salt and Sulphur remain exalted in their Blood and before half loosned wherefore there is a necessity that the Feaver urging they are more boiled in the serum on the contrary they who are indued with a cold temper with a faint and weak Pulse being taken with a Feaver with a greater effervescency of the Blood render their Urine less coloured The consistency contents and subsidency of Urines being put as it were upon the same thrid depend all of them on the adust and recrementitious matter which is remaining in the Blood after the Feaverish deflagration if there shall be plenty of this the consistency of the Urine becomes somwhat thicker and after it has stood it is troubled by the cold but if there be a lesser quantity of this or otherways derived than to the Reins to wit by sweat or is called away by a critical translation to this or that part the consistency is made thinner and the Liquor remains clear Also the particles of this matter do inlarge the contents of the Urine which shew themselves diversly according as the nutricious Juice is now somwhat cooked and assimilated by the Blood now altogether perverted and carried into a putrifaction some signs of concoction and assimulation shew themselves in the Urines of Feaverish persons now a laudable Hypostasis now some marks and rudiments of the same A want of Hypostasis and the confusion and perturbation of the Urine denote the concoction vitiated But as this matter is more or less roasted in the Blood the contents are now of a pale now of a red colour like oker By reason that the recrements confounded with the Blood either the Spirit being strong begin to be overcome and separated or the same being depressed too much they are less able to be separated also the contents of the Urine are wont to be more or less sooner or slower separated from the rest of the Liquor and to sink down towards the bottom As to the Prognosticks to be taken from the Urine we may take notice that the colour of the Urine being somwhat more remiss the consistency mean the contents few and the subsiding free or easily collected into a Cloud portend good on the contrary a deep red a thick and troubled consistency thick and cloudy contents which slowly or scarce at all sink to the bottom denote a very great heat plenty of adust matter and its being brought under and secretion difficult or frustrated As to the Medicinal directions the business depends on this that we attend by the frequent inspection of the Urine the motion of Nature and be helpful to the same neither is it to be moved by purge or sweat but when a certain hypostasis of the Urine shews signs of concoction and separation I thought it needless to say any more here concerning this matter because those things are more largly handled elsewhere in a proper place which belong to Urines CHAP. XI Of the Kinds and Cure of a Putrid Synochus or contitinual Feaver ANd thus much for a Putrid Synochus in general in which is described its formal reason according to the accidents and symptoms which are commonly observed in its Figure there are besides I shall not say species but some varieties or irregularities of this Disease in which this Feaver somtimes declines from this common Rule and by reason of some accidental Distempers gets new names and distinctions In the first place therefore a Putrid Synochus is wont to be divided into Symptomatick and essential It is called Symptomatick which draws its beginning from some other Distemper or Disease before excited in the Body so that the Feaver is only a
Liquor easily contracts the taint of this from whence it being made improportionate to the Brain and Regiment of the Animal Spirits stirs up great irregularities in them wherefore upon these sort of Feavers come not only spots and whelks but most often a Delirium Phrensie Sleepiness Tremblings of the Limbs Cramps and Convulsive motions I have often observed that in some certain years Malignant Feavers have increased which have shown their virulency without the appearances of marks chiefly about the Nervous stock because in some presently after the beginning has followed a sleepiness with a mighty heaviness of the Head in others strong Watchings a perturbation of mind with Trembling and Convulsive motions but in most either none or only an uncertain Crisis and instead of it a translation of the Feaverish matter to the Brain besides it is observed that these Feavers creep upon others by contagion and that very many are killed by them that therefore they do deserve to be called Malignant But these kind of Feavers are somtimes first begun from a venomous infection and the Blood being touched with the Particles of the venom conceives of it self an Effervescency and is inkindled as when from a contagion or malignant Air being inspired any one hath fallen into a Malignant Feaver without any evident cause or predisposition But somtimes the Feaverish Distemper is induced from a proper cause and then the seeds of the Malignity either lying hid within in the Body exert themselves in the Effervent Blood or they come from another place by the contaminated Air as it were the Food of the flame before inkindled for it appears by frequent observation in the time in which an Epidemical Feaver spreads that others being any way arisen turn into it Malignant Feavers as also Pestilential for the most part are popular and invade many at once but somtimes they are private and not ordinary so that perhaps only one or two are taken in the whole Region in such a case it is to be suspected that they come not from a malignant Air or Epidemical cause but from a morbous provision of the Body for I have often observed that when in the Spring or Autumn a Feaver sufficiently common hath spread in some City or Town of which very many have dyed perhaps some one on whom an evil predisposition and a more strong evident cause hath brought the Feaver hath lain by it with more horrid symptoms and great notes of malignity in which case that malignity is not to be called common to the Feaver but not ordinary and accidental only Altho the greatest reason of the difference by which these kind of Feavers are distinguished from one another and from other Feavers consists in their deadliness and contagion yet somtimes they are noted with a certein peculiar symptom from which they take for that time both the note of malignity and the appellation of the name hence in some years an Epidemical Feaver reigns which induces to most of the sick a Squinancy another time an inflamation of the Lungs a Pleurisie Dysentery or some other distemper and that oftentimes most dangerous and contagious so the seeds of Diseases not only derived from the Parents by traduction excite their fruits as it were by a certain designation in the same part or member but also those received from an Infection commonly spreading produce in all a distemper of the same mode and figure which yet I think to happen not because the seeds of the venomous Infection respect either this or that Region of the Body with a certain peculiar Virtue but these so affect the mass of Blood by a like manner in all that there is a necessity for the sake of washing away this stain that a Crisis be attempted after the same manner in all For when without malignity the Blood by reason of Coagulation or perhaps other causes is apt to be extravasated the usual places in which portions of the same being extravasated are wont to be fixed are the Throat Pleura Lungs and Intestines wherefore 't is no wonder when from a malignant cause the congelation of the Blood and for that reason an extravasation is induced if the Disease is nested in the accustomed cherishing place of Nature Concerning the causes of these kind of Feavers there is not much business they are for the most part deduced in respect of the malignity from the vicious Constitution of the Air in respect of the Feaverish heat from the morbous provision of the Body either of these are easily made clear by what hath been already said concerning a Putrid Feaver and the causes of the Pestilence If the malignity be stronger than the Feaver and hath induced it the impression of it is to be imputed to the inspired Air or to a Contagion received from others if the Feaver be first its inkindling is ascribed to transpiration being hindred to a Surfeit or to some other of the evident causes above enumerated As to the signs besides contagion and destruction these shew the malignity of the Feaver a sudden loss of strength a weak and unequal pulse and evil affection of the Brain and nervous parts being suddenly induced cruel Vomitings blackness of the Tongue a suffusion of darkness through the whole Body but chiefly the appearances of Spots Buboes and of other marks For the cure of Feavers both Pestilential and Malignant there is greater need of Judgment and Circumspection than in any others whatsoever For when there are two primary Indications to wit the Malignity and the Feaverish intemperance and when one can scarcely provide for the one without detriment to the other it is not easily to be discerned which should first be helped or soonest regarded In respect of the Feaver purging opening a Vein and cooling things do chiefly help but whilst these are performed the Malignity for the most part is increased and being neglected spreads abroad more largely its Poyson against the Malignity Poyson-resisting Cordials and Diaphoreticks are required but these extreamly heighten the Feaver they more shake the Blood and Spirits before inkindled as it were with the blast of Bellows and force all as it were into a flame wherefore here is great need of skill that these things be rightly ordered in themselves and where there is most of danger appearing thence the Curative Intentions are to be more immediatly designed but so as whilst one is consulted about the other be not neglected But in these cases besides the private Judgment of every Physician experience may supply the chief means of healing for when as these Feavers first spread every one almost tryes several Remedies and by the success of them collated together it may be easily reckoned what kind of method is to be relyed on till at last by a frequent tryal or the footsteps of those passing before there is made as it were a high and broad Road for the curing of these sorts of distempers bounded both with various observations and warnings Besides these sort
but for the most part after the deflagration of the Blood continued for six or seven days this remitting and instead of a Crisis the adust matter being translated to the Brain the sick for a long time keeping their Beds with raging somtimes but more often with a stupefaction with great weakness and somtimes with Convulsive motions scarcely escaped at last About the middle of the Summer besides the Contagion and frequent burials this Disease betrayed its malignity and pestilential force in open signs viz. By the eruption of Whelks and Spots because about this time in many there appeared without any great burning of the Feaver an unequal weak and very much disordered pulse also without a manifest expense of Spirits their strength presently became languishing and very much dejected In others sick after the same manner appeared little Blisters or Measles now small and red now broad and livid in many Buboes as in the Plague about the glandulas of these some died silently and unforeseen without any great strugling of the Spirits or Feaverish burning excited in the Blood in the mean time others by and by becoming furibundous whilst they lived suffered most horrid distractions of the animal Spirits Those about to escape from this Disease without any laudible Crisis unless they were the sooner freed by a sweat provoked by Art the Brain and nervous stock becoming distempered at length with a benummedness of the senses tremblings vertigo debility of the members and Convulsive motions did not grow well but of a long time after During the Dog-days this Disease being still infestous began to be handled not as a Feaver but as a lesser Plague and to be overcome only by Poyson-resisting Remedies letting of Blood was believed to be fatal to this Vomits and Purges somtimes tho not often were made use of but the chiefest means of Cure were accounted to be procured by Alexiteriums and timely sweat For this end besides the prescripts of Physicians to be had at the Apothecaries some Emperical Remedies deserved no small praise then first of all the pouder of the Countess of Kent began to be of great esteem in this Country also of no less note was another pouder of the colour of Ashes which a certain Courtier staying by chance in this City gave to many with good success and to others approving of the use of it he sold it at a great price the sick were wont having taken half a dram of this in any Liquor to fall into a most plentiful sweat and so to be freed from the virulency of the Disease That Diaphoretick whose preparation I afterwards learnt from the Cousen German of the Author was only the pouder of Toads purged throughly with Salt and then washed in the best Wine and lightly calcined in an earthen Pot. The Autumn coming on this Disease by degrees remitted its wonted fierceness that fewer grew sick of it and of them many grew well till the approach of the Winter when this Feaver almost wholly vanished and health was rendred to this City and the Country round about fully and wholly Thus you have seen the beginning progress and end of this Feaver at first only a Camp Feaver but at length became Pestilential and Epidemical That at first the Disease began in the Souldiers Camp may seem to be imputed not only to their nastiness and stinking smells but in some sort to a common vice of the Air for as these Feavers come not every year their original may be ascribed partly to the peculiar Constitution of the year Because by that means a more light intemperance of the Air being contracted tho it did not affect the more healthful Inhabitants yet in the Army where evident causes viz. errors in the six non-naturals very much happen to the general procatartic cause there is a necessity for these kind of sicknesses easily to be excited For the constitution of this year was in the Spring very moist and slabbery almost with continual shours to which a more hot Summer succeeding and the infection of the Feaverish Contagion here first increasing still grew worse and disposed all Bodies the more for the receiving it wherefore that this Disease was almost proper to this Region and at this time Epidemical the seed of it ought to be ascribed to its first rising from the Army being quartered round about But forasmuch as it afterwards being made Pestilential and very Epidemical it infected most of the people living here and killed not a few the reason was the evil affection of the Air which because of the intemperance of the year being unwholsom besides by the continual breathing forth of stinking vapours from the Souldiers Camps and the quarters of the sick it became at last so vitious that the infection of the Feaver being dispersed in it was greatly exalted and arose almost to the virulency of the Plague Diemerbrochius relates from the like Camp Feaver arising in the Summer at Spires afterwards another Malignant and Pestilential and then the Plague it self to have accrewed Also it was a sign that this Feaver of ours became at last equal to the Plague it self besides the great force of the Contagion and the frequency of Burials most wicked distempers of the Blood and nervous Liquor being brought presently upon all by it because strength being suddenly overthrown the weak intermitting pulse the creeping forth of measly Blisters the eruption of Buboes argued the Coagulation and corruptive disposition of the Blood besides the Delirium Madness Phrensie Stupefaction Sleepiness Vertigo Tremblings Convulsive motions and divers other distempers of the Head shewed the great hurt of the Brain and nervous stock That the figure or Idea of this malignant Feaver may be painted to the life very many observations or histories of sick people are easily to be had of the many examples of this Disease I shall only mention a few which hapned some years since in the house of a venerable man and as with a mournful slaughter so not without some admiration About the Winter Solstice in the year 1653. a youth of about Seven years old without any manifest cause found himself ill being troubled with a pain of his Head Sleepiness and mighty Stupefaction with it he had a Feaver tho not strong with an ordinary burning which grew more grievous only by wandring fits somtimes once somtimes twice in Twenty four hours space presently from the beginning he slept almost continually also he was wont in his sleep to cry out to talk idly and to leap often out of his Bed being awakned and somtimes of his own accord awaking he presently came to himself and constantly called for drink his Urine was red and full of Contents his pulse equal and strong enough in his wrists appeared light contractures of the tendons and in his neck and other parts of his Body some red spots like Flea-bites At the first was ordered a light Purgation and a frequent taking down of the Belly by the use of Clysters he daily
Marigold flowers and shavings of Harts-Horn in Posset-drink are commonly prescribed and the use of them is general for a long time almost with all people for the same intention we are wont somtimes in a day to give them moderate Cordials but the more hot and strong are carefully to be shunned Purging and Blood letting here are most wickedly enterprised and these tho necessity compelled Physicians dare not meddle with for fear of blame For to defend the Throat and Gutteral parts we put on the outer skin a defence of Saffron dipped in Breast Milk and sowed in a Rag for these by opening the pores draw away the venom outwardly from the most inward part of the Throat also for this end we administer Gargarisms and things to wash the mouth which by their restriction restrain the coming forth of the Small-pox withing we defend the Eyes with peculiar Medicines of Rose-water and Breast Milk with Saffron and such like frequently iterated from the incursion of the Small-pox Besides these sometimes certain most horrid symptoms do trouble which must be timely helped with convenient Remedies somtimes there are present Watchings Phrensie Bleeding at Nose Vomiting Loosness and a falling back of the Small-pox for these and divers others as occasion arises a prudent Physician knows how to provide in which however there is need of great caution least whilst we take care of the smaller matters the great work of Nature shold be disturbed by a too great molestation of Medicines For in all this time there is one and a continued Crisis wherefore nothing is to be meddled with rashly There is required the most care and circumspection of the Physician and Nurses or those that administer to the sick when this Disease is at its height or standing viz. least that when the Small-pox be fully come forth and brought to their greatest height transpiration should be hindered for then the sick are in danger of renewing the Feaver and of the restagnation of the Malignant matter within whilst we study to prevent the one we for the most part bring on the other 3. When the Disease shall be in its declination and the Small-pox begin to wither and Scab the business for the most part is out of danger nor is there much need of a Physician let the sick tho he grow very hungry content himself still with a slender dyet and without flesh if the Scabs fall off slowly we are wont to ripen them with Lineaments and peculiar Medicines to make them fall and care should be taken that they leave not behind them too great pits after the sick having the Scabs every where fallen off and are able to rise and walk about the Chamber the filthy Excrementitious matter in the Bowels is to be carried away by two or three times Purging and then they may be permitted to use a more plentiful and stronger dyet The Measles are so much akin to the Small-pox that with most Authors they have not deserved to be handled apart from them but that either distemper have been treated of together after the like manner and method The essence and cure differ at least accidentally or as they are greater or lesser because in the Measles the whealks rise not up to so great a bulk neither are they suppuritated wherefore the sickness is sooner ended and with less danger This distemper is wont mostly to spread upon children more rarely among those of years or old men also those who first have had the Small-pox are not afterwards so obnoxious to the Measles but in most things either distemper are of kin viz. the evil being contracted in the Womb disposes men only and all men once to the Measles the malignant constitution of the Air and somtimes a surfeit and most often the contagion are wont to bring the hidden disposition into act there are present marks of malignity and the sickness oftentimes becomes Epidemical and with mortality and contagion That I may briefly contract the sum of the matter it seems that the Measles are a certain lighter flowring of on extraneous ferment contracted from the Womb by which some Particles being stirred up into motion make the Blood lightly to grow hot and to be a little coagulated wherefore the marks from thence spread abroad are dissipated without any breaking of the Cuticula or outward skin by evaporation only but the Small-pox are a more full and strong agitation according to all the Particles of the same ferment which causing a greater ebullition and coagulation of the Blood produces far more full whelks and greater in bulk and not to be dissolved but by suppuration or growing into matter when the Small-pox preceed they are not only exempt from the same disease any more but also from the Measles because they consume only some of the Particles of the ferment leave still a disposition to the Small-pox wherefore old men or those of years are not so readily infected with the Measles because they are either freed from the contagion by having before had the Small-pox or else the infection of this more light Disease is easily resisted by their more strong Spirits It were easie to illustrate the afore-recited Doctrine concerning the Small Pox with Histories and Observations of the sick because there is no Disease besides can supply with a greater plenty of Examples or variety of Accidents but of the great number of this kind I shall only propose in this place a few Cases and those remarkable for some irregularities It is a usual thing to handle all that are sick of the Small Pox with a like or wholly the same method of Curing and manner of Dyet wherefore a Physician is rarely sent for to the common sort but the business is wholly committed to some women professing themselves skilful in this Disease and these are wont to boyl in their broths and all the suppings of the sick Marigold Flowers shaving of Harts-horn and sometimes Figs also every night to administer a Bolus of Diascordium and they who grow not well by this kind of Government tho not neglected yet are affirmed to be incurable by reason of the cruelty of the Disease But truly this kind of practice is not convenient for all alike nor to be administred to every one indifferently as these two following Histories will make manifest A Young Man about 20 years of Age of a slender body and more hot temperature began to be feaverish in the beginning of the Spring at first cruel Vomitings an oppression of the heart and frequent changes of heat and shivering a pain in his Loyns a disturbance of his fancy and wakings infested him on the third day the Small Pox appearing those symptoms remitted but still the Feaver with heat and thirst continued Not only the accustomed Decoctions in this Disease but also a most elegant Julep of a most grateful taste were so nauseous and troublesome to him that he would not so much as taste the same but with a great deal of trouble
Because after the Summer solstice the North wind still blowing a cold season remained for a long while so that the Fruit and Corn this year was feared by the Husbandmen would scarce be throughly ripened but after this a little before the beginning of July a most fierce heat followed for several days and when the Dog days were begun the Air grew most cruelly hot that one could scarce indure the open Air. By reason of this heat and cold in excess the temperature of this year was very unequal wherefore there was a necessity for our Blood to be now fixed and as it were congealed now too much roasted and so perverted from its natural disposition to a scorched and melancholly temper also it came to pass that the Pores of the skin were much altered from their right constitution that by that means an insensible transpiration could not be performed after the wonted manner From the time that the former Feaver ceased almost to the end of the Dog days there was a state of health and free from all popular Diseases but then a few here and there among the Villages and in lesser places first fell sick but afterwards about the end of August a new Feaver suddenly arising began to spread through whole Regions every-where round about us also this as the other which spread the last Autumn raged chiefly in Country Houses and Villages but in the mean time few of the Inhabitants of the greater Towns and Cities fell sick At the same time in other Regions situate at a distance from us yea almost throughout England the Epidemical Feaver was said to rage and in some other places to be far more deadly than it was about our Country Perhaps the Idea of this Feaver now reigning had not the provision of its symptoms alike in all places or was noted wholly with the same appearances and accidents yet whatever it shewed in our parts as to its nature I shall briefly and succinctly add from our own proper observation or what I had learnt being communicated from others About the beginning of this Disease its figure was wandring and very uncertain because in some there was a continual fervor in others it was intermitting being renewed by set fits but at this time it hapned to very many as a pathognomic symptom that they were ill in their brain and nervous stock that presently from the very beginning of this Feaver almost all complained of their head being grievously distempered For a cruel headach infested some and hardness of hearing with a noise in the ears troubled others but to most was wont to happen either a stupidness and heavy sleepiness with a vertiginous Distemper or pertinacious wakings with a delirium and distractions of the animal spirits I have observed in some that on the first or second day of their sickness that little broad and red spots like to the measles have leisurely broke forth in the whole body which being shortly vanished the Feaver presently became stronger and especially the Distempers of the head far more grievous From thence a benumedness of the senses and a sleepiness fell upon some for many days that they lay a long while as if dying without speaking or knowledg of their friends I knew others to have fallen from hence into a Lethargy and others cast into an Apoplexie and some into a Phrensie and Delirium Of these the younger and strong men yet not without a long languishment and doubtful recovery most of them escaped in the mean time old men or other ways weak and sickly generally died Those who fell sick with the Feaver as it were continual with those notes of malignity were more rare and the distempered were only sporadically in some houses only But the sickness which most commonly spread about us fell upon most and tho it cruelly raged it seemed to imitate an intermitting Feaver to wit either a Tertian or a Quotidian for that the sick had fits either every day or which I more often observed every other day which infested them grievously and a long while with cold heat and sweat succeeding in order but these kind of fits as also the course of the whole Disease were wont to be noted with diversity according to the age and temper of the sick and with various concourse of symptoms and accidents Yet this was common to most of I had like to have said all the sick that together with the Feaver they were troubled with Cephalic Distempers When therefore any one was troubled with this Disease whether the sickness was excited from an evident cause or Contagion or without any manifest occasion its coming betrayed it self by a pain in the head and often in the loyns with thirst want of appetite spontaneous weariness and heat tho not strong if it hapned in a young Body of a florid Blood and more hot temper the fits wanted the cold and shivering about its beginning but they were very troublesome and sharp with long heat The sick were often troubled with vomiting and their head aked cruelly for the most part sweat difficulty succeeded which being often partial and quickly broke off rarely cured the fit but when the sweat failed they grew hot again that scarce in 18 or 24 hours the fit was finished in some In the mean time from the Blood being very fervent the phantasie was disturbed that oftentimes a Delirium absurd or idle talking wakings and high inquietudes were stirred up during the fit but the same being finished in the time between still a troublesome thirst a slow heat languor of spirits and great debility of strength with an headach and a vertiginous Distemper for the most part molested them It was rarely found for any to find themselves indifferently well as in a common Tertian between the fits About the beginning of the Disease the feaverish fiercenesses were somewhat more mild which afterwards at every turn leisurely grew worse and then began with cold and shaking to which nevertheless after a long and very troublesome heat sweat very hardly succeeded in most so that the fit rarely ended in its due temper Within six or seven periods the strength of the sick was much cast down that being made languid and weak they had an hard task to struggle with the Disease because unless Nature were succoured by Art the Feaver still prevailed and rarely or never in a short time was it cured by a Crisis or leisurely remitted but it brought the sick into great streights by its long siege and still persisting till the Blood being by its frequent deflagration made very liveless and watery was unable to grow too hot in the Vessels of its own accord or to be inkindled more plentifully in the heart and then oftentimes became so dead and wanting of spirits that being insufficient for the continuing of the Vital Lamp it brought in Death But sometimes the mass of Blood being depraved and made poor by this Disease was able tho hardly to continue the half extinct Vital
Fire and to renew it by little and little with spirit and vigor in a long time yet in the mean time after the heighth of this Disease when the Blood being made more weak and impure could not expel forth of doors this feaverish matter or adust recrements by a critical motion it often transferred it to the Brain and therefore about the height of this Feaver a torpor and stupidity of spirits sleepiness vertigo tingling of the ears tremblings and convulsive motions with a great oppression of the whole animal faculty were most often induced Men of a more cold temperament or in years who were taken with this Disease altho they were but little feaverish were wont however to be in greater danger of Life because in these besides the disposition of the Blood not easily reducible also what was gathered together in the fits that was extraneous and not to be mixed was hardly subdued and difficultly sifted forth of the mass of Blood wherefore both the Blood was still more notably depraved in its Crasis and in every fit more infected by the impure mixture Moreover the nervous Liquor was greatly perverted from its due temper and defiled most badly by the adust recrements continually poured on the Brain Therefore when old men melancholic or otherways sickly persons fell into this Feaver they became presently after its first assault stupified and for the most part vertiginous Tho in the fits the heat was not very sharp and piercing they were however very unquiet and still tossing about oftentimes they talked idly and at random after a long burning either no sweat or only partial and often broke off followed whereby the fit was not fully helped but that in the whole intervals the sick were thsrsty and remained very ill with a driness of the mouth a scurfiness of the Tongue and a suffusion of a viscous filth After some fits their strength being exceedingly cast down they were wholly fixed to their Beds or rise only for a little while could scarce stand or set a foot before another to move from place to place or able to walk in the mean time they laboured with a languishment a difficult breathing a nummedness of senses and a great debility of the whole nervous stock The Urine in most was highly red of a more deep colour and of a thicker consistency than in a common Tertian The Pulse whilst the strength was not wholly cast down for the most part was strong and equal afterwards when the sick became very languishing it was weak and unequal and oftentimes intermitting to which also constructures of the tendons and convulsive motions in the wrists being joyned were for the most part prognosticks of Death Those who leisurely being debilitated declined towards Death some little time before they died lay for the most part without speaking or knowing those about them as it were stupid and it rarely hapned in this Feaver that any one about to die was so perfect in their memory and intellect as to dispose of their Family affairs or to take leave of their friends But it hapned to those who escaped from a deep languishment and almost desperate condition not quickly or suddenly to recover from their manifest evil disposition but lying a long while wavering stupified and without strength that Nature at length not but after a doubtful and difficult strife got indeed scarcely the better of the Disease and then recovered strength by degrees and health lingringly and slowly If the nature and formal reason of this Epidemical Feaver but now described be demanded we say that this as that of the former year properly is an intermitting Feaver for what commonly spread bore that figure altho some here and there more rarely had it continual which we shall by the way mention by and by The seed plot or seminary of this need not be derived from the air being infected with any Infection but rather its leading cause is to be sought from the undue constitution of the year and from thence an indisposition of our Blood being acquired Because in the Spring and Autumn intermitting Feavers have yearly sprung up and increased to wit for that our Blood like to the juice of Vegetables is wont to be more lively moved than usual and to flower at those times Wherefore if the mass of Blood by reason of the foregoing season of the Summer or Winter should be altered from its due temperature and should contract either a sharp or atrabilous disposition or of any other kind its evil dispositions begun before are chiefly ripened about the Equinoxes to wit when the Blood more freely fermenting if that it hath departed from its natural disposition doth not so easily sanguifie but that it will be apt to pervert the alible juice poured to it into an extraneous and feaverish matter When therefore this year had not very much declined from a right constitution as not only the Dog-days going before but that the two solstices and the equinoxes were wholly intemperate it was no wonder if intermitting Feavers more frequent than usual and those noted with some unusual symptoms did increase about the Autumn That therefore an intermitting Epidemical Feaver raged at this time I judg it not to be attributed to the fault of the present Air but to the irregularities of the foregoing season yet from what causes and occasions some symptoms proper to this Feaver and distinct from the common rule of intermitting Feavers did arise will be worth our Inquiry I have already said that the provision that made this Feaver so deadly consisted in two things chiefly viz. the temper of the year now extremely cold then upon it very hot then that it had variously perverted the disposition of our Blood and had distempered the pores of the skin with an undue constitution According to the reasons taken from either I shall endeavour to explicate the accidents of this Disease and to assign the causes of its appearance 1. First We shall observe that the type of this Feaver was various to wit in some with a continual heat in others with an eruption of spots but in most intermitting and like a Tertian and sometimes tho rarely a Quotidian repeating the fits every day or every other day the cause of this diversity we impute to the more strong and potent morbific procatarxy of this year which produced in the Autumn a more common intermitting Feaver than it was wont wherefore in some perhaps indued with a more praved habit of Body it stirred up Feavers something malignant and in whom it caused intermitting Feavers according to the wonted manner of the season it made them to be noted with a peculiar appearance of symptoms 2. Those taken at this time with the Epidemical Feaver whether it was continual or intermitting suffered presently evil Distempers of the head viz. now they were wont to be infested with cruel head-ach now with a stupor or too great distraction of the Animal Spirits The reason of this is that the nervous
volatile or fixed which are therefore of a divers colour and consistency That there is Sulphur contained in Urines their quickly putrifying and stink sufficiently testifie it arises from the fat and sulphureous particles of Meats in the concoction being most minutely broken and boyl'd with the serum and salt so as also there is less plenty of Spirit in it than is in Blood Soot or the Horns of Animals wherefore in the distillation of Urine there ascends nothing almost of an oylie form or fat But indeed whilst the blood is circulated in the Vessels the spirituous and sulphureous little bodies which fall away from it do for the most part evaporate out of dores in the mean time the saline recrements and the watery chiefly constitute the Piss nevertheless Urines do always participate a little of sulphur but its quantity and proportion is diversly altered according to the various degrees of Concoction and Crudity and thence also the colour and consistence receive many mutations in Urines That there is but a very little of vinous spirit in Urines the defect of it in the liquor first distilled forth also the soon putrifying of the Stale do testifie but that there is some the intestine motion of the particles in the Urine doth argue to wit the departure of the thin from the thick and the spontaneous separation of some parts from others and a collection of them into a settlement besides the saline particles for that they are made volatile are married to spirituals and so they are of a more ready motion and energy yet according to the divers plenty of spirits in Urines and their power there arise divers manners of hypostases and settlements also the Urines themselves sooner or slower putrifie The watry part of the Urine far exceeds the rest in quantity and is greater than they by almost a sixth part it is not so simply drawn forth by distillation but that some particles of Salt and Sulphur for as much as they are volatile ascend with it and impart to the water an ingrateful stink the potulent matter copiously taken with aliments affords an original to this which of what kind soever it be before it is changed into Urine lays aside its proper qualities and acquires others for truly from the assumed liquor there is nothing sincere almost left in the Piss besides meer humidity That there is earth and muddy feces to be had in Urines its distillation or evaporation sufficiently declares for when the rest of the parts are exhaled the earth as it were a caput mortuum will remain in a moderate quantity in the bottom Forasmuch as in the nourishing juice there is required something solid besides the active principles of salt sulphur and spirit whence the bulk and magnitude of the body grows the recrements of this viz. the earthy feculencies are plentifully dissolved in the serum and contribute to it a thick consistence and contents but these shew themselves after a divers manner according to the state of Concoction and Crudity These are the principles which constitute the body of the Urine also into which it is easily resolved by a Chymical Analysis Out of the divers changes and various contemperation of these the other accidents of Urine arise viz. Quantity Colour Consistency and Contents which are as to the sense the most notable concerning it and the chief objects of the rendred Urine For when there is nothing almost beheld besides in the Piss they constitute these first Phaenomena in which rightly solved consists the whole Hypothesis of this Science Wherefore we shall speak in the next place concerning these and first of the Urine of healthful people what its quantity may be how coloured with what consistence and contents indued and together shall be unfolded out of what mixture of Elements and by what Concoction in the Viscera and Vessels each of these depend Secondly shall be shown how many ways the Urines of Sick people vary from the square or Rule of this of the Sound and I shall endeavour to assign for the several differences of them proper Causes of their alterations and these shall conclude our first proposition in this Discourse viz. the Anatomy of Urine CHAP. II. Of the Quantity and Colour of the Urines of Sound People THE Quantity of the Urine in sound people ought to be a little less than the humor or liquid substance daily taken for moist and drinkable things dayly taken are the matter it self of which Urines are first made But these hunger and thirst urging are more plentifully required both that they may sufficiently wash the mass of the Chyme by which means it may rightly ferment in the Viscera and that they may serve for a Vehicle both to the Chyme whereby it may be conveyed to the bloody Mass and to the Blood it self that it might be circulated in the Vessels without thickening and to the Nervous Juice whereby it might actuate and water the Organs of sense and motion when the serous Latex by this means hath bestowed whatever it hath almost of Spirit and Sulphur for nourishment Heat and Motion it gives way to a new nutritious humour and it self as unprofitable being secluded from the Blood by the help of the Reins is sent away The nourishing liquor which will at last be changed into Urine of its own nature is divers viz. now watry now impregnated with Spirit now with Salt and Sulphur and according to the various forces of this or that Element in it Urines are wont to be somewhat altered However all liquors taken in at the mouth do not pass thorow our body whole and untouched but that they undergo mutations in various parts and lose a little portion of their quantity before they are made into Urine For the Latex or Humour to be converted into Urine is first of all received into the Ventricle for I assent not to Reusner who affirms the same falling for the most part on the Lungs to cause the more quick making water after drinking whilst that it stays in the Ventricle it is there boyled also impregnated with Salt and Sulphur of its own or from more solid Aliments dissolved then very much of it is confused in the blood with the nourishable juice which when it is a long time Circulated from thence receives a farther tincture of Salt and Sulphur according to the various temper of the Blood and its inkindling in the Heart Hence some portion of it is derived with the Animal Spirit to the Brain and nervous stock and afterwards from thence being made lifeless and weak is lastly reduced into the bosom of the Blood after that it hath bestowed on the Blood and Nervous Juice whatever of generous or noble is conteined in the Serum also no small quantity is consumed by sweat and the other emunctories what remains whilst that the Blood continually washes the Reins a precipitation being made either by a straining or force of a certain ferment it is there separated from the Blood
Serum are not contained in the bond of the mixture wherefore the urine being made these alone leap out and not accompanied with others of the stinking urine and so diffuse a grateful odour which although it proceeds from divers kind of things eaten yet remains still after the same manner like Violets for that in all those sulphureous Particles are set free by digestion from the others joyned with them in the same concrete nor are infected by different ones from the urine But as to what respects the stinking urine that sometimes proceeds from an Ulcer about the Reins Bladder or urinary passages sometimes also it is raised from a too hot intemperance of the Reins or of the whole Body for when the Sulphur is deeply boiled in the Serum its particles being sharpned by the Salines for that they are less closely shut up do presently evaporate and grievously affect the sense of smelling but besides sometimes urines contract a stink from things eaten For the Balsam of Sulphur Garlick Asparagus Cider Rhenish Wine and many other things taken at the mouth do cause a strong smell in the urine If the reason of this be demanded we say that such things which impart a stink to the urine also provoke it in a more plentiful quantity wherefore it seems that these sort of things being taken fuse the blood and greatly hasten the precipitation of the Serum and when by this means the serous Juyce is pulled away as it were abruptly from the blood the frame of the liquor is made lax nor are its parts exactly mixed nor contained in an equal bond of disposition wherefore when this urine is made from the body its frame or substance being before loosned the particles of the more gross Sulphur that is combined with Salt presently breathe out and so diffuse a stinking smell For urine thus altered by things taken seems very like to Lye wherein Antimony or common Sulphur is boiled and is afterwards instilled into some acid thing because in this Decoction as also in such urine the frame of the liquor being unlocked the little sulphureous bodies leap out and affect the sensory with a stinking smell If that any one more curious in the search of Urines shall seek further than the examination of the sight and smell he may easily by a divers manual operation resolve them into parts and as it were dissect them to the life and thence draw Medicinal directions of no small moment for that in many Chronical diseases where the Dyscrasies of the blood are more exactly to be sought into that the proportion and temperature of Salt and Sulphur may be truly found in it it is sometimes convenient to evaporate urines or to distil them something also is to be learned from them being precipitated or loosned by putrefaction I knew an honest Woman greatly afflicted with a scaly filthiness of the skin which she was daily wont to scratch off in great plenty as it were a branny matter Her urine being evaporated in a little Skillet lest sticking to the sides of the Vessel a crusty and salt sediment like the excrement of her skin Not long since I evaporated the urine of a Gentleman grievously subject to convulsive motions and painful stretchings out of the Muscles in the bottom of which there remained a quantity of salt and tartarous matter exceeding the weight of half the liquor By this means it will be an easie thing to find the proportion of the saline Principle in the blood and humours but whether this Salt be volatile or becomes fixed beyond measure the distillation of the urine will presently shew For if the Spirit so called be copiously drawn out of the urine and that besides the Salt ascends into the Alembeck it is a sign of volatilization but the contrary to this argues the fixity of the Salt As the evaporation and distillation of the Urine shew the power of the saline Principle so the precipitation putrefaction and Sulphur lay open the thicker contents of the Urine as it were in weight and measure As to the former although the liquor of the urine be salt and often big with contents yet for as much as its saline Particles are not as it is wont to be in most Menstruums either wholly in a state of fixity or of flux but for the most part volatile therefore it is not easily nor presently by any salt infusion subject to putrefaction the Spirit of Vitriol and other acetous things effect nothing the Salt of Tartar stirs up a little perturbation But the solution of Alum for that it greatly constrains into a little space presently disturbs the whole liquor extremely and delivers all the contents of the urines as they were thrust out of their dens to be seen openly by the eyes Wherefore by this means without any long stay for settlement you may presently know how much of sulphureous and earthy matter is deposed from the mass of blood for recrements in the bottom The putrefaction of Urines is wont to exhibit the several particles of every kind yet more distinct and disposed as it were by themselves for if the urine be left to stand unmoved for many days in the Glass the colour odour and consistency will be very much altered for the colour will be deeper the smell ungrateful and highly stinking the consistency thicker and will have on the superficies a downiness or hoariness sometimes whitish sometimes bluish there will be also fixed in the bottom of the Vessel a thick and copious sediment and often on the sides a sandy or tartareous crust of a whitish or Ash-colour From these kind of appearances and as the urines sooner or later putrifie and so are more or less altered from their former state it may be conjectured what the proportion of Salt or Sulphur may be whether of them exceeds the other also no unfaithful Judgment of the quality and plenty of the earthy matter or the contents may be taken from hence And thus Sir at length you have the Doctrine or Method of Separation of Urine such as our unskilfulness hath rendred it I desire you would be pleased not only to pardon the errours and barrenness of this Discourse but also to excuse it in other things because at first writ by your perswasion and then by your command and request made publick Wherefore pray take care of this child hardly brought forth and almost an abortive and as it were exposed and deservedly laid at your door without portion Farewel Two Physical and Medical EXERCITATIONS VIZ. I. Of the Accension of the Blood II. Of Musculary Motion The first Medical and Physical DISCOURSE Of the growing hot or inkindling of the Blood IT is long since I designed to print my Meditations concerning the remaining Pathology of the Brain and Nervous stock But when many Diseases of that kind affect the animal Spirits and not rarely the whole Hypostasis of the corporeal Soul more immediately than the Humors or solid Parts I therefore thought it
necessary first to publish the Disquisitions of the nature of this Soul and its manner of subsisting and also of its Parts and Powers that from these things rightly known its preternatural Passions may at length be the better discovered But concerning these very hard matters and difficult to be unfolded when I had begun to frame as I think probable and rational Arguments I saw well that they would be looked upon and laughed at by some as unusual things and Paradoxes which indeed it becomes me not to take ill but to let every one freely to enjoy his own sense and to use in all things his own opinion and judgment Among the many things conjecturally proposed by me which I could not avoid two chief Arguments are opposed to wit that I had affirmed that the blood for the continuing of life was inkindled and that the animal Spirits for the motive act were exploded which terms though perhaps they may sound rough and strange to be applied to the animal oeconomy yet if any one shall weigh the Reasons and Arguments which do perswade to the truth of either opinion I doubt not but that there will be none who will not give their assent or easily pardon me for mine In the first place therefore because there are so many opinions concerning the growing hot of the Blood for that some attribute it to an innate heat others to a flame in the Heart some also to a fermentation of the bloody mass and others to its inkindling therefore I shall endeavour more narrowly to introspect the matter and as much as I am able to build upon a more certain Ratiocination its genuine Cause though very abstruse We have formerly discoursed concerning that Soul which is common to the more perfect Beasts with that subordinate or more inferiour of Man and have shewed it to be indeed Corporeal and to consist of two parts the one of these rooted in the blood we called a Flame and the other dwelling in the Brain and nervous stock Light As we shall here only treat of the former I think it will be no difficult matter to make use of the same Reasons and Instances which truly conclude or at least very like truth that in the first place the blood is animate or hath life secondly that this Animation is in its accension or inkindling or consists in an affection most analogical to this 1. Not only the opinions of Philosophers but the undoubted testimony of the Sacred Scripture plainly asserts the animation of the blood to wit the use of blood was forbidden in the Mosaical Law for this reason because the Blood is the Life or Soul which is also apparent by the observation of the most famous Harvey for that its motion is to be observed by the eye shews that it first lives and last dyes For the greater proof of this it is commonly known that Animals only live so long as the blood remains in its due plenty and motion and that they presently dye if either too great a quantity of this be taken away or its motion suppressed But as to the second Proposition to wit that the life or soul of the fervent blood depends upon its inkindling this will appear probable if I shall shew First that the liquor of the blood ought to be very hot in the more perfect living Creatures Secondly that this growing hot can be produced or conserved in the blood by no other means besides accension or inkindling Thirdly that some chief affections as it were proper passions of fire and flame are agreeable to the life only of the blood growing hot Fourthly and lastly these being clearly shewn some other less signal accidents and properties in which common flame and life agree are added and also we will unfold how and in what respect they differ among themselves As to the first we affirm that the blood is perpetually moved in all living Creatures besides in the more perfect it doth estuate or grow hot in act Indeed its undiscontinued motion is required both for the conservation of the disposition of the blood it self whose liquor would otherwise be subject to stagnation and putrefaction as also that being carried about in the whole body it might be able to give a due tribute to all parts For that the offices of the blood at least in the more perfect living Creatures are divers and manifold viz. to instil matter in the Brain and nervous stock for the animal Spirits to dispense the nutritious Juyce into all the solid parts to suggest to the motive parts an elastic Copula and besides to separate all recrements and worn out Particles and to put them aside into convenient Emunctories But although the mere motion of the Blood in less perfect Animals or at least its moderate swelling up such as may be perceived in Wine and other Liquors agitated into Fermentation is able to sustain and perform the oeconomy of Nature to wit for as much as both a crude nutriment is every where received from the river of the blood though cool continually flowing into all parts of the whole Body and that fewer spirits and more thick as it were separated by percolation or straining enter the Brain and nervous stock with that plenty that may suffice for local motion and the Organs of the few senses to be rudely actuated yet the blood watering the bodies of more perfect Animals require offices of a far more excellent kind for it ought not only to be carried about with a continual and more rapid motion but very much to swell up yea actually to grow hot or effervent to wit for that end that its frame or substance being very much loosned it may more copiously send forth the respective Particles of various kinds every where falling off from it and may dispose them here and there for the use and wants of Nature But first for that the animal Spirits are continually to be supplied in great plenty from the mass of blood and that there is need for the elastic Particles requisite for the locomotive function to be thence perpetually poured into all the Muscles it seems very necessary that the liquor from whence these generous and manifold supplements are drawn should be actually hot or rather should burn forth to wit that the aforesaid Particles not sufficiently to be unlocked but by heat or burning should freely run out from the substance or frame of the liquor which truly is manifest because from Wine and also from the same bloody Liquor and all other spirituous things a subtil and spirituous humour is copiously drawn but not to be performed by distillation without heat or fire Yea the sulphureous Particles although they are less apt to be exhaled from any Liquor yet they most readily fly out by inkindling the subject By these there is an apparent necessity of the blood 's growing hot for the perfection of the animal as well as vital function but that it may appear by what means this is done
Lungs in every distemper or affection as of Grief Joy Fear and the like also in the fits of Diseases the Heart is disposed after a various manner and hence it comes to pass that the blood flowing in fluctuates and is inkindled with a diverse rage of which there will be a more opportune place of discoursing when we shall treat of the Passions Whilst we consider that the burning of the Blood and for that reason the vital or flamy part of the Corporeal Soul doth not appear lively or vigorous in all nor ever after the same manner or measure yet it exists according to the various constitutions of the blood to wit as it is more or less sulphureous spirituous saltish or watry yea and according to the divers constitutions and conformations both of the food with which this flame is nourished as also of the little spiracles or breathing holes by which it is eventilated and further of the Heart it self whereby it is agitated and driven about here and there the accension of blood varies also in every one by means of several other accidents to wit as its flame is sometimes great clear and expanded sometimes small contracted or cloudy sometimes equal and in order sometimes unequal and often interrupted yea and it becomes subject to many other mutations also because the Soul it self having gotten a various nature or disposition it conceives divers affections and manners whereof we shall speak hereafter for as much as it is not a little thing that the disposition of the whole Soul depends upon the temperament of the bloody mass and the degree and manner of its accension or inkindling It clearly appears from what hath been said that Fire and Life do dye or are extinguished alike many ways to wit there is an end of either if the access of nitrous food or the departure of Effluvia's be hindred or if the oily or sulphureous aliment requisite to either be consumed too much withdrawn or perverted from its inflammable disposition of each whereof it is so clearly apparent that there needs no farther explication Thus far we have shewn that the Life of the Blood or that part of the Soul growing therein is a certain kind of Flame let us now see by what means it is disposed to burning and how near it comes to the similitude of a burning Candle or Lamp A common Lamp whether designed to give heat or light for the most part is wont to be made after this manner to wit the Oyl flowing perpetually to the wick gives continual food to the flame wherefore as there is but one fire-place or hearth only of light and heat the action of either is limited only to one place and so as often as there is need of more places at once or divers parts of the same space or body to be illuminated or made warm we place here and there divers lighted Candles or Lamps But if an Instrument made with great artifice such as is truly an animated Body with one liquor only contained in it should be made hot throughout the whole and to be kept always warm it ought not only to be lightly inkindled in the wick but in the whole superficies and derived by fit Tubes or Pipes to all the parts of the Machine then the burning liquor ought to enjoy proportionably to all its parts an access of nitrous Air and to lay aside Effluvia's and other recrements and ought also to have a supply of that constant expence these kind of offices are not to be performed any where up and down but only in some set places therefore the burning liquor ought to be carried about through the whole with a perpetual turn that all its portions might enjoy successively all those priviledges and at once heat the whole capacity of the containing Machine to wit both the inward and outward recesses Indeed such a Bannian or Bathing Engine artificially made might aptly represent the real Divine handy-work of the Circulation of Blood and what burns in it the Life-lamp But it may be objected that the Blood seems not to be inflammable of its own nature further since there is no flame of this heat or effervency to be beheld with the eyes it may well be doubted whether there be such a thing or no. I say first That the Chymical Analysis of the blood shews very many particles of Sulphur and of Spirit yea a plentiful stock of inflammable Oyl which are however mixed with other more thick Elements in a just proportion to bridle their too great inkindling to wit that this liquor might flame out by little and little and only through fewer parts for the constituting of a benign and gentle Lamp of life wherefore the blood being let out of a Vein upon a burning fire doth in some measure burn though it is not like the Spirits of Wine or Oyl of Turpentine turning all into a flame besides the whole mass of blood as the Oyl of a Lamp ought not to be fired yea its burning is instituted for that end that whilst all the Particles of the Mixture being freed some sulphureous and spirituous are consumed by burning others more subtil being sent in Troops might serve for the necessary uses of the animal Regiment and also others more thick or crass and nourishing as it were boiled or roasted might be dispensed for the cherishing all parts besides that all the dead or worn out and excrementitious may be sent away by fit or convenient sinks and others constantly substituted in their places by nourishment But in the interim that the vital Flame which destinated to so many offices we suppose to be inkindled in the Blood otherwise than the common flame which is plainly conspicuous appears not at all a probable reason thereof may be given as it is most thin and burns in the Heart and its depending Vessels as it were shut up in Receptacles it doth not clearly flame out but perhaps remains in the form of smoke or a vapour or breath yea although the blood should openly flame out yet it might be so done that its shining being most thin may not be perceived by our sight as in the clear light of the day we cannot behold a glowing red hot Iron nor shining sparks nor false fires nor rotten wood nor many other things shining by night why then may not the vital fire even thinner than they quite escape our sight Although sometimes hot living Creatures use to send forth a certain fire or flame only conspicuous by night For we have known in some endued with a hot and vaporous blood when they have put off their inner garments at night going to bed near a fire or Candle a very thin and shining flame to have shewn it self which hath possessed the whole inferiour region of the Body The reason of which affection seems wholly the same as when the evaporating fume of a Torch just put out is again inflamed by a light inkindling and manifestly argues that another flame
increased as to their thickness and made short as to their length are made to attract the adjoyning member and stir up local motion 1. In every motion these three things ought to be considered viz. First the original of the Action or the first designation of the Motion to be performed which is always in the Brain or Cerebel Secondly its instinct or transmission of the thing begun to the motive parts which is performed by the commerce of the Spirits lying within the Nerves Thirdly the motive force it self or exertion of the Spirits implanted in the moving parts either into a contractive or elastick force From this threefold Fountain viz. as the business is performed in every one of these in a various manner very many kinds and differences of Motions are deduced 1. As to the original or beginning of Motion we shall take notice that that which proceeds from the Brain with a knowing and auspicious appetite may be called Spontaneous or Voluntary but that which is wont to be excited from the Cerebel where the Law of Nature presides such as are Respiration the Pulse with many others may be called merely Natural or Involuntary either of these is either direct which is stirred up of it self or primarily from this or that beginning as often as the appetite requires this or that thing out of a certain proper and as I may say intestine deliberation and chuses out respective motions so in like manner when the ordinary offices of the natural and vital Function are performed according to the solemn Rite of Nature or the motion of either kind is reflected to wit which depending on a previous sense more immediately as an evident cause or occasion is presently retorted so a gentle titillation of the Skin causes a rubbing of it and the more intense heats of the Praecordia stir up the Pulse and Respiration 2. As to the Vehicle of the Instinct which we suppose to be wholly done by the Nerves for as much as it is performed by a single Nerve or by more at once it is called either a Simple or Complicate Motion then for that some Nerves help motion more or less than others by sooner or later moving this or that member is said to be moved first or by it self and another by consent yea and that consent is wont to be acted or done with neighbouring or more remote parts and that with a diverse respect But we have in another place largely shewn instances of these kind of sympathetick motions as also the causes of each of them and their manner of being made 3. There is another and that a remarkable distinction of Motions taken from the various constitution of the moving parts to wit parts endued with nervous Fibres and in which the motive Spirits dwell either they are Muscles which perform local motions or membranaceous bodies the motions of which are terminated in themselves which therefore we call Intestine As to what belongs to local motion of which only we treat at present although it be confessed by all that the Brain or Cerebel and the Nerves and Muscles together one or more as it were with joynt forces do contribute to this motion also though it may be sufficiently understood that the beginning of the motion to be performed is designed in the Brain or Cerebel and that its instinct is conveyed wholly by the Nerves yet by what means the Muscles perform that work far exceeding any mechanick virtue or operation seems most hard to be made plain That local Motion is performed by traction and doth depend upon the contraction of a Muscle is not only a vulgar Opinion but is also plain by ocular demonstration yet it is very much disputed and variously controverted among Authors concerning the manner of Contraction and efficient Cause some think it enough to say that the Soul it self by its presence doth actuate the Muscle or contract or draw out here and there its Fibres as it were a net spread forth But indeed this is to attribute to the sensitive Soul a supernatural and as it were Divine virtue To wit that the same by its mere Spirit was able to bend and force heavy and very great bodies whither it pleases Further for what end are the motive Organs framed with wonderful artifice and manifold difference unless that after the manner of Machines they might perform their operations by an orderly structure and as it were mechanical provision of parts Truly it will be no hard thing to apply the exercises of a Muscle and of the whole nervous Function and to explicate them according to the Rules Canons and Laws of a Mechanick Before I enter upon this I think it not amiss first to speak something of the make conformation and use of a Muscle in general The ancient Anatomists almost all with one consent did divide the body of a Muscle into Head Belly and Tail taking for the Head the extremity of the Muscle connexed to the part to which contraction is made for the Tail the end or portion of the Muscle inserted to the part to be moved for the Belly the part of the Muscle coming between which is beheld more tumid with a bulk of flesh then for the performing of motion they did suppose the Muscle to swell up about the Head and Belly and so to grow short as to its length and to attract nearer to it self the hanging part yet by what means and for what cause the belly of the Muscle swells up none yet hath clearly unfolded Moreover although the Doctrine of the Nerves hath been much described by the most skilful Anatomists of every Age so that the Muscles of the whole Body as it is thought have been exactly recounted and offices assigned them and monstrous names fitted for the expressing them yet the true frame of a Muscle not yet shewed by others first began to be delivered lately by the most ingenious Doctor Steno He hath found out in every Muscle two opposite Tendons into which both the Fibres go yea and hath taught that the same Fibres wholly which compose strictly on one side the Tendon of the knitting being more loosly joyned do constitute the flesh yet so that some being laid upon others compose the thickness or profundity of the Muscle and some laid nigh to others its breadth or latitude he calls the former Fibres Ordines or Orders but the other Versus or Turnings then the parts and composition of a Muscle being after this manner laid open he aptly reduces its Figure to Mathematical Rules and according to Canons thence taken shews the action to be unfolded because he advertising that in a Muscle with a simple right line all the fleshy Fibres parallel within themselves and for the most part equal are carried from one Tendon obliquely into another and that those Tendons are sowed in the opposite ends or angles of the flesh whereby he most ingeniously describes a Muscle to be a Collection of moving Fibres so framed together that
voluntary function enter oftentimes into spontaneous Contractions unless they be hindred by their Antagonists as it appears for that the Spasm or Cramp of one Muscle comes upon the Palsie of another Contraction and Relaxation are iterated more swiftly in the Heart than in the Muscles of Respiration and so perhaps in these than in several others In those ready to dye the fleshy Pannicle every where trembling clearly shews their changes by innumerable beatings or leapings As to what respects the Humors whereby all the fibres of a Muscle viz. the fleshy tendinous and membranaceous and what lies between them seem to be watered filled or blown up we ought to take notice of them at least two of them to wit the bloody and nervous liquor if not more And in the first place it is clearly manifest to the sense that the blood doth wash all the fleshy and membranaceous fibres which are interwoven with these because if the Spirit of Wine tinctured with Ink be put into an Artery belonging to any Muscle the Vein in the mean time being tyed close the superficies of all the fleshy fibres and transverse fibrils are dyed with blackness the Tendons being then scarcely at all changed in their colour it appears from hence that the blood doth every where outwardly water all the flesh or fleshy fibres and only those We have not yet found by any certain mark whether the blood enters more deeply the fleshy fibres or instils into them the subtil liquor falling from them although this last seems most probable but indeed we affirm that all the fibres viz. the fleshy tendinous and membranaceous are perpetually and plentifully actuated by the implanted and inflowing animal Spirits and constantly imbued with the nervous liquor which is the Vehicle of the Spirits But how far or how much the aforesaid humors conduce to the exercise of the animal Faculties doth not easily appear but because the animal Spirits cannot consist without the nervous liquor and depend very much upon its disposition we may conclude that it doth serve something to the actuating the motive power for that reason also that the continual afflux of the blood is nevertheless necessary an Experiment cited by the Ingenious Steno and proved of late by others plainly confirms He hath observed that in a living Dog the descending great Artery being tyed without any previous cutting off the voluntary motion of all the posterior parts have ceased as often as he tyed the string and as often returned again as he loosned the knot These are the chief Phaenomena to be observed concerning the frame and action of a Muscle in the dissection of Animals both of such as were living as also of the dead and dying From which however placed together and compared among themselves how difficult a thing it is to constitute the Aetiology of the animal motive faculty appears even from hence that the most Ingenious Steno after he had very accurately delivered the Elements of his Myology by himself first invented nevertheless he wholly avoided that Hypothesis which might be founded out of them for that he yet doubted whether the explication of a Muscle by a Rectangle were convenient to Nature in all wherefore when many run to the manner of musculary Contraction by the repletion of the fibres and others from their inanition and some to both he ingenuously professes that the true causes of this thing do not clearly appear to him And as to this abstruse matter although I do not believe that I am able to bring to light or shew any thing more certainly than others yet as in mechanical things when any one would observe the motions of a Clock or Engine he takes the Machine it self to pieces to consider the singular artifice and doth not doubt but he will learn the causes and properties of the Phaenomenon if not all at least the chief In like manner when it is brought before your eyes to behold and consider the structure and parts of a Muscle the conformations of the moving fibres their gests and alterations whilst they are in motion why is it that we should despair to extricate the means or reasons of the motive function either by truths or by what is next to truth Wherefore I think it may be lawful for me here to bring before you our conceptions and notions concerning this thing indeed not rashly taken or to comply with our former Hypothesis or to oppose any other which if they shall not satisfie all may at least excite others to find out better But we shall here repeat what we have mentioned before viz. that the power or virtue by which a Muscle is moved proceeds from the Brain is conveyed through the Nerves and is performed by the fleshy fibres contracted and by that means abbreviated This latter is proved by ocular demonstration yea it appears by it that the motive force doth depend also upon those former and is so transferred by a long passage that the influence of the Spirits being suppressed in their beginning or intercepted in the way for that reason the exercise of the designed motion may be hindred Further we notifie that the motive force is far greater in the Muscle or in the end than in the beginning or middle because the Brain and depending Nerves are made of a tender and fragil substance and can pull or draw nothing strongly but the Muscle putting forth strongly its contractive force seems almost to be equal to the strength of a Post or Crow or of a Pully or Windlace Sometimes the local motion is a compound Action to be performed of many Organs which consist in divers places and as its virtue is far more strong in the end than in the beginning or way we will inquire by what means as it were mechanical the motive force may be so augmented or multiplied in its progress then what is brought to the motion from the several Organs As to the first in Artificial things when for the facilitating of motion and the increasing the moving force many Instruments are invented all of them or at least the chief may be reduced to these two Heads viz. first either the same force or impression may be continued without the addition of any new force from one term or end to the other or from the first mover to the thing moved which notwithstanding may be much increased in the way as the Centers of Gravity are farther off or multiplied for the farther the motion is begun from the first Center of Gravity the stronger it proceeds as is beheld in a Crow or Leaver and in other things reducible to a Leaver Then if other things be disposed beyond the first Center of Gravity successively before the end of the motion as in a circular Wheel the same motive force is wont to be increased very much But to this there is required that the instruments of motion be sufficiently strong and tenacious in their whole tract for otherwise the motive force being
increased the same breaking falls down before the designed action be performed Secondly there is another way of multiplying the motive force to a great degree and also at a great distance which is performed with the addition of new forces or of fresh supplies to wit when the elastick Particles or those making the force being disposed and shut up in private places as it were little Cells afterwards as occasion serves are sent forth by a light contact or blast of a remote Agent into the liberty of motion which they readily perform By this means Air compacted and shut up when it is permitted to get out impetuously forcing a Bullet or other object sends or drives it out a great way It is sufficiently known what mighty and often horrid forces Gun-powder yields about the end of the Explosion when in the beginning or first inkindling the force being transmitted through the fiery fume as yet weak might be restrained by a light impression of the hand There are also other explosive little bodies of a various kind which being hid in convenient Boxes or Cells when they are raised up into motion by an inkindling or irritament or provocative do often exert an incredible force It behoves us then to inquire from which of these ways it comes to pass that the motive force doth in the Muscles so far exceed the force transmitted from the Brain through the Nerves or whether the action of the Musculary Motion be merely contractive or rather elastick or in some measure explosive Concerning these things it manifestly appears that the Muscles do draw to wit being abbreviated do bring the Tendon with the hanging part towards it self Further for as much as there is need for the offices of traction to be sometimes more strongly sometimes more weakly performed by them so to have the Centers of Gravity now nigher now farther off planted from the beginning of the motion hence the Muscles which extend or bend the Thigh especially the Psoae and Glutaei great Muscles beginning in the Breast and reaching into the Thigh do hide their fleshy moving fibres deeply within the Trunk of the Body but those which turn about the Thigh are constituted either near the hole or the rising of the Bone of the Thigh or somewhere thereabout in like manner it is observed in all the rest of the members that the belly of the Muscle gets a more remote or nearer site from the article or hinge of motion as it designed for performing either a stronger or weaker motion But truly this doth not hold as to the other moving parts to wit the Brain and Nerves which cooperate with the Muscles in the motive Act because although the motive force is carried by a long passage through all these Organs yet it seems impossible that a contraction so strongly performed by a Muscle should be begun by the tender and immoveable Brain and continued through the small and fragil Nerves but that it must necessarily be supposed some motive Particles are hid in the Muscle which as occasion is given are stirred up according to the Instinct delivered by the Nerves from the Brain into motion as it were with a certain explosion But what these Particles may be by what means they are instigated into motion and how they induce the contraction of a Muscle seems most difficult to be unfolded Truly it may be lawfully concluded from the effect that elastick Particles and fit to move themselves are contained in the Muscles and hid every where within the fibres because the Anatomy of living Creatures discovers often a motion in a separated Muscle yea in its fibres divided one from another The Hearts of some Animals beat a long while being pulled out of the Body the Muscles cut off sometimes perform the motions of contraction In great labouring Beasts slain or dying although the Heart and the Brain be taken out the fleshy Pannicle performs for some time very many turns of contractions and relaxations From these it is manifestly clear that there are among the Particles of the Muscles some agil and self forcers or carried by their own force heaped together which although the animal oeconomy be very much disturbed or overthrown do enter into motion of their own accord yet in a tranquil estate they perform no actions unless commanded by the Brain or Cerebel and delivered by the Nerves Whilst a Muscle is contracted the cutting up of a live Creature shews only the fleshy fibres to run into motion by themselves to wit being made more tumid sharper and shorter at the same time to amplifie or enlarge the belly of the Muscle and in the interim the Tendons as if immoveable of themselves to wit not altered either as to their thickness or length only pulled as it were by the fleshy fibres to be moved and to draw with them the moved part whence it seems to be manifest that the animal Spirits or elastick Particles which soever they are whilst they perform the Musculary Motion are only or chiefly agitated among the fleshy fibres Further hence any one may strongly think that such Particles are not at all contained or are wholly idle in the tendinous fibres for as we have noted that the Tendon is not changed in the act we may lawfully suspect that it is only instead of a Crook by which means the fleshy fibres being contracted may draw the member to be moved at a distance from them towards themselves But indeed it sufficiently appears by evident signs that the animal Spirits or elastick Particles do lodge within the tendinous fibres and truly much more plentifully than in the fleshy First the sense shews this to wit the touch which is much sharper and far more sensible in the Tendon than in the flesh yea any irritation or breach of the unity happening in that part brings not only a most troublesom sense to wit a very cruel pain but besides is wont to excite in the neighbouring flesh a Tumor or Swelling and frequently most grievous Convulsions whence we necessarily conclude that the animal Spirits do inhabit the tendinous fibres in great abundance but what they do there and by what means they serve to the motive function we will next inquire As often as the motion of a living Muscle was beheld by me I considered and weighed in my mind by what means all the fleshy fibres were contracted and released by turns I could conceive or collect no other thing than that in every contraction the Spirits or certain elastick Particles did rush into the fleshy fibres from either Tendon and did intumifie and force them nearer towards themselves or together then the same Particles presently coming back from the flesh into the Tendons the relaxation of the Muscles happened In a bare or naked Muscle when I had separated every fleshy fibre or a company of them apart from the rest in the whole passage by help of a Microscope I most plainly perceived the Tumor begun at either end of the flesh
two Tendons are ordained to each of them to wit to the end that the animal Spirits might be carried through short passages from the Tendons into the fleshy fibres and might leap back again because the compounded Muscle doth not always contain more series of moving fibres that it might perform many and divers motions but that it might make the same motion often with the greater strength For as we hinted before as a simple Muscle was as a single leaver or bar the compound seems as if it were many leavers or bars serving for the removing the same body conjunctly Further hence we may observe in some Muscles which are simple and regular that all the fleshy fibres are equal and so all the tendinous of one extreme being put together are equal to all of the other end being put together yet they single where they are shorter in one Tendon are longer in the other and so disposed that the tendinous fibres on either part the top and bottom have their excesses inverse and at once equal to wit that here a long is laid upon a short or the longest upon the shortest and there quite contrary the shortest upon the longest to the end that the motion might be so made every where in this or that side of the Muscle or at the end more strong more plentiful Spirits flow together into those parts from the longer tendinous fibres and on the contrary wherefore in some Muscles less necessary where the part of the flesh growing to the bone either becomes immoveable or only serves for the filling up of empty spaces one Tendon is shorter or lesser and oftentimes degenerates into a bony or cartilaginous hardness Further it is observed as to other strong and greatly moving Muscles that their Tendons are not so disposed as if they were only stays props handles or hanging crooks of the fleshy fibres for so they are only constituted in their extreme ends yet the tendinous fibres that they may be made more apt promptuaries of the animal Spirits being stretched out almost into all parts of the Muscle receive every where both ends of the fleshy which indeed yet more manifestly appears in the compound Muscles for that one Tendon being compounded embraces the extreme flesh and the other enters into the middle of the flesh as hath been already shewn But truly the animal Spirits whilst they leap out of the tendinous into the fleshy fibres are not sufficient of themselves for the wrinkling of them but require another elastick Copula from the blood this may be argued from many reasons First it seems to appear from this that the same Spirits being solitary or by themselves though most thickly planted within the Tendons stir up no Tumor or Contraction whilst they are moved in them wherefore being dilated within the fleshy fibres in a lesser quantity and having got a larger space they would be stretched out unless they met or strove with other Particles much less would they obtain a contractive force Besides when any wound or grievous trouble happens to a Tendon the belly of the Muscle or fleshy part is chiefly troubled with a Tumor or Spasm for the Spirits being irritated not so much within themselves but where they are violently driven among heterogene Particles stir up the greatest tumults and inordinations But further when the fleshy fibres are watered with the sanguineous humor beyond other parts and more than may suffice for their nourishment for what other use should it be assigned unless that it may contribute to the motive function Especially we take notice in lean Bodies which are more sparingly nourished that the Muscles being fused or drenched with more plentiful blood do perform the strongest endeavours of motions moreover it doth not appear by what way besides the expence of the Spirits in a Muscle consumed with continual hard motions or labours should be made up or renewed unless besides the small supplements by the Nerves others sufficiently plentiful should be supplied from the bloody mass Add to these that members destitute of the wonted afflux of blood easily fall into weakness or a Palsie and that from the observation of Doctor Steno in a live Dog the trunk of the descending Artery being tyed all the lower or posterior members were suddenly deprived of motion And though it doth not yet appear plainly to me whether the exclusion of the blood from the spinal Marrow or from the Muscles themselves or from both together be the cause yet however it comes almost to the same thing for as much as the animal Spirits being procreated within the Head and stretched out by the medullary and nervous Appendices into every member without the concourse of the blood they should not be able to perform the loco-motive power Having thus far explained by what means a Muscle being contracted in the fleshy part as to all the fibres at once performs the motive function we shall next inquire what is the reason of the Instinct whereby every motion both regular and irregular is wont to be obeyed or is performed Concerning this in general it first appears that the motions of every regular motion yea and the impulses of some irregular motions being conceived within the Brain or Cerebel are transmitted from thence by the Nerves to every Muscle This as we have elsewhere shewn is most evidently declared by the effects and consequences yet here great difficulties remain to wit how by the same passages fresh forces of animal Spirits are conveyed from the Head to every Muscle and at the same time the old ones exercising the Empire of the Soul besides with what difference and divers carriage of the inflowing Spirits the Nerves perform either of these tasks or both these offices Of these as I conjecture it seems that the animal Spirits which flowing continually from the Head to refresh the forces of the implanted Spirits are carried to the Muscle by the Nerves do move to it quietly and easily and being there presently received by the membranaceous Fibres they go apart into the Tendons which kind of relief although it should be but little in bulk yet because it is carried night and day by a constant course it easily arises to a sufficient provision for the continual filling up of the Tendons But that we suppose the Spirits so brought perpetually to the Muscle to be transferred by the membranaceous Fibres and not by the fleshy to the Tendons the reason is because if they should first enter into these straight running into an elastick Copula they would stir up the Muscle into continual motions more over for that in the Heart and Muscles of Respiration the fleshy Fibres are exercised with a perpetual motion they wait not for the passage of fresh Spirits to the Tendons But as to what respects the Instincts delivered through the Nerves from the Head for the performing or staying or any ways altering of the musculary motion of these we ought first to consider that the moving
animal Spirits whose companies or throngs constitute the Hypostasis of the bodily Soul have these two properties as it were implanted in their nature to wit that whilst they are lively numerous and free they exert or expand themselves then that force being finished they being a little diminished retire themselves and grow quiet but afterwards being refreshed they leap out again and so vicissively Waking and sleep and the alterations of work and idleness or rest inbred in all living Creatures sufficiently declare this Wherefore to the impulse or instincts of some Muscles which are wont to be perpetually contracted and released scarce any thing more is required but that their Tendons may be supplied by the Nerves with a constant influx of animal Spirits but the Spirits themselves because they are numerous and expeditious of their own nature do willingly leap out into the moving Fibres then the charge being performed after a small loss or expence they immediately withdraw and being again presently recruited they are again expanded and so vicissively Further their actions which chiefly are Pulse and Breathing are variously changed according to the degrees of heat or of the affections for as much as the Spirits being brought by the Nerves are sent from the Cerebel sometimes more remisly sometimes more plentifully or more nimbly Further in some other Muscles subject to the Empire of the Appetite as the animal Spirits naturally affect turns of expansion and recess there is only need of a sign to be given either for the performing or stopping of the commanded motion either of which the inflowing Spirits by their various knocking against the Muscle easily perform in ordering the implanted Spirits into various aspects or tendencies When the Muscle is contracted the implanted Spirits whilst they are loosned from either end towards the middle look and tend with a changed front from the middle towards either end And so whilst the inflowing Spirits carry the Symbol of performing Contraction they being incited by heaps within the Nerve more fully blow up its end inserted to the Muscle where they are more thickly crowded together and so cause it there to be contracted and abbreviated whereby it comes to pass that the same inflowing Spirits about to enter into the Muscle are at that time stopped by a mere heap or rather are called back towards the intumified Nerve wherefore by and by the whole series of the implanted Spirits hence their inclination being changed also looks that way and so the inhabitants of the Tendons leaping out from their little Cells into the fleshy Fibres cause motive contraction then the motion is broken off or ceases assoon as the Spirits being before called back towards the Nerve do tend again into the Muscle and so the front of the Army being again changed bands of the implanted Spirits are presently compelled into the Tendons That the thing is in a manner thus I am perswaded not out of a mere agreeableness or concinnity of our Hypothesis but from Anatomical observation Because once dissecting a Whelp alive when by chance I beheld some Muscles of the hinder part of the Head and Neck divided and separated at the same instant wherein the fleshy Fibres as also the Nerves inserted into them were seen at once to be contracted and being intumified to be abbreviated For the promoting the recess of the Spirits out of the fleshy Fibres into the Tendons whilst the Muscle is contracted the membranaceous Fibrils which every where cut cross-wise the fleshy and thickly stick between seem to help The texture of these never to be enough admired is better perceived in a Muscle endued with large Fibres viz. an Oxes being boiled to a tenderness For in such a one if gently opening the fleshy Fibres you shall draw them one from another through the whole series you shall see little Fibrils like hairs most thickly extended upon every one of those Tubes which little Fibrils not only close and knit together the fleshy Fibres but also lying upon every one of their series and cutting them in oblique Angles they also are all carried parallel from Tendon to Tendon in an opposite site to the fleshy therefore whilst the Muscle being contracted the fleshy Fibres do swell up the Fibrils embracing them that they may give place are somewhat distended then as soon as the swelling up remits these returning to their wonted straitness press together every where the flesh and the Spirits being expulsed on either side they reduce them to their pristine length It makes for this that whilst the Muscle is contracted the Spirits inflowing through the Nerves depart from their membranaceous Fibrils wherefore these being empty and lax are able more easily to be distended but whilst the Muscle is relaxed the Spirits again entring the Fibrils fill them and that they may the better bind the fleshy Fibres they make them shorter The Instincts of Motions to be obeyed by the Muscles so delivered by the Nerves are being sent either from the Brain performed at the command and with the knowledge of the Appetite or from the Cerebel according to the Laws of Nature for the most part unknown to us But besides sometimes the Muscles are carried beyond or contrary to the pleasure of the Appetite or Nature into irregular motions viz. violent and convulsive and that happens after various manners and for divers causes Concerning these some time since discoursing more largely we have shewn that from thence do arise many kinds and differences of convulsive motions as the Spasmodick matter being somewhere fixed doth subsist either about the beginnings middle or ends of the Nerves or because the same thing being wandring and loose runs about here and there through the whole passages of the Nerves and so variously transfers from place to place convulsive distempers But besides these divers kinds of Convulsions which are excited by reason of some evil or vice sticking somewhere to the Nerves themselves this our Myology or Doctrine of the Muscles hath discovered some Convulsions of another kind arising from the Muscles being chiefly affected For indeed we must advertise you that the animal Spirits disposed among the Muscles themselves by reason of a taint or evil derived from the Brain or from the Blood or perhaps oftentimes from both together are infected with certain heterogene Particles by reason of which they cannot rest or lye quiet in their Cells but being always unquiet and restless leap out of their own accord from the tendinous Fibres into the fleshy and so oftentimes produce frequent and cruel Convulsions But this we have observed to be done after a twofold manner viz. first for that the Spirits being burdened with an elastick Copula remain not long within the Tendons but leaping out from thence into the fleshy Fibres induce frequent Convulsions of a Muscle but short and as it were by leaps or secondly because the animal Spirits although they sometimes lye quietly within the Tendons yet being inordinately snatched into the
flesh and there cruelly exploded they cannot be presently repressed brought into order or reduced into the Tendons but whether we will or not they persist a long while expanded and so bring forth a long and very painful contraction of the Muscle Which kind of Spasm sufficiently known we vulgarly term the Cramp The former distemper called the Convulsive Leaping is familiar both to malignant Feavers and to the Scurvy As to those we have ordinarily known when either no Crisis or an evil one is obtained that heterogene Particles from the blood and nervous juyce very much vitiated are not only laid up in the Bowels whose dispositions and functions they pervert but almost every where in the Muscles and there growing to the Spirits do affect them with a certain madness so as they cannot continue peaceably together or rest within the Tendons but being divided and distracted one from another leap out from thence by bands into the flesh and there stir up the lesser and most frequent Spasms or Convulsions In like manner by reason of the Spirits inhabiting the Muscles being burdened with an elastick Copula there growing to them some labouring with an inveterate Scurvy cannot contain their limbs in the same site or position but are necessitated sometimes to extend the hands or feet sometimes to fling them about here and there to transfer them variously and sometimes to subdue their madness by running leaping or other hard labours Treating some time since of Convulsive Motions we did almost wholly omit the Aetiology of the continuing Spasm or Tetanism as a thing which depended upon the Doctrine of the Muscles to be treated of afterwards Then we only hinted that the contraction of that kind did arise in one Muscle because its other Antagonist was resolved or loosned which indeed oftentimes happens in the face and some members in which whilst the parts upon one side are troubled with the Palsie those opposite on the other as it were loosned in the Reins are too much contracted Notwithstanding this kind of Spasm for the most part is without pain besides this is not easily or presently passed over or cured no more than the Palsie which is the cause of it Therefore as to what belongs to the formal reason of the Spasm called in our Idiom the Cramp every one labouring with this distemper perceives in himself one or more Muscles to be most strongly and involuntarily drawn together and they being for some time so highly distended remain as it were stiff and in the mean time for that the fleshy Fibres being cruelly contracted do violently haul or pull either Tendon to wit that which is fixed to the immoveable part perhaps no less than the other part to be moved they cause a most troublesom pain But sometimes this Spasm being excited by reason of the animal Spirits carrying themselves out impetuously into the fleshy Fibres doth not cease until the same Spirits being returned into the Tendons suffer the flesh to be relaxed therefore its nearest causes will be both the greater impetuosity of the animal Spirits among the fleshy Fibres with which they leap thither unbid and also their long continuance or stay for that they return back more slowly and difficultly into the Tendons For the secondary causes may be reckoned both the evil disposition of the animal Spirits and also the evil conformation of the Tendons viz. sometimes this sometimes that and not seldom both together As to the former this distemper as other Convulsions seems to arise for as much as the animal Spirits being burdened with heterogeneous Particles or an elastick Copula at length being irritated they are incited to the striking of it off which notwithstanding being thick and viscous and for that cause more tenacious is not soon nor easily shaken off but that the Spirits being still provoked by the same and shut up within the fleshy Fibres are longer detained in the expansion which thing perhaps happens not so much unlike as when water and air being joyned together make a bubble which if it be made of water wherein a little Sope is put is more tenacious much more large and continues longer than that made only of mere water So we observe that they who abound in thick and tartareous humours are most obnoxious to these kind of Cramps and besides that they who presently sleep upon drinking or eating gross meats after full eating and especially after a large and plentiful supper do suffer most cruel assaults of this disease but sometimes the Tendons themselves are found to be in the fault for that they being too hard bound together or obstructed they do not easily admit the Spirits returning from the fleshy Fibres The obstruction of the Tendons is the cause that Gouty and Scorbutick people whose Tendons salt and tartareous humours easily run into and obstruct are wont to be cruelly tormented with these kind of painful Cramps But that the constriction of the Tendons doth sometimes bring forth this disease appears by this for that some Women with Child as I have been often told about the latter end of their Time by reason of the Muscles of the Abdomen being too much extended are wont to be troubled with frequent Cramps only in the bottom of their Bellies For the illustrating of this Pathology we will add this following Case A Noble Woman young and fair some time since obnoxious to Hysterick distempers and now above two years ago to Convulsive and in a manner Epileptical of late by reason of the frequent and most cruel assaults of the disease she became also Cachectical and Paralytical that at length her Abdomen was distempered with an Ascites and her Legs with a waterish Tumor and lastly all her lower parts below her Hips were deprived of motion hence as often as the Convulsive fits infested her she was wont not now to move her body or members here and there but sometimes these sometimes those parts being snatched with the Tetanism were variously bent and twisted about that in the mean time she her self sitting in her Bed or Chair remained stiff and almost immoveable It is not long since that seeing the whole manner of one of these Fits I observed not without great admiration divers sorts of turns and changes of alterations of the Spasms At the first assault her eyes being turned about swiftly hither and thither she was presently taken with insensibility then by and by her head being turned and contracted of one side presently her arms and legs at once became stiff and all her Joynts sometimes of one side sometimes of both were bowed or stretched out perhaps after four or five minutes these Spasms both in her Head and Limbs remitting of a sudden others for the most part opposite followed which being often finished in the like space others far different did arise and so for two or three hours longer Spasms almost of every kind and fashion being excited through her whole Body followed upon one another so that her
They who have the orbicular prominences before the Cerebel small have this annulary protuberance very big and on the contrary they who have those prominences big or very great have this ring very small further they who wholly want the Buttock form protuberances as in Fowl seem also to want this annulary In many brute Animals but not in Man nigh to this greater Protuberance a little lower another lesser in like manner orbicular stands and compasseth about the superficies of the oblong marrow the root of which is a white and medullary line stretched out under the Cerebel above the bottom of the fourth Ventricle From the sides of this lesser protuberance the auditory Nerves arise In Man the auditory or hearing Nerves are seen to arise out of the utmost brim of the greater protuberance in like manner they have for their root a white medullary line covering the fourth Ventricle That this line and the three distinct medullary Processes which constitute either little foot of the Cerebel may be more plainly shewn also that the most inward frame of the Cerebel may be viewed its whole globe ought to be cut through both Poles viz. in the middle through the Vermiform or Worm-shaped processes then it will plainly appear that in either Hemisphere there is an ample middle or marrow wherein the marrowy branches being stretched abroad on every side like those of a tree spread through the Cortical substance of the Cerebel every where diffused and that in either middle or marrowy part the three distinct processes which make either trunk or little foot of the Cerebel are inserted Each of these are fitly represented in the seventh Table Thus much for the Cerebel and by what means it is fastned to the oblong marrow Beside these it is to be observed that about the bottom of the Basis of the oblong marrow out of the greater Ring come out two medullary strings which being distinct from the rest of the medullary Trunk go right forward towards the spinal marrow and in its progress being made straiter by degrees like Pyramids after about the space of an inch end in sharp points The extremities of these consist on the other side where the wandring pair of Nerves have their orignal and make a certain rising up in the oblong marrow Hence it is likely that these strings are passages or chanels of the animal Spirits wherein they are carried from the greater Ring or what is the same thing from the Cerebel into the wandring pair and the beginnings of other Nerves implanted near for what end shall be said hereafter These pyramidal Bodies do not so manifestly appear so long as the Pia Mater clothes them and hides them with the infoldings of the Vessels but this Membrane being pulled away they are so conspicuous especially in a Man and a Dog that they seem like greater Nerves In those Animals where the annulary Protuberance is greater these processes being brought from the same in right angles are greater and more conspicuous and on the contrary in Fowl they are clearly wanting Fig III. These are the Phaenomena or Appearances which the whole frame of the Brain and its Appendix is wont to exhibit to Anatomical Inspection and which as to its fabrick and all its parts and processes are to be found both within and without As it is a hard and troublesom business to inquire into the actions and use of each of these so it is also joyned with so much pleasure and profit that I dare promise to my self and others that it will be a thing worth our labour and while Yet before we enter upon this there remain to be unfolded some things hid in some of the bones of the Skull such as are the pituitary Kernels the admirable Net and some others also we ought to shew first briefly at least a type or figure of the Brains in Fowl and Fishes The Third Figure SHews the outmost or superior Superficies of the humane Brain taken out of the Skull where the border of the Brain being loosned from the knitting of the other Parts made by the Membranes is elevated and turned outward that the shanks of the oblong Marrow the Fornix or arched Vault the Nates and Testes with the pineal Kernel and other Processes may be clearly and distinctly beheld AA The border of the Brain which in its natural situation was contiguous to the Cerebel B. The brim or margent of the callous Body besmearing either Hemisphere of the Brain which in its natural site leans upon the pineal Glandula C. The Fornix or arched Chamber DD. The Arms of it embracing the shanks of the oblong Marrow EE The shanks of the oblong Marrow out of which the Optick Nerves proceed and the tops of which situated further out of sight are the streaked Bodies F. The pineal Glandula between which and the root of the Fornix stands the chink leading to the Tunnel GG The orbicular Protuberances which are called Nates or the Buttocks HH The lesser Protuberances called Testes or the Testicles which are Excrescences of the former II. The medullary Processes which ascend obliquely from the Testes into the Cerebel and constitute part of either of its Meditullium or marrowy part of it K. The meeting of those Processes through another transverse or cross Process LL. The beginning of the pathetick Nerves out of the meeting of the aforesaid Processes MM. A portion of the oblong Marrow lying under the aforesaid Processes and Protuberances N. The hole of the Ventricle or Cavity which is placed under the orbicular Protuberances OO A portion of the annulary Protuberance sent from the Cerebel and embracing the oblong Marrow PP The outmost and upper superficies of the Cerebel The Fourth Figure The Effigies of an humane Brain of a certain Youth that was foolish from his birth and of that sort which are commonly termed Changelings the bulk of whose Brain as it was thinner and lesser than is usual its border could be farther lifted up and turned back that all the more interior parts might be more deeply beheld together AA The border of the Brain lifted up and very much bent back which in its natural site being knit to the oblong Marrow nigh the Cerebel did hide the Nates and Testes B. The border or inferior margent of the callous Body CC. The Fornix with its two Arms embracing the shanks of the oblong Marrow DD. The internal cavity or hollowness of the Brain resulting from the folding together of its border about the oblong Marrow EE The tops of the shanks of the oblong Marrow or the streaked or chamfered Bodies FF The Chambers of the Optick Nerves G. The pineal Kernel between which and the root of the Fornix the hole is whose passage leads both to the Tunnel and to the Ventricle lying under the orbicular Protuberances HH The Protuberances called Nates II. The Protuberances called Testes KK The medullary Processes stretching out from the Testes to the middle of the Cerebel LL. The laid
together with their manifold productions and so affords a passage to the blood by carrying it to and fro towards the brain Concerning these Vessels which are knit to this Meninx and follow its stretching out into all parts there are many admirable things to be met with and highly worthy of note the uses and reasons of which is our purpose to search into As to these we shall first observe that these Arteries and Veins otherwise than in any other part of the body besides not arising nigh one another go forth as companions but going forth from opposite ends meet every where mutually viz. the Arteries ascend from the Basis of the Skull and by creeping through the whole emit upwards shoots and branches which are met by the Pipes of the Veins arising out of the bosoms and carried downwards By this means the rivers of the blood seem to be made equal every where in the Brain viz. whilst the smaller shoots of the Veins follow or match the greater branches of the Arteries and on the contrary the small branches of the Arteries the Trunks of the Veins Secondly We have already shewn that these Vessels are variously and very much ingrafted or inoculated among themselves not only the Arteries with the Veins but what is more rare and singular Arteries with Arteries to wit the Carotidick Arteries of one side in many places are united with the Carotides of the other side besides the Vertebrals of either side among themselves and are also inoculated into the posterior branches of the Carotides before united The joynings together of the Carotides in most living Creatures are made about the Basis of the Skull under the Dura Mater and that after a diverse manner in some communicated through the Vessels of the wonderful Net from one side to the other in others as in a Horse we have observed with a certain admiration the arterious chanel is produced between the Trunks of the Carotides whereby the blood may be carried from one side to the other and so on the contrary But besides between the Dura Mater about the Basis of the Head the same kind of ingraftings of the Arteries are still seen in man and all perfect four-footed beasts The reason of these seems to be partly that the blood to be carried from the Heart into divers Regions of the Brain might be exactly mingled as to its parts and particles before it come to the place designed For the Torrent of the blood because divided into lesser rivulets is incident to languish in so long a circuit and its Spirits to be depauperated and lastly it self to grow cool unless that various courses of its Latex should anew inkindle this vital flame about to be extinguished or dye But there is another reason far greater than this of these manifold ingraftings of the Vessels to wit that there may be a manifold way and that more certain for the blood about to go into divers Regions of the Brain laid open for each so that if by chance one or two should be stopt there might easily be found another passage instead of them as for example if the Carotides of one side should be obstructed then the Vessels of the other side might provide for either Province Also as to the Vertebral Arteries there is the same manner of provision made Further if both the Carotides should be stopped the offices of each might be supplied through the Vertebrals and so on the other side the Carotides may supply the defects of the shut up Vertebrals After this manner lest there should be wanting an afflux of the blood at any time in any part of the Brain or its Appendix within the Skull there is care taken with singular Art For as there are four distinct passages and those remote one from the other of this Latex if perchance three of them should happen to be shut up the blood being carried through one only will soon supply or fill the chanels and passages of all the rest Which thing I have found by Experience often tryed not without admiration and great pleasure To wit I have squirted oftentimes into either Artery of the Carotides a liquor dyed with Ink and presently the branches on either side yea and the chief shoots of the Vertebrals have been dyed with the same tincture yea if such an injection be sometimes iterated by one only passage the Vessels creeping into every corner and secret place of the Brain and Cerebel will be imbued with the same colour Also in those who have the wonderful Net the Tincture or dyed Liquor being injected in one side it will come through the Net-like infoldings of the Vessels in both sides Hence it plainly appears that there is a communication between the Vessels watering the whole Head and although every Artery is carried to one only Region as its peculiar Province and provides for it apart yet lest that any part should be deprived of the influence of the blood more ways lye open to every part by the ingraftings of those vessels so that if the proper vessels by chance should be wanting in their office its defect may presently be compensated by others neighbouring It is not long since we dissected the dead body of a certain man whom a great Scirrhus or hard Swelling within the Mesentery growing at last ulcerous had killed When his Skull was opened we beheld those things belonging to the Head and found the right Carotides rising within the Skull plainly bony or rather stony its cavity being almost wholly shut up so that the influx of the blood being denied to this passage it seemed wonderful wherefore this sick person had not dyed before of an Apoplexy which indeed he was so far from that he enjoyed to the last moment of his life the free exercise of his mind and animal function For indeed Nature had substituted a sufficient Remedy against that danger of an Apoplexy to wit the Vertebral Artery of the same side in which the Carotidick was wanting the bulk of the Pipe being enlarged became thrice as big as both its Pipes on the other side because the blood being excluded the Carotidick adding it self to the wonted provision of the Vertebral Artery and flowing with a double flood into the same belly had so dilated the chanel of that Artery above measure This Gentleman about the beginning of his sickness was tormented with a cruel pain of the Head towards the left side The cause whereof cannot be more probably assigned than that the blood excluded from the right Carotidick Artery when at first it rushed more impetuously in the left had distended the Membrane and therefore the same distemper did afterwards vanish of its own accord to wit the superfluous blood being derived through the Vertebral Artery Thirdly Concerning these sanguiferous Vessels covering the Pia Mater we observe that the Arteries and Veins whilst they meet one another going out from opposite ends do not only transfer their burden immediately through the several branches
or shoots mutually ingrafted as is wont to be done in other parts of the Body but being variously complicated and interwoven do constitute every where admirable infoldings into which for the most part very small and very numerous Glandula's or Kernels are inserted Which thing is seen not only in the infoldings which are called Choroeides by which name besides those which are found within the plicature or folding up of the Brain we also intend others planted together behind the Cerebel but these kind of infoldings of the Vessels with Glandula's sowed between are seen every where to be sprinkled through the whole compass and interior recesses of the Brain and Cerebel and especially between the gapings of their turnings and windings and interstices This is clearly manifest in a moister Brain or in an Hydropical where the very small Glandula's which otherwise are scarce to be seen being intumified by the moisture are easily beheld Moreover from the aforesaid infoldings on every side implanted little slender Vessels being every where sent forth enter the Cortical and in some measure the medullary substance of the Brain and its Appendix for if you squirt into the Carotides a black liquor besides the shoots of the Vessels which it dyes every where with the same colour little blackish pricks will appear sprinkled in the substance of the Brain Further if the brain of a living Animal be cut up the live blood will spring forth both from its Cortex and medullary part The reason and end of all which if they be inquired into it seems that these foldings of the Vessels being variously complicated with repeated windings about as if they were little serpentine chanels hanging to an Alembick through whose narrow straits the blood passing with a long circuit becomes still more subtil and elaborated to wit it s thicker part being by degrees put off in its passage or sent away by the little branches of the Veins and so at length the only pure and most spirituous blood and it self now ready to go into animal Spirits is admitted within the Pores and passages of the brain But as the blood or sanguinolent part is supped up by the Veins so it 's very likely the Serum or watry part is received by the Glandula's or Kernels interwoven in them For it appears not for what other end these Arteries are every where beset with so many Kernels unless they should lay up in them the superfluous serosities Between these infoldings there appear not any Nerves to be found which may require any juyce or serous humor from these Kernels and 't is not yet found whether these Lymphaeducts or Water-carriers be accompanied with any Vessel wherefore it may be lawful to suppose that whilst the purer and spirituous part of the blood being separated from the rest of its mass is stilled forth into the brain the serous humidities are received by the Glandula's which are numerous and that they are for some time retained by them till they may be sent away into the Veins growing empty again Thus far we have beheld only the superior branchings forth of the blood-carrying Vessels which are every where interwoven in the Pia Mater and their infoldings which like the leaves of a Wood or creeping Ivy cover the exterior compass of the whole Head But by what means and as it were Chymical Artifice these Vessels do instil the animal Spirits into the Brain and Cerebel and serve for the use of one another besides shall be told anon after we have considered of the inferior Aspect and next the ground of this most thick Wood viz. the greater Trunks of all the Arteries which are destinated for the Brain where they pass through the Skull and shew themselves beyond it CHAP. VIII Shews with what difference the Arteries in various Animals pass through the Skull also for what use the wonderful Net is made and the reason of it THE Arteries destinated to the Brain are four in number viz. two Carotides and as many Vertebrals Concerning the former we have already observed that their Trunks pass through the Wedge-like Bone as it were with a mechanical provision to wit either Artery is so bowed and intorted in its ascent that the blood before it can reach to the Brain by a repeated stopping of shores or hindred by a certain lett or impediment might flow to it less rapidly and more slowly But this is not effected after one and the same manner in all Animals for although the ascent of the Artery be oblique and intorted in all yet in some viz. in a Man and a Horse it being bowed about with a greater compass still enters even to the Brain with a single and undivided Trunk when in most other beasts the same passes the Skull with a lesser circuit and sliding presently under the Dura Mater diversifies it self there into Retiform infoldings commonly called the wonderful Net Therefore it seems to be to the purpose that we inquire into the various reasons of this difference In the first place therefore we shall advertise you that the Carotidick Artery in a man enters a little more backward the Skull than in any other Animal viz. nigh that hole through which the lateral bosom slides out of the Skull about to be implanted into the Jugular Vein for in the rest this Artery arises within the Skull under the end or acute process of the stony Bone But in an humane Head the same being carried about by a longer compass that the Torrent of the blood before it comes to the border of the Brain might flow slowly and pleasantly with a broken force attains to the Basis of the Skull nigh the den made by the ingress of the lateral bosom where being presently intorted it enters the proper Chanel insculped in the Wedg-like Bone and for the greater assurance it is clothed besides with a thicker additional Coat This double defence seems to be given it lest the blood boiling up too much and whilst it is carried violently towards the head should make a Whirlpool about the ingress of the Skull to wit where it begins to be wreathed about from its direct ascent and should break by its stood the banks of the Belly unless they were more firm The Artery being slid out of the bony chanel lays aside also its ascititious or additional Coat and now being well enough defended within the Skull goes forward clothed only with its proper Coat and creeps under the Dura Mater and being as it were depressed in the midst of its passage into a valley being immediately carried out again it goes on till it comes to the head of the Turky Chair where again being bent in and intorted with a certain compass it ascends straight and boring through the Dura Mater is carried towards the Brain The Trunk of this Carotis like a Meander passing through the Skull with a very much bending way or passage is aptly represented in the first Figure of the following Table If the reason of this
Carotides in a man having an erected head higher than the rest of the parts and in a Horse in some sort lifting up his face have also the same priviledge to wit that by their more steep ascent only the more pure and volatile blood may ascend to the region of the Brain But in other four-footed beasts who go with a prone or hanging head and who have a more frigid and watry blood which may easily slide into and too much wash the Brain this evil is in some part prevented by the wonderful Net and pituitary Glandula joyned to the Carotides which indeed receive the superfluous humidities of the blood and so make it more pure and free from dregs before it comes to the brain But that the blood may be supplied still in due quantity to wit as it were in weight and measure from the distillatory Vessels stretched about the compass of the Head there is a notable provision made in all the Carotides about the Basis of the Skull because their crooked imbowings and branching into infoldings hinders the too great or too rapid approach of the blood then lest the passage of it should at any time be shut up the mutual ingraftings of all the Vessels on either side do help or provide for After this manner the business of extracting the animal Spirits is performed even as a Chymical Elixir to wit great care is taken in the beginning of that Operation both that choice of matter may be had and that only a due proportion of it be exposed to distillation The blood by this means as it were a Chymical work prepared is carried by the fourfold Chariot of the Arteries to four distinct regions of the Head and as the sanguiferous Vessels being distributed with separate ramifications or branches through the whole compass of the Brain and its Appendix cover all the heights of its compassings about or gyrations and also all its crevices and their gapings and recesses they bring to their doors the matter to be distilled into the Head every where through the whole circumference of the Brain and Cerebel nigh the Cortical substance of either out of which as the Spirits are distilled by this means it is brought about that they are insinuated into the subjected substance of either The blood being carried through the narrow infoldings and divarications of the Vessels as it were as was said through the serpentine chanels of an Alembick is made extremely subtle as much as may be in its liquor in the mean time what is bloody is received by the little shoots of the Veins associates or meeting one another every where and what is serous by the Kernels every where dispersed yet it s more purified and spirituous part being carried on further through the very small shoots sent forth on all sides are instilled more deeply into the very Pores and passages of the Brain and Cerebel which presently flowing from the Cortical substance into the medullary there exercise the gifts of the animal Function What peculiar body and constitutive particles of the Brain it self and Cerebel conduce to the generation and perfection of the animal Spirits within the substance of either shall be shewn hereafter when we treat of the Use of those Parts now shall be taken notice of what we before mentioned to wit that the fluid extillation of the spirituous liquor from the blood about the Pia Mater is performed after a signal manner both from the ambient heat which is stirred up from the blood contained within the bosoms as it were from a Balneo Mariae inriched by the continual flowing of it anew and also from the obduction of the Meninges like an Alembick by which the spirituous Particles apt to fly away are constrained and forced into the parts beneath But indeed though the animal Spirits are procreated wholly from the blood yet the blood watering the Brain and its Appendix is not only bestowed on this work for as to the sanguiferous Vessels which arising out of the Trunks both of the Carotides and the Vertebrals cover over the whole Head and all its parts and processes though many of them yet not all are little distillatory chanels of the animal Spirits For the animal Spirits are not produced in all places to which these Vessels reach for we affirm that these Spirits are only procreated in the Brain and Cerebel which it were easie to prove by the Symptoms which happen in the Apoplexy and Palsie and shall be afterwards clearly shewn and from this double fountain of the animal Spirits they flow out into all the rest of the parts and irradiate by a constant influence the whole nervous stock In the mean time the oblong marrow and its various processes and protuberances are either retreating places or high roads for the animal Spirits procreated in the Brain and Cerebel and flowing from thence But for as much as the Arteries and Veins clothe these parts also with a thick series of shoots and that within the infolding of the Brain the folds called Choroeides are hung slack and loosly these seem to be so made for other reasons viz. both that these parts might be actuated by heat supplied as it were from a continual fire and also that the nourishing Juyce might be bestowed on the Spirits which flow there As to the first that the animal Spirits now perfected may be freely expanded and irradiate the nervous System there seems to be required that the ambient heat being excited by the blood flowing thither might open all the little spaces for their passage and notably dilate or lay open for them ways or roads wherefore we intimated before because the little shoots of the Vessels ought not to be deeply inserted into the callous body for that lest the commerce of the Spirits diverting in this Mart or meeting place should be disturbed by the perpetual influence of the blood therefore the infolding of the Choroeides is hung under its chamber that at least by this nigh situation as by a Stove or Hot-house the heat there might be preserved Besides we intimated another use of this infolding to wit that the blood passing through the very narrow Meanders and convolutions or rollings about of the Vessels might lay aside its serous recrements into the Glandula's or passages of the Veins 2. But secondly That many branches and lesser shoots of the same Vessels which water the Brain and Cerebel cover also the oblong marrow and in some measure enter into its Pores and deeper substance within which the animal Spirits are not begotten but only exercised and expanded I say that this is so made for this other respect to wit that the substance of the oblong marrow might imbibe a constant provision of nourishment from the pouring in of the blood whereof it hath need For whilst the animal Spirits flowing into the nervous stock from the Brain and Cerebel pass through this passage as it were the high road some food he e ought to be administred to
these manifold convolutions and infoldings of the brain are required for these divers manners of ordinations of the animal Spirits to wit that in these Cells or Store-houses severally placed might be kept the species of sensible things and as occasion serves may be taken from thence Hence these folds or rollings about are far more and greater in a man than in any other living Creature to wit for the various and manifold actings of the superior Faculties but they are garnished with an uncertain and as it were fortuitous series that the exercises of the animal Function might be free and changeable and not determined to one Those Gyrations or Turnings about in four-footed beasts are fewer and in some as in a Cat they are found to be in a certain figure and order wherefore this Brute thinks on or remembers scarce any thing but what the instincts and needs of Nature suggest In the lesser four-footed beasts also in Fowls and Fishes the superficies of the brain being plain and even wants all cranklings and turnings about wherefore these sort of Animals comprehend or learn by imitation fewer things and those almost only of one kind for that in such distinct Cells and parted one from another are wanting in which the divers Species and Ideas of things are kept apart But that in more perfect Animals all the turnings about are made of a twofold substance viz. Cortical and Medullary the reason seems to be that one part may serve for the production of the animal Spirits and the other for their exercise and dispensation For we may well think that the animal Spirits are wholly or for the most part procreated in the Cortical substance of the brain for this severs and receives immediately from the blood the subtil liquor and imbuing it with a volatile Salt exalts it into very pure Spirits It is obvious to every one that the Arteries enter the Cortex of the brain with a more frequent insertion of shoots and instil to it a spirituous liquor the leavings of which or what is superfluous the Veins in like manner entring it do sup up and carry away in the mean time the more subtil portion being here set free goes into Spirits In truth the blood waters the medullary substance of the brain in a very small quantity which seems truly to be rather for the sake of exciting of heat than that the animal Spirits should there be generated by the flowing in of that blood For indeed the volatile Salt which like Ferment spiritualizes the subtil liquor stilled forth from the blood is had more copiously in the Cortex of the brain rather than in its middle or marrowy part because that part being endued with an Ashy colour shews by its aspect the spermatick Particles and Humor contained in them in which Spirit and a volatile Salt very much abounds yea and plainly resembles an Armeniack smell such as either part alike breathe forth In the mean time the medullary part of the brain seems very like the oblong marrow and the spinal But it is well enough known that these medullary parts serve for the exercise and dispensation of the animal Spirits and not for their generation The sign of which is that where-ever an obstruction happens in them whatever is below being destitute of the influx of the Spirits suffers an Eclipse whence it follows that the animal Spirits irradiating the medullary Rope are not produced in it but flow in from elsewhere and why should not we think the same of the middle marrow of the brain Truly that this part is rather the Mart or Exchange of the Spirits than its Shop or Work-house appears from hence because the Animals which excel in Memory Imagination and Appetite are furnished with a more ample marrow of the brain as is observed in man and the more perfect four footed beasts and they who seem to have little need of those Faculties as the lesser four-footed beasts also Fowls and Fishes have the Cortex of the brain greater but the medullary part very small It is a familiar Experiment among Boys to thrust a needle through the head of a Hen and that she in the mean time whose brain is so pierced through shall live and be well a long time The reason of which is because the whole substance of the brain in these sort of Animals is almost merely Cortical wherefore from the suffering such a hurt as long as the marrow remains unhurt the Spirits are generated in a lesser quantity but their commerce to the necessaries of life are not therefore presently interrupted Indeed the brains of Birds consist almost wholly of a Cortical and Ashy part and the medullary part is exceeding small and is only like a smaller Nerve descending on either side from the substance of the brain it self After the animal Spirits are begot by a constant afflux of the blood within the Cortex of the Brain being there begotten having obtained a watry Vehicle they flow presently more inwardly and soon enter into the marrows filling the furrows and baulks of all the turning and winding Crevices from whence being carried farther through all the particular tracts of each marrow into the marrowy substance which lyes under all the winding Crevices as their common Basis they are brought at last into the Callous Body as into a spacious field where as in a free and open place these Spirits being newly produced are expatiated or issue forth 5. Indeed this medullary substance called the Callous Body which chambering the more inward superficies of the brain receives into it self the marrow of all the turning Crevices seems to be made for that end and disposed there for the same purpose to wit that the Spirits flowing into it on every side might be stretched out as in their proper Sphere and begin to exercise the acts of the animal Faculties In this place they which come out of the several winding Crevices do meet together and remain as in a publick Emporium or Mart from whence as occasion serves they are raised up and drawn forth for the uses of every Faculty But whilst they here remain at leisure and not busied they become purified or refined more and more by a continual circulation because these Spirits new-born do gently and perpetually flow on every side from the outmost bounds of this body to wit where this common marrow besmears the hinder productions of the brain or the border of either of its Hemispheres towards the fore-part of this callous Body where it is thickest and there if there be need they are employed on the act of the Imagination or entring the shanks of the oblong Marrow they actuate and inspire the nervous Appendix but what Spirits are remaining there after these offices are served run forthwith into the Fornix and passing through its passage they are remanded back again to the hinder region of the brain by a certain circulation and lastly after this manner penetrating through the narrow passages of the Fornix those
in the whole or in part for that reason divers manners both of Actions and of Passions to wit the Senses which we call its Passions and Motions which we name the Actions of the same The formal reason of the former viz. the Senses consists in the retraction or drawing back of the Spirits or a flowing back towards their Fountains For where ever the impression of a sensible object is carried to this radiant or beamy contexture presently either the whole frame or some portion of it whereby it admits the species is compelled to wag and to be moved back as it were to leap back and recede into it self on the contrary the actions or motions of this Soul are made for that this shadowy Spirit being incited or stirred up in the whole or in a certain part unfolds it self more largely and by an emanation and as it were a certain vibration of the Spirits exerts or puts forth its virtue and force of acting Both the Senses and Motions of this sensitive Soul are made either transient when the Spirits or its constitutive Particles being moved somewhere in the System of the Nerves draw together with them the containing parts and deflect them with the like carriage or gesture with themselves as is observed in the five outward Senses and the local motions of the Members or else either both Actions and Passions are continuing to wit when both the Motions and Senses are silently performed without any great agitation or moving of the body or its parts within the first Fountains of the Soul viz. the Head it self These kind of Passions indeed made within the substance of the Brain are the common Sense and Imagination but the Actions are Memory Phantasie and Appetite and either of these as to their beginnings and instincts depend for the most part upon the outward Senses Concerning the former we take notice that as often as the exterior part of the Soul being struck a sensible impression as it were the Optick Species or as an undulation or waving of waters is carried more inward bending towards the chamfered bodies a perception or inward sense of the Sensation outwardly had or received arises If that this impression being carried farther passes through the callous Body Imagination follows the Sense Then if the same fluctuation of Spirits is struck against the Cortex of the Brain as its utmost banks it impresses on it the image or character of the sensible Object which when it is afterwards reflected or bent back raises up the Memory of the same thing The active Powers of this Soul viz. Local Motion Memory Phantasie and Appetite follow sometimes immediately the Passions sometimes are induced apart from them upon other occasions For indeed the sensible impression striking the streaked or chamfered bodies oftentimes the Brain being in no wise affected causes the local Motions to be retorted with a reciprocal tendency of the animal Spirits so in sleep the Appetite knowing nothing of it when pain troubles presently we rub the place moving the hand to it but more often after that the sensible Species having past from the common Sensory to the callous Body hath stirred up the Imagination the Spirits reflecting from thence and flowing back towards the nervous Appendix raise up the Appetite and Local Motions the Executors or Performers of the same And sometimes a certain sensible impression being carried beyond the callous Body and striking against the Cortex of the Brain it self raises up other species lying hid there and so induces Memory with Phantasie also often with Appetite and Local Motion associates Further these active Powers sometimes upon other occasions are wont to be stirred up and exercised apart from Passion In Man the Rational Soul variously moves the sensitive and at its pleasure draws forth and brings into act its Powers sometimes these sometimes those Moreover the blood boiling up above measure and by that means striking impetuously the border of the Brain excites the species of things lurking in it and driving them forward towards the middle or marrowy part of the Brain causes also the various Acts of the Phantasie and Memory to be represented Concerning the aforesaid interior or abiding Faculties we shall at present further take notice that their more perfect Exercises are chiefly and almost only performed by the Spirits already perfected and highly elaborated for those a making or that are new made being numerous they very much obstruct and hinder the acts of the animal Function to wit when from the Vessels on every side watering the Cortex of the Brain the subtil Liquor is plentifully instilled for the matter of the animal Spirits this flowing inwardly stuffs all the pores and passages of the Brain and so excludes for that time the Spirits from their wonted tracts and orbs of expansion Wherefore whilst the chief reflection of the Brain and Spirits is celebrated sleep or an Eclipse of the animal Spirits happens then waking returns when from the Liquor instilled the more subtil part is exalted into very pure Spirits and at length the more watry being partly resolved into Vapours is exhaled and partly supped up by the passages of the Veins entring the substance of the Brain or else is sweat out into the vacuity lying under the callous Body Concerning these I hope we may discourse more largely afterwards In the mean time that we may proceed to the rest of the things proposed concerning the frame of the Brain properly so called there yet remains that we speak of its Ventricles But since they are only a vacuity resulting from the folding up of its exterior border I see no reason we have to discourse much of their office no more than Astronomers are wont of the empty space contained within the vacuity of the Sphere But in truth as there is nothing met with in Nature that is not destinated to some use surely we suspect this same Vacuum or empty space not to be built in vain within the Globe of the Brain The Ancients have so magnified this Cavern that they affirmed it the Shop of the animal Spirits both where they themselves were procreated and performed the chief works of the animal Function But on the other side the Moderns or those of later days have esteemed these places so vile that they have affirmed the same to be mere sinks for the carrying out the excrementitious matter But indeed that opinion of the Ancients is easily overthrown for that the animal Spirits being very subtil and apt to fly away require not such large and open spaces rather than the more narrow passages and little pores such as are made in the substance of the Brain for these Spirits because they ought for the various Faculties of the Soul to be composed into various series and divers orders and dispositions therefore ought to be moved within peculiar orbs and tracts Further if any one shall exactly consider the fabrick of the Brain and seriously weigh that these Ventricles are not formed out
of the primary intention of Nature but result only secondarily and accidentally from the complication of the Brain he will be far from thinking that the supreme seat of the Soul is fixed there where being hem'd in with a most noble Guard of Spirits it doth execute and perform its Functions For it neither appears at all out of what matter and by what artifice the Spirits are there begotten nor by what ways of emanation they are derived from thence into the other parts of the Brain and nervous System Wherefore almost all Anatomists who are of a later Age have attributed that vile office of a Jakes or sink to this more inward chamber of the Brain To which Opinion there has been some trust given for that these Ventricles are often seen in the dead to be filled with water also from these ways seem to lye open for excretion both towards the Tunnel and also into the Sieve-like Bone It is observed that where-ever the blood flows more copiously into any part and waters it there Vapors or watry Humors are begotten from the superfluous Serum left in the circulation which for the most part either exhale out through vaporous Effluvia's or are brought back into the blood by the Veins or Lymphatick Vessels But when the blood by a plentiful influx waters not only the Cortex of the Brain but the interior marrow also it remains that the serous Latex when-ever it abounds more in the blood than that its superfluities may be reduced immediately by the Veins or by the Lymphaeducts if they be there or may be separated by the Glandula's should slide down into this den made hollow within the infolding of the Brain Truly there are many instances which plainly evince that the serous humors are ordinarily laid up in the Ventricles of the Brain Anatomical Observations of men dying of many Cephalick diseases and especially of soporiferous or sleepy distempers confirm this Yea it may be lawfully thought that natural sleep follows for that the Pores and passages of the Brain are occupied and stuffed with a watry Latex which serves for a Vehicle to the Spirits Then as often as a profound sleep invades any one from a Surfeit or drinking of Wine the cause is that the little spaces in the medullary substance of the Brain destinated for the motions of the Spirits are too much obstructed by a Narcotick or a watry humor certain reliques of which being resolved into vapor and thrust out from the company of the Spirits do often sweat out or drop into this Vacuum or empty space After this manner it may be believed concerning the Ventricles of the Brain or the empty space left within its plicature or folding together But in truth because this matter hath been very much controverted among Physicians of every Age and the right decision of it seems to be of great moment for the explicating the offices of the other parts of the Head I will here compare together the reasons for and against this Opinion that we may at length give our Judgment of this Opinion what may be either true or most likely CHAP. XII It is inquired into whether the serous Humors heaped together within the Vacuity of the Brain be sent out by the Pituitary Glandula and the Sieve-like Bone or not SInce Experience testifies that the Serum and excrementitious I may justly say morbifick and oftentimes deadly Humors are found frequently within these Ventricles of the Brain we ought to inquire more diligently concerning their passage in and out and the rather for that it is very much doubted by some concerning the use of these Dens nor are there wanting those in this late Age who have endeavoured to bring into vogue the ancient Opinion though long since exploded concerning the Spirits being begot in this place and here exercised I believe without doubting for the reasons before alledged that the Spirits are not here begotten nor exercised and no less certain is it made by Experience that the serous Colluvies is here often gathered together This therefore only remains that we should see from whence and how this flows hither and then by what ways of Excretion the same should be carried out As to the first it is exceeding probable that the serous Latex which is the Vehicle of the Spirits newly produced and is introduced together with them into the Pores of the Brain after it is grown stale and being attenuated into Vapour doth distil forth into this Cavern and there at last grows into a watry Humor for otherwise what becomes of that Humor or into what other Receptacle could it be derived Besides this ordinary and I believe assiduous heaping together of the serous Colluvies within the Ventricles of the Brain certainly it may be believed that this kind of serous Humor is distilled out of the Glandula's inserted in the Choroeidal infolding being too much filled into the Ventricles so called I have often seen in a Dropsie the Glandula's of the Brain to be intumified and like grains of Barley bursting with too much wet to become flaccid or withered so that they could not retain the ferosities brought to them but continually disposed them into the Cavity beneath Truly in a Dropsie of the Brain these Cavities or Ventricles are always seen to be full of water the cause of which kind of distemper is the blood being made more watry puts off in its circulation a greater heap of Serum than the Veins can presently carry back or the Glandula's are able to receive and retain For indeed that the Serum redounding on every side from the Vessels may the better slide into the Ventricles of the Brain it is so ordered that the greater infoldings of the Vessels with the inserted Glandula's should be disposed near all the Ventricles of the Head because not only the infolding Choroeides is placed nigh the concourse of the three Ventricles in the Brain but another infolding and no less noted which we above described with greater Glandula's is set behind the Cerebel nigh the fourth Ventricle In all as it seems for that end such care is taken that the watry part coming from the blood which is destinated either for the Brain or the Cerebel for that it is not fit for the procreating of Spirits might run into these infoldings of the Vessels But yet if a greater plenty of Serum be there laid up than can be contained in them or may be sent away outwardly whatever is superfluous will slide into the Cavity underneath Hence it appears from whence and by what means the serous heap is gathered together within the Ventricles of the Brain certainly to deny this going out is no other than to assert every ones Brain big with a Viper which cannot be brought forth but by gnawing asunder the bowels of its parent Who shall lightly consider the parts nigh the Ventricles and their Fabricks at first sight only would swear with the Ancients that the excrements of the brain were laid aside both lower
be easie to guess for certain We have already shewn that these aforesaid Prominences ought not to be taken for the two shanks either of the Brain or Cerebel bending back one towards another and so growing together into the oblong Marrow For although from this supposition a very neat Hypothesis may be made for the oeconomy of the animal Function to wit by affirming that these double shanks on either side were so many distinct ways of passage through which the animal Spirits for the performing of motions flowed from the Brain and Cerebel into the oblong Marrow and returned thence from this into those for the performing the acts of the Senses yet from our Method of Dissecting it plainly appears that the brain is not fixed to the oblong Marrow nigh this place but far above it so that indeed the anterior Prominences unless mediately only viz. by the chamfered bodies receive not any portion of the medullar stock or any influence from the brain nor can have any dependency from it Besides if the Protuberances called Nates were shanks of the brain why should the same be in man he having got the greatest brain the least or at least lesser than in most other living Creatures Then between the Prominences called Testes and the Cerebel although there happens a certain communication yet it seems that there lyes open a passage from those little lumps into the Cerebel and not from this through them into the oblong Marrow For out of these aforesaid Prominences a medullar Process ascends obliquely on either side into the Cerebel by whose passage the animal Spirits tending from one stage to the other cause a mutual commerce between those parts and the Cerebel But indeed the Processes which lead from the Cerebel into the oblong Marrow and carry to it its influences being distinct from the former stand somewhat lower as shall be more clearly shewn hereafter when we shall speak of the Cerebel But in the mean time concerning the offices and uses to which the aforesaid Protuberances serve we shall make this conjecture The animal Spirits perpetually flow out and leap back again from the fountain the brain into the oblong marrow so that there may be had a constant commerce between the brain and many organs of sense and spontaneous motion from which those parts are entertained which perform their actions not at the beck of the Appetite but either by the instinct of Nature or the blind impulse of the Passions for such receive wholly their influences from the Cerebel as afterwards shall be more fully shewed Whilst therefore the Spirits flowing from the brain abound in the oblong marrow it is fit that some of them should be carried from thence into the Cerebel for what uses this ought to be done shall be told by and by wherefore from either side of the oblong marrow a Protuberance grows forth into which indeed the Spirits designed for the Cerebel may go apart from the common passage of the oblong marrow and these Prominences are the former which are commonly called Nates and as we have said are far greater in most brute Animals than in man the reason of which shall be declared anon The other hinder Protuberances commonly called Testes grow to these former and are only certain Epiphyses or Excrescences of them as it were the heads of the medullary Processes which are from thence carried by an oblique ascent into the Cerebel for when the animal Spirits ascend from the former Prominences into the Cerebel they enter these latter first as it were the more large beginnings or entrances of their passage from whence they go forward by the passage of the medullar Processes into the Cerebel Besides we may take notice that when the animal Spirits are carried out of the oblong marrow into the greater natiform Prominences to be derived towards the Cerebel they according to their custom as often as they tend towards the common Sensory from a double Organ of any Faculty ought to be confounded and mingled together before they enter the Cerebel wherefore both the first Prominences and also the second growing to them are joyned together with certain Processes like wings reaching one another which connexion indeed of them because it ought to be distinguished every where from the medullar Trunk lying under it hence from the separation or empty space that comes between the oblong marrow and the growing together of the Prominences that cavity arises which is by some called the fourth Ventricle and by others the passage to it If it be yet farther inquired to what end the animal Spirits are carried by this by-passage from the common passage of the oblong marrow into the Cerebel and thence back again I say that this is done for a twofold respect viz. both that the Passions or Affections of the sensitive Soul begun from the brain may be transmitted to the Praecordia and Viscera then secondly that the natural Instincts excited in the Praecordia and Viscera might be communicated to the brain These reciprocal commerces which are had between the brain and the Organs of involuntary Functions ought to be instituted or performed by this private passage lest otherwise the exercises of these involuntary Faculties should very much disturb the acts of the outward Senses or the intentions of spontaneous motions As to the first it is observed that by every passion of the sensitive Soul as from Anger Sadness Pleasure and other Affections the Praecordia are disturbed whether we will or no which variously dilate or constrain themselves and so stir up in the blood divers fluctuations Moreover from this kind of force of the Passions the countenance or the aspects of the Face are wont to be altered and distorted after various ways The reason of all these seems to be because when the animal Spirits existing within the brain are moved according to the Idea of the conceived Passion the other Spirits also flowing within these diverting places being in like manner moved affect the Cerebel and that coming between the original of the Nerves serving to the Praecordia Viscera and Muscles of the Face and so the parts to which those Nerves are distributed are also stirred up or provoked into motions answerable to the same passion But the aforesaid Prominences and their dependences serve no less also for the conveying of the impressions of natural Instincts to the Brain that from thence the Appetite and local motions might presently be retorted by which all the exigencies or wants perceived by the Praecordia or Viscera might be supplied When in a young one newly born the stomach crys out for hunger the Instinct of this is carried by the passage of the Nerves to the Cerebel and from thence by the medullar Processes to these Protuberances and the Spirits there inhabiting form the Idea of the impression and carry it to the brain wherein presently without any previous knowledge or experience such kind of conceptions of the Soul are stirred up that every
little living Creature presently seeks out the Mothers breasts and sucks But it may be objected it does not seem of necessity we should suppose these kind of acts of the Passions and Instincts to be made apart in this by-place for why are not the commerces of the animal Spirits ordained by the influence from the Brain into the Nerves leading to the Praecordia and so back again through the common passage of the oblong Marrow But to that it may be readily answered That this reciprocal motion of the Spirits ought to be made through the middle region of the Cerebel from one stage to another for the exercise of these Faculties And therefore since that all manner of communication between the Brain and Cerebel is performed by these Prominences there should also be had a passage by the same way between this and the Organs of the Functions merely natural Besides if the rage or furious motions of the Passions and Instincts should be carried in the same path in which the forces of sensible things are carried their acts might be greatly confounded by the mutual meeting or gathering together of the animal Spirits But this kind of Hypothesis concerning the Acts and Progress of the Passions and natural Instincts shall be made more clear afterwards when we design the Actions and Uses of the Cerebel and of the other parts which in like manner seem to be destinated to the same offices with these Protuberances In the mean time what we have affirmed that the latter Prominences are only Additionals or Excrescences of the former will clearly appear to any one beholding them But this as we have already hinted is seen without Controversie in the brains of a Calf a Sheep and some other four footed beasts where when the Nates are signally great the Testes grow to the same in a very small bulk Further that the medullary Processes lead from these into the Cerebel and convey the animal Spirits by this by-path is so manifest that none who hath carefully beheld these parts can be able any further to hesitate or be doubtful of it For indeed the little hairs or fibres wherewith these processes ascending into the Cerebel are marked are otherwise figured and placed than those which are beheld in the neighbouring process descending from the Cerebel towards the oblong Marrow Moreover either pair of Prominences do not only communicate among themselves mutually by their stretched out wings but also another medullar Process going cross-wise knits together the aforesaid Processes stretched out from thence into the Cerebel and from this joyning together of them two small Nerves are produced which bending down on either side and being carried forward enter the Dura Mater and so go straight through it till having reached to the moving Nerves of the Eyes they go forth of the Skull at the same hole with them going forward straight to the Trochlear Muscle of the Eye Concerning these little Nerves it is observed that when many others proceed from the sides or the Basis of the oblong Marrow these arise from the aforesaid Prominences in the bunching forth at the top The reason of which if I be not mistaken is this We have affirmed that these Prominences do receive and communicate to the Brain the natural Instinct delivered from the Heart and Bowels to the Cerebel and on the other side or back again do transfer towards the Praecordia by the mediation of the Cerebel the forces of the Passions or Affections received from the Brain but in either action the motion of the Eyes is affected with a certain manifest Sympathy For if pain want or any other signal trouble afflicts the Viscera or the Praecordia a dejected and cast down aspect of the Eyes will declare the sense of its trouble when on the contrary in Joy or any pleasant Affection of the Praecordia or Viscera the Eyes are made lively and sparkle again In like manner the Eyes do so clearly shew the Affections of the Mind as Sadness Anger Hatred Love and other perturbations that those who are affected though they should dissemble cannot hide the feeling and intimate conceptions of the mind Without doubt these so happen because the animal Spirits tending this way and that way in this diverting place between the Brain and the Praecordia do at once strike those Nerves as the strings of a Harp Wherefore from this kind of conjecture which we have made concerning the use of these Nerves we have called them Pathetical although indeed other Nerves also may deserve this name There yet remains for us to take notice of the aforesaid Prominences that either of these pairs and the Processes hanging on them are distinguished from the trunk of the oblong Marrow lying under by the Cavity between them so that this Cavity or Ventricle seems to exist only secondarily because the empty space between the aforesaid bodies placed above and beneath separating the same one from another ought to come between But this Cavity seeming to result so by accident hath a very signal use for in the middle of its passage a sloping aperture reaches towards the Tunnel through which the humors sliding into either of its holes one made more forward the other more backward are sent out The more forward hole is placed between the chambers of the Optick Nerves a little before the pineal Glandula into which the serous heap being laid up nigh to the confines of the oblong Marrow slides by degrees but the other hole is opened more backward into the fourth Ventricle which is planted under the Cerebel which hole is covered with a thin Membrane which girding about its mouth and that of the Cerebel provides lest the humors derived from the fourth Ventricle or the confines of the Cerebel should fall down any other way than into that hole but if at any time that little hole be broken asunder by a deluge of the Serum the watry Latex sliding down upon the Basis of the oblong Marrow overwhelms the origines of the Nerves and so brings Convulsive distempers and meltings and not seldom deadly of the vital Spirits as I have observed in the bodies of many dying of Cephalick Diseases CHAP. XV. Of the Uses of the Cerebel and of some of its Parts and Processes HAving hitherto continued the former Tract of the oblong Marrow which as it were the Kings High-way leads from the Brain as the Metropolis into many Provinces of the nervous stock by private recesses and cross-ways it follows now that we view the other City of the animal Kingdom The situation of this being remote enough from the former its kind of structure is also different from it yea it seems that there are granted to this as to a free and municipal City certain Priviledges and a peculiar Jurisdiction The Cerebel is placed a little below the orbicular Prominences in the hinder part of the Head where growing to the trunk of the oblong Marrow by a double little foot it appears almost of a
couched together with folds or little circles disposed in a certain distinct series and apt method and proportionate within themselves as hath been said whence it may be argued that the Spirits arising from hence and flowing outwardly are imployed or bestowed on some certain works determinate to one thing But further it is observed that in all Animals although they differ in form and kind yet the figure of the Cerebel is always very like or wholly the same The Brain and oblong Marrow are figured in many after a divers manner for as we have shewed before there is some difference of these parts found in man and four-footed beasts but between either of these and Fowls and Fishes there is a notable difference as to these parts Notwithstanding in all these the Cerebel furnished wholly with the same lappets or little circles alike infolded one in another is marked with the same form and proportion which certainly is a sign that the animal Spirits in this work-house are begotten and dispensed as it were by a certain dimension for certain necessary offices which are performed in all after the same manner and which cannot be any other than the motions and actions of the Viscera and Praecordia As to the other Faculties of which sort are Imagination Memory Appetite yea local motions and sense are exercised after one manner in those living Creatures and after another manner in others wherefore their brains are formed after a divers manner But the motions of the Heart and Respiration in all endued with an hot blood are performed after a like manner that is with a perpetual vicissititude of Systoles and Diastoles Besides another office is to be assigned to the Cerebel and different from what is convenient or agreeable to the Brain because where the folds and turnings are wanting in the Brain they are constantly found in the Cerebel Besides these reasons drawn from Anatomy the Pathology of the humane Body affords many others which confirm the aforesaid office of the Cerebel For it oftentimes happens that cruel and horrid Symptoms infest the Praecordia and the region of the middle or lowest Belly whilst in the mean time the morbifick cause lyes in the Cerebel or nigh its confines I have known sometimes men labouring only in appearance with a Dyscrasie of the hinder part of the Head who complained of frequent Swooning and repeated meltings of the Spirits or Deliquiums as if they were just dying in whom notwithstanding nothing more could be detected of the morbifick cause or its seat but that the Patient perceived a great heaviness and pain in the hinder part of the Head and that upon any sudden motion or bending back of the Head they were ready to dye In truth the Symptoms which are wont to be raised up in the distemper called the Incubus or Night-mare viz. loss of speech and a mighty weight or load that seems to lye upon the breast proceed altogether from the morbifick matter fixed in the confines of the Cerebel and obstructing the passages of the Spirits destinated for the Praecordia But indeed this Hypothesis of the office of the Cerebel shall be more illustrated and confirmed from the uses of its several parts being rightly designed or drawn forth As to the parts and accidents of the Cerebel 1. we take notice that the infoldings of the Vessels every where cloath the Cerebel no less than the Brain also that the ridges and furrows of its folds intimately hide or cover it which certainly is a sign that the animal Spirits are begotten in this other work-house of them from the watering blood and instilled into its substance which thing also more clearly appears because the Arteries and Veins are not only variously complicated in the superficies of the Cerebel but both of them in like manner as in the Brain send forth frequent shoots into its more inward substance wherefore whilst the most subtil and spirituous part of the blood being carried through long windings about and as it were serpentine chanels of the Vessels and so sublimed into Spirits is received within the bloody part is carried away by the shoots of the Veins sent also deeply down Further even as the more watry portion of the blood destinated for the Brain runs into the Choroeidal infolding whereby it may there lay aside its unprofitable Phlegm into the Glandula's so for the sake of separating the Phlegm an heap of Glandula's with the foldings of the Vessels as it were a Receptacle fitted for this business is placed in the hinder region of the Cerebel 2. From the blood after this manner cleared from Phlegm and made subtil by a long circulation a very pure and spirituous liquor is instilled into the cortical substance of the Cerebel which is presently exalted by the Ferment there placed into animal Spirits For indeed we have affirmed that the Spirits are procreated only in the cortical part of the Cerebel as in that of the Brain wherefore because this kind of Cortex is wanting to the oblong and spinal Marrow we think these parts do serve only for the exercise of the animal Spirits and not for their production 3. The Spirits every where produced within the cortical or exterior compass of the Cerebel in which they are presently prepared for the work of the animal Function are derived from all the folds into the medullar tract and thence into two ample middle Marrows where they keep full as it were the fountain or spring and there like the bubling up of waters are circulated within with a perpetual turning and from thence they continually stream forth into the parts of the nervous System proper to themselves 4. As to the ways of Emanation it is observed that the two middle Marrows of the Cerebel pass as it were into two pedestals or little feet by which they are fastned to the trunk of the oblong Marrow and for that in either little foot of it three distinct medullar Processes are found all these or at least two of them are as it were so many paths whereby the animal Spirits stream forth from their fountain and flow back again 5. The first of these Processes ascends into the Cerebel from the orbicular Prominences the use of this we have already declared to wit that there may be a certain passage between these Prominences and the Cerebel in which whilst the animal Spirits as in a by-path move this way and that way to and fro they may transmit both the force of the Passions from the Brain by the interposition of the Cerebel to the Praecordia and convey also the natural Instincts delivered to the Cerebel from the Praecordia and Viscera towards the Brain But the second Process descending straight from the Cerebel embraces the medullar Trunk and so going round about it constitutes the annular or ringy Protuberance out of which the fifth sixth and seventh pair of Nerves take their originals so indeed that this Protuberance seems to be the Ware-house or Store-house of
without the Skull is divided into three branches all which serve to pathetick motions or at least to such as are performed without consulting the Brain 1. The first of them being bent back towards the auditory passage is bestowed on the Muscles of the Ear. Without doubt by the action of this it is effected that all Animals at the sudden impulse of a sound or noise erect their Ears at it were to catch the sound too soon passing by 2. The other branch of this same Nerve climbing over the Muscles of the Jaw sends forth shoots towards either corner of the Eye which are inserted into the Muscles lifting up the Eye-lids the office of which is certainly to open suddenly the Eyes at the sudden approach of any sound and as it were to call them forth to watch that by the stroke of the Air being brought to the Ear the Eye might presently look about to see what is the matter and whether there might be any danger near or not which also all Creatures do unthought of 3. The third branch of the same auditory Nerve descending towards the root of the Tongue is distributed to its Muscles and to those of the Bone Hyoides and so actuates some of the Organs for the framing the Voice For this reason in some measure it comes to pass that living Creatures being astonished at an unaccustomed or horrid sound presently putting forth an uncertain voice cry out and make a noise But the conformation of these kind of Nerves in man serves for another more noted use to wit that the voice might fitly answer to the hearing and that this might be set as the Echo of the sound admitted by this so indeed as on the other side there be two Nerves of the same pair the sound is received by the hearing through one which is rendred again by the voice through the other The common and extrinsick Echo consists in this that a certain undulation or waving of the Air shaken or moved being stirred up and tending towards or about when by reason of some stop or hinderance it cannot go any further directly being presently repercussed or struck back or reflected at certain angles it is terminated contrary to the former bound In like manner in the hearing the impression of the sound or the Species admitted to the Ears by the hearing faculty of the Processes of the same or neighbouring Nerve and being carried inwardly towards the Cerebel and common Sensory and from thence again reflected on the vocal process it is carried out by the Mouth But between these there is some difference to wit forasmuch as the outward Echo renders back the sound immediately but the sound of the Hearing is not necessarily carried forth at the mouth presently but that this leaves an Idea in the Head according to which afterwards as occasion serves the voice is formed which bears the type and image of that though some time before admitted But here if I may digress a little we should inquire in what part of the Head the Ideas of sounds are left whether only in the Brain which is the Chest of Memory acquired as it were artificial or whether not also in the Cerebel which is the place of natural memory Truly we suppose that sounds belong to both these as it were to distinct Store-houses Every audible impulse being struck against the Ear it is presently carried by the passage of the auditory Process to the annulary Protuberance but from thence it is carried as other sensible Species to the chamfered bodies or the common Sensory which way it passes thither shall be shewed afterwards this impression tending from thence farther and being also delivered to the Brain stirs up the Imagination and so leaves in its Cortex an image or private mark of it self for the Memory Further also as the auditory Process depends on the Cerebel and receives from it the provision of the animal Spirits so it is most likely that by the recess of the same Spirits the Ideas of the Sounds are conveyed also to the Cerebel which forming there footsteps or tracts impress a remembrance of themselves from whence when afterwards the Species there laid up are drawn forth by the help of the vocal process voices like the sounds before admitted and breaking forth in a certain ordained series come to be made Hence it is usual that musick or melody is soon learnt by some men which afterwards they bring forth with exact Symphony without any meditation or labour of the Brain to wit from the distinct accents of the heard harmony the Spirits moving within the Cerebel are disposed into peculiar Schemes according to which when they flow on both sides into the vocal process of the auditory Nerve they render as it were with a certain spontaneous voice and like a Machine or Clock with the succession of Species the measures or Tunes of the Instrument which they had drunk in at the ears Without doubt hence the reason may be sought why some men learn Musick without any trouble and others hardly or not at all For it is observed that some Children before they can speak distinctly quickly sing and remember certain Tunes whilst others though very ingenious men and of excellent memory are very Fools at Musick and become uncapable as an Ass for the Harp wherefore 't is commonly said that some have musical ears and others are wholly destitute of that faculty In the mean time 't is to be confessed that in these the Organs of the Voice are not defective but all the fault though wrongfully is cast on the hearing But in truth the genuine cause of this defect seems to consist in this that when in all the audible Species go to the Cerebel sooner and more immediately than the Brain yet in some the Cerebel being harder and not easily yielding to the received impressions those Species because they could impress nothing of themselves in their passing to the Cerebel being carried towards the common Sensory leave their Types or Ideas chiefly and almost wholly in the Brain which part being still busied with disturbed motions is less apt to keep distinctly the composures of Harmony But in the mean time in others the Species of audible things besides that they are carried to the common Sensory and to the Brain do also affect the Cerebel especially if they are harmonically figured forasmuch as in them there is a softer capacity of the impressions with a peculiar order and Scheme of the animal Spirits where as the Species of the Harmony being disposed in convenient little places and cells are kept afterwards they flow out from thence almost unthought of without any endeavour or labour of remembrance but in a distinct series and as it were in composed modes and figures and so by blowing up the vocal processes they constitute sweet Tunes and vocal Musick If that the divers ways of passage are inquired into to wit whereby the audible Species being carried into the annular Protuberance do get
both to the Brain and Cerebel I say it is not improbable but out of that Protuberance both a passage lyes open into the underlying tract of the oblong Marrow and as it were the high road as also another passage is opened into the Cerebel through the medullar processes of the same Ring But lest there should perchance be a confusion of the animal Spirits and the sensible Species which indeed can hardly be avoided if the way made for their passage should lye open into various passages and manifold apertures therefore concerning this it may well be supposed that the Ideas of the Sounds pass through the Cerebel when they are carried to the common Sensory which region being first past they are at length brought by a by-path viz. through the orbicular Prominences to the chamfered Bodies which perhaps is partly the reason that in the Hearing the perception of the sense succeeds so late and the impulse of the object in respect of sight follows so slowly Whilst therefore the audible Species passes through the Cerebel in some men it leaves in this region for that it is of a soft temper and fit for the receiving impressions tracts and marks of it self and so they obtain musical ears But in others who have a harder frame of the Cerebel they produce no tracts of the same Sounds and therefore such are wholly destitute of the faculty of Musick As therefore we suppose the audible Species to pass through the Cerebel after this manner a reason may be given from hence wherefore Musick does not only affect the Phantasie with a certain delight but besides chears a sad and sorrowful Heart yea allays all turbulent Passions excited in the Breast from an immoderate heat and fluctuation of the blood For since the animal Spirits serving for the motion of the Praecordia are derived from the Cerebel as the perturbations conceived in the Brain the influence being transmitted hither by moving these Spirits in the Fountain it self transfer the force of their Affections on the Breast so the Melody introduced to the Ears and diffused through this Province does as it were inchant with a gentle breath the Spirits there inhabiting and composes them called off from their fury to numbers and measures of dancing and so appeases all tumults and inordinations therein excited From these may in some measure be known the reason of the difference why the hearing Nerves are after a different manner in man and in four-footed beasts for because in these there is little need that the audible Species should pass through the Cerebel either for the reciprocations of the sound heard by the voice or for the impressing there the Tunes of the Harmony for neither is Musick required whatever Poets feign to the taming the Affections which move the breasts of beasts therefore in these I mean in four-footed beasts the annular Protuberance dispensing the animal Spirits to the auditory Nerves and receiving from them the sensible Species requires not so strict an affinity with the Cerebel yea whenas it may suffice that those Nerves arise from the oblong Marrow yet the annular Protuberance as it were a common Porch ought to be prefixed to them to wit in which both the Spirits going out from either side and the sensible Species to be carried to either ought first to be mixed and united together lest otherwise every sound should become double Among the Nerves which are seen to belong to the Cerebel and to perform its offices lastly follow the eighth or wandring pair which indeed hath its rise out of the common Trunk of the oblong Marrow near the place where the last process of the Cerebel is terminated and over against where the pyramidal bodies being produced from the annular Protuberance end so that we think these Nerves also by that process coming between on either side and also perhaps in some measure through the passage of the pyramidal bodies do derive all manner of influence of the animal Spirit from the Cerebel The beginning of these consists of very many fibres and filaments or little threads presently distinct one from another to which belongs from the very beginning of every Nerve a noted Trunk arising out of the spinal Marrow The description of the wandring pair of Nerves and its protension into the Praecordia and some Viscera are added hereafter For the present it shall suffice that we take notice that for as much as this Nerve is bestowed chiefly on the Praecordia the acts whereof are involuntary and are performed without our care or knowledge in sleep as well as waking and for that the same Nerve seems to receive the forces of the Spirits wholly from the nearer fountain of the Cerebel from hence it may certainly be well concluded that the government or oeconomy of the Cerebel regards only the involuntary Function So much for the Nerves which being subjected to the Government and Laws of the Cerebel seem to obey and serve under it among which moreover ought to be placed the fourth pair or the pathetick Nerves of the Eyes to wit which arising out of the first processes of the Cerebel come between that and the orbicular Processes of the use of which we have spoken already Further we shall here take notice that some other Nerves to be described below for that they communicate with the aforesaid Nerves near their originals cause also some involuntary acts to be performed of which sort are first the ninth pair the spinal Nerve accessory to the wandring pair also the Nerve of the Diaphragma and some others as we shall shew more at large in the particular History of the Nerves We may also observe concerning the Nerves but now described which owe their stock to the Cerebel and seem to be designed for the offices of the involuntary Function that sometimes some of them though of another Dominion are compelled to obey the beck and government of the Brain for we are wont to draw the parts of the Face usually moved pathetically and unthought of and also at our pleasure into these or those Configurations or postures we are able also in a measure to alter the motions and actions of the Praecordia and Viscera at the will or command of the Appetite The reason of these is partly because the Nerves of either Government communicate variously among themselves with shoots sent forth one to another so that oftentimes the offices of the one are drawn into the parts of the other But besides we have mentioned before that the sensible impression being inflicted on the parts of the involuntary Function forasmuch as it is vehement like a strong waving of water passing through the Cerebel affects the Brain it self In like manner it may be thought concerning the motion which belongs to those parts viz. that made after the ordinary manner that it is performed by the command of the Cerebel Notwithstanding some more severe Edicts of the Brain by the by-passage of the Prominences belong also to the Cerebel
and determine the Offices of the Inhabitants of it to be performed at the beck of the Appetite As every one sees that violent Passions whether the will be privy or not easily do this why therefore may not the will it self also as occasion requires exercise the same dominion But in the mean time this derogates nothing from the priviledges of the Cerebel that it may not be called a free and municipal City and so Mistress of the involuntary Function for that in some few it is after the manner of the Brain because the Brain it self in many things is compelled to serve the Cerebel and its Government as we have already shewn and is necessarily bound to it For the Brain owes much to the Cerebel forasmuch as it receives from the vital Function which is of its Province the provision of the blood and by consequence the Tribute of the Spirits produced of it so indeed that both these parts though Principals perform mutual offices and as it were in a circle require and accomplish services one for another CHAP. XVIII Of the relation or mutual respect of either Appendix of the Cerebel to wit of the anterior which are the orbicular Prominences and the posterior viz. the Annular Protuberance Also of the remaining portion of the oblong Marrow continued into the Spinal Marrow BEsides the aforesaid Nerves to wit the fourth fifth sixth seventh and eighth pair which are imployed for the performing the tacit Edicts of the Cerebel for every involuntary Function and those equal in number to the rest subject to the Brain that cause the Cerebel to have an Empire divided with it there are also some Processes and Protuberances which being placed before and behind the Cerebel are its Appendixes that are taken into part of the same Office and Ministry The description and use of these are already particularly delivered But for that as a while since we intimated there happens a certain respect or habit between the orbicular Prominences which is the anterior Appendix of the Cerebel and the annular Protuberance which is the other posterior Appendix of the same and that one part is proportionate to the magnitude of the other so as when the natiform Prominences are greater or greatest the annular Protuberance is always smaller or smallest and on the contrary they who have this latter in a very great bulk in them the other is lesser and so for that either part seems to be a peculiar Repository of the Spirits which belong to the oeconomy of the Cerebel when a greater provision of them is laid up in one Store-house therefore there resides a lesser in the other when I say there is this kind of constant relation found between these parts it yet remains for us to find out for what end this is so constituted Seeing that the animal Spirits are disposed within the several parts of the Head in distinct Schemes of Rays through which are variously transmitted as through Perspective-glasses the impressions of sensible things and the instincts of motions to be performed it easily occurs that there are commerces had this way and that way in the natiform Prominences between the Brain and Cerebel and that the Spirits inhabiting the annular Protuberance are Inter nuncii or Messengers going between which transfer the mutual respects of the Praecordia and Viscera as also of the parts that are wont to be pathetically moved But if it be inquired into what kind of commerces and respects those are which the Brain carries to the Cerebel and on the contrary and that either have to the Organs of the vital and merely natural Function we shall in so difficult and very intricate a matter propose our Opinion though with an hesitating and doubtful mind We have before intimated that the orbicular Prominences did deliver to the Cerebel the forces of the Passions to be carried from the Brain to the Praecordia and did receive from it and communicate to the Brain the necessities of the natural Instincts delivered from the Praecordia and Viscera to the Cerebel To these moreover we add that the annular Protuberance serves wholly for the same offices though after another manner to wit this receives the forces of the Passions as it were at a second hand from the Deputiship of the Cerebel and transfers them then immediately to the Praecordia and this seems to be the chiefest office of this part Further the same Ring receives immediately the natural Instincts from the Viscera of the middle and lowest Belly and impresses them on the Cerebel to be conveyed further to the Brain which kind of use it exhibits secondarily by affording only a way of passage For indeed such Instincts having past through the Cerebel we suppose to be formed and perfected within the orbicular Prominences from whence being transmitted into the Brain they draw forth requisite actions without the previous knowledge of it or intention of doing Hence it may be supposed that the annular Protuberance contains chiefly the animal Spirits which perform the intestine commotions of the Affections In every violent passion of the Soul presently the Praecordia are greatly troubled to wit the same being variously drawn together or spread abroad compel the blood into divers fluctuations but indeed a great company of the Spirits somewhere got together and ready for Excursions in a set Battel do perform these disorders and irregular motions of the Praecordia and for that the Spirits can be disposed for this in no other part than here before the beginnings of the Nerves constituted for these offices therefore this Protuberance in a man by reason of the ragings of the Passions to be performed by a certain force and incitation is far greater than in any other Animal For as he is wont to be suddenly and vehemently disturbed therefore the Promptuary or Store-house is required to be more large in which a greater plenty of Spirits may be kept to be bestowed on such inordinations of the Affections Next to a man this part is greatest in a Dog Cat and Fox in a Calf Sheep Goat Hare and other milder Animals it is very small But as the annular Protuberance seems to be the chief Organ or Chest of the Spirits from whence the winds of the Passions destinated for the exciting the Praecordia are conveyed into the breast so we suppose the orbicular Prominences to be a means of passage and the very instruments whereby the instincts and necessities of the Praecordia and Viscera are communicated from the Cerebel to the Brain Yea the animal Spirits dwelling in this as a retiring place do not only transmit these kind of Ideas or formal Reasons of the Instincts but in some measure form and prepare them for the Brain For when as some brute Animals whose Brain is not imbued with a previous knowledge or practical habits chuse and bring forth some spontaneous actions as it were with judgment and deliberation certainly we may believe the intentions of these kind of acts are
suggested from some other place than the Brain to wit from the aforesaid Prominences Wherefore 't is to be observed that in some Brutes endued with an indocil or dull Brain the Buttock-like Prominences are greatest as may be seen in a Calf Sheep Hog and many others which Animals as soon as they are brought to light presently seek for their food and what is congruous for them they readily know But in a Man a Dog Fox and the like who are more apt to learn and acquire habits these Prominences are very small and these Animals being newly born are furnished only with a rude and imperfect sense besides they are found wholly unapt to seek out their food Upon this Observation which holds good in most Animals which I have yet happened to dissect as upon a Basis or foundation I dare build this kind of abstruse Hypothesis concerning the natural Instincts and Affections of the Praecordia For as the living Creatures which are more strong in instinct as Sheep Hogs Oxen Goats and other slow and gentler beasts that are not obnoxious to Passions are also less docile or apt to learn and on the contrary they in whom the Affections are wont to predominate and who are furnished with a certain wit as besides Man are Dogs Foxes and some other hotter Animals are less powerful in Instinct and as I have observed in the frequent Dissection of all sorts of Heads that in those kind of living Creatures who live rather by Wit than Instinct the annular Protuberance placed below the Cerebel was notedly great and the orbicular Prominences only very small but in other living Creatures where the Instinct exceeded the wit and who were less prone to strong Affections the orbicular Prominences were very great and on the contrary the ringy Protuberance exceeding small From hence I was forced to think that the orbicular or natiform Prominences where they are great are instead of another or supplementory Brain and the chief Organs of the natural Instincts yet so as these parts also serve for a way or means of passage for the transferring the Passions from the Brain towards the Cerebel and Praecordia and that as we have already hinted the greater existency of the annular Protuberance is to contain plenty of Spirits requisite for the winds of the Passions yet in the mean time by a further tending forwards or declination of the Spirits inhabiting this the Species of the natural Instincts being sent from the Praecordia and Viscera pass through But however the business is because nothing can be certainly affirmed or by demonstration if this our Opinion please not others at least it may be pardoned There remains not much more to be spoken concerning the Offices and Uses of the Cerebel and its Appendix Concerning its substance there is something more worthy taking notice of to wit that it very much differs in this respect from the structure of the Brain also for that its cortical little circles are not founded in the stretched out Marrow as the convolutions of the Brain but being deeply cut in are discontinued in their whole tract so that the whole System of the Cerebel is as it were a cluster of Grapes compacted closely together in which although the Berries be contiguous yet they remain distinct one from another and bring forth fissures through the whole thickness of the mass Yea the outward superficies of the Cerebel consists as it were of very many Tubercles or little Tad-stoles or Puffs which grow together on little stalks and those stalks pass into greater branches and they at length being bipartite or twofold go together into two larger Marrows near the bottom of the Cerebel in either of which are three distinct medullary Processes of which threefold processes on either side we have already spoken But of these concerning the use of the Cerebel in general we shall yet further advertise you that as very much of its substance is cortical it begets animal Spirits in great plenty to which in the circulating there is not granted as in the Brain an equally great space for that there seems not to be much need of it in the animal Government For the Spirits so produced in the Cerebel plentifully by a perpetual emanation ought to flow outwardly for the offices of the natural and vital Function but more inwardly for the impulses variously sent into them they admit certain undulations or wavings by which some occasional acts of the involuntary Function are brought forth as is shewn before But as it is manifest enough that the animal Spirits are generated within the cortical little circles of the Cerebel it doth not seem needful that we should ordain their Work-house in the Ventricle subject to its frame For that Cavity as we have already shewn is only an empty space which lying under its double little foot and medullar Trunk comes between it and the overlying bunching out of the Cerebel But indeed there belongs to this besides a certain use to wit that the serous watry heap laid aside out of the Glandula's and infoldings of the Vessels as also from the substance of the Cerebel being made over-moist distilling down might slide into this Cistern From whence lest it should flow down upon the beginnings of the Nerves by a restraining Membrane it is compelled into the hole of the strait Den lying under the orbicular Prominences and from thence is received from the declining aperture of the Tunnel and carried out Below the Cerebel the oblong Marrow going forward with the rest of its tract even to the hole of the hinder part of the Head ends at length in the spinal Marrow but in its Trunk as yet contained within the Skull besides the Nerves and Processes but now recited the beginnings of the ninth and tenth pair of Nerves are also radicated Of which there will be hereafter a proper place to speak when we shall institute the whole Neurology or the Doctrine of the Nerves In the mean time we shall take notice of the beginning of the ninth pair which is peculiar in Man and different from what is found in Brutes To wit in Man below the origine of the eighth pair a certain Protuberance grows to either side of the oblong Marrow Out of that four or five distinct Fibres do come forth one or two of which binds about the Vertebral Artery passing through it but all grow together into the same Trunk which is the Nerve of the aforesaid pair This Protuberance the Pia Mater being pulled away may be easily seen and seems to be the Repository or Store-house of the Spirits destinated to this Nerve For as this Nerve is bestowed on the Tongue and its Muscles and so conduces chiefly to the performing of speech in Man who hath a greater and more frequent use and exercise of the voice there seems to be need of a great provision of Spirits plenty of which ought always to be in a readiness But in Brutes who have none or a rarer necessity
of the voice such a Protuberance is wanting because it is not required in them that the Spirits should be gathered together by heaps as it were in a certain Porch before the Organs of the Voice but that it may suffice for them to be called forth by degrees out of the common tract of the oblong Marrow Further whereas some fibres of this Nerve bind about either Vertebral Artery unless I am deceived that is so ordained for this end lest perhaps in speaking when at any time we are more vehemently moved the blood being stirred up might rush upon the Brain with a torrent For this Nerve binding about the Vertebral Artery as it were with a bridle and so as a Moderator not only of the Tongue but also of the Blood restrains its more rapid influence After the same manner and for no other ends do the recurrent Nerves destinated to some part of the same office variously bind about the Trunk of the great Artery as shall be shewn afterwards As soon as this inferior portion of the oblong Marrow is uncloathed from the Pia Mater the pyramidal bodies come in view otherwise lying hid These in all Animals endued with the annular Protuberance are constantly found also as that Protuberance is bigger so these bodies appear more noted but indeed in a Man and a Dog they seem like two large Nerves which being produced out of that Ring end over against where the eighth pair arise in sharp points If the use of these be sought into it is most likely that the animal Spirits superabounding in the annular provision or store do flow out as it were by these Emissaries which Spirits however run into the beginnings of the eighth pair placed near and so are bestowed by their proper means on the offices of the involuntary Function Although the oblong Marrow retains not its name beyond the limits of the Skull yet it is the same substance which from thence being continued further into the cavity and utmost recesses of the whole Spine or Back-bone is called the Spinal Marrow but it is brought forth for this that the Nerves to be distributed into the Limbs and Members more remote from the Head might more commodiously arise out of the same medullar substance stretched out into the neighbourhood of every part Indeed all this whole medullar Trunk which is continued from the bottom of the Brain even to the Os sacrum seems like the Pneumatick Chest or Bellows of a pair of Organs which includes the blast or breath destinated to every Pipe for in like manner the animal Spirits are contained in this marrowy tract which blow up and actuate all the Nerves hanging thereto as occasion serves If you behold the origine of the whole it seems that the whole frame both of this oblong Marrow and the spinal is of a medullar or marrowy substance every where growing dispersedly through the Brain and Cerebel and then being gathered more round together in the middle of either becomes as one heap For the Marrows besmearing all their folds and turnings about are as so many little rivers which springing from thence begin to be congregated in the middle and to be poured out in one great one but being from thence united they make the oblong Marrow as it were the chanel of the Sea big enough for the motion or ebbing and flowing and reciprocation of the animal Spirits which belly or chanel however stretching it self further beyond the Skull is increased into the spinal Marrow as it were the bosom or process of the former But as the medullar tracts besmearing the folds and convolutions of the Brain and Cerebel unfold themselves into their middle Marrows and medullar Trunk and so the Spirits springing dispersedly from their first fountains congregate as it were into a certain diffused Sea so from this Sea causing an ebbing and flowing or a continual or very frequent influence of the animal Spirit the same Spirits flow out into the depending chanels of the nervous System Concerning this part of this Marrow which being included in the long bosom or chanel of the Vertebrae or Back-bone and according to all their joyntings being marked with as it were knotty processes is called the Spinal there occur not many things worthy consideration besides what are commonly known The figure situation as also the body of this in its whole tract are known generally to be cloven in two not only by Anatomists but by every Butcher The ramifications or branchings of the Nerves proceeding from the spinal Marrow are delivered hereafter Concerning its conformation something peculiar occurs For as the spinal Marrow is as it were the common passage or chanel of the Spirits flowing out of the Head into the Nerves it may be observed that this chanel not after the usual manner of other passages where many rivers flow in doth swell up more but on the contrary in what place it hath more and greater Emissaries its magnitude is increased for in those parts of the spinal Marrow out of which the brachial and crural Nerves arise or those Nerves belonging to the Arms and Legs whose beginnings are more and larger its Trunk becomes much thicker than in the rest of the frame or substance The reason of this is because within the medullar tracts the animal Spirits run not nor pass through with so swift a passage but for the most part flowing leisurely from their Fountains when they have filled the whole space they stay therein and as many Spirits upon occasion offered are wont to be bestowed on every work those remaining there in readiness frame certain convenient Promptuaries where they may divert themselves Wherefore we ordinarily observe not only of this Marrow but of the Nerves themselves that as often as a small branch is distributed into many shoots or suckers to be sent forth here and there always in the very knot of the division there grows a far greater fold than in the rest of the Trunk of the Nerve so that 't is a wonder from whence the Nerve should acquire so in the middle of its passage a new substance and more ample bulk But of these things and others belonging to the Doctrine of the Nerves it behoves us to discourse in the following Chapters CHAP. XIX Of the Nervous System in general where its parts which are the Nerves and Fibres being designed a prospect of the whole Animal Government is exhibited WHenas hitherto having beheld the several Regions of the Brain it self the Cerebel and medullar Appendix and the provision and offices of them all we have designed or drawn forth the uses and employments also of the parts and processes and the sanguiferous Vessels belonging to every one of these it is now time for me to stop and retire into the Port from this troublesom and intricate Sea of Disquisition But indeed because I find that I have not yet reached to the farthest shores and utmost parts but that beyond this Sea which we have sailed
the Nerves only carry from the Head the instinct for the performing of that motion In like manner in Sensation the Fibres receive first of all and immediately the impressions of sensible things and express the same as musical strings do the strikings of a quill or fingers by an intrinsecal modification of the Particles and represent the various approaches of the object by the like motion of the Fibrils as by a moveable and fluid Character whose Idea the Nerves transfer only to the Head Concerning the nervous Fibres it behoves us to inquire from whence they have their rise For it appears plainly that they arise not immediately from the Head or its medullar Appendix nor is it less improbable that they are produced as 't is commonly said from the Nerves because what is asserted that the Fibres are productions of the Nerves and little bits or pieces of them torn off as it were into hairy branches seems unlikely for that the Fibres in some parts being placed nigh exceed in their bulk the magnitude of the Nerve that is brought to that part at least an hundred-fold which thing appears clearly from the Tendon of every Muscle which being made up of united Fibres is observed to be far greater than the Nerve inserted to it And indeed for almost the like reason we are induced to think the nervous Humor it self also whereby the Membranes and musculous Fibres are wont to be watered to be derived unto them not by the only means and passage of the Nerves because it is heaped up much more plentifully and in more abundance than can be carried thither through those narrow passages as appears clearly in Ulcers of the Kings Evil or in Impostumes or Wounds of the Tendons and nervous parts in which a glutinous Humor drops forth in so great abundance that all the Nerves of the whole Body could scarce be able to supply it Wherefore concerning these it seems that we may affirm that the Fibres are not continued portions of the Nerves broken off into little hairy strings or Capillaments and that all the Fibres originally proceed not from the Nerves because some of them viz. those interwoven to the Heart and its Vessels are of equal birth with the Nerves themselves and coexist with them together from the beginning However most Fibres as to their production depend upon the Nerves and all which way soever brought forth receive constantly from the Nerves the forces and supplements of the animal Spirits and also the Instincts of the Motions to be performed by them Therefore to recount the births or kinds of Fibres they are first either spermatick and first begotten the rudiments or first beginnings of which being of the like antiquity as the Heart and Brain placed in the Conception afterwards leisurely increase to wit such are as hath been said those in the Heart it self in its depending Vessels the Membranes and some other parts which form the first stuff or threads of the Embryo or secondly other Fibres are produced secondarily and by a second birth of which sort chiefly are such which are interwoven into the parts taken for the compleating of the animal Fabrick and especially those termed Sanguineous which we think to be begotten after this manner The Heart and Brain with the Arteries and Nerves hanging to them are primigenious parts and highly original but these for the second birth of others and for the nutrition and increase of all the sensitive parts distribute a twofold humor viz. one spirituous and endued with very active Particles which perpetually flow though but in a very small quantity through the passages of the Nerves from the Brain and Cerebel and the other slow and softer which being every where laid aside through the Arteries from the bloody mass is rendred more plentifully This latter being of it self dull and thicker by much is actuated by the former and being imbued by it as by a certain Ferment acquires strength and power of growth or vegetation But indeed the nervous Juyce forasmuch as it diffuses with it self the animal Spirits imparts to every part besides the faculties of Motion and Sense the determinations also of form and figure Further whilst that being joyned to the other arterious humor is disposed into the substance and matter of the member or part to be nourished it forms some tracts as it were to wit the Fibres themselves in which the animal Spirits coming together with them reside and are expatiated These twofold or twin humors coupling together in every sensitive part constitute a liquor truly nutritious to wit which is both spirituous and nourishable And in truth both these Juyces viz. the nervous and arterious being married together are as it were the male and female seed which being mingled in a fruitful womb produces the plastick Humor by whose virtue the living creature is formed and increases Hence may be observed as the particles of the spirituous liquor or of the other more watry juyce viz. this latter being supplied from the Arteries or that from the Nerves are strong or excel as to their properties or powers all living creatures become more or less nimble active and ready to any motion and labour Besides from the default or depravation of the one and the other humor excelling the sorts or kinds of this or that disease are excited concerning which and also what belongs to the explication of the nutritious Humor we may perhaps have some other time occasion to discourse The animal Spirits which enter and fill the ordained series of the Fibres as so many little places flow thither by the passages of the Nerves notwithstanding the Spirits which are seated in the Fibres interwoven with the musculous stock receive nourishment yea and as it were auxiliary forces from the arterious blood there plentifully flowing whereby indeed both the Spirits themselves acquire for the performing of Motions a greater force and as it were elastick so that their force being stirred up by a strong endeavour it seems like the explosion of Gun-powder and also the same Spirits being continually consumed within the Muscles more profusely than is wont to be in the Membranes and other parts are in some measure made up or repaired from the bloody sustenance because whenas the arterious Juyce joyns more plentifully with the nervous flowing within the sanguineous parts it may be well thought that it also lays upon the Spirits brought thither with it as it were some nitrosulphureous particles and intimately fixes them on them and so by reason of this Copula highly flatuous and apt to be rarified the Spirits themselves become there more active so that in every motive endeavour whereby the Muscle is suddenly intumified they as if inkindled are exploded Moreover a sudden refection of the consumed or wasted Spirits after great exercise or labour is for this reason also performed by the blood for that the spirituous particles being left and forsaken by motion presently a new Copula of the same kind of
but also the greater Trunks of the Nerves in many places and insert into them sanguiferous shoots Besides forasmuch as the animal Spirits flowing within the nervous stock for the performing of sense and motion tend to and fro and so bear a double aspect it is probable also that the liquor watering the Nerves as it most commonly tends forward so sometimes backward and so that the extremities of the Nerves implanted in some parts imbibe from them the humor at least some Effluvia's with which they are satisfied and oftentimes transfer them into the Brain it self Certainly there is no doubt that the Fibres and nervous Filaments or threads which cover the Sensory of taste and the Viscera serving for Concoction do immediately receive some tastes of the taken in food from which supplies are carried to the Brain it self in great hunger and faintness of Spirits Because if at any time the Spirits inhabiting it being exhausted very much with heavy and long labour begin to fail a most swift refection is performed Pectorals or Cordials being scarcely swallowed and long indeed before the alible Juyce can be able to reach to the border of the Brain by the passage of the blood Moreover it is most likely that not only the benign Effluvia's of the aliment are received by the extremities of the Nerves ending about the Viscera but also by this way that oftentimes an infestous matter and in a manner malignant is communicated by the Nerves and their passages to the Head But indeed the preternatural Juyces heaped up about the Hypochondria the Spleen Womb and other Bowels emit vaporous little bodies which not only infect the bloody mass and distemper the Head by that means but they climb to the Brain more immediately by the passage of the Nerves and strike it with an heavy ill For from hence in part it comes that Hypochondriacks and Hysterical people are so cruelly punished through the Symptoms stirred up in the Brain and nervous stock for the faults of the lower Bowels hence it is that little Pills of Opium being scarcely dissolved in the Stomach cause a Torpor or heaviness But here is no place to discourse more largely of these It behoves us to consider what remains the Springs of the nervous Juyce the Auxiliaries but now detected and its Virtues and Influences Concerning the nervous Liquor we shall inquire what that doth in its passage to wit whilst it flows within the Marrows or middles of the Brain and Cerebel the medullar Trunk and the bodies themselves of the Nerves secondly then for what uses it serves when being sliden from the ends of the Nerves it is spread abroad on the secondary parts of the nervous System 1. As to the first whilst that of the nervous Liquor passes through the Head and either of its Appendix its chief office seems to be for a Vehicle of the animal Spirits which indeed it carries along with its diffusion and contains them under the same Systasis Yea this Latex shews various Schemes of the Spirits for the performing of sense and motion even as the humid Particles of the Air pass through the Optick Configurations of the Rays of Light Also moreover the nutrition of the aforesaid parts and accretion or growth into a greater bulk depends in some measure upon the nervous Juyce watering the same as shall be shewed by and by 2. But the greatest question is concerning this Liquor being diffused beyond the ends of the Nerves upon the secondary parts of the nervous System and in the passages of them on the whole Body to wit whether such a Juyce be nourishing of all the solid parts or of some of them by themselves as Authors variously think or to what other office it is destinated Concerning these it first appears that the Brain and Nerves with the Juyce flowing out of them contribute matter or at least some influence to the work of nutrition the which if it should chance to fail a sign of which defect is if the animal Faculty falters in part the nourishment there is wont presently to be hindred or perverted This is plainly seen in the Palsie excited from an evident cause without any previous Dyscrasie of the blood where suddenly an Atrophy follows the privation of motion or sense or of both together Further in the Scurvy where the taint hath corrupted the nervous Juyce when the sick begin to be afflicted with the Vertigo and swimming of the Head and with wandring pains Convulsions and a frequent loosning of the Members the flesh falls presently away as in a Consumption and without any fault of the Lungs the sick wither away as if distempered with a Phthisis It is a vulgar observation That from the immoderate use of Venus also from an inveterate Gonorrhoea from Strumous or running Ulcers and other Impostumes by which much of the nervous Juyce is wasted a leanness or wasting of the whole Body is produced Certainly if I be not deceived there are some Atrophies yea and sorts of breakings out which seem to depend wholly upon the defect or the evil dispensation of the nervous Juyce when the blood as to its quantity and disposition is not much in fault Lastly the consideration of some Diseases and Symptoms so plainly confirms the diffusion of the nervous Liquor and its great influence on all the parts that there is even left no room for doubting Also no less doth the curing of some Diseases and the use of Remedies confirm the same For from hence a reason is taken wherefore Cephalick Plasters oftentimes yield such signal help in the Phthisis not because they stay the Catarrh of the Serum falling down on the Lungs as the common people think but because by corroborating the Brain they restore the disposition of the nervous Juyce before vitiated For this cause it is that some diseases being stirred up by the fault of the nervous Liquor of which sort among others are Cancrous and Strumous Ulcers or such as come of the Kings-Evil are hardest of all to be cured because the morbid tincture of the Brain and of the Latex watering it whether it be innate or acquired is not easily mended yet sometimes when the root of the disease lurking in the Brain or nervous stock is taken away by the help of Nature it self or by Chance by the use of some remedy presently the Symptoms of other parts though neglected in the whole vanish not without the suspicion of a miracle But how much the alteration of the Brain serves for the curing of some most grievous diseases some instances taken from the Farriers Art will clearly shew For when many Medicines and Methods of Administrations are wont to be tryed in vain for the curing the stinking disease in Horses commonly called the Farcy which Helmontius asserts to be like the French Pox and the Author of its Contagion the most certain means of curing which I have very often known to be applied with good success consists in this that some sharp Medicines
and are assimilated into their substances In the mean time because the animal Spirits are poured out in great plenty with the nervous Juyce those which are at leisure from the work of nutrition or remain after that is finished turn aside every where into the Fibres as into proper dwelling-houses and there being ready for the offices of sense and motion stay which offices indeed that those Spirits the Inhabitants of the Fibres may the better perform they acquire from the blood watering the Muscles certain auxiliary forces wherefore they being endued with a certain elastick force are apt to be highly rarified and as it were exploded But indeed we suppose that as the nervous Liquor being turgid with animal Spirit causes the arterious humor to become nutritious so in compensation of this the animal Spirits remaining of the work of nutrition and every where disposed within the Fibres receive from the arterious blood a mixture or certain Copula by whose help and cooperation the same Spirits exert or put forth much more strongly their locomotive force For it seems that little sulphureous bodies are added to the spirituous-saline particles from the watering blood and so when the animal Spirits are furnished with this Copula they being stirred up into motion shake off the borrowed particles which being struck with a certain force like the explosion of Gun-powder suddenly intumifie the Muscles and so by contracting them very much they cause a vehement motive endeavour We shall have an occasion of discoursing more at large of this when we treat of the Motion of the Muscles Yet in the mean time we shall take notice that the Muscles of the whole Body as to their motion have a certain Analogy with the motion of the Heart For indeed the animal Spirits in the Heart flowing within the fibres and nervous threads with which this part is much beset receive plentifully sulphureous little bodies from the inflowing blood distending the sides of either bosom which whilst the same Spirits being filled to a fulness shake off and as it were explode a Systole of the whole Heart its sides being carried with a certain force inwards is brought in or caused whereby the blood from either side the bosom is cast out as it were by the impulse of a Spring or Bolt Truly unless the Spirits inhabiting the Heart should receive food and matter of explosion from the blood it self their stock supplied or sent by the passage of the few and small Nerves would not suffice for the performing of the undiscontinued motion A sign of this is that from a defect or depravation of the blood as well as of the animal Spirits the motion also of the Heart is âefective or diminished And not much unlike in the Muscles as in the Heart is the business performed the Spirits inhabiting their Fibres receive a sulphureous Copula and apt for explosion from the blood there more plentifully flowing than about the Membranes with which being endued as often as they receive from the Nerve as it were the fiery inkindling or the match the instinct of the motion to be performed they being excited and striking of their Copula very much inflate or blow up the Muscle and intumifie it for performing or compassing the motive endeavour Nor is it much to purpose or makes any great difference that the motion of the Heart stirred up by a perpetual instinct is found always necessary but the Muscles the most of them only occasionally and at the command of the Animal do put forth their motive power for the Diaphragma and some Muscles dedicated to Respiration are urged with a perpetual Systole and Diastole as well as the Heart it self From the aforesaid Hypothesis concerning the offices and uses of the nervous and arterious Juyce Arguments that otherwise determine the work of Nutrition may be easily answered For that the blood is said rather to prey upon the solid parts than to replenish them that ought to be attributed to the Disease and Dyscrasie of it and not to it simply because sometimes the blood is accused for that it too much stuffs the solid parts to wit forasmuch as its mass being waterish and weak it lays aside the alible Juyce which not being truly cook'd is still crude and vicious with very great plenty about the habit of the Body and so induces an Anasarca In the mean time it ought to be granted That as it is the blood that is evil which heaps up too much vicious nutriment so it is the same which being well and right doth laudably perform the office of Nutrition But that it is argued That the nervous is rather the nourishing Juyce because by reason of its defect depravation or too prodigal expence the acts of nutrition are wont to be hindred or perverted it is easie to reply to this That the impediments of the nervous Juyce being made vicious respect the form of nourishment and not the matter of it to wit it sometimes happens that the blood dispenses the alible matter in due plenty and disposition which notwithstanding by the fault of the nervous Juyce is not rightly assimilated When an impotency of motion comes upon a too great distension of the Muscle or Tendon with pain shortly nutrition being hindred a Jelly grows about the distempered part which notwithstanding drops not out of the Nerve as is commonly said but the glutinous humor being poured out of the Arteries for aliment for that it cannot be received by the hurt part is gathered together there nor is it to be thought that Tumors or Strumous Ulcers or the running Sores of the Evil do contain or pour out only a nervous humor since the matter of either is for the most part bloody which by reason of the evil Ferment of the nervous Juyce puts on a strange form and that diversly degenerous This supposition of the twofold Humor for the matter and form of nourishment is taken to be of egregious use for the solving of the most difficult Phaenomena which are met with about the Distempers of the Brain and nervous Juyce yea that Pathology seriously considered seems to infer as a certain necessary consequence that a twofold Juyce is necessary for the work of Nutrition as some other time perhaps we may shew In the mean time leaving this Speculation we shall proceed to the remaining Task of our Anatomy to wit the Neurologie or of the Nerves in particular THE Description and Use OF THE NERVES CHAP. XXI The first four Pair of Nerves arising within the Skull are described THE division or distinction of the Nerves by reason of their various respects is wont to be manifold to wit as they are either soft or hard singular or numerous in their beginnings or that they serve either to the faculty of Sense or Motion or to both together But they are commonly distinguished That some Nerves arising within the Skull proceed from the oblong Marrow and others going out of the joynts of the Vertebrae are derived
from this infolding towards the Anus under the inferior part of the straight Intestine imparts to it also frequent shoots so that this infolding the least of all those which are within the Abdomen seems to be constituted for the sake of this Nerve only to wit which lying under the straight Intestine and part of the Colon is inserted into the greatest infolding of the Mesentery From the lowest neighbouring Infolding to which this least owes its original two Nerves going out and being sent down into the Pelvis cause there two infoldings viz. one in either side in which the Nerves coming from the Os sacrum and ingraffed with the former meet from which also the Nerves distributed into the adjacent parts serve unto the several Excretions viz. of the Urine Dung and Seed made in that place for two Nerves enter into the end of the straight Intestine and as many into the Womb or Prostates but one and that a noted one is carried into the Bladder But that we may return to the Intercostal pair after either Trunk of it had sent forth three branches out of which the aforesaid lower infoldings of the Abdomen are mediately or immediately made it descends straight towards the Os sacrum and in its journey sends forth yet one or two branches into the Ureters but as soon as it is come to the beginning of the Os sacrum both nerves mutually inclining themselves to one another are demerged within the bending of the same bone and there nigh its declining and then in its descent they seem to be knit together upon it by two or three processes and so at length either nerve ends in very small fibres which are distributed into the Sphincter of the Anus But sometimes either nerve joyn together into a round infolding nigh one transverse process out of which single infolding the like very small Fibres are produced Further many others from the last Vertebral Nerve meet with and are ingraffed with these Fibres from the intercostal pair inserted into the Anus CHAP. XXVI The Explication of the Intercostal Pair of Nerves which are described in the former Chapter as to their Offices and Uses and first the upper Branching of them is considered THE beginning of the Intercostal Nerve are two or three shoots reflected or turned back from the Nerves of the fifth and sixth pair and united into the same Trunk Fig. 9. D. a. a. b. Here we may wonder at the birth of this Nerve as it were borrowed for it grows as a shrub upon another tree or shrub and therefore dispenses the common virtues and influences of either with a double branching viz. both its own and that of its parent by which ramification or branching it comes to pass that there are very quick commerces and consent between the conceptions of the Brain and the affections of the Praecordia also between the Actions and Passions almost of all the parts of the whole Body which belong to the involuntary Function For in that the Trunk of the intercostal Nerve proceeds from the Nerves of the fifth and sixth pair nigh their beginnings that is a sign that both the influence of the animal Spirits and the instincts for the performing of motions are derived chiefly into it from the Cerebel to wit from whose annular process the aforesaid pairs of Nerves arise But forasmuch as the same intercostal Nerve is rooted in their Trunks and not immediately in the Cerebel this is the reason why the Eyes as also the parts of the Mouth and Face to which the fifth and sixth pairs have regard do answer so readily and unknown to the Cerebel as it were by the same act to the motions of the Praecordia and Viscera which the intercostal Nerve effects and on the contrary the motions of these presently follow the action of those As for example in Sneezing as soon as the nervous Fibres besmearing the Nostrils are wrinkled together by the pulling presently by the passage of the intercostal nerve the Diaphragma by reason of a more deep inspiration or drawing in the breath is for some time depressed then the Cramp of the Nostrils remitting the Midriff also being violently drawn back causes a more strong breathing forth with a vehement blowing of the Air. In like manner on the contrary when by a tickling made upon the Ribs the Diaphragma being affected with a Spasm moves to a cackling noise the Face and Mouth are pathetically figured with it into laughter The intercostal Nerve being slid out of the Skull presently constitutes the Ganglioform infolding Fig. 9. G. it being after the same manner in the Trunk of the wandring pair What the use of these infoldings is in general we have already shewn and clearly for the same reason in this place in the intercostal Trunk where it receives into it self some nerves from elsewhere and sends forth others from it self into the neighbouring parts this infolding as it were a knot in the stem of a flourishing Tree is made that it may be as it were a diverting place for the manifold tendency of the Spirits As to the adventitious Nerves it is observed That by them plenty of subsidiary Spirits are transmitted hither only from the spinal Marrow but by a manifold and frequent passage wherefore in this infolding and again in the following then a little lower nigh the several junctures of the Vertebrae the Vertebral branch comes to either Trunk of the intercostal pair this seems to be so constituted for many uses First That the intercostal Nerve by the reiterated fastening to the solid parts as it were by a frequent stay might become the more firm for the making of a long journey when otherwise its little rope by too much stretching out might be easily broken Secondly By this means it comes to pass that the nerves which are the Executors of the spontaneous and those of the involuntary Function might have both a more certain commerce together and might be sometimes excited into mutual succors Hence Respiration and some other Acts especially what concerns the Act of Venus participate of either Regiment so that sometimes they follow the will and sometimes draw it even by force or unwilling Further when at any time the stock of animal Spirits is deficient in either Province supplies of them are sought from the other to wit as we hinted above if the influence towards the Praecordia be shut up through the ordinary passages viz. the internal nerves their passages requisite for the sustaining of life might be supplied by the Vertebral branches yea it is probable in the partial Apoplexie and in the Incubus or Night-mare when the Cerebel being affected the Spirits destinated for the Heart suffer an Eclipse in the Fountain it self that through these Emissaries to wit the Vertebral branches inserted into the intercostal pair some extemporary Subsidies are carried for the actuating the Heart Thirdly The Vertebral branches by so frequent an insertion are added to the intercostal nerve perchance in some
and lower region of the Circuit about the sanguiferous Vessels After what manner this Thoracical infolding is in brute Beasts shall be particularly shewn hereafter The intercostal Nerve in a Man both in this infolding and in the whole descent through the Thorax receives many Vertebral nerves as if sparing of its own stock and greedy of anothers but sends forth from it self not a shoot whatever of Spirits is remaining either from the influence above or comes to it by the by is reserved wholly for a largess to be bestowed on the Viscera of the lower Belly But after what manner and by what passages of nerves that is dispensed into the several parts we will unfold in the following Chapter CHAP. XXVII The lower Branching of the Intercostal Nerve belonging to the Parts and Viscera of the lower Belly is unfolded AFter the intercostal Pair hath past through the hollowness of the Thorax without any expence of Spirits unless in the Neck-infolding at length it sends down from the region of the Ventricle on both sides a noted Branch either of which presently becoming divided into two constitute two peculiar Infoldings on either side but one infolding arises in the midst of them as if common to either side Of the infoldings which are on the left side one respects the Kidney and the other the Ventricle with the Spleen but of those which are on the opposite side one respects the right Kidney and the other the Liver and its neighbouring part In the midst of these the infolding proper to the Mesentery and the biggest is placed as the Sun among the other Planets Further from these are sent forth one to another and into the neighbouring parts numerous Fibres very thickly as it were dartings of rays Fig. 11. plainly shews all these Concerning these in the first place it shall be inquired into in general For what end so many nervous infoldings with almost innumerable fibres and shoots are distributed about the Mesentery and the Viscera of the Abdomen For when in these parts the fibres and nervous shoots are carried on every side with so thick a series that they are variously infolded with their manifold meeting it may seem wonderful if every one of these be destinated to some uses and are not rather sprinkled here and there by chance and as it were by the inconsiderate sporting of Nature And indeed any one can scarce think that so many Vessels should be prepared for the performing the offices of motion or sense in that place For those Viscera unless highly pulled and affected with a Convulsion are sensible of little or nothing that we know of and their motions are almost no other thing than obscure Vermiculations or light Corrugations so that for the effecting them there is required no greater preparation than for the slow progress of a Snail Wherefore from hence it hath come into the mind of some that a certain Juyce and that perhaps nutritious was dispensed by this manifold passage of the nervous Pipes which sort of office however if assigned to these Fibres dispersed about the Mesentery why should not the same office either of receiving or of carrying of nourishment be granted to those in like manner divaricated about the Lungs and the Praecordia and especially about the rough Artery But truly it is highly improbable that a nutritious Juyce should be contained in the Coats of the Trachea or of the Bronchia which the nerves may suck out nor does it more clearly appear why more nerves should be destinated for the carrying of the alible Juyce to these parts of the Abdomen or those of the Breast than is needful for the musculous stock But in the mean time though we deny that the whole nutritious matter is carried this way and that way by those or the other nerves yet we think that within those nervous passages an humor doth perpetually abound which may be for a Vehicle of the animal Spirits and a Ferment for the nutritious matter with which going with the nervous humor towards the Intestines and to the other sinks of the Body it is likely that the superfluous and excrementitious serosities do often slide down together and so are carried out But it may be well thought as to the Mesenterick Nerves and Infoldings in which they are terminated and the Fibres most thickly going out of these that these different manner of Vessels are first Chanels then Storehouses and lastly the last Emissaries of the animal Spirits If it should be demanded for what end so great plenty of Spirits should be designed for these ignobler parts I say that this is done for the performing the acts of Motion and Sense there which are highly necessary for the preserving of life it self For although local motion which is always performed by the help of a Muscle as of a Spring is not convenient for the Viscera of the lower Belly yet intestine motions are brought forth by them almost continually and after many fashions viz. for the subduing the Chyle also for the separation of some parts and particles from others both of that and also of the bloody Liquor and the protrusion of every one towards their designed bounds the Fibres and nervous shoots reaching into the Membranes of the Viscera and the Coats of the Vessels yea and into the textures of the Parenchyma are variously drawn together to wit these are pulled upwards those downwards sometimes many together sometimes apart or successively are wont to be drawn hither and thither In truth it is a sign of the indiscontinued action of these Viscera that as well in sleep and perhaps more than in waking the Culinary work of Nutrition is performed and whilst the Organs of the other Faculties are at rest there is no quiet granted to these but that the Mesenterick nerves perpetually grinding in the Mill are always busied for the preparing the alible humor and the exporting the same towards all parts Moreover in these parts to which the aforesaid Nerves belong there is found an exquisite feeling no less than a motive Faculty for whatsoever heterogeneous or hurtful thing mixed with the Chyle or blood is brought to any Viscera presently the Spirits inhabiting those parts being warned of the evil do greatly tumultuate as it were by entring into a Conspiracy that what is hostile or troublesom they might shut out But indeed because the animal Spirits flowing by the passage of the intercostal nerve to the Intestines and Viscera akin to them proceed from the Cerebel therefore the businesses of either Faculty to wit both the sensitive and locomotive forasmuch as they are performed the Brain unconsulted and the animal scarce knowing it are not so openly taken notice of and for that reason they are accounted of less than the spontaneous acts of the other parts But as to the manner it self or way of the oeconomy whereby the animal Spirits destinated to the Viscera of the lower Belly are exercised we affirm That plenty of them flow into
called Hysterical as shall be presently declared Therefore if at any time such distempers proceed from the Womb the cause is manifest wherefore the aforesaid infoldings are drawn into consent But we have elsewhere shewn That those Passions are merely convulsive and not seldom excited without any fault in the Womb. Further that Symptom very frequent in those kind of Fits to wit in which as it were a Globe is perceived to be carried from the bottom of the Belly and about the Navel to leap out impetuously which therefore is thought to be an ascent of the Womb I say that it is nothing else than most cruel Convulsions of these infoldings Indeed oftentimes in Women and sometimes also in Men I have known when the convulsive Affection hath invaded that a bulk in the Hypogastrium hath been seen to arise then about the midst of the Abdomen so great a swelling to follow that it could not be hindred or prest down though strongly attempted by the hands of a strong man Without doubt the cause of this admirable distemper is that within the nerves of the intercostal pair the inflowing animal Spirits as often as they begin disorders or convulsive motions first as it is wont to be begin to grow hot or to be exploded about the extremities of the nerve to wit in the lowest infolding of the Abdomen which affection of theirs when creeping upwards it is carried to the greatest infolding of the Mesentery so that the Spirits inhabiting it are taken with the like inordination it is no wonder if that swelling up of the middle of the Abdomen and as it were an explosion of a certain nitrosulphureous matter should be stirred up For truly it is not probable that that Symptom should be excited from the Womb ascending and being removed from its place because besides this part being fixed in its place and firmly established with Ligaments the bulk of it also in Virgins is so small scarce exceeding the bigness of a Walnut that although it should be carried up into the Belly it could not produce such a swelling Nor is it more likely that this sort of distemper is stirred up from the Muscles of the Abdomen taken with a Convulsion for they however convulsive draw together themselves and subjected parts upwards or downwards or of one side but they are not able by any means to bear themselves aloft and to lift up on high with a force the region of the Navel But as we suppose the animal Spirits in the greatest infolding of the Mesentery growing fierce and becoming apt to be exploded as such indeed they are whenever they enter into convulsive motions they being there gathered round thickly into a Globe do mainly blow up and lift on high with their effervescency and notable rarefaction that infolding with its whole neighbourhood and at once drive upward the Viscera lying upon it with a certain vibration or shaking A more full explication of this Symptom belongs to the Pathology of the Brain and Nerves In the mean time we shall take notice that another certain Distemper viz. the Colical grief doth belong to the infoldings of the Abdomen and especially to this greatest of the Mesentery For it may be thought that the most cruel torments that are wont to be excited in this disease do come not from an excrementitious matter shut up in the cavities of the Intestines nor always from a sharp humor impacted in their Coats but oftner from the nervous Juyce imbued with a certain acrimony and stagnating within this infolding from whence by reason of a consent of this with the infoldings both Hepatick and Splenetick a frequent and cruel Vomiting comes upon these pains But these Pathologick Speculations being referred to their places we will follow what we first of all instituted the further passage of the intercostal Nerve by which we are led to the two lesser and lowest Infoldings of the Abdomen Below the Mesenterick Nerves out of which the superior Infoldings are made either descending intercostal Trunk sends forth three or four singular shoots which are carried into the Ureters Fig. 11. Ï
. Ï
. The use of these seems to be to pull together and to jog or shake those urinary Chanels that the Serum separated in the Reins may be the more readily drawn out towards the Bladder Moreover if at any time a viscous or muddy matter doth stick to the passages of the Ureters or a more fixed stone doth obstruct their Cavities they by the help of the Nerves inserted here and there in their whole tract being pulled together and wrinkled may press down and always move forward any bulk or substance staying in the passage Nigh the Vertebrae out of which the Crural Nerves begin to go forward three distinct branches brought to either intercostal Nerve are carried from thence into the lowest hollowness of the Belly where they make the infolding which is the lowest of the Abdomen Fig. 11. â½ Ï. Ï. Ï. That here so many nerves to wit six large ones joyning together do make but a small infolding viz. a lesser than is raised higher in a single branch of the nerve the reason is because this infolding is like an Inn where the inflowing Spirits dwell no long time but it receiving them only in their passage presently commits them to other infoldings placed here and there above below and of one side and made for divers offices for from hence the chief passage and as it were a broad way leads to the greatest infolding of the Mesentery moreover from hence nerves diversly going out make three other infoldings which respect the parts and ways by which the several Excretions to wit of the Dung Urine and Seed are made in the lower Belly The first Nerve therefore sent out of this lowest Infolding into the greatest of the Mesentery a little before it reaches to it imparts two noted shoots to the Glandula's of the Womb but in its ascent it admits four other branches as it were subsidiary viz. two on either side from the intercostal pair Fig. 11. Ï. so that the nerve here seems to be the chief means of passage of the animal Spirits destinated to the greatest infolding of the Mesentery and to the uterine Glandula's which passage however is carried into the designed parts not immediately but a compass being made it first goes forward beyond its bound and at length with a certain going back The reason of which is that the motions of all the Intestines viz. the Vermiculations should be directed downwards towards the straight Intestine and also that the actions of the Womb should tend thither therefore 't was fit that the animal Spirits should be supplied from below whither the motion inclined For by the like means this Mesenterick nerve and the two returning nerves being first carried lower ascend into their Provinces to wit that they may pull together the respective parts toward that bound placed below as it were to a Pully Further for this end to
wit that the influence of the Spirits actuating some Intestines might be derived lower the other infolding of the Abdomen to wit the least is added immediately to this Because upon the Nerves being carried from hence about an inch there grows a small infolding out of which one nerve being sent out into the greatest infolding of the Mesentery stretches it self under the top of the straight Intestine and part of the Colon Fig. 11. ⿠α. And another nerve descending from this infolding is carried under the lowest part of the same straight Intestine Fig. 11. b. which also two shoots carried from the infoldings placed in the Pelvis or Bason meet Fig. 11. d. d. It will not be hard to declare the uses of this infolding and its nerves because all those nervous passages are emptied about the offices and motions of the straight Intestine The ascending nerve directs the Vermiculations of the same straight Intestine as also of the lower part of the Colon and then the greatest infolding of the Mesentery mediating of some other Intestines to be made downwards but the descending nerve in opposition to the other drawing the lowest part of the straight Intestine upwards takes care that the Excrements being carried towards the Arse-hole may not slide out suddenly and unexpectedly Then forasmuch as two nerves from the two infoldings placed within the Bason or Tunnel which infoldings immediately admitting a noted Vertebral branch are partakers of the spontaneous Function meet with this descending nerve and are ingraffed into it it comes to pass from all of them together that the Excrements being detained at the doors when it shall be convenient the Appetite commanding are cast out Nature that it might shun filthiness is so careful that for the carrying out of the Excrements it constitutes nervous Vessels with as noted a provision as for the performing any where of the most splendid offices From the lowest Infolding of the Abdomen two nerves being sent into the Tunnel receive there on both sides a noted Vertebral Nerve and so constitute two infoldings to wit one in either side Fig. 11. C.C. K.K. These infoldings near the doors placed before the chief excretory passages serve for the opening and shutting them a Vertebral branch comes to either as a supply by which it comes to pass that besides the increasing the forces of the Spirits their acts flowing from these infoldings become in some measure spontaneous By what means and for what end the nerve ascending from either infolding is bestowed on the straight Intestine was shewn but now Moreover two descending on both sides are carried into the neck or porch of the Womb Fig. 11. e. g. Without doubt whatever of sense or motion is made about the Venereal acts is owed to the influence of the Spirits through these Nerves In Men the delightful profusion of the Genital humor and in Women the no less pleasant reception of the same depends on the action of those nerves Lastly from the same infolding another nerve descending and broken into certain shoots is distributed on both sides into the Bladder and its Sphincter Fig. 11. f. Certainly by these nerves the business of making water is performed and when at any time the same is painful the troublesom sense is impressed on them But forasmuch as the nerves dedicated to the several Excretions proceed on both sides from the same infolding therefore the acts of them all are in some measure alike among themselves so indeed that if any excretory passage should be weak or ill affected it sends forth its charge which it should keep whether it will or no. This is so well known that there is no need to illustrate the matter with instances These Nerves and Infoldings being so made there is not much business besides left for the intercostal pair About the beginning of the Os Sacrum both Trunks inclining mutually one to the other communicate among themselves by a cross shoot or two then they end in very small Fibres which are distributed into the Sphincter of the Anus Fig. 11. q. r. s. Here the intercoast pair is after the same manner as we have observed concerning the wandring pair to wit either nerve being brought to the end of its course before they enter upon their last task incline themselves to mutual embraces Concerning the last offices of either pair this Conformity may be also noted that whenas the Viscera dedicated to Chylification to wit the Ventricle and Intestines are still continued to the last by the same passage and the same perpetual cavity or hollowness the first doors of this Cavity to wit the Orifices of the Ventricle are kept by the lowest branches of the wandring pair joyned among themselves but before the last door of the same to wit the Sphincter of the Anus the extremities of the intercostal pair also before joyned among themselves are placed But to this part as if it had never provided enough for it besides the nerves sent hither from either infolding next above and these extreme productions of the intercostal pair bestowed on it a branch also and certain fibres from the Vertebral nerve are inserted Fig. 11. i. k. By the access of which it comes to pass that the shutting and opening of this door-keeping Muscle becomes spontaneous Truly many nerves and those of a diverse kind are distributed into the Sphincter of the Anus to wit because the nutritious Juyce and its stinking recrements like a certain Chymical matter are digested within the Intestines as it were within a Matrace therefore Nature which best understands Chymistry is very careful about the well-stopping the mouths of the Vessels From the same Nerve viz. the last Vertebral out of which a branch disperses fibres into the Sphincter of the Anus two other Nerves proceed which are carried into the Yard Fig. 11. l. m. The greater of these which is very large and long is distributed into the nervous Body of it the other lesser into its Muscles This member because it receives nerves only from the spinal Marrow according to our Hypothesis ought to swell up and to be moved only at the spontaneous pleasure of the will but that oftentimes by reason of the swelling up of the Genital seed or humor it is erected and blown up with Spirit whether one will or no that is caused chiefly for this reason Because from this Vertebral pair from whence the nerves of the Yard arise a nervous process is stretched out into the Vertebral pair next above it in which the infolding placed in the Tunnel imparting nerves to the Prostatae is radicated Fig. 11. I. K. into which infolding also a noted nerve from the intercostal pair is implanted When therefore a communication is had between the Prostatae which depend much on the intercostal Nerves and the Yard by reason of the roots of either being joyned together by the nervous process it comes to pass that the action of this follows the affection of those parts but those parts viz.
the Prostatae are apt to be moved not only by the turgescency of the Seed but also by the passage of the intercostal Nerve are wont to be irritated with too unseasonable an action according to the impressions made by the Senses or the Brain into the consent of which presently the Yard is excited Concerning the Nerves which belong to the Testicles here is not much to be spoken for we have often sought in vain for a great company of nervous passages in them I have very diligently searched sometimes in Man also in a Fox Dog Calf and likewise in a Boar and Monkey but could never find belonging to them but one nerve carried from the Vertebral pair which also for the most part is bestowed on the Cremasteral Muscle Fig. 11. M. so that although an excellent humor is prepared within those parts yet it doth not easily appear that its matter is derived thither through the nerves for we think the Genital humor is no more dispensed by the nerves than the nutritious For truly it seems that the Arteries instil a spirituous liquor into the Testicles after the same manner as in the Brain wherefore in their neighbourhood these sanguiferous Vessels being very much divaricated or spread abroad are turned about into little serpentine chanels whereby they subtilize the humor destinated to the Testicles and insinuate it having put off all thickness and Feculency and being truly sublimated into their substance because there as within the Cortex of the Brain the spirituous liquor being imbued with a volatile Salt implanted in the part passes into the most noble Clyssus viz. the Genital humor But here is not a place to discourse more largely of the nature and origine of the Seed yet because it is commonly objected That the Seed is made of the nervous Juyce and plenty of Spirits fetched from the Brain and therefore a large expence of it doth induce quickly on the Brain and Nerves a great debility and enervation I say this comes to pass because after great profusions of the Seed for the restauration of the same humor of which Nature is more solicitous than for the benefit of the individual presently greater Tributes of the spirituous Liquor are required from the blood to be laid up into the Testicles wherefore the Brain is made languid being defrauded of its due stock and afflux of the same spirituous liquor and the Spirits influencing it and the nervous System because they are deficient in the Fountain it self are very much depauperated and become flagging Besides we may add That the animal Spirits also which actuate the Prostatae coming from the spinal Marrow are consumed about the Venereal acts very much so that the Loyns are also enervated for this reason CHAP. XXVIII Of the Spinal Nerve an Accessory to the wandring Pair also of the Nerve of the Diaphragma AFter we have unfolded the Nerves of the wandring and intercostal pair which being Executers of the involuntary Function are stretched out to the Praecordia and all the Viscera of the middle and lower Belly and also to some other parts Next to these follow some other Nerves communicating with the aforesaid in their beginning or in the exercise of the same office viz. the spinal Nerve and the Nerve of the Diaphragma of which we will speak in order We have already shewn that the Nerve of the wandring pair in the beginning is made up of numerous Fibres to which is joyned another noted Nerve arising from afar and being ingraffed with them goes forth together with them out of the Skull Concerning this Nerve because the beginning and distribution of it being very irregular have not as yet been noted by other Anatomists it may seem worth our labour to make a little more diligent inquiry Therefore if we would search into the beginning of this nerve that is found beginning with a sharp point in the side of the spinal Marrow nigh the sixth or seventh Vertebrae of the Neck Fig. 12. C. C. But being increased in its ascent is no where inserted into the medullar Trunk but in its whole tract on both sides leans on its side to which it is knit by certain admitted Fibres towards the superficies This arising up from the Neck after this manner and being carried within the Skull is joyned to the Fibres of the wandring pair and is ingraffed with them seeming to grow together into one Trunk and goes out with them at the same hole from the Skull which being passed through the spinal Nerve presently departing from the Trunk of the wandring pair is at length reflected outward Fig. 9. â â This stranger or travelling nerve after a short commerce having left his companion is carried upon the Muscles of the Neck to which it imparts some shoots and is inoculated with a certain shoot of the tenth pair but from thence being carried on further it goes alone by a long passage till it comes to the Scapular Muscle on which it is almost wholly bestowed Fig. 9. â½ This nerve is found constantly not only in Man and four-footed Beasts but also in Fowls and Fishes and in these it seems to be destinated instead of Arms and for the moving of their wings and fins Concerning the use of this Nerve and the reason of its irregular beginning we shall conjecture after this manner Forasmuch as that is destinated for the performing the motions of the Muscles belonging to the Arms and Neck therefore it ought to arise out of the spinal Marrow but that it is not carried by a direct and near way into its Province but being carried about by a long compass before it enters upon its task communicates in its beginning with the nerve of the wandring pair certainly this seems to be done to the end that this Spinal nerve being carried into the parts of the wandring pair might perform the acts of the Function only involuntary And indeed it may be observed That besides the spontaneous motions wherewith the Neck and Arms are wont to be imployed with the previous intention of doing this or that thing those parts also before any other member are affected with pathetick and sudden motions according to the force of the Passions the animal not being conscious of it For almost all living Creatures do not only turn about their necks at any noise to behold whatever might cause fear but they being any ways affrighted in the twinkling of an eye fly away their feet wings fins or other part answerable to them being set into a rapid motion The Neck and the Arms are pliable or observant not only to fear but in like manner to the other Passions For brute Animals as well as Man being puffed up with pride or anger as we have elsewhere intimated have their Necks swollen and their Crests lifted up But as to Man his hands and arms are so obsequious to the Passions and almost to all the conceptions of the Brain that they are continually agitated in the doing of any
the Second swift motions and Concussions which coming between cease and return alternatly But neither those who have observed these notes of difference nor other Authors have taken notice that they are continual for that by the words Spasme and Convulsion they often designe a certain Spasmodick or Convulsive Affection wherefore to distinguish it better we will call the former distemper with Cardan tetanon a continual Convulsive Cramp but the other Spasm or a Convulsive motion in generall But that the irregular Nature and Causes of Convulsive motion might more rightly have been made known it should first have been declared after what manner the regular motive function is effected in an animated Body but the more full Consideration of this because it belongs to the Physiologie or Reasoning of the Nature of the Brain and Nervous stock it is deferred to another Discourse For the present we will signifie in a word as much as shall serve for the elucidation of the matter proposed How the regular Motion is Effected That the animal Spirits are the next Instrument of regular motion and that their Action or moving force consists only in that they being more thickly heaped up together in the motive part and there spreading themselves in a more large space they blow it up and intumefie it which for that reason being contracted as to its length draws to it self the part hanging to it In our description of the Nerves already published It s beginning twofold we have shown this kind of motion to be twofold to wit Spontaneous and meerly natural the Instinct of this is derived from the Cerebel but of that from the brain but both through the pipes of the Nerves as it were the channels both to the muscles and also to the fibres interwoven with the membrains and other motive parts of the Parenchyma or Inwards Lastly in all these the various actions are so expeditiously effected which either natural necessity or the rule of the will requires by that only means that there is an intimate Conjunction and communication of Duty and most swift Commerce between the animal Spirits which Constitute the Hypostasis of the sensitive Soul within the foresaid parts disposed or fitted by a continued Series The Subject also twofold But there is this notable difference between the motion of a muscle and that performed by other parts for in these the action is most often circumscrib'd within the bounds of the motive body so as its membranes only or one part of the inward moves another and consequently this is moved of its neighbour But in the musculous stock usually the moving part is placed in one member and to be moved of another next it although within some musculous part as the Heart and Diaphragma they properly for the most part move themselves only hence the Membranes and Inwards are said to have as it were an intestine and vermicular Motion such as where-ever it is begun the Spirits there more thickly gather together and Spreading themselves forth they first intumifie this part then going forward another and so farther till at last they draw the hindermost parts and by this means transfer an intumifaction and therefore a motion from one place to another almost after the same manner as worms and other Creeping creatures make their progression But to this motive function of the Membranes and Inwards if it be frequent or undiscontinued plenty of spirits are required which notwithstanding execute their task calmly enough without tumult or great force And indeed it is to be observed that the Animal Spirits flow not more sparingly into the Membraneous Inwards than into the Muscles as it appears from the more exquisite sense of those parts and by the manifold insertion of Nerves within them and the diversity of divarication through the foldings and fibres although in the mean time the muscles are watered with a more plentifull influx of Blood But as to the motion performed in the musculous stock the heaping together and rarefaction of the Spirits through the whole joynting of the motive part suddenly and at once unfolded are performed with such force and strength as the attraction of the muscle in its motive endeavour may exceed the force of a pully or windlace and when this force only depends on the expansion or rarefaction of the Spirits seated in the motive part we can conceive it to be no otherwise but that the Spirits so expansed or stretched forth The Motion of a Muscle is a certain explosion of the Spirits as it were fired after the manner of gunpowder to be exploded or thrown out But we may suppose that to the Spirituous Saline particles of the spirits inhabiting the interwoven fibres in the muscle other nitrous-sulphureous particles of a diverse kind do come and grow intimately with them from the arterous blood flowing every where within the same fibres Then as often as the particles of either kinde as Nitre and Sulphur combined together by reason of the instinct of motion brought through the nerves are moved as an inkindling of fire forthwith on the other side bursting forth or being exploded they suddenly blow up the Muscle and from thence cause a most strong drawing together for indeed it seems to be ordained for this end that the Muscles are imbrewed much more plentifully with the arterous blood than the membraneous inwards to wit that the Elastick coupling of the spirits being consumed and perpetually falling off through the very often and sometimes continual motion might be by that means supplyed from the fresh sanguineous juice in the mean time that the spirits themselves being supplyed in a smaller quantity through the small nerves might even like old Soldiers continue longer in the same station and follow their manifold coupling or labour How else are labouring beasts supplyed with a sufficient stock of spirits for so much labour whilst they exercise allmost all their muscles by a swift course for many howers yea sometimes a whole day or who can believe that a little handfull of spirits brought through the small branches of the wandring and Intercostal pairs of the Nerves to the heart can be able by their own strength to effect that it s so strong and indiscontinued motion Indeed it seems that of necessity there must come to them from the blood perpetually auxilarie aid and those afterwards to be allways exploded For this reason certainly the motive virtue both of the Heart and the rest of the Muscles becomes more strong and Elastick above any mechanick Organ to wit for as much as the animal spirits acting every where in the musculous stock get to themselves an explosive Copula If any one shall be displeased at the word Explosion not yet used in Philosophy or Medicine so that this Spasmodick Pathologie standing on this basis may seem only ignoti per ignotius explicatio an explication of unknown things by more unknown things it will be easy to shew the effect of this kinde of
notion and very many examples and instances both concerning natural and artificiall things from the Analogie of whose motions in an animated body both regularly and irregularly performed most apt reasons are to be taken For besides the mixtures of Nitre with Sulphur with Tartar and with Antimony all which are fired with a thundring noise also Aurum fulminans or fulminant Gold and a Composition of salt of Tartar with Nitre and Sulphur without any actual fire being only thoroughly heated are exploded with a vehement Crash also to this may be referred many Liquors which being mixed together or poured upon some certain bodies cause or stir up violent motions and plainly Explosive The spirit of Nitre and the liquor of congeled Antimony being powred on one another or either of them thrown upon the filings of Iron cause a great Ebullition with heat and black smoke It is commonly known what heat or effervescency and force plainly explosive arise from fixed Salts melted together and from acetous or sharp salt of every kind mixed with one another Nor is the effect of Explosion less seen when a Liquor imbrued with a volatil Salt as the spirit of Harts-horn or of blood is put to a saline either fixed or acetous Stagma or sulphurious Nitre to wit the particles being vehemently stricken one against another leap up with a force and on every side are carried forth a great way which without doubt if they were restrained within the space of any body as the fibres of a Muscle they would suddenly intumifie it and so would constitute an Instrument of Local motion Concerning this thing we have more fully discoursed already in our Neurologie or Tract of the Nerves and perchance we may yet publish the explication of this more fully and more accuratly some other time In the mean time that this opinion may not be thought altogether new and that I have exposed it as a childe of my own brain that had no other Patron I will here shew you the assertion of the Famous Gassendus which as it openly favours this our Hypothesis and in some sort gave an occasion of it so perhaps it will give to it some Authority Therefore this Rational man weighing in his minde how much that force or strength might be with which not only the Arm or Thigh but the whole animal Machine is moved govern'd lifted up and carryed up and down He adds Who can easily comprehend that small thing whatsoever it is within the body of an Elephant whether we conceive it to be a soul or spirit or any other beginning of motion that it should be able to agitate such a bulk and to cause it to perform a swift and regular dance and so much the more for that when as that small thing within that body no longer flourishes there is need of so much outward strength to remove it never so little from its place but indeed the same fiery nature of the soul serves chiefly to this which although it be a very little flame it is able to perform within the body by its own mobility the same thing in proportion that a little flame of Gun-powder does in a Cannon whilst that it not only drives forth the Bullet with so much force but also drives back the whole machine with so great strength But indeed he says as to the spirits which like explosed Gun-powder cause the agitation it is doubtfull whether it be they which come from the brain or those in the little tendons as it were of kin to them or springing from them that are thought to do it But although either of them concur yet they seem to be more presently destinated to this office which are those of the same kin or off-spring in the Tendons There needs no more it is declared that the motive function depends on the Elastick Copula of the animal spirits and its decision or abating But from this being supposed which indeed we may suppose with very great probability it easily follows that the Convulsive motions proceed from the like cause For whosoever shall consider the sudden puffings up the violent and strong Contractions in the members and affected parts yea sometimes the most impetuous concussions and violent throws of the whole body can conceive no less than that very many heaps of the animal spirits are exploded or thrust out even as lightning breaking forth from a Cloud Further from hence it may be Argued by a reciprocal Argument that because the Spasmodick motions are explosive that therefore the regular are also produced by the explosion of Spirits But after what manner and by what means and from what causes the animal spirits being exploded or thrust forth produce Spasmodick affections shall be our present business a little more largely and plainly to demonstrate however difficult and abstruse the matter seems to be We will not here stand to recite many opinions of others The Conjunct Cause of Spasms concerning the Nature and causes of a Spasm or Convulsion that which was most common and long famous among the Ancients that this distemper was only produced from repletion or inanition or from fullness or emptiness however Not repletion or fulness or inanition or Emptiness besides the authority of Hipocrates for the establishing of this an example is brought of a Skin or the strings of Lutes which are wont to be contracted being either filled with a moist or empted by too dry an aire easily falls of it self because it seems to suppose that which is credible to none by Experience the fragility of a Nerve to wit that the Nerves themselves after what manner soever abreviated and contracted are able with a certain force to draw to them the Muscles If that it shall be said that repletion or inanition ought to be understood in respect of the solid parts which are wont to be drawn together it may be observed to the contrary when as the Muscels and Nervous stock are very much watered with a watery humour as in an Anasarca or are plainly destitue of the same as in the Consumption or Mirasmus yet no Convulsive motions are for that reason excited among the moderns very many have determined irritation of the Nervous parts to be the cause of Convulsion taking their Conjecture from thence as I suppose for that by ocular inspection it appears from the Vellication it self and by the only touch of the Nerves that spasms are induced And indeed we have clearly observ'd in the dissection of a living whelp that the knife being put upon the naked ends of the spinal Nerves presently both themselves and the Bodies of the Muscles in which they were inserted were hauled neither is it unusual that spasms are excited almost in every man by the punctures of the Nerves and Tendons I remember by reason of an Ulcer in the Arms of a certain man that the Tendons of the Muscles were laid open which when touch'd by the Surgions Instrument caused in the Patient a certain
more than men and some of them more then others are obnoxious to the passions called Histerick Further sometimes a violent Passion impresses on the spirits though moderatly firm this kind of dissipation and inordination so that afterwards they are able to suffer nothing strongly or to resist any injurie So it often happens that morbid impressions are affixed on the animal regimen by sudden fear or great sadness which can hardly ever after be blotted out for from hence women often contract first the Diseases named the Mother or from the Womb and men the hypochondriack and are for the most part still subject to them From these things it appears after what manner and for what Causes 2. How the morbific matter being admitted within the head is disposed the Spasmodick Matter is wont to be admitted into the Head now let us see next what is done with it afterwards if that this matter brought to the Brain induces the Convulsive distempers either not always or not altogether after the same manner 1. It sometimes happens that the heterogeneons and explosive Particles Sometimes it is carried back again from the brain are admitted into the Brain which notwithstanding are again exterminated without any great hurt and before they enter into the nervous stock for that the veins and Lympheducts or water-carrying Vessells often sup up what is superfluous and an enemy to the animall dominion and convey it forth of doors or dispose of it into Emunctuaries or Sinks Whilst such a matter is for a little while agitated in the brain its particles being affixed to some of its Spirits and at length striking against them cause the Virtego and the swimming in the head but because they enter not into the passages of the nerves Spasmodick Distempers do not follow 2. When the morbifick matter is admitted within the Head and not presently from thence sent back oftentimes it produces not its evill Sometimes it is thrust out into the nervous stock till it is inserted into the stock of the Nerves for the animal Spirits within the Brain being as yet strong and having got a more free space they evade the embraces of every heterogeneous Copula which indeed they are not able to do within the strait channells of the nerves Besides the morbifick matter it self if it cannot be sent away out of the Brain by the excretory vessells it is by and by sent forth to the System of the nerves as the more ignoble part Remaining in the brain causes the falling-sickness but if in spite of the force of the superiour faculties such a matter stays long within the brain it much infects the Spirits that inhabit it and induces the Epilepsie as shall be more particularly shewed hereafter but more often the hurtfull matter is thrown on the nervous stock from the brain without much harm to it but this happens to come to pass not always after the same way For truly the heterogeneous Particles being mixed with the nervous Liquor The spasmodic matter being fallen on the nervous stock and fallen towards the beginings of the Nerves do not indifferently enter all of them together or these or those as chance shall guide them but they are directed to the passages of some before others and that not without some Reason For we observe that the Convulsive Symptoms do choose for the most part one place in children another in riper years and a different one in more tender than in the more rebust In children who are not yet accustomed to the Affections of the Heart Afflict the foreparts of the Nerves in Children and exercise of the outward members whereby the morbifick cause may be further carried from the brain the Spasmodick matter runs more often into those nearest Nerves viz. the third fifth and sixth pares wherefore their faces and mouths and those parts are chiefly handled and it is rare and unusual for them to have their viscera and praecordia lifted up or affected with an inordinate motion as in those of riper years on the contrary in men of more advanced years Otherwise in those of riper years by its approach to the intercostals and the Nerves of the wandring pare it being more open to those of the spinal marrow which those nerves respect are wont to be more frequently pulled but yet with this difference that in the more tender and those who are very delicate and subject to passions and who by reason of the passions of the minde have very often their praecordia and viscera disturbed the Spasmodick matter more readily enters the more open passages of the interiour Nerves and therefore they are rendred more obnoxious to Spasmes stirred up in the Abdomen and the Thorax for hence it is that women are molested with the passions called Hysterical and some men with the hypocondriack as shall be more largely declared hereafter when we come to treat particularly of these Distempers After what manner it disturbs the spirits whilst it stays near the beginnings of the Nerves or being fallen more deeply into their passages When the Spasmodic matter falls upon the heads of some nerves or remaining there it creates only a giddiness and lighter Spasmes and leapings of those parts to which these Nerves belong or being slidden more deeply into the pipes of the Nerves it brings forth more cruel Convulsive Paroxisms but the same being dilated into the nervous processes is disposed through one or more of the branches of the stock or Trunk sometimes all and sometimes only those more open than the rest and by degrees cleave to the Spirits both within those Nerves as also to those planted within the hanging Fibres so that it is after the same manner and there is the like preparation in the disposition to Convulsive Paroxisms as if grains of Gunpowder were laid in a long train to be fired successively The Spirits after this manner imbred with an heterogeneous Copula are lodged within the Fibres interwoven with the membranes and Muscles but chiefly within the nervous foldings and when they grieved with too great plentitude or troubled on any other occasion are compelled to shake off their Copula the particles striking and leaping one against another hugely blow up the containing parts and so excite a motive force contrary to the commands and Laws of the Appetite and Nature The spirits enter into explosions by reason of plenitude or irritation Besides the Spirits once stirred up to the performing Convulsive motions begin their explosions from the one or the other extremity of the nervous System but for the most part at the end But they who are first explosed snatch or take with them their neighbours also praedisposed like a fiery train and so they propagate the begun affection with a long continued series of Spasms from one end to the other For a convulsion begun in the bottom of the belly or at the foot or hand creeps by degrees to the upper parts and for the
evening in a little draught of the prescribed Julap half an ounce of Diacodium to which succeeded a moderate sleep without the wonted Convulsions following which kinde of effects from opiats exhibited in the like case I have often experimented for the quenching her thirst I gave her a Ptisan with diuretick Ingredients boyled in it by the use of these she was very much eased in a short time But what proved a great benefit to her was that an Imposthume in her ear breaking of its own accord powred forth at first a yellow matter and afterwards for many days a great plenty of thin Ichor or Excrement by which Evacuation the Convulsions of the Viscera and Praecordia wholly ceasing the disease was perfectly Cured As to the Reason of the aforesaid sicknesse without doubt it seems that those Distempers were excited by the serous colluvies layd up within the Bounds of the Head for the translation of that humour into the head brought at first both the Disease and the Secretion or flowing of it out thorow the Emunctuaries of the ear took away all the Symptoms Besides when the morbific matter had brought in to the Spirits planted about the beginings of the nerves a Disposition somewhat explosive they though being struck as it were with madness they were continually troubled yet so long as leaping back towards the Brain they obtained a space in which they might be more freely expanded or stretched forth they did indeed only more vehemently exercise the Phantasie and without farther trouble did only cause watchings But when by sleep sometimes Creeping upon her the excursion of the unquiet Spirits were restrained towards the Brain which indeed necessarily happens when we sleep the nervous Liquor within the pores of the brain at that time being more plentifully admitted they tumultuarily rushing upon the heads of the wandring pair and intercostall Nerves troubled the whole series of Spirits flowing within the passages of those Nerves and so caused the aforesaid Convulsions about the Praecordia Viscera and muscles of the Throat I have known many both Men and women sick after this manner who when they have been troubled with an headach an heaviness of the hinder part of the head or a Vertigo have while they slept felt forthwith in their Praecordia or Viscera or in both together perturbations as it were Convulsive which indeed happens from the bending downward of the tumultuating Spirits being reflected from the brain upon the beginings of the Nerves But that the use of opiats brought a pleasing sleep to this sick person without the wonted Convulsions following the reason was because the animal spirits as unquiet and furious as they were yet by the Intanglement of the narcotick Particles they were bound as it were in chains that afterwards without any resistance they were overcome by sleep I have indeed very often happily cured most grievous fits of Convulsions both Asthmatical and as it were hysterical by administring Opiates Observation 2 An honest woman M. G. of 67. years of Age yet of a florid countenance and fat in body when she had been a while obnoxious at first to a swelling of the face and very grievous fits of the headach she fell through the great cold of the winter into a very troublesome Vertigo with a trembling of the heart a fainting away of the Spirits and a frequent striving to vomit being lay'd in her bed if she opened her eyes or turn'd her from one side to another she was presently troubled with a notable gididness or swimming in the head with swooning and effectless vomiting Visiting this woman I doubted not but that the cause of her sickness was the Convulsive matter being translated from the exterior region of the head to the most inward recesses of the Encephalon by whose inspiration or heterogeneous Copula the animal spirits being touched while they leaped forth inordinatly towards the brain they excited the vertiginous Distemper and while they rushed tumultuarily upon the heads of the nerves the Scotomie disorder of the Praecordia and endeavouring to vomit A large Vesicatory or blistering Plaster being applyed to the nape of the neck and behind her ears Clisters dayly administred also the use of Spirits of harts-horn frequently and of a Cephalick Julap cured her within a few days Observation 3 A noted man about 34. years of Age when he had been for a long time subject to a Cough with great and thick spitting besides having the pores of his skin very open he was wont to sweat continually and every night to be wet with it about the begining of the spring he perceived those usuall evacuations to happen more sparingly in the mean time he Complained of a fullness of his hands and feet and as it were a certain swelling or puffiing up so that he feared a dropsie was coming upon him beside he was troubled in his head with a giddinesse and frequent Vertigo A little while after this evill increasing light contractions and sudden Convulsions were ordinarily excited about his Lips and other parts of the mouth and face also presently after the morbific matter as it should seem flowing upon the beginnings of the wandring pair and intercostal nerves he was afflicted with the trembling and leaping of the heart with frequent fainting away of the vital spirits as if a Leipothymy or swooning was falling upon him I know that very many ascribe these Convulsive passions so grievously infesting the Praecordia to the vapours rising from the spleen but it seems much more reasonable to deduce there from the Convulsive matter layd up within the brain and rushing upon the beginnings of the Nerves because a shifting or translation of some excrements from some other parts to the head goes before and that it is so layd up within the compass or bounds of the Encephalon the almost continual vertiginous distemper and the Convulsions of the parts of the mouth and face testifie it plainly wherefore I thought good to prescribe to this man Remedies according to the method hereafter shown I might be able here to propose many observations of this nature in whom the morbific matter subsisting neer the beginnings of the nerves stir up light Spasms or Convulsions only of the Viscera or members with a Vertigo But because a portion of this matter descending from the head enters more deeply the pipes of the Nerves and so strows the tinder or enkindling of explosive seed as it were gunpowder about their middle and ultimate processes and enfoldings it will be to the purpose to add some examples of this kinde A certain young maid E.L. tall and hansome sprung from sound parents and Observation 4 her self as far as might be Perceived originally healthfull after she had serv'd a master long sick being a long time and almost continually with him and was forced to watch whole nights very often and also at other times so that she never slept but short and interrupted naps she at length begun to complain of an heaviness in
another place did they tumultuously break forth there for during the fit the sick person was still in his senses or had the use of his memory But the morbific matter being more plentifully laid up in the head when from thence it was slid more deeply into the pipes both of the Interior und Exterior Nerves it had placed mines of explosive seeds very diffusive in the viscera both of the lower and middle belly and also in the exterior members so that when the animal spirits began to be exploded near the beginnings of the nerves presently from thence others inhabiting the mesenteric enfoldings and then others in the other nervous enfoldings interjected from the outmost bound even to the head being explosed in order did even continue the Convulsions from one part to another untill they came to the head it self but presently the explosion being translated from thence to the spirits dwelling in the spinal marrow and Appending Nerves the most strong Convulsions of the muscles and members of the whole body follow'd But that that ascent as it were of a bulk or substance which very often was perceived in the lower belly about the beginning of the Convulsions proceeding from the spirits within the mesenterick enfoldings being brought into explosions shall be more largely declared anon when we come to treat of hysterick passions In the mean time if it be ask'd for what reason that the convulsive paroxysm beginning in the part of the head near the beginnings of the Nerves presently the spirits dwelling in the outmost parts as many as are pre-disposed for that Symptom enter into explosions and so transfer the convulsive Distemper being there fully raised upwards for it is for the most part so whether the entrance of the disease begins in the bottom of the belly or about the middle of the abdomen the Hypochondria or praecordia for that the Convulsion is wont to creep by degrees Wherefore the Convulsions begin from the extremities of the Nerves from those places towards the head I say for the solution of this these two considerations are offer'd to wit in the first place we consider that when some whole series of spirits is disturbed those who reside in the extreamest bounds are first destituted of their originall Influence wherefore they before others grow tumultuous and begin to grow irregular hence it is when the Nerve of the arm or thigh is strained hard by leaning on it that the wonted Influence is hindred that a numness with a sense of pricking or tingling is first felt in the fingers or toes from whence by degrees it creeps upwards towards the places affected Secondly the other is and rather the reason of this distemper to wit that the spirits being ready for explosions when they are contained within the nervous pipes one or more as so many distinct little Tubes they require a sufficient ample space in which they may be able very much and indeed successively to be rarefied and expanded which thing because it cannot be easily performed within the Trunks of the Nerves from the beginning towards the end therefore while the Spirits about the nervous origine being first struck off leap back towards the Encephaleon for that cause they stir up the Vertigo the more open explosion of the spirits for the most part begins about the inferior passages of the nerves or at their extremities where the Trunk of the nerve is either dilated into more ample foldings or terminated in more fibres largely dispersed abroad then those Spirits being explosed there is room made presently for others succeeding in order whereby in like manner they may be exploded Hence we may observe whilst the exterior Spirits are exploded if a Ligature or hard Compression being made the succession of others into the same space or their progress toward the exterior parts be intercepted the Convulsion is wont to be hindred that it cannot ascend upwards wherefore when a numbness as medical Histories testifie being arisen from the farthest end of the finger or toe creeps to the superior parts with a tingling or like a cold air and at length reaching the brain causes most horrid Convulsions if by and by after the motion is begun the Arm or thigh be strongly tyed the Spasm or Convulsion not being able to get over the bound place is hindred from coming to the head yea it is usuall for histerical women as soon as the swelling of the belly or the ascent of the bulk in the abdomen is first perceived to gird strongly their waists with Swathing-bands and so oftentimes they prevent the Praecordia and the region of the brain from being disturbed by that same Convulsive Fit But that the Blood being let out in the midest of the fit was so soon congealed indeed it very ordinarily happens to be so in Convulsive and Apoplectical Distempers as the most learned Heighmore hath first noted out of Hendochius Wherefore the blood is soon congealed in convulsive distempers But that some from hence contend that Convulsions rely altogether upon the thickness of the Blood and stagnation its motion being hindred cannot be granted Because the blood taken from those who are subject to convulsions a little before the fit is dilated with serum and fluid enough wherefore we may lawfully think that that Congelation is caused by the paroxysm it self because in Convulsive motions and immoderate Contractions of the Nerves and Viscera the interflowing Blood by the exhalations of its spirit and serum is somewhat loosened in its mixtion and therefore in some sort coagulated like as when milk by reason of too much agitation and separation of the parts one from another grows into butter wherefore this kinde of Coagulation of the Blood seems rather to be the effect than the Cause of the Convulsions The Curatorie Method AS to the Cure of these kinde of Convulsive Distempers which in women or men proceed from the morbific cause lying upon the beginnings of the Nerves The first Indication will be to draw away the tinder or inkindling of the disease viz. to hinder that the blood may not affix on the head the heterogeneous particles either begot in it self or received elsewhere from the Viscera For this purpose an evacuation both by catharticks and blood-letting unless something contradict is wont to be benificially prescribed Vomiting most often brings help wherefore Emeticks of the Infusion of Crocus metallorum or of the Salt of Vitriol or wine of Squills Emeticks is to be taken at the beginning Then almost the next day the taking away of Blood either by phlebotomy in the Arm or by Leeches in the Sedal veins is to be performed then afterwards a gentle purge of pills or solutive Apozems is to be ordained and timely repeated Take of the pills of the Amber of Crato or of the Tartar of BontiusÊ ii Purges of the Resine of Jalap gr xvi of Caster â i. of the oyle of Rosmary or Amber â ss of gumm-Ammoniac disolv'd in
least four of the strongest men But if in the case of any one that is sick there arise a suspition of witchcraft or fascination Which argue witchcraft there are chiefly two kinds of Motions that are wont to create and cherish this opinion viz. 1. If the patient doth perform the contortions or gesticulations of his members or of his whole body after that manner which no sound man nor mimick or any tumbler can imitate Then 2dly If such strength be shown that surpasses all humane force to which if the avoiding of monstrous things happen as when bundles as Henry van Heer 's relates are cast forth by vomit or a live Eel as Cornelius Gamma tells voided by stool without doubt it may be believed that the devill has and doth perform his parts in this Tragedy It were easie to heap together very many and indeed admirable histories of persons of every Age and Sex affected after a stupendious and as it were supernatural manner with the manifest suspition of witchcraft for such are every where extant among Authors both Physitians and Phylosophers and because vulgar rumour noyses about diseases caused by witchcraft to happen often in allmost every Country but because these kinde of cases are full of Imposture or allways increased by the fictious lies of the relators to create admiration and for that they rarely fall under the medicall cure I will here purposely omit them what remains is that I proceed to unfold the next kinde of universal Convulsions to wit which comes upon malignant or otherwise irrigular or ill-cured Feavours CHAPTER VIII Of Vniversal Convulsions which are wont to be excited in Malignant ill-cured and some irregular Feavours THat Convulsions sometimes happen to persons sick of Feavours Vniversal Convulsions hapning in Feavours almost every ordinary body understands and from thence takes a remarkable Prognostication of Death or perill For in malignant Feavours also sometimes in the ordinary ill-handled as the Virtego or Delirium arise from the morbific matter being layd up in the Brain from the Blood so from the same being slidden down into the nervous stock Contractures and twitches of the muscles and tendons also sudden shakings of the members and Limbs and sometimes most horrid stiffnesses in the whole Body succeed The reason of which kinde of Symptoms seems to consist in this that the Liquor watering the nervous parts The reason of the symptoms abounds every where with heterogeneous particles irritating the Spirits for by that means the Spirits inhabiting and influencing being disturbed in their just Influence and emanation are incited into continual explosions as it were a crackling noyse not much unlike as when the flame of a Lamp being imbued with drossy and salted oyl ascends with a noyse and sparkling which kinde of Convulsive distempers for the most part happen about the height of feavours when the morbific matter being first layd up in the blood is from thence transfer'd to the Brain and that being pass'd thorow and also infected it is caried into the System of the nerves and from thence stirs up Convulsive passions with or without a Delirium But indeed it is sometimes observ'd that besides these kinde of Convulsive distempers coming upon Feavours and secondarily excited in a malignant constitution of the air also from the breath of a Pestilent Contagion the nervous Liquor hath been infected before the blood or else apart from it and therefore a Delirium or Convulsions have gone before a feavourish Distemper Further I have often observed that some irregular Feavours have arose in which the blood has been hardly seen to boyl up or grow hot above measure but the beginnings of this slow and very dangerous feavour were layd chiefly in the nervous humour which being by degrees brought to maturity did induce Convulsive Distempers with a Delirium or madness and other wastings or exorbitances of the Animal Spirits For the sick never complained of heat or thirst being soon made feeble and as it were strengthless they were presently obnoxions to frequent giddiness also to rremblings of the Limbs and as it were leapings forth besides to twitches or jumpings of the muscles and tendons and to contractures and pains wandring about here and there This kinde of sickness by some Physitians because it seem'd to consist in the solid parts rather than in the blood is called a malignant hectick feavour when indeed the same being fixed chiefly in the nervous humour may be better called the Convulsive nervous Pestilence A description of a convulsive disease of Hassia sometimes epidemicall There is mention made by Gregory Horstius of a Convulsive and malignant Disease which was sometime past Epidemical in Hassia Westphalia and the neighbouring Countrys they being taken therewith without a feavourish heat immoderate effervescency of blood whilst they were imployed about their familiar occasions hardly perceiving themselves to be sick were wont to have about their hands or feet and sometimes in both a sense of tingling with a numbness running up and down then by and by their fingers together with their Arms and thighs were now strictly drawn together now most strongly stretched forth as if they were frozen Those kinde of Contractions and extentions rendred themselves by turns and then changed places that now the distemper resided in one part then presently in another But as it often hapned if the Disease at once invaded the whole Brain Universal Convulsions and oftentimes epileptical Fits infested the sick besides those labouring with it were obnoxious at some turns to a Delirium madness and sometimes a Lethargie This sickness continued a long time without any Crisis or sound solution and could scarcely be so perfectly Cured but that the Disposition of the Brain and nervous parts remained evill all their Life after The reason of the symptoms As to the Reasons of this Disease and Symptoms it is obvious enough that the same depends altogether upon the vice and notable depravation of the nervous juce That pricking or tingling for the most part at the first coming of the disease was procured for this Reason because that Liquor beginning to be poysoned and loosned in its mixtion by the malignant Infection presently it oppressed the animal Spirits abounding therein and inhibited them from their wonted aâ⦠free expansion wherefore they being half overwhelmed and constrained to creep as it were among bryers or things that catch'd hold of them or held them back they excited the sense as it were of tinglings running about but then because this disease growing worse the nervous Liquor was yet more perverted in its Crisis or disposition the heterogeneous particles which were brought together in it cleaving to the Spirits caused them to be moved hither and thither and to be unduly exploded for which Reason the Contractions and horrid distentions in the members and the tumults and great inordinations in the head were raised up But that in this feavour of the nerves a solution or difficult Crisis or none
at all hapned the reason was because the nervous juice being slow and as it were mucilaginous and therefore heavy in its motion was not defaecated or cleared as the blood by a critical effervescency nor easily conceived that kinde of fermentation by which the pure might be separated from the impure Indeed I have known a sickness much like to this example to be often excited in our Country and to invade whole families especially children and the younger people Some years since a populary or childish feavour very much infesting the Brain and nervous stock exceedingly spread in this country yea almost thorow all England The History of which Disease being described in that time in which it raged viz. in the year 1661. I think it worth our pains to insert in this place of our Convulsive Pathology For from hence it may appear by what means and from what causes the Convulsive Symptoms which come upon any feavours are wont to be excited A Description of an Epidemical Feavour chiefly infestous to the Brain and nervous stock spreading in the year 1661. IN this Country before the last Summer viz. 1661. The hystory of an Epidemical feavour raging in the year 1661. we had been free for above two years from any popular disease unless such only as usually come in some places but then before the Summer Solstice the small-Pox a distemper here rarely Epidemical being rise in many places raged very much After that Summer which was extreamly hot and dry an Autumn moister then usual followed and after which a most mild winter almost without any cold in all which space the Earth was hardly covered with snow or was ever hard frozen It s procatartick or more remote cause above three or four days so that within a few weeks after the winter Solstice the Trees began to bud and the vernal plants to break forth from the bosom of the Earth and to flower and also the birds to build nests to this mild season not eventilated at the beginning of the spring by the nitrous little bodys that were wont to be blown from the North a filthyness of showrs and almost continual wet succeeded After the vernal aequinox a certain irregular and unaccustomed Feavour seised upon some here and there which within a month became so Epidemical that in many places it began to be called the New Disease Raging chiefly among children and youths it was wont to afflict them with a long and as it were a Chronical Sickness yea sometimes old men and men of middle Age though rarely were seised by it and those indeed it did sooner and more certainly kill The symptoms The Distemper at first invading any one did creep on them so silently that the beginnings of the sickness were scarce perceived for arising without immoderate heat or more sharp thirst it induced in the whole body a great debillity with a languishing of the Spirits and a torpitude or numbness of the function The Stomack was ready to loath any victuals and to be grieved at any thing put into it and yet not easie to vomit The sick were unfit for any motion and only lov'd to be idle or to ly down upon the Bed within a short time also sometime at the first coming of the Disease they complained of a heavy vertigo a tingling of the ears and often of a great tumult and perturbation of the brain Which kinde of Symptoms were very often esteemed as it were the peculiar signe of the approach of this Disease if in some those had been wanting or hapned to be more remiss instead of the head being affected after that manner the disease took more deep root in the Brest with an excited cough as shall be told by and by But whilst the brain and the nervous Appendix being after this manner affected the animal Spirits presently from the beginning of the sickness were benummed a slow and as it were hectick feavour was inkindled throughout but yet the effervescency of the blood which was hardly continual but flitting and uncertain was according to the disposition of the blood it self in some more intense in others more remiss and therefore thirst the white scurf of the Tongue and other Symptoms which accompany a feavourish distemper did more or less infest them sweating did not willingly follow nor could it easily or by a light thing be caused by Art yea neither this nor any other evacuation as it were critical at any time succeeding did suddenly help this disease but it persisting for many weeks and sometimes months reduced the sick to the highest Atrophie or wasting of all parts and often infected them with an incurable Consumption About the increase of the disease which hapned in most within eight days if the Distemper as it was often wont did settle chiefly in the head and nervous System most grievous Symtoms in their Dominions viz. a plain Phrensie or deep stupidity or Insensibility did molest them For I often observed in many children and not seldom in women after seven or eight days from their falling sick that their knowledge and Speech failed them and so the sick have lain for a long while yea sometimes for the space of a whole month without any taking notice of the by-standers and with an involuntary flux of their excrements but if they continued in some sort the use of Judgment and Reason they laboured with a frequent delirium and constantly with absurd and incongruous Chymera's in their sleep But in Men and others of a hotter temperament from the morbific matter instead of a Crisis being translated to the brain a Fury or dangerous and oftentimes deadly phrensie did succeed But if neither Stupidity nor great Distraction did fall upon them swimmings in the head Convulsive motions with Convulsions of the members leapings up of the tendons did grievously infest them In almost all the sick the belly was for the most part loose casting forth plentifully now yellow now thin and serous excrement with a great stink it was rarely that vomiting fell upon any one The urine in the whole process of the Disease unless when the morbifick matter being caried more plentifully into the Brain did threaten a phrensie was highly red so that some by reason of the deep colour of the water judg'd this feavour to have been plainly Scorbutick which notwithstanding appeared to be otherwise because antiscorbutic Remedies of which indeed many and almost of every kinde were tryed were little or nothing beneficial It was most of all to be admired how soon after the beginning of this Disease the flesh of the sick consumed and they reduced to the leanness of a Sceleton when in the mean time there was no great heat that might by degrees consume the solid parts nor any violent evacuation which might greatly take them down Besides these evills molesting the region of the head a distemper no less dangerous oftentimes fell upon the breast For in some tho not in all a cough very troublesome
kinde of remedy I often experienced with success in little Children For that by the means as it were another breathing place is opened to the mass of blood silently and covertly growing hot and obtruding its soot or smoak on the more noble parts and for that reason its impure efflorescencies or puttings forth are drawn away from the brain and lungs Therefore although this feavour of an ill Condition may be accounted as it were malignant yet forasmuch as the blood is not presently apt to be coagulated but to be too much poured forth and to bestow its serosities on the nobler parts to wit the brain and lungs therefore Phlebotomy so it be administred in the beginning of the disease is convenient allmost to all For the same reason Cathartick Medicines and chiefly vomitory are administred at the very beginning of the disease for these do not only evacuate the viscera of concoction and so draw away the chief fomenting of the disease and as it were its originall but besides they draw forth the serosities from the blood and so effect its cleansing rather in the stomach and Intestines then in the head and lungs Further by Emeticks for that the receiving Glandulaes of the Lympheducts are pulled with a great shaking the superfluities of the nervous juice least they should evilly affect the brain and its dependencies are expressed forth into the lower bowells also for this end the belly is to be kept continually loose by the use of Clysters But in the mean time whilst the blood being infected with the taint of this disease threatens the brain or praecordia with the evill it will not be safe to attempt any thing with Diaphoreticks or sweating medicines or Diureticks or such as evacuate by urine or also with Catharticks vomiting and purging medicines For these kinde of medicines forasmuch as they greatly pour out the blood and compell its serosities into more open issuings forth all the recrements being apt to fall away from the mass of the blood are easily obtruded on the brain or Lungs when they are of a more feeble constitution So in the youth above-mentioned a loss of speech came upon the raising of an untimely sweat Also I have known that Sudorificks no other then chaly beats in the morbid disposition of the lungs have brought on a waisting or Consumption Vomits and Purges are to be administred Phlebotomy therefore and if need be vomiting or purging either one or other or both being to be made use of at the very beginning of the disease the other Intentions shall be to draw away the morbific serosities of the blood apt to flow forth on the head or breast and to derive them gently by other ways of evacuation Blistering plaisters and to put them forth of doors To this end Vesicatories or blistering plaisters ought to be applyed to the nape of the neck or Parotida or jugular Arteries or to the Arm-pits or the Groin or about the thighs or calves of the legs sometimes in this part sometimes in that to wit that the little Ulcers being here and there excited and continually running might plentifully pour forth the serum imbued with the morbid and heterogeneous particles Diureticks But Remedies gently carrying the serum into the Reins and urinary passages are most often administred with success For this business diuretical Apozems and Julaps are to be ordained after the following forms A diuretick Apozem Take of the Roots of Scorzonera cherfoil grass and of Eryngoes candied each Ê vi 1. Apple cut of the leaves of pimpinell meadow-sweet each i. handfull of Raysons of the Sun ⥠i ss of harts-horn burnt Ê ii being cut and bruised let them be boyled on a clear fire in four pints of spring water to the Consumption of the third part to the straining being cleared ii pints add of the Syrrop of green Cytorns or violets ⥠ii of sal prunellaÊ i ss make an Apozem The dose ⥠iiii to vi thrice in a day Or into that straining put 15 blanched sweet Almonds and of the four cold seeds An Emulsion each Ê i. being bruised make an Emulsion according to Art Take water of Dragons and of black-Cherries each ⥠iiii of scordium compound Ê ii of Threacle water ⥠i ss of syrrop of Clove-gilliflowers Julap ⥠ii of the spirit of vitriol xii drops make a Julap Take oftentimes in a day in small beer or posset-drink half a dram A Power or ii scruples of sal-prunella Besides in this feavour medicines gently sweating of that sort chiefly which restores the animal spirits and defends them from any heterogeneous Copula Gentle Diaphoreticks are of very great use wherefore either the powder of pearls or the spirit of harts horn or of blood in a moderate dose are administred twice in a day viz. Morning and Evening Clysters are to be given almost every day and if it be thought fit Glisters a gently loosning purge may be taken once or twice in a week The dyet prescribed ought to be slender as in other feavours Dyet let them be wholly interdicted from flesh or broath made thereof only let the sick feed on Grewell or barly-broth and let their drink be small beer or posset-drink If that notwithstanding any preventive physick the morbific matter should lodge in the brain or Lungs or both together so that a dissolution or inordination of the animal function or also a violent cough should assalt them it must be consider'd what is to be done in either state of the disease carried forth after this manner into an evill condition but then the curative Indications ought to respect the stupor or madness or cough and lastly if in the declination of the disease these symptoms do remit proper Remedies are to be adhibited against the Atrophie as it were the last fortress of this Feavour 1st Therefore if the morbifick matter as it is often wont being brought to the brain should bring in an Insensibleness or a soporiferous or sleepy distemper The Curatory Method in the unsensibleness and madness remedies drawing it another way and deriving it some way from the head and besides such as stir up the animal spirits and take away the impure Copula ought carefully to be administred wherefore in this case the use of Epispasticks or such things that draw the water outwardly should be much increased and let the spirit of Harts-horn be exhibited allmost every sixth hour in a little bigger dose let blood be also taken by the sucking of Leeches more largely from the jugular veins the Salvatella or the sedal veins If the distemper remits not the head being shaven let Emollient fomentations be often applyed thereto Further let Cupping-Glasses Plaisters and Cataplasms be laid to the soals of the feet and other means of Administrations such as are commonly prescribed for the curing of the stupor or Insensibleness ought to be used In like manner if on the evill or no Crisis of this
another to stand upright and to jump which interval however lasted scarce a minute of an hour but that his members flagg'd and were affected with their wonted languor and trembling When this worthy Gentleman had been sick after this manner above 12. years and had consulted the most famous Physitians in all England and had tryed very many Remedies and almost of every kinde viz. Antiparalytick antiscorbutick drying Diets Sweating medicines purges Causticks baths Liniments yea and had twice tryed salivation could finde no cure by any method of healing wherefore all hope of cure being wholly layd aside for the latter seven years of his life he made use of only Remedies chiefly respecting some Symptoms viz. he took thrice in a week a solutive medicine of Senna and Rubarb with Correctives now in form of a Syrrop or of an extract another time every night he was wont to take a dose of an opiate out of conserves and temperate Species Besides as occasions serv'd he had ready a Julap to be taken when his Spirits fainted moreover he continually drunk Beer made of oaten mault altered with temperate and diuretical herbs By the use of these he pass'd over at least seven years without any great alteration for the worse at length old Age coming on him together with the disease more cruel fits of Convulsions not as at first after sleep but assoon as he was warm in his bed invaded him that he was forced to abstain altogether from his Bed and rarely put off his cloaths unless to shift his Linnen from hence transpiration being hindred the serous Recrements and others wont to be evaporated were fixed on the Lungs which at first brought in a frequenr or short breathing afterwards an Asthmatical Distemper and lastly a deadly Consumption or wasting If the Reasons of the aforesaid Symptoms be sought after it will be easie The reasons of the symptoms chiefly tormenting to deduce all these evills from a depraved Constitution of the Brain and nervous stock and more immediatly from the dyscrasie and fault of the juice watering those parts For when that Liquor in which the animal Spirits do abound was as to its temper highly sharp and Corrosive like Stygian water and as to its mixion was fluffed full of both narcotick and explosive particles it is no wonder because the Spirits being very much burthened and for that cause restrained from their due expansion that they should be forced every where into small explosions as it were Cracklings and that the containing bodies being loosed from their due extension and strength should be also continually irritated into painfull Corrugations or shrinkings up Those Convulsive Distempers did more sharply infest after sleep The growing worse presently after sleep whence it proceeded because the heat of the Bed did exuscitate or stir up the heterogeneous particles of the nervous juce and rarifying them as it were compell'd them into explosions then also because the nervous parts did imbibe its juce in sleep and a more plentifull provision of the morbifick matter brought together with it which being filled to a plentitude at the first instant of waking they immediatly endeavour to shake off what is troublesome For this Reason it is observed that the pains of Scorbutical people and the fits of Asthmatical are made worse by the heat of the bed and by sleep therefore as in these presently to leave the bed was wont to give ease so likewise it did in our sick man But that the trouble Why allayed by Motion excited by the continual leapings and painfull extentions of the muscles was somewhat allayed by the local motion or moving from one place to another of the body or members the reason is because the Animal Spirits whilst they are compelled to divers actions from without they remit whatsoever inordinations are excited from within for as in pain and itching which are lighter Convulsions it helps to press rub or scratch the affected part so the Convulsive motions of the muscles and tendons are somewhat pleased by the inordinate agitation of the whole body or the members As to the Ptyalismus or copious spitting with the stinking breath The spitting which was wont to return at uncertain intervalls we do suppose that might perchance proceed from Mercury sometime secretly given although I have seen many labouring both with Convulsive and also scorbutick distempers in whom this kinde of perpetual defluxion of spittle from the mouth was very troublesome without any suspition of Mercury also some as shall be told hereafter on whom a salivation coming the explosive matter being after this manner Critically evacuated help'd the disease moreover it is likely that this distemper was produced from the mere recrements of the nervous juice and that the salival passages when many and enough were open did receive and convey forth of doors the superfluities plentifully deposited in the glandula's from the nerves and also from the Arteries As to the lucid Intervalls whereby the sick man us'd to obtain some truces Why this sick man obtained some truce from pains though short the cruelties as it were of the disease being mitigated as when but now his sickness had bound him to his chair he was able on a sudden to leap up and walk about but yet this unlook'd-for strength being vanish'd by and by falling again into his wonted languishment I say these kinde of motions of labouring Nature prostrate under a great burthen are its utmost endeavours and some more strong inforcements to wit whereby for a moment of time she recollects her self and attempts as it were to shake off the yoak of the Disease but because she is not able to sustain long this strife she quickly relapses and lies down under her former burthen Truly it is a wonder how much above the strength of Nature Anger and fear and some other passions of the minde do stretch the nervous kinde and compell them to shew a force plainly stupendious But these prodigies of her attempts are only of a small duration The secret leading cause of the aforesaid distemper The Conjunct cause of the aforesaid disease being after this manner designed and the Reasons of the Symptoms chiefly tormenting being shown it remains yet for us to inquire into the secret leading cause to wit by what occasions the nervous juice being become so degenerate at first brings in the Palsie and then leapings or intestine Convulsions of all the muscles further we ought to explain wherefore the fruits of this Disease increasing by little and little came suddenly to maturity by the use of the Baths also wherefore this sickness yielding to no Remedies became uncurable As to the first it may be said that the sick person being sprung from parents who were obnoxious greatly to Cephallic Diseases had contracted originally an evill Constitution of the brain and nervous stock so that within the 6th lustre i.e. about the 36th year of his Age he began to be sick of a spurious Palsie
and folded into fewer folds from whence we suspected that the Animal Spirits were not plentifully enough brought forth Further the whole substance of the head was more moist than it ought to be and wholly immersed in a wet watery humour that its Covering viz. the whole meninges were pulled asunder and the compassing or crevices and all the ventricles run over with clear water 'T is probable that this deluge of the Brain had lately hapned to wit forasmuch as by reason perspiration being hindred and the Secretion of urine being but little the serosities gathered together in the bloody mass were carried to the head and therefore the substance of the Brain and especially the chancelled or chequer'd bodies were so wholly wetted and soked that being cut their substance could scarce remain compacted but that it would flow away somewhat after the manner of thick Liquids within the bosoms overlying and inserted to the brain and its Appendix and the vessells coming from them the blood had concreted into little round hard and as it were fleshy balls just like those within the ventricles of the heart and the vessells hanging to them which also lately when the Bloud circulated slowly we thought might happen for the same reason for which the blood was coagulated within the Praecordia The trunk of the Spinal marrow being drowned in clear water was very much extenuated that it could scarce fill half of the bony cavity or hollowness which we thought to be effected by the deluge of salt Serum in which it was as it were boyled The Nature and the manner of the continued convulsive distemper being made So much concerning universal Convulsions which being very much conjoyned with the Paralytick Distemper are excited dividedly in many parts at once There remains others which we call'd continued because being suddenly translated from some parts to others they mutually relieve one another and compell the members now these now those and often the whole body to be involuntarily moved and diversly bended or agitated In these Cases the Animal Spirits not only those implanted in private corners and mines get to themselves an explosive Copula and being some how satisfied or irritated strike it off by certain turns but when the whole mass of the nervous Liquor abundantly abounds with elastick particles they then every where cleaving to both the Spirits implanted and flowing in for that reason stir them up into Continuall Convulsions But forasmuch as not all the Spirits at once are not able however predisposed to be exploded because within the nervous passages there is not room large enough for their so great agitations therefore the explosive force arising in these or those parts is by and by transfer'd from thence unto others and so to others and so like fire-draks or wild-fire it runs wandringly here and there most swiftly creeping from these Limbs to those and then presently from all into the Praecordia or Viscera and back again That the Image of those kinde of distempers may be known we will here propose some more rare Cases of sick persons whom sometime past I endeavoured to Cure Observation 1 A very fine and religious maid tall and slender begot of a Father sickly and obnoxious to most grievous Distempers of the nervous kinde about the 20th year of her Age was afflicted for many days with an head-ach very Cruell and periodical at length at the time of the winter folstice 1656. the pain of her head ceased but instead of it a mighty Catarrh followed with a thin and Copious spitting also an ulcerous distemper of the nose and throat when she had for some time endured this trouble at length by the prescript of a certain Woman receiving the fume of Amber by a tunnell into her mouth she was suddenly cured to wit the Catarrh or violent Rhume ceas'd suddenly but from thence she complained of a notable Vertigo with a pain in the head and of the tingling noise of the ears on the Third day the tendons of the hinder part of her neck were pulled together that her head was bended now forward now backward and now of one side sometime it continued stiff and unmoveable a little after this the same kinde of Convulsive Distemper invaded the outward members and Limbs of the whole body her arms and hands were wonderfully turned about that no jugler or tumbler could imitate their bendings and rollings about she was necessitated to spread abroad her leggs and feet here and there to strike them against one another and to transpose or cross them by turns After this manner either sitting in a Chair or lying in a Bed she was perpetually afflicted with these Convulsive motions unless when overwhelmed with sleep and when she did a little restrain her members from the great labour of the Muscles presently she was taken with a difficult and short-breathing with a sense of Choaking but in the mean time her eyes jaws mouth and lower bowells remained free from any Convulsion neither was she troubled with vomiting belching nor any inflation of the belly and hypochondria Besides she was still her self and had truly the use of her memory understanding and phantasie she did nor said any thing madly or foolishly but in these wonderfull evills she shewâd an admirable example of Christian fortitude and patienee even with godly and discreet speeches her appetite was soon lost so that she took any meat or aliment very unwillingly thirst continually troubled her and her strength was grown so feeble that she could not stand or walk her urine was of a Citron colour very full of saltness on whose superficies grew little tararous skins When I was sent for to this Gentlewoman on the Sixth day of her sickness I framed the Aetiology of this kinde of admirable distemper For the consideration of her father who at that time was sick in the same house with most grievous Convulsive passions kept me that I did not with many others refer all things to the delusions of witches wherefore that I might seek out the natural Causes of these Symptoms it was in the first place plainly to be suspected that this Gentlewoman had contracted hereditarily the seeds of Convulsive Distempers which at length about the flower of her age broke forth into this kinde of fruit for when her blood was very much imbued with heterogeneous and explosive particles they at length as is wont in such a disposition began to be poured into the head and there to be fixed being therefore first deposited in the Meningae they induced the huge periodicall head-ach then afterwards the same matter having accidentally shifted its place falling down into the sinks of the throat and mouth changed the Cephalage or head-ach into a Catarrh or Rhume and when lastly by an untimely use of the administred Remedy the defluxion stop'd the morbifick matter flowing back into the brain brought the Vertigo and then being thrust forth on the nervous stock it excited the aforesaid Convulsive Affections As to
to take anti-hysterical Remedies and purges at certain set intervalls but without any help At last I being sent for because she seemed indued with a strong habit of body and with a notable fierceness of spirits I gave her a stronger Emetick by which she vomited forth ten times greenish Choller like to rust with phlegm sharp like stygian water and she was suddenly eased After this I gave her every morning a draught of white-wine dilated with the water of black Cherries with sows or hog-lice bruised and infused therein and strongly pressed forth By the Use of these she seem'd presently to be cured and was well above a Month And when afterwards the distempers being about to return she felt at any time some forerunners presently by the use of a vomit and the expression of the Millepedes or Cheslogs she averted the approach of the Disease within three months she so far recovered her former health that she has now liv'd for many years free from those kinde of Convulsive distempers But from the time the convulsive passions wholly ceased she was sometimes troubled about the parts of her mouth and throat with a defluxion of a most sour humour like the vitriolick Stagma besides sometimes she was obnoxious to the Pica or longing of women and at sometimes also to the Cough with a discolored spittle threatning a Consumption notwithstanding which by remedies used in these kinde of Cases she was easily cured The reasons of aforesaid case As to the Aetiologie or Rational account of the aforesaid Case there is no reason that we should fear to refer both the Causes and Symptoms of this disease to the explosive particles the brain being pass'd thorow without hurt sent as a supply Continually from the blood into the nervous stock which forasmuch as they being poured forth in great plenty were not restrained within private mines to be struck off only by turns cleaving every where both to the implanted and inflowing Spirits forced them as it were inspired with a madness to be perpetually exploded and to grow raging here and there by bands so that indeed they were not able at all to be ruled within the containing parts but there was need to overthrow and to tame them impetuously tumultuating and apt to be carried here and there like a whirlwinde by some very violent and strong exercise In truth in was in this sick person as it is in musical Organs which if filled above measure by too great a blast of winde unless presently the passages of more Pipes be opened the whole frame of the Organ is quickly shaken and in danger to be broken to pieces In like manner in this Lady when the animal Spirits actuating the pipes and the depending fibres of some of the nerves were moved beyond their due tenour there was a necessity that their force should be bestowed on many vehement local motions together whilst they inslated above measure the nervous bodies wherefore when their madness was hindred in on part by and by like winde pent up creeping somewhere else it broke forth more violently in some other part In this sick person the use of one or two Vomits brought help once or twice because that by it what was lodged in the gallie-vessell yea the glandula's and emunctuories and also about the viscera of concoction being by this means emptied the purging of the blood and nervous juce were more Copiously drawn into the same place therefore indeed that the animal Spirits flowing within the Pipes of the distemperd nerves might be less infected by them By this reason also the juice of the Sows or hog-lice was beneficiâl forasmuch as it derived the morbifick matter from the nervous kinde to the urinary passages Besides these Remedies the Root and in a great part the branches of the morbific matter being cut off and when others as it were antidotes hindring every where its vegitation were carefully administred whatsoever was left of it Nature at length becoming superior as she is wont in these criticall Cases sent away to the sinks of the mouth and Throat Observation 4 Whilst I was writing these things I visited an illustrious Virgin who was troubled with other kinde of Convulsive motions and those universal and no less to be admired she was about 18. years of age hansome and well made and before this time healthfull when the Pestilence raging in this neighbourhood she had come within the danger of its Contagion she fell into a panick fear with frequent swouning the night fellowing she suffer'd so great a deliquium or sinking down of her Spirits and insensibility that she seem'd just a dying hardly strugling with so great an evill afterwards she had every day Convulsive fits though at first at uncertain hours and returning after a manifold Kinde But within a short time its comings being made regular twice in a day to wit they constantly returned at eleven of the clock and before five in the afternoon that no intermitting feavour kept more exactly its periods yea also the same accidents of the fit dayly chanced after the same manner When she had thus been sick for three weeks one day I was sent for that I might take notice of all the Symptoms and the whole figure of the disease she being up about ten in the morning was well in her Countenance going and speech she behaved her self exceeding well so that none would ever suspect her to be sick at eleven of the clock she began to complain of a fullness of her head and numbness of Spirits with a light swimning by and by she felt a great pulsation and as it were the leaping of some live animal in her left hypochondrium putting my hand on her side I plainly perceived this motion then a stretching and belching followed which done she was presently put to bed and a maid siting upon a pillow held her down who during the fit most strictly graspt the sick person holding her to her bosom with her arms foulded about her wast besides servants were ready and her relations standing by who now press'd down her belly and hypochondria rising up and swelling to a great bulk now held her hands and arms The chief Symptoms of the Disease which being excited by turns almost divided the whole fit were these two viz. one while Cruel Convulsions of the Bowells did infest her so that the abdomen rising up into a mighty bulk strove against the hands of the by-standers held upon it that it could not be pressed down and at the same time her Praecordia being contracted upwards the motions of her blood and heart were almost stop't in which space of time this virgin her head falling down with a small pulse and almost without voice lay nigh sensless after two or three minutes of an hour these Convulsions ceased and then the sick person setting her self upright look'd about cheerfully and for a while the force of the disease changed into talking and singing both of which she without
lifts up the ahdomen and hypochondria and feins a motion as it were the arising of a globe But afterwards the vital function labouring after this manner the animal faculty arises in its aide wherefore a necessity of motions in various parts urging the animal Spirits being driven impetuously into the beginnings of the nerves produce divers manners of Convulsions running here and there The Author endeavours to confirm this Opinion by the great help in this disease had by the taking away the bloody excretion both from things helpfull and things hurtfull in this paffion But though I cannot but praise this Doctrine of the suffocation of the womb as very ingenious and cunningly wrought yet that I do not consent to it in all things some reasons of great moment clearly hinder me Truly I confess that I do not understand how in some hysterical persons to wit who are of a more frigid temperament and are often troubled with the Pica and longing disease the blood should so immoderatly boyl up in the Lungs without any conspicuous notes of its growing hot in some other place I have known young maids by reason of the green-sickness as it were without blood to wit whose blood indeed being without life did remain without any exercise in the heart and was from thence difficâltly enough drawn forth into the Lungs who yet were grievously obnoxious to the passions called hysterical Certainly it is not probable that the blood of these persons growing immoderatly hot should rush impetuously into the Pneumonick vessells and should stuff up their pores and passages very thickly when in the mean time such become short-breath'd by reason of the absence of the blood from the Lungs or its difficult admission to them Besides by what means comes it to pass that this violent course of the blood into the Lungs which is supposed to be made in this Fit brings forth no Inflammation in them for that the blood being too much heaped or rapidly put into any part is easily extravasated and is wont to excite an Inflammation hardly to be shaken off From whence it is therefore in the hysterical distemper the blood entring violently into the Lungs and distending them does not cause a peripneumonie or impostume of the Lungs Or wherefore the distempers as it were hysterical come not on an Inflammation of the Lungs otherwise caused wherefore it seems improbable that the blood swelling up with its proper anger or heat should rush into the Lungs and by stuffing them renders them too immovable and so secondarily and consequently induce Convulsions of the Diaphragma and other parts but it may rather seem that by reason of the Diaphragma and other organs of breathing being first affected with a Convulsion the blood should be forced to stagnate in the praecordia Besides it may be observ'd that the Lungs are not always afflicted before other parts for oftentimes the convulsive Symptoms begin elsewhere and not rarely bear the region of the breast wholly untouch'd Because in some the vertigo and Corruscations or sparklings of the eyes begin the fit to which succeed either weeping or laughing or convulsive motions of the Limbs without any straitness of the breath or oppression of the heart in others before respiration troubles them any way a swelling in the bottom of the belly with a vomiting and rumbling of the belly begins and often ends the fit so that the difficulty of breathing oftentimes follows these Symptoms at a great distance and is wont to be prevented by the tying strictly of swathing-bands about the hypochondria Moveover it seems that this ascent as it were of a certain round thing from the Hypogastrium or lower part of the belly can never proceed from the depression of the Diaphragma because in the hysterical fit this part is not always pressed down towards the lower parts but oftentimes drawn up to the higher parts and drives the Lungs upwards so that the spirit or breath being almost shut forth threatens the danger of Choaking By these and other reasons The hystericall distemper chiefly belongs to the Brain and nervous stock we are at length perswaded to that opinion that the distemper named from the womb is chiefly and primarily convulsive and chiefly depends on the brain and the nervous stock being affected and whatever inordination or irregularity from thence happens about the motion of the blood is only secondary and is made dependingly by the Convulsions of the Bowells But that this doth consist within the bounds of the head both the comparing of the symptoms which happen in the living and the anatomical observations of the dead clearly shew because we may observe that this distemper often takes its rise from a sudden fear great sadnesse or anger or other violent passion in which the spirits inhabiting the brain are chiefly affected besides to some an ill manner of dyet and various accidents whereby the humours being vitiated are heaped more plentifully within the head at first brings this evil Yea the manner of the fits clearly evinces the same forasmuch as a fullness of the head a vertigo a sparkling of the eyes a ringing noyse of the ears begin in many the hysterical fit and often conclude it Besides I have opened some women dead of other diseases tho while they were sick very obnoxious to hysterical passions in whom the womb being very well I have found in the hinder part of the head the beginnings of the nerves moistned and wholly drowned with a sharp serum as shall be more largely declared anon Having weighed these and other Reasons we doubt not to assert the Passions commonly called Hysterical to arise most often for that the animal spirits possessing the beginning of the Nerves within the head are infected with some taint to wit they being either acted or brought into Confusion or being tincted with vitious humours get to themselves an heterogeneous and explosive Copula The cause of the disease most often begins about the beginnings of the nerves which they carry far away with themselves into the Channells of the nerves and when the same spirits are filled to a plenitude with that Copula thorow all their series or orders either of their own accord or being occasionally moved they enter into explosions and so stir up Convulsive motions But that such a Copula adhering to the spirits is chiefly derived together with them into the interior nerves the reason is because in this passage towards the praecordia and viscera the animal spirits by reason of the distemper of the minde are very much disturbed wherefore they more easily admit any evills brought from another place and more readily conceive irregularities For the animal spirits chiefly for this occasion contract a convulsive disposition forasmuch as they from a violent impression are perverted out of their Courses and their wonted manner of Influence and acting hence they not only repeat their inordinations but also receive the heterogenious particles into their embraces and more easily
combine with them Wherefore forasmuch as the animal spirits running thorow the nerves of the wandring pair and Intercostals are continually entangled with all perturbations both of the Concupiscable and irascible Appetite it is no wonder if they acquire a convulsive disposition before the rest It being supposed which indeed ought to be supposed that the animal spirits have contracted an heterogenious and explosive Copula The same cause afterwards disposed thorow the whole passage of the Nerves now the nervous origines and carried it together with it self into the interior nerves and spread it thorow all their passages it will not be hard to assigne the Reasons of the hystericall fit and of all its Symptoms For first of all the disease being ready to fall upon one oftentimes the Vertigo a rolling about of the eyes and a certain inflation of the brain as it were praevious skirmishings are stirred up because the whole band of the Spirits being in readiness for explosions the more light companies of them leaping back towards the brain are first struck off then Presently a perturbation succeeds in the bottom of the belly or hypochondria for that the Spirits within the enfoldings here and there are next disturbed For we have elsewhere shown if at any time the animal Spirits are exploded in a certain whole Series those which abode in the extream parts first of all enter into that assertion Wherefore the beginnings of this Disease are found to be or the most Part in the head and Bowells but that the Convulsions are first perceived now in the bottom of the belly now in the hypochondria the reason is because the morbific matter is sometimes carried by the passage of the intercostal nerve into the utmost mesenteric enfoldings but sometimes the same being slid down not beyond the ends of the wandring pair subsists much neerer to wit about the enfoldings of the spleen or stomack When therefore the animal Spirits as hath been shown within the nervs of the wandring pair and intercostals are imbued from their origine The reason of the hysterical symptoms unfolded even to their utmost ends with an heterogeneous and explosive Copula they at length either from mere fullness or by an irritation somewhere made are stirred up to explosions in which affection if any Spirits leap forth towards the middle of the brain they induce the Vertigo the inflation and other praevious accidents of the head but the Spirits inhabiting the other extremity of the nervous Trunk viz. the mesenteric enfoldings begin chiefly to be exploded which presently by their letting off compell the lower Parts of the hypogastrum to be lifted up and contracted upwards and so induce the ascention of a certain bulk as it were of the womb then when the upper parts of the enfoldings of the mesentory are by degrees intangled with the same distemper and the bowells annexed to the same are elevated and drawn forceably towards the upper parts the violent swelling of the Abdomen as it were with a certain leaping forth succeeds Further the Ventricle is not only elevated by changing its place all its fibres to wit the direct oblique and transverse being affected at once with the Convulsion is often distended like a blown bladder hence very often vomiting or at least a rumbling and murmur of the hypochondria are excited but as soon as the Spirits being exploded with a certain series it comes to the Region of the Thorax the diaphragma being drawn together with an huge diastole is sometimes depressed and so meeting with the ascention of the viscera causes an Inflation and high intumescency or swelling up with a mighty strugling so that the laces of those in this distemper must be forthwith loosned or else they are in danger of falling into a trance In the mean time the Diaphragma being so depressed and its diastole continued the bloud remains almost immovable in the praecordia and so by its stagnation causes a great oppression and very often a faâling of the vital function Further the Convulsion of the Diaphragma happens sometimes towards the upper parts and so that driving the Lungs upwards induces a violent Systole and protracted longer than it should be and when by this means the blood is driven forward into the pneumonic vessells and is not at last received from the bosome of the heart it stagnates there and besides in the whole Body from whence the oppression of the heart and oftentimes a swooning yea sometimes a want of speech and motion now with a blewness of the face and now with a dead aspect follow After these things are acted in the lower and middle Region at length the distemper reaches to the head by the passage of the nerves as it were a fiery inkindling and the spirits being there exploded leaping now towards the middle of the brain produce a swimming in the head and often symptoms very like the Epilepsy sometimes the spirits there exploded rush into the beginnings of the other Nerves and there stir up the like explosions wherefore hysterical people towards the end of the fit often Laugh or weep or talk Idly sometimes the parts of the face and mouth yea sometimes the arms and other members are troubled with convulsive motions and so when at length all the spirits which had contracted an heterogeneous Copula are exploded the fit ends but presently after matter for another fit begins to be gathered together From whence the diversity of the symptoms happens It sometimes happens that the convusive disposition is not drawn out so long and largely for besides that oftentimes the nerves only of the wandring pair and the intercostalls are troubled with it that neither the brain nor the outward members are at all molested yea sometime neither the interior nerves themselves are possessed with the morbific cause thorow their whole processes for the convulsive Disposition as we but now intimated oftentimes arrives not beyond the enfoldings of the spleen or stomack and then the fit beginning from the inflation of the ventricle or left hypochondrium is thought to arise not from the fault of the womb but of the spleen which kinde of distemper by and by being brought to the Thorax and there involving the Diaphragma and Lungs with a Convulsion stops respiration and the motion of the heart or in some manner perverts it but then from thence the fit passes over now with and now without a great perturbation of the Head These things happen indeed after a various manner according as it happens that the morbific matter or explosive Copula descending from the head is gathered together as it were heaps of gun-powder more or less now in this now in that part But concerning which matter by what means the same being brought forth in the head first affects the beginnings of the nerves and so constitutes the procatartick or more remote Cause of the passion called Hysterical now remains next to be inquired into The more remote Cause of
Glandulas on either side of the bottom of it which are called the testicles appeared very small and flaggy without any superfluous or virulent humour contained in them the body of the womb whereever it was dissected equal'd a thumbs breadth in thickness its inward Cavity was no bigger than what would hold a bean within this hollowness as use to be in the Caverns of other Inwards was included a mucous or dreggy matter in a very small quantity but in truth about the womb or its appendix there was nothing to which might be imputed as a morbific cause of the symptoms but now described from whence therefore it may be demonstratively concluded as I at first thought that the passions termed from the womb hysterical are most often excited from some other cause than the fault of the womb The Intestines being removed we found also the reins sound enough but one of them was of an unusual figure viz. It was cleft into many lobes like the Kidney of a Calf The Milt Pancreas and Caul without fault the ventricle was much blown up and its inward Coat was plain without folds or wrincles which certainly hapned by reason of its frequent Vomiting this Inward being almost continually troubled with Convulsions Besides for this reason the tone of the stomach being broken it did neither rightly desire or concoct the food or aliment The Liver very much differ'd from a sound constitution for it was tumid and somewhat hard of a pail colour like rotten wood wholly dry and without blood and this without doubt the frequent use of Cordiall and highly hot liquors had effected The Lungs were of a blewish colour and every where obstructed and stuff'd with a stinking and frothy matter Certainly this Inward and the Liver had been vitiated of a long time wherefore as the blood being degenerate and very much depraved of a long time from its right temper had yielded the first seeds of this sickness so also it afforded a constant cherishment of it But indeed we sought and that not in vain for the chief and as it were originall cause of the disease in the head therefore the skull being taken off the vessells of the Meningae and those creeping about the brain appeared full and distended with blood when in the rest of the body scarce any blood had flowed forth in the cutting of it the thicker meninge being removed thorow the other thin and pellucid one was discerned a clear water filling the enfoldings and crevices of the brain and as it were overflowing its whole substance In truth the serous heap of waters had filled full all the Cavities and inward places of the brain the enfoldings of the choroides or net-like membranes of the brain being a long while immersed in water and as it were boyled were become discolour'd and half rotten nigh to the beginning of the Splanchnick nerves or belonging to the Spleen the water insinuating it self very much had separated the pia mater from the trunk of the oblong marrow or pith for two fingers breadth without doubt the morbific matter descending from the head by the passage of these nerves into the enfolding of the mesentery was the cause of the pains and Convulsions Further the same matter also afflicting the heads of other nerves and paffing thorow their pipes produced afterwards these most cruel distempers in other parts to wit almost every where of the whole body As to the Cure or means of healing used in the passions commonly called Hysterical forasmuch as the symptoms of this disease are very much convulsive The Method of Curlng the hysterical distempers therefore it is fit that anti-spasmodic or anti-convulsive Remedies such as were before described should be chiefly indicated but when these distempers most often happen to the female sex in whom for the most part the menstrual flux and other accidents of the womb do challenge a part in the morbific cause therefore medicines respecting the various dispositions of the womb are to be added to the former and many ways to be compounded with them The Therapeutic or Curatory Indications are either Curatory to be administer'd in the fit or preservatory which are instituted out of the fit that take away the cause of the disease and prevent its comings or accessions 1. As to the first if the fit is wont to be light and without other perturbation of the spirits it may be permitted to pass away of it self Curatory but if it being more heavily troublesome there will be need to bring some help to nature much oppressed this only thing is to be done that the spirits being freed from the Embraces of an heterogeneous Copula they may remit their inordinations and explosions for this purpose it is grown into use to put to the nose stinking and ill smelling things the scents of which compell and repress the too fierce spirits ready to leap forth into their orders and also shake off from them the heterogeneous Copula and often drive it quite away Asafaetida Castor Galbanum being put into fine Linnen and applyed to the nostrills are convenient also burning of Partridg feathers old skins and sulphur Besides the spirits and oyl of sut or of Harts-horn do not seldome help yet I have known these kinde of fumigations being very troublesome to some women to increase the fit it is probable that the same sometimes may too much irritate the spirits and drive them into greater disorders and as stinking things put to the nose so the like poured into the mouth do often bring help wherefore we give often with good success to hysterical people Tinctures of Castor Solutions of Assafaetida and Galbanum spirits of Harts-horn and Sut with proper waters Take of the spirits of Harts-horn from 12. to 15. and 20. drops let them be taken in a little draught of the following Julap Take of the waters of penny Royall and mugwort each ⥠iii. of the water of Briony compound ⥠ii of Castor tyed in a knot and hung in the glass Ê ss of the whitest sugar ⥠i. mix them Take of the Tincture of Castor â i. to Ê ss let it be taken ia a little draught of small beer Take of Assafaetida and GalbanumÊ ii let it be dissolved in spirit of wine to the extraction of a red tincture The dose â i. in two or three spoonfulls of featherfew water Riverius very much crys up that of Solenander Take of musk and of dragons-blood each â i. take more or less of it in water of Lillies of the Valley ⥠iii. or iiii John Anglicus commends parsnip-seeds or the seeds of Penny-royal in wine or other proper Liquor as a most certain Remedy If the fit persisting a long time should cause want of speech or motion the more sharp Clysters as of bryony-Roots and Carminatives boyled in water are to be administred and frictions of the thighs and feet are to be order'd and if they shall yet grow stronger Cupping-glasses are to be applied to
neerest means of the passage whereby these parts Communicate one with the other and mutually affect themselves For it seems that when the black bile or melanchollic tumor in the Spleen grows turgid or swells up of its own accord or is moved by some evident cause its particles enter the nervous fibres thickly distributed to the same which disturb the animal Spirits flowing in them into explosions or at least into some disorder then the Spirits being so distrubed infect those next to them and they others till by their continued series the passion begun within the Spleen is propagated even to the brain and there produces inordinate Phantasms such as happen to hypochondriacks also on the other side when a grievous distemper of the minde occasionally excited within the brain doth disturb the Spirits inhabiting it the impression being carried to the Phantasie by the series of the Spirits planted within the nerves of the wandring pair and the Intercostals and successive affection it is brought even to the Spleen hence its ferment being put more into commotion stirs up Convulsions both in that Inward and in the whole neighbourhood of fibres and membranes and besides forces the blood into ebbings and flowings and into various aestuations or vehement motions yea and reflects the perturbations of the Spirits upon the brain From this kinde of reciprocal affection of the brain and Spleen it comes to pass that hypochondriacks are so unquiet unstable and fluctuating at every thing that 's proposed as if according to the Poet Ten mindes strove in them at once A certain noble Gentleman of a melanchollic temper and always accounted Observation 1 for a Splenetic man very much complained of a pain and inflation of his left hypochondrium with a frequent rumbling noyse and sour belching a so of a trembling of the heart of an assiduous vertigo too much waking and a disturbed phansie About the 35th year of his age the disease growing worse he began hardly to sleep and yet more rarely to get it at night and to be molested in the day time with a world of fluctuating thoughts to have in suspition all things and persons and greatly to be afraid of every object his Praecordia seemed to be very much bound and straitened and to sink down to the bottom as if the heart it self were depressed even into the belly which Symptom troubling him he became very sad and dejected in minde yet afterwards those distempers of the minde remitting he felt with it his heart to be a little lifted up and also his Praecordia to be loosened and stretch'd forth besides he very often sustained pains and Contractions variously excited about the muscles of the Viscera and Members and running up and down here and there As to the nature of the disease it is plain that it is this kinde of Distemper which is commonly called hypochondriacall but as to what respects the Causes of these to be admired Symptoms we may suppose the mass of blood being degenerate and stuffed with melanchollic or atrabilarie faeculencies to administer or continually to suggest its adust recrements to the head from whence the Liquor watering the brain and nerves being made sharp and improportionate to the Spirits did stir up the containing Bodies into painfull Corrugations or wrinklings and Contractures Further when this Infection is chiefly derived from the head into the Nerves of the wandring pair and the intercostall the brain and the Praecordia are very much punished by the malady from thence raised up But that the Blood is depraved by that means it seems to be imputed to the vice of the Spleen forasmuch as this Inward being amiss it did not rightly strain forth the atrabilarie dreggs from the blood but rather did more pervert whatsoever recrements it received from it and the same being exalted into an hurtfull ferment sent it back to the blood and so very much infected its mass and imbued it with a plainly acetous and vitriolick evill Disposition It is plain to be understood that those symptoms troubling the Head viz. too much waking the vertigo a disturbed phantasie with many others did proceed from the heterogeneous particles poured forth from the Blood into the brain As to that straitness of the Breast and falling down of the heart with great fear and sadness it may be thought that the nervous fibres inserted to the heart and chiefly to the Pericordium being moved into Convulsions and wrinklings do binde hard those parts and pull them downwards wherefore there is perceived in the whole breast as it were a certain constriction and the heart it self seems to be depressed Further forasmuch the Praecordia being so streitened and depressed the blood within the bosom of the heart is stop'd and compell'd as it were to stagnate both the vital and the sensitive Soul is much hindred from its wonted expansion and irradiation and for that Cause being lessened and shortened in its constitution those Cruell distempers of fear and sadness arise but when the Convulsions remitting that constriction of the heart and its appendix is released the Soul also as a flame more expansed or enlarged endeavours by little and little to shake off the Chains of those Passions For the Cure of these Distempers he had for a long time tried very many remedies and medical Administrations but without much benifit at last he was somewhat eased by the use of Spaw-waters and from thence by degrees finding himself better he became free from those grievous Symptoms however he still liv'd obnoxious to the hypochondriac Distemper Observation 2 A Certain young Academic originally of a Sanguine temper fair of a florishing Countenance excellent disposition and mild by reason of immoderate and untimely Studies in the mean time exercise and good order of dyet being wholly neglected had contracted an obstruction of the Spleen or some other morbid distemper of that Inward For he had almost continually infesting him an inflation and tumor of the left hypochondrium with a most heavy Pain After he had laboured with this sort of Distemper about half a year he began to complain of a frequent giddiness a blindness of his eyes an unquietness of his minde and of disturbed sleeps Which Symptoms were then plainly imputed to vapours arising from the Spleen but after that followed a trembling of the heart with a frequent deliquium of the Spirits a pulsation of the hypochondrium and at length pains and Contractions in the outward members with a frequent stupor and a sense of pricking running up and down here and there and last of all being broken with a world of evills contrary to his genius and native Disposition he became greatly hypochondriacall That I may dispatch the Pathologie of this Case in a word it appears here plain enough that the Spleen was first of all in fault by whose fault when the bloody mass was depraved the taint creeping from thence into the humour watring the brain and nervous stock and infecting it did induce the
little quantity the tinctures of Antimony and of Corrall also of Steel with the Spirit of wine the body being first dissolved by a proper menstrum and reduced to a Calx are convenient as aso the Spirits of Sut of blood or of harts-horn to be taken twice a day with a proper liquor to 12. drops more or less are of known benefit above any other medicine that I know of moreover the often drinking of Coffee also that made of the Infusion of the leaves of Thea gives ease to some If that the fervor of the blood and too fermenting with the trouble of the Spleen and unquietness of the minde be joyned to the hypochondriac Distemper Take of the Conserves of hyps or Conaradine ⥠vi or of the flowers of Tamarisk and the leaves of wood-Sorrel each ⥠iii. of the Species of Diarrodon Abbatis of the confection of Alkermis each Êi of the powder ofi IvoryÊiss of PearlsÊss of the Salt of Tamarisk and wormwood each Êi with what will suffice of the Syrrop of green Citrons or Clove-Gilliflowers make an Opiate to be taken twice in a day the quantity of a nutmeg Take of the powder of Ivory Êii of the Powder of Pearls Êi of the Species of diarrhodon Abbatis of Diamagarit frigida each Êiss make a fine powder add of white Sugar dissolved in Baume-water and boyled to the consistency of Tablets ⥠vi make thereof according to Art Lozenges or little cakes take Êiss or Êii twice a day To these and other medicines of this nature may be joyned the use of Spaw-waters which indeed in either yea in all cases of hypochondriac Melancholly are almost always taken with good success For want of those waters our artificiall Spaw-waters may be conveniently ordered yea and whey and if any notable atrophie be let Asses milk be dayly taken Besides these inward Remedies and other outward Applications before-recited Phlebotomie or the taking away of blood with Leeches from the sedal veines may be of use frequently yea sometimes it may be convenient to open the Salvatella Vein according to the prescript of the Ancients Besides Cauteries or Issues which may continually carry forth the adust recrements of the blood and by degrees excern them are wont to be benificiall almost to all 4. The fourth Indication respecting the affections of the brain and nervous stock or the Convulsive Symptoms having relation to or coming upon the former is rarely in use of it self and apart from the others but that Remedies destinated to this end are complicated with those abovesaid Liquors indued with a volatile Salt or an armoniac as Spirits of Harts-horn and Sut are highly necessary for this Intention as also the rest but now recitied wherefore such Remedies unless any thing shall shew the contrary may be dayly given at fit hours Further when Spaw-waters are drunk let tablets or pills such as are above-prescribed for the Convulsive distempers be taken at least twice in a day In the frequent turning and giddiness also in the passions of the heart the sinking down of the Spirits with dread and as it were a fear of Death just seizing on one I have known very often great help to be had by the use of Chalibeat or steel Medicines Since we have made mention so often of Chalibiat or steel-medicins The preparations and effects of Steel Medicines unfolded it will be worth our while to inquire into their various preparations and for that reason their divers manners of effects which they are wont to produce in the humane body that it may from hence appear by what means and for what respects these or those preparations of Iron are greatly profitable to some hypochondriacks and to others as much hurtfull The virtue and operation of Chalybeat or steel'd mecicines depends upon the porticles of the concerts being after a various manner dissolved unfolded and brought forth into act For steel or Iron consists chiefly of a Salt Sulphur and Earth and but slenderly indued with Spirits and water But the particles of the former Elements chiefly the Sulphureous and saline being in their mixture combined together with the Earth remain altogether fixed and sluggish but being soluted and pulled one from another they come to be of a very efficacious Energy The aforesaid particles are dissolved in a twofold manner and set into the Liberty of acting viz. either by Art whilst medicins are prepared or by Nature after they are taken inwardly for the metallic Body is wont to be dissolved and eaten by the ferment of the ventricle just like a Chymical menstrum we will consider the several Species of either and their manner of being made that it may appear what alteration is impressed on the steeled medicine in the preparation and what effects every preparation of it doth impresse on mans Body The most simple way of preparing Iron is a division of its body into little integral parts with a file which resemble the nature of the whole mixture and contain both little sulpureous bodies and saline combined among themselves and with other terrestrial The filings of Iron being inwardly taken is dissolved by the ferment of the ventricle as it were by an acid menstrum the signes of which are both a sulphureous and unsavorie belching as from the eating of hard eggs also the blackness of the ordure from steel being dissolved within the Viscera of Concoction active particles both Sulphureous and Saline Plentifully sally forth and being involved with the nutritious juice are carried into the blood which as they excell in a divers virtue do often conspire as it were with the joynt forces of either to bring benefit to the sick The Sulphureous little bodies being brought to the blood add to it a new and more plentifull Provision of Sulphur wherefore its mass if before it was poor and liveless doth nimbly ferment within its vessells and being inkindled farther in the heart acquires a more intense heat yea and a deeper colour for it is so observed in many affected with the dropsy arising from white phlegm the Pica or evill longings or green-sickness to have a pale countenance cold bloud and waterish but by the use of steel the countenance soon to be more florid and the blood to be imbued with a more intense tincture and heat moreover from the filing of iron dissolved in the ventricle also Saline particles are brought forth and often they bestow a more plentifull fruit or increase both on the solid parts and on the humors for since their natures are vitriolick and stiptic or binding they bind together and strengthen the too lax and weakned fibres of the Viscera and so restore the broken tone Besides these Saline particles inhibit the force of the blood repress it from too much heat and boyling up and froth and retain it in an equall circulation Besides which is their chief virtue they contract and straiten the too loose open and gaping little mouths of the Arteries that for that reason neither
therefore Convulsive passions of another manner often come upon the Convulsive Cough Having shown after this manner that a cough doth arise not only The Convulsion Asthma nor always by the fault of the Lungs but sometimes from a solitary Convulsive cause but oftener superinduced by this on a pneumatic Distemper also we do not doubt to determine almost the same thing concerning another certain Distemper of the Thorax to wit the Asthma For whether this Disease be continuall or periodical in either Case the Symptom chiefly urging is difficult Breathing Sometimes it depends of the Lungs together with the nerves being affected which indeed seems to be excited for this reason because the Lungs being too much inflated and distended extremely fills the Cavity of the Thorax neither do they fall down as they should do by turns hence the Spirit or breath remaining within is not sent forth freely enough neither indeed can fresh aire be easily induced by reason the space is before filled whilest the Lungs are so longer contained in a continual or very little remiss Diastole oftentimes the Diaphragma is urged contrary to its manner into a violent Systole and being drawn upwards is wont more and more to lift up the Lungs and to hinder their falling down whereby it comes to pass that respiration becoms yet more difficult and more laborious We easily believe that this kinde of hard breathing Distemper doth sometimes happen by the fault of the Lungs because anatomical Inspection hath plainly detected it For if a great Serous Colluvies being layd up in the Thorax very much stuffs the Lungs and so much obstructs all their pores and passages that the blood being hindred in its Circute cannot freely pass thorow the Pneumonic Vessells for that reason indeed such like anhelous Distempers are sometimes made Then as often as the blood growing more hot and rarified by exercise or the heat of the Bed requires a larger space for its Circulation within the Lungs then presently from such an occasion a more frequent Respiration or an asthmatical fit is stirred up If beside this morbid Disposition of the Breast the Sanguineous mass also abounding with a serous water should be apt to sudden fluxions and effervescencies of the Serum from hence also by reason of the violent course of the Serum growing hot into the Lungs being before obstructed and greatly filled very often most grievous assaults of this Disease and almost suffocating do happen Moreover sometimes beside the roots of the asthma as it is said being fixed about the Praecordia certain shoots of the same disease budding forth from the head meet with the former and being complicated with them produce the more cruel fruits of the Dyspnaea or want of Breath For because the Lungs being stuffed with Serum another quantity of the same more largely redounding in the blood being imbued with Convulsive particles is poured on the head the same more readily entring the pneumonic nerves than others causes the Asthma of the Thorax at first Simple and modetate to become periodically vehement and Convulsive Of these kinde of Distempers viz. the Dyspnaea being excited by the singular fault of the Lungs and with a Companion very many instances and examples have fallen under our observation and do almost dayly happen For there is nothing more usual then for those that are sick of an inveterate cough or any other evill disposition of the Lungs at length the Dropsie or Scurvie hapning to become Asthmatick to wit when the Blood being made much more impure lays up also its serous dreggs in the head these more readily and indeed more easily enter then others the pneumonic nerves as being weaker and often irritated neer their extremities and in them do heap up matter for a Convulsive Dyspnaea An Asthma sometimes meerly Convulsive proceeds from the nerves only being affected Further sometimes I have observed most grievous fits of an Asthma to have hapned without any notable fault of the Lungs so that truly I did think that this disease was sometimes meerly Convulsive and its fits only excited because the serous colluvies or watery heap being stufft with explosive particles entring into the nerves performing the Diastole of the Lungs grows to the Spirits therein flowing which being afterwards struck off together and for a long while by reason of plentitude or irritation the Lungs are detained as it were inflated and stiff so that they can perform neither the offices of drawing in or of breathing out But the fit being finished a free and equal respiration follow'd as before the fit began and no cough or signs of a sickly disposition of the Lungs did appear As I have observed this kinde of Dyspnaea or difficult breathing meerly Convulsive to have hapned in many I will here shew you one or two histories of it A certain strong and fat Gentleman having used for some time a more full and inordinate Diet without any exercise began to be ill about the beginning of the winter at first he was troubled with a pain and heaviness of his head with a grear giddiness and fear of swoonding and believing himself just about to dye being otherways healthfull within a few days these Symptoms pass'd into an apparent Stupor or rather Lethargie he being let blood in his Arm I caused carefully to be applied Cupping-glasses Vesicatories and sharp Clysters with many other Remedies In the space of 42. hours coming to himself he was sensible and shook off all torpor or drousiness But although his brain was cleared yet he was taken with a great weakness and numbness in his members which Distempers however were shortly cured with antiparyletic and antiscorbutic Remedies But after a fortnight he began again to complain of an heaviness and giddiness in his head then the next day after he fell into a horrid Asthma that the Lungs being suddenly inflated and endeavouring to come upwards the Breath which was very quick and laborious was hindred and not being able to come forth he was in danger every minute of an hour to be choaked This fit as it was cruel so it pass'd over within 12. hours without any spitting cough or vomit and then within a weeks space he lost all the trouble of his breast but then the like fit of the Dyspnaea or difficult breathing returning exercis'd him somewhat more gently and afterwards he was wont to be troubled with such a fit of the Asthma nigh to the great mutations of the Air chiefly in great cold or the falling of Snow Observation 2 I knew another Gentleman sick of an inveterate Scurvy who having no manner of Cough was troubled now with a great head-ach and for many days with a giddiness or Vertigo then at another time being free from those Symptoms he was taken with a most cruell fit of the Asthma and he endured these Distempers now this now that frequently but especially about the greater tropicks of the year The Reason It is not to be doubted but in the
an Elastic Copula for Muscular motion 43 The reason of the instinct of Muscular motion 43 44. See further under Muscles and motion Musick Why easily learned by some and not by others 119 N. Nates And Testes of the brain what they are 106 107. Neck Why it swells in anger or great passion 150 Nerves The Vehicle of the instinct of motions 34 Of the Chambers of the Optic Nerves 103 104. Of the Nerves which serve to the involuntary function 116 117. Whence they arise 116 Ehe fourth fifth sixth seventh eighth pair of Nerves serve to the involuntary function 121 Of the Nervous System in general 125 What the Nerves are 127 When the Nervous fibres arise 128 Of the Nervous juice 131 Its use 133 Of the first four pair of Nerves arising within the skull 137 Of the smelling Nerves ibid. Their use 138 Of the Optic or seeing Nerves 139 Of the Nerves that move the eyes 140 Of the pathetic Nerves of the eyes ibid. Of the fifth sixth and seventh pair of Nerves 141 The fifth Conjugation of the Nerves described 141 142. The sixth Conjugation of the Nerves described 143 The seventh Conjugation of the Nerves described 143 144. The first and second figures of the Nerves explained 144 145. Of the eighth pair of Nerves or the wandring pair 145 147. Of the wandring pair in Man 147 Of the wandring pair in Beasts 148 Of the Nervous Infoldings and their uses 146 Of the returning Nerve 147 The uses of the wandring pair 149 Of the Nerves inserted into the heart 150 Of the communications of the wandring pair 156 The Intercostal Nerve described 157 The uses of the Intercostal Nerve 160 161 162 c. Of its lower branchings serving the lower belly 164 Of the Nerves that serve the Spleen 166 167. Of the Renal Infolding 168 Of the Nerves serving the Pancreas Choleduct Vessels Duodenum and Pylorus 168 169. Of the Nerves of the Womb 169 Of the Nerves belonging to the Vreters 170 Of the Nerves serving for Dung Vrine and Seed 171 Of the Nerves belonging to the Testicles 172 Of the spinal Nerve 173 The spinal Nerve constantly found in Man Beasts Fowls and Fishes ibid. The use of this Nerve 174 Of the Nerve of the diaphragma and its use 174 175. Why the Nerve of the Diaphragma proceeds from the Brachial Nerve 176 The difference of the Nerves of the wandring pair and the intercostal Nerves in Man and Bruits 176 177. Of the ninth pair of Nerves arising within the skull 177 Of the tenth pair arising within the skull 178 Of the Nerves arising from the spinal marrow ibid. Why the brachial and crural Nerves are larger far than others 178 179. Net Of the wonderful Net and its use 85 The explication of the figure of the wonderful Net 86 Nourishment Of the Body how made 134 135. Noise Why Beasts at an affright make a sudden noise 118 Why noise or schreeching is made in great passion 150 O. Offices Of the brain and its parts 77 Of th skull 77 78. See Vses Optick Nerves see Seeing Nerves P. Passions Why troublesome to the Praecordia and why seen in the face 108 109. Why more clearly seen in the eyes 110 Phantasie How made 96 Pituitary Glandula what it is 104 105. Pia mater Its description 58 59. Its uses and several parts 81 Of the sanguiferous Vessels covering the Pia mater 83 What sense and motion is in the Pia mater 90 Pineal Kirnel what it is 106 107. Praecordia Their agreement with the Diaphragma 163 Why they seem to be drawn downwards in some Hypochondriacks 167 Prominences Of the Orbicular Prominences of the Brain 106 107 121 122. How different in some Creatures 122 Protuberances Of the annular Protuberances of the brain 121 122. How different in Man and in some Beasts 122. Q. Quantity Of Vrines 2 Of the Quantity of sick people Vrines 6 7. R. Respiration Variously interrupted and how See Breathing 175 S. Saltness Of the Saltness in Vrines 1 Shreeching Out in a sudden passion why made 150 Seed How made 173 Seeing Of the Seeing Nerves 139 How Seeing is performed 140 Sense What it is 34 The formal reason of the common sense 95 Sensory Of the common Sensory what it is 102 Sleep How made 97 Sight Why sometimes things appear double to the sight 103 104. Why the sight of some things cause spittle in the mouth 141 Skull The parts of the Skull unfolded 70. 61. Of the cune form or wedg-like bone of the Skull 70 The fifth and sixth figure concerning the Skull explained 73 74. The uses of the Skull 77 78. Of the furrows in the Skulls of Men and Beasts 78 Of the difference of the Arteries passing through the Skulls of Men and Beasts 84 Smelling Of the Smelling Nerves 137 138. Why large in Beasts 137 The cause of the nearness betwixt the taste and the smell 139 The Smelling fibres differently figured in several Creatures and why ibid. Why the Smell of some things causes spittle in the mouth 141 Sneezing Why people Sneeze going suddenly out of a dark place into the Sun-shine 142 Why men before other Creatures Sneeze 175 Why and how Sneezing is made ibid. Soul Two parts of the inferiour soul 95 In what the essence of the sensitive Soul consists 130 The corporeal Soul of flame and light 29 The Soul depends upon the temperament of the bloody mass 31 The root of the corporeal Soul is in the blood and its branches in the brain and nervous stock 33 Two chief faculties in the corporeal Soul 34 Sounds Of the Ideas of Sounds in the head 118 119. How sharp and flat Sounds are performed 150 Spirit In Vrines 2 Spirits How the animal Spirits blow up the fleshy fibres in a Muscle 41 Of the nature of the animal Spirits proceeding from the brain by the Nerves into the Muscles 42 Of the fresh supplies of the animal Spirits for the motion of the Muscles 44 How the animal Spirits are begotten in the brain 87 88. How first begot in the Cortex of the brain 93 After what manner the animal Spirits diffuse themselves for the producing the faculties of the Soul 95 The place of the exercise of the animal Spirits 101 102. The reason of the passage of the animal Spirits through the Nates and Testes 108 Of the acts of the Spirits of the involuntary function 114 115 116. The difference of the Spirits flowing from the brain and from the Cerebel 114 The passage of the Spirits compared to light 126 Of the great troops of Spirits how they pass through the Channels of the Nerves and supply the whole Body 130 Whether the pulse of the heart depends upon the animal Spirits 152 Of the flowing of the animal Spirits from the nervous infoldings 165 Spittle Why the sight and smell of some things causes Spittle to come into the mouth 141 Spleen Its office 166 Sulphur In Vrines 1 Sulphur the food of flame 29 Sulphur in the blood the cause
sorts of Convulsions in Children 30 Of Convulsive Diseases in those of ripe age 31 Three kinds of such Convulsions ibid. Histories of such Convulsions 33 34 35 36. How the Convulsive matter flows into the Nerves 32 Why Convulsions proceed from the extremities of the Nerves 38 Why the blood is soon congealed in Convulsive distempers 39 How to cure Convulsions in Men and Women 39 40 Of Convulsions from the extremities of the Nerves and the nervous infoldings 41 42. Reasons of such Convulsions so coming 42 Histories of such Convulsions 42 43 44 45. Of Convulsions arising from the nervous liquor 46 Three kinds of causes of universal Convulsions ibid. Of Convulsions arising from poysons and sorcery ibid. Of Convulsions caused by the biting of a mad Dog 46 47. Of Convulsions from the Tarentula 47 Of Convulsions coming by Witchcraft 48 The reason of them ibid. What Convulsions argue Witchcraft 49 Of universal Convulsions from Feavers ibid. And the reason of the symptoms ibid. A description of an epidemical Convulsive disease in Hassia 50 The reason of it ibid. Of universal Convulsions from the Scurvy 60 The kinds of such Convulsions 61 The nature of the broken Convulsion ibid. An History of it ibid The reason of the symptoms and cause of the disease 63 Why it grew worse by Baths 64 The nature and manner of continued Convulsive distempers 66 Histories of such ibid. The Cure of them 67 68 71 75. Of Convulsions from the Hypochondriacal distemper 90 Convulsive Diseases see Epilepsie Of Convulsive diseases of those of ripe age 31 Of an epidemical Convulsive disease in Hassia and the reason of it 50 The nature of a continual Convulsive disease 66 The cure of such Convulsive diseases 67 68 71. Of a Convulsive Cough see Cough Convulsive Matter how it flows into the Nerves 32 Convulsive Astmah see Astmah Copula Praeternatural a cause of Convulsions 4 The explosive spasmodic Copula not from the blood but from the brain 5 Cough Convulsive 102 An example of it ibid. It s Cure 106 Cramp Or Tetanon what 1 D. Diet To be prescribed in convulsive Feavers 59 Dog Convulsions from the biting of a mad Dog 46 E. Electuaries For the Epilepsie 23 For Convulsions in Men and Women 40 Elixirs For the Epilepsie 23 Emeticks See Vomits and Purges Emperical Remedies for the Epilepsie 23 Emulsion For a convulsive Feaver 59 Epilepsie Or Falling-sickness when made 7 The Epilepsie a chief kind of Convulsion 12 Its description and history of the disease 12 13. The seat of the disease 13 The difference of Authors about it 13 14. The primary subject of the disease 14 15. The Epilepsie affects the Nerves secondarily 15 The differences of the Epilepsie 16 The conjunct cause of the Epilepsie where only it consists ibid. Other differences of the Epilepsie 17 Why those troubled with the Epilepsie fall down with violence ibid. Why troubled with the foam at the mouth ibid. Why beat and knock their breasts 18 Prognostications of the disease ibid. How changed into other diseases ibid. Of the Curatory part of the Epilepsie 19 22 23. In what the virtue of specificks consists in their curing the Epilepsie 20 Histories of the Epilepsie 20 Explosion What is meant by it 2 F. Falling-sickness See Epilepsie Falling Down violently in the Epilepsie why 17 Feavers Of universal Convulsions from Feavers 49 A description of an Epidemical Feaver infesting the brain and nervous stock 1661. 51 Its cause and symptoms ibid. Why it chiefly invaded Women Children and phlegmatick persons 54 Why hardly cureable ibid. Filling And irritation causes of Convulsions 9 Foaming At the mouth in the Falling-sickness how it comes 17 G. Gassendus His opinion of the explosion of the animal spirits 3 H. Histories Of the Epilepsie 21 Of Convulsions in Men and Women 33 34 35 36. Of Convulsions arising from the extremities of the Nerves and nervous infoldings 42 43 44 45. Of some Epidemical Feavers 55 56. Of a rare Convulsive Feaver 59 60. Of a broken Convulsive distemper 61 Of a continued Convulsive distemper 66 67. 68 69 70 71 72. Of some troubled with Mother-fits 83 84. Of Hypochondriacks 95 96. Of Convulsive Astmahs 104 105 106. Hypochondriac Passions often proceed from Convulsions 33 Of the Hypochondriack distemper 90 A description of its affections ibid. This distemper belongs to the Nerves 91 The causes of it ibid. Dr. Heighmores opinion of it examined ibid. The Reasons of the Hypochondriacal symptoms 94 The influences of the Spleen thereupon ibid. The cure of this disease 97 Hysterical Passions often proceed from Convulsions 33 Of an Hysterical distemper in a Man 37 The reason of it 38 Of the Hysterical passion commonly called the fits of the Mother 76 A description of it 76 77. The causes of the symptoms 77 Dr. Heighmores opinion of it examined ibid. This distemper chiefly belongs to the brain and the nervous stock 78 The cause of it chiefly about the beginnings of the Nerves 79 And afterwards displayed through the whole ibid. The reason of its symptoms ibid. From whence the diversity of the symptoms happen 80 The more remote cause of this disease ibid. How the Womb is assected in the Histerical distemper 81 The Womb not always in fault in these fits 82 An account of this disease taken from some Anatomical observations 85 86. The cure of the Hysterical distemper 87 88. How to preserve one from it ibid. I. Infoldings Of the Nerves the seat of Convulsive matter 45 Intentions In curing the Hysterical passion 88 89. Irritation A cause of Convulsions 4 How the spirits are explosed by irritation and how it causes direct and refected Convulsions 9 The irritating cause distinguished ibid. How it affects the beginnings of the Nerves 10 How the extremities and middle parts ibid. Julaps For the Epilepsie 24 For Convulsions in Men and Women 40 For an Epidemical Convulsive Feaver 59 L. Liquor Of the Nerves a cause of Convulsions 46 Liquors To cure Convulsions in Children 30 Lungs Affected a cause of the Convulsive Astmah 103 M. Medicines Of steel see steel Medicines Method Of curing the Epilepsie 22 23. Of curing the Convulsions in Children 29 Of curing Convulsions in Men and Women 39 Of curing some Epidemical Feavers 57 58. When insensibleness or madness accompanies them 59 Of curing a continued Convulsive distemper 67 71 73 75 168. Of curing an Hysterical distemper 87 88. Of curing Hypochondriacal distempers 97 Of curing the Convulsive Cough 106 Of curing the Convulsive Astmah ibid. Minenges Not first affected in the Epilepsie 14 Mother Fits See Hysterical passion Mortifick Matter of Convulsions how disposed in the head 7 How sometimes carried from the brain into the Nerves ibid. When it causes the Epilepsie ibid. How it affects the spirits falling on the Nerves and how it causes continuals Convulsions and how by fits ibid. Motions How regular motion is made 1 Of Convulsive motions ibid. Of Convulsive motions in Children 25 Of Convulsive motions beginning from the extremities of
the Nerves 41 42. The difference of the motions of a Muscle 1 How the motion of a Muscle is made 2 Muscle Its motion see motions N. Nerves Sometimes Convulsive motions are received from the ends of the Nerves 6 How the morbific matter is thrust forth from the brain on the Nerves 7 The Nerves in Children and those of riper years differently by the morbific matter ibid. How the morbific matter falling on several parts of the Nerves affects the spirits 8 How the beginnings middle and ends of the Nerves are affected in Convulsions 9 10 11. The nervous System secondarily affected in the Epilepsie 15 Distempers arising from the origine of the Nerves distinguished 31 By what means the Convulsive matter flows into the Nerves 32 Wherefore Convulsions begin from the extremities of the Nerves 38 Of such Convulsive motions beginning from the exmities of the Nerves and within the nervous infoldings 41 42. The infoldings of the Nerves the seat of Convulsive matter 45 The Liquor of the Nerves causes Convulsions 46 The scorbutick disposition of the juice of the Nerves causes universal Convulsions 60 61. The cause of the Hysterical passion most commonly begins about the beginnings of the Nerves 79 The nervous juice obstructed a cause of the fits of the Mother 81 The Hypochondriacal distemper belongs to the Nerves 91 The Nerves sometimes the cause of the Convulsive Astmah 104 Nurses Of Infants how to be ordered to cure Children of Convulsions 29 O. Observations Worth noting in the Falling-sickness 21 In Convulsions in Men and Women 33 34 35 36. In Convulsions arising from the extremities of the Nerves and nervous infoldings 32 43 44 45. In some Epidemical Feavers 55 56. A rare observation 59 An observation of a broken Convulsive distemper 61 62. Observations on a continued Convulsive distemper 66 68 69 70 71. Observations on the fits of the Mother 83 84. Anatomical observations of the distemper of the Mother fits 85 86. Observations on Hypochondriacal persons 95 96. Observations on the Convulsive Astmah 104 105 106. Opinion Of Gassendus of the explosion of the animal spirits 3 Of Dr. Heighmore of the Hysterical passion 77 His opinion of the Hypocondriacal passion examined 91 Oyntments For the curing Convulsions in Children 29 P. Pills For the Epilepsie 23 For such as are troubled with Convulsions 41 Plasters For the Epilepsie 24 Powders For the Epilepsie 23 For Convulsions in Children 29 For Convulsions in Men and Women 40 Poyson Of Convulsions arising from poyson 46 Prognostications Of the Epilepsie 18 Purges For the Epilepsie 22 For Convulsions in Men and Women 39. R. Remedies Great for the Epilepsie 24 Remedies for a cold constitution troubled with Convulsions 40 For an hot constitution troubled with Convulsions ibid. Repletion And emptiness not the cause of Convulsions 3 S. Scurvy Of universal Convulsions arising frow the Scurvy 60 Sneizing Powders for the Epilepsie 24 Spasms See Convulsions How they differ from Convulsive motions 1 Specificks In what their virtue consists in the curing the Falling-sickness 20 Several Specificks for the Epilepsie 22 Specificks for curing Convulsions in Men and Women 40 Spirits For such as are of an hot constitution and troubled with Convulsions 41 Spirits The Animal spirits the instrumens of regular motions in the body 1 The explosion of the Spirits makes the motion of a Muscle 2 Gassendus his opinion of the explosion of the animal Spirits 3 How the Spirits are disturbed by the morbifick matter falling on the several parts of the Nerves 8 How the Spirits are exploded by reason of irritation ibid. The Spirits in the middle of the brain the primary subject of the Epilepsie 14 15. Spleen Its use 92 93 Its influences producing the Hypochondriacal symptoms 94 Steel Medicines and their preparations 99 100 101. T. Tablets For such as are troubled with Convulsions 41 Tarentula Of Convulsions arising from the biting of the Tarentula 47 Why Musick allays the poyson of the Tarentula 47 Teeth Breeding sometimes causes Convulsions in Children and why 27 28. How to cure such Convulsions coming of Teeth 30 Tenasmus What it is 11. Three kinds of it 12 Tetanon What it is 1 V. Vomits For the Epilepsie 22 For Convulsions in Men and Women 39 St. Vitus Dance described 48 The reason of it ibid. W. Waters Distilled for the Epilepsie 24 For Convulsions in Men and Women 40 41. Witchcraft A cause of universal Convulsions 48 How falsly imputed and how to know Convulsions coming of Witchcraft 49 Womb How affected in the fits of the Mother 81 Not always in fault in those fits 82 Worms A cause of Convulsions in Children 30 FINIS
Waters hot Spirits Oyls fixed Salts of Herbs and very many other more simple preparations of the Chymists remain a long while without any alteration or Fermentation Perhaps some of the Particles do evaporate but the rest do not tumultuate In the mean time the juice and blood of Vegetables or Animals as also all Liquors Concreted and compounded of many things quickly Ferment and from thence enter into divers turns of changes The Spirit of Wine being closely shut up in a Phial shews no sign of growing hot but if but a little Oyl of Turpentine be added to this Spirit the Particles of the Liquor will so leap forth that I have seen it break a Glass Hermetically Sealed All Distilled Waters of Herbs so they be kept simply in a Glass will remain incorrupt a long time but if you add to the same Sugar or Syrrup it presently grows soure and is corrupted Wherefore that the Fermentation of Bodies may be rightly unfolded we must inquire what those Particles or Substances are and of what Nature of which mixt things are Compounded and from whose being put together and mutual strivings motions for the most part naturally proceed Altho there be many and divers Opinions of Philosophers concerning the beginnings of Natural things yet there are three chiefly deserve our Assent and Faith before the rest That famous fourfold Chariot of the Peripateticks obtains the chief place which emulous of the four wheel'd Coach of the Sun is hurried by a quick passage through the fictitious Heaven of the first Matter and measures that vast and empty thing with a perpetual reciprocation For they say all things are Constituted out of Water Air Fire and Earth and that out of the divers transposition of these Generation and Corruption as also the changes of all alterations whatsoever do arise In the second place and next stands the Opinion of Democritus and Epicurus which lately also hath been revived in our Age this affirms all Natural effects to depend upon the Conflux of Atoms diversly figured so that in all Bodies there be Particles Round Sharp Foursquare Cylindrical Chequer'd or Streaked or of some other Figure and from the divers changes of these the Subject is of this or that Figure Work or Efficacy The third Opinion of the Origination of Natural Things is introduced by Chymistry which when by an Analysis made by Fire it resolves all Bodies into Particles of Spirit Sulphur Salt Water and Earth affirms by the best right that the same do consist of these Because this Hypothesis determinates Bodies into sensible parts and cutts open things as it were to the life it pleases us before the rest As to the four Elements and first Qualities from thence deduced I must confess that this Opinion doth somthing help for the unfolding the Phaenomena of Nature but after so dark a manner and without any peculiar respect to the more secret recesses of Nature it salves the appearances of things that 't is almost the same thing to say an House consists of Wood and Stone as a Body of four Elements The other Opinion which is only a piece of the Epicurean Philosophy forasmuch as it undertakes Mechanically the unfolding of things and accommodates Nature with Working Tools as it were in the hand of an Artificer and without running to Occult Qualities Sympathy and other refuges of ignorance doth happily and very ingeniously disintangle some difficult Knots of the Sciences and dark Riddles certainly it deserves no light praise but because it rather supposes than demonstrates its Principles and teaches of what Figure those Elements of Bodies may be not what they have been and also induces Notions extremly subtil and remote from the sense and which do not sufficiently Quadrate with the Phaenomena of Nature when we descend to particulars it pleases me to give my sentence for the third Opinion before-mentioned which is of the Chymists and chiefly to insist upon this in the following Tract to wit affirming all Bodies to consist of Spirit Sulphur Salt Water and Earth and from the diverse motion and proportion of these in mixt things the beginnings and endings of things and chiefly the reasons and varieties of Fermentation are to be sought If any one shall object That the Atomical and our Spagyric Principles are altogether subordinate to wit that these tho at the last sensible are resolved into those only to be signified by Conception I shall not much gainsay him so it shews that those Conceptions are real I being dul and purblind leave the more accurate to quick sights being content to be so wise as to perform the business of the outward Sense with Reason for I profess it pleases not me to devise or dream Philosophy But that our Work may more rightly proceed it will be necessary to speak first a few things of these kind of Principles in general and of their Affections I mean by the name of Principles not simple and wholly uncompounded Entities but such kind of Substances only into which Physical things are resolved as it were into parts lastly sensible By the intestine motion and combination of these Bodies are begot and increase by the mutual departure and dissolution of these one from another they are altered and perish In the mean time what Particles are gathered together in the subjects or depart away from them will appear under the form of Spirit Sulphur Salt or of one of the rest CHAP. II. A description of the Principles of Chymists and the Properties and Affections of them 1. SPirits are Substances highly subtil and Aetherial Particles of a more Divine Breathing which our Parent Nature hath hid in this Sublunary World as it were the Instruments of Life and Soul of Motion and Sense of every thing whilst they of their own Nature are always enlarged and endeavouring to fly away lest they should too soon leave their subjects they are bound somtimes with more thick Particles that by entring into them and by subtilizing them and variously unfolding them they dispose the substance to maturity as is to be observed in the Vegetation and Fermentation of Bodies somtimes being restrained within some spaces to wit the Vessels or Bowel of living Creatures they are compelled more often to repeat the same measures of their motions for the performing the works of Life Sense and Motion From the motion of these proceed the animation of Bodies the growth of Plants and the ripening of Fruits Liquors and other preparations they determinate the Form and Figure of every thing prefixed as it were by Divine designation they conserve the bonds of the mixture by their presence and open them by their departure at their pleasure they bridle the irregularities of Sulphur and Salt The perfection and state of every thing consists in the plenty and exaltation of Spirits and the fall and declination in their want and defect As to the Subjects in which the Spirits are Minerals because they are of a more fixed nature wanting Motion and Vegetation
largely anon In the mean time from these things already shewed of the passive power or sense of the Cerebel it may be easily collected by what means with what order and series the animal Spirits arising from the same are moved But first you must distinguish between their twofold motion For one is customary and ordinary consisting in a perpetual and equal efflux of Spirits by which indeed they flowing into the beginnings of the Nerves nigh their risings especially of the intercostal and wandring pair the solemn acts of the Pulse Respiration Chylification and others of the involuntary Function are performed Then secondly the other motion happens extraordinary and occasional which the same Spirits perform confusedly as it were in disturbed orders as when the Pulse becomes quicker or slower than it ought or the Respiration unequal or interrupted and when the other Faculties which belong to this Class are perverted from their regular and constant manner But these kind of extraordinary motions are again twofold to wit for that its instigation proceeds from a double bound for the impulse whereby the Spirits inhabiting the Cerebel are compelled into an irregular action as we have but now intimated is carried either from beneath viz. from the Praecordia and Viscera or it is wont to be transmitted from above to wit from the Brain As to the first if at any time the Praecordia grow too hot and are burnt with a feaverish heat presently by the passage of the Intercostals and the wandring pair of Nerves the Spirits residing in the Cerebel being warned of this evil institute more frequent and stronger acts both of the Pulse and of Respiration In like manner if by chance the humors and sharp Juyces irritate or greatly trouble or afflict the Coats of the Ventricles or Intestines through the sense of this affection communicated to the Cerebel the instinct of performing the motion is reciprocated whereby the fibres of the parts being contracted and wrinkled together endeavour the shaking off of the hurtful matter More instances might be here brought of all the other acts of the vital or merely natural Function of which besides it may be observed that when a sense of the trouble is immediately conveyed from the Praecordia or Viscera to the Cerebel this affection like the waving of waters is either stopt or terminated there from whence a motion as the business requires unknown to the Brain is presently retorted as when the actions of the Praecordia are altered by a feaverish distemper without our knowledge or secondly that sense of the trouble being transmitted to the Cerebel for that it is more vehement it unfolds it self more largely and like a stronger waving of waters passing through the Cerebel goes forward further even to the Brain and warns its inhabitants of the evil by which they being incited to oppose the enemy cause a motion of another kind So as hath been said when the Praecordia grow cruelly hot the Cerebel feeling this makes the Pulse and Respiration stronger But further the Brain being warned of the same trouble seeks and diligently requires cold drink and other remedies to moderate the heat Moreover it is after this manner also in several other actions which though they are regular yet being made in the Brain without any previous knowledge they are said to be done by Instincts merely natural as when brute Animals being newly brought forth presently seek for the Dams teats and greedily suck or Birds without any shewing or example build nests with wonderful Art lay eggs and hatch young ones In these kind of works the Brain being taught before by none directs fit means to the ends instituted by Nature which indeed seems to be done by this means The sense of every necessity being brought to the Cerebel incites the Spirits inhabiting it to succour it which when they are not able to do the impression going from thence further forward is carried to the orbicular Prominences by which the Spirits there inhabiting being presently struck form the Appetite or the intention of performing which being thence communicated to the Brain it readily causes that local motions fit for the executing of the work be retorted Of these we shall speak anon a little more largely when we treat of the respect which happens between the orbicular Prominences and the annular Protuberance In the mean time we shall take notice in the second place that the irregular motions of the Spirits inhabiting the Cerebel are wont also by reason of the force of the affections to be transmitted from thence to the Brain for as often as a violent passion as Joy Sadness Anger Fear or of any other kind is conceived in the Brain presently the impression of the same being brought through the by-paths of the Prominences into the Cerebel disturbs the Spirits destinated to the vital or merely natural Function in their very fountain and for that reason presently induces notable mutations in the Organs of those Functions What hath been spoken hitherto of the Cerebel being imployed about the offices of the involuntary Function only also concerning the sense and the motions both usual and irregular of the Spirits inhabiting it will be made more clear if lastly we shall shew the offices of the Nerves and of the other processes immediately depending upon the Cerebel to be no other than such as perform only involuntary Acts which shall be briefly and succinctly done as far as is pertinent to our purpose because a more full consideration of them is left to another place CHAP. XVII Of the Nerves which receiving the stores or companies of the Spirits from the Cerebel bestow them on the Acts of the involuntary Function WE have already shewed that out of the annular Protuberance which is a certain Process of the Cerebel three pairs of Nerves to wit the fifth sixth and seventh immediately arise We have said that Protuberance to be as it were a Repository or Store-house wherein the Spirits flowing out of the Cerebel and to be derived into the depending Nerves as occasion serves are kept and in the mean time whilst they remain there they who stream out from either middle Marrow of the Cerebel divisively meeting mutually in this Cirque are united together But as the aforesaid three pairs of Nerves receive the forces of the Spirits from the Cerebel by the mediation of that Protuberance so also the eighth pair having its rise near the insertion of the other viz. the lowest medullar Process sent down from the Brain seems to derive by its passage the influence of the Spirits no less from the Cerebel wherefore when these four conjugations of Nerves owe the Tribute of their Spirits wholly to the Cerebel if I shall shew that all these Nerves serve chiefly and almost only to the involuntary acts of the Senses and Motions surely this will be a signal Argument that according to our Hypothesis the office of the Cerebel is to beget and to dispense the animal Spirits requisite for the
of which sort are Hearts-case Water-Pepper Ranunculus or Crowfoot and the like which very much abound in volatile Salt being bruised into a mass and put into the Ears of the diseased Horse and kept there for twenty four hours it is scarce credible by what means all the Ulcers are presently dryed up and the disease healed as it were by Inchantment is quickly profligated in the whole For since this Application is made far from the affected parts without any alteration of the bowels or the blood it should be so healed at a distance certainly the cause of such an Energy must only be that by this kind of Medicine the Dyscrasie or evil disposition of the Brain and nervous Juyce is taken away and so the first root of the sickness being cut off the shoots and fruits presently wither It were worth our labour to try such kind of Experiments also in our Medicines Yea it may be well suspected that such a way ought to be ordered for the common Cure of the Kings-Evil Among our Country-men as delivered from our Ancestors it is thought that the seventh Son or he that is born the seventh one after another in a continued series can cure this disease by stroking it only with his hand and truly I have known many whom no Medicines could help to have been cured in a short time only by that remedy Few doubt but that this disease is wont to be cured often by the Touch of our King The reason of such an effect if it be merely natural ought to be assigned not to any other thing than that in the sick especially those of ripe age the Phantasie and strong Faith of the hoped for Cure induces that alteration or rather strengthning to the Brain whereby the morbid disposition radicated in it is profligated But I shall return from whence I am digressed to inquire what the nervous Juyce contributes to nutrition 2. I say therefore secondly although nutrition depends in some measure upon the influence of the nervous Juyce yet it is highly improbable that all the several parts of the whole Body should be nourished only by this provision For besides that this were to impose upon the Government of the Soul it self and its primary Organs the cooking office of nutrition wholly unworthy the excellency and dignity of those parts it seems also that the nervous Liquor should be altogether unfit for the administring to this Province because when oftentimes immense expences are made of the aliment to be assimilated into the substance of the solid parts especially by immoderate sweat also by continual labour and exercise which Country-men and Labourers daily use it is not possible that such losses should be repaired only by the nourishment supplied or sent through the small passages of the Nerves When I had long and seriously considered with my self concerning this thing what I at length thought I shall tell you freely and without any covering or making any reflection or blaming the Opinions of others It seems first that the nourishing matter of the whole Body is distributed into all parts from the blood through the Arteries yet it may lawfully be thought that the conversion of this matter into nutriment and the assimilation of it into the substance of the part to be nourished is performed by the influence and help of the nervous Juyce as it were of a certain spirituous Ferment As to the first we have already noted that the sanguiferous Vessels do not only follow almost every where the Muscles and Bowels but also the Head and its Appendix yea the Membranes Bones and Nerves themselves and affix to them all thick shoots as so many little chanels for the receiving the nourishment Moreover as there is a purple crassament or thick substance in the blood whose substance stuffs and nourishes the Pores of the Parenchyma of the Muscles so there is a whitish Gelly by which the Membranes and the whiter parts seem to increase Besides it may be observed that the blood it self increasing contains in it self fibres and small threads such as are interwoven in the Muscles and nervous parts and if the same stand long in any Vessel it is presently coagulated into longish white and hard crusts or bits whose substance is plainly fleshy so that the blood produces flesh of it self though the same be rude and unformed wherefore the configuration and the apt disposition of the nourishing matter supplied from it depends on the coming and Energy of the nervous Juyce but after what manner this is done we shall endeavour now to shew After the web or stuff of all the parts is laid it is required then that they be both drawn forth in due proportion and grow in substance and also that the little spaces which are left by reason of the Effluvia's perpetually falling off may be continually filled with the nourishing substance cast in In these two things the business of nutrition chiefly consists for the performing of either of which the blood affords matter and reaches it forth as was said in the circulating to the several parts of the concrete and as it were stands at the doors of the part to be nourished yet that this matter may be rightly disposed and its particles to wit the thick and thin saline and sulphureous and others of a several nature separated one from another may be imployed with some choice to the destinated uses there seems need of a certain directing faculty and as it were plastick virtue got somewhere else than from the blood it self For indeed the blood being destitute of animal Spirits is unfit for the performing these offices Wherefore for that it appears there doth lye hid in the nervous stock a certain juyce and the same being gifted with animal Spirit to be diffused to all parts how can we suppose less but that this subtil and spirituous Liquor every where meeting with the arterious which is duller and thicker actuates and inspires it and as it were ordains it for the performing the designed work of nutrition especially when it plainly appears that by reason of the defect or depravation of this nervous Juyce nutrition is always frustrated or perverted Therefore it may be lawful in the difficult Controversie concerning the Matter and Method of Cure to propose this our Hypothesis though it be a Paradox and very abstruse to wit that the nervous Juyce which we have said was like the male seed is poured out with the nutritious humor copiously suggested from the Arteries as it were the genitive or seed of another Sex every where upon all the parts and that this former being indued with active Elements imbues the more thick matter as with a certain Ferment and impregnates it with animal Spirit and when it so makes it with a mutual entring in or coming together to be dissolved and to go into parts its particles being extricated one from the other the Spirit infused helping they are put upon bodies of the same measure with themselves