and nourished with humidity and new always substituted in the place of that which is absumed for I do not see why if radical humidity be wanting that death should follow but answer may be made that the privation or defect of the radical humor depends upon the impotency of heat for whatsoever suffices in the place of its native humour that is necessary to be changed by the help of heat which as Scaliger thinks is altered and grows feeble by use and diuturnity of time therefore what accedes of aliment is more worse and impure then that which decedes therefore heat destitute of idoneous aliment is dissipated And hence it is that man necessarily must dye CHAP. 8. Of Spirits 1. HItherto of humors so called Now we shall handle the doctrine of spirits they are called A spirits because they fly away by their subtil and aereal tenuity which after a certain manner responds to the Nature of Spirits indeed 2. But here the word spirit is taken B for a very small or thin substance aereal and vaporous the first instrument of life as to the performance of action 3. Here its essence is not to be understood ethereal and celestial but in a manner elementary First because such like spirits are what like their matter is but their matter is elementary Secondly they can accend refrigerate increase diminish and extinguish but the celestial on the contrary want these neither can they be changed by natural cause Thirdly because to their preservation the inspiration of the air is necessary Fourthly and lastly the spirits do restore again an elementary body in a swounding fit 4. A spirit is either insited or fixed or influent 5. Insited which is ordinarily C complanatus is an aereal and tender substance lying within several solid members and procreated of the genital seed from the governess faculty of the principal parts the first and proximate seat of native heat and a certain faculty as it were the band of unition of the soul with the body 6. Of this there seems to be so many differences as there are natures and temperaments of parts if it may be accommodated to these and attemperated to the nature of every part 7. The influent is that which is implanted and lest it should dissolve and vanish it remains fixed 8. And here it is threefold natural vital and animal 9. And as in mans body First there are three Vertues Natural Vital and Animal Secondly so also there are three principal bowels if I may so call them the Liver Heart and Brain Thirdly three Organs also administring to these the Veins Arteries and Nerves so there are so many spirits distinct in species and form which are as it were the chariots of strength 10. The natural is D a thin vapour procreated in the liver of the purer part of blood and thence diffused by the veins into the habit of the body to absolve all natural actions 11. Concerning this many great questions are made some do expunge it from the catalogue of spirits First because it takes its natural faculty from the Liver Secondly that it doth renew the same faculty insited from every part Thirdly and by this Spirit or Captain the gross blood is carried to distant parts 12. The vital spirit E is a thin halite vapour or breath begotten of inspirated air and natural spirit carried to the left side of the heart and so runs by the artery over the whole body and so supplies the vivifical strength unto them 13. All the ancient Neotericks do conclude this to be coacted when it is chiefly necessary to life for as Plato doth affirm if the sun should quiesce one moment the whole world would perish because it excites spirit and heat by its motion so here if the spirits be prohibited forthwith the Animal perishes 14. The animal spirit is F a pure halite begotten of a portion of vital spirit carried to the brain and insited in its faculty diffused by the nerves into the body that it may incite it to motion sense and all animal actions 15. This as it pleases some doth not differ from the vital in kinde and nature because they maintain that there is but one universal spirit but as aliment doth take a new form by a new coction and thence a new denomination So that first there are divers Organs Secondly divers faculties Thirdly divers manner of generations so also this spirit is diverse from the rest in species The Commentary A BY spirit here we understand not an incorporeal substance or the intellect of man which is rightly called by the Philosophers a spirit which Scaliger otherwise a man very learned dothseem to dissent from for he speaks Theologically and is to be understood as speaking of an incorporate substance but by spirit we mean a thin and subtil body B Because nature is not wont to copulate one contrary to another unless it be with some medium not unlike a band for mortal and immortal do differ more then in kinde and therefore an incorporate being is not consentaneous to a brittle body and immortality cannot be united to the intellect of man without the concurrence of a medium and this is no other then a spirit which doth bring mortality to the body having a thin and tender substance as it were acceding to the intellect The medium between both is nature and this spirit is not void of a body but begotten of the elements which were in the seed and it is most elaborate nearly acceding to the nature of celestial spirits and most thin that it may fly all sense very apt to pass by an incredible celerity for it passes over the whole body with a great celerity that it may give motion sense and strength to its parts and perform other functions of the soul. D Concerning this spirit many great questions are agitated some do-banish it from the catalogue of spirits moved thereto by these Arguments First because there is no use nor necessity for it We answer Its use is great for first of all it is the chariot of aliment for the humours gotten in the liver can scarce penetrate of themselves through the narrow passages by reason of their crassitude nor can they well be carried to the other parts of the body by reason of the slowness of their motion Furthermore this spirit takes its natural faculty from the liver whose work is to attract retain and concoct familiar aliment to all the parts of the body and by a certain force doth expel the excrements Secondly they will have no place to be given by nature proper for this spirit We answer the liver is its fountain and principle as the heart of life and the brain of the soul. Thirdly they alledge that this spirit doth not lead any thing to any part or carry any thing thereunto But we say that as the animal spirit is carried by the Nerves the Vital by the Arteries so the natural spirit is carried by the veins together with the
which are produced of putrid matter alone without seed so the flye Cantharis hath neither masculine nor feminine nor is it a Pâ—…enix in nature so an Eel is of neither sex and many other C It is disputed by some whether humours or spirits may be rightly reckoned amongst animal parts because they obtain no figure nor certain mode of increment like solid and dimense parts but know that we take the word part largely in this place for all that which is necessary to the constitution of an animate body for whatsoever may not be taken from the whole without a dissolution of that whole that may properly be called part of that whole therefore humors and spirits because if they be taken away the animal whole cannot consist therefore they are adjudged to pass under the name of parts But here it will be demanded whence doth the dissimilitude of the four humours depend from the efficient or from the matter Galen and Avicen do assert that blood doth arise from a moderate and temperate choler from an intense and flegme from a remiss heat But Fernelius more rightly refers the cause of so great variety to the aliment that is â—…o the material cause because it â—…s not consentaneous the same â—…eat in the same time and part â—…o produce contrary effects â—…herefore the cause of this dissiâ—…ilitude is referred to the matâ—…er For whereas aliment which â—…s the matter taken into our boâ—…ies doth consist of divers parts â—…t is altogether consentaneous to â—…uth that those humours which â—…o arise from it cannot be altoâ—…ther of one and the same genus â—…ut divers for what part of the â—…yle is more temperate is converted by the liver into blood and what more hotter is changed into yellow choler and what is crude into flegme and what is terrene into melancholy And these are familiar to the body four manner of ways as Hippocrates saith by which we are constituted and nourished for because the bodies of animals do disperse those things which are excrementitious by certain occult foramens and that by diflation therefore they need aliment D Blood may be understood two manner of ways First for all the four humours which are contained in the veins which when opened blood doth flow out endowed with the four humours for blood is not similar but a mass conflated of different humours Secondly blood may be taken peculiarly and properly for a pure sejoyned humor which is known by this sign that assoon as it is let out into a vessel it concretes and turns into clots by reason of its fibres this humour is called by Hippocrates hot and moist because it conserves the life of the animal which consists of a humid as though material and a calid principle as formal and it is also called temperate by Galen because a hot and moist temperament doth next accede to the temperature because it is the fittestto produce animal-operations and it is called sweet because it arises from a moderate heat and of a temperate and best part of chyle it is called Red or Rubicund because it acquires a colour from the liver that is red for every part propounds this as its end to assimilate that to itself which it altered therefore chyle is taken from the ventricle and transmuted by little and little to the liver and so by degrees doth pass and is converted into its nature and hence it is that it receives its colour from this doth every part attract aliment whence blood is called by some the treasure of life which nature so keeps in such safe custody that all the other humors may receive loss before blood nay some have gone so far as to go about to demonstrate that the soul resides in blood others do affirm that blood is essentially the very soul. E Flegme is gotten of the gross and watrish part of chyle sometimes it is called sweet not that any dulcitude or sweetness doth possess it as it is with honey or sugar but so to be understood as when we say sweet water or water is sweet and when we ascribe frigidity to it we do mean that it is not partaker of the contrary viz. heat but because that coldness is predominant in it for if flegme were onely cold exactly then it would be coacted like unto ice and if it were exactly humid it were void of all crassitude and lentor the effect of it is to nourish the flegmatick members together with blood and it is alimenâ—… half cocted and in progress of time may easily make blood and nourish the whole body F The matter of black choler or melancholy is the more gross and feculent part of aliment not unlike to the fecies of wine or the setlings of oyl This humour is cold and dry because terrene neither yet so cold but that it is a partaker of some heat otherwise it would concrete like ice nor void of all humidity otherwise it would not be an humor but a hard body like to an Adamant its proper colour is black or rather oleaceous which in a temperate man is called black if compared with the colour of other humours it is crass by reason of its terrene nature and it hath sometimes a sowre sapour when much heat cocts the humidity and sometimes sharp when less heat c. its use is to nourish the gross hard and terrene members But here a question may be handled whereas it is said that melancholy is terrene cold and dry therefore unapt to all the motions both of body and minde its strange why Aristotle will have all melancholy persons to be ingenious either in the study of Philosophy or moral Policy in Poetry and many other Arts and Sciences It is answer'd that the strength of wit is discerned and discovered either by quickly learning or strongly retaining In this latter melancholy persons do excel because siccity is necessary and appropriated to the retentive faculty therefore the brain is made firm and contemperated from this humor by the heat of blood and spirit and indeed those that are without this humour are very forgetful and though they may be ingenious yet they are always found to be light and unstable seldom persevering in the thing proposed by reason of the levity of spirits for judgement and prudence is noâ—… perfected in motion but in rest whence Aristotle could affirm that the soul is rendred more intelligible by rest and quietness then commotion and trouble H Avicen besides those two before named doth make other two adventitious humours amongst which those spoken of do possess a medium the first is called innominatus because it never flows out of the veins but the second the Barbarians call Cambium because it desires to flow out and would be changed into the substance of flesh but both of them are rejected yet Fuchsius would have this humor to be the same with the radical but without reason Here it may be demanded whether it may perpetuate life because the oleous or radical is preserved
earth is necessary to the composition which doth afford matter for the unctuosity to astringe therefore stones are gotten of gross earth by the coalition of this humour which must be so understood not that the two other elements to wit the fire and the aire must be separated from their mixtion if so be the opinion of Philosophers be true that every mixed thing doth consist of four Elements The efficient causes of Metals or Minerals are two heat and cold heat persisting in the matter doth diduce moisture and unctuosity of â—…errene substance by certain tender parts and so doth coct and digest and perfectly mingle the portions of the several elements but especicially of water and earth and so purge them from all the excrementitious parts and at last doth prepare that matter rightly to produce the form of a stone and so cold at length doth condensate it with its astrictiveness expel all its superabundant humor and so indurate it into a stone But some may say that cold rather is the cause of corruption then generation I answer it is true in Animate bodies but in Inanimates to wit in meteors and metals coldness is the cause of generation Yet it may further be objected If stones do coalesce from coldness it follows by the same rule that they must melt by heat and so be resolved but that cannot be aâ—…â—…erefore nor the former I anâ—…wer Stones cannot be melted by heat alone without the affusion of some other humor because there is in them such an exquisite natural commixture of moisture and dryness that they refuse liquation by their contraries neither are they to be reduced to the action of their external faculty without the sympathy of some familiar quality B According to the divers and various subtilty of the matter whether pure or impure crass viscous or the like Stones both pure and impure noble and ignoble are ingendred whence it is that there is so great variety of Stones and Gemms and here an objection will arise whether precious Stones may change the matter of the earths generation Gems because of their noble fulgor and transparency do not seem to persist of earth which is dusky and blackish an enemy to such pulchritude whence many are of this opinion that Gems are partakers equally of celestial fire and water and from them to receive their fulgor and christalline clearness But we must know that Gems also do consist of certain earthly matter but not obscure but subtil mixed with a watrish humidity well cocted and tempered for the matter according to Logicians doth vary the dignity of things but the propinquity of the sun cocts better and stronger the matter of stone in Oriental regions makes the Gems and Stones both more excellent and precious Another question will here arise whether Stones do differ in forms and species We maintain the affirmative with this one undeniable reason divers actions and vertues do arise from divers Forms but there are divers actions in divers Stones therefore c. The assumption is proved because one stone resists poyson another discusses swellings another draws iron which are indeed divers effects C Pliny relates of the generation of the Pumice that it is gotten of Fruits some of Bays some of Thyme beyond the Columns of Hereules which are transformed into the Pumice which if it be true it is not strangâ—… why the Pumice cast into the water doth swim when it is made of porous and rare matter and therefore it hath its levity from its matter and will not sink to the bottom of water but that for use is accounted the best which is candid light and very spungious The flower of it according to Theophrastus doth take away drunkenneâ—…s D A Gemm properly is the sprouting or bud of a Tree fair and round bunching out at the first out of bunâ—…s and chiefly of Vines and so those precious Stones which reâ—…mble this form are wont to be called Gems because they respond thereunto in figure and form But the vertues and the effects of Gems are wonderful if we may believe Cardan Some says he are effectual in prolonging life others available in love in obtaining riches some for divination others for consolation some for wisdom others for good fortune some work effects to make men dull others joyful some sad others fearful some do resist poyson others help the concoction of the ventricle and liver But concerning the vertues of Gems read Scaliger Exer. 106. But Heaven no doubt hath infused into Gems many admirable properties and vertues concerning which Hermes Trismegistus hath sufficiently treated E But why doth the Adamant preserve its substance whole against the weighty stroaks of the hammer and furious flames of of the fire yet suffer it self to be dissolved with the blood of a goat There are some of our later writers who will admit of no occult property at all but go about to manifest every thing by plain reason therefore they judge goats blood by reason of its analogy which is in the beginning common to pierce the Adamant But says Scaliger what other thing is that anology of its common principle then an occult property No doubt but it is a great miracle of nature and why it should pierce so hard a body no man well can demonstrate F The Carbuncle comes from the Eastern regions shining like to white clouds but because it hath golden spots it is reckoned by some amongst Gems G Of which there are three sorts First that which shines in the dark they call Pyropus secondly that which is put in a black vessel shining water being powred upon it thirdly that is the basest which glisters onely when the light shines H Achates is of so many various kindes that it will scarce be credited to be one stone for it is clear red yellowish cineritious green dark blue insomuch that this one answers to all the colours of other Gems I Albertus Magnus relates that he hath tryed this that if this stone be hung about the neck it roborates the strength of the whole body which is incredible for by its frigidity it constringes the spirits By the same reason it is related that if it be hung about the belly it hinders venery whereupon the Indians every-where preserve themselves K Whether chrystal be glass is a subtil controversie between Cardan and Scaliger He denies it upon this reason because glass is dissolved by the fire but chrystal not unless for several days it lie in the midst of a vehement fire and be continually blown therefore Chrystal can never be glass Scaliger answers glass that hath never obtained the hardness of a stone is as yet water and therefore easily dissolvable by fire because it is but congealed with a little cold but when it is concreted and congealed by a diuturnal cold insomuch that it hath obtained the perfect form and hardness of a stone it will not easily melt or not at all but it is generated oftentimes under the earth
the plenty thereof whereby the 〈◊〉 heat the instrument of form is nourished together with the firmness and solidity of the whole Plant. 18. For such grow a long time As first have much soft and gentle humidity in them Secondly a solid substance Thirdly their roots long and thick Fourthly those that are barren and fruitless Fifthly such as grow in a dry place 19. On the contrary part those Plants are short lived and sooner perish by natural corruption as have not the contraries to the former 20. Preternatural or violent â—…ruption happens either by â—…tinction or â—…nt of nourishâ—… 21. Corruption happening 〈◊〉 extinction is when the Plant perishes by too much cold 22. When cold 〈◊〉 goâ—… to the bottom it hinders 〈◊〉 warm vapour or heat from coming to the roots and at length causes the whole to perish 23. This corruption doth not happen but when an extream cold comes and invades the roots denuded of earth 24. Corruption happening from want of nourishment and that by heat by which the Plant is as it were scorched the humidity thereof being C exhausted by the vehemency of heat 25. And there are two seasons especially wherein Plants are exposed to this injury the one when they begin to bud because then they are more laxi the other when they bear fruit when their juice is exhausted and made weak 26. That is called partial corruption or sideration when the native heat of any part is extinguished either by cold or heat or with a wound mortification of that part following 27. Furthermore some kinde of Plants grow of their own accord and some are propagated by the art and industry of man 28. Such arise of their own accord of seed as are either manifest or obscure 29. Those that grow of manifest seed have but one manner of rising as in all Herbareous Plants that are sown of seed and others are propagated divers manner of ways 30. From manifest seed after this manner seed falling into the moist earth is thereby softned and is cherished both with naturall and celestial heat and so swelling by reason of the plenty of humour flowing into them from the earth it breaks and out of that part which is broken a certain soft and tender sprout doth grow by so little becomes more firm and crass one part whereof being partaker of the airy nature ascends up the other which is terrestrial and crass resides in the earth and there coaâ—…esces 31. So then Plants arising â—…rom seed are cherished by the humour of the earth decocted â—…y heat and attracted by their â—…nternal nature 32. But the time of sprouting of Plants is not one and the same D for some do begin to grow within three days as the Bafil and Rape some on the fourth day as Lettice some on the fifth as the Gourd some on the sixth as Beet some on the eighth as Arach some on the tenth as Colwort Leeks in twenty days Smallidg forty or fifty Last of all Pyony and Mandrake â—…rce in the space of a whole year 33. The causes of this diversity of sproutings are these First 〈◊〉 strength of Form Secondly the strength or weakness of their inward heat Thirdly the variety or density fatness or hardness of the seeds for in hard and dense Bodies the humour cannot be illicited out of the earth so readily whereby seed must swell before it erupts 34. Certain Plants E according to the opinion of Theophrastus are said to grow without evident or manifest seed and he declares the cause to be a certain permistion of earth and putrefied water which being as it were preserved both by the heat of the sun and the propriety of the matter renders a fit generation of spontaneous Plants 35. This opinion is probable enough for as a strange heat is the cause of putretude so also into things of new forms which are putrefied and he makes the heat of the sun and stars to be a beneficial induction therâ—… 36. But besides these the air and the earth may be the cause of sproutings of such Plants as grow spontaneously If it be true that according to the various station of first and second qualities in substance various mutations and generations of things may be made 37. Moreover a Plant sometimes is produced out of a hard stone which happens when air is included therein and endeavors to asâ—…end but when it cannot finde a passage it is reflected and so waxes hot by its agitation whereby it draws the humor of the stone to it self That vapour with the humour breaks out and of that vapour and humour brought out of the stone a Plant is ingendered by the concurrent heat of the sun Arist. lib. 2. de Plantis c. 5. 38. Furthermore Plante are variously propagated by the art and industry of men by setting of roots or ingrafting yong slips 39. By setting of roots as Liquorice Lilly for these do easily attract aliment and so live 40. By ingrafting or planting and that either by fastning them in the earth or upon the stock of a tree 41. Planted or fixed in the earth as the Rose Willow Vine Mulberry which is called a propagation 42. Engrafted upon the stock of a tree by thrusting a slip into the wood of another which properly indeed is called insition as an Apple-tree into a Pear-tree 43. Indeed most Plants may be propagated all these ways as Olives Figgs and Cherry-trees 44. But there are invented other manner of propagations more artificially whereby a leaf digged out of the earth to bud in a new stock 45. But it is a question not to be contemned F why the dissected parts of Plants do live and thereby propaga ed when it is the cause of death in Animals This is said to happen because Plants have the strength and force of the soul engrafted within them and so diffused over all their parts Heat also which is an individual companion of the soul and moisture gentle and thin and therefore not dissipable but it is not so with Animals for they stand in need of that faculty which flows from the heart 46. Therefore part of a bough which is planted in the earth doth preserve in it self heat humour and strength of the soul and by that attracted humour begins to swell and receive spirit and by the strength of the soul it detaines and by the help of its innate heat it distributes the grossest parts of the humour from whence the roots are framed and the thinnest part it preserves which causes it to grow higher 47. The same manner is observed in engrafting for as Plants out of the earth as out of a womb so Grafts from those where they are grafted do preserve keep and attract the nutriment of the Plant by the force of the soul and heat and by a continued action a generation of parts is made 48. But Aliment which the Graft draws is by far more elaborate First in that was concocted before in the mother Secondly in that is made
aliment blood into the general mass of the body But here another question will arise how can the spirits flow into the inward and most remote parts but by penetration and dimension Answer Some bodies are crass and solid and some thin and tender through those that are hard they cannot penetrate but the spirits because they are thin do fly all manner of sense and are diffused without impediment in a moment this way and that way with a certain kind of celerity and do pervade the members neither by their presence filling them nor by their absence emptying them E And in this spirit all the causes come to be considered the matter is the natural spirit procreated in the liver thence carried by the vena cava with the arterious blood that is the purest of blood upwards going into the right side of the heart where it is attenuated most accurately by the passages not altogether occult but if a dog be dissected it will be found in the left side the efficient cause is the strong heat of the heart attenuating and making thin the vital spirit it 's form its rarefaction not unlike to the tenuity of a little flame its end is to conserve life diffused from the heart by the arteries into the universal body F The matter of this spirit is that vital which is carried by the crevices of the arteries to the basis of the brain and it doth slide thereinto as into a net which is placed there by nature as a labyrinth for when any matter would exactly elaborate it doth devise a longer stay in the instruments of coction and afterwards by another context is intromitted into ventricles of the brain the efficient cause is motion but chiefly the proper force of the solid substance of the brain whereby this spirit doth exactly elaborate and so become animal the form of it is rarefaction made perfect by the degeneration of the vital spirit into the animal its end is to shew a sensitive and moving faculty with great celerity from the middle ventricle of the brain by the nerves into the whole body by which spirit the animal faculty is apprehended in man of reason and memory if its force or motion be not hindred CHAP. 9. Of the similar parts of an Animate body 1. HAving expounded the contained parts the continent do follow which consist of substance by reason of that firmness and solidity they have 2. And they are either homogeneous or heterogeneous similar or dissimilar 3. A similar A part is that which may be divided into similes according to the particles of sense and into the same species 4. Of similar parts some are spermatical others carnous 5. The spermatick parts are those which are generated immediately of the crassament of seed and so coalesced into hard substances 6. Of which sort are Bones Cartilages Ligaments Membranes Nerves Arteries Veins Fibres Fat 's Skin 7. Bones are the hardest parts B of animates dry and cold begotten of the crassament of seed by exustion to the stability of the whole 8. These are endowed with no sense because first no Nerves are disseminated by their substance Secondly if they were sensible they could not endure daily labors without great pain and that sensation would either take away the greatest part of action or render it frustraneous 9. A Cartilage C is a kin to these which is a substance or part a little softer then bones and harder then any other member and flexible after a certain manner made to the keeping of motion in its destinated parts 10. A Ligament D is a simple part of the body hard and begotten of seed yet softer then a Cartilage and yielding to the touch knitting the bones together 11. A certain portion of these is called tendous which is a similar part begotten of Fibres Nerves and Ligaments mixed in a muscle all which are called articles 12. A Membrane is a similar part begotten of seed tender covering several other parts 13. The Nerves are spermatick parts arising from the brain or back-bone the interior part of the marrow the exterior of the membrane carrying the animal spirit to sense and motion 14. They are distinguished into softer or harder 15. They are soft which do arise from the former part of the brain 16. And they are seven conjugations for none of all the Nerves are simple but all conjugated whence they are called paria nervorum 17. The chiefest of these are inserted in the centre of the eye and are called the visive or optick nerves carrying the faculty of seeing unto them 18. The second propagation of moving of the nerves is the eyes 19. The third society is partly scattered into the tunicle of the tongue to propogate to the taste and part dispersed in other parts of the face 20. The fourth conjugation is a certain proportion dispersed in the palate 21. The fifth is carried by the auditory passage to the drum of the ears and they are called the auditory nerves 22. The sixth is a large portion of nerves wandring and running almost through all the bowels 23. The seventh arises from the hinder part of the head and the marrow of the back-bone and inserted into the muscles of the tongue and is said to move the tongue 24. The crasser nerves in which there is a more obtuser faculty and they do come out of the marrow of the back-bone carrying sense and motion to the internal parts 25. And thirty of these are alike and combined seven to the hinder part of the neck twelve to the Thorax five to the Lungs six to the sacred bones all which do disperse themselvs like boughs into the other parts of the body 26. The Arteries F are hollow vessels long having two tunicles and those crass and substantial ordained for the deducing of the vital spirit and for temperating and expurging of the heart and other parts to heat 27. And they do arise out of the heart of which two principal Arteries do spring out of the left side thereof from which two all the other take their original Arteria Aorta et Arteria venosa 28. The great Artery Aorta is the foundation of all other Arteries and doth carry the vital spirit to all the other parts of the body 29. The venous artery is stretched out like a quill from the same side of the heart into the liver from whence it brings air to cool the heart 30. A vein G is a similar part and round and hollow like to a reed arising from the liver consisting of one tunicle contexted of three Fibres carrying blood for nutriment together with the natural spirit to the several parts of the body 31. Veins are distinguished into principal and less principal 32. The Principal are those out of which as out of a trunk or stock others do arise and they are two vena porta and vena cava 33 Vena porta is a great vein coming out of the hollow part of the liver and excepting all the Mesenterian veins
compelling them into one of the ligaments serving the arteries to a voluntary motion the fibres of the tendons growing of the junctures are joyned amongst themselves E They are called spermatick parts because they are generated of seed and not of blood which argues that their colour must be white and cold in substance All nerves do arise from the brain and not from the heart as Aristotle imagined their use is to carry that animal spirit gotten in the brain and the motive and sensitive faculty and to communicate it to the body F The veins and arteries are joyned with a friendly intercourse that the veins may supply them with matter of spirit for the spirit doth cherish the blood with its heat in the arteries and there are mutual orifices that the spirit may take nutriment out of the veins and the veins spirit and heat out of the arteries But the arteries and veins do differ First in their original because they come out of the sinister ventricle of the heart Secondly in their function because they subminister vital spirits to the whole body Thirdâ—…y in their substance for the arâ—…eries so likewise the veins do â—…onsist of a membranous body â—…et more solid harder and conâ—…rmed by more crasser tunicles Now a tunicle is twofold exterior interior that fibre which is knit with many strait and crooked windings hath the like crassitude and firmness with the tunicle of the veins but this hath five times a more harder and grosser substance lest the subtil spirit should exhale and the artery it self be broken with the perpetual motion of the heart Fourthly in motion for the arteries are moved without intermission by dilatation and contraction when dilated they draw the cold air and when contracted cast out hot fumes G This question is moved by Physitians and Philosophers about the veins Whether they have a force or faculty to generate blood Some maintain it that the blood which the veins contain within themselves to elaborate more exquisitely and to be made by an insited force and faculty and therefore in that blood that the chiefest degree of perfection is gotten But the falsity of this opinion is easily known by those who diligently mark the thin tunicle of the veins and its white substance Now it is provided by nature that every part of the body should be converted to the other and transmuted into its colour then how can the veins with their thinness and whiteness change white chyle and gross into red and pure blood Therefore more truer is that opinion that the generation of blood is onely the work of the liver which doth make blood by a certain force and faculty within it self seated all the sanguifick force is given to the veins yet they receive it from the liver as Avicen demonstrates H Aristotle and Hippocrates do prove that fibres do concrete the blood by their frigidity because that blood out of which fibres are taken can never be concreted by any cold for when blood is let out of the veins if it doth not concrete it is a sign of death I Fat is the matter of blood and although it be made of the cream of blood yet notwithstanding it is cold and without blood degenerating into fat by the want of heat and frigidity of the membrane it consists of coldness and dryness because by heat it is melted and by the humidity of other parts coagulated by cold The efficient cause is the want of heat which is thus proved because you shall finde no fat as to any quantity about the liver or the heart or any other hot part by reason of the heat of those parts K Take this as another definition of the cutis the skin is a thin part membranous porous endowed with blood the tegument or cover of all the parts of the body which as it is easily taken away by accident so it doth easily grow again which denotes thus much that the skin is not altogether endowed with a sensitive faculty but onely so far as it hath the nerves and of the faculty of blood in it and whereas it is defined to be membranous that is smooth simple thin and white and that it hath a middle nature between flesh and nerves for neither is it altogether without blood as the nerves are so neither doth it abound with blood as the flesh doth whence it is adjudged to be the rule of temperaments and indeed the skin about the hands in it there is the most exquisite and perfect faculty of sense but not so in other parts of the body and the skin is porous that it may thereby attract the coldness of the air and expulse the excrementitious vapours of the body Now the excrement which comes out of the pores is sweat sweat is an excrementitious humidity of the third coction breaking out by the skin in the species or form of water the matter of sweat is the whole humidity which is gotten in meat and drink which thing is necessary to all animals because it might make way for other aliment and not longer lie in the vessels it is of the same genus with urine onely differing in this that the urine is carried to the bladder this with blood a longer passage through the body its efficient cause is heat but not so vehement as to have a drying faculty but moist so calefying the nature of sweat by the habit of the body that it becomes thin and so softens the skin by relaxation that it may the better pass through those whose skins are hard and thick are very unapt to sweat L Flesh may be taken either properly or improperly when properly taken then absolutely that which is described by us and it is the chiefest part of the muscles for the substance of them doth truly and properly deserve the name of flesh that which is taken improperly is the flesh of the bowels generated of blood poured out as the liver heart and lungs CHAP. 10. Of External dissimilar Parts 1. HItherto we have spoken of similar parts Now of dissimilar or organical which are diversly compounded of the similar 2. And they are either external or internal 3. The external parts are first the head secondly the trunk of the body thirdly the artus under which we comprehend the arms and feet 4. The head is the highest part of the body globular set upon the neck the seat of the animal faculty 5. Its parts that are external are chiefly the skull and the face 6. The skull is a crafs bone of the head round distinguished into twenty bones and certain futures covering the brain environing it on every side 7. Its bones are thus distinguished there are two in the crown one in the front two in the temples one in the form of a wedge another in the form of a sieve twelve in the superior jaw and one in the hinder part of the head 8. There are three sutures The first is transverse the crown going from towards one ear to the
is a certain partition which divides either side the vulgar call it the seventh medium which at the first sight appears crass but after a more curious inspection it is found to have many holes in it that there may be an easie passage from the left side to the right notwithstanding what the Neotericks exclaim against it and urge to the contrary 13. Furthermore there are certain appendixes membranous and full of windings leaping to each side of the ventricle which are called Auriculae not from its use or action but similitude 14. On the right side it lies open to the door of the vena cava the left is placed in the orifice of the venous artery and it is larger because it is the receptacle of gross blood the latter is the less because it contains air 15. The chief use of those Auriculars are First that they be ready receptacles of blood and air that they do not confusedly pass into the heart and so to suffocate the heart by oppression Secondly lest the vena cava and the venous artery be broken in violent motions for they have great force in drawing of blood and air in to the heart 16. The lungs E are of rare parts light and spungious and as it were concreted of spumous blood like the substance of a Snail seated in the thorax filling its whole cavity the instrument of breath and voice 17. And although it is but one in body yet it is divided into two parts by the membrane called Mediastinus the right and left 18. Either part consists of two Globes or Knots the one superior the other inferior often discernable and sometimes obscure 19. The use of these is that its flesh or substance should not be collaberated or tyred but that it may be more actively moved and that the heart be embraced on every side 20. The air is transmitted into the lungs by the asper-artery whose structure is constituted of Veins Cartilages Membranes and Nerves The Commentary A DIaphragma hath divers appellations for it is sometimes derived from the verb Diaphratto that is to fortifie because Diaphrattei that is it separates out the middle and low belly and also it is called the seventh transverse it is called Diaphragma and by ancient Medicks called Phrenas because as some judge by its inflammation the minde is hurt It s use is noble for it separates between the spiritual and vital bowels and the heart and the lungs from the naturals which separation Aristotle thinks to be made by nature lest the vapours which do exhale from meat offend the heart in which the soul he thinks doth reside But this opinion is false because the fumes do pass by the Oesophagum To conclude the Diaphragma hath two holes placed in organs ascending and descending Again it helps exspiration and inspiration for when the thorax is contracted then the inspiration is dilated but when it is laxed then inspiration is made Again it helps the ejection of the excrements by its motion with the muscles of the Abdomen Again it is the rise of the organs whereby it pleasantly affects the heart and causes laughter D The covering which defends the heart and contains it in its seat and hinders it lest it should be oppressed with its vicine members is called Capsula which contains also a certain watrish humour lest it should 〈◊〉 and dry with too much heat the substance of the heart is hard and dense lest it should be broken by its violent motions Its substance saith Aristotle is thick and spiss into which heat is received strongly and therefore its temperament is the hottest of all the members it is endowed with three kinds of fibres strait crooked and transverse that it may both draw contain and expel Now Aristotle thinks these fibres to be nerves and the principle of the nerves to be in the heart but he is deceived its figure is Pyramidal but not absolutely so in brutes but it is more flat then in a man it is placed in the thorax as the safest place and on the left side thereof C This is the shop of the vital faculty and therefore it is rightly called by Aristotle the first thing that lives and â—…he last that dies by its perpetual motion and heat it begets vital spirits for when it is dilated which motion is called Dyastole it allures unto it and draws blood by the benefit of the strait fibres from the vena cava by the venous artery but when it is constringed which is called Systole it sends blood from the right ventricle into the lungs by which they are nourished and that by the venous artery but the vital spirit out of the left by Aorta into the whole body and both ways it converts into vital spirit by attenuating the pure blood into vapour D There are two remarkable ventricles of the heart the right and the left between these there is a partition which distinguishes the one from the other which whereas it is crass and firm it is not rightly called by Aristotle the third side or belly but lest that the passages may seem to be made by this it sends out blood into another ventricle by narrow pores E The lung is called by the Greeks pneumon a pneo which is to breath because it is the organ of breathing therefore the lung ought to consist of such a substance that it may be filled and distended with air like a pair of bellows The primary Cause of which action is its proper substance which helps the motion thereof for when it is dilated it draws air and by the venal artery carries it to the heart by which the heat of the heart is allayed and the vital spirit as with food thereby cherished The figure of the Lung resembles the hoof of an ox which is divided by the Mediastinum into two parts it is the organ of voice which I prove because no animal hath a voice that hath not a lung there are some that say that there are two lungs but truly it is but one divided into two parts the right and the left And again both the parts consist of two Globes the one superior the other inferior sometimes seen open and sometimes shut the use thereof is that it may be moved more nimbly and so amplex the heart more easily CHAP. 13. Of the parts of the Animal faculty 1. VVE have spoken sufficiently of the parts of the middle belly Now we proceed to the organs of the supream region serving the animal faculty and they are such as are â—…ontained in the brain 2. The brain A is a soft part white and medullous fabricated of pure seed and spirit involved as it were in folds compassed about with a thin skin and contained in the cavity of the brain the principle of the animal faculty c. 3. And this is the highest of all the bowels and the next to heaven this is the tower of the senses the highest pinnacle the regiment of the minde 4. For the
they cannot breath longer they cease to live But insects do live though they cannot breath for when they are cut in two parts they will live in each part whereas it is not possible that all the parts of an animal should breath Observe this last Argument to impugne all the Ancients opinion Fishes do therefore breath because the life of animals consists not without breath These are the reasons of Arist. denying fish to breath But because there is a heart in them therefore they have need to have their heat temperated and that it may be so temperated they draw in by their gills water for air and let it out by the same For as in man the lungs and the thorax are lifted up and down in breathing so the gills of fish are dilated and contracted in drawing in of water to temper the heat of the heart for when the gills are dilated they draw in some small portion of water which is conveyed by certain passages to the heart which cools the heat thereof and when their gills are contracted the water again is expelled Some do stifly oppugne these opinions whose reasons we shall now consider of First a Fish is an animal therefore breathing is necessary because it hath need of air I answer If by breathing or respiration they understand refrigeration then the consequence is to be received but if they mean the attraction of air I deny it for the spiration of air is onely competent to those animals endowed with lungs but Fish may be refrigerated by that water which both they draw in by the mouth and gills Secondly Air is contained under the earth therefore under the water and by consequence fish do attract it and so breath Ans. I deny the consequence though air may easily pierce into the earth which is porous cavernous and dry yet into the water it cannot pierce because of the fluidness of its body being so easily reduced to unity and so closely gathering it self together that there can be no vacuity for air for if a Staff be thrust into the water and drawn out again there will be no holâ—… left or resemblance where it was but will forthwith rise up and swim at top But if it be fixed into the earth the hole whereinto it was put will remain which is immediately filled with air and therefore it is that the breathing faculty of Moles under the earth is not taken away because they always make a hole whereby they receive breath But now in water no pores or passages can be apprehended whereby air may be attracted therefore it is impossible that fish should breath therein Thirdly Fishes do breathe by their gills therefore breath is drawn by them though not in the usuall manner I answer that some spiration iâ—… manifest or perfect some obscure and imperfect 'T is manifest in those animals that are endowed with the organs of spiration and then it is properly called respiration but that â—…tion of the fishes gills is more rightly tearmed transpiration and onely answers by Analogy to the true spiration for as their parts viz. lungs and gills differ in species so also their functions differ for as the wings oâ—… birds and fins of fishes do agree analogically in themselves as to the efficient cause viz. of motion yet they are not of the same Genus because fish by their fins do not fly as birds by their wings but swim so those gills that are given to fish in stead of lungs are not of the same species with the lungs of animals The fourth is taken from Experience if fish be put into a vessel with a narrow orifice filled half full of water and so the mouth of the vessel stopped there is so great a desire in them of the injoying of the air that they strive who shall be uppermost swimming one upon another for no other cause then a desire to be next the air Scaliger answers the reason of their so much strugling is not for the injoyment of air but the avoiding of their close imprisonment endeavouring to finde a way out of the vessel to free themselves from that scarcity of water into a place of more plenty and liberty Fifthly if a vessel full of water and with a row orifice be closely covered the fish that are encloistered within are suddenly suffocated because no air can come unto them therefore 't is absolute necessary for fish to breathe under the water for the preservation of their lives This if it be true I thus answer If so then it may be judged to happen rather from the defect of the celestial light then air for thereby force and heat is added by the influence of light for all animate things stand in need of this celestial spirit for the preservation of their lives Again if it be so that fish included in a vessel are suffocated it must happen that the water being deprived of air loses it nature Scaliger Exer. 275 for it is preserved from corruption by the air as from a superiour form therefore it kills the fish But to conclude If fish should die for want of air how come they to live where the waters are frozen all over many thousands of paces together or can they receive air through the ice therefore the Objections of our Antagonists are frothy and vain L Insects are called by the Greeks Entoma because they have Bodies distinguished some into two three and some more incisures and they have in stead of blood a certain vital juiâ—…e or humour which is Analogous to blood which assoon as it is exhausted they perish And because those Insects want blood their natures are cold and therefore it is that they breathe not for breath is given to animals by nature to â—…ool the blood and because those insects saith Aristotle want bowels therefore they leave no respiration because they have no convenient organs for that use But against this received opinion of Aristotle Pliny objects that Insects do breathe which he maintains by two Arguments First That many kinds of Insects do put forth a certain noise as Bees and those that want wings others to sing as Grashoppers so also Gnats Flies make a certain buzzing noise which cannot be except they received air I answer When Bees and Flies make a noise it happens by the agitation of the interior spirit and not the exterior for those Insects that seem to sing as Grashoppers do make a noiâ—…e from the agitation of the included spirits fretting as it were against that membrane with which their bodies are wrapped for they do not make a noise by the attracting of spirit at the mouth for they alone in the Universal Genus of animals by the observation of Aristotle want mouths Secondly Insects are endowed with smelling but smelling cannot be effected but with the attraction of air by respiration therefore they breathe I answer The Sense of smelling is far different in these Insects from that in other sanguineous animals for they have this
censory hidden within the skull and therefore they cannot perceive odours but by the conduct of the ambient air introsumed But Insects do not perceive odours by the attraction of air but by the alone presence of the thing to be smelled at the censory which organ in them is always open and exposed to smelling not unlike to the eyes of those animals that have no lids nor covering but always open M The material cause of Insects is double as the Insects themselves are of two kinds for some are gotten of slimy earth and putrid mud as for example from putrified Pot-herbs the Canker or Palmer-worm from putrid Water the Gnat from decayed Wine the Midge from Slime worms from Mud frogs others arise from a mixed putretude as Beetles from the karcass of an Ass Bees from a Bull Wasps from a Horse And as there are two kinds of Insects so there is also a double efficient cause of them for they which take their rise from putrid Matter their efficient cause is the heat of the Sun diffused in the Ambient air But they which are gotten of a mixed and cadaverous putretude are procreated meerly from the proper heat of the mixed putretude for that heat doth dispose the Matter and produce a substantial form of the same not by its proper force for an accident cannot make a living substance but by the vertue of the Celestial heat But some may say that heat of mixture is broken in putretude if putretude be the corruption of heat natural therefore the heat of a mixed body putrefied cannot be the efficient cause of Insects I answer In the natural decay of mixtures simply all heat doth not vanish so that none may be said to remain but broken as natural and according to that measure which is necessary to retain the humidity with the â—…iccity as in the destruction death or decay of living creatures all heat simply doth not vanish but that onely which was convenient for the existence of the soul in the body and the preservation of life therefore that heat which is yet left in a mixed putretude hath reason to be the efficient cause of Insects But some may further instance that heat in the generation of mixtures ought to domineer passively not actively according to Aristotle who saith that heat and cold do generate when they overcome and rule in passives but in putretude the heat of mixture doth not obtain the name of dominion because its wants strength and vigor and is so unfurnished that it cannot retain the moist with the dry for the preservation of the mixture therefore it cannot be the efficient cause of Insects which Insects are procreated of the unity and consistency of humidity and sicâ—…ity I answer The heat of the body putrefied may be considered two manner of ways either in respect of that mixture which doth putrefie or in respect of the animals which are produced from that mixture if it be considered after the first manner then it is preternatural and not fit to retain the humidity with the siccity because it doth not further rule in these passive qualities but if heat be considered in the second respect then it is natural and hath force and dominion over the moist and dry and it can terminate and couple them and out of that matter produce a substantial form by the concurrence of the celestial heat but now as the matter is various and diverse in which heat doth exercise its action so likewise various and divers animals and insects are produced for if the matter be much terrene and corpulent then it will produce testaceous animals but if tender thin and subtil then heat doth generate slender animals as Flies Gnats c. For as Aristotle says In the sea there is much of an earthly substance and thence it is that from the concretion thereof so many shell-fishes are procreated But again it may be objected by some Every thing that is generated must proceed from a thing that is like to it self for a celestial body and heat are not similar to those which do arise from coenous and putrid Matter therefore from these they cannot rightly be said to be generated I answer Every thing that is generated is said to be generated from its simile either according to an univocal generation or an equivocal generation by analogy I call that an univocal generation when one man begets another or one dog another for here the thing getting and the thing begotten are of one Genus for the bitch generating is an animal and the dog generated is an animal But an equivocal generation is made by similitude as a frog that is produced out of filth by the force of the sun and it is so called because the thing getting and the thing gotten are Heterogeneous But now although the Insects proceeding from such like bodies are not similar according to the univocal Genus yet they are generated a simile according to the equivocal Genus by analogy because they are produced by some existent act as by a celestial body or the like which concur in the way of act to produce a body CHAP. 15. Of Man and his Formation in the Womb. 1. HItherto we have Treated of irrational Creatures Now we shall say something of the rational viz. Man 2. Man is A an animal endowed with reason 3. And as he is the most noblest of all Creatures so he hath the most beautiful and excellent structure of body of all other animals being erect and looking up to heaven 4. But as every thing which is gotten doth proceed of something and from something so there are certain necessary principles to the generation of mans Body 5. The seed B therefore of both Sexes is plentiful and fruitful and pronounced by the ancients to be the Mother-blood of principles 6. The Seed is a humid body spumous and white generated from the flower or cream oâ—… the spirits elaborated by the insited force of the stones for generation sake 7. Hence it consists of two parts of a watrish humidity and spirit 8. The Serous humidity is generated of blood whence he affirms seed to be an excrement of the last sanguineous aliment not in substance but by a profitable abundance Arist. 1 de Gen. Anim. c. 18 29. 9. The Spiritual part C is no other then the vital spirit dilated by the spermatick arteries to the cods where it is exquisitely mixed with blood and of two becomes one perfect body therefore the Seed is compounded of spirit and water 10. Maternal blood D or menstruum another principle of our generation is a sanguineous excrement begotten from the heat of the female for the conservation of her species 11. It is called menstruous because it comes monethly which nevertheless after conception is forthwith stopped 12. It is called a sanguineous excrement not that it is like thereunto or noxious in its quality as the Neotericks do affirm but that it is too luxuriant in quantity and therefore it is
to be Dearticulated and absolute after forty five days living at first the imperfect life as it were of a Plant after the manner of an animal and at last the life of a man 47. And this happens not by reason of the form which is simple and individual but by reason of the matter that is of the organs 48. But the embryon takes aliment onely by the navel but after the liver is made it ministers to all the members but it doth not yet move though it hath life by reason of the imbecility of the brain and softness of nerves 49. The weak and tender members of the infant by little and little are dried by heat and so made more solid and then the yong begins to feel by perfect Sensories and by and by to be moved in the womb 50. But a man-childe doth move sooner then a female for boys because they are conformed in thirty days do move on the ninetieth day which compleatly make three moneths but because the female is framed in forty or forty two days she moves not till the hundred and twentieth day which is about the latter end of the fourth moneth 51. And the infant is nourished and doth increase all this space of time and when it is ripe it is brought forth partly by the endeavor of the womb for it being burthened with its weight and abundance of excrements it strives to be exonerated partly by its proper motion for the necessity of breathing the want of aliment and the narrowness of the place do enforce the yong to endeavor a passage out 52. At the time of birth the doors are opened which immediately after delivery are shut again This we see done saith Galen but how it is done we know not onely we may admire it Avicen calls it a work to be wondred at above all wonders 53. The womb being opened the infant begins to come out by the head and by many painful throws it draws out and brings with it three membranes and thus by the prescript of nature are we born into the world 54. The time of bringing forth is not fully defined nor can it for some are delivered at seven moneths end some at nine and most then some at ten but seldom and very seldom at eleven but in the eighth moneths end seldom any are delivered with a live childe 55. And this is the manner of the Conception Conformation and Procreation of the noblest of Creatures The Commentary A THe definition of a Man delivered consists of a Genus and Difference As to the Genus he is an animal and as to the Difference one endowed with reason And in this it is that man hath a Prerogative Dignity and Excellency above all other Creatures for his minde which is Divine is the Image of God and he differs much from other animals and as it were exercises a regality over them for are not Lyons and Elephants tamed by the strength of man and overcome and made subject to him Man is created with his face looking up to Heaven as it were contemplating upon God Hence Ovid could say Pronaque cum spectent animalia caetera terram Os homini sublime dedit caelumque tueri Jussit erectos ad sidera tollere vultus For whereas God created all other animals with their faces downwards to the ground man alone he erects with his eyes fixed upon heaven whither he should tend B The generation of man is made after this manner the seed of both Sexes being perfectly mixed the whole doth proceed from thence therefore the matter of the generation of mans Body is the seed both of the man and the woman plentiful and fruitful This seed doth consist of two parts watrish Humidity and Spirit the watrish Humidity proceeds from the blood whence Aristotle affirms blood to be a profitable excrement of the last aliment that is of the sanguineous aliment I say it is an excrement not supervacaneous in its nature or substance as Stones and Worms nor in its quality as Dung Sweat c. but onely in its abundance or quantity for because it superabounds from nourishing the parts of the body and cannot be assimilated thereunto it obtains the place of an excrement C The spiritual part of seed is no other thing then the vital Spirit which by reason of this Spirit it becomes hot and sometimes this Spirit is ingendred in the heart and thence sent out into the whole body so doth the Seed also according to the Spirit proceed from the whole because the Spirit is communicated from the heart to the whole Hence Aristotle saith if the Seed did not proceed from every part of the animal the cause of the similitude were false therefore seed ejected by the yard into the womb becomes fruitful when it is exquisitely mixed with the womans seed and it is the principal motion that is the first agent for the formotion of the yong by reason of the spirits contained in it For this going to the bottom as to its centre is cherished and preserved and so proceeds to action as to formation all which things are necessary for the framing of the yong for besides the seed of the man and the woman it is necessary that this vital spirit concur to the conception because the seed of man cannot besmear all the parts of the womb which else will impede conception and if the seed of the woman be onely present that will not cause conception by reason of its imperfection for the seed of man is more hot then womans and although this seed be not so perfect yet it concurs as an agent to the formation although not as the first agent for as Galen observes the mixture of the seed of man and woman is perfect seed whence Aristotle saith that what arises from the seed of man and woman do arise from contraries as when there are contraries in the same Genus and although each seed according to Aristotle is in its Genus an agent yet they do not act alike in power and strength but differ in these functions magis minus the seed of the woman doth concur as the matter of which both by reason of the seed of man which is its aliment for mans seed is nourished and made more perfect by womans seed as also by reason of the membranes which are produced out of it But in this place we may take notice what the Peripateticks in a manner aledge that the woman emits no seed but they are basely and injuriously dealt withall it is an aspersion cast upon them by some later Philosophers because Aristotle saith That the seed of the woman is not so crass while hot and full of spirit as the seed of man but he doth not say that women emit no seed at all D Besides the seed of both Sexes the menstruous blood of the woman concurs to generation it is called menstruous blood because it is an excrement yet it differs from that blood whereby a woman is