the Urethra in Men toward the Uterine Vagina in Women flows forth without being felt and unvoluntarily which causes the Simple Gonorrhea Which Seminal Matter if it be infected with any impure Venereal Malignity and sharp Corruption presently happens a Virulent Gonorrhea which is attended many times by Corrosion and Exulceration Now this Efflux of Seminal Matter or Simple Gonorrhea many times molests the Patient for a long time even whole years together with little debilitating the strength because that spiritous Liquor coming from the Nerves is mix'd in a small quantity with such Seed and very few or no Animal Spirits waste themselves in its Evacuation which at other times in libidinous Copulation flow to the obscene Parts in great quantity and are dissipated to the great wasting of a mans strength whereas there is no labour in the spontaneous and unfelt Emission of the Seed Thus Bartholine reports that he saw at Padua a Person that had been troubled with this Efflux of his Seed for above thirty years without any prejudice to his health and another at Bergamo infested with the same Distemper for ten years in other respects healthful but only that he was very much emaciated XVI If any Person wonder how such a spiritous Animal Vapour should flow so copiously through such narrow and hardly conspicuous little Nerves let him consider that the Arteries also by that time they come to the Stones are almost invisible and yet they carry a great deal of Blood Moreover let him know that those copious Vapours are not carried thither so copiously by reason of the extream thinness of the little Nerves only that they descend by degrees to the Stones And hence after a stout Copulation and much Emission of Seed there is requisite some space of time before a sufficient recruit can come for the generation of new Seed XVII But some will say Those little Nerves seem only to terminate in the Tunicle next wrapt about the Stones which for that reason is endu'd with a quick Sense but never reach to the innermost Substance of the Stones which for that reason is insensible as is apparent from several Distempers which is a sign that those Spirits cannot flow to the inner Substance I answer That as there are no Nerves so neither are any Blood-bearing Vessels to be seen in the Stones of healthy People however it does not follow from thence that there are no such Vessels in those Parts for that they are there and in whom and when conspicuous we have declared Cap. 22. So without doubt there are some slender Nerves in those Parts though not to be perceived by reason of their white Colour and extream Exility Which Exility and the small quanity of Spirits that pass through 'em may be the reason that the inner Substance of the Stones is so dull of feeling Besides that the inner Substance of the Stones is nothing membranous for there is also an acute Sense in Membranes and because the Stones and other Parenchyma's of the Bowels have their proper and peculiar Substance consisting of Vessels interwoven one among another the like to which there is not in the whole Body besides which by reason of its structure and feeling is of an obtuse Sense as the Substance of the Heart Lungs Liver Spleen c. All which Parts like the Stones have their exact Sense of feeling lying only in the Tunicle that enfolds ' em XVIII But here another Difficulty arises more weighty than the former that seeing the animal Spirits are every way disposed of by the Mind now here now there at pleasure why they are never copiously disposed of to flow into the Testicles and cause 'em to swell especially upon lustful Cogitations I answer those Spirits are not unequally disposed of to any Parts but first to those that require some short stretching forth to the end they may act or act more vigorously as the Eyes when any thing is to be view'd with more attention the Womb when the Birth is to be expell'd the Genitals in Copulation then and chiefly then they are disposed of to those parts that serve for voluntary Motion as the Muscles But they flow always equally with a continued Course to the Parts only sensitive as also to those Parts wherein they contribute any thing to Nourishment or Fermentation as being an Influx that has nothing common with the Will And that they flow sometimes in less sometimes in greater Quantity to those Parts which are sensitive and so occasion a quicker or a more obtuse Sense of Feeling that happens not through the determination of the Mind but by reason of their greater or lesser quantity or the largeness or narrowness of the Passages And thus the Animal Spirits flow to the Testicles not by any determined but meerly by a natural Motion XIX Now in the Seed thus made of the said Matter two parts are to be considered Some subtil and very spirituous which are very few but very effective Which we now call the Germen or Blossom Others thicker frothy and watery which constitute the chiefest part of the Seed and nourish and involve the spirituous Parts XX. Now these spirituous and thicker Parts being mix'd and clotted together compose the Mass of the Seed containing in themselves a double Principle an Efficient and a Material Which Material is double the one out of which the first Threads of the Birth are form'd which is the most spirituous Part containing the efficient or forming Principle the other Alimentary being the thicker part of the Seed melted and dissolved XXI If this efficient Principle be not in the Seed as it happens in unfruitful Seed then when nothing can be form'd out of it it flows away and is corrupted But if the efficient Principle ready to break forth into Act be destitute of the material Principle by which it ought to be fomented and sustain'd Then also nothing comes of it as when the Seed the second or third Day after Injection by reason of some suddain Fright or other Accident flows out of the womb and then nothing comes of the Blossom But these two Principles being united together act nothing upon one another but are Idle so long as the material thicker Principle be curdled together for this detains the spirituous efficient Principle as it were intangl'd and lull'd asleep and so restrains it that it cannot put it self forth into Action But when the thicker material Principle is dissolv'd and melted in some convenient Place by the external proper Heat of the womb then its inbred efficient Spirit by degrees gets rid of those Fetters is rous'd up and becomes free and its Power breaks forth into Act and proceeding through the Uterine Tubes to the Ovaries enfertilizes the Eggs which are therein ready prepared and matur'd and begins to act in them and in each of them out of it self to delineate and form that which is to be form'd while the thicker parts of the Seed
an Embryo at the beginning no bigger than an Emmet what Parts are already form'd with the beating Heart Which tho' it be the defect of our Sight yet Reason sufficiently teaches us that all the Parts are delineated together since the Harmony of all together is so great and so necessary that they cannot subsist or act one without another And indeed it seems but probable that the forming Spirits contain'd in the Bubble and beginning the Formation of all the Parts more vigorously perform their Work and more speedily strengthen and perfect all Parts already delineated after they are at more Liberty from the thicker Colliquation as being assisted by the Heat of the Heart excited and kindled by a particular Fermentation But certain it is that before that Assistance they began the Formation of all and singular the Parts Of which tho' such and such first appear in the forming whereof most Spirits were employ'd and of which there is the greatest Necessity for their Use however this does not exclude the Delineation of the rest of the Parts which our Sight cannot discern XLIII Here if any one will object that perhaps the spermatick Parts are delineated together but that the bloody Parts are afterwards of necessity to be produc'd I answer that when we speak of the Formation of the Parts we speak of the first Delineations or Out-lines of all the Parts and all those we say are form'd out of the Seed alone into which the bloody Nutriment is afterwards infused by which they acquire a greater Bulk and Bigness Yet in the mean time there is no bloody part in the whole Body which is not intermixed with spermatic Threads and so no part can truly be said to be form'd out of the Blood and to subsist without a spermatic Foundation This was the ancient Opinion of Hippocrates All the Members says he are discerned and augmented together not one before or after another only those that are naturally bigger are seen before the other tho' they were not form'd before And in another place There is not in my Opinion any beginning of the Body but all the Parts seem equally to be both beginning and end together For the Circle being drawn there is no end to be found Now what Parts are first visible how the order of Formation proceeds gradually as far as the Eye can discern is elegantly described by Harvey Tract de generat Animal whom the Reader may do well to consult together with Antony Everard in his Lib. de Ortu Animal XLIV But now seeing the form'd Parts came once to associate to themselves and assimilate the Nourishment brought 'em and so begin to grow by Nutrition seeing the Heart also begins its natural Action of Sanguification from its smallest Point or Beginning Some more curiously inquire whether the Brain which is very soft in the Embryo makes animal Spirits and by their Assistance performs animal Actions I answer That as the Actions of many parts are idle at first as of the Lungs Eyes Ears Teeth and Stones c. Of which there is no absolute Necessity at the Beginning so the Actions of the Brain Liver and Spleen being more necessary begin at the Beginning but so weakly by reason of the Infirmity of the Organs that they cannot be discern'd But by degrees the more perfect they grow the more perceptible they are And hence it is probable that the Brain at the beginning may begin to make animal Spirits but very few and very weak because there is less need of 'em at the beginning But the stronger the Brain grows and the more need of Spirits there is the stronger and more vigorous Spirits it makes As is apparent by that time a woman has gone half her time when the Child begins to stir which Motion cannot be perform'd without those more plentiful Spirits And from that time the Brain is so corroborated that at length it begets more plentiful and vigorous Spirits fit to perform the chiefest animal Actions Which principal Actions however are idle in the Birth inclosed in the Womb where there is no occasion or necessity of Imagination Thought or Memory But the Infant being born the Brain increasing in Strength begets more vigorous and efficacious Spirits Therefore Children as they are weaker of Body so are they weaker in their Intellectuals Because the Faculties of the Soul do not well perform their Offices till the Organs are perfect only the Feeling and moving Faculties begin to act from the time of the Childs quickning For from that time the Motion of the Infant is peceived by the Mother and the Birth sympathizes with the Mothers Pains Which Cardanus proves by pouring cold water upon the Belly of the Mother for thereby the Infant will beforc'd to move in the womb and by that means he tries whether women with Child are quick or no. XLV I shall here add one thing more which is controverted among the Philosophers whether the Infant wakes and sleeps in the Womb Avicen utterly denies any such thing However Women with Child will tell ye that they manifestly feel the Motion of the Child when it is awake and the resting of it when it sleeps But we are to say that Sleep is the Rest of the Senses for the repairing and renewing the animal Spirits wasted by watching occasioned by the Contraction of the Pores and Passages of the Brain On the contrary that Wakefulness is a convenient opening of the Pores of the Brain and flowing in of the animal Spirits through them into the Organs of the Senses sufficient for the performance of their Actions But neither of these can be said to belong to the birth included in the womb For First the Spirits are not wasted but only few and those weak are made and therefore the Rest which is in the Infant unborn cannot be call'd Sleep because it proceeds not from the Causes of Sleep that is to say the wast of the Spirits and the Contraction of the Pores of the brain nor has it the end of Sleep which is the Restoration of decay'd and wasted Spirits Secondly The Motion of the Infant cannot be said to be waking because it wants the true Causes of waking which is the opening of the Pores of the brain and an Influx of Spirits into the Organs of Sense sufficient to perform the Actions of the Senses The first cannot be by reason of the extream Moisture and Softness of the brain Nor the latter by reason there is not as yet generated a sufficient Quantity of Spirits Moreover the Motion and Feeling of the Infant does not presuppose a necessity of waking For that men grown up and matur'd by age when fast asleep many times tumble and toss in their Sleep and sometimes walk and talk and being prick'd feel and contract their injured Members and yet never wake Therefore we must conclude that the Infant in the womb cannot be truly said to sleep or wake but only sometimes to rest and sometimes to be
the least of any inward pain mov'd his Body of himself and when he was ty'd turn'd upon his side of his own accord and cough'd freely to promote the efflux of Blood out of his Wound that he eat and drank something every day till at last his Strength failing he dy'd having liv'd nine days and eight hours after he had receiv'd his Wound Having heard this Relation I went on to view the Body and shew'd the Wound that was given him between the fifth and sixth Rib of the Right Side about a Thumb's breadth before the Ribs run into Gristles Removing the Sternum-Bone I found the Cavity of the Breast upon the wounded Side to the Mediastinum fill'd with Blood which being dry'd up with a Spunge I perceiv'd where the Sword had gone in without touching the Lungs at the Heart under the Sternum through the Mediastinum and Pericardium and had penetrated directly into the upper part of the right Ventricle of the Heart between the treble pointed little Valves near the entrance of the hollow Vein and had gone no farther the Pericardium also was full and distended with coagulated Blood It will seem a wonder to many how this man after such a Wound could live so many days and hours however I believe the Reason was this because the Wound was very narrow and in the upper part between the little Valves so that in the contraction of the Heart all the Blood which flow'd out of the hollow Vein into the right Ventricle by reason of the obstruction of the Treble-pointed Valves could not be forc'd out of the Wound but that the greatest part of it was forc'd into the Lungs through the pulmonary Artery which was much wider than the Wound and from thence to the Left Ventricle and the Aorta-Artery so that but a very little at a time could be forc'd by the several Pulses out of the Wound into the Pericardium and Cavity of the Breast which was the Reason it was so long before his Strength fail'd him CHAP. VII Of the Motion of the Heart I Have said in the preceding Chapter that the Heart is the principal and perpetual Mobile of our Body from whence proceeds all the Natural Motion of the whole Boyd and perpetually lasts so long as the Motion of the Heart lasts But the Reason of its perpetual Motion is not so perspicuous which is the Reason that Opinions vary concerning it I. Some say That the Heart is mov'd by the Animal Spirits II. Others believe that the Heart is mov'd by the dilatation of the Blood in the Ventricles of the Heart III. Others are of Opinion That it is mov'd partly by the dilatation of the Blood and partly by the influx of Animal Spirits IV. Others say That it is mov'd by a Subtle or Ethereal Matter V. Others hold That it is mov'd by some certain Spirit in the Blood VI. Some assert That the Heart is mov'd by the Respiration of the Lungs I. The first Opinion produces Three very specious Reasons for its Support First Because that in our Bodies all apparent and violent Motions are made by the influx of the Animal Spirits and that therefore the Motion of the Heart must proceed from the same Influx Secondly Because the several little Nerves are not in vain inserted into the Basis of the Heart but rather to that end that they may convey the Animal Spirits to accomplish its Motion Thirdly For that it is manifest in the Passions of the Mind that the Heart is more or less mov'd by the greater or lesser Influx of those Spirits But though these Arguments are propounded with some appearance of Probability yet that this Opinion is far from Truth several Reasons make manifest 1. Because those Motions that proceed from the influx of Animal Spirits are arbitrary especially in the Muscles of which number they assert the Heart to be but the Motion of the Heart is not arbitrary seeing it is not perform'd nor can be perform'd or alter'd at our pleasure 2. Because the Heart beats in a Hen-Egg or other Conception before the Brain is perfected and begets Animal Spirits or before any Animal Faculty is produc'd into Acts of moving and feeling 3. Because the Nerves of the Heart are so small and slender that they cannot contribute a sufficient quantity of animal Spirits to perfect that same durable Motion For to all the moving Parts are allow'd Nerves according to the swiftness or diuturnity of the Motion The Eye that sees and is mov'd all the Day and rests all the Night besides the visual Nerve has another large moving Nerve So the Muscles of the Legs and Arms as they cause swifter or slower Motions have greater or lesser Nerves which happens also in all the other parts Seeing then that all the other moving parts which rest much longer than they are mov'd require large and conspicuous Nerves shall the Heart that moves with a continual motion day and night all a man's Life long and therefore requires a far larger quantity of Spirits than any other part that is mov'd is it possible I say that the Heart should be furnish'd with a sufficient quantity of Spirits to maintain that continual Motion by the means of such slender and almost invisible Nerves Besides that it is as yet uncertain whether those diminutive Nerves whose productions are seen to extend themselves to the Basis of the Heart the Pericardium the Orifices of the Ventricles and the external Tunicle enter any farther into the substance it self of Parenchyma many indeed assert it but no body demonstrates it Galen and Des Cartes very much scruple it and so does Thomas Willis an exact Searcher into the Brain and Nerves to whose Industry in that Particular we are very much beholding who dares not assert any such thing positively but says That more Branches of Nerves and Fibres are distributed into the little Ears of the Heart and Vessels appendent than into the Substance of it We say that very few Nerves enter the Substance it self of the Heart and that they are so small and few that cannot afford or convey sufficient Animal Spirits to perpetuate the Motion of the Heart but only contribute some few which assist to the Nutrition of the Heart 4. Because that to cause Motion there is required a great Quantity of Animal Spirits but that for the Sence of Feeling a very few suffice And therefore all the Parts that are apt to feel which receive many Spirits to perfect their Motion have also a most accurate Sence of Feeling But those which receive but few Spirits they are not mov'd at all and have but a dull sence of Feeling as is apparent in Palsies of the lesser Degree Nevertheless That the Heart has Membranes proper for the Sence of Feeling as the outward and inward enfolding Tunicle treble pointed and miterlike Valves and proper Fibres and yet is endu'd but with a dull Sence of Feeling is manifest from what has been said in the preceding Chapter and
thence it is apparent that it receives but few Animal Spirits Which if it did admit in so great abundance as to accomplish its perpetual Motion they would without all Question occasion a most acute Sence of Feeling therein 5. Because the Hearts of several Animals as Frogs Serpents Eels c. being pull'd out of their Bodies will beat a long time after whereas all the Parts about it being cut away as also all the neighbouring Nerves there can be no Influx of Animal Spirits into them To this purpose take a living Dog and having slit him all along from the Throat take both Trunks of the Wandring Pair through which the Spirits flow to the Heart and either tie it hard or cut it off the Creature indeed will become silent and stiff but the Pulsation or Motion of the Heart will not fail for all that nay he shall live so long till his Strength failing by degrees for want of Food he is famished to Death For he refuses Meat in regard there are no Animal Spirits which can come to the Stomach and increase Hunger 6. Because that seeing the Heart is form'd and perfected before the Ware-house of the Animal Spirits the Brain and proves conspicuous beats and is mov'd before any the least Foundations of the Brain at any time appear as is apparent in an Egg set under a Hen or any other Conception If you say that nevertheless in the Egg or Bubble certain Delineaments of the Brain are in being tho' not to be discern'd by the Eye I answer that they are not yet come to any such Perfection as to operate whereas in the mean time the Heart both operates and is mov'd before it can have any Assistance from those Rudiments of the Brain 7. Because the Animal Spirits are generated out of the Arterious Blood which are generated by no other part besides the Heart Seeing then that they cannot be generated out of any other Matter and that this Matter cannot come to the Brain but by the impulse of the Heart wherein this Matter is generated of necessity it follows that the Heart is mov'd of it self before there are any Animal Spirits in any other part and is the first that forces to the Brain Matter adapted for the Generation of those Spirits that is to say the Arterious Blood Perhaps it may be objected that the Heart is mov'd at first by those animal Spirits which were mix'd in the Seed of the Parents and from that time still are intermix'd with it which is but a frivolous Evasion For the animal Spirit concurs indeed to the making of Seed but loses its own Nature and being mix'd fermented and concocted with the vital Blood becomes one Mass of another Nature with it and so both together put on the Nature of the Seed wherein there is no longer either animal Spirit or arterious Blood but that Seed becomes a new Body generated out of both being mix'd together and changed by Concoction which particularly contains in it self neither animal nor sanguineous Spirit but a new Spirit potentially viââ¦al arising out of the Mixture and Concoction of both which if at any time it be stirr'd up in the Womb and proceed from Power to Action will immediately enliven and form Vessels and Instruments that shall produce Spirituous Blood and Animal Spirits So that there are no Animal Spirits any longer in the Seed that are able to cause the first Motion of the Heart at the beginning For as no Man in his Wits will aver that there is any Blood really in a Bone tho' the Blood as a necessary Matter concurs to its making Nutrition and Growth so no Man will say of the Seed that there is in it either Animal Spirit or Blood tho' both concur to its Composition For as in the Generation of Bone the Blood concurring with the Animal Spirit losing altogether its Sanguineous Nature becomes Bone and is no longer Blood as the Spirit is no longer Spirit as it was before so likewise in the making of Seed the Animal Spirit and Blood remain no longer what they were before whence it cannot be said that animal Spirits remain in the Seed that should be able to begin the first Motion of the Heart 8. Because the Motion of the Animal Spirits does not proceed from the Brain but altogether from the Heart and this Motion of the Heart ceasing all Animal Motion ceases As is apparent when Wounds penetrate the Ventricles of the Heart for that the Blood not being forced into the great Artery and the Heart but flowing out through the Wound of the Ventricles presently at the very same instant the Brain rests and the Animal Spirits are no longer sent through the Nerves to the moving Parts neither are they moved in the Brain which is the reason that a Man so wounded falls of a suddain depriv'd of all his principal Faculties and of all Sense and Motion The same appears in Convulsions and Fitts of the Mother affecting the Heart and such like Distempers in which frequently the noxious Vapours and Humours reach no farther than the Heart but not as yet to the Brain and so the Heart ceases to beat the Brain remaining unendamaged which nevertheless upon the ceasing of the Motion of the Heart presently ceases to be mov'd nor does it begin to move again till first the Heart begins to move But most manifestly of all does this appear in Wounds of the Head that take away some part of the Scull and the Brain it self as we have seen in the Camp For if the Patient fall into a Convulsion presently we see the Motion of the Heart ceases but if the Heart begin again to beat which is easily perceived by the Patients Pulse not before but presently after some Pulses the Heart begins by little and little again to be mov'd and after the Brain by degrees all the rest of the Members are mov'd These are all certain Signs that the Heart is not mov'd by the Animal Spirits thrust forward into it from the Brain but that the Brain and by means of that the Animal Spirits are mov'd by the Blood sent upward In the mean time I will not deny but that by reason of certain Nerves scarcely discernable descending toward the Basis of the Heart the Orifices of it are somewhat less sometimes more loosen'd or contracted as in the Passions of the Mind and for this reason that the Blood in the Ventricles is sometimes more difficultly sometimes more easily expell'd according to the various Determination of the Animal Spirits to those Orifices Nevertheless the continual Motion of the Heart does not proceed from thence tho' this be not the cause of any Impediments to hinder from performing its Motion freely and equally as in the respiratory Motion of the Breast sometimes Impediments arise from the Muscles of the Larynx too much contracted by the help of the Animal Spirits flowing thorough the Nerves tho' those Muscles are no cause of Respiration And thus I have
infus'd by God and governing all the Animal Actions of the whole Body and yet be able to perceive all those things which are done in the extream parts in the least space of a moment even in the very point of time they are acted Moreover they do not believe the Seat of the Rational Soul to be so small in Man and yet in Brutes which are destitute of that Soul to be three times as big Furthermore they cannot apprehend why the Seat of the Soul should not be ascrib'd as well to the Heart as to the Brain seeing that all the Motions of the Animal Spirits and the Brain it self proceed from the Heart which when it ceases to beat all the Animal Actions fail as it happens in a Syncope and in Wounds of the Ventricles of the Heart Concerning this Matter in our Age sharp and furious have been the Contests on both sides as if they were contending for the safety of their Country and daily most terrible Paper-Disputes arise eager indeed and vehement but vain and frivolous by which the Minds of young People are more disturb'd than taught But setting aside these unprofitable Contests let us enquire into the more sensible Action of the Brain it self III. Aristotle teaches us that the Office of the Brain is to temper the heat of the Heart Which Opinion though most reject Spigelius nevertheless endeavors to assert it for Rational Galen attributes to the Brain the Office of generating and making Animal Spirits With whom most of the Modern Philosophers agree For this is most certain that the Animal Actions are not at the first hand perform'd by the Brain it self but by the Animal Spirits made in the Brain by means of which the Soul in well dispos'd Organs executes its Actions and so the Brain is the Instrument which generates those Spirits These Spirits Zabarel Argenterius Helmont Deusingius and some others as well Physitians as Philosophers confound with the vital Spirits and affirm that they differ from them not in Specie but only in certain Accidents and therefore it is that Spigelius says Not that there is here a certain mutation of the vital Spirits which destroys their whole nature but only a certain alteration of the Temperament Eââ¦t agrees with Spigelius and supports his Opinion with these three Arguments 1. The Birth both feels and is mov'd in the Womb without the aid of any Animal Spirit in regard that no Maternal Nerve runs to the Birth 2. A most subtil Spirit cannot be made in a cold Brain and full of mucous Filth for Cold stupifies the Spiriââ¦s and hinders their Actions 3. The Nerves themselves derive their Life and Heaâ⦠from the Arteries which are conspicuously diffus'd through them To these Arguments others add one more that the most subtil Spirits never descend to the lower parts but always tend upwards and exhale and hence although there should be allow'd any Animal Spirits to be so subtil they would never descend into the Nerves but would always fly upwards through the Pores But though these things seem specious enough at a distance yet they neither prove nor confirm the said Sentence To the First I answer That the Birth in the Womb is neither mov'd with an Animal Motion nor feels until the first delineaments of the Brains and Nerves are arriv'd and increas'd to such a Bulk Firmness and Perfection that the Brain may be able to generate Animal Spirits sufficient and that those Spirits may be conveniently convey'd to the sensitive and moving parts and because it requires some Months to attain that perfection therefore the Birth does not move it self until the Woman have gone out half her time that is about the fourth Month and a half For what Spirits are generated before that time are very few and weak and the rest of the Parts themselves of the Body unapt for Motion or Sence Nor does the Motion of the Birth proceed nor is it perform'd by the Spirits or Maternal Nerves running to it of which there are none that enter the Birth but by the Spirits and Nerves generated in it self To the Second I say that there is no considerable Magnitude requir'd for the making of Animal Spirits but rather a Mediocrity of Heat such as is sufficient in the Brain though it be much less than in the other parts And there is a necessity for that lesser Heat which they call Cold to asswage the Heat of the Arterious Blood and in some measure to thicken its Volatile sulphurous Spirits that so the Animal Spirit may separate it self more pure from the salt Particles and may flow into the Nerves no longer beset with superfluity of viscous Vapors Moreover it is to be understood that although the Brain be said to be colder than other parts yet that it is not absolutely cold only that the Temper of it is less hot than of many other parts and that the proper confirmation of it is such as is most fit for the generation of Spirits Lastly the natural Temper of the Brain inclining to Cold is not such as stupifies the Spirits nor renders them unapâ⦠to perform their Actions in the Parts but its preternatural cold Temper excluding the Blood and natural Heat by a too close constriction of the Pores is the cause that for want of convenient Matter few Spirits are generated therein and that those already generated with great difficulty and in small quantity flow through the streightned Pores and Nerves Which is the Reason that then the Actions fail by degrees not because the Actions are stupify'd as is vulgarly believ'd but because very few are generated flow into the parts For the Spirits endure no Stupefaction for Drowsiness is nothing else but a rest of the Actions in the Sensory Organs by reason of the scarcity of the Animal Spirits To the Third I answer that although the Brain and Nerves are nourish'd with Arterious Blood it does not thence follow that the Animal Spirits generated in the Brain are nothing different from the Blood and Vital Spirits generated in the Heart and carry'd through the Arteries for the nourishment of the Parts for this is as much as if a man should say The Stomach is nourish'd by the Arterious Blood generated out of the Chylus therefore the Chylus concocted therein is nothing different from the Blood Or thus The Heart changes the Chylus into Blood therefore the Blood which is generated therein is nothing different from the Chylus Or thus The Bread is turn'd into Chylus and the Chylus into Blood therefore the bread differs nothing either from the Chylus or the Blood To the Last I say That the Animal Spirits would easily exhale out of the Brain and Pith unless they were there with-held in their cool Work-house which hinders their sudden Exhalation and would flow into the Nerves which are of a firmer Substance and thus all Chymical Spirits are best kept close in cool Vessels and hinder'd from exhaling Moreover that they would not descend
of Diet for want of a thinner who are therefore slower to all manner of Animal Actions and of dull Wits Whereas on the other side they who live in hotter Regions abounding with plenty of all sorts of wholesom Diet and seldom feed upon salt or smoak'd Meats but accustom themselves to a thinner and more wholesom sort of Diet and consequently are serv'd by their Bowels with better Concoctions their Humors and Spirits are thinner and more volatile and their Bodies and Wits more nimble and active Aristotle indeed says that Melancholy People are ingenious but this is not to be understood of such as are altogether melancholy and together with a thicker blood have thicker Spirits but of such as incline to Melancholy and consequently whose Spirits are neither too thin and volatil for such are too movable and inconstant nor too thick for they are stupid but in a middle temper between both And therefore such People are neither too quick nor too redious in the transaction of Business but prudently weigh and judge of things before they proceed to Execution XI Perhaps it may seem strange to some People that the salt Particles should be made so subtil and spirituous as to be able to pass freely thro' the invisible Pores of the Nerves But they will cease to wonder when they observe in Chymistry the extraordinary Subtility and Volatility of Volatile Salt and how swiftly the Spirits of Salt will pass through the invisible Pores of the earthen Vessels Nay if they only consider how common Salt without any mixture of Water or Moisture being dissolv'd into Pickle will penetrate through the thick sides of wooden Vessels and sweat through Stone Pots overcast both within and without with a Glassie Crust as we find in those Vessels where we salt our Beef or keep our pickl'd Fish If then fix'd Salt only melted passes through the Pores of the Vessels how much more easily will the most subtil Spirit of volatil Salt pierce through the Pores of the Nerves XII Here some will object That Salts and Acids are sharp and corroding so that if the Animal Spirits were generated out of the salt Particles of the Blood and consequently participated of any Saltness they would corrode all Parts whatever by reason of their Acrimony which would occasion Pains and many Inconveniencos I answer That it is certain that the Animal Spirits are indu'd with some slight Acrimony but not so much as to occasion any sensible molestation because that exceeding Acrimony which is in fix'd Salt by reason of the sharp pungent Particles conjoyn'd with it becomes mild in that volatil and vaporous Spirit because the small sharp Particles being dissolv'd are more remote one from another and their Force is broken by the intervening Air or some steamy Vapour For example if any one go into a Cellar and draw in the Air that is all intermix'd with a most subtil exhaling Spirit or if he snuff up into his Nostrils the spirituous Vapor of Wine heated at the Fire yet shall he not feel the least grievance nor perceive any Acrimony which he would do if he snuft up into his Nostrils the Spirit it self fix'd in the Liquor So in our great Salt-Works where the Sea-Salt is boyl'd and depurated the exhaling Vapors being impregnated with the volatil Salt if they be taken in at the Mouth or Nostrils little or no Salt-Savour shall be perceiv'd therein whenas the fix'd Salt is most sharp And this comes to pass because the Forces which are conjoyn'd in the fix'd and thick Body and for that Reason are very powerful in the dissolv'd and vaporous Body are separated and thereby render'd weak and of no strength And this is the Cause why the Animal Spirits do not corrode because that being dissolv'd into a most subtil Vapor they have not so much Acrimony in them as can be troublelom to any Part. To this we add that they have a most thin and subtil serous Vapor together with so much sulphury Spirit joyn'd with them for a Vehicle which does not a little weaken and temper the Acrimony Moreover the Parts themselves through which they pass and into which they flow partake of some other Moisture which also much weakens and diminishes their Acrimony XIII From what has been said it is sussiciently apparent that the generation of the Animal Spirits is not Animal but meerly Natural and that they differ not only in some Accidents or Qualities but in their whole Kind from the Vital For in these the sulphury Juice mixt with the salt is far more prevalent in those there is very little sulphury or any other Juice apt to take Fire These are extracted out of the Chylus and veiny Blood those only out of the salt part of the arterious blood These flow visible through the large Arteries and Veins those invisible through the invisible Pores of the Nerves Over those the Soul has no power over these it has And therefore there is a vast difference between the Animal and Vital Spirits But now the Question is whether the Animal Spirits themselves do not differ one from another in Substance in Manner and Place of Generation and in Use Whether some are not generated out of the Blood others out of the Lympha or some other Matter Also whether some are not generated in the foremost others in the middle others in the hindmost Ventricle Or as Willis lately tells us whether some are not made in the Substance of the Brain others of the Cerebel Lastly whether some peculiar and differing from the rest do not cause the Sight others the Feeling others the Hearing others the arbitrary Motion and others the spontaneous Motion I answer That the Animal Spirits are not generated out of a different Matter nor in various Parts for we take the Brain and Cerebel for one part neither do they differ one from another but are all of the same Nature Composition and Condition but that the diversity of their Operations arises from the diversity of the nature condition of the Parts into which they flow as those which flow into the parts adapted for feeling as the Membrane Skin those cause the Feeling those that flow into the Eye cause the Sight those that flow into the Ear cause the Hearing those that flow into the Muscles Fibers and other Parts ordain'd for Motion cause Motion though they be the same and no way different as every Instrument is adapted to this or that proper Action In the same manner as the Beams of the Sun which though they be always the same and proceed from one Sun neither confer any other Light or other Strength or any other thing to any other Things yet produce most different effects according to the difference of the Constitutions of the things into which they flow For here they produce Barly there Trees in another place Stones here Worms or Fish sometimes Insects or other things Here they extinguish Life there they are the cause
the Vitreous by which it is separated from the other two Humors XVIII The use of it is to dilate the Rays of visible things receiv'd from the Chrystalline and being so dilated to represent them to the Net-form'd Tunicle Others who believe the Sight to be in the Optic Nerve affirm the use of it to be to this purpose that the Rays being refracted in it after they have pass'd the Chrystalline Humor may come together in one Point to the end the Image may be represented to the Sight XIX The Crystalline Humor by the Greeks call'd ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from its clear Transparency as also Glacialis resembling the clearest Icicle that may be is more solid and bright than the other two Humors generated out of the most transparent and purest part of the Seed Before it possesses the Hole of the Uveous Tunicle behind it is received into a Hollowness fram'd in the Vitreous Humor and sticks close to it In the forepart it is a little more flat behind a little more round though this Figure seems often to vary according to the various Affections of the Eye XX. This Humor is surrounded or enclosed with its own proper Tunicle extreamly thin and transparent therefore call'd Chrystalloidaea and from the form of its Contexture the Cobweb Tunicle By means of this Tunicle it is separated from the other Humors to which also in the hollowness of the vicious Humor the vicious Tunicle sticks very close but yet is distinct from it Riolanus will not allow of this Tunicle not so much as in the forepart as being that which he believes to be very finely polish'd by reason of the thickness of the Crystalline But the Sight it self evinces this Error For it is plain that that same Tunicle though very slender may be in some measure separated and that that being endamag'd the exterior part of the Humor it self does but very little trickle forth Thus says Iulius Casserius in these Words Nay I have shown this Tunicle visibly separated from the Crystalline Humor it self XXI The Rays of visible things being dilated in the Watry Humor are first received by this Crystalline Humor and hence pass throââ¦gh the Vitreous Humor to the Net-form'd Tunicle and so are presented to the Common Sensory Therefore in coââ¦deration of the first Reception or Collection the Crystalline Humor is the first Instrument of Sight but in consideration of Perception the Net form'd Tunicle as being that by means whereof the Rays receiv'd are offer'd to the common Sensory where they are perceived In the mean time all the Conjunction of all the Parts of the Eye is so close and so necessary to the end that one may not act without the other while the Defect of the meanest part even of the aqueous Humor puts a stop to the primary Operation of the whole Organ XXII Here arises another Doubt whether the Crystalline or Watry Humor are Parts of the Body As for the Crystalline we must conclude that it is really a Part of the Body because it is enfolded in its proper Cob-web-Tunicle perfects the Act of Seeing together with the other Parts lives is nourish'd is generated in the Womb has its proper Circumscription is a Body adhering to the whole and filling it together with other Parts conjoyned by common Life and ordain'd to its Function and Use. And if its Substance be more narrowly considered it is not truly a Humor though vulgarly so call'd but a Body sufficiently firm and solid which being boyl'd in Fish may be divided into little Fibers and is much more firm than Fat the Brain or the Marrow Hence Galen deservedly reckons it among the Parts of the Body and those the similar Parts too because it is divided into Parts like to its self as also the Organic Parts because it is ordain'd to perfect the Act of Seeing and to that end has a certain determin'd and sensible Formation The same Question concerning the Vitreous Humor is resolv'd by the same Reasons And though some affirm the Crystalline Humor to be nourish'd by this Vitreous Humor that however is improperly said perhaps because there are some who think it prepares Nourishment for the other though indeed it no more nourishes the Crystalline Humor than the Heart nourishes the Arm besides that there is no need of so bright and large a part for the Nourishment of the Crystalline Humor neither is it less proper for it to be nourished by the Blood then the Nerves Marrow Brain or any other whitish parts of the Body XXIII Iulius Casserius of Placentia was the first that brought another Question upon the Stage concerning these Humors Whether they are endued with the Sence of feeling As for himself he allows them a most exact Sence of feeling For my part I allow this Sence to their Membranes but not to the substance of the Humors it self in regard that the Membrane alone is the Organ of Feeling In like manner as the Teeth and Bones whose proper Substance though it be destitute of the Sence of Feeling yet the Periostium's are sensible and so they are allowed the Sence of Feeling Now the Animal Spirits contribute the Power of Seeing to the Eye being framed of all these Parts which Spirits flow into it in great quantity through the Optic Nerve But they flow into it sometime in greater sometimes in lesser quantity and hence it is that the Eyes swell sometimes more sometimes less sometimes are more quick sighted and sometimes less Thus they are more Tumid in young Persons Plethoric People that are angry and given to drink They are less turgid in aged Folks such as are given to Venereal Exercises those that are Sad or emaciated for want of Food They are also said to be more turgid in Virgins then those that have known Man But though a moderate Swelling of the Eye caused by the Spirits renders the Sight more quick yet it does not follow that upon every Swelling of the Eye the Sight should be more quick for we find the contrary in People intoxicated with Drink whose Sight is but dull by reason of the turbulent and disorderly Influx of the Spirits XXIV The Action of the Eye is manifest and known to all Men to be Seeing XXV Now this Seeing is a Sence whereby from the various Motion of the visible Rays collected in the Crystalline and Glassie Humors and striking upon the Net-form'd-Tunicle Colours are perceiv'd with their light Situation Distance Magnitude Figure and Number As to the Manner Medium and Object of Sight and many other things thereto belonging those Philosophers are to be consulted who have made it their business to write altogether upon that Subject and therefore to avoid unnecessary Prolixity are here omitted since they cannot with a sufficient Accurateness be briefly run over but require a whole Treaties of themselves such a one as among others Descartes has written Lib. dioptric Lib. de Hom. artic 18 19
distended but not contracted but the Muscles are both distended and contracted But all this signifies nothing to the Muscles which by their own ordinary voluntary Motion contract and relax but by some preternatural Cause are hindered from that Motion and many times distended when voluntarily they ought to be relaxed as in Convulsions and relax and flax when they ought to be contracted as in the Palsie XIX The Action of the Muscle is performed by its Fibres Tendons and Nerves The Fibres cause Contraction by which the Tendon is drawn to together with the Part which is fastned to it Through the Nerves the Animal Spirits flow in causing Feeling Swelling and Contraction But if one of these three be wanting or hindered the Action cannot be perform'd For if the Nerve be obstructed or cut then the Animal Spirits not flowing into it there can be no Swelling or Contraction of the Muscle If the Fibres are cut athwart their Contraction is made toward two several Parts upward and downward and so the Part to be moved is not brought to If the Tendon be wanting though the Muscles swell because it is not fastned to the Part that is to be moved it does not draw it As to the Flesh that is interlarded among the Fibers that contributes nothing to the Motion but only strengthens the Fibers and by its Heat cherishes and renders them nimble and defends them against the Injuries of Heat and Cold but is unfit for the Motion of Contraction by reason of its Softness and Loosness which renders it unable to contract it self or raise other Parts Which Vesalius Erastus and Laurentius not aware of erroneously affirming this Flesh to be the chief Instrument of Motion the Absurdities of which is apparent for that the Muscles of meager Men are stronger than the Muscles of those who are more fleshy If any one object that the Muscles of the Calves of the Legs and Arms draw with more force by reason of their Carnosity I answer that their Carnosity is not the reason but because they are furnished with stronger and more numerous Fibers than others XX. The Operations of the Muscles are various according to the Variety of the Muscles to which they are fastned In the Breast they dilate and contract in the Gullet they facilitate Swallowing in the Larinx they cause the Modulation of the Voice c. XXI But how the Animal Spirits causing the Operation of the Muscle flow and are determined in greater quantity at the pleasure of the Mind sometimes into these sometimes into those Muscles is a difficult Question some will have them conveighed through Imaginary Valves which they ascribe to the Nerves Others not satisfied with this Fiction have invented double Tubes so placed from one Muscle to the other that in the Contraction of the Muscle the Orifice guarded by a peculiar Valve opens and that through that same Passage the Spirits flow out of the relaxed Muscle into that which is to be contracted the Valve of the other Closing at the same moment so that they cannot flow forth again but of necessity must distend the Muscle until the Situation of the Parts being again altered that Valve opens and the other shuts by which means there is a Passage opened for the contracting the other Muscle This is indeed ingenious but little to the purpose 1. Because the Muscles that move the Part to the opposite Part are most commonly too far distant from the former so that those little Pipes must be very long as in those Muscles that move the Part forward and backward 2. These little Pipes if not every where yet would be some where visible seeing that the small little Nerves through which the Spirits flow are visible 3. For that in Wounds the Muscles are many times divided one from another and yet notwithstanding their Separation their Motion proceeds in good order every way Which could not be if there were any such intervening Pipes in those Places cut and then cicatrized For by reason of their smallness they must of necessity be quite closed up by the Scar. 4. The altered Situation of the Parts cannot cause an opening and shutting of the Valves For it is supposed that the Situation of the Parts alters as the Spirits flow into this or that Muscle and so the thing caused would precede the Cause and the Influx of the Spirits must be before the Cause of the Influx XXII Cartesius seems to favour this Opinion of the little Pipes For says he there are little gapings in every one of these Muscles through which those Spirits may slow out of one into the other and which are so disposed that when the Spirits come from the Brain toward one of those they have somewhat a greater force than those that go toward the other and together close up all those Passages through which the Spirits of this may pass into the other By which means all the Spirits before contained in these two Muscles immediately slow into one of them and so swell and contract it while the other relaxes This seems a fpecious Fiction and needs no other Refutation than the Story of the little Pipes Add to this that when a Body is bended forward and backward who can imagine such Gapings can be extended from the Muscles before to those behind Shall those Gapings and the Spirits pass in a streight Line through all the other Parts that lye between To this De la Forge answers that those Spirits do not pass through all the Parts that lye between but from the Tendon of the whole Muscle through the Pores and invisible Channels into the Tendon of the other for though the Muscles are remote one from another the Muscles lye close together This specious Fiction pretends that the Spirits flow rapidly from the Tendon of the acting Muscle through those supposed Channels in the Tendon and Belly of the Muscle which is to act but what if the opposite Muscle should not act but lye still wherefore then the action of the acting Muscle ceasing do not those spirits flow into the opposite that rests when the Passages are open and the Muscle is capable to receive them If it be impossible they should be so soon dissipated through the Pores of the Muscle or return into the Veins or Arteries where do they then remain Since they do not enter any other from the acting Muscle surceasing its action so suddainly Or if they cannot enter the Muscle that is to act by reason of the length of the distance What hinders their entrance into the next adjoyning Muscles or Tendon This the Valves occasion adjoyning to the Channels says de la Forge But wherefore are they not sufficiently open when the violent rushing of the Spirits into the acting Muscle and it's Tendon is sufficient to open the Valves of the Channels tending toward the other opposite and so to make a free passage for its self from that into this Besides that all Valves give
Falshood of this Opinion the Cavity of their Fibres being such as not able to transmit the thinnest Juice IX Therefore it is most probable that the Nerves are nourished by the Arterious Blood but chiefly by the Animal Spirits For though they admit no Blood-bearing Vessels into their inner Parts yet they are nourished like the thin and thick Meninx in the Head by the Arterious Blood the Exterior Tunicles of the Nerves which are derived from the Menixes receiving through their invisible Arteries some little Portion of Blood for their Nourishment and communicating something of the same Blood by Exhalation to the inner Substance In the mean time it is unquestionable that these Tunicles but chiefly the inner Fibres are more especially nourished by the Animal Spirits passing through them vid. l. 3. c. 11 of which the more fixed Particles growing to their Substance turn to Nourishment The Arteries and Veins are nourished with the same Blood which they carry and therefore why not the Nerves which may be the reason also that they have such a quick Sense of Feeling and have their peculiar hardness and driness in regard the Spirits with which they are nourished are like a most volatil and dry Salt or like a dry and subtil Exhalation And then that besides these Spirits there is something of Arterious Blood which concur to the Nourishment of the Exterior Tunicles and communicates something by exhalation to the interior Tunicles is apparent from hence that the Nerves being obstructed though they are deprived of Sense and grow languid yet they are not deprived of Life nor dry up for want of Nourishment for the Obstruction being removed they shall after many Years be restored to their pristine Sanity I knew a Woman so paralytic on one side for thirty years together that she had no use either of her Left-Arm or Thigh besides that all that side of her was num till at length the Fright of a most hideous Tempest with Thunder and Lightning having expell'd the Obstructing Matter from the Nerves she was free'd from her Palsie and walked abroad the next Day to the Admiration of all that behââ¦ld her Which could not have been if the Nerves had been all that time without Nourishment for they must have been dried up in so many years time which they must have been had they been only nourished by the Animal Spirits which could not flow into the Nerve while obstructed A Story much like to this Valleriola reports of one that had been paralytic for several years but suddenly freed from his Distemper by the Fright of a House on Fite However those little Arteries are only derived from those that crawl through the Menixes of the Brain X. The Nerves vary in bigness according to the variety and necessity of their Use the Organs to which they run forth and the importance of the Actions which they are to perform XI The Original of the Nerves is twofold in respect of Generation and Administration In respect of the first they are generated from the Seed as are all the solid Parts In respect of the latter from the Brain or its appendent Matter For to reject the Opinion of Aristotle and others that the Nerves arise from the Heart or partly from the Heart and partly from the Brain we say that all the Nerves rise from the long Pith of the Brain contained as well within the Brain as the Cavity of the Spine Which Varolius Picholhominus Bauhinus and others testifie upon orbicular View XII From that Pith they proceed all through the Holes of the Pith and Vertebres but not all after the same manner For some pass through the Holes nearest the Place where they make their Exit some pass by two three or four Holes before they make their Egress For the more the Marrow tends to the lower Parts the more Holes the Nerves pass by before they transmit themselves XIII The Nerves some are softer and some are harder according to the Variety of the Use and Difference of Length and Situation as also in respect of the Parts which they enter Galen writes that their softer Parts are the only Parts that are sensible of feeling but that those which both feel and move are the harder XIV The use of the Nerves is to conveigh Animal Spirits to the Parts that by their ordinary Influx Nutrition may go forward and by their determinative Motion that the Parts destin'd for Sense and Mââ¦tion may be made more sensible and more vigorous Viâ⦠l. 3. c. 11. To which purpose they are inserted into the sensible and moving Parts with wonderful Artifice And those that move the Muscles are inserted into their Heads or a little below or at least not beyond the Middle of which Insertion see the Reason Lib. 5. Cap 1. XV. Hence some conclude that they are the Instruments of Sense and Motion whereas they are rather the Channels to which the Animal Spirits are conveighed to the Instruments of Sense and Motion The Instruments of Feeling are the Membranes which the more Nerves they receive the more acutely they feel the fewer they admit the more dully And this appears in Palsies for though the Nerve be present yet the absence of the obstructed Spirit causes the Defect of Sense Now because the Nerves are furnished with Membranes 't is no wonder their Sense of Feeling is so quick more especially since they contain a greater quantity of Animal Spirits which are the immediate Causes of the Senses The Muscles are the Instruments of voluntary Motion which the Nerves do not move by contracting themselves but only by infusing into them store of Animal Spirits which cause the Motion Fernelius Laurentius Mercurialis and others observing in the Palsie the Sense sometimes stupified sometimes the Motion to cease and sometimes both lost thought the Motory and Sensory Nerves to be distinct and that as the one or the other come to be obstructed it causes a Variety in the Distemper But there is no more diversity of the Nerves than of the Animal Spirits only the diversity of Operations proceed from the diversity of the Parts which they enter Thus they infuse into the Eyes the Faculty of Seeing into the Ears the Faculties of Hearing c. Nay sometimes one and the same Nerve inserted into several Parts contributes to one Sence only to another both Sence and Motion Thus the Pleura Mediastinum Stomach and several other Parts feel by means of the Nerves of the sixth Conjunction and by means of the same Nerves and Muscles of the Neck the Hyoides Larynx and other Parts both feel and move But Willis observing that the Stomach Ventricle Intestines and many other Parts had a Spontaneous Motion though not arbitrary believed there were two sorts of Nerves and two sorts of Animal Spirits One that assisted spontaneous Motion by means of the Spirits generated in the Cerebel the other voluntary or arbitrary Motion by means of the Spirits generated in
the Brain To which what has been said already will serve for Answer that the diversity of Motion does not proceed from the variety of Nerves or Spirits but the diversity of the Parts to which the Spirits are conveighed Thus carried to the Muscles they cause arbitrary Motion to places wanting Muscles but endued with moveable Fibres they cause spontaneous Motion XVII Note by the way that no Muscle is moved which is not sensible at the same time and that the Motion of the Muscle may fail and yet the Sence remain but not the contrary few Spirits being requisite for the Sence of Feeling but many to cause and perform Motion And therefore it is a false Notion that the Sence may fail in the same Member and yet the Motion remain For common Practice tells us that sometimes the feeling may fail in the Skin so as not to feel the Heat of a burning Coal but pierce the Skin with a Needle and you shall find a most acute Sence in the Muscles moving underneath which would not feel if this Hypothesis were true As frivolous is the Example produced by Regius of a young Man who had lost the Sence of feeling in his Hand the Motion remaining for I can never believe any Perforations were made to the Muscles in that Hand which had they been done Regius must have been of another Opinion but Persons as ignorant as himself will believe any thing But these Physitians seem not to have observed that this Stupidity of the Sence is not in the Muscles but only in the Skin or perhaps in the cutaneous Pannicle which being vitiated they thought the inner Parts of the Member to have lost the Sence of Feeling So that the Mistake proceeds from hence that because the Sence of Feeling failed in the Skin which might happen through vitious Humors obstructing or contracting the Pores of the Skin or else Extremity of benumming Cold the Physitian never minded the Muscles which had they diligently inspected they had found by them that the Sence never fails in them while the Motion remains XVIII I shall clear this by some Examples A Woman came to me for Advice she mov'd all her Limbs indifferent well but her Skin that was wrinkled and somewhat cold had no feeling in it though prick'd with a Needle or held to the Fire but if you thrust the Needle deep into any Muscle that lay underneath she was presently sensible of the Pain of the inner Muscle In like manner I met with a Seamen returning Scorbutic from the East Indies who had no more feeling in his Skin than a Stone though you held his Hand to a scorching Fire But if you thrust a Needle more deeply into the Muscles he was presently sensible of Pain The same Story I could tell of a Tobacco Merchant whose Skin had quite lost its Feeling but when you pricked him to the Muscles he was presently sensible of the Pain So that most certain it is that in the moving Parts the Sence never fails unless at the same time the Motion also fail XIX They that imprudently maintain this Argument assert that Sence is contributed to the Parts by the little Fibres of the Nerves but Motion by the Animal Spirits which flow into the Muscles through their little Pipes in great quantity and so that the Fibres may be obstructed though the Passage of the Animal Spirits may be free by which means the Sence fails the Motion remaining On the other side that the lower Cavity may be obstructed the Fibres remaining free and entire and then the Motion fails the Sence remaining perfect True it is that the Nerves feel by reason of the Fibres and Tunicles proceeding from the Meninx but that they contribute Sence to all the feeling Parts by means of their little Fibres is altogether false For they are not the little Fibres but the Animal Spirits flowing through the Porosities of the Nerves that cause the Faculty of Feeling in all the membranous Parts without the Influx of which the little Fibres never feel as appears in the Palsie And hence it appears how absurd it is to say That the inner Porosity being obstructed and the Passage of the Spirits by that means hindred the Motion fails but the Sence remains seeing that the Sence proceeds from the Influx and fails without it But it may be objected that though the inner Porosity of the Nerve be obstructed yet a sufficient Quantity of Spirits may pass through the Substance of the Fibres to create Motion But in the same manner it may as well be said that the Artery being obstructed within side and the Passage of the Blood being hindred suffââ¦cient vivific Heat and Spirit may pass through its Substance to preserve the natural Heat of the Parts whereas the Preservation of the Heat proceeds from the due Influx of the Blood and that failing the Heat also fails in the upper Substance of the Artery which is warmed and nourished by the Substance that passes through it Besides how can the inner Cavity of a Nerve or Artery be obstructed without the Compression of the little Fibres and the Substance it self For that if the obstructing Matter exactly close up the inner Cavity so that the most subtil and invisible Spirit cannot pass of necessity it must more closely compress the Substance of the Vessel and the little Fibres seeing that without such an exact Compression the Stoppage cannot be but the Substance being compressed with the little Fibres the Pores therein and the Fibres are quite stopped up and they being stopped how shall the Spirits pass either through the Fibres or the Substance Then again seeing that in the Motion of the Muscles their Fibres and Membranes must require a greater quantity of Animal Spirits which Spirits cause a quick Sence of feeling in the Fibres and Membranes how is it possible that a great quantity of Spirits being employed toward Motion which the Fibres and Membranes necessarily supply at the same time with the same Spirits should be deprived of Sence which requires much fewer Spirits than Motion Is not the Feeling granted by granting the necessary Means of Feeling But this Axiom they seem to reject who say that the Feeling is lost in the Muscle yet grant that many Spirits flow thither to compleat the Motion Lastly they should prove that there is an inner Cavity in the Nerves which could never yet be made out by any Person in the World XX. But there arising another Question while many believe Sensation to be communicated to the Brain by the Animal Spirits contained in the little Tubes and Membranous Substance of the Nerves others by the little Fibres of the Nerves The first Opinion seems less probable because the Animal Spirits are continually pressed away from the Brain through the Nerves but never ascend or return from the Nerves to the Brain and this seems strange again that the Ideas imprinted in the Spirits should in a moment of time be carried
sorts of it The one says he is that the Skin is exasperated by the smallest Pustles and is red and slightly corrodes in the middle somewhat lighter and creeps slowly it begins round and dilates in a Circle The other which the Greeks call ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or the wild Itch is that by which the Skin becââ¦mes more rough is exculcerated and vehemently corroded looks red and sometimes fetches the Hair off which is less round and more difficultly cured As for the Cause of the Disease Galen Aetius Aegmeta affirm it to be generated out of certain mix'd Humors that is to say serous thin and sharp mix'd with thick Humors But in my Judgment Galen writes better and more perspicuously that this Distemper is generated out of a salt Flegm and yellow Choler which is the reason that as in earthen Vessels corroded by Pickles the Scales fall off the Skin Now these Humors being transmitted to the Skin putrifie it as Avicen says To which I add that this Corruption afterwards is intermixed with the good Humors carried to the Skin for its Nourishment and so the Mischief becomes diuternal Thus also Mercurialis writes that the Skin only having acquir'd a deprav'd Habit corrupts all its Nourishment and converts it into increase of Impurities And in the same manner discoursing of such a kind of scabby Patient In the whole Circuit of the Body there is a vitious and itchy Humor implanted by vertue of which whatever good Nourishment is carried to it is presently converted into a nasty salt corroding Humor which occasions that continual Itching together with those little Ulcers and the roughness of the Skin Now these Humors corrupting the Skin must of necessity be hot and salt from which proceeds that Heat and Itching of those Scales This Distemper however is not so dangerous as it is troblesome which if it continue long gets that deep footing that it is a very difficult thing to extirpate it and sometimes it hardens into a dry Mange and Leprosie The gentler sort is cur'd at the beginning with gentler Medicaments as Fasting-Spitle tosted Butter Oyl of Eggs of Tartar or Juniper boyled Honey liquid Pitch or Juice of Citron But that which is of longer continuance and wild requires stronger Remedies as Sulphur Minium Lytharge Ceruse Vitriol Pit-salt Rust of Brass Limeallum Niter white Hellebore c. To which we may add Quick-silver Sublimate and precipitate Mercury having a peculiar occult yet apparent Quality to kill the Malignity that accompanies this Distemper Thus Peter Pachetus in his Observations communicated to Riverius when no other Remedies could tame a wild Itch cur'd it with this Oyntment â Unguent Rosaceum Ê iij. White Precipitate Ê iij. Mix them for an Oyntment OBSERVATION XIII A Mortification of the Legs and Thighs by Cold. MAny times severe Mischiefs attend the Imprudence of Persons given to drink which a certain lusty young Man sufficiently made known by his own woful Example For he in a most terrible Winter when it freez'd vehemently hard coming home about Midnight well Cup-shot without any body to help him to Bed went into his Chamber where falling all along upon the Floor he fell asleep and neither remembring himself nor his Bed slept till Morning But when he awak'd he could feel neither Feet nor Legs Presently a Physitian was sent for But there was no feeling either in his Legs or Feet though scarified very deep Hot Fomentations were apply'd of hot Herbs boil'd in Wine adding thereto Spirit of Wine but to little purpose For half his Feet and half his Legs below the Calves were mortified the innate Heat being almost extinguished by the Vehemency of the intense Cold. The Fomentations were continued for three days Upon the fourth day the mortified Parts began to look black and stink like a dead Carcass Therefore for the Preservation of the Patient there was a necessity of having recourse to the last Extremity namely Amputation and so upon the sixth day both his Legs were cut off a little below the Calves in the quick part by which means the Patient escaped without his Feet from imminent Death and afterwards learn'd a new way to walk upon his Knees ANNOTATIONS AN Example of the same Nature we saw at Nimeghen in the Year 1636. of a Danish Souldier who having slept Drunk as he was upon a Form in a bitter frosty Night when he walk'd in the Morning could not feel his Feet But by heating Fomentations the native Heat at most extinguished by the Cold after two days so menting was restored to his Feet tho his Toes could never be brought to their natural Constitution but remaining mortified and beginning to putrifie were all cut off by the Chyrurgeon And therefore I would advise all hard Drinkers not to take their Naps too imprudently in the Winter unless they have first laid themselves in a warm Place and well fortified themselves against the Injuries of the Air least their being buried in Wine bring them to be buried in Earth OBSERVATION XIV Obstruction of the Spleen KAtharine N. a Woman of forty four years of Age had been troubled a whole year with an Obstruction of her Spleen much Wind rumbled in the Region of her Spleen she was tormented with terrible Pains of the same Side by reason of the Distention of the Bowels and the neighbouring parts so that she went altogether bow'd toward the Side affected till at length grown as lean as a Skeleton with continual Torments she could go no longer You might also perceive by laying your Hands upon the Place that the Spleen was very much swell'd and more than all this her Stomach was quite gone In March being call'd to the Cure of this Distemper I first purg'd her Body with a gentle Purge upon which when she found but very little Relief I prescribed the following Apozeme for two days to open the obstructed Passages and prepare the Morbific Matter and withal to keep her Body open â Roots of Polypody of the Oak Dandelyon an ⥠j. Roots of Fennel Elecampane Stone Parsly Peeling of Capery roots Tamarisc an ⥠s. Baum Fumary Water Trefoil Tops of Hops an Handful j. Centaury the less half a Handful Fennel seed Êij Damask Prunes â⦠o xi Currants ⥠ij Boil thââ¦m in common Water q. s. In the straining macerate all night of Spoonwort Winter Nasturtium an Handful j. Leaves of Senna cleansed ⥠ij Anise-seed Êvi Make an Apozeme for two Pints After she had drank two Mornings a Draught of this Decoction she went to Stool twice or thrice a day but the Ease which was expected did not follow Wherefore after she had drank up her Apozeme I gave her a purging Medicine somewhat stronger which I thus prescribed â Leaves of Senna cleansed ⥠s. White Agaric Êj Roots of Black Helleââ¦ore Ês Rhenish Tartar Anise-seed an Êj Fumary VVater q. s. Make an Infusion all night and add to the straining Elect. of Hiera Picra Diaphoenicon an Êij for a Draught
Air no less troublesome to it IV. Which Vellication of the Nerve being communicated to the Nerve and perceived by the Mind presently more copious Spirits were determined to the Place affected for its Relief which distending in breadth the Nerve and Muscle belonging to it but contracting it in length caused the Convulsion By the Pain of this Convulsion the Head being troubled sends the Animal Spirits disorderly to these or other lower Parts and so contracting them in the same manner the Contraction happens not only in the wounded but in other Parts likewise and from this great Disturbance of the Brain and Animal Spirits happens a Delirium V. This is a dangerous Malady for besides the Nerves and Muscles the noble Bowel is distmpered Therefore says Hippocrates a Convulsion ensuing a Wound is very dangerous But the Youth and Strength of the Patient promises great hopes of Cure besides that the Convulsion proceeds from an external Cause that may be removed VI. The Method of Cure consists in keeping the Patient warm and in a warm Place in removing the sharp and biting Oyntment and washing the Wound with Barley-water boiled with Hyssop and a little Honey dissolved in it then put a Tent into it dipped in this Oyntment â The Yolk of an Egg n â j. Honey Turpentine an Êiij Spirit of Wine Êij Then lay on Emplaster of Betony or Melilot VII The Parts afflicted and especially the wounded Arm are to be fomented with this Fomentation â Marjoram Rosemary Betony Calamint Hyssop Basil an M. j. Flowers of Dill M. ij Of Chamomil Melilot an M. j. s. Seeds of Cumin ⥠j. of Lovage Êiij Of Dill ⥠s. White-wine q. s. Boil them to lbiij VIII After Fomentation strongly chaââ¦e the Parts affected with this Liniment warm â Martiate Oyntment Oyl of Ireos Oyl of Foxes Earth-worms and Spike an ⥠j. Oyl of Castor ⥠s. IX In the mean time after a Glister given let the Parties take a Draught of this Apozem to strengthen the Brain and Nerves â Root of sweet Cane Fennel Male Piony an Êvj Herbs Of Majoram Rue Betony Rosemary Baum Basil Calamint an M. j. Flowers of Stoechas M. s. Fennel Seed Êij Raisins cleansed ⥠ij Water q. s. Boil them to lbj s. Then mix Water of Tilet Flowers Syrup of Stoechas an ⥠iij. X. Now and then let her take a small quantity of this Conditment â Species Diambra â iiij Candied Root of sweet Cane Conserve of Flowers of Sage Betony Anthos an ⥠s. Syrup of Stoechas q. s. XI Lastly clap such a quilted Cap upon her Head â Leaves of Marjoram M. s. Of Rosemary Betony Flowers of Dill Melilot an Two little Handfuls Nutmegs Êj Benjamin Ês Beat them into a Gross Powder for a quilted Cap. XII The Convulsion ceasing the Body must be purged with an Infusion of Leaves of Senna Rubarb Agaric c. or with Cochiae or Golden Pills Diaphenicon or Diaturbith with Rubarb And then return to the use of the foresaid Apozem and Conditement XIII Her Diet must be easie of Digestion condited with Marjoram Hyssop Rosemary Betony Sage Anise-seed Fennel-seed and the like Let her sleep Long and take her Rest as much as may be And be sure the Body evacuate regularly HISTORY XV. Of the Epilepsie A Boy of eight years of Age indifferent lusty no care being had of his Diet first became sad and the Winter being past often complain'd of a grievous Head-ach In March as he was at play he fell down of a sudden quite senseless writh'd his Eyes and clutch'd his two Thumbs hard in his Fists That Fit soon went off but the next day it returned much more vehement attended with manifest Convulsions of the Body From that time the Fits returned twice thrice and four times a Week with more terrible Convulsions But in the Summer they were much gentler and not so frequent But the Autumn following especially near Winter the Fits took him very often and very violent and that too of a sudden without any warning with horrid Convulsions and Foming at the Mouth And at last the I continuance and violence of the Distemper had so disordered the Animal Functions that the Child was become sottish I. THAT the Boys Brain was affected was plain by the distress of the Animal Functions II. This Distemper is called an Epilepsie Which is a Convulsion of the whole Body not perpetual with which the Party taken falls to the Ground with an intercepting of the Senses and Functions of the Mind rising from a Peculiar malignant and acrimonious Matter III. Bad Diet contributes much to the breeding of this Disease as the greedy devouring of bad and raw Fruit which heaps up Crude and Flegmatic Humors in a Flegmatic Body and these filling the Brain first caused the Head-ach then through their long stay in the Brain obtaining a certain peculiar pravity and acrimony constitute the containing Cause of the Epilepsis IV. From this depraved and acrimonious Humor exhale sharp and malignant Vapors which as often as they twitch and bite the beginning of the Nerves about the heat of the common Sensory so often they cause the Fit For while Nature endeavors to shake off that troublesom Acrimony from the sensible Parts it happens that as the Spirits flow in greater or less quantity into them they contract and relax alternately and move the rest of the Nerves and Muscles of the Body after the same manner whence those short and frequent Convulsions V. Now because this Malignant and sharp Humor chiefly and oftenest afflicts the small diminutive Nerves near the seat of the common Sensory hence it comes to pass that the fit so suddainly seizes For so soon as those little Nerves feel that Acrimony Nature endeavors to shake it off And because that endeavor is made and begins near the common Sensory therefore there is a stop put upon the Functions of the Senses and Mind For in regard the Pine Kernel is presently affected and for that the Influx of the Animal Spirits through the Nerves sometimes contracted sometimes relaxed can never be regular hence it happens that the Organs of the Senses become defective in their Functions and by reason of that disorderly Influx of the Spirits into the Nerves and Muscles the Patient presently falls VI. The Fits are milder and not so frequent in Summer For that the Pores of the whole Body are more open by reason of the External heat so that there is a greater dissipation of the Humors and considering the time of the year less Flegm is bred and heaped up in the Brain Therefore in Autumn and Winter they are most frequent and violent because of the greater abundance of Flegm then bred and less easie to be dissipated through the Pores then contracted with Cold besides the Vapors exhaling from it are more abundant and acrimonious VII The Foam at the Mouth proceeds from hence for that those Flegmatic Humors expelled from the Brain into the Jaws and Lungs by that
Secondly Because action is competible to the whole operating Organ but use to every part of the Organ for instance The action of a Muscle is to contract but the use of the Musculous Membrane is to contain its fibres and to seperate it from other Muscles of the Artery to bring blood to it as of the nerves animal spirits to support the fibres of the flesh Yet oftentimes use action and function are promiscously used by Anatomists And the action of a part because it tends to some end or other is often called use And also use because it excludes not action is called action But use is of greater latitude then action Hippocrates divided things that make up the whole into things containing things contained and things that move or have in themselves the power of motion Galen calls these three things Solid parts Humors and Spirits In this division the threefold parts of the body are not comprehended but only three things without which a man cannot continue entire that is alive For only the containing or solid parts are true parts of the body Yet these parts cannot continue alive except they be continually nourished by the humors Not that humors are parts of the body but the proximate matter which by coction is changed into the substance of the parts into which till they are changed they cannot be called parts and when they are changed they cannot be called humors for a bone is not blood and blood is not bone though the one be bred of the other The same must be understood of spirits which being made of the subtilest and hottest part of the blood do very much contribute to the nutrition of the body Therefore though a man cannot continue alive without these three yet it does not follow that all these three must necessarily be parts of the body A Vine consists of solid woody parts and a Juyce whereby it is nourished and yet it is evident this Juice is no part of the Vine because if a Vine be unseasonably cut abundance of it runs out the Vine remaining entire wherefore a blind man may see that it is no part if the Vine but only liqour which by further coction would be turned into a Vine Thus also when there is a Flux of blood by the Haemorrhoids Menses or any other part or when one makes water or sweats no man in his wits will say that then the parts of a mans body are voided although a man cannot live without blood and serum But if pieces of the Lungs be brought up in coughing or if piecesâ⦠of the Kidneys be voided in Urine as it sometimes happens in their exculceration then it is certain that the true parts of the body are voided Besides these are parts of the body whence actions immediately proceed and they proceed not from the humors and spirits but from solids For the humors and spirits move not the Heart Brain and other parts but they both breed and move the humors and spirits for when the Heart Brain and other parts are quiet humors and spirits are neither bred nor moved this appears in a deep swoon and though there is abundance of them in the body and those very hot and fit for motion as in such as dye of a burning Fever yet as soon as the Heart is quiet they neither move through the Arteries Veins and Nerves nor are able to move the Heart or any part else which is a certain Argument that they are Passive and that no Action can proceed from them And that the humors and spirits are moved by the Heart and bred in it and other parts will more plainly appear lib. 2. cap. 11. and lib. 3. cap. 10 11. and in several other places And now though solids cannot act without the humors and spirits and by them their Actions in as much as by their quantity or quality as their heat cold c. they are able to cause this or that mutation or temper in Solids are made quicker slower stronger weaker better or worse yet they are without air yet air is no part of the body neither does the Action of respiration proceed from it but from the muscles of the breast forcing it out though in the mean time air by giving way to the motion of the muscles and passing in and out through the Aspera Arteria affords such an aptitude for respiration as without it no respiration could be performed though also by its heat or cold it may make respiration quicker slower longer or rarer according as by these mutations the heat of the parts is augmented or diminished and thereupon necessity obliges one to breath quicker or slower So the Heart and other solid Parts are not mov'd by the humors and spirits but act upon the humors and spirits they move attenuate and concoct them till at length they turn their apt particles into a substance like themselves and so apply and unite them to themselves and make them parts of the body which they were not before they were applied and assimilated For one part of the body is not nourished with another part of its whole a bone is not nourished with flesh nor a vein with a nerve c. Neither can that which nourishes the parts by any means be called a part for otherwise there would be no difference between a part and its nutriment With which Nourishment unless the Parts be daily cherished and their consumed particles restored their strength and substance would quickly waste and fail and by that failure at length their Action would be lost So that Man of necessity must have both Blood and Spirits for the support of Life hence saith the Text in Levit. 17. 11. the Soul that is the Life of the Flesh is in its Blood as being the nearest Support of the Body without which neither the Parts of the Body can act nor the Man himself live Yet it does not follow from thence that the Blood and Spirits are part of the Body For the same might be said of the external Air without which no Man can live For take away from a Man the use of external Air either by suffocation or drowning or any other way you presently deprive him of Life as surely as if you took from him his Blood and Spirits Yet no man of Judgment will say that the external Air is a part of the Body Seeing that most certainly if that without which Life cannot subsist were to be accounted a Part the external Air must of necessity be said to be a Part of our Body as well as the Blood and Spirits Moreover it is to be considered that if the Humors and Spirits have contracted any Foulness or Distemper they are by the Physicians numbred among the Causes of Diseases not among the diseased Parts Besides that if they were Parts they ought to be similar yet never any Anatomist that I ever yet heard of recken'd 'em among similar Parts For most of the Organic Parts
oblong narrow in the Middle equalling the Gut Colon in Breadth and Largeness Which being dissected I found that narrow Part being like the Pylorus to end in another large Cavity which afterwards terminated in a thicker Orifice which was the real Pylorus from whence as an Ecphysis the first Intestine took its beginning Beside these three Examples I do not remember that ever I read any thing farther upon this Subject But there are two Stomachs in Animals that chew the Cud and many other Animals that feed upon harder and raw Nourishment also in Birds that cast up their Meat out of their Stomachs to feed their Young ones And then the First by the Latins was called Ingluvies or the Crap Which is more Membrany and Thinner the other more Thick and Fleshy And in the First the Matter seems to be prepared for concocting the Second to be perfectly Concocted It is said that in some Creatures three Stomachs have bin found and Riolanus testifys that four have bin found in those Creatures which chewing the Cud have Teeth only in one Jaw VIII The Shape of the Stomach is Oblong Gibbous toward the right Part and slenderer toward the Right IX It rests upon the Back-Bone near the first Verteber of the Loyns and with the left Part which is rounder and bigger giving way to the Liver it hangs forward toward the left Side The left Side being the slenderer and covered with the left Lobe of the Liver and supported by the Sweetbread is joyned to the Duodenum or first of the small Guts X. The Bigness varies according to the Diversity of Ages and bigness of Bodys to the Proportion of which it ought to answer tho' that be no certain and perpetual Rule For I have dissected several tall Men who have had very small Stomachs and several Men of a short Stature that have had large Ventricles Gluttons Voracious or Greedy People have generally large Stomachs Such was that which Schenkius anat l. 1. Sect. 2. c. 14. affirms that he saw in a great Glutton that held ten Quarts of Wine That was also a large one mentioned by Spigelius Anat. l. 8. c. 8. that contain'd fourteen Pints of Liquor Which was found in a Man that had a large Mouth Whence Bauhinus Anat. l. 1. c. 46. believes that a Man may judge of the bigness of the Stomach from the largeness of the Mouth And that such as have a wide Mouth have a large Stomach and are Voracious Which is also the Opinion of Spigelius But neither is that Rule without Exception For I remember that Falcoburgiââ¦s a certain famous Anatomist of Leiden cut up before us in the publick Theater the Body of a very tall strong Man who in his Life time had bin a stout drinker and a great Eater and always Healthy until he came to be hanged against his Will in whom we saw so small a Stomach that it hardly amounted to half the bigness of an ordinary Mans Stomach But trebly exceeded other Ventricles in thickness XI It is distinguished into the Bottom or Cavity the one the lower or greatest Part inclining to the left Side with its chiefest and largest Part where the first Concoction is finished and two Orifices the Right and Left XII The left Orifice commonly called the upper Orifice is that which is properly the Stomach and Continuous to the Gullet and Diaphragma about the eleventh Verteber of the Breast over against the Cartilago Mucronata admits the swallowed Nourishment This exceeding the other in Bigness thickness and Largeness is interwoven with many orbicular Fibres somewhat fleshy which cause its more firm Contraction and in the various Postures of the Body lying down hinders the Nourishment from falling back into the Mouth and Nerves from the sixth Pair and in that is the natural Heat of the Appetite according to the vulgar Opinion Not that the Act of Desiring is there performed which is only in the Brain but that through the Intervals there is such a Cause in it the Trouble of which being perceiv'd in the Brain stirs up such an Act of Desiring XIII The other Orisice which is the Lower properly called Pylorus or the Door-keeper is narrower than the other somewhat bow'd toward the Back Bone on the left Side full of Fibres thwarting one another having a thicker Circle and shap'd like an Orbicular Muscle by means of which it detains the Nourishment for some time lest it should slip away too soon and undigested and continuous to the Duodenum Gut send the concocted Nourishment to the Bowels Which Nourishment does not pass by a steep Fall as lying equally high with the Stomach but ascends before Expulsion XIV The Ventricle receives Nerves Arteries and Veins XV. It receives Nerves from the sixth Pair For that both the Trunks of the wandering Pair below the Ramus pneumonicus descending along the Sides of the Oesophagus is divided into two Branches the External and Internal Of these the External by and by joyn together again and embody into one Nerve and spreads it self over the upper part of the Ventricle with many Shoots The Internal also running together make one Nerve which descending along the Oesophagus and the external part of the Stomach encompass the bottom of the Ventricle and sends into it a great number of Fibres Through these Nerves the Animal Spirits flow in great Quantity into the Ventricle contributing to it a quick Sense of Feeling Which because of the larger Quantity of Nerves dispersed into the Stomach becomes more sensible in the upper Part than the lower which is thought to be the cause of Hunger Through these Nerves of the wandering Pair is infused into the Fibres of the Ventricle a natural Power of Contracting themselves in all Expulsions of what ever is contained in the Ventricle And by means of them also is that great Consent between the Ventricle and the Brain XVI It receives its Arteries from the Coeliac Arterie which serve to carry the Alimentary Blood with which it is nourished XVII It is sprinkl'd with several Branches of small Veins sculking among its Tunicles many of which meeting here and there and closing together they form at length four more remarkable Veins which run to the Porta Vein that is the 1. Gastrick which is bigger than the rest 2. and 3. the right and left Gastroëpiploid 4. and the Pyloric Branch Also another Vein called the Vas breve or Vas Venosum which issues forth from the Ventricle sometimes with one sometimes with two sometimes three and sometimes more Branches to be inserted into the Spleen Branch By these the remainder of the Blood which is left after the Nourishment of the Stomach is conveighed to the Liver XVIII Formerly Physicians asserted that there was a certain acid Iuice or Blood which ascended into the Ventricle through the Vas breve for the Nourishment of it as also to create an Appetite and stir up Hunger in the
Nourishments which is call'd the Chyle XXIII The Chyle is a Milkie Iuice like the Cream of a Ptisan prepar'd and concocted out of the Nourishment received into the Stomach XXIV The Nourishment or Food is concocted in the Stomach by way of Fermentation by which means they dissolve and so the Iuice is extracted out of ' em XXV Fermentation is twofold One whereby the Particles of the Mixture are stirr'd about of themselves grow warm and are rarify'd and by dissolving the Salt which binds 'em together they are so separated that they become more full of Spirits and are then for the greatest part mixed together again and tho' more full of Spirits yet remain mix'd The other which is by many call'd Effervescency is that by which the Acid Particles of the Salt for the greatest part boyling together with some Watry and Tartarous Matter are concenter'd by Coagulation and so are separated from other Particles of the Mixture that they never return to an exact Union and Mixture with 'em again XXVI After the first Manner Fermentation causes Chylification tho' in our following Discourses when we design to express a vehement Fermentation we shall make use of the word Effervescency XXVII This Fermentation is made when the Salt parts of the swallow'd Food are by the heat of the Stomach and the acid Iuice dissolv'd melted and become full of Spirits and withal corrode and move about the Sulphurous Particles and so after a kind of Combat forsaking the strict Chains of their Mixture are expanded and shaken somewhat sowre and sharper as they are through the thicker Mass together with the sulphury spiritous Particles jogg'd together in like manner and because of their passage deny'd and mixture of the thicker Matter not yet fully dissolv'd being driven back again they assail that Mass with motion upon motion and divide and expand the smallest Particles of it one from another and dispose 'em to a more easie separation and to receive the form of another Pap-like and Milkie Mixture But as for what Particles cannot be sufficiently dissolv'd by this Fermentation or reduc'd to a Milkie Substance they become Excrement whose separation from the Milkie Juice is wrought in the Guts XXVIII This fermentative Concoction which is finish'd without any vehement Motion upward or downward or any tumultuous Agitation through the Cavity of the Ventricle as happens in Water boyling over the Fire is so violent that by the force of it the hardest Meats which can hardly be mollified with a whole days boyling over a Kitchin-fire in a few hours are not only soften'd but so dissolv'd and melted that the Particles being forc'd from their friendly Union and torn one from another and mix'd with the Liquor either inherent or infus'd into the Stomach they are turn'd into a Pap-like Consistency not unlike to the Cream of a Ptisan XXIX Now that the Food is rather turn'd into Chyle than into Choler Blood or any other Humour that is to be attributed to the peculiar Quality of the Substance of the Ventricle or to the Specific Temper and peculiar Structure and consequently to the Specific Ferment and manner of Fermentation as the peculiar Quality of the Liver and Spleen produces another Ferment and as Blood is made in the Heart However it is not done by the fermentative Particles alive which are mix'd with the swallow'd Food nor by a moderate Heat as some are of Opinion For they only conduce to the dissolution of the Nourishment but the moderate Heat to promote the said Concoction or Fermentation and excite the absconding Power to Action But why that Concoction and Dissolution produces the Chylus rather than any other Humour that is to be attributed to the peculiar Quality of the Substance there is no other Reason to be given for that but only the peculiar Quality of the Substance in respect of which the Heat operates otherwise in the Stomach than in the Heart or any other part and there disposes of the Ferment after another manner than in any other Bowel Thus as the Kitchin-fire mollifies one way by Boyling another way by Roasting another way that which is Fry'd in Butter or otherwise that which is prepar'd in Vinegar or Pickle and that by reason of the Substances by which and upon which that soft'ning is to be brought to pass Thus the Heat of our Body by reason of the proper disposition of the Ventricle and the Juices therein contain'd and bred therefore otherwise soften and dissolve the Nourishment in the Stomach than the other parts and disposes the Ferment after another manner to inable that Ferment to dissolve and concoct the swallow'd Nourishment in a distinct manner from the Reconcoction in other parts of the Nourishment already melted and dissolv'd for second Concoction So that by reason of this peculiar Quality while the Stomach is sane and acts according to Nature there can be no other Juice there made than a white Chyle XXX Paracelsus writes that Archaeus with his Mechanic Spirits could perfect Chylification in the Stomach but by Archaeus he means the innate Heat To this Opinion Riolanus seems to adhere in Not. ad Epist. Wallaei Nevertheless he admits something of a shadow of a peculiar Quality in these words I attribute the Cause to the diversity of the innate Heat in the manner of the Substance that is saith he the property of the innate Heat Not that the innate Heat differs of it self in Substance But when it cannot subsist without a Body or Substance without it self it must operate variously according to the diversity of that Substance in the several parts XXXI Hence it is apparent how frivolous that is which some assert That the Ventricle does not make the Chyle but is only an Instrument and Receptacle where the Chyle is made and that it no otherwise makes the Chyle than the Pot wherein the Meat is boyl'd makes the Broth. But I would fain know who is so blind as not to see that when Chylification is attributed to the Stomach we do not mean the bare Membranes of the Ventricle but a live and sound Ventricle that is furnish'd with its own Spirit and Heat and a Convenient proper Ferment generated out of the peculiar Quality of its own Substance with none of which things a Porridge Pot can be said to be endued XXXII The Colour of the Chyle is Milkie and somewhat white by reason of the sulphury Particles dissolv'd with the salt ones and mix'd with the acid Ferment of the Stomach For every Liquor impregnated with Sulphur and a Volatile Salt or a Salt admirably well dissolv'd presently turns to a kind of Milk if any thing of acid Moisture be pour'd upon it Which is prov'd sufficiently by the preparations of Sulphur and the Extracts of Vegetable Rosins Also Spirit of Hartshorn or Soot being sprinkled with any liquid Juice or only fair Water presently turns to a kind of Milk XXXIII Plempius and Walaeus are of
Others lastly to whose Opinion we think fit to subscribe assert that Hunger is occasioned by certain acid fermentative Particles bred out of the Spittle swallowed down and some others somewhat Salt or indigested Acids adhering to the Tunicles of the Ventricle and by that drawn to some kind of Acidity or remaining in it after the Expulsion of the Chylus stitching to the inner wrinkl'd Membrane especially about the upper Orifice and a Vellication troublesome to the Stomach which being communicated by the Nerves of the sixth Pair to the Brain thereby an Imagination of Eating is excited to appease the troublesom Corrosion XLI This Acrimonie is infused into those fermentative Particles by the Stomach when the sulphurous Parts are jumbl'd in the Iuices that stick to the inner Tunicle and the Salts are melted by the convenient Heat of the Ventricle to a degree of Fusion and so they turn Acid after a Specific Manner To which purpose the swallowed Spittle descending to the Stomach may be very prevalent for this hath a fermentative Quality in it self as we shall shew ye l. 3. c. 24. and to the same effect may also conduce the subacid Pancreatic or Sweetbread Juice being infused into the Duodenum if any Part of it shall rise toward the Stomach or shall transmit any acid Vapors or Exhalations from the Intestin to it XLII Here some Object and say if this be the Cause of Hunger then when the Stomach is full and Concoction and Fermentation are both busily employ'd Men would be most Hungry for then many more acid and fermentaceous Particles are called forth to their Work which must of Necessity pull and tear the Ventricle much more than the few before mentioned 'T is deny'd For the Particles to be fermented and fermented that is dissolv'd will be more but not the Fermentaceous or Particles dissolving Of which we have an Example in Leven'd Bread whose single Parts have no power to ferment another Mass of Flower because the acid Particles are no longer predominant but the Sulphureous as appears by the sweetness of the tast And so long as that prevalency of the sulphury Particles continues in the dissolv'd Particles so long they cannot become Acid or Fermentaceous for Sulphur is Sweet As appears in Fevers wherein acid Medicins are generally most plentifully prescrib'd for the subduing of the sulphury Predominancy And restoring the convenient fermentaceous Quality For when the Prevalency of the sulphureous Particles is overpowered by the Force of the salt Acids then comes the fermentaceous Acidity to be introduââ¦d So that there are not more acid sharp and corroding Particles in the full Ventricle concocting the Food or if there be they are so stain'd by the copious Liquor intermixt so that they can occasion no troublesom Vellication to the Stomach by which means the Hunger cannot be greater at that time but rather ceases altogether But when the Ghylus and with that the dissolv'd sulphureous Particles intermixt with the salt are gone off to the Intestins then the Remainder that sticks to the inner Tunicle of the Ventricle or is carried thither with the spittly Juice as being freed for the most part from the redundancy of sulphurous Particles grows sowre through the heat of the Ventricle and so begins to tear again and renews the Appetite which ceases again when that Acidity comes to be retemper'd by the Meat and Drink thrown into the Stomach and its Acrimony comes to be mitigated and blunted XLIII But if these fermentaceous Iuices are not only not moderated in the Stomach but that through some defect of the Liver Sweetbread or other Parts over sharp Humors are too abundantly bred in the Body or flow from the Head or some inferior Parts into the Stomach in so great a Quantity that their Acrimonie cannot be sufficiently tam'd and temper'd by the swallowed Food then happens that preternatural Hunger which we call Canine with which they who are troubl'd often vomit up undigested Meat together with sowre Iuices like the Iuice of Limon as they themselves confess and by reason of the gnawing Acrimony occasioned by the extream viscousness of the Humors remaining in the Ventricle presently become hungry again and fall to eat But if the fermentaceous Particles are in themselves very viscous or thicker and of a slower Motion then they require a longer time to elevate themselves and excite Hunger which chiefly happens when the acid Spirits less abound in the whole Body and consequently in the Spittle and that viscous Humor that sticks to the inner Tunicle of the Stomach XLIV Sometimes also it happens that Hunger is frequently diminished when bitter Choler ascends in too great Quantity into the Stomach as in cholerick Men in the Iaundise and several sorts of Fevers and therein by its Mixture corrupts not only the fermentaceous Relicks of the Nourishment remaining in the Stomach after the Expulsion of the Chyle but also the Spittle that flows to it The more remote Causes of lessening the Appetite are various as excess of Sleep and Laziness excess of Care and looseness of the Belly c. Overmuch Sleep and too much sitting still for that for want of sufficient Exercise of the Body the Humors also are not sufficiently stirr'd nor are the acid Particles conveniently separated from the Viscous so that they cannot be sufficiently roused up to Action In extraordinary Cares of the Mind hunger is not perceiv'd because the Thoughts are otherwise employ'd And as for loosness of the Belly 't is a certain Truth that the Ferment is vitiated XLV Now these fermentaceous Particles that excite Hunger as appears by what has bin said are acid or somewhat acid and are the same that promote the Conoction of the Stomach and ferment and dissolve the swallowed Nourishment Hence it is that Acids moderately taken increase the Appetite and cause a better Concoction of the Stomach Of which we have an Experiment besides our daily Experience in our Seamen who make long Voyages to the Indies For having fed upon thick and hard Meats for a long time hence it comes to pass that their Appetites are deprav'd and their Concoctions but weak which breeds a Scorbutic ill Habit of Body But when they come to Islands or Countries where they meet with plenty of Limons and other acid Fruits presently their Appetite is restored and all the concoctive Faculties that languished before are renewed together with their Strength through the said acidity and so in a short time they recover their former Health Therefore to keep the Seamen in Health in those long and tedious Voyages the Masters of Vessels are wont to carry along with 'em a certain Quantity of Citron Juice which they distribute now and then among the Mariners when they find their Stomachs begin to fail ' em XLVI Acid therefore are those fermentaceous Particles which excite Hunger which if they be wanting in the Stomach the Appetite fails nor can the Chylification be perfected but the Meat
c. A thing well known to happen to melancholly People who many times doat upon one particular thing tho' in other things their Judgment is sound enough For how far Intent and frequent Cogitation upon a thing avails to increase such a deprav'd Appetite is apparent in Women with Child who many times long to that degree that if they cannot get what they desire the Child shall carry the Mark of the thing long'd for Which impression cannot be said to preceed from any deprav'd Humours of the Stomach but from the Brain for that the Imagination being intense upon those things and Judgment made upon their use and Benefit proceeds from thence and the Ideas of those things are conveigh'd from thence and imprinted upon the Birth by the Animal Spirits Besides they that are troubled with a deprav'd Appetite do not always long for one and the same thing but sometimes for one thing sometimes another as their Fancies are fix'd more upon one thing than another which cannot be imputed to any ill Humour adhering to the Ventricle for that then the longing for variety of things must proceed from the variety of Humours Besides these sort of Patients are troubled with a deprav'd Appetite when they are a hungry and then they most eagerly long for those things which they have thought of before whether good or bad and believe 'em then not to be bad or hurtful but pleasing and wholesom Which Depravation of the Appetite I have cur'd more by Cunning than by Physic enjoyning the People of the House never to mention in the hearing of the Patients those hurtful things and to remove all sorts of Pictures out of their sight and in the mean time to feed 'em with wholesom Dyet and that often in the Day to prevent their being much an hungry LXV There is one Objection re-mains that is to say If a deprav'd Appetite were not caus'd by the ill habit of the Stomach the Patients would be sick upon the eating such kind of noxious Dyet neither would such things be digested in the Stomach but on the other side it appears that few or none suffer any harm by it without doubt because there are those deprav'd Iuices in the Stomach which are able to digest that preternatural Dyet which the Stomach seems to have particularly requir'd as a remedy for that peculiar Vellication or Twitching of the Nerves But the force of this Objection is easily answer'd when it is consider'd that it is not absolutely true that such Patients receive no Dammage from such incongruous and preternatural Dyet and that it is only true in very few and that only once twice or thrice but that afterwards they are cruelly afflicted by it contracting Oppilations of the Bowels the Dropsie the wild Scab or Maunge call'd Psora and several other Distempers But the reason why they receive no Dammage at first is twofold First Because upon the eager devouring of these things the Animal Spirits flow in great Plenty to the Stomach as upon Venereal thoughts they flow in great abundance to the Generating Parts together with a great quantity of Arterious Blood Now how effectually these Natural Spirits operate in nourishing the Body we shall explain more at large l. 3. c. 11. and how far they conduce to the Concoctions of the Stomach if they flow into it more plentifully than is usual is apparent in those Slaves to their Bellies that waste whole days and nights in thinking what they shall eat and are always stuffing their Guts For they by reason of the plentiful Spirits design'd for the Stomach have much swifter and better Concoctions than such as are always busi'd at their Studies whose Animal Spirits are call'd another way and therefore are frequently troubled with Crudities and hardly are able to digest the lightest Food Secondly Because they that are troubled with a deprav'd Appetite are for the most part melancholy or such as breed more sowre fermentaceous Juices are more sharp and copious than usual in the Spleen Sweatbread and Ventricle whence when they begin to be a hungry they have a sharper Stomach and far more easily digest whatever they eat than others nay than they themselves can do at another time Thus I have known a Woman with Child that longing for ripe Cherries has at one time eaten up six or seven pound together another that has eaten thirty Cheesecakes and another that would eat raw salt Herrings and digest 'em well when at other times they did not use to be so greedy And hence it comes to pass that at sueh a time they will digest a large quantity of Meat or those preternatural Things as Oatemeal Chalk and Coals or at least the Stomach discharges 'em without any harm But if they continue that immoderate Course of Dyet that sharper Juice at length failing it becomes such a Disturbance to the Bowels and Stomach that their Concoctions are thereby plainly interrupted and deprav'd to the breeding of copious bad Juices that increase a great quantity of ill Humors which is the cause of several Distempers From all which I think it is sufficiently manifest that a deprav'd Appetite does not primarily proceed from any deprav'd Humors bred in the Stomach or sticking to it but from some defect of the Brain and mistake of the Imagination LXVI The second Problem is affirm'd by Regius and several other Physicians altho' it be far from being true For in a crazy Condition of Health the Humors in the Stomach may be corrupted several ways and many bad ones may be gathered together and yet never any Choler bred therein And for that which is exonerated upwards and downwards in the Disease called Cholera that is not bred in the Stomach but in the Liver collected and amassed together in the Bladder of the Gall the Porus Biliarius and other places adjoyning from whence sharply or sowerly fermenting and boyling it bursts forth at last with great Violence into the Duodenum and by virtue of that Motion is discharged and thrust out partly upward through the Stomach partly downward through the rest of the Intestines Which is sufficiently apparent from hence in regard that the Invasions of Choler are subitane no Signs preceeding of any ill Affection of the Ventricle or of any Choler bred or gathered togethet within it and for that often when People have made a good Meal not feeling any Disturbance either in the Appetite or in Digestion it overflows in their Sleep at Midnight and sometimes in the day time without any foregoing Notice which certainly could not but precede if a copious quantity of Choler the Cause of the Disaster were bred in the Stomach or gathered there together Neither will Reason permit us to believe that Nature has constituted various and several Organs to perform one and the same Office such as is the Generation of Choler For to obââ¦ain that End she makes use only of one sort of Means and thus the Stomach alone Chylifys the Liver alone breeds
Nourishment the Blood proceeds For in the Blood is contained a Matter out of which Humors of all sorts may be form'd as it is fermented mingl'd and reconcocted in these or those various Bowels and several Parts yet is there not in the Blood any Pancreatic Splenetic Choleric Juice c. as in Wheat and Bread there is not really any Chylus Choler or Blood but it is a Heterogeneous Matter containing such and such different Particles which being after a peculiar manner mingled and concocted in the proper Vessels become Humors Sweet Bitter Acid c. Not by reason of any Analogy with the Pores but because of the specific Nature Temper and Structure of the specific Parts And thus the matter is contained in the Earth out of which according to the Variety of Mixture and Concoction a thousand sorts of Herbs Trees Flowers Shrubs and other things are generated And thus in like manner several Forms of things are shap'd by the Hands of the Artificer While one makes Statues another Bricks another earthen Vessels of all sorts tho' such things were never in the Earth before nor could be said to have bin The Blood therefore which is sweet flowing through the splenic Arterie into the Spleen is there depriv'd of the greatest part of its Sweetness and gains a subacid Quality somewhat saltish not by reason of the Pores of the Spleen but by reason of the natural subacid Quality of the Spleen which it infuses in the Blood and certain other Humors that accompany it Sweet Wine thus grows sowre being poured into a Vinegar-Vessel not by reason of the Pores of the Vessel having some kind of Analogie either between the Wine it self and the Particles of the Vinegar or else because there was an Acidity in the Wine before and its acid Particles were only mix'd with the Vinegar and the sweet not mixed but because the sowre Acidity of the Vinegar contained in the Vessel might there fix the sweet sulphury Spirits of the Wine and exalting the Salt and Acid above 'em altogether deprive it of its Sweetness For in that manner is Choler bred in the Liver not that it was really praeexistent in the Blood or for that the Pores of the Liver have any Analogie with the choleric Particles of the Blood were the occasion of its being separated from it but because the sweet Blood flowing in great Quantity through the splenic Branch to the Porta out of the mesaraic Veins with a mixture of the splenetic Juice becomes so altered that it is fermented and concocted after a new Manner in the Liver which proceeds from the peculiar Temper Structure and Ferment prepared in it by which means many Particles of it are made Choler which were not so before that new Mixture and Concoction Concerning which see the following 15th Chap. de Generatione Bilis And thus it is in the Pancreas wherein some part of the Blood flowing into it through the small Arteries is changed into Sweet-bread Juice the rest proceeding forward to its Fountain the Heart not by reason of the Analogy of the Pores of the Sweet-bread with that Juice but by reason of the new Alteration which the Blood undergoes in it occasioned by the particular Property or Nature of the Part together with the new Mixture and Concoction XXXII As to the second we have affirm'd that the pancreatic Iuice being mix'd with the Choler that flows to it causes a new Effervescencie in the Duodenum Which is apparent in the Dissection of living Dogs in whom generally there is a spumous Humour boyling in the said Intestine which is raised by the Acidity of the pancreatic Iuice and the mixture of Choler abounding in Volatile and fixed Salt Which is that very thing which Chymical Operation teaches us viz. That acid Spirits meeting with the lixivious Salt always fall a boyling if there be nothing intermix'd to prevent the Operation Now that in Choler there is contained a lixivious Salt besides the oily sulphury Parts is hence apparent for that both may be separated from it by chymical Art And then the Tast discovers the moderately sharp Acidity of the pancreatic Juice and moreover for that being put into sweet Milk it presently curdles it even as Vinegar and other sharp Juices do Lastly for a farther Proof of that Effervescency occasioned by the mixture of Choler with the pancreatic Juice we will add the twice repeated Experiment of D. Schuylius Tract de Vet. Medicin The Abdomen of a live Dog saith he being opened I ty'd the Duodenum with a String not far from the Pylorus and with another String a little below the Insertion of the pancreatic Ductus and so left the Dog having sow'd up the Abdomen again Three Hours after the Dog being still alive and strong for he had lost very little Blood the Abdomen being opened again we found the Space between the two Ligatââ¦res so extreamly distended that it would not yield to the Compression of the Fingers but threaten'd a Rupture nor did we find the Dogs Gall-bag less distended A most intense and burning Heat also scalded that intercepted Part of the Duodenum in which when I had made a little Wound with a Lancet together with the Humors contained therein great store of Wind brake out with the usual Noise and ratling of breaking Wind from whence also a sowre kind of Smell offended the Noses of the standers by which when the Gut was more opened none of the Spectators could endure Which was a manifest Argument that there had not only flow'd thither such a Quantity of Choler and pancreatic Iuice but that there was an Effervescency raised in 'em not a mild and moderate one as in sound People but extreamly vehement For not only that part of the Intestin was full but distended extraordinarily by a violent force and rushing of the Blood and Spirits Nor was it probable that that part of the Duodenum could have bin so distended nor that the Vapors Exhalations Humors and Wind could have bin dissipated with so great a Force but by the Effervescency and Agitation of Particles quite contrary to those Humors Some few days after I repeated the same Experiment in the presence of several Students and within two Hours or little more that Portion of the Intestin swell'd very much but did not burn so violently But having opened that swell'd Portion of the Intestin which I had ty'd before frothy Bubbles brake out with a loud noise with which that Space of the Gut was distended So that it is not for Impudence it self to raise any more Doubts concerning the Truth of this Effervescency CHAP. XI Of the Mesenteric Milkie Vessels I. THE milkie Vessels conveighing the white Chylus from the Guts through the Mesentery were first discovered in our Age And in the Yeor 1622 by Gaspar Asellius Anatomist of Padua I say in our Age for that Hippocrates and others had some obscure Knowledg of ' em Galen also saw 'em and observ'd 'em but he believ'd 'em
from the veiny Trunk But in regard there is a vast variety of Substance between them and the Veins and for that no such Original appears nor not so much as the least shadow of it about the veiny Trunk or Vena Cava seeing also they are never known to arise from any other Veins but are sometimes inserted into 'em out of the cluster'd Glandules 't is to be thought that this Opinion is far from the Truth XXVI George Seger Dissert Anat. Artic. 2. pronounces the Lympha to be the Animal Spirits or to be made out of 'em which after they are distributed into all Parts through the Nerves are partly there consum'd and dissipated and partly congeal into this Water With Seger agrees Francis de le Boe Sylvius Disputat Med. 4. Thes. 31. and more at large Disput. 8. Thes. 40 41. But that this Invention of Seger is more Ingenious than True is apparent from hence for that the Animal Spirits are such thin Vapours that there are not the like in the whole Body for they penetrate with an extraordinary swiftness the narrowest and most invisible Pores of the Nerves whence it is very likely that they being pour'd forth into the Substance of the hotter Parts presently do their duty with an extraordinary swiftness and for the remaining part by reason of its extream tenuity and volatility is far more swiftly dissipated by the heat of the Parts than any other Vapours and much less congeal into Liquor than any other extravasated Vapours unless it happen in some colder Parts as in the Testicles of which we shall treat c. 28. And how suddenly they are dissipated is apparent from that weariness which follows violent Exercise or in the suddain Laxation of the contracted Muscles Moreover should these Spirits congeal into this Liquor in the Parts to which they flow down hotter than the Brain certainly they would much sooner and more easily congeal in the Brain and Marrow of the Back by reason of the greater degree of Cold in both that is by reason of the Heat which is less in them than in other Parts but they are never seen to be condens'd in them neither can such a sort of Liquor penetrate through the Nerves and if in them they are not condens'd into Liquor much less in the Parts hotter than the Brain the heat of which would easily dissipate such thin Vapours Lastly a most copious quantity of Lympha flows from the Liver and its Glandules to which nevertheless there are so few and such slender Nerves that reach that some Anatomists question their ingress into ' em Also in the Ventricles of the Brain from the Choroidal Plexure a copious quantity of Lympha somewhat thicker is separated by the small Glandules lying between it thence design'd to flow forth through the Papillary Processes and yet there are no Nerves that enter that Plexure From whence it is apparent that the Lympha is not made of Animal Spirits condens'd XXVII Bernard Swalve L. de Pancreat p. 76. believes the Lympha to be compos'd of the Remainder of the Animal Spirits that have lost their Volatility with somewhat of an Acid Spirit mix'd with it out of the Glandules and so entring the Lymphatic Vessels The greatest part of the Lympha says he is beholding to the Animal Spirit the lesser to the Acid Spirit But what has been already said destroys this Opinion as also this that the Lympha is continually mov'd through innumerable hollow Vessels in great quantity whereas so great a quantity of Animal Spirits can never pass in so great a quantity through the invisible Pores of the Nerves and cannot be carried to the making of the Lympha Moreover for that a great quantity of Lympha breaks thorough several Vessels into which nevertheless as has been said very few Animal Spirits can be carried and that through very few and most slender Nerves Add to this that the Acid Spirit of the Glandules has a coagulating Power and therefore would be a strange obstruction to the thinness of the Liver Moreover Swalve himself Eod. lib. p. 88. and 89. most eagerly maintains that nothing not so much as the thinnest of Liquors can be carried through the Pores of the Nerves and therefore much less such a quantity of Spirits out of which a part of such a copious Lympha must be made XXVIII N. Zas above-cited writes That the Lympha which he calls Dew is an Alimentary Iuice by which the Nerves the Membranes Tendons also the Tunicles of the Veins and Arteries and all the Spermatics are nourish'd increas'd in growth and enlarg'd But among all the foregoing Opinions there is none that carries with it less probability than this which is utterly destroy'd by what we have written L. 2. c. 12. where we prove at large that all the Parts are nourish'd by the Blood and not by any other Humours But Lewis de Bills from whence Zas draws all his main Fundamentals finding that Zas was too short in the defence of his Argument has found out another Invention for he distinguishes between Dew and Lympha and says that the Dew serves for the Uses by Zas assign'd but not the Lympha He also ascribes different Passages to each of them by which they flow to their parts of which passages or ways I have lately treated and sufficiently demonstrated the vanity of this Invention Seeing then that most Learned Men and Studious Assertors of the Commonwealth of Physic did not discern the true Original of this Lympha and hardly seem to have reach'd the use of it I will not be afraid to venture my own Opinion concerning this Matter XXIX I take the Lympha to be a fermentaceous Liquor separated from the serous part of the Blood in the cluster'd Glandules yet not simple but mingl'd with much volatile and liquid Salt and impregnated with some few sulphury Particles which by reason of the thinness of its Parts enters these Vessels and is carried through them partly to the Vafa Chylifera partly to many Veins To THOSE that in them it may by its mixture make the Chylus thinner and more easie and more apt to make an easie Dilatation in the Heart To THESE to the end that being mingl'd with the Venal Blood not at present so thin it may prepare it to a quick Dilatation in the Heart for in both respects the Mixture of it is very necessary For the Chylus of it self is somewhat sweetish and somewhat fatty which shews the predominancy of the sulphury Juice not as yet become sufficiently spiritous And hence by reason of the viscid and thick Particles seeing that if it came alone to the Heart it is unapt for Dilatation there is a necessity that by the way this Liquor should be thin saltish sowrish and endu'd with a kind of fermentaceous Quality to attenuate its viscousness and prepare it for Fermentation For as Mineral Sulphur by reason of its viscous Particles by it self slowly and by degrees but by the
conceiv'd a quite different Opinion concerning these preternatural Colours Believing that same variety of Colours happens to the Choler not in the Gall-Bladder nor in the Choler Vessels but in the Duodenum and that by the Mixture of the Pancreatic acid or sowre Juice no otherwise than if it should change its natural Yellow into any other Colour in the Gall-Bladder it self But in the Dissections of Bodys that have dy'd in our Hospital we have demonstratively and frequently shewn a Green Eruginous or Rust Coloured and sometimes a blackish Colour in the Bladder it self before the mixture of the Pancreatic Juice nay in the Daughter of the Lord Vââ¦ich who dy'd of an Eruginous Flux of the Belly and after her Death by me dissected in the sight of several Physicians we found the Gall-Bladder swell'd to the bigness of a Hens Egg and full of an Eruginous Choler Which we have also observ'd in some other Infants that have dy'd of the same Diarrhoea as also in others who have dy'd of the Disease Cholera So that the various Colours of the Choler do not always proceed from the Mixture of the Pancreatic Iuice in the Intestins but are often acquired in the Gall-Bladder and Bilary Vessels in the same manner as we have already rehearsed Of which see more in the preceding C. 7. XLI But now that the several Humors engendered in the Body being mix'd with the Blood according to the diversity of Qualitys occasion a great Variety of Colour is apparent from these Experiments which we have observ'd in the Gall of an Ox. Which being mix'd with acid things as Oyle of Vitriol or Tartar or Vinegar first boyl'd a little then growing very thick became of a green Colour but being strongly shaken in a Flaggon with these Acids turn'd to a whitish Colour Being mix'd with ordinary Cinamon Water it became more Thin more Yellow and more Fluid But being mix'd with Spirit of Wine presently separated from it and setled at the Bottom Lastly being mixed with fair Water a little Gall dyed a great deal of Water of a Saffron Colour XLII Of the motion of the Choler we have spoken that is to say that some part of it mixed with the Blood tends from the Liver to the Vena Cava but that the greatest Part is carried to the Bilary Vessels and so through the Porus and Gall-Bladder to the Intestines But the Opinions of others are far different concerning this Matter Vesalius following the Judgment of Golen writes that the Choler is drawn out of the Porus to the Gall-bladder and from thence is forced down to the Intestines But this Opinion fails because it does not demonstrate the Way thro' which the Choler comes from the Porus to the Gall-bladder To which it cannot ascend through the Chanel of the Gall-bladder and through that descend again from the Gall-bladder to the Intestines for that in the parts of our Body there is neither any drawing of Humors nor any natural going and returning the same way Fallopius l. 3. Observ. c. 7. believes that the Choler of the Liver does not ascend unless when the Mouth of the common meatus Cholidochus is stopped by some Cause or other but that upon such an Occasion it may be done But the Wrinkles and Narrowness of the Neck of the Gall-bladder contradict this Opinion altogether impeding the Ingress of the Choler ascending this way so that the Choler thrust forward from the Gall-bladder it self by compressing into the common Ductus Cholidochus can by no means be repell'd back into the Gall-bladder by a contrary Compression of the said Ductus From these Backius very much differs Dissert de corde c. 3. 6. who asserts that the Choler is carried directly out of the Cystis to the common Ductus Cholidochus but that the Extremity of it which ends in the Intestines is so fram'd that it does not permit the Exit of the Choler but readily gives way to the Chylus descending from the Stomach and suffers in like manner its ascent to the Liver And that it communicates as well the Chylus as more especially a part of the Choler through the same Hole to the Pancreatic Wirtzungian Ductus But the very Sight it self evinces and destroys the Opinion of Backius by which it appears to the Eye in the Dissections of living Animals that as well the Choler as the Pancreatic Iuice break forth from their own Places into the Duodenum but that nothing of the Chylus can enter through that way out of the Guts by a contrary Conveighance Francis de le Boe Sylvius introduces still another Motion of the Chylus and asserts that the Choler which is bred in the Bladder flows to the common Ductus Cholidochus and is carried from thence partly to the Guts partly ascends through the bilary Porus to the Liver and there being mix'd with the Blood renders it more thin but that no blood flows from the Liver through the Porus to the Intestines And this in his Additament he proves from hence because that by blowing through a Reed there is a Passage open from the Porus to the Liver A most egregious Consequence and this is such another The breath blown through a Pipe into the Ureter passes into the Kidney and farther into the Emulgent Vein and Vena Cava therefore the Urinous Serum is carried out of the Bladder through the Ureter to the Kidney Certainly it would be very strange if the Choler which is bred in the Liver and from thence once empty'd into the Vesicle should return through the Porus to the Liver But the Falshood of this Opinion appears from many things already said First from the rare Constitution of the Gall Vessels And the Force of it is quite enervated by the Experiment of the perspicacious Malpigius l. de hep c. 7. In a Cat saith he of a few Months old where the Gall-bladder is conspicuously prominent I have ty'd the Neck of the Cystis with a Thread and empty'd it out of a Wound in the Middle Then have I again bound the Extremity of the Ductus Cholidochus where it opens into the Intestin Then the Creature still living for some convenient space of time I have found the intercepted bilary Porus extreamly swell'd and a Portion of the common Ductus Cholidochus And that I might prevent all Possibility of Separating the Choler by the help of the Cystis after I had first ty'd a hard Knot in the Neck of it I cut off the Cystis it self and threw it away And yet I found the same Swelling follow in the hollow'd Pores by reason of the flowing Choler Moreover I try'd with my Finger to drive upward the Choler contained in the Vessels that so swell'd yet would it return with a Force nor could be kept back unless with an extraordinary Violence A little after he adds It is most certain from many times repeated Observation that the Extremity of the Cystic Passage being bound so that not the least part of the
deriv'd from the Costal Branch of the sixth Pair which do not only pass through the outward Tunicle and not lose themselves there as was formerly thought by many but penetrating further inward are distributed through the innermost parts of the Bowel with a manifold Ramification which little Branches accompany the Blood-bearing Vessels and are enfolded in the same Covering with them being form'd out of the proper Membrane that covers the Spleen which at the entrance of the Vessels turning inward and shap'd into the fashion of a Pipe accompanies and as it were gathers into a Bundle the Ramifications of the said Vessels Glisson also observes that these Nerves the nearer they approach to the Spleen the larger they grow as they likewise do in a little space after they have enter'd the Spleen XXIII Moreover Glisson writes that the ends of these Nerves are united with Nervous Fibres and by that means a certain Alimentary Liquor is infus'd out of the one into the other and carried from these to the greater Nerves which Alimentary Liquor he says withal is pour'd forth through the Parenchyma of the Spleen being first extended by the Fibres themselves afterwards this Liquor is conveigh'd into the Folding of the Nerves adjoyning to the Renal Glandules from thence as occasion shall serve to be distributed into all the Nerves of the Body either immediately through the Nerves of the sixth Pair or by the means of the Brain and Spinal Marrow and so to be carried to all parts of the Body But the most learned Person is in this particular altogether out of the way For as has been said the Fibres are not hollow nor have the Nerves sufficient Cavities through which any Liquor prepared in the Spleen can pass nor was ever any Anatomist so quick-sighted as to see any Liquor in the Nerves or that after Dissection could squeez the least drop out of ' em Besides it is unquestionable and no more than what is receiv'd and establish'd by all Philosophers that the Animal Spirits are thrust forward through the Invisible Pores of the Nerves from the Brain and oblong Marrow into all the parts of the Body Now then shall any other visible Alimentary Liquor thicker than the Spirits ascend from the Spleen to the Brain or its Marrow through the same Invisible Pores by any other Chanel or Stream Will the Nerves receive the Alimentary Juice from the Spleen into themselves not only to be cast forth into other parts but also to be remitted back into the Spleen it self Shall at another time the smallest drop of Liquor falling upon the Nerves beget a Palsie and shall this entring in abundance out of the Spleen produce no harm These are very great Absurdities and therefore an Opinion supported by such slender Props must fall of Necessity See more of this L. 8. c. 1. XXIV Here some one perhaps may put the Question how it comes to pass that the Spleen furnish'd with so many little Branches of Nerves should be so dull of Feeling seeing that the Nerves are not only endued with a most quick Sense but also contribute to all the membranous Parts by the animal Spirits a most acute Feeling The reason of this is because there is a continual Numness upon those Nerves occasioned by the subacid Substance of the Spleen which is perceived in the Tast of the Spleen being boyl'd and Sowre withal as also by acid fermentative Iuice which is bred therein encompassing the Nerves As the chewing of acid and sowre things begets a Numness in the Teeth so that their Sense of Feeling is much less or at least more obtuse than at another time And thus much concerning the Vessels whose State and Condition how they were found out by accurate Inspection into the Spleen of an Ox Malpigius describes l. de lien c. 3. XXV After the Fibres and the Vessels the Substance it self of the Spleen is to be enquired into which in a sound Spleen is somewhat hard and firm and endures handling without any harm but in a sickly Condition of Health grows softer and is easily dissolv'd Thus in Scorbutic and Hypochondriacal Persons I have often found it so soft upon Dissection that with the least Touch the Finger would enter into it And the external Air would easily dissolve it tho' outwardly at first sight there was nothing to be discovered amiss either in Bigness or Colour I dissected a Scorbutic Thief that was hang'd in March 1651. The Substance of whose Spleen was very soft yet neither exceeding due Proportion nor ill Colour and at that time being cold Weather within two days it was dissolved by the external Air into a frothy Liquor of an obscure red Colour so that unless it were several Fibres and thin Vessels there was nothing solid appeared within its Membrane From whence appears the Mistake of many who in the Scurvy and Hypochondriacal Distemper Quartan Agues and other Diseases arising from the Spleen always lay the Fault upon the Obstruction Hardness and Tumor of this Bowel when for the most part there is nevertheless no such Fault in it to be found in those that dye of those Distempers and only some specific Dyscrasis or peculiar Disposition of the Part receding from its natural Sanity are the cause of these Distempers while that peculiar Indisposition begets some Matter either too Acid or too Sharp too weak or too fix'd or some other way out of Order Yet we do not deny but that in a preternatural State sometimes it becomes so brawny and hard that it may be felt without side of the Body Nay George Queccius a Physician of Norimberg and Schenckius have seen Spleens that have been crusted in the Middle with a Cartilaginous Substance XXVI Many have affirm'd that this Substance is like the Substance of the Liver and that this Bowel performs the same Office with it and that when that Bowel is out of Order this Bowel alone does its Duty But the Dissimilitude of each Part is sufficiently apparent both from the Colour and the Tast. For the Colour which in a raw Liver is Ruddy and altogether Sanguine in the Spleen is Black and Blue or of a leaden Colour And that which in a boyl'd or roasted Liver is somewhat Yellowish in a roasted Spleen is like the Dreggs of red Wine Then the Tast of a boyl'd Liver is between bitterish and sweetish the Tast of a boyl'd Spleen is somewhat acid and sowrish XXVII It is commonly held that the Substance of the Spleen is a certain Mass of clotted Blood supporting the Vessels that run through it because it is easily made fluid by a slight Attrition But Malpigius utterly destroys this Opinion who having accurately searched into the Mysteries of this Bowel with his Microscopes writes that the whole Body of the Spleen is a membranous Mass distinguished into little Cells and Apartments and not so thick a Body as it has been formerly describ'd to be but loose and thin And to this
But how it comes to pass that the said Choler becomes more sharp and fermentative in man proceeds from hence that all the milder Choler does not presently flow directly from the Liver through the bilary Porus into the Intestines but a good part of it and that the thinnest is carried from the Liver through the gaully Roots into the Gall-Bladder and there stays a while that by the specific Property and Temper of the Place the more sharp Spirits through that Stay may be the more vigorously roused up and exalted and thence boyling a little in the Cystis may flow to the Intestines Into which Place being brought and being either too little or too sharp it may there be the cause of Diseases of both kinds XIII But the superfluous and chiefest part of the Venal Blood of which the Ferment is made in the Liver which neither could nor ought to be chang'd into the Nature of Choler or Lympha being plentifully furnish'd with the fermentative Quality of the made Ferment flows into the Vena Cava with which from above out of the subclavial Veins it meets a prepar'd and attenuated Chylus or in the absence of that the Lymphatic Liquor alone mix'd with the Blood of the Subclavial Veins and so by degrees enter the right Ventricle of the Heart and there by reason of that previous convenient Preparation or attenuation are presently dilated into a Blood-like spirituous Vapor as Gunpowder presently flashes into a Flame when touch'd by Fire Now that the Blood flowing out of the Liver into the Vena Cava is mix'd and endu'd with a Fermentative and chiefly Choleric Quality appears from hence that if in a Creature newly kill'd the Liver be cut from the Vena cava and the Blood flowing out of it sav'd put but a little Spirit of Niter to that Blood and presently it becomes of a Rust-Colour which happens in no other Blood and by that means the Bilious Ferment concealed within it is discover'd XIV But that that same bloody Spirit may be more perfect and retain its Vigor the longer by the beating of the Heart it is forced immediately through the Pulmonary Artery into the Lungs and there by the Cold of the Aire breath'd in is condensed into Liquor and flows through the Pulmonary Vein into the left Ventricle of the Heart wherein again as Spirit of Wine is rectifi'd by a second Distillation it attains the utmost Perfection of spirituous Blood and so is forc'd into the Aorta that thereby it may be communicated thro' the lesser Arteries and through all the Parts of the Body to nourish and enliven ' em Out of which Nourishment that Blood which at length remains being depriv'd of the greatest part of its Spirits enters the lesser Veins and by those is carried to the greater and by them again to the Heart to the end it may be there again attenuated and become Spirituous But because in that Circulation many parts of the Blood are consum'd in the Nourishment of the Parts whose Substance also is continually consum'd and dissipated by the Heat hence it is necessary that a new Chylus fit to be changed into Blood be again mix'd with the venal Blood returning to the Heart to supply the place of what is wasted And thus our Life consists in such a continual Nourishment which failing presently Health is impair'd and the Oyl of our Lamp being wasted we goe quite out XV. It may be questioned whence those sharp hot fermentative Qualities arise in our Nature I answer out of Sulphur and Salt The first Emotion is from Sulphur but the primary Acrimony is from Salt which besides Sulphur is lodg'd in all Nourishment For there is nothing which we eat that does not naturally contain a Salt in it tho' some things contain more some less and Sulphur dissolves the Salt and renders it fluid Which being dissolv'd and attenuated corrodes penetrates and dissolves by means of its Acrimony all the Particles of the Nourishment and so disposes 'em for the Extraction of the Spirits that ly hid within ' em Which Operation is Fermentation without which Man could not live and with which being weak or deprav'd a Man lives miserably Now to advance this Fermentation the more prosperously by instinct of Nature to the natural Salt which is in our Nourishment we add the help of Sea Salt which we mix with our Meat and with which we powder our Flesh And so much the harder the Substance of the Meat is and consequently the more violent Fermentation and effective Ferment they require for Digestion so much the more we desire to have 'em well salted as Beef and Pork For that the Salt in such Meats causes a more easy Digestion So that the sulphury Spirits that are to reduce that Salt to Fusion are sufficiently redundant and effectual in Man as in young and choleric People And of this we have a manifest Example in a Herring which being salted and eaten raw eastly digests in the Stomach but not being salted tho' boyl'd is with great Difficulty digested Moreover that the Fermenting Spirits lying hid in that thick Salt may be roused up to Action we boyle our Meat in the Kitchin that the more fix'd and solid Parts of it may be the better dissolv'd and so prepared to Fusion and Volatilitie that they may be the more easily tam'd and vanquish'd in the Stomach when we feed upon those harder sorts of Food we make use of sharp spirituous and sulphury Sawces as Spice Turheps Anise Carrots Mustard many times drink strong Wine and Spirit of Wine after Meals For the sulphury Spirits being mixed with the Salt potently dissolve and penetrate the thick and sixed Particles and a fitness to melt and so advance the Energie of Fermentation Which chylifying Operation is very much assisted partly by the Spittle which flows from the Mouth to the Stomach and is endued with a fermentative Quality partly by a peculiar Ferment which is made out of some part of the Chylus remaining after its Concoction and Expulsion of the greatest part to the Intestines in the Stomach and sticking to the Folds and Pores of the innermost Tunicle and there turning sowre And so by that first Fermentation the more spirituous and profitable Parts of the Nourishment come forth of the thicker Mass like Cream and assume the Name of Chylus XVI Out of this Chylus endu'd with many salt and sulphury Particles from the Nourishment received by means of a new fermentative Preparation caused by the Choler Pancreatic Iuice and Lympha the Blood is made in the Heart which contains in it self those salt Particles of the Chylus but more attenuated and mix'd more exactly with the Sulphureous XVII Out of the salt Particles of this Blood flowing to the Spleen the splenic Artery and to the Sweetbread and many other Glandules through peculiar Arteries and somewhat separated by the Afflux of Animal Spirits there is another matter of Ferment to be composed in
the Spleen and Parts aforesaid to be the greatest part concocted into a more perfect Ferment by the Liver for the Venal Blood and Chylus XVIII And thus the first Original of Internal Ferment is from the Nourishment which afterwards is more and more attenuated by various Concoctions and alter'd in our Body into a more subtle Ferment XIX Now that it is the true Office of the Liver Spleen and Sweet-bread to make Ferment in the manner aforesaid is apparent from hence that when those Bowels are perfectly Sound and perform their Duty according to Nature the whole Mass of Blood is better and more full of Spirits and thence the Body more Lively and Active and all the Natural and Animal Operations are rightly perform'd On the other side when these Bowels are out of Order a thousand Diseases arise from the Blood and Chylus ill fermented XX. As we have already said there is a sharp Salt acid Iuice which is made in the Liver out of the artery Blood copiously forc'd through the splenic Artery into this Bowel which by the plentiful pouring in of Animal Spirits through the Nerves and by the specific Temper of this Bowel is soon altered and the sulphury Spirit that was before predominant in it is dull'd fix'd and suffocated so the salt acid latent Spirits comes forth into Action and the salt Particles somewhat separated from the Sulphury get the upper hand And hence it comes to pass that the hot sweetish Blood flows through the Arteries into the Spleen but by and by the sulphury Heat being extinguish'd together with the Sweetness it becomes Saltish or somewhat Acid and flows through the Splenic Branch from the Spleen to the Liver Which is the Reason a boyl'd Spleen tasts somewhat Sowrish And thus it happens in this Matter as in a Vinegar Vessel Vinegar is made out of Wine for the Vinegar Vessel is laid in a warm Place commonly in the Garret where the Sun may come at it Into this Vessel not quite full they pour a moderate Quantity of good strong Wine for weak Wine will not make good Vinegar Which done presently the sulphury sweet Spirit of the Wine is fix'd and suffocated by the salt and acid Particles predominating in the Vinegar and the salt and acid Particles which are lodg'd in the Wine are melted dissolv'd attenuated and forc'd to Action by the sharp Acidity of the Vinegar and so the Wine turns Eager and becomes Vinegar And thus the sulphureous Spirit of the Arterial Blood is fix'd and stifl'd partly by the Animal Spirits flowing through the Nerves partly by the acid and salt Spirits prepared and contain'd in the Spleen and the salt and acid Spirits that are in it get the upper hand which afterwards new sulphury Spirits that ly in the Venal Blood being mix'd therewith afresh are to be by the Liver altered into perfect Ferment XXI Now that the first Matter of the Ferment to be perfected in the Liver is prepared in the Spleen may be in some measure demonstrated by Experience For if the Spleen of an Ox Hog or other Male Creature be cut into small Bits and macerated in luke-warm Water and afterwards mixed with a small Quantity of Dough it dilates it and causes it to ferment like Yest or any other Leven Which it does so much the more effectually if the smallest Quantity of Vinegar be added to it XXII Now if this Function of the Spleen be interrupted there are two Causes of Diseases which arise from thence Some by reason of the salt and acid Iuice too thick and fix'd Others when it is too thin and volatile For when the salt and acid Juices in the Spleen are not sufficiently dissolv'd and attenuated then the Spirits which are extracted out of them are too sharp corroding and in too great Abundance and this Diversity produces Diversity of Diseases XXIII If the Spleen be weak either through its own or the Fault of the Nourishment or through any other Cause then the acid Iuice that is concocted in it is not sufficiently dissolv'd attenuated and volatiliz'd but remains thick and tartarous or earthy and the greatest Part of it lyes heap'd together in the Bladdery Substance of the Spleen and adjoyning Parts by reason of its crude Viscosity which causes the Spleen to wax great and to swell in regard the Spirit that lies hid within it is not sufficiently rous'd up but boyling a little in the narrow Passages in the Spleen and about the Spleen distends the whole Spleen and Parts adjoyning to it and raises a thousand windy Vapours with rumbling and roaring and a troublesome Distemper familiar to Hypochondriacks Which Mischiefs are very much encreased by a deprav'd Condition of the Pancreas proceeding from the Blood corrupted by the vitious Humors of the Spleen and brought to it through the Arteries By reason whereof it concocts its own Juice but ill and of over Salt leaves it too Acid or Austere which partly begets great Obstructions in the Pancreas the Disturbeââ¦s of the Function of that Bowel Partly flowing into the Intestines causes an undue Effervescency therein and infuses a bad subacid Quality into the Chylus whereby it becomes lyable to fixation or coagulation nor cannot be sufficiently attenuated Whence by reason of the more fixed and thicker Chylus remaining in the Abdomen and less prepared to farther Solution are generated Obstructions in the milkie Vessels in the Mesentery and Glandules of the Mesentery and therein a great Quantity of crude and ill Humors is heaped together from the Quantity and Corruption of which a thousand Diseases arise which are vulgarly called Melancholic and are said to arise from the Spleen but how they are bred by it has not been as yet sufficiently Explain'd But when the Blood remains too thick for want of effectual and convenient Ferment and Spirits not supply'd in sufficient Quantity the whole Body grows dull and languid and many Diseases arise For the Blood being thick and not sufficiently Spirituous and having salt crude and slimy Parts intermix'd with it by coagulating the Humors in the Liver and other Bowels of the Abdomen it breeds Obstructions and Scirrhosities It is not sufficiently dilated in the Heart but is forc'd too thick into the Lungs and there being yet more refrigerated by the Air drawn in it difficultly passes through the narrow Passages of 'em and so stuffing the Lungs and compressing the Gristles of the Windpipe causes difficulty of Breathing In the Heart it self by reason of the inequality of the Particles and the difficult Dilatation of many it produces an unequal and sometimes an intermitting Pulse In the Brain passing difficultly and disorderly through those narrow Channels it causes Noises and Heaviness of the Head and because it endammages the natural Constitution of the Brain and because it tears it with its remaining Acrimony the principal Animal Actions are thereby impaired the Imagination and Judgment are deprav'd the Memory is spoyl'd and thence Madness
and Restlesness Watching and such like Inconveniencies arise which cause true Melancholy But if that thicker Salt be somewhat more exalted and fluid and yet is not sufficiently Spirituous then the Blood requires an acid and austere Disposition as in the Scurvy and then the nervous Parts are torn and rack'd by it the thin Skins invelloping the Bones are pain'd and the softer Parts are corroded the Guts also are terribly grip'd and Ulcers arise in the Thighs very hard to be cured Moreover the Blood becomes unfit for Nutrition and thence a slow Atrophie of the whole Body The aforesaid salt Particles being coagulated in colder Kidneys and separated from the serous Humor harden into Stones but being separated in the Joynts and fixed to the sensitive Parts and corroding 'em they cause the sharp Pains of the Gout And lastly heap'd together in greater Quantity they breed knotty Bunches and Corns All which things happen if the fermentaceous Juice in the Spleen be too raw and thick XXIV But if the same Iuice be too thin and full of Spirits and be prepared too sharp then other Diseases arise It excites in the Blood a great Heat conjoyned with some Acrimony which because of the quick and disorderly Motion of the Animal Spirits causes Restlesness Watchings high Deliriums and Madness Sticking lightly coagulated in the Guts it breeds the running Gout for that sharp Humor being by reason of its Tenuity easily dissipated in one Part presently the Pain arises again in another Part to which some other Particles of the same Blood happen to adhere XXV The Spleen Scirrhous or Obstructed or any other manner of way vitiated by breeding a bad fermentaceous Iuice begets a thousand grievous Mischiefs All which things sufficiently make manifest the Office and Duty of the Spleen XXVI And in like manner the Function of the Liver is apparent from the Diseases that proceed from it when the Liver is colder than ordinary it is not able duly to digest the said Splenetic Iuice and together with the Venal Blood and the sulphury Iuice intermix'd and sticking to it to alter the splenetic Iuice into a due Ferment Whereby there can never be a due Fermentation The Chylus is not sufficiently concocted nor sufficiently prepared for future Fermentation in the Heart The venal Blood becomes Crude Serous neither does it get Spirits sufficient in the Heart but is attenuated only into a watry Vapour which turns to a watry Liquor in the Vessels and sost Parts and so filling the whole Body with Serum begets the Dropsy call'd Anasarca attended with continual Drought by reason of the salt Particles lodg'd in the Serum not well mix'd with the Blood which together with the Juices flowing from the Salival Vessels and at that time also saltish being carried to the Chaps and Gullet by reason of their dry Vellication or twitching of the Part occasion continual Drought XXVII But when the Liver is hot and consequently weak then by exalting the sulphury and oily Spirits out of the Blood it raises 'em in too great a Quantity by which the Force of the acid Iuice coming from the Spleen is very much weakened and a bad Ferment generated which produces Inflammations Corruption Fevers and other hot Diseases arising from an over deprav'd Fermentation and begets over much Choler Which Choler if it grow milder by reason of the Mixture of a little acid Juice then it breeds the yellow Iaundice But if sharp by reason of much Salt or acid and sharp splenetic Juice concocted with it then it occasions the Disease Cholera Diarrhaea Dysentery and other like Diseases XXVIII The Liver obstructed and scirrhous not causing the Generation and due distribution of good Ferment is also the Cause of several Crudities and many Diseases arising from Crudities As for the fermentaceous Quality of the Pancreatic Juice and what Diseases arise from a deprav'd Sweetbread has already been discoursed C. 10. XXIX In the Birth while it is in the Womb there is no need of any such Ferment at the Beginning because it is nourished by the Dissolution and Fusion of the Seed which contains in it self a Spirit moderately Fermentaceous and then by the milkie Iuice contained in the Amninium that needs less Ferment Afterwards when it requires somewhat stronger Nourishment brought through the umbilical Vein and begins to enjoy it then the whole Uterine Placenta supplies the Office of the Spleen and Liver and makes a more mild Ferment more proper for the Birth in the Beginning In the mean time the Liver and Spleen increase their Ferment to future Uses that is to prepare a more sharp Ferment afterwards that is when the Child being born should feed upon more solid Nourishment Which Duty however those Bowels do not perform presently after the Birth of the Child as it were by way of a Leap but were also by degrees accustomed to it in the Womb. For the more the Heat of the Heart increases and Blood is generated more full of Spirits and the more the Brain is brought to Perfection and becomes stronger the more sharp Spirits are generated in the Womb. And out of these two things Blood and Animal Spirits meeting every day stronger and stronger in the Spleen which by Degrees is brought to greater Perfection together with the Spleen and preparation of the fermentaceous Matter begins to be made and as for the manner of preparing the same Matter the said Bowels have gain'd to a sufficient Perfection as appears by the Choler which you shall find well concocted in the Gall-bladder of a newborn Infant XXX And thus I think I have set forth the true and never as yet sufficiently demonstrated Duty of the Liver and Spleen As also the Use of Choler Pancreatic Iuice and Lympha Many more things might be alledged for farther Proof but to the Learned what has been said may suffice The impartial Reader may confer these things with the Opinions of other Doctors that have wrote before us and then he will perceive how far they have err'd from the Mark. XXXI And now from what has been said it is manifestly apparent what a necessary League and Confederacy there is between the Liver and the Spleen and what and how many Diseases arise from the bad Constitution of either of these two Bowels How unlikely it is for a Man to live after his Spleen is cut out of his Body It is also apparent how erroneously the second grand Concoction is said to be made in the Liver Spleen and Sweet-bread when of necessity it must be made in the Heart For the forementioned Ferment is only made of the Blood and the Blood must be first made in the Heart before it can come to the Liver Spleen and Sweetbread And therefore the second general Concoction is made in the Heart the third in the Liver Spleen and Sweetbread CHAP. XVIII Of the Serum and Kidneys I. HAving thus explain'd the Office of the Liver
credible that either this or any other thick and feculent Humour could be conveighed through the most narrow Pores of the more solid Substance of the Nerves Others conjecture that there is a certain Rennet prepared in these Glandules which flowing from thence to the Kidneys causes therein a quick Separation of the Serum from the blood Which Opinion certainly carries with it great Probability if the way from these Pasages to the Kidneys could be demonstrated But what if we should say That that same black Juice is prepared out of the Arterious Blood and obtains a certain fermentative Power necessary for the Venal Blood for which reason it flows from them not to other Parts but endued with the same Quality flows through the Veins proceeding from the Capsulae to the Vena Cava But neither is this any more than a Conjecture Hence because the Use of these Glandules is so little known I am persuaded it happens that they were never taken into due Consideration by any of our Physicians Whereas we find that many Diseases arise from their being out of Order And therefore it is to be hop'd that all Practisers both Physicians and Anatomists will for the future observe these Parts more diligently and by frequent Dissections of dead Carkasses inform themselves what Diseases their Disorder and ill Temparature may occasion CHAP. XX. Of the Ureters I. THE Ureters ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to make Water and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã are certain oblong and white Vessels or round Channels proceeding from the Kidneys receiving the Serum strein'd from the Reins and carrying it to the Bladder together with the Gravel Choler Matter and other Iuices mix'd with the Serum II. They arise from the inward Concavity of the Kidneys whose various Pipes meeting and closing together form the Ureter III. One is generally granted to each Kidney seldome any more are found tho' it were twice my chance to find more which two Ureters however were united on both sides near the Bladder and enter'd it with an Orifice IV. They consist of a thick twofold and white Membrane the outermost common the innermost peculiar But Riolanus more judiciously acknowledges but one peculiar Membrane for that there is no outermost common Membrane joyned to it from the Peritonaeum The Ureters generally are contained under the Peritonaeum together with many other Parts but they are not particularly enfolded by that Membrane nor receive any peculiar Tunicle from the Peritonaeum as the Ventricle the Vena Cava the Liver and many other Bowels and Vessels do But the peculiar and only Membrane of which they consist is a Membrane strong nervous strengthened with some Fibres oblique and streight and Arteries and small Veins from the neighbouring Parts and furnish'd with Nerves from the sixth Pair and the Marrow of the Loyns which endue it with an exquisite Sense of Feeling Which little Nerves however Riolanus will not allow the ââ¦reters believing it enough to excite Pain that they are Membranous seeing that from the distension of a Membrane by a Stone or any sharp Substance there follows a Pain severe enough to be endur'd Wherein he mistakes for that any such thing can happen without the flowing in of the Spirits through the Nerves is prov'd from the Palsey in which Distemper the Membranes do not feel through the Defect of Animal Spirits nor do they display the least sign of Feeling that may be thought to proceed from their Structure and Composition V. These are very small in a Man about a Handful in length and about the breadth of a Straw Tho' sometimes they are very much dilated by Stones passing violently through and with a tormenting Pain so that sometimes they have been seen as broad as the small Gut VI. They proceed downwards from the Reins above the Psoâ⦠Muscles that be in the Hip between the double Membranes of the Peritonaeum somewhat reflex'd toward the lower Parts and in some manner by an oblique Course between the Membranes of the Bladder are inserted about the hinder parts of the Neck of the Bladder and are continued with the inner Substance of the Bladder in which place some believe 'em to be fortified with Valves at their Oriââ¦ices hindering the Return of the Urine from the upper Parts Which Valves however Riolanus Andrew Laurentius and Plempius call in Question and say that their oblique and winding Ingress into the Bladder stops the Return of the Urine out of the Bladder for which Opinion we also give our Vote CHAP. XXI Of the Piss-Bladder I. THE Piss-Bladder ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is a Membranous Organical Part of the lower Belly which retains the Serum received from the Kidneys and at length discharges it as being troublesom either through its Weight or Acrimony II. It is seated in the Hypogastrium between the double Tunicles of the Peritonaeum in the Cavity which is form'd by the Os Sacrum the Hip-Bone and Share-Bone In Men it leans upon the Intestinum Rectum and is joyn'd to the Prostatae Glandules in Women it sticks to the Neck of the Womb and in both is fastened to the Share-Bone before and it is also annexed to the Navel by the Urachus III. It consists of a threefold Membrane of which the outermost in Men but not in Brutes being surrounded with Fat proceeds from the Peritonaeum The middlemost which is thicker is endued with fleshy Fibres for Contraction and Expulsion of the Urine and hence by Aquapendens and Bartholine called the enfolding Muscle by Spigelius the Thruster downward of the Urine This if it be too much distended by ââ¦oo great a quantity of Urine occasions a total suppression of Urine because the Fibres of it being too much distended are so weakned that they cannot contract themselves again Which sort of Suppression of Urine Forestus writes that he himself was troubled with l. 25. Observ. 14. The innermost is thinner and being of a more exquisite Sense of Feeling is protected by a kind of Slime from the Corrosion of the Liquor contained in it This is found very much wrinkl'd in People that are troubl'd with the Stone IV. The Figure of it is oblong globous or round and sometimes sharp like a Pear V. The Bigness is not alike in all but in some larger in some less which extraordinary largeness is occasioned by its frequent and violent Distensions by too long a Retention of the Water VI. It has one Cavity which by the Observations of Physicians in some few has been seen distinguished into two by a Membrane or Fence in the middle VII There are three Holes belonging to it of which the two lesser before the Neck are open to the Entrance of the Ureters The third which is the bigger in the Neck gives way to the Urine going forth VIII It receives Arteries from the Hypogastries entring the sides of the Neck and carrying thither Blood
will object that the ruddy Colour of the Blood-bearing Vessels demonstrates that there is Blood in them which Colour however is hardly ever seen in the substance of the Stones and therefore no Blood-bearing Vessels seem to enter that substance I answer that happens through the extraordinary thinness of the Arteries pressed by the white Seed-bearing Vessels for which reason in a thousand other parts the little small Arteries and Veins are imperceptible Besides if a Stone be newly taken out of the Body and any ruddy Liquor be injected through a Syringe into the Spermatic Artery several Blood-bearing Vessels will swell up in the midst of the Stone and so become conspicuous Lastly I shall add what I have learnt by experience in Man That is in cutting out the Stones of vigorous and healthy Men that have been slain that for the most part no Blood-bearing Vessels are to be discovered in the inner Substance no nor in the Stones of living People cut out after the Cure of Burstenness or at most only some small Foot-steps of such Vessels appear in those sound persons But in Bodies emaciated by Diseases I have observed several small Branches of Blood-bearing Vessels slightly manifest but very slender running through the inner parts of the Stones which we did not only shew privately to several young Students in Physick but in March 1663. November 1668. in two Human Bodies emaciated by a long Distemper shewed the same to divers Spectators publickly in our Anatomy Theater The cause of which seems to be this For that as there is in the Brain a peculiar Specific power by vertue of which Animal Spirits are made of the Blood in its Vessels Fibres and Pores so also there is in the Testicles a peculiar Seminifick Power by vertue of which the Blood being carried into their Vasa Sanguifera is altered into Seed Now this active Power being strong and vigorous in sound People hence the more subtile and more salt Particles of the Blood carried through the little Arteries to their more inward parts together with the Animal Spirits coming through the Nerves fall into those Plexures or labyrinth-like and most wonderfully interwoven Vasa Sanguifera and being there received by them lose their ruddy Colour as the Chylus loses its white Colour in the Heart and is changed into white Seed But as for that small remainder of Blood remaining in the Vasa Sanguifera it is so obscur'd and discolour'd by the whiteness of the substance of the Stones and the said Vasa Sanguifera that it is not preceptible to the sight But in sickly People whose Stones as well as other bowels are weak the separation of those Particles of blood which are necessary for the making of Seed is neither well perform'd nor with sufficient speed for which reason the Sanguiferous Vessels are more tumid and containing more blood than ordinary and more visible to the Sight Moreover at the same time the ill separated and over ruddy Particles of the blood being affused into the Seminiferous Vessels are but ill and slowly concocted and altered into Seed therein and therefore the Sanguine red Colour appears in some measure here and there in these Vessels For the same cause it also happens that in those that are too frequent in Copulation there is sometimes an Ejection of blood instead of Seed the Stones being so debilitated by frequent Venery and over much spending of the Seed that the convenient Particles of blood flowing into those Vessels cannot so soon be separated from the rest nor changed into blood Now the forementioned Power proceeds from an apt convenient and proper formation and temper of the Stones which temper being either altered or weakned by Diseases or overmuch use of Women they also suffer in their Seminific Power as for the same reason the Power of making Spirits is weaken'd in the Brain XXVII Here a great question arises How the more salt Particles of the Arterial Blood infus'd into the Stones and most apt for Generation and the watery or white Particles come to be separated from the red Particles Which is a thing so dubious so obscure and intricate that never any Man as yet durst go about to unfold it or at least they who durst attempt to say any thing flying to peculiarity of Substance and Pores seem to have hardly said any thing at all In the preceding 14 Chapter we have told ye how that in the Liver the Separation of Humours to be segregated from the rest of the sanguin Humours is performed by small invisible Glaudulous Balls formerly unknown but in our times discovered by the diligence of Malpigills with the help of his Microscopes Also c. 18. We have likewise shewn ye that the blood passing through the Ash-coloured Substance of the Brain in that passage by reason of the peculiar property of its Glandulous Substance and its Pores loses its most subtil and spirituous saltish Particles which being imbibed by the beginning and roots of the small Nerves are there by degrees more and more rarified and attenuated and exalted to a more refin'd Spirituosity while the other ruddy and more Sulphury Particles are sucked up by the more small Veins and so by degrees return to the Heart And thus it seems probable that the same Operation is perform'd in the Stones For either some very small and hitherto by reason of their extraordinary Exility invisible Kernels or Glandulous Balls are intermix'd and scattered among the small Vessels of the Testicles by means of which such a necessary Separation is made Or else there is a certain white marrowy peculiar substance surrounding the small Vessels of the Testicles of which the Stones chiefly consist into which Substance the Arterious Blood being infused loses in its passage the most subtil saltish Particles of which the Seed chiefly consists most apt for the generation of Seed to be thereupon suckt up by the peculiar Vasa seminifera of the Testicles and more exactly to be prepared while the other Particles entring the Orifices of the small and imperceptible Veins return to the Spermatick Veins and so farther to the Heart But which of these ways is to be asserted or whether any other third way is to be determin'd upon we shall leave to them who by a more accurate Inspection or by the help of Microscopes shall be able to make a clear discovery In the mean time there must be something certain and assur'd of necessity by means of which the aforesaid Separation is to be performed For otherwise if by Transfusion alone the blood should immediately flow out of the Arteries into the Seminal Vessels there would be no reason why it should not all be converted into Seed but that some part of it should return through the little Veins to the Heart and moreover why its red Colour should not alwaââ¦s appear in the said Vessels XXVIII Besides the Vessels already mentioned by more accurate Inspection of Anatomists and that not so lately neither many Lymphatick Vessels have bin
Words The Vas deferens says he is endu'd with a manifest Hollowness which that it may be discerned this Vessel is to be opened six or seven Fingers breadth above the Testicle then force the Breath blown in or the coloured Liquor syring'd into it toward the Testicle and you shall find the Vessel distended and discern the coloured Liquor through the middle of it run in a right Channel to the Stone Then you shall perceive the Cavity in the Vessel it self rowle from side to side and lastly to be bow'd by degrees with the Vessel in the same manner as Serpents and Eeles when they strive to creep with more than usual Swiftness and so with Windings not circular but Sideways runs on to the Bodies of the Testicles Thus its Hollowness appears toward the Stones now how it may be observed toward the seminary Vesicles he tells us a little after This says he if ye desire to know clearly and distinctly thrust only a little Pipe into the Vas deferens which being distended either by blowing into it or injection of some Liquor you shall observe those seminary Vesicles to be speedily distended before any thing breaks forth into the Urethra Hence appears their Error who affirm that the Vasa semen deferentia or Vessels that carry the Seed have no Communion with the seminary Vesicles as being absolutely different from 'em and that they evacuate themselves through two peculiar Holes into the Urethra distinct from those through which the seminal Matter breaks forth from the Vessels LXI John Swammerdam sharply reproves this last Experiment of Regner de Graef and asserts for a certain that the Vesiculae Seminariae or seminary Vesicles have no Communion with the Vasa deferentia nor receive any Moisture from 'em and for the more solid Proof of this he tells us of a seminal Vesicle that he has at home inserted in three distinct Places in the Vasa deferentia This Argument Regner de Graef derides and in Opposition bids him shew more than ten seminal Vesicles wherein he can demonstrate that the seminal Vesicles do not terminate in the Vasa deferentia but the Vasa deferentia in them Iohn Van Horn sway'd by the Opinion of Swammerdam writes that the Seed breaks forth through peculiar Holes out of the Vasa deferentia but through other Holes out of the Vesicles into the Urethra But Swammerdam rejects this Opinion of Horn saying that it is only true in Bulls and not in Men in whom the Vesicles have an Exit into the Vasa deferentia in three distinct Places but no other Communication with ' em But I am of Opinion that that same threefold Egress of the Vesicles into the Vasa deferentia assign'd 'em by Swammerdam is rather the Entrance of the said Vasa deferentia into the Vesicles through which the Seed flows out of the one into the other For in the Dissections of human Bodies we manifestly find that the seminary Vesicles being squeez'd by the Finger the Seed does not break forth out of them into the Vasa deferentia through those three distinct Openings but in the same place into the Urethra Which is a certain Demonstration that the Seed flows forth through those three Orifices into the Vesicles but does not flow out of 'em again the same way Lastly After he has said all Swammerdam concludes that there is a fourfold Matter out of which the Seed is made One out of the Testicles a Second from the Ends of the Vasa deferentia a Third out of the seminary Vesicles a Fourth proceeding from the Parastates But in regard that Entities are not to be multiplied without Necessity I know not why so many Matters of one Seed and so many Parts should be alledg'd for the Preparation of those several Matters No Man I suppose will deny but that the Seed is compounded of Arterial Blood and Animal Spirits and seeing that Spermatic Arteries together with small Nerves are carried into the Testicles and that there is no Progress of either to the Vasa deferentia the Vesicles or Parastates any where to be separately discern'd it seems more likely that there is but one seminal Matter that is to say Arterial Blood conjoyn'd with animal Spirits which is altered and concocted into true Seed in that wonderful Contexture of the Vessels of which the Stones consist and which flowing from them through the Parastates and Vasa deferentia in those Windings and Turnings gains something to its greater Perfection by which means it may be preserv'd in the seminary Vessels untainted till the time of necessary Evacuation And hence it is that the Experiment of Regner de Graef seems more consonant to Reason by which the Communication of the Vasa deferentia with the Vesicles is confirm'd than that of Horn and Swammerdam by which it is opposed For as they produce the Testimony of Ocular View so does he but where Ocular View is deficient there Reason is to be call'd to our Assistance and she is to determine concerning the Truth of the Matter And this Example may help us for as Spirit of Wine being so thin and subtil that ascending the Alembic it becomes Invisible and cannot be embody'd till descending from thence through the Serpentine Brass Tube set in cold Water it attains such a Perfection of Condensation that it flows down into the Receptacle to be preserv'd for Use. In like manner the several Windings and Meanders of the Vasa deferentia serve to concoct and thicken the Seed afore it fall into the seminary Vessels Moreover as Nature in our Bodies appoints one Part to make the Chylus which Chylus flowing through the long Meanders of the Intestines acquires therein a great Purity and Separation from feculent Matter tho' the Intestines themselves conduce nothing to the making of the Chylus it self So is it in all the spermatic vessels which singly make no particular Matter conducing to the Composition of the Seed but only the Stones alter the first Matter into Seed which in its Passage through the other Parts gains some greater Perfection and apter Disposition to be preserv'd without Corruption for Use. Lastly That some new Humour or Juice as Chylus Blood Choler c. may be made it is not brought to pass by a bare Confusion of various Matters but by a specific Fermentation of the Humours in some specific Part or Bowel without which no other new Juice or Humour can be made of no Humours as is apparent when those Bowels are become weak and enfeebled by any unsound Constitution for then they are not able to prepare those new Juices But now if the most noble Seed which contains in it self a Compendium of entire Man should be composed out of those four Matters flowing and mixing together in the Ureter from several Parts as Swammerdam believes then a new seminal Liquor would be made out of those four Matters simply mix'd and confus'd without any other peculiar Concoction of those four Matters so confused appointed and precedent in any other
squeezing it together make that same Globe And thus by the Acrimony of the same Vapour ascending higher the Diaphragma the Muscles of the Throat and Jaws and other parts are contracted by the copious influx of Animal Spirits whence proceeds that Suffocation Nor does the hard binding of a broad Swathe or a long Napkin about the belly avail in such a case to hinder the ascent of that same Substance or Globe which women take to be their womb any otherwise than only because that by means of that hard binding the copious ascent of that sharp malignant Vapour arising from the womb or stones is hinder'd which Vapour being then detain'd below that Ligature is dissipated by the heat of the surrounding parts XXX Here by the way we are to take notice that Francis de le Boe Sylvius with whom Regner de Graef agrees in this Particular does not acknowledg the forementioned cause of the Hysteric Passion but has imagined another quite different that is to say that the Fault of the Pancreatic Iuice is the only cause of the Hysteric Symptomes aforesaid and so most couragiously rejects the Opinions in this case of all the antient and most of the modern Physicians and excuses the Womb and spermatick Parts from being the Occasion of those Symptoms But altho' some Symptoms having as it were some Similitude with some hysteric Effects may sometimes be occasioned by the defects of the Pancreatic Juice which I am unwilling altogether to deny yet by diligent Observation they may be sufficiently distinguished one from the other and I my self have observ'd 'em no less in Men than in Women nevertheless always to accuse the unfortunate Pancreas of this Miscarriage seems a little too hard when the Dissections of Women as well by my self as others many times instructed us that the Sweet-bread had no share many times in those hysteric Affections as being altogether sound and perfect but that the Fault lay in the Stones that were very much swell'd sometimes one and sometimes both half as bigg as a Hens Egg sometimes ill coloured and full of a virulent Liquor and when as also it has been observed that in such a uterine Suffocation that all the Symptomes have ceased upon Copulation or the evacuation of Seed upon the Midwife's digitizing the part affected and that by the use of moderate Coition the return of the Fit has been prevented whereas the same Remedies us'd could no way avail to remove any Distemper of the pancreatic Juice either easily suddainly well or pleasantly XXXI Neither can any thing be concluded from Scents in behalf of the said Opinion touching the Motion of the Womb. For the Womb is not endued with Understanding and consequently is no way affected with this or that good or bad Smell For it has no Nose nor any other Organ of Smelling and therefore makes no Distinction between sweet or stinking Smells neither covets or loves or flies or hates either the one or the other neither is sensible of any Smells as Smells neither is affected by them as they are Smells but by their hot attenuating sharp discussing Quality XXXII Now that stinking Smells held to the Nostrils abate the Hysteric Fit it is not because the Womb avoiding the Stench of stinking Smells descends but because the Sense of smelling being offended by the ill Smells the Brain contracts it self and so not only sends fewer Spirits to the contracting Fibres of the Guts and Nerves of the Mesentery the Diaphragma and the Muscles of the Iaws but also stops the Entrance of the Vapors ascending from the Testicles and Womb into those Parts and expells those that were entered before Which stinking Smells by virtue of their singular discussing Faculty dissipate as well in the Brain as in the Jaws and so the Woman not only recovers herself but upon the Relaxation of the Muscles of the Jaws is freed from her Fit XXXIII On the other side sweet Smells increase the Fit not because the Womb ascends to meet 'em but because while their Fragrancie delights the Sense to the end the woman may the longer enjoy that Pleasure the Brain dilates it self and so not only permits a greater Quantity of Spirits to flow to the Fibres aforesaid and increase the Fit but also admits more plentifully a greater Quantity of noxious Vapours ascending from the Womb through the Pores every way dilated whence the Effects of the Hysterical Passion Anxietie Raving Drowsiness and sometimes Epileptic Convulsions c. But sweet things being rubb'd about the inside of the Privity because they attenuate the thick and malignant Humours they dilate the Pores and powerfully discuss Trincavel Eustachius Rudius Hercules Saxonia and Mercurialis give quite different Reasons for this thing which Daniel Sennertus rejects and refutes Who nevertheless not being well able to get out of this Labyrinth and finding that the Womb is not sensible of Smells nor is affected by 'em as they are Smells flys to a certain hidden Quality affecting the Womb imperceptible to our Senses which he believes to adhere in such a manner to the Odours as not to be separated from ' em But there is no such need in this case of flying to any such occult Quality when the whole thing is plainly to be made out by manifest Qualities and Reasons XXXIV That the Womb in women with Child extends it self every way or slips out in falling down makes nothing to prove its spontaneous Motion For in Women with Child the womb does not simply ascend but grows and swells upward and round about through all its parts For as the Birth grows so its Domicil inlarges it self and the bigger the Child grows the bigger thicker and more fleshy becomes the womb so that near the time of Delivery it comes to be as thick as a Mans Thumb or the breadth of two Fingers Which is not caused by the sole Influence of the Blood and Humours into the Porosities of the womb but by a real firm and fleshy Increment But there is a great Difference between the inlarging of the womb and its spontaneous Motion For the one requires a long time the other is done in a Moment and should and ought to cease In the one the Substance of the womb is enlarged and thicken'd in the other it ought to be extended and attenuated XXXV In the falling down of the Womb the Motion is not Spontaneous for the Ligaments of it being loosened and the Substance of it being affected with a cold and moist Distemper it falls with its own weight as all heavy things and paralytic Members having lost their own spontaneous Motion slip downwards In the same manner as a Man who falls from a high Steeple does not move himself downward of his own accord but is mov'd by his own weight against his will From all which it is apparent that the womb moves neither upward nor downward nor tumbles about the lower Belly with a vagous Motion but sometimes by accident
made of a certain Iuice that falls from the Brain and Marrow of the Back-bone Thus writes Hippocrates l. de Gen. that the Seed is diffus'd out of the Brain into the Loyns and Marrow of the Back-bone Thus also writes Plato in Timaeus That the Seed is a Deflux of the Marrow of the Back-bone and Alââ¦maeon that it is a Portion of the Brain VI. The more Modern Authors who could find no such large Conveyances from the Brain and Spinal Marrow to the Stones rejected the foresaid Opinion altogether and asserted the Blood to be generated out of the Blood flowing through the Spermatical Vessels to the Stones Which Opinion as most true and indubitable for many Ages has been receiv'd and taught by all the Philosophers VII But of late Glisson Wharton and Charleton English Physicians have oppos'd this receiv'd Opinion who write that the Matter of the Seed is a more crude and chylous Humour carried from the Mesentery to the Brain and thence to the Stones through the Nerves of which they say there are a vast number inserted into the Testicles and Epididymis which is contrary however to all Experience when our own Eyes tell us thaâ⦠only very few and those very small and scarce visible Nerves reach to those Parts VIII Clement Niloe produces another Opinion affirming the Seed to be generated out of the Lymphatic Liquor But in regard the Lympha never flows to the Stones out of any other Parts but while the Seed is making is separated out of that Seminal Matter and out of the Testicles themselves through the Lymphatic Vessels that take their rise within the Testicles ascends to the Abdomen and so to the Vasa Sanguifera it is apparent that the Seed is not made out of the Lympha but that the Lympha is only occasion'd by the making of the Seed as it is also an Effect of the making of bilious Ferment Cap. 13 14. Moreover if the Lympha should be carried to the Testicles as it is not and in them should be mix'd with the Matter that is to be chang'd into Seed then it would not hold proportion with the Matter so to be chang'd into Seed but only with the Ferment preparing the Matter that it may be conveninently turn'd into Seed So that Niloe does not seem to have observ'd the Motion of the Stones upward nor to have understood the use of it Cap. 13. 17. IX Hieronymus Barbatus of Padua seems not to recede far from this Opinion who Lib. de Sang. Sero writes that the Seed is not generated out of the Seed but out of the Serum Which Opinion he endeavours to support with many but such insipid Reasons as are not worth Refutation But none of these either Modern or Ancient Opinions have hit the Mark. But he who considers more seriously the Prolific Liquor will certainly find that to the making of the Seed there concurs for Matter partly Blood flowing through the Spermatic Arteries partly Animal Spirits brought through the Nerves X. That the Blood constitutes the first Mass of the Seed is apparent from the large Spermatic Arteries carried to the Stones which carry more Blood than only serves for the Nourishment of the Stones The same is confirm'd by the Spermatic Veins carrying back to the Vena Cava the Blood that remains after the Nourishment of the Stones and making of the Seed The same is also taught by Experience when upon immoderate Copulation we shall find the Blood to be ejected instead of Seed not without some kind of Titillation as Aristotle himself acknowledges and the observation of several Physicians testifies by reason that the Blood flowing in great quantity through the Arteries has not sufficient time to stay in the Stones nor Animal Spirit pour'd out of the Nerves strong and plentiful enough that the Blood could be converted into Seed in so short a space Add to this that in the Stones themselves and other Spermatic Vessels weaken'd by immoderate Copulation and the overmuch dissipation of the Spirits the Seminific power becomes debilitated so far as not to be able so speedily to convert into Seed the Blood which is brought being destitute of sufficient Spirit from the Nerves Which weakness is apparent from hence that after immoderate Copulation the Seed first generated is crude and watery And this Experience Reason supports which teaches us that the Blood concurs in the Seed as the primary and greatest part of the Matter For that in our Bodies all things are enliven'd by the Vital Spirit flowing from the Heart and inherent in the Arterious Blood and that decaying nothing can be reviv'd for that if upon any occasion that Blood be stopp'd from flowing into the parts they presently dye away Hence of necessity that enlivening Spirit must be infus'd into the Seed as containing in it self an enlivening Power chiefly requisite in the Seed which Spirit since it cannot be conferr'd without the Subject to which it is inherent that is Arterious Blood hence it follows undoubtedly that the Blood concurs to constitute the Matter of the Seed XI Now that the Animal Spirits brought by the Nerves and thicken'd in the Stones into a thin Liquor and mix'd with the Blood of necessity concurs to the Matter of the Seed is apparent from hence that there is a great Correspondence between the Brains and the Testicles in regard the Brain the Nerves and all the nervous Parts are much weaken'd by immoderate Copulation and in regard that the waste of much Seed wasts also a great part of the Animal Spirits attended by lassitude and a manifest impairing of the Strength together with sadness and dejection of Mind there is thereby a disturbance in a Man's Countenance accompanied with a trembling of the Limbs all which things declare that the Animal Spirits are plentifully evacuated with the Seed Which Seed if it were only made of the Blood such Symptomes would never attend the Evacuation of a little Seed for that a whole Pint of Blood taken from a Man does not weaken him so much as the loss of an Ounce of Seed To this we may add the Consideration of the Spinal Consumption thus described by Hippocrates Lib. 2. de Morb. The Spinal Consumption says he arises from the Marrow of the Back-bone and chiefly seizes upon new married and libidinous Brides Concerning which if you ask the Patient he will tell you that he feels as it were Flies and Emmets creeping along from the upper parts as the Head c. down to the Back-bone And when he goes to Stool or makes Water he voids a great quantity of Liquid Genital Seed nor can he generate tho' he lyes with his Wife He is the Laughing-stock of Venus and suffers Nocturnal Pollutions as well as at other times but especially when he has travell'd a sleep place or run hard he draws his breath short he loses his strength his Head akes and his Ears sound By the Description of this Disease it
is sufficiently manifest that there is a certain Spirit that flows through the Nerves from the Brain and Back-bone to the Composition of the Seed For hence it is that the Brain being weaken'd after immoderate Coition there happens a Deflux of Spirits not sufficiently concocted but crude from the Brain to the Spinal Marrow whence happens a Colliquation and a flagging and loosness of the Nerves Hence Nocturnal Pollutions in the sleep the Spermatic Vessels being weaken'd by immoderate Coition and having lost their retentive Faculty besides that that same crude and unconcocted Spirit flowing through the Nerves becomes somewhat salt and acrimonious and with its Acrimony vellicating and tickling the weaken'd Genitals provokes them to an Effusion of Seed XII Now this Animal Spirit diffus'd through the Nerves from the Brain to the Stones and there thickned into a thin Liquor there in that same Contexture of small Vessels of which the Substance of the Stones consists is mingled with the spiritous Blood and by slightly fermenting it with its Acrimony and separating the Lymphatic Iuice which is to be carried upward through the Lymphatic Vessels rising out of the Substance of the Stones to the inner parts of the Abdomen by the means of certain small scarce visible Glandules dispers'd among the small Vessels of the Testicles specifically dissolves the saltish Particles of it and separates it from the Redundancy of the Sulphurous Liquor with which salt Particles and some few Sulphury in its long and winding passage through the small Vessels of the Stones by a specific Faculty of the Stones themselves it is concocted into Seed which flows from the Parastates through the Vasa Deferentia into the Seminary Vesicles where it is condens'd into a frothy Liquor and is reserv'd till the time of Evacuation Now because this salt Liquor has the greatest share in the Composition of the Seed and that its fruitfulness and balsamic Power chiefly proceeds from thence the Ancients feign'd that Venus sprang out of the Sea and gave the Appellation of salacity to Lust. XIII Now that the salter Particles of the Blood separated by a certain Effervescency necessarily and in great quantity concur in the Composition of the Seed and far exceed the sulphury Particles various Arguments assure us First Because in fat Bodies where fat and sulphurous Humours predominate there is little Seed generated and hence they have little proclivity to Venery 2. Because in drier Bodies where salt Humours predominate much Seed is generated which make 'em more able for the Sports of Venus 3. Because the subacid Seed exhales a kind of smell which must necessarily proceed from a dissolv'd Salt 4. Because the increasing of that in quantity excites an itching Titillation and provoke to Lasciviousness 5. Because the Fertility of most things proceeds from Salt either melted or dissolv'd by heat and thence it is no wonder that the foecundity of Human Seed chiefly depends upon it The first is apparent from many Experiments Wood-ashes especially of Burnt-oak strew'd over the Fields renders 'em much more fertile and that Fertility is more lasting than the spreading of Cow-dung over the same Fields which only causes a Fertility quick and of short dââ¦rance Because they contain a greater quantity of Salt which being melted by the Rain and attenuated by the heat of the Sun augments that Fertility of Grass and Herbs Grounds dung'd with the Dung either of Men or Pigeons or Poultry enfertilize those Lands ten times more than either Cow or Horse dung because the other contains ten times a greater quantity of balsamic Salt Rain-water impregnated with much volatile Salt attenuated by the heat of the Sun and with the watery Vapours exhal'd and thickned into clouds causes the Herbs and Plants to flourish and grow to a greater Perfection than if water'd with other Water Hence Aristotle writes in his Hist. Animal l. 8. c. 19. that Reeds which grow in Lakes and Ditches never thrive so well as when great store of Rain falls In like manner Fish in their Ponds thrive much better when it rains The Dew impregnated with a Volatile and Balsamick Salt produces several sorts of Worms and Insects upon the Trees In Vinegar expos'd to the Sun and long kept we find many times little Worms to breed concerning which thing Bartholine gives us a remarkable Observation Hist. Anat. cent 4. hist. 13. who admires it indeed but seems not to understand the Reason Which is plain because the whole Acidity of the Vinegar proceeds from the Salt being exactly melted and dissolv'd which appears from the Spirit of Salt which is most acid and for that common Salt being boyl'd with Vinegar renders it much more acid Now the thinnest Particles of this melted Salt attenuated and volatiliz'd by the heat of the Sun agitate the Particles of the Vinegar with particular Motions and so joyning with some after one with others after another manner beget a kind of Fertility which breeds Worms enliven'd by the Beams of the Sun And thus I think we have sufficiently prov'd that there is a very great balsamic power in Salt and that the foecundity of all things living proceeds from and out of Salt So that it need not seem a wonder that more salt Particles should be requisite to compose the Matter of Seed than sulphury Particles But I have told you that they are plentifully separated from the Blood by a certain way of Fermentation caus'd by the Animal Spirits flowing to the Stones which Animal Spirit consists of salt sharp Particles XIV Now if the Animal Spirits flow through the Nerves in sufficient quantity and strong enough to the Stones and there be concocted into a spiritous Liquor together with the said spiritous Salt part of the Arterious Blood or be duly prepar'd and chang'd in the long windings and turnings the Seed becomes well concocted spirituous and fruitful which thickning in the Seminary Vessels in Copulation is ejected white But if that Spirit flow weak and in small quantity to the Stones the Seed then generated becomes crude watery and not so white the Spirits being dissipated as it happens through immoderate Copulation and the Spermatic Parts become weak frigid and moist through which ill temper of the Parts the narrow ends of the little Nerves that lose themselves in the Stones grow limber and fall so that very few Animal Spirits can penetrate to the Stones and such as pass through are stifled by the extream coldness and moisture of the Stones and thence it happens that there is no convenient Fermentation in the Blood flowing through the Spermatic Arteries but the greatest part of it is converted into crude waterish and sharp Juice which being carried to the Seminary Vesicles and there gather'd together easily burst forth into the Urethra especially in Venereal Dreams XV. And for the same Reason the viscous Seminal Matter that uses to settle in the Prostates is also crude and watery and by its extraordinary Moisture relaxing the Pores toward
us that if a woman with Child continually and strongly think of the maim'd part of any Man from which she took a suddain Fright she brings a maim'd Infant into the World tho' both she and her Husband had their Limbs perfect and quite the contrary if she continually think of a perfect and sound Child she will bring forth a Child perfect in its Limbs tho' perhaps either she or her Husband might want a Limb. In like manner a Man may more easily imprint into the seminal Spirits the Ideas of Parts defective than the Woman through her Imagination can deface alter or deprave those parts And as this is certain of a woman by Experience the same is still more certain of a Man Neither is it to be questioned but that if the Parents think continually and much upon those defective Parts nor by other Imaginations imprint in the seminal Spirit the Ideas of those defective Parts they shall beget Children maim'd in those parts This is apparent from hence in the first part that if the Parents were born maim'd in any part when they have not been able afterwards to imagin any Ideas of the entireness of that part as being that which they never knew perfect in themselves frequently the Children are maim'd in that part But if they were maim'd in any Member long after they were born then easily and strongly imagining the Idea of that part of which they knew the soundness and the use before they may supply that defect in the Seed and its Spirit XXXV But how the said Idea's are imprinted in the Seed by the Imagination of the Parent is not so easily explain'd However thus it seems to happen The Image of the thing often and seriously thought upon is exactly delineated in the Brain and that Picture and its bringing into Shape being imprinted in the Animal Spirits and by them communicated also to the arterious Blood together with these that are to be the matter of the Seed is carried to the Stones and in the making of the Seed supplies therein the defect of those Ideas which could not flow from the parts of which the Parent was destitute and so the Seed with its enlivening Spirit furnished with all the necessary Idea's of the several parts of the whole Body acquires such an Aptitude that all the parts may be form'd out of it even those Parts of which the Parent is destitute That this is thus done in the Seed is no such Wonder seeing that after the same manner sometimes the Idea's of various things are imprinted in the Birth already form'd through the strong Imagination of the Mother Because that the Idea's of things imagined and exactly depainted in the Brain being imprinted in the Animal Spirits by the determination of the Spirits made by the Mind or Will together with the Arterious Blood flow to the womb of which and of the Birth therein contained the great bellied Woman often thinks thence they are carried through the umbilical Vein to the Birth it self which being very tender by reason of the extraordinary softness of its Body easily receives the Idea strongly imprinted into it by the Imagination of the Mother as an Image seen is imprinted into the soft Brain to be shortly offered again to the Memory which is very small at the Beginning but increases more and more as the Child grows in the womb as Letters or Pictures slightly engraven with a Penknife upon the Rinds of a Cucumber or Melon grow by degrees with the Fruit. And thus also the Images of visible things at a great Distance are depainted in the Tunicle of the Eye by the help of the Intermediate Air and Sounds are conveighed through the Air to Places remote XXXVI Swammerdam proposing this Doubt to me in his Miracle of Nature How it comes to pass that Parents maim'd in some Parts beget whole Children as if he would with one Herculean Argument dilucidate the whole Obscurity answers because all the parts are contained in the Egg. But if this be the true Cause how comes it that out of that one Egg containing all the Parts sometimes a Child happens to be born maim'd in some parts and that sometimes when the Parents are sound and perfect in all their Limbs and such as before that have begot and afterwards also beget entire limb'd Children Why should the Foundation of an Arm or a Legg or any other part be more wanting in that Egg than in the Eggs of other women both before and afterwards conveighed to the womb out of which entire Childeren have been conceived If these women's Eggs contain all the parts of the birth in themselves why does Swammerdam himself say that Levi long before he was born lay in the Loyns of his Parents Will he have also some Eggs to be generated in the Loyns of Men 'T is to be fear'd he will shortly bring 'em as well out of the Heads as out of the Loyns of Men and the Stones of Women XXXVII Here another Doubt arises seeing that those spirituous Irradiations equally happen from all parts of the Body in the Body of a Child as well as of one grown to Maturity Why the Office of Generation may not equally be perform'd as well by a Child as by a Person fully grown When as the forming Spirit is equally present in both I answer this falls ouâ⦠for two Causes 1. Because that in a Child that Spirit has not yet a Subject wherein to inhabit For the Blood being very Oylie is consumed in the Growth and nourishment of the Body so that there is no superfluous blood out of which the seed can be duly made 2. Because that in a Child there are wanting those requisite Mediums to perfect that Work For besides the extream Oyliness of the Matter and its unaptness the spermatic Vessels are over weak to make Seed In Males the Yard is too short and the Passages are too narrow to conveigh the Seed out of the Stones to the seminary Vessels and thence to the Vrethra In Females the Vessels are two small and straitened and the womb too narrow to receive the Seed XXXVIII From what has been said perhaps some one may raise another Question seeing that the spirituous ââ¦dea-bearing Irradiations are to be considered only in the Seed of a Man how it comes to pass that the Birth does not always resemble the Male parent in likeness of Feature and Form but frequently the Mother Hippocrates of old gave sundry Reasons for this taken from the various Quality and Quantity of the Seed of a Man and Woman mix'd together Whose Opinion many follow but do not explain it all alike Among whom are Capivaccius and Deusingius whose Opinions because they are grounded upon no solid Foundations we shall omit for Brevities Sake My Opinion is that all this whole Matter depends upon the Imagination of the Mother For a bigg-bellied Woman always thinking this or that when she is awake and converting her Thoughts for
the Body attains that strength and firmness between the fourteenth and twentieth year that then the Seed begins to be generated and acquires every day so much the greater perfection by how much the Body grows stronger and needs less growth Now the reason why Seed is not generated at younger years and in Childhood is vulgarly imputed to the growth of the Body upon which the superfluous part of the Blood of which the Seed is hereafter to be made is then consumed But this Reason is far fetch'd and only a sign of the Cause why Seed is not generated First therefore we are to enquire why at younger years the Body most increases in bulk and grows so fast that by the knowledge of this we may come to know why the Seed is not generated at that Age. LXIII The growth of the Body proceeds from hence because all the Parts abound with a moist sulphurous oily Iuice and for that reason are very flexible and apt to extend so that the Animal Spirits flowing into them the Blood pour'd into the Arteries for Nourishment sake do not so sharply ferment and therefore cannot make a sufficient separation of the salt Particles from the sulphury Partly because their force is debilitated by the copious Moisture and oiliness of the sulphury parts partly because the Brain it self being as yet very much over moist does not at that time breed such sharp Humours as to make a smart Effervescency which afterwards come to be generated in greater quantity when all the parts come to be drier For this Reason also the Spermatic Vessels where the chief strength of Semnification lies are not then so very much dryed but by reason of the copious more moist and oily Particles of the Nourishment continually poured in upon them they are extended and grow in length and thickness and that so much the more swiftly by how much more moist and oily Nourishment feeds them as it happens in Infancy and Childhood But their strength and solidity is then more increased when they become dryer and grow less I speak of moderate and convenient driness not of a total consumption of moisture Now the reason why they become more dry is because the overmuch oily Moisture is by degrees consum'd by the increasing heat and by that means the overmuch moisture and lankness of the Spermatic Parts is abated and they become stronger in regard a greater quantity of the salt Particles separated from the Blood is mingled with them and is more firmly united and assimilated to them LXIV The same cause that promotes and cherishes the growth of the Body hinders the Generation of Seed in Children Hence it is that the Blood is more moist and oily and the Animal Spirits themselves less sharp and fewer in quantity flow to the Stones so that there is only enough for the growth of the Parts but not for the Generation of Seed But afterwards through the increase of heat that oily superfluous substance being somewhat wasted then the Brain being dryer begets sharper Animal Spirits which being mix'd with the Arterious Blood carried through the Nerves to the Stones more easily separate from it the salter Particles more fit for the Generation of Seed with which being condens'd and mix'd into a thin Liquor by the proper quality of the Stones proceeding from their peculiar structure and temper they are concocted into Seed which becomes so much the more perfect by how much the copious Moisture is predominant therein which in perfect Seed ought to be but moderate LXV And hence it is also apparent wherefore in old Age very little or watery or no Seed at all is made in the Stones Because that by reason of their abated heat over much moisture again prevails at that Age through the whole Body tho' not so oily as in Childhood but crude and more watery whence the Brain becomes moister and begets fewer or less eager Spirits and the Blood becomes colder and moister Moreover the Parts themselves concocting the Seed become more languid and over moist and consequently unapt as well in respect of the Matter as their own proper debility to make Seed I except some sort of old men vigorous in their old Age who at fourscore and fourscore and ten have begot Children as Platerus relates concerning his own Father LXVI As to the latter Question why Eunuchs and gelded Animals become more languid and less vigorous the Reason is because that through the cutting out of the Stones there follows an extraordinary change of the whole Temper of the Body in regard that lustful seminal Breathing ceases which is diffus'd over all the Parts of the Body which is apparent from the peculiar Smell and Rankness of Tast in the Flesh of Beasts ungelt and by means of which the Blood and other Humours are more warmly heated and the Spirits rendered more smart and vigorous This remarkable Alteration of Temperament is apparent in Eunuchs from hence that the Hair grown before Castration never falls off and the Hair not grown before either upon the Lips or other parts never comes Quite contrary to what befalls those that are not geit LXVII The same is manifestly observed in Deer who shed their large Beams every Year and then new ones come the next Year in their places but being gelt presently after they have shed their Horns their Antlers never grow again but they become very fat Now this change of Temper caused by the defect of lustful and masculine seminal inward Breathings thorough the whole Body tends toward Cold whence it happens that the Blood becomes more oily and less fervent and the animal Spirits are generated less sharp and vigorous and less dispers'd and that part of the Blood which otherwise ought to be consum'd in Seed and seminal Spirits remains solely in the Body fills the Vessels and more plentifully nourishes every part and that plenty and oyliness of the Blood moistens and plumps up the Body to a more extraordinary Corpulency For the fermenting Quality of the animal Spirits in such an abounding Quantity of sanguineous Juice tho' less fervent being now more languid and remiss becomes less able to separate the sulphury and oily Particles of the Blood from the salt ones which for that reason remaining mix'd together in greater quantity and joyn'd together for the nourishment of the Parts moisten them less and render them fatter but more languid and not so strong For that Interposition hinders the more dry and salter Particles of the Blood from being firmly united to the spermatic Vessels LXVIII To this we may add that in those that are gelt by reason of that extraordinary Redundancy of oylie Blood the Brain it self is overmuch moistened whence the Spirits become less sharp subtil and vigorous and consequently less sharp and fit for animal Actions Which make Eunuchs more dull less couragious languid and effeminate and slower in all the Exercises both of Body and Mind LXIX From the same Redundancy
be true by the Experience of many Years Now when after frequent Tryals I still met with nothing in the Cavity of the Womb I began at first to douââ¦t whether the Seed of the Man could by any manner of way either by injection or attraction enter the Place of Conception And at length often repeated Inspection confirm'd me in the Opinion that nothing of Seed ever reached those Places And from hence at last he concludes that the mans Seed neither contain'd in it self the active Power of Forming nor was the matter out of which the thing was to be form'd nor that it entered the Womb or was therein detain'd And that he might describe the Principle and Subject of Conception he flies to Quality without Matter to Species without Subject and an idle Conception of the Womb without the Brain For saith he because there is nothing sensible to be found in the Womb after Conception and yet there is a necessity that there should be something to infertilize and that cannot be Corporeal it remains that we have Recourse to meer Conception and Conception of Species without Matter that no man may question but that the same thing happens here which happens in the Brain And a little after As we from the Conception of a form or Idea in the Brain produce another like it in our Actions So the Idea or Species of the Parent being in the Womb by the assistance of the forming Faculty begets a Birth resembling it while he imprints upon his Work a Species which he has in himself immortal And so he concludes that Conception is produced in the Womb by the receiving of Species's without and that the Womb it self while it stirs up the forming Faculty according to that Idea conceived in it self is the principal Cause of Formation whereas the whole Formation is accomplish'd in the Egg both in and out of the prolifick Principle of the Seed and the womb affords nothing but a convenient place and cherishing receptacle for the Seed XX. Now tho' Deusingius contradicts Harvey yet he seems to be in a great quandary and shunning Charybdis for fear of falling into Scylla proposes the Question quite otherwise than Harvey but confirms his Opinion with no more solidity at all For he writes that the Seed of the Male being injected into the Privities of the Woman and as it were by infection changes as well the accidental as substantial temper of the womb and whole body and confers such a disposition upon the body and the womb by which it is wrought to the top of maturity and impregnated as Fruits are ripen'd by the Summers heat So that tho' afterwards the whole mass of the Male Seed flow forth of the womb after Coition or tho' the spirituous portion also exhale into nothing yet the spirituous substance of the Womans body receives such an impression from the said temper as the spirituous portion of the Man's Seed first made by vertue of its own proper nature In which words the learned Man seems to ascribe to the Seed of Man in conception no other effect than that it changes the disposition of the Woman and her womb and contributes to it an aptitude to form and find materials but that the Seed of the Man after coition comes away again as altogether useless As if that change of temper and preparation to maturity were to be made in coition so suddainly and as it were at a jump by the only injection of the Male Seed and that the Woman not long before ripe for Man of her self through the increase of her own proper heat and of blood and spirits did not become fit for the generation of eggs and conception and that conception did not in a short time happen after coition but only upon a great and preceding preparation and a long alteration of the Womans whole body caus'd by the frequent injection of the Man's Seed Besides the Comparison is ill that the Seed of the Man should mature the Woman as the Sun ripens the Fruit because a Woman is not matur'd by the Man's Seed but by her own inward heat and so produces such Fruit that is her own Seed included in the Egg to cherish and ferment the prolific Principle separated from the Man's Seed and infus'd into the Egg and to set it at liberty as also for the generating of the Tunicles and Membranes that enfold the Birth and for the most proper and convenient Nourishment of the new-form'd Birth XXI So that Harvey's Inspections into the Conceptions of brute Animals not only deluded himself but Deusingius Regius and several other learned Men who suffered themselves to be led astray before they had throughly examin'd the matter I acknowledge my self to be an admirer of Harvey's Experiments and his extraordinary Ingenuity and Industry in the Dissection of Beasts and give him great Credit and I believe that in most Beasts dissected after Coition he found no Seed in the Womb Now it does not follow from thence what he would infer That the Seed in Coition does not enter the Womb and that it comes away again presently after Coition and yet Conception happens and therefore that the Seed is useless in Conception For that those Inspections of Harvey do not certainly prove that the Seed was not detain'd in the Womb when Conception was over or at the time of conceiving For tho' he never could find any Seed in the wombs of those Creatures which he dissected yet that concludes nothing of certainty nor proves that those Beasts were impregnated or that there would have been a Conception from former Coitions had they been permitted longer life And certainly there are many Arguments that destroy both his Reasons and the Arguments drawn from his Experiments XXII 1. The Seed injected might come away again after Coition either of its own accord as happens in Women that do not conceive or shogg'd out and so there might be no Conception For he himself writes that Does and Hinds do copulate every day for a whole Month together and therefore they many times copulate in vain after which vain Coition the Seed flows again out of the Womb For generally those Creatures conceive upon the last Copulation especially those that bring forth but one at a time because that after Conception they admit the Male no more Now if Harvey in his Dissections did not light upon one of those Does which had not yet admitted the least conceiving Copulation or at least had not as yet conceiv'd 't was no wonder he found no Seed in their Wombs as being shaken out after Coition Thus I remember about ten years ago in the Company of several others I saw a Mare that as soon as the Horse had covered her cast out the Seed again but the Horse continuing to cover her for three or four days together at length the last time she retain'd her Seed and would not admit the Horse to cover her any more So that if the
nor can be derived thence from any other part These downy beginnings of the Placenta or Uterine Liver increase by little and little through the affusion of that same Blood to this very Bowel whose substance at the end of the third Month is notably conspicuous Within the inner Membrane is included the whole Colliquation of the Seed together with the Crystalline Bubble wherein the Birth is form'd out of the prolific Principle infus'd into it which being form'd swims upon the Colliquation free and adhering no where to any Membranes and for some time is nourish'd with that alone IV. Afterwards when the increasing Embryo begins to want a more plentiful Nourishment the Extremities of the Umbilical Vessels grow out more and more and are extended toward this Liver which from that time begins to be more manifestly conspicuous to the end they may draw a firmer Alimentary Iuice from thence and carry it to the Birth as the Plants by means of their Roots suck nutritive Iuice from the Earth But how these Vessels cross the Membranes and come to this Liver see Chap. 32. V. Harvey in an Abortion cast forth about the bigness of a Hen-egg observ'd withal in the outward and upper part of the Chorion as it were a thin Slime or a certain Down denoting the first Rudiments of the growing Placenta and in the inner part of the same several Roots and Branches of the Umbilical Vessels but never the Chorion sticking to the womb But the reason why he never saw the Chorion slicking to the womb perhaps might be either because the Matter to be pour'd forth out of the womb for the increase of the Placenta was not yet increas'd to a sufficient quantity or because the fleshic Particle which we have seen sticking to the Chorion in the Expulsion of that Conception was not torn from the womb but from the Chorion and so the Chorion coming forth together with it was not by Harvey seen to stick to the womb But those Roots of the Vessels which Harvey took for the Umbilical Productions seem not to have been the little Branches of the Umbilical Vessels in regard the Navel could not be grown out to that length in that time nor reach so far but were rather little Vessels extending themselves from that same fleshie substance sticking above to the Chorion with which the Umbilical Vessels are wont to intermix themselves See the Abortions in the preceding Chapter VI. By what has been said it is sufficiently apparent that the beginning of the Placenta or Uterine Liver is not generated out of the impurer part of the menstruous Blood flowing from the womb the more pure part in the mean season passing to the Birth through the Umbilical Vein as many have erroneonsly asserted seeing that the first threads of it are delineated out of the Womans Seed as well as the Chorion and Amnion to which afterwards the nourishment is brought not from the more impure but from good Blood pouring in And therefore they were grosly mistaken who judg'd it not to be any Bowel but only a heap of menstruous Blood collected and coagulated without the Vessels and preserv'd in that place for the nourishment of the Birth whereas both in respect of its beginning its fibrous substance and its use it appears no less to be a Bowel than the other Liver seated in the right Hypochondrion Besides that the upholders of this Opinion do not consider that the Blood cannot subsist without Corruption nine Months together out of the Vessels in the womb or any other hot and moist place and daily Experience teaches us what terrible Mischiefs follow upon the Extravasation of the Blood tho' it be good if it stay in the place but a few Months VII Fabricius ab Aquapendente calls this Liver a Fleshie Substance and a Fleshie Mole not that it is simply flesh but a Bowel that has a peculiar and proper fibrous Contexture and a flesh convenient for it self whose first threads are delineated out of the Womans Seed and afterwards a peculiar fleshie Substance thicken'd out of the Vital Blood which first flows from the Mother more plentifully thither through the Uterine Vessels and afterwards is forc'd thither from the Heart of the Birth through the Umbilical Arteries For when the Umbilical Vessels are come to the Uterine Liver a certain spirituous Nectar or Vital Spirit flows out together with Arterious Blood from the heart of the Birth which as it increases nourishes enlivens and excites to action all the Parts of the Birth and its Membranes the spirituous Blood of the Mother assisting and affording the greatest part of the Matter so does it enlarge and nourish this Placenta or Uterine Liver VIII This Liver in a single Conception is alway single and in the Conception of Twins both Births have one common Liver containing the Navels of both but sometimes each Birth has a distinct and proper Uterine Liver However Wharton believes that both Twins have a peculiar Placenta but so contiguous that they seem to be but one But that the Opinion of Wharton express'd by the word always is not generally true Experience teaches us by which it appears that sometimes the contrary happens And therefore we are certainly to conclude That in the Conception of Twins there is sometimes one Liver sometimes two But for what reason and in what cases there happens sometimes one and sometimes two is a Mystery hitherto unreveal'd and unknown to all Practisers which nevertheless we shall endeavour to unfold in the next Chapter when we come to discourse of the State of the Membranes in Twins IX The Substance of it is peculiar to it self soft loose brittle thin furrow'd with several furrows and as it were here and there slightly divided yet in the mean time altogether fibrous being a Contexture of innumerable Threads and diminutive Fibres and infinite little Branches of diminutive Vessels and swelling with coagulated Blood pour'd in not much unlike the looser Parenchyma of the Liver tho' less firm and easily dissolv'd and mangled by a slight attrition And such a sort of Substance as well at other times as particularly in December 1665. we shewed to several Doctors of Physic and Students in a Woman that dy'd after she had been six Months gone And lately in the Placenta's of two live Women from whom we extracted the Births when they could not be deliver'd of themselves which Placenta's after the Extraction of the Birth were separated whole from the Womb and drawn forth together with the Membranes X. It is of a dark ruddy Colour not unlike the Colour of the Spleen somewhat more ruddy seldom paler XI The Shape of the whole Uterine Liver is for the most part Circular sometimes Long or Quadrangular seldom Triangular but unequal in its Circumference But the bigness and thickness various according to the Condition of the Body and the Birth and the Time of the Womans going For in Abortions of thirty
mistaken her Reckoning Petrus Aponensis otherwise called the Conciliator by the Report of Cardan asserts himself to have been born in the eleventh Month as if he had kept his Mother's reckoning in her Womb. Homer makes mention of one born in the twelfth Month. Pliny speaks of a certain Woman that was brought to bed in her thirteenth Month and Avicen of another that was brought to bed in her fourteenth Of which we have another Example in Alexander Benedict I omit other Women that went two and twenty Months nay some that went two three four whole years of which Iohn Schenkius quotes Examples I fear me too fictitious out of several Authors VI. But indeed these are all idle Stories without any grounds and prov'd by no certain Experience but taken up from the discourses of tatling Gossips to whom some overcredulous Learned Men have given too much Credit to the end they might underprop these Vanities with some supports of probability For as I believe it to be most certain that the time of delivery may be for certain causes delay'd some few days beyond the Term of nine Months so I believe it impossible that it should be put off one much less many Months seeing that in whatsoever Constitution of a Woman the Increase of heat becomes so great in the Infant that it requires Ventilation by Respiration and for that cause the Birth must seek relief without the narrow straits of the Womb. So that it is manifest those serious maintainers of that Opinion drew too hasty a Conclusion from the false Relations of silly Women For if we narrowly prie into the Matter there lies a Snake in the Grass either wickedness in the Woman or simple Error in the Reckoning Wickedness in the Woman Who if she have no Children upon the death of her Husband that she may enjoy her Estate leagues her self with another Man and being by him got with Child pretends to be delivered Eleven twelve thirteen Months after the death of her Husband that so she may lay the Child to him in his Life-time which is a sort of wickedness so frequent that the Courts are full of these Contentions Which is the reason that these lateward Births seldom happen but among such kind of Widows rarely among Women that live with their Husbands There may be also a simple Error in the Reckoning for that Women generally compute their Reckoning form the first suppression of their Flowers though it may happen from other causes that their Flowers may cease three or four Months before Conception So that if a Woman begin her Reckoning from the first Suppression she must of necessity mistake and through that Mistake the Child shall be said to be born in the eleventh or twelfth Month that came at the appointed time of the end of the Ninth Aristotle believes that Error may proceed from the swelling of the VVomb Women says he are ignorant of the Time of their Conception if when the Womb was swelled before as it often happens they afterwards lye with their Husbands and conceive for they believe this to be the beginning of their Conception because it gave such a Signal VII Through the same Error in Reckoning Children are said to be born in the fifth or sixth Month which nevertheless are not born till the Ninth For that some VVomen for the first two or three Months of their being with Child have their Flowers upon them still at the set times but afterwards they stop and so they begin their Reckoning from that Suppression wherein they greatly err beginning their account from thence when they are three or four Months gone and so a Child shall be said to come in the sixth Month that was duly born in the ninth and this Error is apparent from the just proportion of the Child and the strength of its parts VIII When a Woman draws near her time the Birth turns it self and the Head declining plants it self before the Privity distending upwards the rest of the Body Which turning happens a week or two before the delivery Then the Orifice of the VVomb like a blowing Rose begins to open and dilate it self and to prepare a passage for the Birth that is about to come forth moreover the Infant kicking and sprawling to and fro breaks the Membranes wherein it is infolded and so the humours included therein flow forth which loosen the Privy parts and render the Passages slippery to make the passage easie for the Birth to pass thorough For it rarely happens that the Child is born and comes into the VVorld with the Membranes whole and entire which once I saw in an Infant that was very weak IX This sprawling is painful to the Womb and this pain communicated to the mind in the Brain presently the Animal Spirits are sent in great Quantity through the Nerves to the pursing Fibers of the Womb and the Muscles of the Abdomen which being contracted together cause a strong Expulsion of the Birth X. The Infant comes forth with the Head formost according to Nature says Hippocrates Lib. de nat puer XI Whatever other manner it offers it self to come forth in that Birth cannot be said to be Natural and the more hazardous it is by how much the posture of the Child is more unusual For if it offers one Thigh or one Arm it makes a stop unless that Member be thrust back and the Birth turn'd If two Thighs be offered together the delivery may go forward but with great difficulty if the Buttocks offer themselves first the delivery goes not forward unless very seldom sometimes the Birth comes forth doubled but with great difficulty and great danger If the Sides or Belly offer themselves first the Delivery is impossible How the mature and large Birth should be able to pass through the Straits of the Bones of the Pelvis stuft with Muscles and other parts Galen admires but dares not explain But it is done by reason that the Bones of the Share the Os Sacrum and the Hip-Bone their Cartilages being loosen'd separate a little one from another as we shall shew more at large L. â⦠c. 16. XII However it be or at whatever time the Delivery happens Nature expels the Birth out of the Womb through the Uterine Sheath or at least endeavours to do it and that is the only passage appointed for the Expulsion of the Birth I say or at least endeavours to do it for sometimes it happens that that same passage being stopt the Child cannot be expell'd by Nature but must be drawn forth by the skill of the Surgeon and that through the passage already mentioned by the hand either of the Midwife or Surgeon or by the Assistance of Hooks which we have tryed with success in many Women or else by Section made in the Womb and Abdomen which is called the Caesarian Delivery concerning which Francis Rousset has written a famous Treatise But it is rarely seen that Nature her self attempts
probable that the necessity of Respiration forces the Birth to a stronger Calcitration when the Birth in the Womb breaths sufficiently considering the Proportion of its heat For Vessingius resting upon the Authority of Hippocrates writes that the Lungs of the Birth enclosed in the Womb by a gentle dilation draws something of Air and for proof of this he alledges the Infants being often heard to cry in the Womb. Examples of which are produced by Albertus Magnus Libavius Solin Camerarius Sennertus Bartholin and Deusingius Also the Learned Velthusius believes that in this case the Air penetrates to the places where the Infant lies and that it is attracted by the Infant by Inspiration Nay the Honourable Robert Boyle in Experim Physic. Mathem Exercit. 41. seems to confirm this crying by a most memorable Example I knew a certain Lady says he who was with Child some years since at what time her friends bemoan'd her Condition to me that she was very much terrified with the Crying of her little Infant XXVI But whoever they were they were all in an Errour that wrote of the Respiration and crying of the Birth in the Womb. For first the Relations of these things are taken from the vain stories of idle and unskilful Women and Men who either conceive Whimsies of their own or else on set purpose perswade others into a belief of these Vanities Either to move the Rich to Pity for generally the poor are they that only hear these Noises or else to get themselves a name among the Vulgar by establishing some Prophecy upon these feigned wonders But we shall hardly read of any person of Reputation that ever heard this imaginary Crying Secondly it is impossible there should be any breathing or crying in the Womb without any Air but which way shall it come thither For the Mouth of the Womb is so closely shut by the Testimony of Galen or Hippocrates that it will not admit the point of a Probe nor the least Air or Water Of which though some make a doubt yet we found to be true in the year 1649. When we opened the Body of a young Woman that was poysoned in whose body we found the Womb swollen with a Birth above a hands length and the Mouth of the Womb not only most closely contracted but also stopped up with a glutinous clammy flegmatick Humour that would not admit the sharp end of a Bodkin unless it should have been forced through the Glewy substance The same thing we found in December 1665. in a Woman seven Months gone that dy'd suddainly Moreover besides this closing up the Mouth of the Womb the Birth is also so exactly enclosed in its Membranes that no liquor contained within can distil forth nor any external Air penetrate withinside VVhich difficulty Gualter Needham observing after he has related a story as it was told him of a Child that was heard to cry in the Womb of a Noble Woman L. de format foet writes that the Air cannot come from without to the Birth but that it may be there generated by the fermentation of the Humours latent within as wind is bred in the Stomach Guts and other parts But this being in some measure granted how is it possible that the Birth going about to cry should draw in that or any other Air when it swims upon the Milkie liquor of the Amnion which would fill up the Mouth of it For should it breath in the Air it would be choaked in regard the Liquor in the Mouth would slide down into the Lungs through the rough Artery together with the Air and fill up the middle Fistulous part of the Windpipe Certainly t is a wonder that those Learned Men who have written concerning this Uterine Crying have not made this Observation upon it that the sound which is heard in the Belly of a Woman with Child which they that hear perhaps take for the crying of the Infant proceeds only from the Wind that roars in the Guts compressed and straitned by the bulk and weight of the Infant as we hear sometimes a wonderful whistling of the wind impetuously forcing it self through the narrow holes of windows such a one as once I remember I heard my self with several others exactly resembling the sighs and groans of a Man in sorrow or in some great danger so that all that heard it were frighted and talked of nothing but Spirits and Hobgoblins that bewayl'd some terrible Misfortune that was to befal them whereas after half an hours search we found the winding hole through which the wind passing made that lamentable noise which ceaââ¦d upon stopping the Hole And thus t is no wonder if the Vapours passing through the streights of the Compressed Guts sometimes make a whining noise like the crying of an Infant as you shall hear in the lower Belly noises of the wind resembling perfectly the croaking of Frogs and the Hissing of Serpents Therefore says Aristotle the Infant never cries till it be come forth out of the Womb. XXVII Here perhaps an important doubt will arise if it be so that the Birth promotes its delivery by vehement kicking occasioned by the necessity of Respiration and so provokes nature to Expulsion what 's the Reason 1. That sometimes a very weak Birth that wants no Respiration is forced out of the Womb in the fifth or sixth or seventh Month in which seventh Month however many mature Births sufficiently strong and lively and wanting Respiration are born though it may happen that many Births unripe very weak and unable to brook the change of Air and Nourishment may be and are frequently born in that Month. 2. That a Birth that dies in the VVomb consequently requiring no Respiration is cast forth by female Labour seeing that in neither of these cases there is any need of strong Calcitration to promote delivery I answer to the first that sometimes a Birth may be sound in the Womb according to the time that it abides there after Formation though not ripe that is so weak as not to be able to brook the changes of Air and Nourishment and that of such a Birth a Woman miscarries by Abortion not through the necessity of Respiration or provoked by sprawling but by reason of a cause far different either the flowing in of too much flegm or too violent Agitation of the Womans Body or through the rapid disorderly and violent motion of Spirits and Humours as in the passions of Anger or Fear by all which cause the Placenta is loosned from the VVomb or the Birth is killed which then becomes heavy and troublesom to the VVomb and provokes it to Expulsion and to the end that trouble may be expelled presently the Spirits are sent in great quantity to the Contracting Fibers of the VVomb and Muscles of the Abdomen which by drawing both the one and the other together expel the Birth To the Second I say that the Birth being dead for some times the pains of Travel cease because
giving it nourishment and desire to satisfie the Crying of the Child and through this Affection the Passages being loosen'd by the determin'd Influx of the Animal Spirits the Chylous Iuice that was formerly carry'd to the Womb is now turn'd to the Breasts XLIII To conclude I shall only add one Question worth Examination Why upon the weaning of the Child the Chylous Iuice is no longer carry'd to the Breasts but the Milk is dry'd up It is because the Woman lays aside all thought of giving Suck which the more speedily she does the sooner and the better are her Breasts dry'd up for that then the more copious Influx of the Animal Spirits to the Breasts fails by which the Glandules of the Breasts and the Chyliferous Vessels tending thither were dilated and hence the Glandules then fall and are contracted and the said Chyliferous and Milky Vessels are compress'd by the weight of the adjacent parts so that there can be nothing more through those convey'd to the Breasts and then that part of the Chylus that was wont to be convey'd thither in Women with Child is convey'd to the Womb in others to the Heart there to be chang'd into Blood which because the Body does not want in such abundance hence it comes to pass that Women are less hungry and thirsty than when they gave Suck and so they breed less Chylus and what Blood is bred superfluous in the mean time in Women with Child contributes to the Birth in others is evacuated through the Womb. XLIV But some will say Where remains that Milk which upon the first weaning remains in great plenty in the Breasts and is not suckt out Why is it not coagulated and corrupted and consequently does not breed Inflammations and Apostemes I answer it is carry'd by degrees through the Mammary Veins to the hollow Vein and so to the Heart in like manner as the Chylus pour'd forth out of the Chyliferous pectoral Channel into the subclavial Vein flows together with the Veinal Blood to the Heart But whether that Milky Juice be carry'd to the Heart through the Mammary Veins extraordinarily in Women giving Suck especially such as abound with Milk I leave to consideration seeing that the remarkable Number and Bigness of the Veins and the small Number and Bulk of the Arteries seem to perswade the contrary XLV In opposition to this Opinion of ours one notable Doubt arises How it comes to pass that in Cows Mares Ews Goats and other Creatures the Milky Chylous Iuice flows in such abundance and so constantly to the Udder seeing that being depriv'd of Rational Souls they are no way capable of Imagination Thought Intellect Memory Will Iudgment c. True it is our Modern Philosophers that follow Cartesius acknowledge no such noble Actions as these in Brutes or if they seem to perform some Actions like to these they believe they neither can nor ought to be number'd into the Rank of principal Actions as not being perform'd by a Rational Soul but affirm 'em to proceed only from a certain kind of Motion of the Spirits induc'd by the Objects and flowing from the propriety of the Disposition of the Parts And thus they alledge that in Brutes certain Dispositions of the Spirits and the rest of the Parts are induced by the Objects from which certain kind of Motions result in reference to which the Pores sometimes of these sometimes of those Parts are opened and shut through the greater or lesser slower or swifter stronger or gentler Influx of the Spirits And in this case now proposed by us they would thus argue viz. In a Cow by reason of the great Commotion of the Birth in the Womb or the Pain of bringing forth the Pores are opened about and toward the Udder and so by the Influx of Animal Spirits the Passages before shut are dilated so that the Chylous milky Juice is at liberty to flow thither more freely through its proper Vessels Which Laxity of the milky Passages continues long after bringing forth because of the continu'd opening of the Pores wider than usual toward the Udder and the more Copious Influx of the Animal Spirits and continued by the tickling Motion about the Udder induced by the grasping of the Calf that sucks or the Hand of the Milkmaid But in regard the Object cannot of it self induce any sensitive Motion unless it be first known either as Good or Evil and this Knowledg and Perception presupposes something knowing far different from the Object to be known for being taken without Knowledg and Preception no Motion can be said to be made by its means as in those that are troubled with a Catalepsie into whose Organs both sensitive and moving tho well form'd and furnished with Blood Heat and Spirits tho the Objects fall they cause no Motion because they are not perceiv'd and consequently there are no new Determinations of the Spirits to various Parts nor no alterations of Motion Furthermore seeing the Property of the Disposition of the Parts necessarily presupposes some peculiar Disponent which induces to that proper Disposition and alters it according to the nature of the Thing and even the motion of the Spirits it self presupposes also some first mover perceiving and knowing the Object for nothing knows moves and disposes it self without a Cause it sufficiently appears that such an Explanation neither suffices nor satisfies especially if we consider over and above that most brute Animals perceive and distinguish Pains Smells and Tastes covet things grateful perceive know and avoid things grateful as such know their Friends from their Enemies c. Which most certainly are no Operations of the Disposition of the Parts mov'd by Objects but of somthing perceiving the Objects and so disposing the Parts to perform such and such Actions As in Man a Brain well form'd and temper'd and full of Animal Spirits is not the primary Cause of the principal Actions but the Rational Soul which makes use of the Brain and Spirits as Instruments and so disposes the Brain that sometimes these sometimes other Pores are more or less opened and shut and fewer or more plentiful Spirits sometimes determin'd after this or that certain manner through those open Pores and consequently these sometimes others and many times several principal Functions operate together Or as an Organ sufficiently furnished with Pipes Bellows and Wind cannot by virtue of any Object or by its own proper Disposition sing any musical Songs unless by the Assistance of the Organist who directing the Keys with his Fingers determines the Wind sometimes into these sometimes into other Pipes and so produces a grateful Harmony Thus also in Brutes besides the Objects and the proper Disposition of the Brain and other Parts there must be of necessity something else over and above which perceives the Objects and produces such wonderful Operations out of those Parts It is here in vain alledged that simple Natural Affections as Hunger Thirst Joy Sadness want in Brutes no other
to the Eyes in an Egg 2. Whence that Motion proceeds in Fish and other Creatures that have no Lungs and but one Ventricle of the Heart 3. By what is it occasion'd in the Hear of an Eel which after all the adjoyning parts are cut away sometimes beats after it is taken out of the Body That says Maurocordatus is a Trembling Motion Which we deny because that for some time it observes the true measure of Beating till the approach of Death and then it comes indeed to be a trembling Motion Among all the foresaid six Sentences the second approaches the nearest to Truth but only it is to be explain'd a little more at large and somewhat after another manner For here are two things wanting in the first place what dilates the Blood and secondly it does not sufficiently explain how the Heart is mov'd when the Blood does not flow into the Ventricles Which two things are to be more narrowly examin'd for the discovery of the Truth VII In the first Conception the Spirituous Blossom which is in the Seed is collected and concluded in a little Bubble wherein there is a delineation made of all the parts by the vivific Seed that lies in the Blossom which gives to all the Parts their Matter Form and Being and abides in all and singular the Parts being form'd and variously operates therein according to their diversity The most subtle and sharpest part of this is setl'd in the Heart which by its extraordinary acrimony obtains an extraordinary power of Fermentation by which the Humors pouring into the Heart are there dilated as Gunpowder is dilated and set afire by the heat of the Flame And as Gunpowder has no actual heat in it self but being kindled receives a burning heat so the Blood in the Heart being dilated by that same Spirit waxes very hot and fiery By reason of which heat Cartesius calls this Spirit a continual heat abiding in our Hearts as long as we live which is a kind of Fire which the Blood of the Veins nourishes and is the corporal beginning of all the Motions of our Members For that this Spirit by its continual agitation and dilatation supplies the heat with a continual fewel But in regard it is much dissipated by this continual agitation it has need of continual supply to the end the dissipated Particles may be continually restor'd This Supply is maintain'd by the most subtle Particles of the Blood attenuated in the Heart entring the Pores of the Heart and infus'd into it through the Coronal Arteries which Blood if it be good and sound then this Spirit is rightly supply'd and the Heart continues strong and vigorous if otherwise through bad Diet and deficiency of the Bowels then this Spirit is ill supply'd and the Heart becomes weak and infirm Now this Spirit abiding in the whole substance of the Heart forthwith dilates in the Heart both the Blood and all other proper humors whatever Which Action is sometimes swifter sometimes slower more vehement or weaker as the Matter to be dilated is fitted more or less for dilatation by the fermentaceous Particles mix'd with it and the Spirit it self is more or less vigorously stirr'd up into Act by the greater or lesser heat for these two things are the cause of all alterations of Pulses Thus in Fevers where there is more or less heat and the Matter to be dilated is thinner and more volatile there the Pulses beat thicker and swifter But if that Matter as is usual in putrid Fevers has many unequal Particles some more some less easie to be dilated then the Pulse becomes unequal if the Blood be colder and thicker the Pulse is slow and beats seldom When it is cool'd it diminishes at first then ceases altogether but being warm'd again with new Blood or warm Water it presently begins to beat again The said Spirit being stirr'd up by the heat by and by dilates and ferments the Humors and that two manner of ways First By fermenting those Humors that flow in great quantity through the hollow and Pulmonary Vein into the Ventricles of the Heart by the fermentation and dilatation of which and the rapid agitation of the least Particles between themselves a great heat is kindled in the Heart This heat presently whets and sharpens the same Spirit abiding in the innermost and thicker substance of the Heart and its Fibres which so excited presently somewhat dilates the subtle Blood infus'd into the Substance and Fibres for Nourishment and hence it is that the Fibres of the Heart are forthwith contracted which causes an expulsion of the Blood in the Cavity of the Ventricles Then again new Blood flowing into the Ventricles there happens a dilatation of the same with a sharp Heat and by that means a distension of the Ventricles at the same time which by reason of the kindled heat presently follows dilatation of the same into the Pores of the Substance about the Fibres and by that means there happens again a contraction of the whole Heart and Ventricles which things proceed in a certain order so long as Life lasts Now this Motion proves the more vehement because the Fibres being dilated beyond their poise presently when the Blood dilated in the Ventricles easily breaks forth through the broad Arteries they are as easily again contracted beyond their measure by the dilatation of the inner Blood so that same distension and contraction beyond the due Aequilibrium causes indeed the Pulses to be stronger but yet they are not the first cause of the Motion which is only an alternate dilatation of the Blood sometimes in the Ventricles sometimes in the Substance of the Heart VIII Hence it appears why Pulsation remains in the Hearts of Eels and other vivacious Creatures being taken out of the Body though no Blood be then pout'd out of the great Vessels into the Ventricles because the said Spirit abiding in their hearts is easily rais'd into Act by the small remaining heat and acts upon the Blood abiding in the Substance it self and by something dilating of it contracts the Fibres Afterwards that dilated Matter being somewhat dispell'd they are again relax'd Which not only appears in hearts that are whole but in the hearts of some after they are cut into pieces and in the several pieces themselves But because in such cases there is no new Blood dilated in the Ventricles and consequently no new heat nor any distension of the Fibres beyond their Position hence in hearts that are taken out and cut in pieces the motion is weak and quickly ceases This I perswade my self to be the true cause of the Motion of the heart till some body else shall shew me any other more probable CHAP. VIII Of the Pulse and Circulation of the Blood I. THE Motion of the Heart is by the Greeks call'd ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the Latins Pulsus by which the Heart alternately rises and falls It is perform'd by Dilatation and Contraction between which two
Parts to the Blood as to be able to pass the most narrow Passages and to be convey'd to any Parts whatever all which Parts this Spirit quickens to their several Functions and by its continual Agitation and Heat thence proceeding continually wastes and dissipates the more fluid Particles of the Parts and continually repairs and as often increases them by means of the Blood X. But the Blood as also the Vital Spirit rais'd out of it if it consists of the two Principles Sulphureous and Salt mix'd together and equally agreeing in Strength then is the Blood best and well temper'd according to Nature But as the Force of these Principles exceeds one another it is colder or hotter and its Temper varies according to the strength and prevalency of the Principle I say Colder not that any cold Quality proceeds from Salt or from a salt Spirit as from its proper Subject but because while that predominates the Sulphury Spirit is more obtunded and fix'd whence happens a weaker Agitation of the small Particles one among another and consequently a lesser actual Heat And another Reason why Salt and its Spirit may be call'd Colder is because that being cast into the Fire it only crackles but does not flame out like Sulphur or a Sulphureous Spirit XI Now out of the Blood thus compos'd of the said Principles sometimes more sometimes fewer Spirits are rais'd For if the Blood to be rarify'd in the Heart be well concocted in the other Bowels and prepar'd for Fermentation and as I may say brought to full Maturity then there happens a right Fermentation or Dilatation in the Heart by which a convenient quantity of Spirits is rais'd up with a moderate Heat but if ill prepar'd and raw then is the Effervescency less and the Dilatation more difficult and fewer Spirits rise and hence proceeds a cold Temper of the Body If over much concocted and that the Particles either Salt or Sulphureous or both are too much attenuated then the Dilatation is overmuch in the Heart and the Spirits are over-sharp and hot and hence proceeds a hot Temperature Corruption of Humors Inflammations and Fevers especially if the Sulphury Spirits prevail above the other XII By the way we must take notice that they are in a very great Error who besides the Principles constituting the Essence of the Blood in Mixture add another Spirit and assert a necessity for it to concur and be mix'd with the Salt and Sulphur in the Serum Whereas this Spirit of which they speak is not any thing peculiar concurring to the making of the Blood but only a thin and spirituous Vapour attracted out of the Salt and Sulphur it self by force of the Heat as is perform'd by Chymistry in other Things For though all Bodies are compos'd of Salt and Sulphur as their Principles united by the Assistance of Mercury yet in regard that Salt and Sulphur are not Bodies altogether simple and equal but compos'd of unequal Particles hence the Bodies that are compos'd of those Principles consist of unequal Particles some thicker some thinner others more or less fix'd and others more or less fit for Fusion and Attenuation For the Heat acting upon Bodies compos'd of these Principles dissolves first of all and more easily the thinner and less fix'd Particles attenuates and renders them Spirituous frees them also from the thicker Particles and by means of the thicker Particles agitates and moves them and those Spirituous Particles so attenuated are call'd Spirits as being endu'd with an extraordinary Tenuity and Mobility Not that they are any thing different from Salt or Sulphur concurring to the composition of the Mixture but only some thinner Substance melted attenuated and extracted by the Force of Heat out of the same Mixture which upon the absence of that Heat again condenses and is quietly united as before with the other thicker Particles not yet brought to Fusion XIII Nor are they less in an Error who hold That there is a copious Quantity of Air mix'd with the Blood as being necessarily requisite to its Perfection Which Air they pretend is mix'd four ways with the Blood 1. As being mix'd and swallow'd with the Meat chaw'd in the Mouth with which Nourishment it is so united in the Stomach that at length entring the Region of the Heart it is incorporated with the Blood 2. By entring the Mass of Blood through the Pores of the Skin 3. When it is not a little mix'd with the Blood by the drawing in of the Breath hastning through the Lungs to the Left Ventricle of the Heart 4. When by the same breathing in of the Air it is carry'd to the Vessels and Ventricles of the Brain But if the Air be necessary to compleat the perfection of the Blood then ought it always necessarily to be mix'd with it but no Air can come at the Birth included in the Womb and its Membranes and yet the Blood bred therein is no less sound and perfect than in those that being born both breath and suck in the Air. XIV Here it may be question'd Out of what things the said Principles are extracted I answer From the Aliments which contain both Sulphur and Salt in themselves and consist of them mix'd and concocted after a Specific manner Yet some are more others less Spirituous and hence arise variety of Qualities which is the Reason that some Nourishments agree better with hot others with cold Constitutions But to the end these Principles may be extracted out of the Aliments and that Blood may be made out of 'em it is requisite that the Nourishments be prepar'd after another manner that their first Mixture may be altogether dissolv'd and the latent Sulphureous and Salt Particles be exalted to Fusion and a more extraordinary Tenuity so that being freed from their first Union they may be again mingl'd after a new manner To this purpose besides their Dissolution by Cookery and Dressing being admitted into the Body in the first place those things that are hard are bruis'd and soften'd by the Teeth in the Mouth and being prepar'd by the admixture of the Spittle are swallow'd down into the Stomach In the next place they are farther fermented and dissolv'd after a specifical manner in the Stomach 3. The more profitable Chylus and more dissolv'd Particles are separated from the thicker Particles by another peculiar Effervescency and are yet more dissolv'd and attenuated in the Milky Vessels and many Kernels of the Mesenterium and by the Commixture of Lymphatic Juice and these being mixt with the Veiny Blood and carry'd to the Heart are therein dilated and so being united with the rest of the Blood become perfect Blood But when they are the first time dilated in the Heart it is not a Spirituous Blood that is presently made out of 'em but a thicker and cruder Blood which is mix'd with the rest of the Blood several times circulated through the Heart and by that means render'd very Spirituous and
seem to be shorter than Young Men it proceeds from hence because that all their Ioynts are bow'd as well by Muscles shrunk for want of Heat as by the Ligaments dry'd up and cover'd with Brawn But though Spigelius brings these Reasons for his Negative Opinion yet the Affirmative seems the more plausible seeing that Decrepit Old Men not only by reason of the bowing of their Joynts and Body seem shorter but because of necessity they must be somewhat though not much shorter by reason of the Gristles between the Vertebrae of the Back-Bone and the Joynts of the Thighs and other Parts which being softer and more tumid in Young Men and consequently separate the Bones more at a distance one from the other of necessity must extend the Body somewhat more in Length but in Old Men waxing drier and thinner by degrees must of necessity for the same Reason shorten the Body To which we add That the Ligaments of the Joynts being dry'd up contract the Joynts closer one to another And this is apparent in such Old Men who being stronger walk still upright for if they measure with the same Measure wherewith they measur'd themselves in their Youth you shall find 'em to want the breadth some of a Thumb some of half a Thumb others of two Thumbs of their Height in their youthful days which we have known true by Experience XXVIII From what has been already said concerning the making and Principles of the Blood two obscure and doubtful Matters are brought to Light First That there are four Humors in the Blood Flegm pure Blood Choler and Melancholy Secondly Whence proceed the Temperatures of Bodies XXIX Flegm is that part of the Blood which being first made out of the Blood and not much circulated or dilated in the Heart becomes more crude and less Spirituous XXX Pure Blood is that part of the Sanguineous Mass which being several times circulated and dilated in the Heart attains to moderate Spirituosity XXXI Choler is that Part of it which by frequent Circulations and Dilatations is exalted to a more extraordinary Thinness and becomes most Spirituous and boyling hot XXXII Melancholy is that Part out of which by several Circulations and Attenuations made in the Heart the Spirituous Particles are for the most part drawm out and wasted and hence the Blood becomes colder thicker and more earthy Here by the way take Notice That we do not mean by Flegm Choler and Melancholy the Fermentaceous Humors which are bred in the Stomach Liver and Spleen as if the Mass of Blood consisted of those Humors being mix'd together only that these Names are comparatively apply'd to the Blood as the Parts of it are more or less or overmuch concocted XXXIII But in regard That because of the continual Waste and Consumption of lost Spirits there must be a Reparation of new ones by means of fresh Nourishment hence it follows that these Four Humors are necessarily in the Blood and that the Blood should consist of them For out of the Aliments sufficiently prepar'd and first dilated in the Heart there comes a Flegmatic Juice which by degrees by means of several Circulations and Dilatations in the Heart turns into pure and excellently well tempe'd Blood But proceeding farther above its just Temper of Heat turns into Choleric Blood And having lost its mââ¦re subtile Particles turns into Melancholy And thus all these four Juices which consist all of Salt and Sulphuââ¦y Particles nor differ one from another ââ¦ut only in their stronger or weaker Concoction and Spirituosity are mix'd together and so by a certain Perpetuation of Qualities the Excesses inspringing one upon another as long as a man lives they constitute the whole Mass of his Blood united and render'd fluid by means of the Serum Which Serum especially its Watery Part is not assimilated to the Parts that are to be nourish'd but to them conveys the nourishing Particles of the Blood and by them when once apposited and assimilated is evacuated and discuss'd by means of their Heat Thus in the Gilding of Metals the finest Gold is beaten into thin Leaves and mingl'd with Quick-Silver to make the Gold stick on which could not be done without the Mercury afterwards the Vessel being Gilded and brought to the Fire the Heat of the Fire discusses and sends the Mercury packing while the Gold sticks close to the Vessel on which it was laid such a sort of Mercury is the Serum in living Bodies conveying and apposing the Blood to the several Parts XXXIV As to the Temperatures of our Bodies they proceed from the various Mixture and Redundancy of the four foremention'd Iuices XXXV If the Chylus be made of cold and moist Iuices wherein there is little subtile Spirit or else sent out crude from the Stomach or not sufficiently dissolv'd for want of convenient Ferment such a Chylus produces a Flegmatic Sanguineous Iuice which though frequently circulated and dilated in the Heart yet cannot be exalted by the Heart to a sufficient Spirituosity and hence there is a greater Quantity of that and a lesser Quantity of the rest of the Iuices and because the whole Body then is nourish'd with a Flegmatic sort of Blood thence the Constitution of the Parts is more moist and cold and so there is a Flegmatic Temperature of the Body XXXVI If the Chylus be well temper'd well concocted and made out of well temper'd Nourishment or so made by a good Concoction of the Bowels then happens a Redundancy of that Blood and consequently a Sanguine Complexion and a good Temper of Body XXXVII If the Chylus be made of Nourishments hot and sharp or sharply fermented through the more intense Heat of the Bowels then after a few Circulations it turns to a very hot and spirituous Iuice which predominating begets a Choleric Temper XXXVIII If the Chylus be made of thick Earthy Nourishments abounding with much crude and fix'd Salt and those not well concocted and dissolv'd then few Spirits are extracted out of it by the Circulations and Dilatations made in the Heart and there remains only a thick Iuice without much Spirit whence proceeds a Melancholic Temper Now the vast Excesses of these Temperatures are call'd Distempers and breed several Diseases Hot Cold c. XXXIX After this Description of the Principles and manner of making the Blood and Vital Spirits before we come to their Use let us say something of their Vitality about which Philophers so much dispute and Physicians disââ¦ent While the one in Defence of Vitality say 1. That the Blood and Spirits variously move themselves according to the Diversity of the Motions of the Mind and Imagination in ââ¦ear toward the Heart in Shame toward the Cheeks in Lust toward the Genitals 2. The Holy Scripture says That the Soul of the Flesh remains in the Blood 3. That the Seed being potentially animated is made out of Blood and Spirits 4. Because they are nourish'd as
several Parts which Salt and Sulphur are likewise the Principles of the Blood Moreover Similitude does not lie in the Colour which may be easily alter'd by any new Concoction but in the Particles that constitute the Substance as well of the Parts as of the Blood To the Ninth I say That Charleton confounds Nutrition with Sangnification and that what he speaks here of Nutrition belongs to Sanguification between which there is a great Difference For Aliment is not sublim'd to a greater Spirituosity for the Benefit of Nutrition but for the making of good Blood which afterwards undergoes another Change for the procuring of Nutrition which Nutrition does not consist in a farther Sublimation of the Spirits but rather in a certain new Fixation To which I farther add That the Vital Spirits do not like Cormorants consume the Substance of the Solid Parts but preserve it in its Saneness neither do they render the Blood unfit for Nutrition but fit and that those Spirits infus'd into the Parts with the Blood excite them to their Functions and as it were force them to an Assimilation with the Nourishment brought which Assimilation could never be brought to pass without the Assistance of these Spirits Now how the Spirituous Nourishment is again fix'd see l. 3. c. 11. To the Tenth I say It is no fair Consequence The Blood is nourish'd by the Chylus therefore it cannot nourish other Parts For so it would follow Wheat is nourish'd by the Iuice of the Earth therefore being eaten ot cannot nourish the Chylus So also I say of Heat Wine Wheat and other Nourishments contain in themselves a hot Spirit therefore they cannot be chang'd into Chylus and Blood Why Because a hot Spirit uses to prââ¦y upon the fluid Parts What vain Conclusions these are By reason of the Spirituous Heat of the Blood without which the Blood is altogether unprofitable for Nutrition it is said that it cannot nourish the Parts shall therefore any cold Body or Humor void of all Heat be Nourishment or profitable for Nourishment To the Eleventh I say That here Charleton altogether forgot himself For before out of Harvey he had asserted That the Blood was allow'd to be before any other Part of the Body appear'd and that out of that proceeded the Matter of which the Birth was form'd and its Nourishment If this Position of his were true where 's the Difficulty but that the Parts which are made out of the Blood should be nourish'd with the Blood Moreover if the Colliquation of the Seed be like the Parts that are to be nourish'd and that again like to the Blood then shall the Blood be like the Parts that are to be nourish'd Nevertheless we that do not believe the Parts to be fram'd out of the Blood give this Answer to his Proposition That the Parts are at first form'd out of the Spirituous Liquor of the Bubble and nourish'd with the Colliquation of the Seed but that the whole Substance of this Seed is taken out of the Arterious Blood flowing through the Spermatic Arteries to the Stones to which also the Animal Spirits are also sent through several little Nerves therefore the whole Matter of the Seed Bubble and Colliquament is in the Blood and being concocted specially in the several Parts acquires no less an Aptiude to nourish the several Parts than being generally concocted in the Stones it obtains an Aptness generally to form at first all those Parts and so we must conclude That all the Parts have their first Conformation and their subsequent Growth and Nutrition from a Juice altogether similar which is prepar'd before the one in the Stones before the other in the several Parts and so the Ancient Axiom is true We are nourish'd with the same things of which we consist And that other Oracle of Aristotle The Matter is the same which augments the Growth of a Creature with that out of which it was first form'd Lastly I answer to the Conclusion That the Comparison was ill made between the Fermentation in the Heart and the Flame of a Lamp Which Comparison is easily endur'd among Poets and Orators who only mind Ornament and Elegancy of Words but not among Philosophers that are enquiring after the Mysteries of Nature For Flame does not only dissipate the Subject to which it adheres but also destroys it and dissolves the whole Mixture of it and renders it useless but the Fermentation of the Heart does not destroy the Blood nor utterly dissolve its Mixture but by means of the dilatation of the whole Mass renders it more exact and strong and so brings the Blood to a greater perfection and generates Spirits therein which as they are thin hot and pure entring the whole Mass of the Blood preserve it in its perfection and together with the Blood which is their own Subject of which they are a part being infus'd into the Parts of the Body by their extraordinary Heat raise into Act the drowsie Heat of all the Parts True it is that those Spirits by reason of their extraordinary Subtility and Mobility continually exhale in great Quantity and by dissolving them with their Heat cause a Dissolution of many fluid Particles of the Body but this is not because of any Destruction but by reason of their extraordinary Subtility I will give you a Similitude Wine when it is distill'd the Spirit of Wine arising out of it is not destroy'd by the Heat of the Fire that promotes the Distillation but is sublim'd to a greater Subtility and Perfection there remaining all the while in it the Sulphury and Salt particles in a strict Union the most part of whose Subtility therefore exhales and is dissipated in the Air. But the contrary happens in the Oil of a Lamp which is indeed attenuated but so far from being brought to a greater perfection that it is totally destroy'd For the Oil is not made the better or more Spirituous but the whole Composition of it is destroy'd neither does it remain any longer Oil nor is made Spirit of Oil Like Wood when it is burnt is thereby reduc'd to Smoke and Ashes Or if the Spirit of Wine should take Fire it would not thereby be made more perfect but wholly destroy'd And thus it is with our Bodies as in Distillation and not as in the Flame and therefore the Comparison of Fermentation with Flame is altogether absurd I confess Blood is the Matter and Subject of the Animal Spirits but thence it does not follow that it cannot nourish all the parts of the Body Rather we are thence to infer that it nourishes all the parts seeing it contains the Nutritive Matter and the Vital Spirit that promotes that Nourishment And thus falls this new Opinion so obstinately by some defended and by others as unwarily embrac'd XLIII N. Zas In his Dutch Treatise Of the Dew of Animals believes That the Lymphatic Liquor only nourishes the Spermatic Parts For this is that which he understands by his Dew Of which
with the Blood and among the rest Malachias Truston defends this Opinion and carry'd with it to the Heart to the end that by its Mixture the Blood may be made more Spirituous and thinner for which they produce these Reasons 1. Because there is some Air to be found in the Ventricles of the Heart besides the Blood 2. Because that in the Plague-time the contagious Air infects the Heart 3. Because they who fall into a Swoon presently come to themselves upon the holding of Vinegar Rose or Cinamon-Water or any fragrant Spices to their Nostrils because that Fragrancy entring their Lungs together with the Air suck'd in is presently mixt in the Air with the Blood and presently carry'd to the Left Ventricle of the Heart But this Fiction seems to be of no great weight For were it true then ought the Air to be mix'd at all times with the Blood in the Lungs nor could good Blood be generated without its Admixture but no Air can be mix'd with the Blood in the Birth enclos'd in the Womb and yet the Blood which is then made is as good and as perfect without any Mixture of the Air. And therefore I answer to the First That the Air which is contain'd in the Ventricles of the Heart cannot be said to be carry'd thither by any Inspiration because it is equally as well in the Right as in the Left Ventricle whereas there can no Blood descend with Air to the Right because of the Obstacles of the Semilunary Valves Moreover such a kind of Air is to be found in the Cavity of the Abdomen which cannot be said to be carry'd thither by Inspiration besides that such a sort of Air is found in the Abdomen and Ventricles of the Heart of Births inclos'd in the Womb. To the Second and Third I say That the inspir'd malignant Air does not therefore infect the Heart because it is mix'd with the Blood but because the Blood passing through the Lungs endues them with an evil Quality which is thence communicated to the Blood contain'd in the Vessels and so to the Heart For as the hot Air impresses a hot Quality so a cold Air a cold one so a venomous or putrify'd Air or a fragrant Air impresses a contagious or fragrant Quality to the Blood and Lungs therein contain'd For that a Quality be communicated to another Body there is no necessity that the Body from which that Quality flows should be mix'd with the Body to which that Quality is communicated For that red-hot Iron should warm there is no necessity that the Iron should enter the Body that is to be heated 'T is sufficient that the small red-hot Particles of the heated Iron by their vehement Agitation violently also agitate the small Particles of the adjoyning Body to be heated and so by that violent Motion cause Heat As when a piece of Antimonial Glass put into Wine gives it a vomitive Quality there is no necessity the Antimony should be mix'd with the Wine and so when the Wine enters the Body of Man it suffices that by its Quality for it comes out exactly the same weight as it was put in it has so dispos'd the Substance of the Wine as to make it vomitive When Corn is grinding there is no necessity that the Wind should enter the Wheels and Mill-stones for by the Motion of the Sails the Wheels and Mill-stones will move though the Wind that gives the Motive Quality do not enter the Flowr or Wheat Lastly if the Air inspir'd should be mix'd with the Blood then if a man should blow into the Lungs when fresh with a pair of Bellows through the Rough the Artery the Breath would break out through the pulmonary Artery toward the Left Ventricle of the Heart which we could never observe in any Experiments that ever we made Moreover if the Air should enter the Blood-bearing Vessels not only those Vessels but the Parts themselves which are nourish'd with the Blood would be puft up with the Air and be continually infested with flatulent Tumors XXVI Charleton utterly rejects this same Refrigeration of the Lungs and the Use of Breathing and opposes it with three or four Arguments but so insipid that they deserve no Refutation and then he concludes That the Air is suck'd in for the finer Subtilization of the Blood and heating of the Vital Spirits Which Willis also affirms in his Book against Highmore But because it is an Opinion repugnant to the very Principles of Philosophy it needs no great Refutation For it is a known thing in Philosââ¦hy That Cold condenses but Heat attenuates The First is so true that in the Instrument call'd a Thermometer it is so conspicuous to the Eye that it is never to be contradicted So that there cannot be a greater Subtilization of the Blood by the cold Air suck'd in by the Lungs but without all question a Conââ¦ensation rather Now if those Learned Men before-mention'd would have held That there is a greater Subtilization of the Blood by sucking in of the hot Air we should have readily granted it but then we must say too that that Subtilization will soon be too much unwholesom and in a short time will prove deadly And that it is not the End of Respiration for the Blood to be subtiliz'd by it but that being subtiliz'd and forc'd out of the Right Ventricle of the Heart into the Lungs it should be there condens'd But if for all this they will still maintain the contrary then of necessity they will run upon a hard Rock of Necessity For then it will follow that the hotter the Air is that is suck'd in so much the swifter and easier will the Blood be and the Refreshment of the Heart greater and Men that live in a hot Air would have less need of Respiration And by Consequence also in a Fit where there is present need of Refreshment as in Burning Fevers where the Spirits are very much wasted it would be requisite to lay the Patients for the quicker restoring of their lost Spirits and refreshment of the Heart in warm Beds or expos'd to the roasting Heat of the Sun lest the Blood should be too slowly subtiliz'd in a cold Bed by the cold Air breath'd in and so the Heart and Spirits want their due and seasonable Refreshment But how contrary these things are to Reason and Experience is obvious unto them who have but so much as saluted Physical Practice at a distance Which when Gualter Needham had throughly consider'd he will not permit the Lungs any Faculty to heat or subtilize the Blood and proves his Opinion by strong Arguments XXVII Alexander Maurocordatus of Constantinople opposes this Opinion of the Lungs having the Gift of Refrigeration and brings several Arguments to uphold his Undertaking Of which the chiefest are these 1. Seeing that the cold Air which is suck'd in does not enter the Blood-bearing Vessels of the Lungs but is only circumfus'd about 'em in the Bowels of
Reason the Arteries are mov'd and swell though this small Motion is so obscur'd by the forcibly Breathing Motion that in live Lungs it can hardly be perceiv'd by Ocular Inspection And Aristotle is to be understood of this Motion Yet is not that the Breathing Motion of which the Anatomists generally discourse when they talk of the Motion of the Lungs which indeed neither proceed from the Heart nor the Lungs but is accidental and follows the Motion of the Breast Moreover If the breathing Motion should proceed from the Heart the Pulses of the Heart and Respiration would of necessity keep exact time together and the Lungs would equally swell upon every Pulsation of the Heart as in the Arteries and hence the Breast would be dilated and when the Motion of the Heart stood still the Lungs would also stand still Moreover the Inequality of Respiration would be a Sign of an unequal Pulse but Experience tells us the contrary For the Respirations are much less frequent than the Pulses of the Heart Moreover Respiration may be slower or quicker more or less according to the pleasure of him that breaths whereas the Pulse cannot be alter'd at the Will of any Person What has been said sufficiently refutes Maurocordatus who ascribing the whole Motion of the Lungs to the Heart says That when the Heart contracting the Sides causes a Systole then the Diaphragma is erected and the Rings of the Rough Artery are contracted and so the Lungs exspire or breathe outward But when the Heart causes the Diastole then the Diaphragma descending draws down the Lungs and dilates the Rings of it which causes breathing inward Which Opinion of his he endeavours to confirm with many Arguments which are destroy'd however by the aforesaid Reasons as is also that Argument That in an intermitting Pulse Respiration does not stop upon the intermitting of the Motion of the Heart which if the Mover stopp'd must of necessity stand still it self And as for what he from hence concludes That the Blood is drawn out of the Vena Cava by Respiration into the Right Ventricle to supply Respiration and from thence into the Pulmonary Artery c. These things need no Refutation since there is no such Attraction to be allow'd in their Bodyâ⦠since all the Humors are mov'd by Impulsion XXXVII Therefore the Motion of Respiration depends neither upon the Heart nor the Muscles of the Breast which when they dilate the Heart presently the Air enters the Lungs through the Aspera Arteria and dilates them but when they contract the Breast they expel it the same way together with the Serous Vapors But whether we say this Entrance of the Air be either to avoid a Vacuum as some believe or by the pressing forward of the external Air by the dilated Breast and by that means the Impulsion of it through the Aspera Arteria into the Lungs as others assert comes all to one pass when both may be true about which some men so idly quarrel XXXVIII In reference to this Motion of Respiration there is a Question debated among the Philosophers what sort of Action it is For some say it is Natural others Animal others mix'd of both XXXIX But it is apparent by what has been said That Respiration is an Animal Action because it is performed by Instruments that all serve to Animal Motion that is to say the Muscles and may be quicken'd or delay'd augmented or decreas'd at our own Pleasure as in those that sing and sound any sort of Wind-Musick and there may be some resolute Men that have held their Breath till they have dy'd as Galen tells the Story of a Barbarian Slave that kill'd himself by holding his Breath And we find two other Examples in Valerius Maximus of the same Nature XL. If any one Object That a voluntary Act is done with ones Consent and cannot be perpetual and that all animal diuturnal Motion causes Lassitude which Respiration does not which moves continually Day and Night even when we are asleep and know nothing of it I answer That those are truly to be call'd Animal and Voluntary Actions which may be or are done according to our own Will and Pleasure so that although Respiration go forward when we are asleep and know nothing of it nevertheless it is an Animal Action when it may be guided by our own Will so soon as we are awake and know any thing of it They that walk and talk in their Sleep though they know nothing of it yet are talking and walking no less Animal Actions for all that For the Animality of Actions does not consist in Acting only but in being able to Act by the management and directions of the Will And therefore we are to understand that what Galen teaches us That the Animal Actions some are perform'd by Instinct and are free and that others serve ro the Affections of the Mind that the one proceeds perpetually and without impediment when we least think of it yet might be otherwise directed by us iâ⦠we were aware of which number is Respiration Others are not perpetual as Fighting Running Dancing Writing c. In the one according to Custom there is a sufficient and continual Influx of Animal Spirits into the Muscles and for this reason there is no Lassitude though the Actions are diuturnal But in the other the Spirits according to the determination made in the Brain flow sometimes at this sometimes at that time sometimes in greater sometimes in less Quantity and thence proceeds Weariness XLI There is one Doubt remaining Whether a Man born may live for any time without Respiration Galen says it is impossible but that a man that breaths should live and that a living man should breathe And again he says Take away Respiration and take away Life And indeed all the Reasons already brought for the necessity of Respiration confirm Galen's Opinion and it is no more than what daily Experience confirms Yet on the other side it is a thing to be demonstrated by sundry Examples that some men have liv'd a long while without any Respiration XLII Those Divers in India who dive for Pearl and Corals to the Bottom of the deepest Rivers will stay for the most part half an hour and more under Water without taking Breath 2. A very stately Ship being built at Amsterdam for the King of France by Misfortune was sunk near the Texel into which the Spanish Ambassador having put aboard a Chest full of Gold he hir'd a Sea-man that was a Diver to go into the Ship as it lay under Water and to endeavour to get out this Chest. This Diver staid half an hour under Water and upon his Return said he had found the Chest but could not draw it out 3. I saw my self two notable Examples at Nimeghen In the Year 1636. a certain Country Fellow who dy'd of the Plague as 't was thought lay three days for dead without any sign of Respiration or
the Body whole and entire only the Cheeks were a little fallen the rest of the Members lay in their natural position and long hairs grew out of the Shoulders of a pale yellowish Colour A broad long Beard also reach'd down to his Navel of the same colour with the hair though by the Picture which was shew'd me he wore the hair of his Head and Beard very short when he was alive I also observ'd that when I went to turn the Carkass with my hand the whole Body except the Bones fell into a thin dust which after we had taken out the Bones and caus'd 'em to be bury'd again we likewise found to be so small in quantity that you might have grasp'd it all easily in one hand though it were the whole Complement of the Carkass XXVI Lastly By way of Corollary I shall only add one thing more Whether great store of Hair conduce to the Strength of the Body Levinus Lemnius maintains the Affirmative and therefore advises sound People never to shave their Hair to the Skin For says he the Use of it destroys the Strength and renders Men soft and effeminate besides it dissolves and extenuates the Spirits and Natural Heat and deprives the Heart of a great part of its Courage and daring Boldness to look danger in the face And the Story of Sampson in Sacred Scripture seems to favour Lemnius his Party who lost his extraordinary Strength upon the shaving of his Hair and recover'd it upon the growing again of his Hair On the other side we find the Romans shav'd their Wrestlers to the very Skin to render them more strong and lively However for my part I am of opinion that great store of Hair conduces little to the strength of the Body but much to the health of the Body while the Head is thereby cover'd and defended from many external Injuries But the Head together with the Brain being sound great store of Animal Spirits are generated which gives strength to the whole Body of the Nerves and Muscles and so great store of Hair may seem to add to the strength of the Body But this can be no universal and perpetual Rule because there are many in whom great store of Hair prevents the Transpiration of the Vapors and consequently weakens the Brain For this same Tower of Pallas being darken'd by Clouds of Vapors the generation of Animal Spirits is thereby obstructed and thereby the Nerves and Sinews are weaken'd besides that it is many times the occasion of Catarrhs and other Diseases For this reason to quicken the Sight Ruates and Avicen commend Shaving of the Head and Celsus in great Defluxions of Rheum orders the Head to be shav'd For which Reason Aristotle also was wont to shave the top of his Crown And Galen reports That the Physicians of his time were wont to shave to the Skin for the Preservation of their Health And besides Women by reason of their great store of Hair are never accounted strong To conclude therefore we may say that plenty of Hair is sometimes a sign of Strength and sometimes the occasion of Weakness and Distempers according to the Constitution of the Body Though they that have hairy Breasts and Skins are generally reputed strong not that the Hair confers any Strength upon the Body but 't is a sign the Heart and other Bowels are sound and strong and then the rest of the Body must be strong of course CHAP. III. Of the External Coverings of the Head AFter the Hair follow the rest of the External Coverings of the Head I. Of which the first that offers it self is the Cuticle then the Skin which in the Hairy part is of an extraordinary thickness to defend the Head from external Injuries and that the Hair may have the deeper and firmer Rooting II. Under the Skin lies a small quantity of Fat but not too much lest it should prevent the Transpiration of the Vapors Riolanus will not allow of any Fat III. Under the Fat lies the fleshy Pannicle and under that several Muscles to be treated of in another Place IV. Next to these lies the Pericranium which is a thin soft close compacted and sensible Membrane by reason of the Nerves dispersed through it and the Temples to the hinder part of the Head This encompasses the whole Skull and is closely joyned with Sutures and nervous Fibers running down through the joynings of the Bones to the hard Meninx and united with it whence there is a great agreement of the Membrane with both Insomuch that the Pericranium is vulgarly said to derive its original from the Meninx from which Opinion Spigelius Highmore not without reason differ who deny this original and only acknowledg a connexion of both by nervous Fibers Lindan seems to deduce the original of the Pericranium from the Tendons of the Muscles of the Forehead Temples and hinder part of the Head expanded about the Cranium which seems less probable seeing that the Pericranium is extended above the Muscles of the Temples and their Tendons and cannot be drawn off without their prejudice Fallopius says the Pericranium is twosold and in some parts of the Head may be divided into two parts of which the one sticks to the Skin the other grows to the Bone But Veslingius will not allow of this Duplicity nor could we ever as yet observe any such thing Above before and behind it encompasses the Cranium only the Periostium between Only descending to the sides it parts a little from it and passes over the Temporal Muscles and comprehends 'em within it self for their greater security not so far as their insertion but as far as the Jugal Bones and in those places it is thicker and harder V. Under the Pericranium lies the Periostium which is a very thin nervous Membrane by the benefit of which the Skull becomes sensible as all other Bones except the Teeth which have their sense of feeling partly from the Periostium investing the Roots and partly from an inner little Nerve This as it is firmly fasten'd to the Cranium so also it is so exactly joyn'd to the Pericranium that it seems to make but one Membrane which deceiv'd Fallopius who thought it to be but one which made him write that the Pericranium was the same in the Head as the Periostium in other Parts forgetting that the Periostium never passes over the Muscles as the Pericranium mounts over the Temporal Muscles But Anatomical Separation shews them to be two distinct Membranes To these exterior Membranes the Vital Blood is carry'd through the external Branch of the Carotid Arteries and that which remains after Nourishment through very small Veins is remitted to the external Jugular Some there are who believe these Arteries passing through the little holes of the Cranium penetrate and open into the large Cavity of the hard Meninx Which however does not seem very likely when they only tend to the Diplois and there end conveying the
in the Ventricles not as an unprofitable Excrement but as a useful Humor and there to be prepar'd for a necessary Use which is threefold 1. By its Coolness to temper the boyling Heat of the Blood passing along the Fold for the Fold swims upon it and so to prepare it for the making of Animal Spirits 2. By flowing to the Glandules of the Tonsils and Mouth to moisten the Larynx and Gullet 3. That in the Mouth in which together with the Liquor flowing through the Spitly Channels it begets the Spittle and in the Stomach it may be mixt with the chew'd Nourishment and help their Concoction by a peculiar Fermentation In the same manner as the Lympha flowing to the Chyle-bearing Channels prepares the Chylus after a specific manner that so coming to the Heart it may be the more easââ¦ly dilated therein and converted into Blood X. But when by reason of the coldness of the Brain or some other Weakness that Liquor is not sufficiently prepar'd then becoming more crude and viscous it is gather'd together in the Ventricle in greater abundance and from thence not only flows more copiously to the Parts aforesaid but many times the greater part of it not able to fall down to the Iaws through the ordinary narrow Channels a great quantity of it descends through other Passages to the Nose and Mouth and thence as a superfluous Excrement vulgarly call'd Flegm or Snot is evacuated at the Mouth and Nostrils And that this is the true Use of the Pituitous Humor many Reasons demonstrate 1. For that in an extraordinary heat the Head being very hot and dry and consequently this Liquor being much wasted and but little of it falling down to the Mouth and Tonsils it causes a great drought of the Jaws and Mouth and thence Thirst which also happens for the same reason in Fevers and other hot Distempers 2. For that upon longing after any pleasing Food that a man sees this Liquor together with the Spitly Humor flowing through the Spittle-Vessels flows no less from the Brain through the widened Passages to the Mouth and Tongue than the Animal Spirits that are determin'd and sent by the Mind to the Parts that require Motion 3. Because that in Persons of a hotter and drier Temper in whom the serous and flegmatic part of the Blood does not so copiously abound and the said Liquor is collected in a lesser quantity in the Ventricles and is better concocted and the thinner part much more dissipated there are none or very few Excrements evacuated from the Nose and Palate neither do they spit so much but they are more thirsty 4. Because that in moister Natures a great Quantity of this Liquor is collected in the Ventricles of the Brain and hence a greater quantity of Spittle flows into the Kernels of the Jaws and Mouth and the Spittlechannels and frequently more crude to the Mouth and Stomach ââ¦ay sometimes in so great a quantity as in a Day and a Night to fill whââ¦e ãâã full if the cââ¦ld and moist Temper of the Brain send the Humor down in great Quantity and sometimes descending in greater Quantity to the Stomach it so relaxes and debilitates by its quantity its Coldness and its Moisture that it vitiates the fermentaceous Humors growing there and by that means takes away the Patient's Stomach and hinders Concoction 5. Because that for want of Spittle the Act of Swallowing is render'd difficult and the Concoction of the Stomach is ill perform'd as is apparent in many that are troubl'd with Fevers XI After this serous Humor being separated from the Arterious Blood of the Fold and that a sufficient quantity of that Arterious Blood is transmitted into the Brain and Marrow for the making of Animal Spirits that Blood which remains over and above ãâã the Fold flows to the Vein sometimes single sometimes double in the Ventricle running between the middle of the Fold above the Pineal Kernel and through that is carry'd to the great Hollowness of the Scythe This Vein Galen affirms to be deriv'd from no other Vein because there is no ââ¦ion or Conjunction of it with any other Vein to be observ'd However Bauhinus believes it to be a Branch of the great Hollowness Which Mistake is sufficiently refell'd by what we have said in the Fourth Chapter XII From what has been said we are to take notice of the Grand Mistake of Rolfinch who in a long Discourse seeking for a new Cause of Catarrhs never before found out and rejecting the Opinions of all others tho' too inconsiderately concludes that the Carotid Arteries are the Fountains of all Catarrhs For he says that they discharge their flegmatic Humors partly into the wonderful Net and that from thence these Excrements ascend higher into the Choroid Fold and the Ventricles of the Brain from whence they flow down to the Pituary Kernel and there are insensibly wasted Moreover that the said flegmatic Humors are partly purged forth through the outermost Branch of the inner Propagation into all the spungy parts of the Nostrils Mouth Jaws and Palate and are thence discharged as altogether unprofitable Which they are faulty either in Quantity Quality Manner Time or Place of Excretion then Catarrhs are thereby bred But the Learned Gentleman did not consider how easily those flegmatic Humors stop up the narrow Passages of the slender Net and Fold and what terrible Diseases thence arise as Apoplexies Lethargies Carus's c. to which men would be most frequently obnoxious if that Proposition were true Nor does he take notice that the Arteries equally convey the Blood to all Parts without any Choice nor do they particulatly convey the Choleric parts to the Liver the Melancholy to the Spleen or the Flegmatic to the Head and discharge those Humors into those Bowels which nevertheless he will have to be so done whereas there is not in the Arteries any power of separating any judgment to make choice nor can those Bowels do it by any particular virtue of Attraction but that the various alteration of one and the same Blood and the separation of the smallest Particles is order'd according to the diversity of the Kernels conformation and diversity of the parts into which it flows He alledges many Arguments for the proof of his Opinion but so contrary to Reason and Experience that they are not worth a Refutation XIII Moreover the Arch being turn'd backward the Third or Middle Ventricle which is the Concourse or Meeting of the two uppermost or foremost as it were form'd in the Center of the Marrow of the Brain Wherein are several things to be consider'd 1. Two Passages The first of which with an eminent Process which Veslingius calls the Womb is carry'd downward to the Funnel and pituitary Kernel through which the Flegmatic Excrements of the Brain are vulgarly said to be evacuated but erroneously The other which is call'd the Arse or the hole of the Arse passes to the fourth Ventricle and is
into the Nerves unless being squeez'd out of the Brain and Pith by the alternate dilatation and falling of the Brain the hinder parts pressing the fore-parts as one Wave drives forward another is apparent from hence for that the motion of the Brain ceasing through a Syncope or depression of the Cranium c. no more Spirits flow into the Nerves but all the parts fall without Motion Thus in an Organ we see that the thin Air which would never of it self descend violently downward into the Pipes by the falling of the dilated Bellows is easily forc'd into them Upon this Subject read more in Sennertus's Institutes l. 1. c. 6. and his Prax. Med. p. 2. c. 33. where he refutes and destroys the foresaid Argument with most convincing Reasons This Opinion therefore being altogether rejected we must hold it for certain and unquestionable with the consent of the greater part of the Philosophers that there are Animal Spirits bred indeed out of the Vital but actually very much differing from them as the Bread differs from the Chylus the Chylus from the Blood and the Blood from the Substance of the Parts for as the Chylus coming into the heart loses its first Constitution and assumes a quite different which has nothing of similitude with the former and so is turn'd into Blood so the most subtil part of the Vital Blood assumes in the Brain a new and altogether different Species together with a new and altogether different strength and efficacy Here if any one will object that the same Spirits were before in the Blood so far as they are afterwards produc'd out of the Blood and cannot be produc'd out of the Blood unless they were in it before I will not contend with him if he mean that the Matter of these Spirits was in it before For those Animal Spirits such as they are made in the Brain are not actually contain'd in the blood but the Matter out of which they are to be made is contain'd therein In the same manner the spirituous Blood is not contain'd in the Meat and Nourishment but the Matter out of which such Blood is generated by the concoctions of the Bowels Or as the Herb or the Tree is not contain'd in the Earth but the Matter out of which the Herb or the Tree is to spring and be rais'd up by the heat of the Sun Or as the Vessel is not contain'd in the Clay but the Matter out of which the Vessel is to be made which is so different from the Vessel that a Child would account him a Fool that should call the formless Clay a Vessel IV. But now 't is the unanimous Opinion of all Physicians that it is the proper Office of the Brain to generate the Animal Spirits and that those Spirits flow through the Nerves out of that Work-House wherein they are generated into the Parts and may be sent forth every way in greater plenty by the Soul with a certain determination as Assistants and Conveyers of the Powers which she diffuses from her self But in what part of the Brain these Spirits are generated is greatly disputed and what they are is altogether unknown and therefore they both require a larger Discourse V. Peter Laurembergius believ'd these Animal Spirits to be generated in the Hollownesses of the Falx From whose Opinion Daniel Sennertus does not differ much But this Opinion proceeds from their not knowing the Use of the Sinus's or Hollownesses of the Falx and therefore they are easily refuted by what we have already said concerning those Hollownesses c. 4. Andreas Laurentius Riolanus Lud. Mercator and many others with whom Regius also consents believe these Spirits to be generated in the Cavities of the Ventricles out of the hottest Arterious Blood exhaling from the Choroidal Fold with which some think the Air to be intermix'd by inspiration and that they are forc'd out of these Ventricles through invisible Pores into the Nerves and so through them flow to the rest of the Parts Some according to the Opinion of the Arabians affirm that they are generated not in all the Ventricles but only in the fourth Ventricle which for that reason they call the most principal Both these Opinions Galen also profess'd as also Hippocrates and Plato But both Reason and Experience evince this Opinion concerning the Cavity of the Ventricles For if the Vital Spirits should exhale out of the Choroidal Fold into the Cavities of the Ventricles there to be turn'd into Animal Spirits I would fain know how the Animal Spirits already generated out of those Vital Spirits shall enter into the Nerves which have no continuity with the Ventricles Shall the Vital Spirits which exhal'd out of the Fold being become Animal again breath into the Nerves which lie at a distance from the Nerves Or can the Soul dispose at pleasure of the Spirits generated and contain'd here and there beyond the Bounds of its Jurisdiction that is to say in the Ventricles Besides if the place be consider'd it will be found no way proper for the generation of the Animal Spirits For in the Ventricles are gather'd together snotty Excrements which are found therein sometimes in greater sometimes in lesser quantity as well in those that are sound as those that are sickly Thus it would come to pass that these thin and most impure Spirits would be generated without the Vessels in the Cavities of these Ventricles among the most impure and cold Excrements of the Brain and thence notwithstanding their being thicken'd by the cold Excrements must flow out again together with the thicker Excrements through most narrow and almost invisible Pores rather into the Nerves far enough seated from the Ventricles then through the broad and open Channels of the Papillary Processes and the Sieve-like Bone which how absurd it is there 's no body but may easily perceive Besides in the watery Disease of the Head call'd Hydrocephalus in which many times there is a great quantity of serous Humour collected in the Ventricles sometimes several pounds as also in an Apostem of the Brain at what time the purulent Matter is pour'd forth into these Vessels I say in these cases neither could these Spirits be generated nor the Animal Actions proceed of which the contrary is manifest from Experience For in a Patient that I dissected in March 1653. whose distended Ventricles containd above half a pound of thick stinking green Pus from the large Apostem of the upper part of the Brain penetrating as far as the upper Ventricles I observ'd that all the time of his Sickness for seven Weeks together he was no way disturb'd in his Intellects nor depriv'd of Motion till the time of his Death Besides that if they did not flow through the already mention'd Vessels evacuating the Flegm yet would those Spirits fly out at the Wounds of the Ventricles and for want of them the Person would be depriv'd of all Animal Action Yet Galen tells us a Story of a young Man
who at Smyrna in Ionia receiv'd a Wound in one of the upper Ventricles yet liv'd for all that I my self here in Utrecht in the Year 1648. inspected the Body of a young Nobleman of Over-Yssel a Student in the Law who dy'd of a wound in his Head in whom the Cranium being first open'd it was first found that the Sword had enter'd the bigger or innermost Corner of one Eye without any harm to the Eye it self and had peneââ¦rated through the upper right Ventricles and lighting upon the upper part of the Cranium on the inside toward the top of the Lambdoidal Suture had almost pierced that also yet this young Gentleman was depriv'd of none of his Animal Actions a certain Sign that the Spirits had not flow'd out of the Ventricle through the broad Wound but sound in Mind Seeing Hearing Tasting and well moving all his Parts walking and judiciously discoursing with his Companions that came to see him upon any Discourse liv'd ten days and then being seiz'd with a violent Fever dy'd in two days Thus Lindan makes mention of a certain Patient that was wounded whose Surgeon for fourteen days together before his Death put in a Probe as far as the Ventricle of his Brain whither the Wound had reach'd without any feeling Yet he further adds that the same Person walk'd every day about the City unless it were the last four days at the end of which he dy'd In these Cases certainly the most subtle Spirits had either flow'd out of their own accord or had been expell'd out of the Ventricles by the alternate dilatation and compression of the Brain and so the person must have dy'd depriv'd of his Animal Actions if the place of their Generation had been in the Ventricles From all which Examples the weak Supports of the said Opinion are sufficiently evident though Webfer refutes the same Opinion more clearly by other Reasons l. de Apoplexia VI. Cartesius differs not very much from the said Opinion who teaches us that these Spirits are not generated in the Ventricles but says that they are separated in the Pineal Kernel by the narrow Passages of the little Arteries of the Choroid Fold and from thence infus'd into the Ventricles and no other way differ from the Vital Spirits only that they are the thinest Parts separated from them and only call'd by another Name To which he adds that there is no probability that the separation of these Spirits is perform'd in the Pineal Kernel as well by reason of the smalness of the Kernel as the vast quantity of Animal Spirits which can never be so swiftly strain'd through so diminutive a particle Besides that this Kernel being obstructed and compress'd yet it is found that these Spirits are generated in great quantity as was apparent in the forecited persons in whose Ventricles the Pus and Serum that was collected in great quantity could not but compress the Kernel and obstruct it in its Office as is also apparent in such Men in whom you shall find Sand and Stones oppressing more than half the Kernel As to that which follows where Cartesius says that these Spirits are collected in the Ventricles that is already refuted as also that other that they differ nothing from the Vital Spirits but only in their separation VII Many others believe that the Animal Spirits are elaborated in the Choroid Fold and that the Vital Blood in its passage through the Fold is alter'd into these Spirits by a singular propriety of the Brain Which Opinion as the Liver many embrace at this day and I was of the same mind once though now I have good reason to think the contrary For upon more mature consideration three Arguments utterly subvert it First Because the Blood contain'd in that Fold is altogether ruddy neither is it observ'd to undergo any alteration therein neither at any time whatever part of the Fold you inspect is it of any other colour than red and Blood-colour whereas the Animal Spirits are pellucid and invisible by reason of their extraordinary subtility Secondly Because the Fold is not continuous with any of the Nerves and therefore no Spirits can be transfus'd out of it into the Nerves 3ly Because the Blood flows into the Pithy Substance of the Brain out of the Fold partly through innumerable diminutive branches partly by the order of circulation flows to the Vein that runs between the middle Fold above the Kernel and thence is carry'd to the inferior Hollownesses of the hard Meninx or Scythe and from them to the Jugular Veins Through which Passages the Animal Spirits also if any were made in the Fold would flow forth together with the Blood nor would any reach to the Nerves which are seated without the Fold and no way continuous to them VIII Francis de le Boe Sylvius suspects them to be elaborated in the Arteries running forth all along the Superficies of the Brain and Cerebel which he thinks to be distributed thro' the Superficies for that public and not for any private Use and that out of those Arteries they penetrate into the Cortex of the Brain and Cerebel and thence into the middle whitish Substance and in this Passage are freed from its watery part that sticks most closely to it But this Opinion is overthrown by these three Arguments 1. Because that in the Arteries of the Head there is no other Humour contain'd than in other Arteries that is to say Blood and those Arteries are only assisting Parts conveying the Blood not altering it into Animal Spirits or making any other Humor or Spirit out of it 2. Because the innumerable bloody Specks which every way occur to the Sight in the dissected Substance teach us that not the Animal Spirits but the arterious blood it self is thrust forward as well through the Ash-colour'd Cortex of the Brain as through the whitish Substance out of the Arteries which bloody Specks would not appear if that blood were only chang'd into invisible Animal Spirits in the said Arteries 3. Because the several remarkable Mutations of Humors require some particular Bowel to make that alteration as appears in the Stomach which turns the Nourishment into Chylus in the Heart which changes the Chylus into Blood in the Liver which alters the blood into a choleric Ferment and therefore we must certainly conclude that the making of Animal Spirits out of Blood cannot be perform'd in the Arteries which only carry the Matter out of which they are to be generated but that of necessity it must be performed in that most noble Bowel the Brain and not in the Arteries encompassing the Brain and Cerebel but in the Substance it self IX Thus also Galen and with him Bauhinus and Sennertus Hoffman Emilius Parisanus Plempius believethem to be elaborated in the Substance it self of the Brain Whose Opinion we are also willing to embrace as being that of which the Truth appears from hence because the arterious blood is driven
from all Parts in greater quantity to the Substance of the brain than is requisite for the nourishment of it For on the outside Thousands of little branches of Arteries empty a great quantity of blood partly into the Ash-colour'd Cortex enfolding the brain in whose little Kernels apt Particles are separated for the Generation of Spirits from those that are unapt and suckt up by the extremities of the little Fibers of the brain extended into the Cortex partly enter the Substance of the brain it self Moreover on the inside also in the third Ventricle that there are infinite slender branches inserted from the Choroid Fold into the white Pithy Substance and which stick and cling to it will easily appear to those who have prudently examin'd that Ventricle and gently lifted up the Fornix or Arch for then they may perceive innumerable little branches of the Choroid Fold sticking to and entring the Substance of the Fornix the furrow'd Monticles the Stones and Buttocks and pouring into the Pores of it the thinner blood freed by the little Kernels of the Fold from a great part of its viscous Serum which in the dissection of the Substance is seen to start as well out of the invisible Vessels as out of the Pores Moreover it is requisite that the Animal Spirits should be generated in that part out of which they may most conveniently either flow or be thrust forward into the Nerves But such a part is the Substance of the brain and pith which as being altogether fibrous and continuous with the Nerves has also Pory Fibers continuous with them into which by the compression of the brain which follows its dilatation those Spirits may commodiously be squeez'd forward Lastly the Soul makes use of the Ministry of these Spirits and therefore they ought to be generated and contain'd in that part where the Soul resides But the Soul does not reside in empty Cavities or Ventricles in the midst of excrementitious Filth but in solid living Parts Therefore as it resides in the Substance of other Parts so likewise in that of the brain where it lays the foundations of the Animal Spirits which from thence it sends every way at her own pleasure through the Nerves X. This Opinion two great Difficulties seem to oppose 1. Because the Apoplexy and other heavy Drowsinesses proceed according to the Iudgment of most eminent Physicians from a stoppage of the Animal Spirits which hinders their Influx out of the Ventricles of the Brain into the Pith by reason of some obstruction of the beginning of the Pith or its compression happening through some other Cause Which Obstruction or Compression would not be the Cause of the Apoplexy or that same Lethargic Drowsiness if the Spirits were not generated in the Ventricles or the Choroid Fold but in the Substance of the Brain it self 2. Because the Disposal of the Spirits determinated by the Mind would not be compleated in the Substance of the Brain it self but in the common Sensory which is seated in the Brain it self This the Catalepsis plainly shews us wherein the Spirits flow in great quantity into the Nerves but no new determination of them follows because of the Obstruction of the common Sensory XI The first Difficulty is easily remov'd if the Cause of the Motion of the Brain be more narrowly pry'd into In the Fifth Chapter we have at large inform'd you that the Brain is mov'd by the perpetual first Mover of our Body that is to say the Heart and that the Heart dilates the whole Brain by forcing through the Arteries the Spirituous Blood into its Substance which upon the cessation of that Impulse presently falls again and so by compression forces the Spirits contain'd in it further into the Nerves XII Now if through any Cause as Obstruction or Compression c. the Arteries happen to be streighten'd through which the Blood is push'd forward and flows into the Brain by which means the free access of the Blood forc'd through the Arteries to the Brain is foreslow'd or obstructed then there is a great diminution of the Matter proper for the generation of Spirits and the motion of the Brain is very small whence happens not only a generation of very few Spirits and a weaker Impulse of them into the Nerves Now in regard that few Spirits and those weakly impuls'd are not sufficient to perform the Actions of the Sensory Organs whose Actions are also perform'd by the continual and sufficing motion of the Spirits of necessity there follows a deep Drowsiness or Rest of the Animal Actions which Drowsiness is either more or less as the streightness of the Arteries is either more or less But if those Arteries through which the Blood flows toward the inner parts of the Brain that is to say the Arteries of the wonderful Net and the Choroid Fold nay the Carotid Arteries themselves be of a sudden strongly compress'd and obstructed by the sudden falling of thick Flegm collected in the Brain upon them or the depression of the Skull and Brain presently the Motion of the Blood toward the Brain is obstructed and hence also the generation of the Animal Spirits and their motion and impulse into and through the Nerves is obstructed which is the Cause of the Apoplexy Which Physicians hitherto have absurdly affirm'd to happen from the obstruction or streightning of the beginning of the Nerves when it altogether proceeds from the obstruction or compression of the Arteries Which Hippocrates most clearly teaches us where he asserts the Cause of the Apoplexy to be the standing of the Blood more especially in the Arteries of the Neck that is to say the Carotides and others deriv'd from thence such as those which compose the wonderful Net and Choroid Fold Seeing that thereby the Motion and Action of the Spirits is destroy'd which Moââ¦ion being obstructed the body must of necessity rest Let us hear the most acute Fernelius who confirms this Matter most elegantly by Experiments and Reasons Seeing upon a time says he a lusty sane man fall to the ground upon a desperate Blow upon the Left Eye and presently depriv'd of Sence and Motion together with a difficulty of Breathing and Snoaring and other strong Symptoms of an Apoplexy and that he could neither be preserv'd by Blood-letting nor any other way but that he dy'd within twelve hours I thought it worth my while to search into the Cause of his Death To that purpose having dissected and open'd his Brain and finding no Contusion of the Bone or Meninxes or Substance of the Brain but only that the inner Veins of the Eye were broken by the violence of the Contusion I observ'd that from thence about two Spoonfuls of Blood had lighted upon the Basis of the Brain which being clotted together had bound up those Arteries which form the Net-like Contexture and which being thence propagated into the Ventricles of the Brain constitute the other Choroid Fold But the Ventricles of
the Brain were altogether untouch'd without any Damage Being thus far satisfy'd I thought good to dissect another who dy'd without any external Cause to be seen in whom there was found a thick and viscous Humor resting upon the Net like contexture the Ventricles of the Brain being neither fill'd nor obstructed Hence reasoning with my Self I judg'd it consentaneous to Reason that the Apoplexy was generated in the Arteries either obstructed or compress'd for that then the Brain receiv'd no Spirits from the Heart through the adjoyning Arteries which occasion'd an absolute necessity of its Motion and Sence And a certain Person observing these things as I suppose affirm'd that the Apoplexy was caus'd by the intercepting the Passages that are common to the Heart and Brain Thus if the Cause of the Disease of all Apoplectics were more diligently enquir'd into it would be found to proceed not from the compression or obstruction of the beginning of the Nerves in the third or middle Ventricle but solely from the compression or streightning of the Arteries tending to the Brain even then when the Apoplexy is caus'd by a rammassment of serous Matter collected in the substance of the Brain it self or between the Meninxes Which Webfer affirms that he has found to be true by experience upon several Diffections Who erroneous however conjectures this to happen by reason of the deny'd entrance of the Animal Spirits when it is manifest that the stoppage of the Arteries is the cause of it for seeing that in an Aposteme of the Brain the Orifices of the nerves are not clos'd by the quantity of Serum or Pus collected in the ventricles much less will it happen through any far slighter Collection Again that it does not happen through any Flegm that fills the Vessels of a sudden occular view teaches us in the Dissections of Apoplectics in whose Ventricles never so great a quantity of Flegm is to be found in the Ventricles and moreover because the Apoplexy is caus'd by the sole compression of the little Arteries of the wonderful Net without any detriment to the Brain much less to the Ventricles as appears by the foresaid Relations of Fernelius and the Story of Webfer of the Woman that was hang'd and yet came again to her self In which Particular Martian also agrees with us I find says he three Differences of the Apoplexy according to the Doctrine of Hippocrates Of which though there be various preceding Causes yet in reality they are all the same as consisting in the standing of the Blood by which means all Motion and Action of the Spirits are taken away For as the same Author observes when the Blood is not mov'd it is impossible but that the Motion of the Body must cease Therefore when the Blood is depriv'd of Motion not only the Motion of the Spirits is intercepted which is caus'd by the Blood but at the same time and together the generation of the Animal Spirits which is perform'd in the Brain is vitiated and interrupted for want of Matter the Veins or Arteries being intercepted for it is well known that the Animal Spirits are generated out of the Vital As to that Cause of the Apoplexy which Malpigius and Fracassatus propound when they alledge this Distemper to proceed from the stoppage of the straining through of the Serum growing in the Cortex of the Brain this Opinion if rightly explain'd will agree with the former already laid down For if the concrescible Serum as they call it that is to say if the Saltish Particles of the Blood being stopp'd in the Cortex of the Brain through the depression of the Cranium stuffing up of Flegm or any other Cause cannot be separated by straining through then also is the ingress of the Vital Spirits or Arterious blood into the brain put to a stop and thence for want of Matter for generation of the Spirits and defect of the Cause that pushes them forward when generated any farther Generation ceases as also the pushing forward of the Animal Spirits into the Nerves and thence the Apoplexy or any other Lethargic Drowsiness though the Passage of the same Spirits out of the brain it self into the Nerves may be free at the same time XIII As to the second Difficulty there is a great difference between the Generation of Animal Spirits of which we here discourse and their Determination and the Place wherein or from whence the Determination is made For because the Mind determines from the common Sensory the Spirits adhering to the Substance of the brain this does not hinder but that those Spirits may be generated in the Substance of the brain and thence be determin'd by the superior Command and Power of the Mind to these or those Parts Nor is it consequential from hence that the Spirits should be generated in that place from whence the Determination of the Mind sends them away at pleasure A Prince sitting in his Throne appoints his Subjects to these or these Offices or Places but thence it does not follow that the commanded Subjects should be born in the King's Palace or reside in his Throne for that the Beams of his Command extend themselves to the utmost Limits of his Empire He therefore that shall to the purpose explain the manner how the Appointment of the Spirits is transacted by the Soul will light a fair Flambeau for the discovery of greater Mysteries In the mean while this second Objectson makes nothing against our Opinion and therefore as most probable we conclude that the Animal Spirits are generated in the Substance of the brain it self CHAP. XI Of the Animal Spirits IN the foregoing Chapter it has been declar'd that the Office or Action of the Brain is to generate Animal Spirits and that they are elaborated in the Substance of the Brain it self now it remains that we enquire of what sort and what those Noble Spirits are and how they are generated However by the way observe that when we discourse of Spirits as here and l. 2. c. 12. we do not speak of certain incorporeal Spirits or of the general Spirit of the whole World by which the Platonics alledge that all things have their Being but of a certain most subtil Vapour which is produc'd out of Sulphur and Salt by the Concoctions of the Bowels and varies according to the variety of the Matter out of which it is extracted and the various manner of extraction which endow it with different Qualities I. The Animal Spirits are invisible Vapours most thin and volatile chiefly elaborated out of the Salt Particles of the Blood and some few Sulphury chiefly volatile and that in the Brain serving partly for the Natural partly for the Animal Actions As for those that deny that any Animal Spirits are to be allow'd specifically different from the Vital as Huffman Deusingius and several others endeavour to uphold we think it an Opinion not worth refuting and therefore to be rejected seeing that the one is compounded
of Salt and many Sulphury Spirits dilated together and exactly mix'd in the Heart the other consists of very few Sulphury but chiefly Salt Spirits and differ not in respect of their Substance only and Composition but also in their Use and are made in a peculiar bowel the brain every way different from the Heart Lastly seeing also that from them the Animal Actions proceed very much different from the Natural as the Phansie the Imagination Ratiocination the Memory Judgment Feeling Seeing Motion of the Muscles c. and that from their being vitiated peculiar Affections and Diseases arise as is apparent in Vertigo's Apoplexies Night-mares Madness Phrensie Convulsions and other Accidents proceeding from their deprav'd Motion too copious influx or deficiency the like to which cannot proceed from the defects of the Animal Spirits All which is clearly made out by Galen l. de Placit Hipp. Plat. c. 6. as also l. 7. c. 3. de usu Partium As to the Matter out of which these Spirits are generated Glisson and Charlton have endeavour'd to introduce lately something of Novelty who both maintain these Spirits to be generated of some portion of the Chylus which is suck'd up by the Nerves out of which partly these Spirits produc'd partly some Iuice rawer than the Blood is generated which flows through the Nerves to the nourishment of all the Spermatic Parts But this absurd Opinion we have already refuted l. 1. c. 16. And Deusingius also destroys it in a large Discourse l. de Nutritii Succi novo Comment The most ancient and truest Opinion is that they are generated out of the arterious blood but after what manner they are generated has never hitherto been certainly describ'd Cartesius with whom most at this day agree discourses thus concerning this Matter It is to be consider'd says he that all the more vivacious and subtil parts of the Blood which the heat rarifies in the Heart immediately and in great quantity enter the Cavities and therefore they rather muster thither than to any other part because that all the Blood which goes out of the Blood through the great Artery directs its course in a direct Line to that part and when it cannot all enter because the Passages are very narrow the more agitated and subtil parts of it pass through alone while the rest diffuse themselves through all the parts of the Body Now these most subtil parts of the Blood compound the Animal Spirits neither do they to that end want any other alteration in the Brain only that there they are separated from the other less subtil parts of the Blood For those which I call here Spirits are nothing but Bodies and have no other Propriety only that they are most subtil Bodies and are moved with an extraordinary celerity By these Words it appears that Cartesius did not differ much from the Opinion of those who believe the Animal Spirits nothing distinct in Specie from the Vital which is already refuted And this he openly seems to signifie l. 2. de hom Artic. 10. Where he speaks thus That portion of Blood says he which rises up as high as the Brain not only helps the nourishment and pre servation of the Substance of the Brain but also in the first place generates therein a subtil Vapour or rather active and pure Flame which we call the Animal Spirits A little after he adds And thus the more subtil Particles of the Arterious Bloodâ⦠without any preparation or mutation other than that by which they are separated from the thicker Particles and are agitated with that vehement celerity which the heat of the Heart has endu'd them with lose the form of Blood and come under the name of Animal Spirits Moreover he asserts a certain wonderful Separation of the thinner parts of the Blood from the thicker whereas the arterious Blood altogether such as it is is equally thrust forward through the Arteries upward and downward neither is there any reason why the more subtil parts should be more specially carry'd upward toward the Head and the thicker flow to the rest of the Body As to the narrowness of the passages that proves nothing for the Carotid and Cervical Arteries are wide and large enough so that the thicker blood mix'd together with the more spirituous may as well flow through them as the other Arteries Neither does the directness of the passage to such a separation of the most subtil particles from the thicker make any thing to the purpose for the blood being violently thrust forward out of the Heart rushes forth where it finds way given without any separation of the particles For the Spirits are not separated from it by degrees as the Spirits of Wine or any other Liquor containing Spirits in a Chymical Distillation where by the force of the Fire the Spirits are dissolv'd by degrees without any other impetuous compulsion and ascend directly upward and if any such be allow'd them fly away through any direct narrow passages the watery parts flowing out at the lateral passages But here is a rapid propulsion of the whole dissolv'd sanguineous mass into the great Artery and all its wide narrow streight crooked upper lower productions that so swift sudden that in that small moment of time that the Heart makes that propulsion so sudden and rapid a separation of the thinner from the thicker can neither be done nor taught by reason nor apprehended by Imagination If the blood attenuated and render'd vaporous in the Ventricles of the Heart did ascend upwards into the Arteries of its own accord without any impulse then perchance by reason of its slow progress some such thing might be imagin'd by us but in regard that the Heart by a sudden contraction impetuously and rapidly expels as it were in the twinkling of an eye whatever is in its Ventricles such a separation can never be made Thus if any one with a Syringe shall force red Wine boyling hot into a Tube crooked toward the sides and bor'd through at the upper part with three or four Holes it will fly forth equally such as it is at all the holes at the top or sides whether crooked wide or narrow nor will the violence of the force or shortness of the time allow any separation of the thicker parts from the thinner much less a particular passage of the thinner thro' the uppermost direct little holes without the thicker And so it is with the blood forc'd out of the Heart Besides the quickest Eye in the world could never observe any difference either in thickness or thinness between the blood ascending upward to the Head through the wide and direct passages or the blood descending downward through the crooked and broad passages For that which is taken out of any Animal from the Carotid differs not a tittle from that which descends out of the Aorta or is drawn out of the Iliac Vein by a small Prick as neither the returning remainder of the blood
which descends through the Jugular Veins differs any thing from that which ascends through the Basilic Vein of the Arm or the Iliac Veins of the Thighs unless it pass through any diseased part but is altogether equal And yet there would be some difference to be observ'd if the Doctrine of Cartesius were true Lastly says the most acute Philosoper the more subtil parts of the blood compounding these Spirits want no other alteration but the separation of the most thin parts from the less thin yet in the mean time he never lets us know what those most thin parts are 2. Nor how the Brain orders that separation from the rest of the parts of the blood 3. Nor wherefore nor how they are mov'd As to the first I have spoken in the definition that is to say that all the most subtil parts of the blood but chiefly the volatile Salt parts conduce to the making of these Spirits of which we shall now more at large discourse as also of their separation and motion IV. The Matter therefore out of which these Spirits are generated is the arterious Blood consisting of a Salt Sulphureous and Serous Iuice of which not equally all the Parts or Particles but chiefly the Salt which by a peculiar quality of the Kernels of the Cortex of the Brain are for the greatest part dissolv'd and separated from the sulphury Particles and being depriv'd of their Serosity are rendred most thin and altogether volatile so that they are able with ease to penetrate through the diminutive Fibers of the pithy Brain V. Vesalius Laurentius Columbus Sennertus Plempius Fracassarius and many others are of Opinion that besides the blood Air necessarily concurs as the Matter è qua or out of which to the generation of these Spirits and that by its transpiration through the Sieve-like breathing holes of the Ethmoid Bone it penetrates into the Ventricles of the Brain Which was formerly also the Opinion of Erasistratus and Galen But that it is far distant from Truth we find partly for that those things which have been said concerning the situation of the spungy Bones and the spungy Flesh stopping the upper part of the Nostrils partly what has been said concerning the place of the Generation of the Animal Spirits plainly demonstrate that the inspir'd Air cannot penetrate into the Ventricles of the Brain and then again that the Animal Spirits are not generated in those Ventricles Moreover the Animal Spirits are always generated out of the same and like Matter of which if inspir'd Air were a necessary part they could never be generated without inspir'd Air. But on the other side they are generated in those persons who being troubl'd with the Pose have their Nostrils obstructed with so great a quantity of Flegm that by respiration no Air can pass through them They are also generated in the Birth while it lies shut up in the Womb infolded in its own Membranes at what time the Birth does not breath nor can receive in any Air. They are also generated in Fish which though they do not breath in the Air yet abound with these Spirits as appears by their seeing feeling and nimble motion Lastly they are generated in Birds before they are hatch'd while they are inclos'd within the shell and cannot receive in any Air. From all which it is easily concluded that inspir'd Air does not concur to constitute the Matter out of which these Spirits are made VI. Now the Blood is forc'd in great quantity through the Carotid and Cervical Arteries not only into the Membranes of the Head but into Substance it self of the Brain Cerebel and Pith and in its Passage first through the Cortex thence through the Pithy Substance the more subtil salt Particles therein are separated for the most part from the sulphury or oily and serous Particles of which again the thicker Particles serve to the nourishment of the Bowel it self but the thinner are still more volatiliz'd and for the greatest part being freed from the sulphury are changed into a most subtil Spirit call'd Animal which flows out of the Fibers of the Brain and Cerebel into the Nerves and through them to the rest of the Parts of the Body VII But after what manner or by what force that separation and thsir attenuation and volatilization is perform'd cannot easily be explain'd but seems to be peculiar to the Substance it self of the Brain and Kernels of the Cortex as being a Substance which is chiefly form'd out of such a salt Matter with which some few oily Particles being mixt make up the somewhat fatty constitution thereof and hence through the conformity of that like Matter it has an affinity with that other saltish Matter and easily imbibes it after it has quitted the rest of the sulphury and serous Matter and alters it within its little Fibers to greater perfection Thus Fracassarius writes that the Cortex of the Brain is more salt and softer than the Marrow because the Cortex consists more of melted Salt but the Pith of Salt strain'd through the Cortex and consequently less serous and thence more firmly concreted which he says he has often experimented and adds an experimental Observation not improbable Now this Separation happens first in the Cortex as into whose innumerable diminutive Kernels through infinite blood-bearing Vessels the blood is plentifully infus'd out of which in those Kernels there is made a separation of the salter and most spirituous part which flows into the diminutive Fibers of the Brain inserted at the lower part into the several Kernels and so in the pithy Substance of the lower part of the Brain compos'd of those little Fibers is brought to the last persection the remaining portion of the blood returning to the Heart through the little Veins For as it is the Office of all the Kernels to separate some humor from the blood so the same thing comes to pass in these Kernels of the Cortex And as in the Sweet-bread the subacid humor is separated the bilious humor in the Liver by virtue of its little Kernels and Bunches the serous humor in the Kidneys the Lymphatic in the Kernels of many other parts or any other humor according to the various constitution of the Kernels and the Parts themselves so likewise in the Kernels of the Cortex of the Brain endu'd with a property peculiar to themselves there is a peculiar most spirituous saltish invisible humor separated from the blood which growing more spirituous in the little Fibers of the pithy Brain has gain'd the Name of Animal Spirit as being that which obeys the Soul in most of its Actions VIII Now that in the separation of any Liquor the Affinity of the Particles is of extraordinary prevalency appears from hence for that in the nourishment of all the other Parts whatever the same thing is observ'd as for example that such Particles of the blood as have the greatest affinity to the Parts adhere to them
of it here they soften there they harden As to the Motion of the Animal Spirits through the Nerves see the foregoing Chapter XIV To these Animal Spirits hitherto no other Use was attributed only that they are serviceable to the Animal Actions that is to say the principal Faculties the Senses and the Animal Motions which is not to be deny'd but besides this there seems to be another natural Use to be assign'd them which is that they conduce in a high measure to the nourishment of the Parts especially the spermatical This is chiefly apparent from hence because that as the blood continually flows out of the Heart thro' the Arteries so likewise these Animal Spirits continually flow from the Brain through the Nerves to the Parts and that naturally without the determination or appointment of the Soul even when the Mind makes no appointment at all as in Sleep and in soporiferous Diseases But altho' besides this natural Motion perpetually proceeding they are frequently mov'd by another determinated Motion proceeding from the Mind yet that detracts nothing from the continual natural Motion but that these Spirits by virtue of that may be serviceable to the Action of Nutrition as they are thereby serviceable to the Animal Actions For the blood when the Body is at rest is forc'd out of the Heart through the Arteries by a setled continual Motion to the nourishment of the Parts shall it therefore when by reason of any extraordinary Exercises or heating of the Body it is ten times swifter and more rapidly mov'd and forc'd out be no longer proper for the nourishment of the Parts Certainly no man of Reason will say that that same second rapid Motion despoyls the blood of its nutritive Quality And so likewise the more rapid determinative motion of the Spirits often altering the first continual Motion cannot be said to deprive them of their Quality necessary to the Assistance of Nutrition XV. But some will say How can the Work of Nutrition equally proceed in the Parts when sometimes more sometimes fewer Animal Spirits flow into these or those Parts For it seems that those into which fewer Spirits flow should be less those into which more Spirits pass should be more nourish'd I answer that the same thing befalls these Spirits as befalls the blood which though it be more rapidly and in greater quantity thrust forward into the Parts upon extraordinary Exercises and Heats of the Body yet does it not nourish them ever a jot the more push'd on by its ordinary continual Motion in regard that rapid Motion of it is caus'd by the great Heat by Motion and Heat the blood becomes more thin and subtil and the Pores of the Parts more loose so that the blood may not be able to stick so close to the Parts but that a great quantity of it may be dissipated So also these Spirits when they are frequently determin'd in greater quantity to these or those parts endue them indeed with a firmer solidity but no larger augmentation because the chiefest part of them by reason of their tenuity is dissipated and what is not serviceable for nourishment or is not dissipated that being pour'd forth according to custom into the Substance of the Parts and being somewhat thickned enters the extremity of the Veins together with the remainder of the Blood and is mixt and circulated together with it and carry'd to the heart Of which Circulation Rolfincius and Deusingius take notice XVI Now we are to take notice what these Spirits afford or contribute to Nourishment It has been said l. 2. c. 12. that the blood consists of a sulphury salt and serous Juice and that it is forc'd forward every way for the nourishment of the Parts Therefore in its Mass there are two sorts of Substances serving to the nourishment of the Parts Sulphur and Salt Mercury is a third for the most part unprofitable indeed for nourishment but altogether necessary for the conjunction mixture and as a Vehicle of the former But of the two former some serve for the nourishment of the fleshy and fat parts others to the nourishment of the Spermatic parts The fleshy and fat parts are chiefly nourish'd by the sulphury particles of the blood which serve to endue them with an Oily softness and something of sweetness Nevertheless there are some salt particles to render the parts more firm and solid But when that in those parts the sulphury particles predominate above the salt then are they softer and fatter where less prevalent more fleshy and firm The Spermatic parts are nourish'd by the salt particles of the blood which render them more solid and hard yet have some sulphury particles mix'd with them according to whose lesser or greater proportion and dissolution some parts are softer as the Membranes Veins and Arteries others harder as the Bones and Gristles XVII But to the end this nourishment may be carry'd on without any ob struction there is of necessity requir'd some kind of separation of the salt particles from the sulphury that the one may the better be enabled to adhere to the Spermatic the other to the Fleshy and Fat Particles and be assimilated to them This Separation is caus'd by the Animal Spirit which by its influx which as it were coagulating by a slight kind of effervescency and peculiar ãâã the salt particles separates them from the sulphury to the end they may be affix'd to the spermatic parts and by the means of the heat and a small sulphureous Vapor be assimilated to them and as the spermatic parts are more or less dry or moist and more or less of the sulphury particles are mix'd with them so the salter particles of the blood are more or less harden'd in them Thus they become altogether dry and hard in the Bones but softer in the Membranes and Fibers c. These salter particles being thus moderately separated out of the remaining more sulphury Mass of the blood that which is proper goes to the nourishment of the fleshy and fat parts So that the Animal Spirits supply the place of a subacid Rennet or Coagulum which is extracted out of Salt and salt things For that such a sowr Ferment or Coagulum causes the separation of salt and sulphury particles is most evidently apparent in Chymistry For if you mingle Spirit of Wine wherein there is ten times a greater proportion of sulphury than salt particles with Spirit or Water of Tartar which consists of Salt Tartarous particles thinly dissolv'd and melted the Mixture will be exact into which Mixture if you pour in never so little Spirit of acid Salt or Vitriol there will be presently an Effervescency by which the salt particles will be separated from the sulphury and watery and being coagulated they will fix and precipitate to the bottom Thus also by the mixture of Animal Spirits which are endu'd with a gentle subacidish quality the salt particles of the blood flowing into the parts are in a
moderate quantity gently separated from the rest and are somewhat fix'd and coagulated with the Spirit it self and by that means are agglutinated grown to and plainly assimilated with the spermatic parts but those which are less salt and more sulphury adhere to the fleshy and fat parts and are united with them But those particles which are for the most part depriv'd of Spirits and less proper for nourishment flow back through the Veins together with the remaining part of the blood to be impregnated with a new ââ¦ermentaceous Humor proceeding from the Liver and Spleen and to be spiritualiz'd anew in the Heart either with new Chylus or alone without it But if such a separation of salt and sulphury particles from the Animal Spirits flowing through the Nerves be requir'd in the Parts for the carrying on of the nourishment the Question will be how far this Affair shall be carry'd on in such parts into which there are no Nerves inserted as in the Bones and the like As also in those which admit but very few Nerves and yet in respect of their Largeness and their Use require much nourishment I answer that there are no parts to which Nerves do not reach only to some more and larger to others fewer and less as some require a greater others a less proportion of Animal Spirits for the Duties of Sence and Motion and also Nourishment which is the Reason that in some there is a greater in others a lesser separation of the salt from the sulphury particles The Bones because they are nourish'd chiefly by the Salt and Tartarous Spirits of the Blood want many Animal Spirits to cause a strong separation of the salt particles from the sulphury and therefore they are all invelopp'd with a Periostium into which these Spirits flow in great quantity through the Nerves and from thence penetrating into the Pores of the Nerves efficaciously perform their Office and though no manifest Nerves seem to enter the Bones yet that they enter into some is apparent by the Teeth and 't is probable that they enter many other Bones though so small as not to be discern'd by the Eye And such Bones into which they do not enter there the Periostium receiving the Spirits from the Nerves supplies the Office of the Nerves But where there is neither Nerve nor Periositum they have their just magnitude from the beginning conjoyn'd with a peculiar hardness and afterwards neither wear nor increase as the little Bones of the Ears as the Mallet the Anvil and the Stirrup The Heart which is fleshy because it requires not so great a quantity of Salt for its nourishment nor is to be mov'd by a voluntary Motion and because it makes and contains within it self a sharper sort of Spirits needs very few Animal Spirits and therefore is furnish'd with very slender Branches of little Nerves The Liver and Lungs because they are furnish'd with fermentaceous and sowr Juices from other parts in sufficient quantity the one from the Heart the other from the Spleen receive very small Nerves dispers'd chiefly through the involving Membrane and hardly entring the Parenââ¦hyma or body of the Bowel The Spleen admits a greater number of Nerves and Animal Spirits for that making the Matter of the Ferment out of the Arterious Blood the acid salt particles of the blood are to be more strongly separated therein from the sulphury And thus it is in the rest of the Parts among which the more solid always require more the softer fewer Animal Spirits and of the softer those that are water'd with more Animal Spirits are harder than other softer parts as we shall make out when we treat of the Muscles Now that such a kind of Quality is most necessary in the Animal Spirits to promote the Nutrition of the Parts sundry Arguments demonstrate 1. Because those Parts which are exercis'd most and oftenest by the voluntary animal motion and into which to cause that motion of a necessity a greater proportion of Spirits flows than into such Parts as are less exercis'd because I say those Parts for the better separation and coagulation of the salt particles of the blood from the sulphury are nourish'd with a more solid Nourishment and consequently become much more hard and strong than other parts which are exercis'd less and into which those Spirits for that reason are not so copiously determin'd but only flow into them according to their ordinary course This we find in most men whose right Arm and Hand is much stronger than the left because of custom the one is ten times more made use of than the other as being the Instrument of most of our Actions for which reason a greater proportion of Spirits is determin'd to the one than to the other in which because there is not so plentiful a mixture of Animal Spirits there is not so great a separation and fixation of the salt and sulphury Spirits and consequently less firm Nourishment though sometimes the Bulk and Thickness may seem greater But that which is oppos'd in regard that by reason of the less coagulating Effervescency it is less freed from the sulphury Spirits it becomes soft pappy and fat and affords less strength to the Member 2. Because in such persons that walk much and frequently their Thighs are much firmer and stronger than in such who being given to Laziness seldom walk and yet their Thighs are fatter more fleshy softer and thicker And then again those that walk much are much stronger in their Thighs than in any other parts of their Body which they exercise less and therefore they are fit for walking and running but not for any other Labour 3. Because for the same reason it is that Women and lazy people are fat and soft but weak because there is no other than only the ordinary influx of Animal Spirits into the Parts and hence a greater quantity of the sulphury particles of the blood mixt with salt and less separated from them are appos'd together with the Salt which renders the Nourishment less firm 4. Because that in Paralytic Persons in whom very few Spirits or none at all flow into the Members that suffer first the suffering parts for some time are languid and somewhat swelling with an Impostume-like Tumor and at length grow lean and wither'd though much blood is forc'd to them through the Arteries 5. Because that such as use immoderate Venery waste away by reason of the great consumption and waste of Animal Spirits which for that cause flowing in a lesser quantity to the nourishment of the Parts Nutrition is obstructed and thence follows a leanness and wasting of the whole body 6. Because in an ill temper of the Brain and upon several Diseases an Atrophy follows either because of the consumption of these Spirits or because few are generated or those that are generated are vicious Thus Malpigius frequently observes that such as have receiv'd any Wound in the Brain at length die of a Consumption 7. Because
than those which are less and more retir'd within the Head the reason of which is to be seen among the Optic Writers V. There is a wonderful Sympathy and Agreement of the Eyes one between the other by reason of the Optic Nerves adhering to them in the middle at the top of the Pith as also by reason of the moving Nerves arising from one and the same Original And hence if the one be afflicted by any external Accidents the other languishes immediately and the one can hardly be preserv'd from the detriment of the other VI. They have a certain Light in themselves which accompanies their first Formation less in Man who is chiefly employ'd in the day-time greater in those Creatures that prey in the Night as Dormice Owls and Cats whose glittering Eyes dispel the Darkness round about them And Laurentius Bauschius reports upon his own View that he has seen the Eyes of Lions so brightly shining after Death that you might discover the bottom of the Choroid through the hole of the Uveous Coat as it were of a Gold-colour Now because there is a great confluence of Animal Spirits to the Eyes hence they manifestly discover the Signs of Health or Sickness In a healthy Person a proper and convenient conflux of these Spirits renders them full glittering and lively But in persons that are sick the smaller quantity of those Spirits flowing into the Eyes makes them look fall'n sad troubl'd and obscure till at the last endeavours of fading Nature at length the dazl'd and broken Sight foretels the utter Ruine both of Strength and Life VII That these Spirits being endu'd with evil Qualities and darting from the Eyes defile Looking-Glasses and by contagion infect others with an Ophthalmy formerly Aristotle Galen Alexander and many modern eminent Physicians have erroneously believ'd For the Animal Spirits generated in the Brain are not all equally good and if those which flow to the Eyes were endu'd with bad Qualities also those which flow to other parts would partake of the same bad Qualities and would badly affect other parts likewise and obstruct their Performances for there is no reason that worse should flow to the Eyes and better to other parts nevertheless in most Ophthalmics no other parts are endamag'd unless the Eyes Besides there can be no such emission of Spirits from the eyes at a distance as to defile a Looking-Glass or infect the eyes of another person at a distance And therefore the defilement of the Looking-Glass proceeds not from the contaminated Spirits issuing from the Eyes but from the corrupt Vapors proceeding from the Mouth or some other external Cause Thus Blear-eyedness caus'd by looking upon Blear Eyes whether at a near or farther distance is to be attributed not to the emission of contaminated Spirits from the Eyes but to the conturbation of the Spirits of the other Person caus'd by the abhorr'd Spectacle of Blear-Eyedness as being that by which the Spirits are not only mov'd disorderly but also the Pores being dilated by the unwonted Influx of Spirits more than usual the Blood and Humors are hasten'd away in greater quantity to those Parts upon which the thoughts of the Mind are most intent that is to say the Eyes In the same manner as when a Person sees another vomiting many times his Abhorrency and Squeamishness is such that he is thereby provok'd to vomit or else beholding with horror and terror the outragious Motions of Epileptics in their Convulsions falls himself into an Epilepsie of which there are several Examples among the Physicians neither of which can be ascrib'd to Contagion but to the disorderly Motion of the Spirits by which the vicious Humors are also hurry'd to the Parts intently thought upon especially in such persons where such Humors were already collected and prepar'd in the Body as the Milky Juice has been brought to the empty Breasts of Women and sometimes of Men by Conceit according to what we have said l. 2. c. 2. But in regard this horrible Impression of abominating Conceit is not alike in all People nor troubles all People actually besides that it does not happen to such Persons where these sharp and vicious Humors are collected in their Bodies hence it falls out that the Eyes of some are affected with the sight of Blear-Ey'dness when others are nothing concern'd at a nearer distance and why some vomit to see another vomit others are nothing mov'd VIII Some observing these Difficulties concerning the Spirits and yet willing obstinately to defend Contagion in Lippitude seek another Evasion and affirm that this Contagion does not consist in the Spirits so much as in certain thin Exhalations and contagious Impurities issuing from the Eyes of a Blear-ey'd Person as the Pestilence is got by contagious Contaminations and so by reason of this sort of Contagion Lippitude has been known to be epidemic as they report and further that Mirrors have been altogether contaminated and corrupted by the very Looks of some who have had those Vapors issuing from the Eyes very malignant insomuch that Hoffman tells a Story of a florid young Virgin who during the time of her Flowers so infected the Glass where she drest her self that the Quicksilver dropt off from behind But these People do not consider that very few Exhalations can issue from the Eye which is a colder Part that besides its conjunctive Coat is cover'd with another hard and thick Coat able to shoot themselves three much less twenty paces at which distance Lippitude has sometimes been contracted at the sight of a Blear-ey'd Person for if there should be such a continual Emission though of the most thin Vapors from the Eye certainly they would be totally dry'd up in a few hours time nor would that Moisture which is afforded hy the small and almost invisible Arteries suffice to supply so great an Inanition Moreover if any one troubl'd with a deform'd Lippitude should enter into any spacious Court and another beholding him at a distance should presently grow blear ey'd as we have known it sometimes happen shall that come by Contagion Then must the Patient have sent the Contagion before him else it is not likely that the Contagion should spread it self from his Eyes through all the Court in a moment of Time Several People have contracted Ophthalmies from looking upon blear-ey'd persons even in the open Air and against a strong Wind and yet no Man can well believe that such a subtile Contagion should be carry'd against the force of the Wind. But in the Pestilence it is quite otherwise where a great quantity of contagious Exhalations are generated out of the moist hot and porous parts of the Body also out of certain contaminated and copious Humors contain'd in the Body it self from which by reason of the extream Heat and Moisture Exhalations are rais'd in great quantity and by reason of that great quantity and the force of the great Heat that makes a strong Expulsion there 's no
body but will grant that they may be carry'd to a great distance As to Epidemic Ophthalmies they generally spread themselves by reason of the common Cause proceeding from the Air or Diet but not by reason of any Contagion issuing from the Eyes or if contracted by looking upon the Person affected it proceeds from the conturbation of the Spirits aforesaid So that if ever any Looking-Glasses were defil'd and spoyl'd by any contaminations issuing from the Eyes creââ¦at Iudaeus Apella for I will not Neither does the Story of Hoffman prove it for it is beyond all Belief that a hard and polish'd Looking-Glass which neither Oyl of Vitriol nor Aqua fortis can penetrate should be corrupted and spoil'd by a few Exhalations proceeding from the Eyes of a Virgin nay that those Exhalations should so penetrate the Pores of the Glass that the Quicksilver should fall off from the Back-side when those Glasses will not admit the most subtil and sharp Spirits to pass through their sides Perhaps that Looking-Glass might be corrupted by the great quantity of viscous and foul Vapors exhaling from the Mouth of the Virgin and the rest of her Body which contamination also might have been easily wip'd out with a Clout so that the Quicksilver did not fall off for that reason Rather it is most likely that Hoffman being over-credulous was deceiv'd by the pratling Gossips that told him the Story and shew'd him the Looking-Glass which was not spoil'd by that Cause but by the Moisture of the Wall against which the Glass had hung long only it happen'd that the Quicksilver fell off at the time that the Virgin lookt in it By way of Corollary I shall add one thing If any Contagion issu'd from the Eyes of blear-ey'd Men it would be no less catching in the Dark than in the Light as it happens in the Pestilence and Itch but let any one lie with an Ophthalmic person sleep and converse with him all Night not knowing him to be so his Eyes shall never come to any hurt thereby though he shall presently catch the Distemper by conversing and seeing him by the Light Which is a certain Sign that it does not proceed from any Contagion but from the Conturbation aforesaid A certain German Student going into a Brothel-house about Night and asking for a Whore was carry'd as she made him believe to a very fair Bedfellow without a Candle in the Dark pretending that she would by no means be known because she was another man's Wife with whom he lay all that Night and several other Nights afterwards which not sufficing he would often boast among his Companions what a lovely Mistress he had got to himself His Associates understanding that he was gone one Night to the same Bawdy-House in the middle of the Night came a great Cluster of them together and whether the Bawd would or no lighting up several Candles went up in search of their Fellow-Student and broke open the Chamber-Door He seeing his Companions entred skipp'd out of the Bed and put on his Cloaths and soon after the Wench was dragg'd out of her Bed to the Light at what time they found her to be an ugly blear-ey'd Jade and thereupon jeer'd their Companion who had never seen her before by the Light almost to Death for bragging as he had done of the Beauty of his unknown Harlot On the other side the poor Scholar who was ignorant of that Deformity in her before after he had lookt more accurately upon the Strumpet by the Candle-Light became so troubl'd and disturb'd through his aversion to the Deformity of the Spectacle which he beheld that he was suddenly tak'n with a desperate Ophthalmy of which he could hardly be cur'd in a Month's time Whence it is apparent that the young Man contracted that Blear-Ey'dness through the Conturbation of his Spirits only and not by Contagion which otherwise he had caught by lying with the deform'd Beast so many Nights before IX In the Eyes there are two sorts of Parts to be consider'd some that contain others that constitute and form them The containing Parts are various The Pits of the Eyes call'd Orbits the Eye lids with the Brows both lower and uppermost the Caruncles in the Corners and the Kernels The constituting Parts are the Fat the Vessels the Muscles the Tunicles and Humors CHAP. XIV Of the Parts containing the Eyes See Table 14. I. AMong the Domicils of the Eyes which are allow'd 'em for Security and Convenience two great Cavities are first to be consider'd which are vulgarly call'd Orbits hollow'd on both sides the Nostrils under the Forehead in the Bones of the Cranium wherein the Supream Architect would have the Eyes to be contain'd that in these Bony Seats they might reside more safe from all external Injuries Which Bones either hanging over or plac'd under the Eyes the Greeks call ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as much as to say Sub-ocular II. The Figure of the Orbits is round and somewhat oblong the Largeness but moderate no more than sufficient for the Eyes with their Kernels Fat and Muscles to be contain'd therein and mov'd with freedom III. They are cloath'd withinside with the Pericranium which Riolanus denies contrary to Ocular Testimony to which the Fat and Beginnings of the Muscles closely adhere IV. In each there are three Holes two behind and those the biggest and one upon the side which is less The innermost of those behind affords a passage to the Optic Nerve The outermost plac'd at the side of it is an oblong Fissure through which the moving Nerves with the Arteries and Veins proceeds to the Eye The Lateral Hole which is less is seated in the inward Angle This under the Sieve-like Bone is bor'd through to the inner parts of the Nostrils and sends forth Tears therefore vulgarly call'd the Weeping-Hole Concerning this Hole Spigelius makes this Observation that it is bigger in Women who are apt to shed Tears than in Men and in such as are not subject to weep Now that the Tears may not flow continually through these Weeping-Holes the Supream Architect has plac'd on each side a soft and kernelly Caruncle furnish'd with small sanguineous Vessels and Nerves almost invisible as also with two small little Vessels carrying the Lympha proceeding from the inner part of the Glandulous Flesh and insensibly pouring forth Liquor continually to moisten the Eyes This Glandulous Flesh covers the weeping-hole hence by some call'd the Lachrymal Caruncle and so prevents the continual Efflux of the internal Liquor till press'd by its over-abounding quantity it gives way a little and so affords a Passage to the Liquor which is the Tears This Caruncle being overmuch contracted by the cold Air or eaten away or exulcerated by some sharp Humor it happens that the said Hole is not exactly shut whence happens a continual and unvoluntary emission of Tears At length between the Ball of the Eve cover'd
way how to find out those Vessels The Mouth of those Rivers saith he are easily discovered if you extend never so little the whole Eye-lid in the outermost Corner For then about half a Thumbs breadth from the outward Limbus you shall meet with three in the Angle it self four below and six sometimes seven above through which a Bristle being thrust in without Dissection you shall easily find a Passage into the Kernel it self The last year discovered these Vessels to me when holding to the Light of a Candle the Eye-lid of a Sheep after I had pluck'd out the Eye out of the Orbit to sââ¦e whether it were transparent or no at what time the shining Rivulets of the Lympha clearly betray'd themselves XII The innermost Canthus is bigger particularly called by the Greeks ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and by Hesychius ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Fountain as seeming to be the Fountain from whence the Tears issue in which the Glandulous Caruncle aforesaid lyes upon the Lacrymal Hole Which being corroded away by the Acrimony of sharp Humors then the Eye weeps without any constrait which is the cause of that Distemper which the Physitians call the Lachrymal Fistula the Greeks ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã In the Eye of an Ox besides this Caruncle there is to be found a certain brawny hard Particle smooth toward the Eye on the outward part somewhat rough affording a more easie Motion to the Membrane by which the Eye twinkles XIII Little soft Gristles lace the Extremities of the Eye-lids which the Greeks call ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Latins Cilia for the more ready Expansion and exact Closure of the Eye-lids Of which the uppermost is much broader than the lower XIV Within these Grisly Limbus's about the larger Corner two small Holes are obvious in each Eye called the Lachrymal Points admitting a Hoggs Bristle within the Membranes of the Eye-lids more conspicuous in Oxen and other large Animals than in Men. These close together into one Channel near the Lachrymal Hole which running forth towards the Fore-parts opens with a manifest Hole about the Extremity of the Nostrils through which that thin Liquor distils especially in cold Weather when Men drop at the Nose before they are aware And sometimes through these Lachrymal Points some small quantity of the Lymphatic Liquor squeez'd out of the Kernels flows forth like Tears without any compulsion which gave them the Name of Lachrymal Holes though they are not really the Fountains of the Tears In the Extremities of the Eye-lids under the upper is inserted a row of streight Hairs turning somewhat upward by Hippocrates call'd ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which Casserius and others call particularly Cilia which grow to a certain length set thin by Natures Law which they never exceed They are always also black and never grow grey like the rest of the Hairs of the Body nor do they ever shed but in virulent Distempers of the Part as the Elephantiasis or the Pox. Yet Aristotle affirms that they fall off from Men that are extreamly addicted to Venery These keep off from the Eyes little Bodies flying in the Air and render the Sight more perfect by slightly darkening the Eye for that if they be wanting through any Distemper or other Cause the Eye never discerns so exactly at a distance but if by any Accident they are turn'd toward the inside of the Eye they become cruelly troublesome and hinder the Sight In Oxen besides the Eye-lids there is yet another Membrane under the Eye-lids which both Men and most Animals want which is govern'd by a peculiar voluntary Motion For it is drawn with a double String to the opposite Corner the one lying hid above the other below which arises from a certain Muscle plac'd in the outer Corner which Muscle by Fallopius is taken for part of that which draws the whole Eye to the outward Parts By the benefit of this Muscle Oxen twinkle and can shut their Eyes the Eye-lid being still open when they lear least any thing should fall into the Eye XV. For more security above upon the Confines of the Fore-head and Eyes the Eye-brows are placed hanging over like a Bow with a thicker Skin and rough with the Hair lying pressed down toward the outward Parts to receive Sweat Dust and other things that fall from the Head least they should slip into the Eyes These Eye-brows by the Greeks call'd ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ruffus calls the hairy Extremities of the Fore-head and that part of them which looks toward the Nose is call'd ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Head of the Eye-brows the other regarding the Temples ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Tail of the Eye-brows The middle space between both Eye-brows in Greek ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the Latins because it is smooth and void of Hair is call'd Glabella Though sometimes that part be also hairy the Eye-brows meeting together at the Extremity of the Nose which Aristotle observes to be the Sight of a Person ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã austere and morose and such a Man is therefore by him call'd ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã CHAP. XV. Of the Tears I. HAving made mention in the former Chapter of the Passages through which the Hairs flow in regard the Tears themselves together with their true Fountain have been but obscurely hitherto describ'd by the Philosophers we thought it would not be time ill spent by making a short Digression to insert into these Anatomical Exercises a more exact Discourse concerning them that whence those serous Drops distil and what they are may be the better understood As to the original Causes and matter of Tears Opinions are very various II. Empedocles as Galen testifies imagined that Tears were generated out of attenuated and melted Blood But in regard that many men can weep of a suddain and when they please it is not probable that the Blood can be so suddenly melted III. Iohn Baptista Scortias will have Tears to be generated in the Corner of the Eye from the Animal Spirits which being composed by the Apprehension of something sad is melted and distils into Tears Of the same Opinion Iacobus Tappias seems to be who writes that as Urine and Sweat are Excrements of the veiny and arterious Blood so Tears are the Excrement of the nervous Blood that is to say the Animal Spirits But in regard that only invisible Animal Spirits and no visible serous Humors can pass through the narrow Pores of the Nerves seeing also that Tears flow out at times of great Joy and Laughter when there is no sence of any Saddess lastly seeing that so great a quantity of Tears as in a short time issues forth in extraordinary Grief would destroy the whole Frame of Man If so vast a quantity of Animal Spirits should be wasted in their supply it is apparent that Opinion can no way be defended as being far from Truth IV. Georgius Nyssenus and Moletius thought Tears to be generated out
are that flow into those Kernels so much the more would be their Swelling and the Compression of the Veins and thence a greater Effussion of Tears but in Joy the said Spirits flow in great plenty to the Parts and yet in Joys Tears are very rarely shed or if they do burst forth 't is but in a very small quantity Contrary to this in Sadness fewer Animal Spirits flow into the Parts whence there must a be less Swelling and Pressure and yet Tears burst forth in greater quantity Lastly if it be objected that the Salival Liquor may be separated in sufficient quantity out of the Arteries through the Kernels and therefore the Lachrymal Juice I answer that the Parotides and Kernels of the Jaws are remarkably large and very numerous and furnished with many and more remarkable Arteries so that a more plentiful separation may more easily be made through them then through the slender and incomparably fewer Glandules of the Eyes endued with few and almost invisible little Arteries He therefore that more considerately weighs these things will easily observe that the Opinion of Nicholas Stenonis does not contain the true Cause of Tears and that unwilling Tears can never be deduc'd from it nor those which are occasion'd by swift Running Smoak and Dust c. nor bloody Tears which proceed rather from some Corrosion of the little Arteries and Veins which by reason of the narrowness of the Vessels can burst forth but in small quantity XIII Thus have many Men strangly mistaken the Fountain of this same Lympha and while they endeavour'd to discover it have fill'd much Paper with Conjectures Now let us try whether we can contribute any Light to a thing that lies veil'd under so much Obscurity Which before we undertake to perform we think it necessary to distinguish between the Lachrymal Humors and that same Lymphatic Humor which is poured forth out of the Glandules through the Diminutive Lymphatic Vessels for the moistning of the Eyes and smoothing of the Parts For this is the difference between them 1. This is more lympid and thinner than the other 2. This flows out of the Lymphatic Vessels of the Glandules the other from the Ventricles of the Brain 3. This is neither so sharp nor so salt as Tears are found to be both by the Tast and their Corrosion 4. There is but a small quantity of this nor does the quantity of it offend the Eyes as Tears does which bursting forth in great quantity many times very much prejudice the Eyes 5. This does not corrode at all but is grateful to the Eyes whereas many times Tears corrode the Cheeks and many times consume the Glandulous Lachrymal Caruncles themselves seated in the Corners of the Eyes which being eaten quite away with their little Vessels the Flux of Tears would cease or stop if the foremention'd Opinion of Stenonis were true whereas on the Contrary the Flux is then more unvoluntary and in greater quantity not to be stop'd XIV This Distinction thus premis'd we come to speak of the Tears themselves beginning with their Definition Tears are the more thin and serous Particles of the Flegmatic Humors Collected in the Brain flowing from the innermost Parts of the Eyes The Causes of the Expulsion of those Serous Particles through the Lachrymal Holes are five 1. The Plenty of Flegmatic Serous Humors collected in the Brain 2. Their suddain Colloquation or violent Agitation 3. The Contraction of the Brain and its Membranes 4. The insufficient Covering of the Lachrymal Hole by the Glandulous Caruncle 5. The Obstruction of the Spungy Bones in the Nostrils And of these Causes for the most part two or three concur and therefore we must particularly explain how those Tears burst forth in divers cases XV. In Sadness the Membranes of the Brain together with the Brain it self are contracted and hence the Serous Humors of the Arterious Blood which gain something of Viscosity from the Humid and Viscous Bowel are pressed forth out of the Kernels of the Cortex and the Substance of the Brain it self and Pituitous Kernel and the small Glandules interwoven with the Choroid Fold into the Ventricles and out of them through the Papillary Processes and the Narrownesses of the five representing Bones into the spongy Parts of the inside of the Nostrils which not being able to pass through them by reason of their quantity and viscousness the more thin and serous Particles burst forth through the narrow lateral Lachrymal Holes into the larger Corners of the Eyes and washing the Bodies of the Eyes and breaking forth make Tears But the thicker and more viscous Particles causing an Obstruction in the Spungy Bones of the upper Parts of the Nostrils are evacuated by degrees as well through the Nostrils as through the Palate And the less that Obstruction of the Nostrils grows the less becomes the Flux of Tears for that being remov'd the thinner and more serous Humors descend directly to the Palate and Nostrils neither is there any necessity that then they should be prest forth through the Lachrymal Holes by reason of the Passage being stopt so that then the Flux of Tears ceases till by reason of new plenty of descending Humors a new Obstruction happens XVI By reason of the same Obstruction Tears frequently burst forth in the Murr and sometimes upon violent Sneezing XVII There is the same reason for Tears that break forth in violent Laughter for from that alternate Contraction of the Muscles of the Head as also of the Brain and its Membranes the aforesaid serous Humors burst forth in great quantity out of the Brain and Kernels aforesaid into the Ventricles and out of them into the Mamillary Processes which Humors flow down to the Nostrils and Palate and by reaof their thicker Particles cause an Obstruction in the fungous part of the Nostrils Which is the reason that then the thinner and more serous Particles their free Descent being stopp'd bursting forth through the Lachrymal Holes flow from the Eyes and that so much the more easily by how much those Holes are so much the less exactly shut by the Glandulous Caruncles that lye over them Hence it comes to pass that according to the closer or looser shutting up of those Holes and the more or less plenty of Flegmy Humors abounding in the Brain some People shed Tears when they laugh and others not and because that Concussion of the Body or alternate Contraction does not last long hence it comes to pass that People do not shed many Tears when they laugh There is the same reason why young and stout Men who are not easily disturb'd with Grief nor have their Brain contracted besides that the Glandulous Caruncle that covers both Lachrymal Holes is stronger and larger seldom or never weep On the other side Old People Infants and Children easily shed Tears because that in the one the Glandulous Caruncle is drier more unequal and more contracted in the other softer and less
two Oblique Muscles because of the secret Allurements of Lovers Glances are called Amatorious but from their rowling Motion Circumactors XII In Brutes that feed with their Heads toward the Earth besides these six Muscles there is also a seventh which is sometimes observed to be divided into two but rarely into three Muscles This being short and fleshy encompasses the Eye and is inserted into the hinder part of the Horny Tunicle and sustains the looking down continually upon the Ground and draws it back when it s own weight carries it farther out XIII The Muscles are endued with a moving Power by the little Branches of the second Pair of Nerves which are chiefly inserted into the streight Muscles For the innermost Oblique Muscle receives a little Branch from the fifth Pair the outermost Oblique receives a little Branch from the slender Pair that stands next before the Fifth XIV Here arises a Question when each Eye has distinct and proper Muscles why they do not move with various Motions but are always mov'd together with the same Motion Aristotle ascribes the Cause to the Coition of the Optic Nerves and Galen and Avicen seem to be of the same Opinion But in regard the Optic Nerves are only visory and contribute nothing to Motion nor enter the Muscles they cannot be the cause of this thing Besides Anatomists have now found it out that this Conjunction of the Optics is wanting in several men and yet the motion of their Eyes while they liv'd was the same as in other men so equal always that the Sight of both was always directed to one Point Andrew Laurentius says that such an equal Motion is requisite for the perfection of the Sense and so he only proposes the end of the Motion but does not explain the Cause Others alledg that this equal Motion proceeds from hence that the moving Nerves are mov'd together at their beginning But it appears from this Conjunction that the Spirits indeed may flow to the Muscles of each Eye however it is not manifest why the Spirits flow more especially in greater quantity into these or those Muscles of the Eyes and not into the same external and internal of both Eyes For Example's sake suppose a Man would look for something upon his Right-Side presently the Spirits are determined toward the external Muscle of the Right-Eye and the internal Muscle of the Left-eye and so the Sight is turned to one Point through the two various Muscles of each Eye But if the Union of the Beginning of the Nerves of the second Pair should any way contribute to this in regard of that Union it would be requisite that the Spirits should flow at the same time into the same Muscles of both Eyes as well external as Internal and so by vertue of that Motion both Eyes would look several ways upon several things and not up on the same And therefore the true Reason proceeds from the Mind for when the Mind intends to behold any thing one Eye is not to be turn'd to this another to that thing for so there would happen a Confusion of the Rays and Perception in common Sence but both Eyes are of necessity to be turn'd toward the same thing and hence the Spirits are always determin'd to those Muscles that can draw both the Eyes toward the same Object but not to such Muscles as draw each Eye several ways Because the Mind always intends to behold one Object apart and though it may often intend to behold several things yet it observes a certain Order and beholds one thing after another which may be done with a speedy Motion if the Objects are so near and large that they may be easily perceiv'd But if the Object be remote and small then both Eyes must of necessity be longer fix'd upon the Object and a greater quantity of Rays are requisite to flow into the Eyes for the better Perception of what the Mind is intent to behold CHAP. XVII Of the Bulb of the Eye THE Bulb of the Eye consists of Membranes and Humors The Membranes are either common or proper The Common Membranes are twofold Adnate and Innominate I. The first next the Bone or White Adnate by the Greeks call'd ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã because it adheres to other Membranes of the Eyes by Galen and Hippocrates call'd the White of the Eye is a thin Expansion of the Pericranium above the Sclerotic as far as the Circle of the Iris joyning the Eye to the Orbit and inner Bones whence it is called the Conjunctive It is endued with an exquisite Sence of Feeling being sprinkled with many diminutive Arteries and Veins Through which little Arteries when there is a greater Afflux of hotter Blood then a Reflux through the diminutive Veins then happens an Ophthalmy of which Distemper this Membrane is the Seat II. The other by Columbus call'd the Innominate is nothing else than a thin Expansion of the Tendons of the Muscles concurring to the Corneous Tunicle produc'd to the very Circumference of the Iris to which it adheres like a small broad Ring which causes the White of the Adnate Tunicle to look more bright Bauhiâ⦠Riolanââ¦s and Casserius will not allow this Tunicle to be number'd among the Tunicles but rather among the Muscles of whose Tendons it consists However Galea makes mention of it among the Tunicles of the Eye but gives it no Name and therefore perhaps by Columbus call'd the Nameless or Inââ¦ominate III. Besides these two common Membranes in an Oxe there is another Membrane which is the outermost of all not sticking close to the Eye but endued with Motion and a Muscle By means of which Cows and Oxen close and twinkle with their lââ¦es ââ¦et their Eye-lids remain open all the while IV. The Proper Membranes or Tunicles are three of which the first and outermost is said to proceed from the Dura Mater and expands it self about the Bulb of the Eye It is call'd the Sclââ¦rotic from its hardness though Fallopius will not allow the former believing it to differ very much from the Dura Mater both in substance and thickness The Sclerotic enââ¦olds the whole Eye and is thick hard tough equal opacous behind before transparent like a bright Horn and polish'd whence it had the Name of the Horny Tunicle Which Name however many times is given to the whole Sclerotic by reason of its horny thickness and hardness Though it be thick and hard yet it is generally thought to be single though Bauââ¦inus will have it to consist of several Rinds or four as it were thin Plates and affirms that from hence it was that Avicen alledg'd it to be four fold But this same Quadruplicity is more easily to be conceiv'd and imagin'd from the thickness and hardness of it then to be demonstrated V. The second and middle Tunicle which is much thinner than the former arising from a thin Film and sprinkled with several diminitive Vessels because
it enfolds the Humors of the Eye as the Chorion does the Birth is call'd Choroides only the forepart of it where it is thicker and doubled and perforated in the middle for the Transmission of the Rays is call'd Ragoides or Uveous from the Colour of a Grape which Name is also given to the whole Tunicle VI. This on the inside is endued with several Colours nevertheless in Man it is usually more obscure in Cows and other Creatures that see in the Night of a bright Green or else Brown or Yellow Hence Aquapendens believes that those Creatures only see in the Night whose innermost Colour of the Uveous Tunicle is very bright which if it happen in a Man he shall also see in the Night as it was natural for Tiberius Caesar to do The outermost part which touches the Horny Tunicle is overshadowed with a kind of dark Colour which dyes the Fingers of those that touch it of a black Hew It is endued with this black Colour chiefly necessary for the Perfection of Sight in the first delineation of the Parts and hence it comes to pass that in a new shap'd Embrio it shews it self through the Filmy Coverings of the Eye-lids and the Sclerotic Tunicle it self In this same blackish Colour of this Tunicle the Rays and Species of things visible are stopt as in a Looking-Glass which to that end is overlaid behind with Quicksilver that they may not pass any farther but that being reverberated they may be the better offered to the common Sensory and represented to the Mind VII Some Portion of this transparent through the Corneous Tunicle carries a mixture of Colours and hence as representing the Rainbow is call'd Iris in some blacker in some blewer in others greener in others browner which Colours are not only to be observ'd in individual Persons but in whole Nations as the black Colour is most usual among the Ethiopians and Chineses the Green among the Tartars the Blewish among the Belgians and Northern People the Dusky among the Italians and neighbouring Nations The Circumference of this Portion is firmly fastned to the hard Tunicle Riolanus writes that it may be separated circularly with the Edg of a Pen-knif and that this same Crown of the Uveous Tunicle is to be found altogether separated in the Eye of a Cow when parboyl'd and therefore he believes it to be a Membrane distinct from the Uveous Tunicle having peculiar Fibers and a proper Motion in the Dilation and Contraction of the Sight of the Eye However at this day the said Portion is by Anatomists generally taken for the Continuous Part of the Uveous Tunicle it self VIII Now the Uveous Tunicle is perferated in the middle Part before in men with a round hole in Brutes with an Oblong or Oval hole which the Latins call Pupilla the Greeks ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ruffus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and Hippocrates ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by means of which the Rays of Visible things being receiv'd by the Chrystalline Humors lying upon that hole enter the Eye This hole is sometimes dilated sometimes contracted as the Animal Spirits flow into the Eye in a greater or lesser quantity Here Aquapendens and Sennertus are under a great mistake who believe this dilatation and contraction to proceed from a stronger oâ⦠weaker Light Certainly Light it self introduces nothing into the Eye for the Expansion or Contraction of it but it is the cause that more or fewer Spirits flow into the Eye so that by their in flux the Apple of the Eye becomes sometimes wider and sometimes narrower according to which diversity we see better or worse for a moderate contraction causes a quicker sight a dilatation too wide causes a weaker sight for that in the one the Spirits are more collected together and the visible Rays are more easily gathered to a point in this not so well IX From the Circumference of the Nervous Tunicle in the forepart where it rests upon the Chrystaline humor arises a Ligament call'd the Ciliar Ligament which consists of thin strings or ââ¦ibres like diminutive black Lines which are like the hairs of the Eye-brows running forth from this Circumference toward the prominent Crystaline humor girding it about and fastning it to the Uveous Tunicle Veslingius and Cartesius not without some probability affirm that by the Assistance of this Ligament the Contraction and Dilatation of the hole in the Uveous Tunicle is perform'd frequently as the Man pleases himself and moreover that it causes a gentle Motion of the Crystalline humor it self toward the fore and hinder Parts as the necessity of sight variously requires Though others ascribe this Dilatation and Contraction to the small slender Fibers or Strings dispierc'd through the Net resembling Tunicle as into which they say that the Animal spirits flow in greater or lesser quantity according to the various qualities of the Objects and by that means more or less dilate the sight of the Eye X. The Third Membrane or Tunicle because it resembles a Casting-Net is therefore call'd Retina or Retiform'd by the Greeks ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from Embracing or Ensolding The Substance of it is soââ¦t and slimy wherein as well certain slender small Strings or diminutive little Vessels deriving themselves from the Choroid Fold and the wonderful Net are manifestly to be discover'd conveighing Blood for the nourishment of it Which nevertheless Platerus does not seem to have observ'd nor Riolanus to have seen This Tunicle call'd the Net-form'd is commonly deliver'd to be the Expansion of the inner narrower substance of the Optic Nerve or Brain about the Vitreous humor as far as the clear Ligament But in regard the substance of this Tunicle has little or no resemblance to the pithy substance of the Brain seeing it receives small Bloodbearing-Vessels which are manifestly conspicuous to the sight which are not to be found in the substance of the Brain it does not seem to be any Expansion of the Medullary substance of the Brain but rather a certain peculiar part constituting the primary part of the Organ of sight wherein the Colors of visible Rays are depainted and thence by means of the Optic Nerve and Spirits communicated to the Mind and so perceiv'd as we find such another peculiar substance under the Membrane of the Nostrils and Tongue which constitutes the primary part of the Organs of Smelling and Tast. XI Besides these three proper Tunicles necessary to the whole Eye there are two other which particularly enfold the Chrystalline and Vitreous humor XI The Humors belonging to the Eye are threefold the Watry Glassy and Chrystaline distinct from one another all transparent and all void of Colour Partly to prevent the visible Rays from stopping in them partly that the Rays of visible things colour'd being alter'd by no colour of the Eye may be able to pass to the Net-form'd Tunicle to be thence offer'd to the common Sensory such as they are For in regard the
cause of the Polipus VI. These spungy Substances possess the upper Cavity to the end they may be able to stop and alter the cold Air breathed in and prevent its ascent to the Sive-like Bone As also to retard the continual and sudden Flux of the Snivel descending which would else be much more troublesome than it is Lastly in some measure to help the Voice for they that have lost these Bones by Exulceration or if they be too much swell'd or lengthened by the Polypus these People all snuffle in the Nose for that the Sonorous Air ascending through the Holes of the Nostrils either lights upon the Inequalities of the exulcerated Bones or upon their extraordinary Protuberances and so by the altered Motion of the Air going forth the Voice also is altered and vitiated VII In the French Distemper these spungy Parts are frequently corroded by the malignant and sharp Humors sticking thereto and to come away by blowing the Nose with bloody and slimy Matter and hence their Malignity spreading it self to the next tender middle and lateral Bones which being also eaten away drop out by degrees and so the Nose falls and sometimes the Corrosion gaining Ground lays the whole Nose level to the great Deformity of many a good Face VIII Five Gristles constitute the lower moveable Part of which the two uppermost stick to the Bones of the Nose in the lower part where they are more broad and rugged and thence being twisted together bend toward the top of the Nose and the farther they are carried so much the softer they grow and in the extream part of the Nose terminate as it were in a Grisly Ligament The third in the middle between these two is a grisly Partition which hangs forward from the Bony Partition and grows in length close to the two foresaid Gristles in the forepart in the inner Region The fourth and fifth are two inferior lateral Gristles joyned to the two upper Gristles with a Membranous Ligament of which one of each side sticks to the lower part of the Nose and because they stand like Wings on each side the Nostrils and move with a voluntary Motion upward downward inward and outward by the ancient Anatomists were called the Wings of the Nostrils IX Their Motion is perform'd by the assistance of eight Muscles into every one of which two Wings are inserted The first from the upper part of the Nose near the Lachrymal Hole arises with an acute and fleshy Beginning descending to the sides of it in a Triangular Form is expanded over the Wing that lies under it and divides it by raising it upward The Second carried down from the upper Bone near to the Jaw proceeds forward partly into the Wing of the Nose outward partly into the upper Seat of the Wing that lies underneath and so moves both parts upward The Third which is very small rising near the Root of the Wing and carried athwart above the Wing is inserted into the Corner of the Wing and dilates it as Veslingius well observes though others say it contracts it The Fourth like the former in bigness and opposite to it lies hid under the Tunicle of the Nostrils in the inner part This rising from the Extremity of the Bone of the Nose is expanded into the Wing and draws it together This is much less than all the rest and is hardly to be discern'd but in such as have very large Noses in whom all these Muscles are much thicker and more apparently to be seen Besides these Muscles Bartholinus writes that he has found a fleshy thin Muscle extended in a streight Line from the frontal Muscle with a broader Basis and by and by terminating more narrow about the Gristle of the Nose X. Withinside by the Benefit of the foresaid Partition the Nose is divided into two Holes or Hollownesses which they call the Nostrils Each of these about the middle of the Nose is divided into two parts of which one ascends upward to the spungy Bone the other descends above the Palate to the Chaps through which all Errhines snuft up into the Nostrils descend to the Mouth and Chaps and the Snot flows out sometimes through the Nostrils and the slimy Excrements of the Brain descending through the Spungy Bones by the more vehement Attraction of the Air through the Nostrils are brought down to the Palate and spit out or being swallow'd descend to the Stomach XI The inner large Space of the Nostrils is lin'd with a thin Membrane which is said to rise from the thick Meninx through the holes of the Sive-like-bones or as Riolanus will have it through the little holes of the Palate and is said to be common to the Tunicle of the Palate Tongue Larynx and Gullet This Membrane where it adheres to the Sive-like-bones is bor'd through with little holes for the Passage of the Excrements of the Brain XII Under the Membrane lyes hid a certain peice of flesh thin soft and as it were compos'd of several little Teats which is hard to be discern'd in Men but somewhat more easily found in Calves and Cows though not without some difficulty The little Teats of this peice of flesh in the fore part are less but toward the hinder parts bunch out much bigger and are observ'd by few Anatomists being by some taken for small Kernels XIII For the nourishment of the Nose there are allotted to it Arteries from the Carotides Veins also run out from it to the External Iugulars XIV Nicholas Stenonis besides these Blood-beaââ¦ing-Vessels in Sheep and Doggs has frequently observ'd in each Nostril a Lymphatic Vessel arising afar off from the Kernels seated under the Tunicle of the Nostrils above the Region of the Genders then joyning together into one Channel which runs downward almost to the extream Parts of the Nostrils and exonerates its self in the hollowness conspicuous between the Grisly protuberancy of the Wings He is also of opinion that Flegmatic humors flow from the Nostrils through the hole which is made through the Palate into the Mouth from the foremost Parts of the Nostrils which to me does not seem very probable XV. To endue it with Feeling and to give it motion one Nerve of each side runs along from the fourth pair through the common hole to the larger corner of the Eye and so proceeds to the inner Tunicle of the Nose and the Teat-resembling-Flesh into which it powrs forth the Animal Spirits to perfect the Sense of Smelling and thence runs on farther to the Muscles of the same XVI Smelling is a Sense by which things that have any Scent being carry'd to the Nostrils are understood by a Specific motion of the odoratory Organ Here three things are to be consider'd the Object the Organ it self and the manner of Sensation XVII The Object of Smelling is Scent which is a certain Spirituous Vapor exhaling into the Nostrils from the Thing endu'd with scent and moving
the odoratory Organ this or that way XVIII Senertus labours to prove that Smells are no Substances nor real Qualities but only Species's of them But in answer to Senertus we say that no Qualities or Species's can subsist without any Body and therefore none can be allow'd nay there are no Odorable Species's impress'd upon no Corporeal substance that can be conceiv'd in the Imagination This in the Sight is notorious where the visible Species's are certain Modifications of the Air depainted therein by things visible and imprinted therein which without the Air are nothing for Species's without Substance cannot subsist and therefore are nothing Thus in Smells the odorative qualities necessarily are inherent in some Substances and because they cannot subsist without 'em hence they are properly call'd Smells because they are Substances endued with odorable qualities Philosophers commonly constitute Scent in dry predominating above moist However we are to understand that there is no Scent without Moisture nay that it is generated out of Moisture attenuated and rais'd by Heat I say by Heat because Heat is the efficient Cause which acts upon the subject containing Smell or Scent in Potentia and by raising therein Fumes that are endu'd with Scent excites Smell out of Power into Act And therefore Bodies endu'd with Scent smell when they are chaââ¦'d but growing cold they send forth no Scent for Scent is not in act unless it exhale forth which it cannot do nor be sent forth while the astringent Cold binds up the Pores of the Substance containing the Scent Here it will perhaps be objected that Scent is something subsisting of it self and therefore Moisture and Heat cannot be the Cause of it I answer that Scent or Odour is an accident subsisting in the Subject and Latent therein nor able to breath out of it unless both in and with some part of its subject accompanying it for without the Subject it is a moist vapor which cannot be rais'd unless by Heat and hence both Moisture and Heat of necessity concur the first as the Subject without which it cannot be and be perceiv'd the other as the agent Cause without which it cannot be excited into Act. But here some one may say that according to this Opinion Odor of it self will prove to be nothing and so there will be no knowledge of Odor since there can be no knowledge of a Non-Entity We grant that Odor separately consider'd is nothing neither does it fall under Sence but when we consider it in and with Fume it peirces the Sence and falls under knowledge so far as the Accident by the Subject and the Subject by the Accident in a mutual Order come to be perceptible Here again some one will oppose me and urge if Odor actually exist only in Fumes how comes the Fish in the Water to be sensible of Odors where there are no Fumes I answer 1. It may be question'd whether Fish are sensible of Odors and whether they approach or avoid things that carry an Odor but are not rather lead by a grateful or unpleasing quality perceiv'd by Savour Sight or Feeling from other qualities diffus'd into the Water from things that carry a Scent 2. But grant they are sensible of Odors there is no doubt but that in the Water it self some Fumes may be rais'd by a subtil Aethereal matter penetrating the Water some way or other and by its Motion causing a Heat in it in which Fume Odorous qualities may be excited from Power into Act and so the Fish may be made sensible of Odor if they are sensible of Odors as they are Odors XX. There are several sorts and differences of Odors some are sharp some sweet some acid some odoriferous others stinking some grateful others loathsome and many Odors are apply'd to the difference of Savors Moreover Smells some are simple and natural some by nature are in the Bodies Others are Compounded and Artificial such as the Perfumers make for Luxury and Delight Others are preternatural which arise from Corruption and Putrefaction XXI The Organ of Smelling is the Nose Which being constituted of many and various parts which since they cannot all officiate that particular function it is a great question in what part of the Nose the Smelling faculty has it's seat That it is not in the Blood-conveighing or Lymphatic-Vessels nor in the Bones or Grisles is confess'd by all XXII Some are of Opinion that the Sense of Smelling proceeds from some certain Nerves peculiar and of another Nature inserted into the Nose and some Specific Animal Spirits flowing through those Nerves But they did not observe that all the Nerves of the whole Body both in their Composition and Construction hardly difââ¦er in any thing else but that some are bigger others less some longer some shorter some thicker some thinner some softer and some harder but that let them be what they will their Office is the same as being the Passages through which the Animal Spirits are conveigh'd Moreover they did not consider that those Spirits carry'd through whatsoever Nerves are no way different but of the same substance and nature through whatsoever Nerves and to whatsoever places or parts they are conveigh'd Lastly They did not observe that the diversity of Operations which are perform'd by their assistance does not proceed from the diversity of them or the Nerves that conveigh them but from the diversity of the Parts into which they flow Thus in the Eye they are the cause of sight in the Muscles of motion in the Flesh they cause the sence of Feeling Therefore as they are the cause of Smelling in the Nostrils there must be also in the Nostrils some specific Parts in which by the means of those Spirits not only the feeling but the smell of sweet stincking rosy Camphory is perceiv'd and distinguish'd XXIII Formerly Galen and after him most Anatomists and Philosophers concluded that the Papillary Processes are the true Odoratory Nerves and the immediate Organs of Smelling But we have already refuted that Opinion Chap. 8. where we have shewn that those Processe sare no Nerves but Channels serving for the Evacuation of Excrements Vallesius also opposes and confutes this Opinion But Sneider and Rolfinch finding no reason why the smelling Sence should lye in the Papillary Processes add to their assistance Nerves deriv'd from the third Pair to the Nostrils But from what has been said it is apparent that the Sence of Smelling does not lye in any particular Nerves but in some certain specific Parts into which the Nerves infuse their Animal Spirits Which cannot be the Papillary Processes which neither carry Spirits nor admit those Nerves into their Body XXIV Others were of opinion that the Sence of Smelling lyes in the Membrane over-spreading the Inner part of the Nostrils and ascribe to it a Specific Constitution above other Membranes by reason of which it distinguishes Odors But in regard that Membranes are the Organs of Feeling not of
distils from several small Kernels seated within the Membrane through some such little Vessels or the Pores of the surrounding Membrane Through the closing of which Pores the Salival Liquor being detained within the Membrane many times little Swellings arise without Pain Sometimes in the inside of the Cheeks sometimes in the Palate of the Mouth which either break of themselves with much Spitting or else are opened with a Chyrurgions Instrument XXVIII Des Cartes seems to have been ignorant of these Vessels and therefore deduces the Original of Spitle from the Stomach and says that certain Particles of Arterious Blood fall into the Stomach and Guts where they do the Office of Aqua-fortis in assiââ¦ting the Concoction of the Nourishment from which because they are very hot certain Vapors ascending through the Gullet into the Mouth thicken there into Spittle But in regard that the Salival Juice manifestly descends from the Head and Kernels and whereas in a great Heat of the Body hot Blood flows to the Stomach and intestines in greater quantity and yet the Mouth is not for all that the more moistned when dry and parch'd up when at that time the greater quantity of Vapors ascending to the Mouth should cause the more moisture in the Mouth whereas also whatever ascends from the Stomach causes rather Puking and Vomiting which never happen in the increase of Spittle and lastly seeing that in cold and flegmatic Persons in whom the Arterious Blood is colder and flows in less quantity to all the Parts and consequently into the Stomach which is the reason that fewer Vapors ascend from the Stomach to the Mouth and yet such Persons abound in Spittle all these things fully demonstrate that the Opinion of Des Cartes touching Spittle is but a Fiction XXIX It remains therefore unquestionable that the Salival Liquor does not ascend through the Oesophagus but is discharg'd into the Mouth through the aforesaid Salival Vessels But in regard the Liquor of those Vessels is carry'd in a very great quantity to the Mouth the Question is out of what Vessel that Moisture is separated and carry'd to the said Kernels of the Parotides and small Kernels from thence to be discharged through the Salival Vessels into the Mouth Wharton asserts that it flows out of the Nerves But in regard they are not hollow enough to give Passage to so great a quantity oâ⦠Liquor this Opinion cannot be true Some would bring it from the Chylebearing-Vessels But in regard those Vessels do not run out so far and because that the Chylus were it carried thither might be concocted to a greater Perfection but not be chang'd into another less nourishing or more fermentaceous Humor this Opinion also stands upon no ââ¦ottom Deusingius believes it is discharg'd out of the Lymphatic Vessels and so comes into the Mouth Which Opinion though something more probable but because the Lymphatic Vessels do not pour their Juice into the Kernels but draw it from thence to be carry'd to other Parts neither can this Opinion be true Besides there is no question but that the Lymââ¦ha and the Spittle though they differ in thickness have the same Original both from the Blood and therefore seeing this Liquor cannot be separated from the veiny Blood as ãâã that which flows from the Kernels and other Parts it remains that it must be separated from the Arterious Blood for that the Arteries as they pour forth nourishing Blood into all the Parts so likewise into the Kernels the more saltish Salival Part of which apt for the Nourishment of the Kernels through the mixture of the Animal Spirits flowing through the little Nerves is separated from the rest of the Particles and in them is concocted somewhat after a specifical manner and farther prepar'd and the Overplus of their Nourishment having obtain'd a kind of slight sowrish Quality in the Glandules flows through the Salival Vessels into the Mouth And indeed you may discern certain Arteries in these Kernels gaping into the Kernels with small diminutive Holes and through those discharging a serous Liquor into the Glandules And this Opinion is confirm'd by great Salivations whether spontaneous or provok'd at what time such a vast quantity of Spittle is discharg'd which could never be supplied by the Nerves or any other Vessels but the Arteries XXX Now then Spittle is a Liquor slightly Fermentaceous Serous and Lympid separated from the Arterious Blood in the Parotides and various Kernels and glandulous Caruncles and discharged into the Mouth through the Salival Vessels and other Salival Passages XXXI Concerning the Qualities of Spittle we find but little written by others which nevertheless if diligently considered sufficiently demonstrate that it is not a simple Body but compounded and slippery less fluid than Water but thicker and more viscous It derives not its Forthines from its self but from the Air and Tongue In sound People it has neither Savour nor Taste of it self which in sick People it sometimes acquires from the bad Temper of the Humors it self or the mixture of other ill Humors and sometimes from the Savor and Taste of the Nourishment received XXXII It would be a difficult thing to give an exact Accompt of its Composition which is very wonderful For it is easily mix'd with all sorts of Nourishment dry moist oyly salt sulphury c. For it mixes with all things received into the Mouth And when out of our Bodies it will mix with Quick-silver whereas other more simple Heterogeneous Humors Water Spirits Oyls Salts and other mixed Humors will not associate which Salt will do and not only mix with but unite them all together So that it seems to be the universal Internal Menstruum by means of which all things receiv'd into the Mouth are united together and descend with it to the Stomach to promote a more exact dissolution of the swallowed Substances Whence Francis de le Boe Sylvius conjectures that it contains in it self much Water somewhat of volatil Spirit least of Laxivious Salt with a very small quantity of Oyl and Acid Spirit mixed and tempered one with another XXXIII As to its Use it is manifold and very remarkable 1. Being mixed with the Meat chewed in the Mouth by its slippââ¦riness it facilitates Swallowing which can hardly be done without it as is apparent in dry Fevers and other Accidents that cause Drought 2. It draws from the drier sorts of Meat a sapid Salt which could never be drawn forth without moisture 3. It quenches Thirst which is the reason that they who spit much are seldom adry 4. It renders slippery the inner parts of the Mouth the Chaps the Organs of Speech and the Gullet 5. In the Stomach it promotes the Fermentation of the Nourishment receiv'd nay it is their primary Ferment containing all things in it self to perfect that Fermentation that is to say some slight Acidity tempered with a volatil Spirit in a great quantity of Water Which fermenting power appears
fasten'd without side into the first Bone of the Thumb XI 4. The Abductor Major arising from the Ligament of the Bone of the Metatarsus which lyes under the little Toe and the next to it terminates with a short and strong Tendon in the first Joynt of the great Toe in the inner Part. XII 5. Abductor Minor by Casserius call'd the Transversal proceeding from the Ligament of the little Toe which binds the first Internode is carry'd transverse and fleshy and stretches it self more inwardly to the first Bone of the great Toe with a short and broad Tendon To this some ascribe another Use believing it there apply'd to gather together the first Bones of the Toes Riolanus believes that it serves only for a Pillow least the Tendons should be injur'd by the hardness of the ground and the Bones Casserius who is said to be the first Discoverer of this Muscle will have it assign'd to bring the great Toe toward the little Toe thereby to make the foot hollow for the more easie walking in Stony and unequal places by the more firm taking hold of the step XIII In the flat of the Foot which is called Vestigium or the Footstep there is to be observ'd a Fleshy mass which like a Cushion lyes under the Muscles and Tendons Which some confound with the Universal Muscle AN APPENDIX Concerning the MEMBRANES and FIBRES CHAP. I. Of the Membranes in General I. A Membrane is a white similar part broad flat thick and extensible produc'd out of the clammy and viscous part of the Seed preserving containing gathering together corroborating and disterminating the Parts that lye under it or contained within it II. It was call'd by the Antient ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã All which words at that time signify'd one and the same thing Afterwards these words became particular and were attributed to particular Membranes For now Hymen properly signifies that Membrane which resides in the Neck of the Womb vulgarly called Claustrum Virginitatis the Fence of Virginity Menina signifies that Membrane that enfolds the Brain And ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Tââ¦nica is the general Name for all Membranes that cover the Veins Arteries Ureters c. At this day Membrane is a general word signifying any Membrane that enfolds a fleshy Part the Pericardium Periosteum Peritonaeum the Membrane of the Muscles c. III. There can be hardly any certain Original of the Membranes describ'd as being Parts subsisting of themselves form'd out of Seed and every where conspicuous in the Body Many have with probability enough deriv'd them from the Meninââ¦es Lindan writes that the Substance of the Heart is wrapt about with a very transparent and very thick Membrane which he believes to grow from the dilated Extremities of the Fibres of the Heart and thence would have us consider whether all the rest of the Membranes do not arise by a certain Propagation from this Membrane of the Heart But these are mere Conjectures hardly credible rather it is to be said that the Membranes are Spermatic Parts form'd with other Spermatic Parts out of the Seed at the first formation of the Embryo and that therefore they have no other Original than the Seed IV. The Membranes are nourish'd like the rest of the Parts by Arterious blood flowing out of the Arteries into their Substance and fermented therein by the mixture of Animal Spirits the residue of which either unapt for Nourishment or superfluous is carry'd back through the Tubes of the Veins into the hollow Vein V. Now the Membranes are the Organs of Feeling for all the sensible Parts even the Nerves themselves feel by the help of the Membranes only which those Parts that want are destitute of sence as the Bones Gristles the fleshy Parts of many Bowels wherein the Sence of Feeling no farther extends it self then to the Membrane that enfolds it This Faculty of Feeling is bequeathed to them by the Animal Spirits continually flowing into them through the Nerves which influx ceasing the Sence of Feeling also fails as in Apoplexies Palsies c. Such Membranes also into which few Spirits flow are dull of Feeling Thus Veins and Arteries are said to be void of Sence because they feel but dully VI. The Differences of Membranes are many In respect of their Substance some thin some thick some legitimate as the Pleura Periosteum c. Others illegitimate as being rather Membranous Bodies such are membranous Ligaments Tendons the Stomac Intestines Bladder c. In respect of their Figure some broad some long some triangular c. In respect of their Situation some inward some outward VII The number of the Membranes is almost infinite but the most considerable are these that follow In the Birth the Chorion Amnios the Urinary Membrane and in Brutes the Alantois In the whole Body of Man the Cuticle the Skin the fleshy Pannicle the Membranes of the Muscles the Periostea and the Membranes of the Vessels In the Head without the Pericranium more inward both the Meninxes which descend from the Cranium into the Spinal Concavity involving the Spinal Pith and extends themselves the whole length of the Nerves In the Eye seven Tunicles the Nameless the Conjunctive the Horny Uveous Net-like Spiders Web and Vitreous In the Ear the Membrane of the Tympanum In the Mouth the Tunicle proper to the Tongue and Palate as also that which is common to the Mouth the Chaps the Gullet and Stomach In the Breast the Pleura the Mediastinum the Pericardium the Tunicle investing the Lungs and Heart and the Valves of the Heart In the lower Belly the Peritonaeum Epiploon the Mesenterie and the Membranes that enfold the several Bowels as also those of which the Intestines the Bladder and other Parts are composed Of all which primary Membranes mention has been already made in their proper Places Besides these there is an infinite number of thin Membranes that have no Names CHAP. II. Of the Fibres FIbres are white similar Parts solid oblong like little Strings designed for the Motion of some and the Preservation of other Parts I. They are Parts which are not derived from others but existing of themselves for the Complement of those Parts where they are required And therefore they mistake who believe them to be produced from the Brain or from the Spinal Marrow as are also they who think them the Productions of the Nerves it being impossible that the Nerves should be expanded into so many Strings For Example a small Nerve which shall consist of twenty fibrous Strings is inserted into some larger Muscle consisting of a hundred fibrous Strings much bigger and stronger than those in the Nerve Thus the whole Body of the Heart is fibrous whereas it has very few and those very small Nerves The Fibres indeed communicate with the Nerves so far as they receive Animal Spirits from them yet they are no more Productions
from the remotest Members of the Body against the Stream of the Spirits to the Brain to be there offered to the Mind Nevertheless Gassââ¦ndus describes a single way by which he believes this return of the Spirits to the Brain may be effected For saith he a Nerve or little Nerve cannot be touched but it must be compressed nor can it be compressed but the Spirit contained must be provoked by Distention and being stirred it must push forward or rather repel the next to it and by the same reason the Spirit coming from the Brain nor can that be repelled but the whole Series by reason of Repletion and Continuity being repelled the Spirit at the beginning of the Nerve flies back to the Brain And therefore it is that the Faculty of Sence residiââ¦g in the Brain is moved by this flying back and presently perceives and apprehends the Touch which is made And afterwards he adds That nothing is sent but rather seems to be remitieâ⦠and repelled that is to say the Spirit contained in the Nerves neither does ãâã appear that any thing else can touch the Brain But after this manner the Nerve being compressed the Spirit flowing into it being by that Pressure hindred from any farther Passage may be stopp'd indeed but no way repelled to the Brain or any Idea-carrying Motion be made from thence to the Brain because the continual Pressure or impulsive Motion of the Brain it self is an Obstacle to hinder the Spirits from being so strongly provoked toward the Nerves or their Ends that no contrary Motion can repel them to the Brain and that so much the less for that granting a stopping Cause yet there is no other repelling Cause Therefore it is with the Nerves as with the Arteries for the Arteries being squeezed the Blood is stopped from passing but does not flow back to the Heart because the Pulsation drives it so strongly from it that it cannot by any outward Pressure return again through the Arteries to the Heart And thus seeing the Brain with the same force expels the Spirits from it into the Nerves and seeing also that when any contract is made in any of the remotest Parts of the Body it is perceiv'd at the very same moment in the Head and in regard so rapid a Motion of the Spirits from the Foot to the Head cannot be compââ¦ehended by thought neither by reason of Repletion or Continuity the Spirits being prohibited farther passes through the Pressure of the Nerve can those Spirits which are at the Original of the Nerve fly back to the Brain because of the Propulsion aforesaid by which the Brain by its own proper Motion urges the Spirits continually toward the Nerves not permitting any to fly back Lastly seeing that by that Stoppage of Spirits no Idea of feeling whether soft or hard c. can be carryed to the Brain from the thing felt and there be represented to the Mind it is manifest that Gassendus's Opinion is but a Fiction XXI The latter Opinion that Sensation is caused in the little Fibres constituting the Body of the Nerve though more plausible yet it is hard to understand how in a moment of time the specific Image of Sensation can be carried from the Thigh to the Brain through the solid Substance of little Fibres and Nerves to be there apprehended by the Mind I know that some would make this out by the Similitude of the Strings in a musical Instrument which being touch'd at the lower end will tremble at the same time at the top But in the Bodies of Men there is not so strong a Tension of the Nerves not that streightness of Situation as in Strings pegg'd up but a great Laxity and Contortedness and a manifold Connexion every where with the Parts that such a continued Trembling should happen in the little Fibres of the Nerves Which Gassendus observes where he says That it is not the Spirit contained but the containing Tunicle which by reason of its Continuation and Distention to the Brain carries the Affection thither But because the Nerves are not extended in a streight Line like the Strings of a Lute but contorted and relaxed they cannot repress the Motion which is made at one End in the other Extremity Lewis de la Forge opposing these Words of Gassendus proves indeed that the Perception of Sense is caused by the Spirits flowing from the Part felt to the Brain but does not sufficiently convince us that this Perception is caused by the Motion communicated to the Brain His whole Argument rests upon the Influx of the Animal Spirits into the little Fibres of the Nerves which are thereby kept continually stretched But that loose Tension is not sufficient to enable a small Nerve that has so many Windings from the Foot to the Head and intervening Connexions to extend its Motion being lightly touched in the Foot so suddenly to the Brain The Noise of a Gun does not presently reach the Ear through the Air which is a yielding Body consequently there is a longer space of time required in the solid Body of a Nerve passing through so many intricate and various Turnings and yet at the very individual point of time that the Foot is touched the Idea of the Touch is felt in the Brain So that the Touch and the Perception seem to be both at the same Instant which could not be if the Motion of the Fibres were to extend it self to the Brain before the Touch could be perceived in the Brain If it be objected that this is done by the Continuity of the Nerve I answer that it may be done in hard extended things but not in soft and languid Thus if you set a Stick twenty foot long to the Ear and slightly strike the t'other end the Ear will presently perceive the Percussion but take the Gut of any large Beast and put it to the Ear blown up with Wind and hââ¦ld it to the Ear and strike at the other end the Motion shall never extend it self much above a Span much less will it reach the end next the Ear. And so it is with any Motion made in a soft languid and contorted Nerve at a distance from the Head Besides the Nerve is composed of innumerable Nerves so strongly adhering together that they cannot be parted asunder but by force Now if any small Fibre be moved in the Foot how shall that Motion reach the Brain when none of the rest which are annext to it never so much as stir If you say the first being moved the rest move and so the whole Nerve moves then the Perception of the Brain will be uncertain not being able to judge whether the first Motion were in the Toe or any other Part of the Foot Des Cartes makes mention of this Question and the better as he thinks to explain it We are to understand says he that those little Threads which as I said arise from the innermost Recesses of the Brain and compose the Marrow
of those Nerves are in all the Parts of the Body which serve for the Organ of any Sense and these Strings may be most easily mov'd by the Objects of those Senses But when they are mov'd never so little presently they attract the Parts of the Brain from whence they derive their Original and at the same time open the Passages of some Pores in the foremost Superficies of the Brain Whence the Animal Spirits taking their Course and carried through the same into the Nerves and Muscles stir up Motions altogether like to those with which we also are excited our Senses being affected after the same manner Here the two former Opinions seem to be joyned together by the most excellent Philosophers of our Age to extract the Perception of the Senses out of this Conjunction For he believes that the Idea of the Object is to be carried through the small Fibres to the Brain and that then in the Brain certain Pores being opened the Animal Spirits flow through the Porosities of their Fibres into the Nerves and Muscles and so excite a Motion which causes the Perception But still I wish that this ingenious Invention would teach us how at the same instant of time that Motion of the Fibres can be carried from the Toes to the Head and at the same Instant the Influx of the Spirits from the Brain to the Feet Mechanics here will not serve turn Pull a Rope says he at one end and the Bell at the other end of the Rope will presently sound But the Parallel will not hold For in Man there is a rational Soul and Life Now the Soul perceives and moves the Parts without any external Object 'T is otherwise with a Bell which is void of Life and Soul nor can be moved but by some external Agent and consequently has need of other Organs than a living Body For Example the Rope does not move the Bell unless pulled by some external Mover but there is no such Mover or pulling in the Nerves or their little Fibres much less in the soft and marrowy Substance of the Nerves When a Man lyes crumpled up several ways in his Bed there is neither Sreightness nor Tension but many times a Compression of the Nerves and yet he feels the least Prick in his little Toe Is the soft Medullary Fibre of the Nerve notwithstanding the crooked Posture of the Body moved through so many Windings and Turnings to the Innermost Recesses of the Brain Is there then any Tension of the Fibres and Nerves Rather will there not be some Pressure to intercept and stop that Motion No says Des Cartes because these Fibres are included in those little Tubes through which the Animal Spirits are carried into the Muscles which always swelling those little Tubes prevent the little Threads from being too much compressed As if when the Nerves are up and down compressed by that crooked Posture of the Body those fictitious Tubes remained open and distââ¦nded to prevent the Compression of those little Strings Now compare the two Sentences of Des Cartes from his Similitude of a Bell-rope he says the more extended the Nerves are the more easily and suddainly those Threads are moved to the innermost Recesses of the Brain On the other side in another place he says that the Filaments that serve the Organs of Taste are more easily mov'd than those that officiate for the Sense of Feelling because they are more relaxed Shall then the more relaxed String more suddainly and easily be moved than another more distended Lastly I would fain know whether that thin invisible Fibres being mov'd has any Faculty to open in the Brain any Pores for the Influx of Spirits This is an Action of the Mind not of any Nerves or Fibres For the Mind can open or shut the Pores sometimes of these sometimes of those Nerves and has power to appoint the Spirit to these or those Parts in greater or lesser quantity vid. l. 3. c. 5. XXII No less difficult it seems to explain how the determinative Motion of the Spirits through the Nerves proceeds and how they come to flow and cease to flow sometimes into these sometimes into those Muscles so suddenly in a moment of time A Question which the Ancients by reason of its difficulty car'd not to meddle with But lately Regius has undertook the Point and tells us there are many Valves in the Nerves for the opening and shutting of which the Animal Spirits flow and re-flow sometimes to these sometimes to those Parts according to the determination of the Mind But not to believe any thing rashly no man shall perswade me that there are any Valves in the Nerves the opening or shutting of which either admits or restrains the flowing or reflux of the Animal Spirits according to the determination of the Mind the least shadow of which could never be demonstrated by any Anatomist that ever I heard of so that this Opinion falls to the Ground First Because that if the determinated Influx of the Spirits should take effect the Soul while it finishes those determinations would only be employ'd in the opening and shutting of those Valves but not in the Emission of Spirits for those flow continually and spontaneously through the Impulse of the Heart and Brain like an Organist who laying his Fingers upon these or those Keys causes the wind to enter these or those Pipes from the Bellows according to his own determination and as he opens or shuts the Valves of the Pipes with his Fingers so the several strings in the Brain from whence the Operations of the Mind proceed ought to be extendded like the conveyances of an Organ to the several Valves of the Nerves by which they may be shut or opened at pleasure But in regard that many times one Nerve sends it Branches to many Muscles as the Turning-back Nerve sends its Branches to many Muscles Hyoides Neck and other Parts and several to the Diaphragma consequently there ought to be Valves belonging to every Branch from each of which peculiar strings ought to be extended to the Brain and so should ascend of-times through one Nerve which runs out to various Parts though very slender like the Vagous Nerve of the sixth Conjunction a hundred two hundred or more according to the Number of the Valves but that there are such Filaments there is no Man of reason but may easily conceive Secondly Seeing that as those Valves are open'd and shut the motion of the Parts is said to be swifter or slower and for the same reason by the determination of the Mind the Sense of Feeling would move more or less acute at pleasure nay some times would intermit which that it never happens is known to all Men. Any Man may either move or not move his hand as he pleases but he can never so move it at his pleasure but the Skin of the Hand shall be more or less sensible of it which he might do if those Valves were allow'd in the Nerves
inner Parts ââ¦f the Bones through the little Arteries of which more by and by Two things are here to be noted 1. That the Marrow is plainly destitute of feeling though formerly Paraeus thought otherwise 2. That it is not enveloped with any Membrane in the Cavity of the Bones By which Mark Hippocrates distinguishes it from the Spinal Marrow The Spinal Marrow says he is not like the Mââ¦rrow which is in the other Bones for only this has Membranes which the other Marrow has not This Marrow is very useful to the Bones for that the tartareous Particles when they are near to fixation quickly congeal into an Icy Hardness so that the Bones would become very brittle and never grow to their due Magnitude unless that marrowy Fat penetrating the whole Bone did not temper and sââ¦ften the extream Hardness of the tartareous Particles and so provide that in the Growth of the whole Body that the tartareous Particles do not separate but still continue new Intermixtures with fresh Particles till the Bone have attained its Perfection Which growth surceases when by reason of the increasing Heat of the Body these Particles are so drved up that they can no longer be mollified by the marrowy Fat nor extend themselves Whence it comes to pass that the more the heat of the Body encreases the less the Body shoots out in length because the bones which are the Basis's and Props of the Body become more and more dry and hardââ¦ed and the Marrow grows thicker and less moist Hence it comes to pass that Insants grow much in a short time Children less and Youth less than they and aged Persons never grow at all by reason their Marrow is less in quantity and less moist and oyly and their dryness of their Bones causes them to be more brittle and easily broken Now the Tartareous Particles are separated from the Arterious Blood by the mixture of the Animal Spirits which that they flow in great quantity to the Periostea the quick Sense of the Periostea testifies Vid. l. 3. c. 11. After which separation the Particles are opposed to the Bones by the help of the marrowy Fat which moistens them V. But the Blood flows to the Periostea and inner Parts through the Arteries and the less useful remainder flows back again through the Veins To which purpose those Vessels not only terminate with their Extremities in the Periostea but also penetrate the Bones themselves and pour forth Blood into their innermost Concavities to be changed into Marrow which is the proper Nourishment for the Bones And though their Ingress is not discernable in all yet in the larger Bones of the Shoulder and thigh it is apparent where the Cavities are perspicuously pervious as far as the Marrow affording passage to the Arteries Besides their Ingress into the Bones appears by the Sanguinous Juice which is form'd in the Deplois the middle spungy Table of the Skull and in the inner spungy Substance of the Ribs of Infants and many other Bones which could never come thither through any other Channels To this add the Observation of Spigelius who at Padua in a great Rottenness of the Shin-bone saw the substance of the Bone perforated by the Arteries at what time Plempius was present by his own report I my self in the Year 1665. had a young Man in cure whose Shin-bone in the Fore-part was corroded with an extraordinary Rottenness After I had taken away the Flesh about it with the Periosteum I perceived in the inner Cavity which reached to the Marrow a little Artery beating very quick whereas no Man could dream of an Artery in the hardest Place of all the Bone nor was the Artery continuous with the Flesh for that was taken away and yet the Pulse remained for many days in the inner rotten Cavity of the Bone Which makes me believe that these Arteries are seldom conspicuous in the hard Part of the Bone when Men are at their full Maturity perhaps because the Arteries being pressed by the hardness of the growing Bone at length vanish all together and where they are somewhat bigger than ordinary those People by reason of some ill Humors in their Bodies are easily subject to Rottenness in their Bones by reason of the sharp and corrupt Blood poured into them through the Arteries which by the Infusion of good Blood when Bones are broken afford Matter for Callosity However this shews Platerus's Error denying that the Arteries never enter the Bones and how much Galen was in the Right who allows to every Bone a Blood-bearing Vessel bigger or lesser according to the Proportion of the Bone Now that the Bones harden by reason of the increasing Heat is plain from those Men who are born and bred in hot Countries for by reason of the great external Heat and the Internal sooner increasing within they are generally shorter dryer and leaner the Humidity of the Body being sooner wasted On the other side they who inhabit cold and most Countries and eat and drink plentifully they grow tall by reason of the flower increase of their Heat and Drought as we find by the Danes Norwegians Muscovites c. Now that Growth is hindred from the Increase of Heat and Drought is apparent from hence that Ladies to prevent their Lap-dog Puppies from growing take away their Milk and moist Food and feed them with Wine or Spirit of Wine which causes a quicker increase of the natural Heat and renders the Alimentary Blood more dry and sharp by which means the Bones being dry'd more suddenly the Puppies cease to grow VI. The officient Cause of the Bones is the vivific Spirit seated in the Seed which Galen calls the Ossific Faculty disposing the more Tartareous Parts of the Seed for the Materials of Bones These Spirits therefore may be said to be the Essential form of the Bones which some Physitians will have to be their cold and dry Temper but Aristotle will have it to be the same Rolsinch finding that the Bones were still the same in dead Bodies as in living believes the formal Cause of the Bones to be no more known than the formal Cause of a Stone But what if we say that the vivific Spirit is the Form of living Bones and their cold and dry Temper together with their own Conformation the Form of living Bones As for their accidental Form it is their Shape and Figure whether round flat streight or crooked according to their various use VII As to the Time of their Formation Aquapendens believes that the Bones are first generated among the other Parts resting upon Galens Argument at the beginning of the Chapter Harvey believes them not to be sooner generated than other Parts of which many turn into Bones of the Birth as in the Teeth Neither is there any thing to be seen in the first Principles and Beginnings of Formation but a soft slimy gluteous Substance that approaches no way to the Constitution or Nature of Bones which Constitution
no remarkable Cavity containing Marrow only a certain marrowy Juice in its porous little Cells for its own Nourishment But it is broader than the Bone it self and for that reason renders the Articulation the stronger XVI The Bones are destitute of the Sense of Feeling neither are they furnished with any conspicuous Nerves except the grinding Teeth but without side they are wrapt about with a thin Membrane very quick of feeling that is to say a Periosteum which because it immediately adheres to the Bones and is cruelly pain'd upon any Distemper hence that painful Sensation is improperly attributed to the Bones not that the Bones are affected but the Periostea that lye next the Bones and the adjoyning Membranes However the Teeth are destitute of Periosteums after they make their Egress out of their proper Seats as also the little sesamoid Bones the four little Bones of the Ears and the ends of the Bones constituting the Joynts to prevent their being pain'd by overmuch Motion and Collision Nicholas Massa relates an unusual accident that he saw an ulcer'd Thigh the Bone of which after the Periosteum was scraped off felt an extraordinary Pain that it would hardly endure to be touch'd nay that he boar'd the Bone and that there was within a most cruel Sense of Pain which as he says he therefore set down in Writing that Anatomists might observe whether any Sensation of the Nerves penetrated to the Bones From which Observation some conclude that some of the Bones if not all are endued with the Sense of Feeling But rather we must believe that that same Corruption of the Bone being freed from its Periosteum extended it self farther to those Parts of the Bone which were not yet covered with a Periosteum and thence by the Motion of the Bone laid bare there might be some Pain in the Parts adjoyning to the Periosteum still remaining covered which Pains I have often observed in my Practise which were caused by the Motion of the Particles without Sense but really proceeded from the next adjoyning sensible Parts Against this Opinion of ours there is an Objection raised from the Words of Avenzoa who argues thus The Bones participate of the Rational Soul and are nourished therefore they are sensible for there is according to Aristotle both a vigitative and a sensible Faculty in every thing that is rational as in a Pentagon a Triangle and a Square therefore there must be either two Souls in the Bones or of necessity they must be sensible Moreover if they were not endued with the Sense of Feeling the greatest Part of Animals would not differ from Plants Lastly if the vital Spirits could slow into their Substance without the help of the Arteries much more easily the Animal which is much more spirituous without the assistance of the Nerve Which Arguments some have improved so far as to deny any Obtuseness of Sense but all quickness of feeling to the Bones But these Arguments fall to the Ground being seriously examined For the consequence of the first does not follow where there is a Soul and Nutrition there is Sense for there is a rational Soul and Nutrition in the Carotides in Cataleptics and Apoplectics but no Sense Nay the contrary to this is manifest in Brutes which are quick of Sense though destitute of a Rational Soul Moreover a Rational Soul operates variously according to the diversity of the Organs in the Eyes it causes Sight in the Membranes Feeling in the Muscles Motion and there all the Parts that want the Sense of Feeling are not to be proscribed out of the Jurisdiction of the Soul otherwise the Parenchyma's of the Bowels the Fat and other Parts must be exil'd A Man differs from Plants in that he feels both Pain and Pleasure but hence it does not follow that all his Parts must of necessity be sensible it is enough that a Man has those sensible Parts which the Plants have not For because a Man differs from Plants in seeing does it follow that all his Parts must see But lastly Experience teaches us that all the Bones are not sensible of feeling For we have often trepann'd and fil'd the Skull and Bones and burnt them with red hot Instruments without any Sense of Pain so that if you blind-folded the Patient he knew nothing of the Operation Thus Scaliger writes that he has pulled Bones out of his own gaping Wounds without any pain XVII The Number of the Bones is not the same in all Ages For in Infants and Children they are more which as the Heat encreases unite and become fewer as the Bones of the Sternon unite into one or three the Share-bones Hip-bones and Ilion-bones into one c. Nor is there always the same Number at the same Age. For sometimes one Rib is either superfluous or wanting of each side Sometimes the Vertebres of the Neck and Back as also the Bones of the Thighs unite into one Sometimes you shall find one Vertebre added to the Vertebres of the Loyns As was observed in a Skeleton preserved by Antony Polt of Utrecht wherein there were six Vertebres of the Loyns Lastly Anatomists vary in the Computation of the Bones Some computing Epiphyses among Bones and others reckoning in the Sesamoids XVIII The Qualities of the Bones consist in their Substance in those things which follow the Substance and in the Accidents Their proper Temper compleats the Substance of the Bones as being that which gives them their Being Hardness and Colour follow Substance The Accidents are Bigness Figure Number Situation and Connexion From these three Qualities proceed the Judgment of the Constitution of the Bones whether entire and well or endamaged and ill constituted Bones in living Creatures sound and well constituted ought to be hard wrapt about with a Periosteum whitish not absolutely dry but somewhat unctuous their Substance also ought to be equal and continuous and their Figure proper otherwise they are diseased and out of order CHAP. II. Of the Conjunction of the Bones THE Bones are fastned one to another either for Rest or Motion Connexion for Rest is called Coalition and is a firm Natural Connexion of the Bones without Motion when two Bones are so united one within another that they seem to be one Bone I. Symphysis is twofold real and not real Real is when two Bones harden and unite without any manifest Heterogeneous Medium thus the Chin or lower Jaw consists of two Bones united without any manifest Heterogeneous Medium and this is done three manner of ways II. 1. By Syneurosin when the Bones are joyned by a Medium that seems to be nervous or membranous as in Infants the Bones of the Skull the name-less Bones and Bodies of the Vertebres cohere together I say seems to be because that Medium is not really nervous or membranous but is truly bony but such as has not yet acquir'd a perfect hardness such as are many Bones of the Birth in the Womb till the fourth
ours which came from a certain Infection of the Air and chiefly prey'd upon the Spirits and not upon the Humors and was chiefly cured with Antidotes whereas Blood-letting did harm On the other side our Fever more an Enemy to the Humors then the Spirits was cured by Blood-letting Wierus makes mention of a Malignant and Pestilent Fever which was very rife about the Countries lying upon the Rhine and very different from ours which the Cure informs us for he writes that he found Blood-letting very dangerous From our Fever also differ very much those Fevers which Forestus describes wherein there were neither the same Symptoms neither would the Cure admit repeated Blood-letting Lazarus Riverius produces one Example of a Malignant Fever which in many Patients agreed with ours and was cured by five times Blood-letting To which there was one very like that we saw in France in the year 1632 already mentioned Observ. 3. But that it may be the better understood How Patients afflicted with this same Malignant Fever are to be ordered I shall produce one or two Examples of a thousand in the following Observations OBSERVATION XXV A Malignant Fever HErman Thomas a Baker was seized with the foresaid malignant Fever the fifth of September with a very great Heat and Consumption of his Spirits at the beginning his Pulse beat thick yet not very unequal this Thirst was vehement with a very great driness of the Tongue All the Body seem'd to be equally affected and therefore he never felt any Pain only complained of a great Faintness and Dejection of his Heart the first day coming to him about the Evening I ordered him an Emollient Glister which gave him three Stools and to quench his Thirst I prescribed him this Julep â Carduus-water Borage and Sorrel-water an lb j. ãâã of Citron newly squeezed out of the Fruit Syrrup of the ââ¦owre part of the Citron of Violets Rob of red Ribââ¦s an ⥠Oyl of Sulphur q. s. to make it gratefuly sharp mix them for a Iulep The sixth of September in the Morning we took away a pint of Blood out of the Median Vein of the right Arm which gave him great ease The Blood was very bad the upper half between livid and green and like a Muscilage the lower half black and coagulated the Serum also was Green The next day he felt a Pain in his Throat which was without any Tumour for the asswaging of which I ordered him a proper Gargarism In the Morning he took a gentle Purge which gave him five Stools To quench his Thirst he took small Ale and sometimes his Julep the eight of September his Fever continuing in the same state we took away ten Ounces out of his left Arm which was as bad as the first the ninth this Sudorific was given him â Diascordium of Fracastorius Êj Confection of Hiacinth Extract of Carduus Salt of Rue an â j. Treacle and Carduus water an ⥠j. Oyl of Vitriol ix drops mix them for a Draught Upon this he sweat well nevertheless the Continual Fever his weakness his Pain in his Throat his Thirst and driness of his Mouth continued still besides that he could not sleep hardly at all Therefore in the Afternoon he drank two Draughts of the following Apozem and took it also the next day â Roots of Succory Grass Asparagus an ⥠j. of Elecampane Sea Holly and stone Parsley an ⥠s. Herbs Sorrel Carduus Benedict Borage Centaury the less Scordium Scabious an one handful One whole Pome Citron cut in slices the four greater Cold-seeds an ⥠j. s. Fruit of Tamarinds Rhenish Tartar an Êvj Curants ⥠j. s. Boyl them in common water q. s. to ãâã ij add to the straining Syrup of Limons ⥠iij. mix them for an Apozem The eleventh after an Emollient Glister first given we took away seven Ounces more of Blood out of his right Arm which very much abated the Fever the twelfth after he had taken his former Antidote in the Morning he Sweat very much and in the Afternoon he took his Apozem The next day because his Belly did not answer our Expectations I gave him this Powder to take mixed with a little of his Julep which gave him three Stools â Rhubarb the best Êj Cremor Tartar Ê s. for a Powder This Powder he took again the sixteenth in the Intervening days and the three days following he took the foresaid Apozem and a small quantity of this Conditement â Pulvis Liberans Êj s. the three Saunders â ij Confection of Hyacynth â j. s. Candy'd Orange Peels Rob of red Ribs Pulp of Tamarinds an ⥠s. Syrrup of Limons q. s. mix them for a Conditement Upon the twelfth his Fever abated every day more and more neither was he molested any more with Anguish or Thirst but his Stomach began to come to him but then through a slight Errour in his diet he fell into a Relaps and his Fever returned with great violence Therefore after we had Glistered him first we took half a pint of Blood out of his left Arm which gave him so much ease that the Fever was almost totally quenched with that one Blood-letting The next Morning taking his Antidote again he Sweat soundly and then taking his Apozem and his Conditement both that day and the three or four next days he was presently delivered from his Fever During the Cure we kept him to a slender diet of Broths wherein were boil'd Sorrel Borage Pome Citrons Barley cleansed and unripe Grapes To drink we gave him small Ale and sometimes Juleps and sometimes he quenched his Intollerable Drought with Pulp of Tamarind or by chawing a slice of Pome Citron dipped in Sugar or else by laying upon his Tongue a Leaf of the bigger Sempervivum steeped in water and the outer Skin pulled off OBSERVATION XXVI A Malignant Fever GErtrude Coets a Young Maid of about twenty four Years of Age was seized with the same Pestilential Fever Upon the eight of September I being sent for which was the fourth day of the Disease I found her so weak that she could hardly speak she swoonded away every moment by reason of the Malignant Vapours that oppressed her Heart her Pulse was very weak thick and unequal the heat not very intense in regard the Morbific Matter infested her more by it's Malignity then it's Heat presently I gave her this Sudorific â Oriental Bezoar stone â s. Diascordium of Fracastorius Mithridate Damoc. Confection of Hyacinth an â j. Carduus water ⥠j. mix them for a Draught Though she did not sweat long by reason of her weakness yet she had very much ease to quench her Thirst I prescribed her this Julep â Carduus Baum Sorrel and Scabious waters an lb. s. Cinnamon ⥠j. Citron juice newly squeezed ⥠j. s. Syrrup of Limons Violets an ⥠j. s. Oyl of Sulphur q. s. mix them for a Iulep The ninth her Belly was moved by a Suppository and two hours after we took from the Median Vein
insomuch that the Patient was cured as it were in a Moment after the drawing out the Awl and was living seven years after to our knowledg And therefore it is very probable that it was put into the Body of the Boy by diabolical Incartation like to that same Story which Longius tells of a Country Man who had an Iron Nail which appeared under his Skin without any Prejudice which was cut out by the Chyrurgeon and when he was dead four Knives two iron Files Hair and other things were found And several other remarkable Stories of the same nature are related by others as Forestus Codronchius Gemma Zacutus c. 'T is true it has been a Controversie for several Ages among Divines Lawyers Physicians and Philosopers whether there be any Inchanters or Witches and whether they have so much Power by their Charms to hurt the Creatures to cause Sickness and Death clear up Rain and cause Thunder c. For a brief Solution of this Question in short we must conclude that there are Inchanters who by the Permission of God can do very strange things seeing that the Scripture testifies that Pharaoh's Magicians in Moses's time were such a sort of Inchanters who turned Rods into Serpents Rivers into Blood c. Thus St. Luke makes mention of Simon Magus who made the People mad with his Magic Arts. Whence we must of necessity conclude that there are Witches and Sorcerers who by their Demoniac Arts cannot only work various Miracles but also blast Herbs and Fruits and do mischief to Beasts and Men which Mischiefs however they cannot do when they please nor to all that they please but only when and in what manner God pleases and to such whose Faith God has a Will to try as he permitted the Devil to exercise his Sorceries upon Iob. Or to such whose Incredulity or Impiety he has a mind to punish not only in the proper Person of the Transgressor but also by giving the Witches Power over their innocent Children their Flocks Herds Fruit c. And thus by the Incantation of Witches many times Infanrs Oxen Sheep Horses Fruit c. are mischiefed as we saw at a certain Country-mans at Montfort Yet though there are such Inchanters and Witches their Power of doing Harm is not at their own but at the disposal of God Nor can Satan inflict Diseases but by the Permission of God and then his Witches are but his Instruments not the primary Cause OBSERVATION XLVIII Of the Gout in the Knee A Little Son of Thomas Peters an English Merchant about six years of age being troubled with the Gout in his Knee for three or four Weeks at length his Pain was so great that he could not go There was no Tumor no Inflammation nor Dislocation and therefore after I had purged his Body I only laid on a Cere-cloth of Oxicroceum which lay on for three days without any benefit Afterwards his Knee swell'd very much and the Pain likewise encreased wherefore leaving off the Cere-cloth the following Cataplasme was laid on for four or five days together shifting it twice a day The Use of which cleared the Child both of his Swelling and Pain nor did they afterwards return â New Goats-dung lb. j. Boil it in strong French Wine q. s. to the consistence of a Cataplasm and when you take it off from the Fire add Spirt of Wine ⥠iij. Mix them for a soft Cataplasm ANNOTATIONS THis Cataplasm has a very great discussing and corroborating Faculty which is look'd upon by some as a great Secret in these sorts of Tumors of the Joynts the signal effects whereof we have try'd in many other cases of the same nature This Dung boiled in Oximel Aetius highly commends as a Medicament which he has often succesfully used in long continued Tumors of the Knee OBSERVATION XLIX A Swelling in the Fore-head by reason of a Fall A Young Son of Dimmer de Raet Consellor to the Court of Boxmer had fallen down a Pair of Stairs upon his Fore-head whence ensued a Swelling in his Fore-head to the bigness of a Hens Egg. To this I only applied green Grass fresh gathered and bruised in a Mortar cold as it was which done the Swelling vanished the next day to that degree that there was not the least sign of it remaining ANNOTATIONS THese Swellings though some make nothing of them yet if they be neglected at the beginning they are many times the causes of great Mischiefs which we saw happen'd to the Child of Monsieur Armstrong who having such a Tumor in his Fore-head when it could not be dissipated by no Topics the Place affected continued swell'd for some Weeks after till at length the Humor therein beginning to putrifie and from thence bad Simptoms appearing there was a Necessity not only of a Tormenting Incision to open the Tumor and let out the putrid Humor but also of scraping off the putrid Humor corrupted with the same Putrefaction from the Bone that lay underneath by which means that imminent danger was to be removed from the Patient to which also the Wound was consolidated without any conspicuous Scar. Wherefore it is far better to dissipate the Humors at the beginning at what time it may be easily done and which we luckily did with Grass only bruis'd Many times we have likewise applied brown Paper moistned in Spirit of Wine with as good success or Oyl of Wax or Anise anointed upon the Place OBSERVATION L. The Chollic Passion MOnsieur Starkenburgh Collonel of the Regiment of Groening about forty years of age of a cold and flegmatic Constitution in September was taken with a violent Cholic Passion His Belly was very much swell'd with Wind which he could neither void upward nor downward and terrible Gripings seemed to dilacerate the Guts He complained also of an extraordinary Anxiety of his Heart with which he was so much oppressed that he was all over of a cold Sweat but because he seemed to be almost ready to burst with Wind and had need of present Relief I prescribed the following Glister which was given him about eleven a Clock at night â Emollient Decoction lbj. Elect. Diaphoenicon Hiera Picra ⥠j. s. Oyl of Dill and Camomil an ⥠j. Common Salt Êj Mix them for a Glister This Glister he voided within a quarter of an hour without any Ease neither Wind nor Excrement following for which reason soon after we gave him another of the same which did him as little good At the same time the Patient growing Stomach-sick threw up some Choler with tough Flegm Therefore about six a Clock in the Morning I prescribed him another Glister after this manner â Emollient Herbs lesser Centaury Wormwood Rue Flowers of Cammomil Dill an m. s. Seeds of Anise and Lovage an Êij Cummin Laurel-Berries an Êj s. Boil them in common Water q. s. to lbj. In the Straining gently boil Flowers of Senna ⥠j. Then press them and add Elect. Hiera Picra Diacatholicon an
the Pain anoint the Fore-head Temples and Top of the Head with Martiate or Alabastrin Oyntment mixed with a sixth part of Oyl of Dill or a Cataplasm of Flowers of Cammomil Melilot and Dill adding a little Nutmeg and Saffron with as much of the Crum of White-bread and White-wine as is sufficient and lay it between two Linnen Rags to the Temples and Forehead but beware of all Narcotics XII For the Corroboration of the Head and the rest of the Bowels and Diminution of the Flegm External and Internal Medicaments are proper and a convenient Diet. â Roots of Calamus Aromatic Elecââ¦m pane Fennel an ⥠s. Galangale Êiij Herbs Betony Marjoram Rosemary Hyssop Baum Thyme an M. j. Sage Fowers of Cammomil Staechas an M. s. Seed of Fennel Aniââ¦e Caroways an Ês Iuniper-berries Êvj Raisins cleansed ⥠ij Common Water ââ¦nd Whiteââ¦ine equal Parts Boil them anâ⦠make an Apozem to lb j. s. with which mix Syrup of Staechas ⥠ij or iij. If after he has taken this there requires more Exsiccation still the same Simples may be boiled in a Decoction of ãâã Sassapeââ¦il or Sassafras which will make the Medicine more effectual Let him continue this Decoction for some time or if at length it prove distastful let him often take of this Conditement â Specier Diambra â iiij Aromatic Rosatum â ij Ginger condited Conserve of Flowers of Sage and Rosemary an ⥠s. Syrup of Staechas q. s. For a Conditment XIII And in regard that Topics are of great use to corroborate the Head and fetch down cold Humors therein remaining let him anoint his Temples and fore-part of the Head upon the Coronal Suture with this Liniment â Oil of Nutmegs pressed Êj Oils of Thyme Rosemary Dill disââ¦illed an â j. Mix them for a Liniment After this Anointing put upon the Head the following Quilt â Leaves of Rosemary and Marjoram an Ês Flowers of Melilot Red Roses and Lavender an Êj Root of Florence Orrice Nutmegs Cloves Benjamin an â j. Beat them into a gross Powder for a Quilt Let him wear this a Month or two upon is Head XIV Let the Patient keep a proper Diet live in an Air moderately hot Let his Food be Meats of good Juice hot and easie of Diââ¦estion seasoned with Rosemary Marjoram Stone-Parsly Sage Betony Hysop Pepper Ginger and other Spices His Drink small Wine or Mede or midling Ale Let him not sleep long and use moderate Exercise Let him keep his Body soluble Let him avoid Sadness Melancholy and sudden Frights and keep himself in an even Temper free from Passion HISTORY II. A Phrensie A Stout young Man of a Choleric Constitution abounding with Blood and living intemperately having drank over freely at a Merry meeting and thereby over-heated at length being affronted by one of the Company fell into a most violent Passion yet being hindred from his present Revenge and carried Home never slept all that Night but like a Mad-man ran about his Chamber talking of nothing but Brawls Fighting Wounds and Revenge and that with great Rage and many Follies intermixed The next Day he was absolutely mad and began to lay violent Hands upon the Servants so that he was forced to be held by lusty Men. The next Night he continued waking with an extraordinary Delirium and Fury picking Straws and the Bed-cloaths sometimes flying upon those that were in the Room His Eyes were red his Looks furious and wild he bawl'd and roar'd was very thirsty feverish and his Urine pale The third Day the Physicians were sent for I. THE continued and raging Delirium with his Waking shewed that the Brain of this Patient was distempered and the Fever was a Sign that his whole Body was out of order II. The Disease was an Inflamation of the Membranes of the Brain and thence a hot Distemper of the Brain and Spirits which caused the Fever and that the Commotion of his Mind which the Physicians call a Phrensie which is a raging and continued Delirium with a continued Fever arising from an Inflammation of the Membranes of the Brain III. The remote Cause was Intemperance in Diet which engendring a great quantity of choleric Blood in the Body occasioned the antecedent Cause Which choleric Blood being heated by excess of drinking Wine and carried in greater quantity to the Head and there powred into the Substance of the Membranes of the Brain constitutes the containing Cause of this Distemper which Disease this Simptom follows IV. For the hot Blood flowing over copiously into those Membranes and there putrifying inflamed them and part of that Putrefaction being communicated through the Veins to the Heart and thence expelled hotter through the Arteries to the whole Body kindles the Fever which causes the extraordinary Drought of the Gullet and Mouth V. This Inflammation of the Membranes infects with a hot Distemper the Brain it self and Spirits whose extream Heat Mobility and inordinate Motion deprave the principal Functions of the Brain and so breed a Delirium which proves raging and continued because of the extream and continued Heat and rapid Motion of the fervent Spirits VI. This Disease is dangerous for several Causes 1. Because the principal part is affected 2. Because continual Waking weakens the Patient 3. Because this Delirium is not accompanied with Laughter but with Raging 4. Because the Inflammation is thereby much augmented and fomented and the Choleric Matter which uses to dye the Urine is carried all to the Head and leaves the Urine pale Only there is some hopes of Cure because there is no decay of Strength or appearance of bad Simptoms as Convulsions loss of Speech Hickupings Gnashing of Teeth or the like and therefore Cure must not be delay'd till the Patient grow worse VII This Cure consists in taking away the antecedent and containing Cause and Correction of the ill temper of the Parts VIII The choleric Blood which flies to the Head is first to be evacuated drawn back derived and repelled And therefore after an emollient Glister given open a vein first in one Arm and take away ten or twelve ounces of Blood the next day in the other and the third day again if there be necessity in the Vein of the Fore-head IX To evacuate the choleric Humors give this Draught â Rubarb the best Leaves of Senna an Êij Rhenish Tartar Êiij Anise-seed â j. Succory Water q. s. Make an Infusion then add to the Straining Elect. Diaprunum solutive Êiij Diagridion gr iij. Mix them for a Draught The next Days if he be bound let him be loosned with Glisters and the third or fourth day give him the foresaid Purge again X. Let his Temples and Fore-head be anointed twice or thrice a day with the following Liniment â Populeon Oyntment Êvj Oyl of Poppy Êiij Mix them for a Limment After anointing apply the following Oxyrrhodine with rags luke warm to his Fore-head â Oyl of Roses ⥠ij Iuice of Lettice ⥠iij. Iuice of Housleek Rose-water Vinegar of Roses
an ⥠j. s. Mix them well together XI For diversion of the Morbific Matter apply Pidgeons dissected alive to his Feet or else this following Medicine â Leaves of red Cabbage white Beets an â⦠j. s. beat them in a Mortââ¦r and make them into a Past with sowre Levea ⥠iiij Salt Êij Vinegar of Roses q. s. XII About Night give gr iiij of Laudanum in a Pill or if he refuse a Pill dissolve three Grains of that Laudanum in one ounce of Decoction of Barley adding an ounce of Syrup of Poppy Rheas to provoke Sleep XIII While these things are done for his usual Drink give him small Ale or Whey of sowr Milk or Fountain Water having some Pieces of Citron steeped in it adding a little Sugar and Rose-Water or else this Julep â Lettice Leaves M. iiij Endive M. ij Red Currants M. j. Barley-water q. s. Boil them to a Pint to the Straining when cold add Syrup of Violets and Limons an ⥠j. of Poppy ⥠s. Iuice of Citron q. s. to make it pleasing XIV Let him also take of this Conditement often in a day â Powder of Diamargarite cold â iiij Pulp of Tamarinds Conserve of Violets pale Roses Robb of red Currants an Ê iij. Syrup of Violets q. s About Evening when he does not take his Laudanum Opiate let him drink one or two Draughts of this Emulsion â Four greater Cold seeds an Ê ij Seed of white Poppy ⥠s. Decoction of Barley q. s. Make an Emulsion of about ⥠vij To which add Syrup of Violets and Poppy Rââ¦eas an Ê v. XV. When the Distemper begins to asswage the sooner to dissolve the peccant Matter cut alive Hen in the middle and lay it to his Head or else the Lungs of a Calf or Sheep newly killed XVI Let his Air be between cold and moist and his Chamber somewhat dark His Diet sparing and cooling prepared with Lettice Endive Borrage Sorrel and the like his Drink as before Let him not be tââ¦oubled with much company nor Talk Only let those for whom he had a Kindness in his Health endeavor now and then to pacifie his Rage with good Words Lastly keep his Belly soluble HISTORY III. Of Melancholly A Learned Man forty years of age of a melancholly Constitution in the Summer time walking out of the City with a Son of his came to the River side pulling off his Cloaths leaââ¦t into the Water to please himself with Swimming to which he perswaded his Son likewise to make him skilful of the same Art but his Son leaping into the Water sunk to the bottom and was drowned before his Father could come to his Assistance Upon which the Father fell into such a deep Sadness continuing thinking of his Misfortune and believing himself the Author of his Childs Death that he did nothing but weep Day and Night without sleeping and within a few Days was brought to that pass that he believed himself guilty of Murther and for that reason eternally damned He also thought the Devil who had tempted him to do the Fact alway stood at his side and shewed his horrid Shape to those that stood by pointing at him with his Finger wondring they did not see him as well as He. As to other things he was well enough only this false Imagination stuck so deeply in his Mind that no Perswasions or Consolations of his Friends could root it out I. VVhen the seat of the Principal faculties in the Brain was endamag'd and the Imagination deprav'd it was a sign the Patients Brain was out of order as appeared by his sadness and fear II. This Malady is Melancholly and a deprav'd Distemper of the Brain hurting the Imagination and deluding it with false Apparitions and causing fear and sadness without any reason which are two unquestionable Signs of Melancholly according to Hippocrates Therefore we may well define Melancholly to be a Delirium without a Fever arising from a Melancholly Fancy III. The first and external Cause of this Mans Malady was his grievous Misfortune having his Son drown'd which seiz'd him the more violently as being naturally Melancholly Which when he could not forget but spent whole Days and Nights continually thinking upon it without any Sleep the Animal Spirits prone to Melancholly were disorderly agitated in the Brain and so contracted a Specific and Ocult distemper which they communicated not to the Brain but to the Heart and whole Body Hence horrible thoughts sadness and fear VI. When he thought of his Son whom he believed to be drown'd by his fault he perswaded himself he was guilty of Murder which because he knew it was a Sin hareful to God therefore he thought himself Damn'd and the Devil to be always at his Elbow the continual thinking upon which had shaped the Idea of a Devil so firmly in his mind that he could not be otherwise perswaded but that the Devil was always before his Eyes nor could any Body dispossess him of that Imagination In other things he was well because his perception and judgment of things was no way hindred by that false Imagination as being wholly taken up with that Imagination and nothing so much not with such an emotion of Mind intent upon other things V. Because this occult Distemper of the Brain and Animal Spirits was bred in the Brain plain it is that this was a primary or self-suffering Melancholly VI. This Melancholly Delirium tho' very troublesom yet is it not Mortal and gives great hopes of Cure because only the Imagination is depraved the Ratiocination and Memory little endamaged then again he was sound in Body and lastly because he was a Learned Man and so much the sooner to be governed by Reason besides that it was in the Summer when this happened which was a Season more proper for Cure VII In the Cure the Evil Melancholly Matter and the ill Temper of the Brain is to be amended that the purer Spirits may be freed from that Specific Melancholly Contamination and generated anew The same evil Matter is also to be evacuated and his Head to be corroborated and all means try'd to take off the Patients thoughts from false and horrible Imaginations VIII First therefore Purge him with this Bolus â Conââ¦ection Hamech Elect. Diaphoenicon an Ê j. s. Diagridion gr vij Mix them Or if he will not take that give him this Glister â Emollient Decoction to which an Ounce of the Leaves of Senna has been added ⥠ix Elect. Diaphoenicon ⥠ij Oyl of Camomil ⥠j. s. Salt Ê j. IX Because such a Patient has not much Blood therefore to preserve his strength there is no Blood letting to be used unless there be a Palpitation of the Heart or any such Symptom which requires it X. After the Belly is well cleansed to prepare the Melancholly humor and strengthen the Head let him drink three or four times a day a draught of this Apozem â Root of Polypody of the Oak ⥠j. Calamus Aromatic Fennel rind of Caper-rooââ¦s
that slight sometimes moved her to Anger while the Choler boiled that was mixed with her Melancholly humors sometimes to sadness the Melancholly humors being moved and overcoming the Choleric and through that disorderly strife and Effervescency of the Choler with the Melancholy the whole Mass of Blood boiled which occasioned a slight Putrefaction which begot a slight disorderly Fever accompanied with the Head-ach caused by the sharp Choloric and Melancholy Vapors carried up together to the Head But at length that effervescency of Choler and Blood being vanquished by the abundance and quality of the Melancholy Humor the Fever went off and the Animal Spirits were heated also by the hot Melancholy humors predominant in the Body and the Head and set a boiling by the foregoing effervescency of the Choler and were so rapidly and disorderly moved that they caused a Delirium first more geâ⦠while the Spirits were not so much heated and agitated then violent with Anger Immodesty and Rage by reason the sharp heat of the Animal Spirits was augmented so that being now too much attenuated and become more eager they are more rapidly moved and more disorderly and violently agitated IV. Now because not only the Animal but the Vital Spirits are possessed with that heat as also the whole Mass of the Blood hence it comes to pass that the whole Body becomes so heated that they are not cool'd by the Cold of the External Air but always re mains hot V. Yet there is no Fever because that violent fervor of the Blood and Spirits though it be great and sharp yet there is neither Putrefaction nor Inflammation because it consists more in Salt then Sulphury Particles VI. This Malady is difficult to Cure partly because the most noble Bowels are affected partly because the Cause lyes in a depraved obstinate and copious Humor Lastly because the Patient being Mad will not be rul'd nor suffer the administration of proper Medicines However the longer it is delay'd the more difficult the Cure will be VII The primary Indications relating to the Cure are these 1. To prepare and evacuate the Melancholly humor abounding in the Body and to extinguish the heat both of that as of the Blood and Spirits 2. To prevent the new generation of the same Humor and Fervor 3. To coroborate the Bowels especially the Heart Brain Liver and Spleen And this is to be done by Diet Chyrurgery and Pharmacy VIII The Chamber wherein the Patient lyes must be gloomy where he or she must be kept by strong Men or Women or else their Arms must be bound with broad Swaths that they may do no harm to themselves nor others They are to be visited by very few whose Company they loved in the time of Health They must be kept in a temperate Air. Their Diet must be moistning and moderately cooling rather moist then dry Their Drink Ptisans or small Ale They must be kept quiet with good words and provoked to sleep as much as may be and all Evacuations of Nature in both Sexes must proceed naturally while Art supplys the disorders of Nature IX Though the enraged Patient refuses all Medicaments yet fair words must be try'd and this draught obtruded instead of Drink â Leaves of Senna ⥠s. Anise-seed Ê j. Decoction of Barly q. s. infuse them according to Art then to the straining add Confect Hamech Ê iij. Extract of Hellebore â j. Mix them for a draught X. After Purgation Blood-letting is requisite not once but often in the Hands Feet Forehead Arms and other convenient Places and a good quantity of Blood to be taken away according to the strength of the Patient And the Patient is to be well guarded from loosening the bindings of the Fillets after stopping the Blood XI Between every Blood-letting Purge the Patient then with a draught before mentioned or Powder of Dia-Senna or Confect Hamech alone Or if these be refused make use of Codiniac or Rob of red Currants to every Ounce of which add grains twenty four and of this mixture give six or seven drams as you find it works Or if the Party love Currants boil them in the Decoction of Senna-leaves or Roots of black Hellebore till they ââ¦row plump then take them out and let them dry in a place exposed to the Wind that they may not seem to have been boiled and give them to eat XII You may try either by fair words or by fraud to make her drink now and then in a day a draught of this Apozem â Roots of Polypody of the Oak Succory an ⥠j Rind of Caper-roots Tamarisch an ⥠s. Herbs Dodder Venus-hair Lettice Dandelion with the whole Sorrel Ceterach Borage Bugloss an M. j. Cordial Flowers an one little handful Citron and Orange Peels an Êiij Fruit of Tamarinds ⥠j. Common-water q. s. Boil them for an Apozem of lb j. s. If you steep in this Apozem Leaves of Senna ⥠j. s. Root of Black HeleboreÊ ij Anise-seedÊ ij By that means it will become a Purging Apozem which if the Patient likes may be often administered XIII Let this Conditement be also offered upon occasion â Conserve of Violets Pale Roses Rob of Red Currants Candied Citron-peel an Ê iij. Pulp of Tamarinds Ê vj. Syrup of Violets q. s. XIV Because such a Patient chiefly requires sleep toward Evening givâ⦠an Amygdalate wherein put an Ounce of Syrup of Popies or a little more or three grains of Opiate Laudanum but this not above once or twice in a Week or one or two Heads in the boiling the aforesaid Apozem or by adding to the aforesaid Conditement one or two drams of Nicholas's Rest or by anointing the Temples and Forehead with Oyl of Popies or Populeon Oyntment But give not these Soporifics too often too long nor too strong XV. In the mean time the Hair being shaved off let the Head be fomented for an hour or two in the Morning with this Fomentation luke-warm â Herbs Betony Vervain Marjoram Plantain an M j. Lettice M iiij Flowers of Roses Melilot Dill Camomil an M j. Hemp and Coriander-seed an ⥠s. Common-water q. s. After Fomentation keep the Head well covered from the cold Air. But this Fomentation will not be proper before the Body be well purged and some Blood be taken away XVI When the Distemper begins to asswage it will not be amiss to clap alive Hen cut in two upon the Head or the Lungs of a new kill'd Sheep or Calf newly killed XVII Some applaud the clapping of Medicines to the Feet as also Pidgeons slit or Tenches slit or else Leaves of Coleworts and Rue with Sowre Ferment Salt and Vinegar and so bruised into the form of a Past and bound to the Soles of their Feet which if they do no good yet do no harm and therefore in this case may safely be made use of for the satisfaction of such as desire it HISTORY VI. Of the Disease call'd Coma both Somnulent and Wakeful A Person about forty Years of
Age somewhat of a Phlegmatic Constitution was wont to be troubl'd twice or thrice a Year with Catarrhs falling upon his Teeth or Lungs which sometimes seized him with a slight Pain in his Head sometimes without any at all at length in Autumn he felt a distensive and heavy pain in the hinder part of his Head such as used to precede his Catarrh but then no Catarrh ensued however this pain increasing and being accompany'd with a giddiness after Purgation and Blood-letting by the advice of a Physitian and other proper Remedies applied the Pain abated so that the Patient went abroad again but venturing too soon into the cold Air when he found the Pain together with the giddiness encrease again he was forced to take his Bed and of a suddain was perceived to rave The Pain still more and more augmenting the second day standing by his Bed side he fell down not being able to rise but by those in the Room was put to Bed again where in a short time he fell into such a deep sleep that nothing but violent pulling and pinching him would wake him and then he only opened his Eyes a little but spoke nothing and fell asleep again The third day there was no rowsing him but when this profound sleep had continued about four days he began to wake however then he spoke but little and that after a wild and raving manner thus he lived eight days Afterwards he had a continual Inclination to sleep with his Eyes winking but could not sleep and muttered many things idly to himself sometimes lying still when he was thought to be asleep of a suddain he would endeavour to leap out of his Bed and to do something or other but was so weak that he could not In this inclination to sleep with a continued Delirium he remained eight or ten days afterwards he could not sleep at all neither had he any Inclination to sleep for a Fortnight together in the mean time the Delirium abated every day so that within that time he became sound of his Mind and recovering his strength was restored by his Physitians to his former Health during the whole course of his Distemper he had no Fever His Appetite was good even in his profound sleep for though when he waked he asked for nothing yet he took whatever was given him and digested it well By his wild Answers it appear'd that not only Imagination and Reason but his Memory was weakned The Question is what sort of Disease this Man was troubled with and with what Remedies it was to be cur'd I. THat the Brain of this Person was affected and thence his Principal and External Senses were also troubled is plain by the Relation II. That profound sleep which at first oppressed him was a Somnulent Coma which is a deep sleep arising from the benumedness of the common Sense But that heavy inclination to sleep which followed after yet with an inability to sleep was a Wakeful Coma which is a heavy propensity to sleep with an impotency so to do by reason of the Obstruction or Compression of the Vessels in the Ventricles of the Brain and a disorderly motion of the Spirits disturbing the Mind III. The Antecedent cause of this Malady was a Copious Generation of Flegm in the lower Parts which being carried to the Brain and collected in the Ventricles of it constitutes the containing Cause For that same Flegm not being able to fall down to the lower Parts as is usual but being there detained with its quantity distends the Vessels whence first a distending and oppressive Pain afterward that Flegm being more encreased in some manner compressed the Choroid-fold together with the wonderful Net hence the Vital Spirits not suffiââ¦ng to supply the want of Animal Spirits to perform the Offices of the principal and external Senses the Patient motion ceasing fell down not being able to rise again and then the external Senses ceasing a deep sleep ensued At length by the help of Nature and Medicines that obstruction of the Choroid-fold being somewhat open'd and the Vital Spirits let loose to encrease the Animal which were not yet plentiful enough besides that they moved disorderly through obstructed passages hence the mind became disturbed for that though more Spirits then before flowed forth to the Organs of the Senses yet they were not sufficient to perform the whole duty which caused that great inclination to sleep which however was still disturbed by the continual disturbance of the Mind so that though the Patient were willing to sleep he could not but as it were wak'd sleeping with continual Deliriums Lastly the Obstruction being wholly opened and the Spirits having gain'd free Passage yet very few Vapors ascending to the Brain by reason of the extream Emptiness of the Body to stay them their due time in the Brain hence followed continual Watchings which abated as more Vapors ascended to the Brain upon Digestion of more Nourishment There was no Fever because no Putrefaction of Humors molested the Heart IV. A Somnulent or waking Coma is a most dangerous Disease which kills many especially if the profound sleep extend it self beyond the fourth day in regard the most noble Bowel the Brain is most grievously affected For that Obstruction and Compression endangers the Choroid-fold for two Reasons either because the Coma for want of Animal Spirits may turn to an Apoplexy or because the hot Vital Spirits not being able to get through their wonted passages may cause an Inflammation in the Membranes of the Brain and then a Phrensie would ensue V. The principal Curative Indications are to draw back and evacuate the containing Matter at the beginning and so to open the Obstruction then to take away the Antecedent Cause and hinder a new collection of Flegm VI. Because a Man in that profound sleep can swallow nothing Glysters must be administred at least once a day Hard Frictions and Dolorific Ligatures of the extream Parts must be made use of Blood must be taken from the Arm. Cupping-glasses both without and with Scarification must be applied to the Shoulders Back and Neck The Patient also must often be waked with jogging and pinching iâ⦠it be possible and that the containing Matter may be shaken off and expelled this Sternutory is to be blown up into the Nostrils ever now and then â Root of white Hellebore â j. Pellitory â s. Leaves of Marjoram â j. Pepper Castoreum an gr v. For a Powder VII His sleep abating give him these Pills â Mass of Pill Cochiae â j. Extract of Catholicum â s. For five Pills Or if he cannot swallow them give him one dram of Powder of Diaturbith or Diacarthamum in a little small Ale Or a Purging draught prepared with Leaves of Senna Agaric and Jallop-Roots or the like VIII The Body being sufficiently Purged this Apozem or such like may be prescribed â Root of Acorus Êvj of Elecampane Fennel an ⥠s. of Galangal Êij Herbs Marjoram Rosemary Betony
of the Sight did not proceed from any Fault of the Sight or of the Medinum or the Object II. This Malady by the Physicians is called Vertigo or Giddiness And is a Deception of the Sight which makes that visible Objects seem to turn round arising from a kind of Whirl-pit Motion of the Animal Spirits in the Brain III. The remote Cause is the External Motion refrigerating the Brain and streightning the Passages of it appointed for the evacuating of Excrements so that Flegm abounding in the Body and copiously collected in the Ventricles of the Brain constitutes the containing Cause IV. By those flegmatic Humors the Ventricles are first distended thence the heavy Pain This Flegm augmenting stops up the Passages of the Brain through which the Spirits ought to pass partly by repletion partly by compression so that the Spirits missing their direct Passage and lighting upon the obstructed Passage gets thorough in a circular Motion as Water falling with violence if it meet a Dam in its way recoils three or four times in Circles before it run by V. These whirling Spirits thus circularly carried to the Seat of the Mind intermixing with the Images of visible things which are carried to the same Mind are offered to the common Sensory with the same circular Motion and so occasion that Fallacy of Sight by which all visible Objects seem to be whirled about in the same manner as the Images of visible things VI. But this same whirling of the Spirits does not last partly because the narrowness of the Passages of the Brain is sometimes more sometimes less partly because the Spirits are sometimes thicker and sometimes thinner and pass through sometimes with more sometimes less violence which is the reason the Vertigo comes by Fits For in the Motion of the Body the Spirits are moved with more violence and in greater abundance which if they cannot pass freely and directly through the ordinary Passages of the Brain but light here and there upon the obstructed Passages causes the Fit whether they be thin or thick For the Repulse of the Obstruction puts them into a Circumgyration and the plenty and violent rushing of the thin Spirits makes them they cannot pass but the thick are stoped by reason of their thickness and therefore Drunkards and young People that abound with thin Spirits are as much liable to Giddiness as old Men whose Spirits are thicker But the Giddiness of old Men is more frequent and lasts longer because of their more abounding Flegm longer and more frequently streightens the Passages of the Choroid-Fold Therefore the Vertigo seldom happens when the Body is in Motion and is generally abated and cured by rest VII But because there are not enough of those whirling Spirits that make their way through the Passages of the Brain besides that their ââ¦ircumrotation hinders them from entring in sufficient quantity into the Nerves This was the reason that this Patient for want of Animal Spirits in the Muscles often fell to the Ground without being able to rise before the Vertigos ceasing the Animal Spirits flowed more copiously again into the Muscles VIII Then the Fit returns again upon the Sight of Wheels turning round Precipices c. because the Images of those things being carried to the inner Parts with that same whirling and unequal Motion affects the Animal Spirits with the same circular and unequal Motion Upon the Sight of Precipices the Vertigo returns in regard the Sight of them striking a Terror into the Beholder the Affright streightens the Passages and by that means puts a sudden stop upon the Spirits which being forced forward by those that come behind because they have not a free Passage are agitated by the Repulse of the Obstruction and forced into a circular Motion IX This Malady is hard to be cured and many times turns to an Epilepsie or Apoplexie or some other grievous Distemper of the Brain and therefore the Cure of it is not to be delay'd X. The Cure consists in removing the primary antecedent and continuing Cause and Corroboration of the Brain XI First Therefore let her be purged with these Pills â Mass of Pill Cochiae â j. Extract of Catholicon â s. Diagridion gr ij Syrup of Stoechas a little For vij Pills XII Though not much good can be expected from Blood-letting yet least the Blood should fly up to the Head in too great a quantity it may be taken from the Arm or if it happen in the time of her monthly Customs out of a Vein of the Foot Let the Vein be opened the Patient lying in Bed and let her not see her own Blood XIII Then let her drink three or four times a day a Draught of this Apozem â Root of Acorus ⥠j. Elecampane Fennel an ⥠s. Herbs Betony Marjoram Rosemary Calaminth ââ¦hyme an M. j. Sage Leaves of Lawrel Flowers of Stoechas an Ms. Seeds of Anise Fennel Caroways an Êj s. Cleansed Raisins ⥠ij Water q. s. Boil them according to Art adding toward the end White-wine lb s. Make an Apozem of about lbj. s. Sometimes instead of the Apozem she may take a small quantity of this Apozem â Specier Diambrae Êj Sweet Diamosch â j. Candied Root of Acorus Conserve of Flowers of Sage Anthos Baum an ⥠s. Syrup of Stoechas q. s. XIV In the mean time let her use this Masticatory â Root of Pellitory Elecampane an Êj Herbs Marjoram Hyssop an Ês Black Pepper â s. Mastich Êv Reduce these into a Powder and then make them into Trochischs with a little Turpentine and Wax XV. Let her Temples Nostrils and Top of her Head be anointed twice a day with this Oyl â Oyl of Nutmegs distilled Êj Oyls of Rosemary Amber Marjoram an â s. She may also wear the following Quilt upon her Head for some Months â Leaves of Rosemary Melilot Sage Flowers of Melilot an one little handful Nutmeg â ij Cloves â j. Benjamin â s. Beat them grossly for a Quilt XVI Let her have a warm Room and good Air. Let her feed sparing and let her Food be easie of Digestion not flatulent and seasoned with hot Cephalics and carminative Seeds Her Drink must be small wherein if a little Bag of Marjoram Rosemary and a little Cinnamon be hung 't will be so much the better Moderate Sleep and Exercise is best when the Giddiness is off but let her Rest in the time of the Fit Keep her Body soluble and take care that all Evacuations be regular and natural HISTORY XI Of the Night-Mare A Woman of fifty years of age in good plight fleshy strong and plethoric sometimes troubled with the Head-ach and Catarrhs falling upon her Breast in the Winter the last Winter molested with no Catarrhs but very sore in the Day-time but in the Night-time when she was composing her self to Sleep sometimes she believed the Devil lay upon her and held her down sometimes that she was choaked by some great Dog or Thief lying upon her Breast so that she
could hardly speak or breath and when she endeavoured to throw off the Burthen she was not able to stir her Members And while she was in that Strife sometimes with great difficulty she awoke of her self sometimes her Husband hearing her make a doleful Inarticulat Voice waked her himself at what time she was forced to sit up in her Bed to fetch her Breath sometimes the same Fit returned twice in a Night upon her going again to Rest. I. THe Brain of this Woman was primarily affected especially in the hinder Ventricle of the Brain near the Spinal Pith for the Muscles of the Parts seated below the Head are agrieved which appears by her difficulty of breathing and the hindered Motion of her Breast Thighs and Arms. Hence the Heart is affected with the Lungs II. This Affection is called Incubus or the Night-Mare which is an Intercepting of the Motion of the Voice and Respiration with a false Dream of something lying ponderous upon the Breast the free Influx of the Spirits to the Nerves being obstructed III. The antecedent Cause of this Malady is an over-redundancy of Blood in the whole Body whence many Vapors are carried to the Head and there detained by the Winter-cold streightning the Pores and thickning those Vapors and narrowing the Passage to the beginning of the Spinal Marrow which hinders a sufficient Passage of the Animal Spirits to the Nerves and this constitutes the containing Cause IV. For while the Passages of the Nerves are compressed by the more thick Vapors detained about the lower part of the Brain at the entrance of the Marrow into the Spine sufficient Animal Spirts do not flow into the lower Parts which causes the Motion of the Muscles to fail Now because the Motion of the Muscles for the most part ceases in time of sleep except the Respiratory Muscles therefore the failing of their Motion is first perceived by reason of the extraordinary trouble that arises for want of necessary Respiration Now the Patient in her Sleep growing sensible of that Streightness but not understanding the Cause in that Condition believes her self to be overlay'd by some Demon Thief or other ponderous Body being neither able to move her Breast nor to breath Then endeavouring to shake off that troublesome Weight as apprehensive of some ensuing Suffocation but not being able to move the rest of her Members she believes them under the same Pressure Upon which when she tries to call out for assistance but because of the streightness of her Respiration she is not able to speak distinctly she makes an inarticulate Noise with great difficulty In this Strugling she continues till the Animal Spirits detained at the lower Part of the Brain by the Compression of the Spinal Marrow and there collected in a greater quantity at length forced by the continual Flux of Spirits from the Heart violently make their way through the Pith into the Nerves and Muscles and restore Motion to the Parts Then the Patient moves her Body and wakes and by that motion those thick Vapors are dissipated and being awake she is forced to take Breath to repair the Loss which she suffered for want of Respiration But because there is yet a larger quantity of these Vapors still remaining in the Head hence it comes to pass that if she fall asleep again especially if she lye upon her Back the same Evil returns in regard those thick Vapors settle more easily toward the hinder part of the Head near the Marrow V. Now that they are Vapors and not Humors is plain from hence that the Malady is so soon mastered which could not be done so suddenly were they Humors which would rather cause an Apoplexie or some other more dangerous Evil that they are thick and not thin Vapors appears from hence because the thin Vapors would pass more easily through the Pores though narrower which the thick cannot do which requires motion of the Body to dissipate them which Motion ceasing in Sleep they stick to the Place and streighten the Pores of the Nerves But if any cold ill Temper of the Brain happen at the same time those Vapors are easily condensed into Humors by that Cold which if detained in the Head cause Heaviness the Coma Apoplexy and the like If they flow from the Head to the lower Parts they breed Catarrs with which our Patient was wont to be troubled in the Winter-time VI. This Malady is dangerous least the collected Vapors being condensed in the Head should breed a Coma Apoplexy or the like VII It consists in removing the Antecedent Principal and containing Cause and the Corroboration of the Brain VIII To purge away the Antecedent Cause or the great quantity of Humors let the Body be purged with Pill Cochiae Powder of Diaturbith or this Potion â Leaves of Senna Êiij White Agaric Rhubarb an Êj s. Anise-seeds â ij White Ginger â s. Decoction of Barley q. s. Infuse them and to the Straining add Elect. Diaphaenicon Êij IX Then because she is plethoric take away ⥠viij or ix of Blood from her Arm. X. After Blood-letting let her take every morning a Draught of this Apozem â Root of Calamus Aromaticus Fennel Stone-parsley Capers an Êvj Herbs Betony Marjoram Dodder Succory Borage Sorrel an m. j. Flowers of Stoechas m. s. Iuniper Berries ⥠s. Blew Currants ⥠ij Water q. s. Boil them according to Art adding toward the end Rubarb white Agaric an Êij Anise-seed ⥠s. Cinnamon â j. s. Make an Apozem of lb. s. XI To expel the containing Cause Errhinas snuft up into the Nostrils or a sneezing Powder of Root of white Hellebore Pellitory Leaves of Marjoram and Flowers of Lilly of the Valley greatly conduce XII To corroborate the Brain let her take a small quantity of this Conditement â Specier Diambr Aromatic Rosat an â ij Conserve of Flowers of Betony Sage Anthos candied Root of Acorns an ⥠s. Syrup of Stoechas q. s. XIII To the same purpose let her wear such a Quilt as this upon her Head â Leaves of Rosemary Marjoram Thyme Flowers of Lavender an Êj Nutmegs â ij Cloves â j. Benjamin â s. Beat them into a gross Powder XIV Keep her in a pure and moderate hot Air. Let her Diet be sparing but of good Juice and easie Digestion Let her Suppers be more moderate then her Dinners Her Drink must be small her Exercise moderate and so must her Sleep be and let her be careful of sleeping upon her Back Lastly a sedate Mind and a soluble Body are of great moment in this Case HISTORY XII Of the Apoplexy A Strong Man about forty years of age both a great Feeder and Drinker complained of a heavy Pain in his Head for two Months together but took no care of himself but followed on his usual Course of Drinking Fore-noons and After-noons but at length one Morning waking in his Chamber after he had muttered out three or four inarticulate Words he fell of a sudden void of
Damage to the Mouth though the Salival Channels be stopped up by this Cure for Experience tells us that the Spittle finds other Channels and Passages for the moistning the Mouth The Diet is the same as in other flegmatic Diseases Now because I do here assert a new Cause of the Ranulae and another part to be affected than other Physicians do and mention also the Salival Channels I think it necessary to tell what those Channels are These Channels were unknown till of late found out in England by Doctor Wharton and Glisson and last Winter publickly shown at the Anatomy Theatre at Leyden by Doctor Iohn ab Horn. The Substance of them is much like the Veins but stronger They are two in number and so wide in a Man as to admit an ordinary Bodkin They rise with a broad Beginning from the great and remarkable Kernel above the middle Tendon seated between the Flesh of the Digastric Muscle And hence carried upward about the middle of the Cheek they abscond themselves between two small Kernels there seated which when they have past they are carried with a streight Channel along the Nerve of the seventh Pair which they cut like a St. Andrews Cross and so somewhat toward the Fore-parts near the Bridle of the Tongue they terminate and open into two peculiar Kernels covered with a thin and porous little Membrane which are seated under the Tongue near the Frog-like Veins between the Flesh that joyns the Tongue to the neighbouring Parts and the Kernels that lye under the bottom of the Tongue Their Office is to powre the Salâ⦠Moisture into the Frog-like Kernels which in them is contained as in a Sponge and emptied into the Mouth through the broad Pores of the Membrane that covers them for the moistning of the Tongue and Mouth HISTORY XXV Of the Hydrocephalus or Watry Tumor of the Head A Little Boy about a year and a halfold having been weaned six months and by his Parents that were very poor fed with raw Whââ¦y Fruit and other bad Nourishment nor keeping his Head sufficiently warm in the Winter within a short time had the hairy Part of his Head and Fore-head swelled out to his very Eyes Which Tumor in a months space increased to that degree that his Head was as big as a Mans Head and yet his Face was not swelled the Tumor was soft and white and the deep Prints of the Finger might for some time be seen in it The Child eat and drank indifferent well he had no Fever but was sleepy and moved the Members of his whole Body but dully and faintly His Nostrils were drier than usual and he spit but little He was loose and voided much Urine I. THis Childs Disease by the Physicians is called Hydrocephalus which is a Swelling of the Head caused by a Collection of serous Humors II. This serous and flegmatic Humor is collected within the Cranium and lies hid under the Skin which is discerned by the Touch there being only a soft Tumor III. That it is a serous and flegmatic Humor appears by the white Colour of the Skin and copious because it yields to compression without pain IV. The anteceding Cause are cold and most Humors in the whole Body which being raised beyond the Cranium and condensed under the Skin constitute the containing Cause V. These Humors are generated partly through bad Diet partly through the cold and moist Constitution of the Body which weakens the Concoctions of the Bowels and causes the breeding of many flegmatic and serous Humors which being carried to the Head are there attenuated into thick Vapors and gathered together till they come to a copious Body VI. These Humors cannot be evacuated through the Nostrils and Palate because their thickness has obstructed those Passages Nor can they pass through the streightned Pores of the Skin as being streightned by the External Cold so that new Humors increasing every day and none being evacuated thence hapned such a Swelling in a Months space VII However the Child fed because his Stomach was not yet loaded with this excrementitious Flegm as being copiously evacuated downwards by Urine and Stool VIII He had no Fever because the Humors were not putrified nor was there any Malignity or Excess of Heat IX He was sleepy because of the cold and moist Temper of the Brain which renders the Nerves of the Sensory languid and unfit for the Passage and Reception of the Animal Spirits besides that fewer Animal Spirits are generated in regard the vital Spirits cannot pass the streightned Arteries of the Choroid Fold Which Scarcity of Animal Spirits causes him also to move the Members dully and languidly as he did X. His Belly was soluble by reason of the great quantity of serous and flegmatic Humors that flow'd down to the Intestines the thinner Part of which being mixed with the Blood and separated from it in the Reins causes a greater abundance of Urine XI This Disease is dangerous in tender Age that will not bear strong Remedies in regard of the ill Temper of the Head the great Cachexy of the whole Body and the Quantity of the Humor In the Cure the serous and flegmatic Humor collected in the Head is chiefly to be gently evacuated the Bowels to be strengthened and the Generation of the Mistemper for the future to be prevented XIII First give the Child in a Spoon an ounce of laxative Syrrup of Succory with five or six grains of Jallop in Powder or give him to Eat five or six drams of Solutive Currans Then give him a little old Treacle and if you can let him Sweat also give him every day a little Conserve of Anthos Balm or Flowers of Sage XIV This done foment his Head with the following Fomentation warm â Betony Rosemary Basil Thime Flowers of Camomil Melilot Stoechas an M j. Leaves of Lawrel M. s. Seeds of Anise Fennel Cummin an Ê ij White-Wine q. s. Boil them to ãâã ij For a Fomentation with a large Spunge taking Care not to let it cool XV. The Tumor being dissipated by the use of this Fomentation to remove the other Distemper anoint the Head Morning and Evening with this Oyntment hot â Oyl of Camomil Alabastrin Ointment an ⥠j. Oyl of Nutmegs pressed â iiij Powder of Castor Storax Benjamin an â j. Mix them for an Oyntment XVI After anointing put on the following Quilted Cap. â Leaves of Rosemary Marjoram Flowers of Camomil Melilot an M. s. Benjamin Cloves Nutmeg an â j. s. Beat them for a gross Powder to be sowed into a Silken quilted Cap. And let him wear this Quilted Cap for some time XVII In the mean time to Corroborate the Bowels twice or thrice a day let him take a Spoonful of this Mixture â Tylet-Flowers-water Lilly of the Valleys an ⥠ij ââ¦innamon water Êvj Syrup of Stoechas ⥠j. Or instead of this let him now and them drink a little Hydromel And to the Region of the Stomach Liver and Spleen apply this
brought up a great quantity of tough and viscous Slime which sometimes tasted saltish he Cought very much after Meals insomuch that through the violent Agitation of his Stomach he brought up all he had eaten with a great Pain in his Breast and Abdomen After Vomiting his Cough ceased he never spit Blood he had no Fever however his Body fell away and his strength wasted yet not so but that he still went abroad about his business Somtimes he was very Loose His Appetite held indifferent good and he slept moderately well I. THE Lungs of this Person were chiefly affected then the Stomach and several other Parts of the Body suffered under the violent Agitation of the Cough II. This Malady is called Tusis or a Cough which is a violent forcing of the Breath caused by a swift Contraction of the Breast and Lungs whereby what is troublesome to the Instruments of Breathing is expelled by ãâã force of thein-breath'd Air. III. This Malady needs no signs to discover it IV. The anteceding Cause of this Distempet is a Cold and Flegmatic disposition of the Air contracted by bad Diet. The Original Cause was Heats and Colds violent and unseasonable Exercise The containing Cause is Flegm in the Lungs either by Defluction or Collection partly twiching them with its Acrimony partly obstructing the Bronchia with its great quantity V. Cold Diet and of hard digestion bred Crudities and many saltish Humors which for want of Concoction became Acrimonious The Brain was refrigerated by the cold ââ¦empestous Weather and the Pores of the outward Head obstructed so that the Flegmatic serous Vapors ascending from the lower Parts soon condensed in the Ventricles of the refrigerated Brain which not being able to pass through the obstructed Pores caused first a Pose Afterwards the fiercer Cold of Winter encreasing the quantity of those Humors they being debarr'd their usual Passages by reason of their thickness fell upon the Aspera Arteria and Gristles of the Lungs and hinder Rispiration and the Acrimony of those Humors farther molesting the Pellicle of the Aspera Arteria and Bronââ¦hia enforces those Parts to a violent Exclusion of the provoking Humors VI. This Cough had lasted long for want of care of Diet and taking Remedies whence a frequent defluxion of Catarhs to the Breast the Cold of which in time much refrigerated and weakned the Lungs so that Vapors rising from the lower Parts and stopping in the Lungs were easily condensed into a Viscous liquor that stopped up the Channels of the Lungs and stuck like Bird-lime to the sides of the Bronchia which caused that violence of Coughing to shake off that tenaoious Matter VII The Cough was longer and more vehement and threw off much more tenacious Flegm in regard the Flegmatic Humors that had been gathering together all day and night about the beginning of the day abounded in so great a quantiââ¦y that they could no longer be contained in the Head but falling down upon the Lungs and tickling the Bronchia not only with their Acrimony provoked the Cough but more plentifully filling the Bronchia contracted by the Vapors condensed within them and thence hindring Respiration irritated the Cough as being that by which Nature endeavoured to throw off the trouble VIII The Cough increased after Meals because the Vapors being raised by the swallowed Nourishment and endued with some Acrimony fell upon the Lungs and there condensed stick to the refrigerated Bronchia and tickling the sensible inner Tunicle both of them and the Aspera Arteria already prepared to ease Provacation by the former Humors exasperate the Cough through the violent Agitation whereof and Compression of the Muscles of the Abdomen the Stomach throws up all again upon which the Cough ceases for a time because there is nothing in the Stomach from whence any more sharp Vapors can ascend to the Lungs IX And by reason of the same violent Motion and over frequent distension of the Muscles some Pain is felt in the Breast and Abdomen And that Compression forcing the Meat and Drink unconcocted out of the Stomach causes a violent Loosness and dejection of the Nourishment X. There is no Fever because there is no Putrefaction of the Humor but the Body is emaciated and becomes very weak because the violent concussion of the Cough weakens all the Parts of the Body nor are they able to receive or retain the Alimentary Blood flowing through the Arteries sometimes loose sometimes compressed as they ought to do 2. Because that violent Agitation expells the Nourishment received before due Concoction by which means all the Parts of the Body are deprived of their due Nourishment and consequently must be very much weakned XI The appetite continues because the Stomach is in good order undisturbed by the Catarrhs the disturbance of its Concoction being only accidental XII He sleeps moderately because the Flegmatic humor falls not in the Night from the Head to the Breast besides that the rapid Motion of the Animal Spirits to the Organs of the Senses is for a while restrained by the Cold and Plenty of the Humors so that the Organs are at rest for a while for want of copious Spirits XIII Such a Cough as this threatens great danger by reason of the Saltness of the Catarrhs the Acrimony whereof in some Veins in the Lungs may be easily corroded and broken thence Spitting of Blood and Exulcerations Beside that the Cure is difficult by reason the cold ill Temper of the Brain and Lungs is of a long standing not easie to be removed XIV In the Method of the Cure 1. The vehemency of the Cough and the Acrimony of the Catarrhs is to be allay'd 2. The Teââ¦acity of the Spittle is to be attenuated concocted and brought to Maturation 3. The cold ill temper of the Lungs and Head is to be amended and the Parts to be Coroborated 4. The falling down of the Catarrhs to the Lungs is to be prevented XV. After Purgation with Chochiâ⦠Pills or Golden Pills Electuary of Hiera Picra or Diaphââ¦con c. this Apozem is to be prescribed â Roots of Elecampane Acorus Florence Orrice an ⥠s. sliced Licorice Barley cleansed an ⥠vj. Scabious Venus Hair White Hore-hound Betony Coltsfoot an M j. Oak of Jerusalem M. s. Iuniper-berrys ⥠s. Seeds of Anise and Fennel an Ê ij Fat Figs No. ix Raisins cleansed ⥠ij Water q. s. Boil them to lb j s. Add to the straining Syrup of Stoechas Horehound Oxymel Pectoral Magistral an ⥠j. Mix them for an Apozem To which you may afterwards add for the swifter Consumption of the Flegm Sassaperil Sassafras and China-root Also the Patient may make use of this Looch â Syrup of Hyssop Horehound Oxymel Magistral an ⥠j. Syrup of Stoechas ⥠s. Instead of which he may now and then take one of these Tablets â Powder of the Root of Elecampane â j. Florence Orice â ij Licorice Ê j. Saffron gr xiv Sugar dissolved in Fennel-water ⥠ij XVI If
by reason of the extraordinary Prostration of the Strength and Vital Actions The External Parts are cold for want of hot Blood from the Heart There is a cold clammy Sweat in regard the thin Vapors which otherwise used insensibly to exhale through the Pores of the Skin are suddenly condensed by the sudden want of Heat and so sticking viscous to the Skin begets a cold Sweat Nor is there hardly any Respiration to be perceived for that the fainting Heart sends no hot Blood to be cool'd in the Lungs besides that the Motion of the Heart and Brain failing few or no Animal Spirits are sent to the Respiratory Muscles VII The Syncope ceasing the Languor of the Heart remains by reason of the great quantity of Flegm contained in the Stomach which flows out at the Mouth with a kind of nauseating VIII This is a dangerous Malady as well in respect of the Principal Bowel affected as in respect of the Cure in regard of the Weakness of the Patient IX The Cure is as well to be begun during the Syncope as when it is over X. During the Syncope the extream Parts are to be rubbed with Musk Amber Benjamin green Baum bruised and such other odorous Smells are to be held to the Nostrils either alone or mixed with Wine or Spirit of Wine A little of Matthiolus's Aqua Vitae Spirit of Wine Cinnamon-water or Hippocrass is to be powered down his Mouth with a Spoon and the Region of the Stomach to be somented with this Epitheme warmly applied â Rosemary Baum Mint Leaves of Laurel an M j. Nutmegs Cinnamon Cloves an Êj s. Fennel Seed Êij Generous Wine q. s. Boil them according to Art to lbj To the Straining add Spirit of Wine ⥠ij For an Epitheme XI When the Syncope is past the Flegm accumulated in the Stomach is gently to be removed To which purpose let him take this Bolus â Electuar Hiera Picra Êij for a Bolus Or this Powder â Root of Ialap Cinnamon an â j. Diagridion gr iiij Make them into Powder XIII Afterwards to strengthen the Heart and Stomach and gently to purge away the Flegm this medicated Wine is very proper Of which let the Patient take a Draught every Day or every other Day â Root of Elecampane ⥠s. Acorus Galangale an Êij Baum Marjoram Tops of Wormwood an M. s. Orange Peels Iuniper Berries an M. s. Fennel and Anise-seed an Êj s. Agaric Lucid Aloes an Êj Choice Cinnamon Êij s. Cloves â ij Put these into a Bag to be hung in lbiiij Of odoriferous White-wine XIV In the day time let the Patient now and then drink a little Hippocrass or Hydromel after a little Bag of Cinnamon Nutmegs Ginger Cloves and Grains of Cardamum has been hung Or take now and then a small quantity of this Conditement â Specier Diambrae Sweet Diamosch an Êj s. Orange-peels Roots of Elecampane Ginger condited an ⥠s. Conserve of Anthos ⥠v. Oyl of Cinnamon and Cloves an gutt ij Syrup of preserved Ginger q. s. For a Conditement Or let him use these Tablets â Choice Cinnamon â ij Mace Cloves White Ginger an â j. Specier Diambrae Êj Sugar dissolved in odoriferous Wine ⥠iij. For Tablets XV. Outwardly apply this little Bag to the Region of the Heart and Stomach â Cloves Cinnamon Nutmeg Storax Benjamin an â j. s. Leaves of Marjoram and Rosemary an M. s. Reduce them into a gross Powder to be sowed into a little Bag. Lastly that which is called the Amber Apple or Storax Benjamin Grains of Cardamom Cloves or other odoriferous Spices somewhat bruised and ty'd up in a thin piece of Silk or put into an ivory or silver Box perforated will be very proper to smell to XVI When the Patient begins to recover Strength let him take a spoonful or two of this Mixture â Strong Rhenish-wine ⥠iiij Cinnamon-water ⥠j. Matthiolus's Aqua Vitae Êvj Confection of Alkermes Êj s. Perl'd Sugar q. s. to a moderate Sweetness For want of this Composition let him take a little generous Wine or Spirit of Wine or Matthiolus's Aqua Vitae XVII Let his Chamber be strewed with odoriferous Herbs as Baum Thyme Marjoram Rosemary c. or else be perfumed with Cephalic Spices His Diet must be sparing easie of Digestion and very nutritive as the Juices and Gravies of Chickens and Partridges Gellies of Mutton Veal and Hens prepared with Baum Rosemary Sage Roots of wild Raddish Anise and Fennel-seed Nutmeg Cloves Pepper Ginger Cinnamon c. His Drink must be midling Wine Hydromel or Ale moderately taken tinctured with a little Wormwood Nor will it be amiss to take now and then a little Wormwood-wine or Hippocrass or a spoonful of Matthiolus's Aqua Vitae or Spirit of Juniper Wine Cinnamon or Fennel Wine His Sleep and Exercise must be moderate and gentle and his Excrements must have their due and regular Course HISTORY X. Of the Palpitation of the Heart A Lusty young Man about thirty four years of Age but somewhat Scorbutic and for a long time accustomed to salt Meats dryed in the Smoak and pickled in Vinegar and other Food of hard Digestion many times complained of a troublesome Ponderosity in his left Hypochondrion Afterwards about three or four hours after Meals he felt a strong Palpitation of his Heart accompanied with a strong Pulse very unequal and sometimes intermitting for two or three stroaks together at what time he was seized with an extraordinary Faintness This Palpitation lasted for half an hour then ceased again after which slight but frequent Palpitations often return'd His Appetite was indifferent and his Stomach digested well He slept also very well only sometimes he was troubled with frightful Dreams I. THE Part most manifestly affected in this Patient was the Palpitation of the Heart which is a disorderly and over vehement Motion of the Heart II. The Proximate Cause is a salt and sharp Humor mingled with the Blood which being mixed with the Chylus concocted out of sharp and salt Food and three or four hours after Meals poured forth into the hollow Vein and sliding with it into the Heart causes a disorderly and vehement Fermentation in the Chyle which is to be turned into Blood For the sharp and salt Particles of the Chylus together with the Veiny Blood impregnated with that sharp Humor falling into the Heart too much augment the Fermentation whence that vehement and disorderly Dilatation and Contraction of the Heart which causes that Inequality and strong beating of the Pulse III. Now in regard there are many fixed and thicker Particles mixed with the thinner Particles of that salt and sharp Humor which cannot be so soon dissolved and attenuated in the Heart therefore while the Heart is busied in the Dissolution and Dilatation of them the Pulse intermits for a stroke or two whence arises the Faintness for that no Spirits are forced to the Parts while the Pulse ceases IV. This vehement Palpitation lasts half an hour
the Liver is boyl'd There lye hid in it many Kernels out of which the Lymphatic Vessels break forth VI. Malpigius who has examin'd the substance and inner parts of the Liver most accurately by his Microscopes l. de hep c. 2. has observ'd many things unheard of and hitherto altogether undiscover'd 1. That the substance of the Liver in a Man consists of little Lobes which shew forth a heap of Clusters and are cloath'd with their own enfolding Membrane and strengthen'd by membranous Knots continued athwart so that there may be observ'd middle spaces and little small chinks between the sides of the Lobes 2. That the whole Mass of the Liver consists of glandulous Balls and several Roots of Vessels and hence that they may all cooperate for the common good there is a necessity of an intercourse between the Vessels and these Glandules 3. That the Branches of the Vessels of the Porta Vena Cava and Porus Biliarius in an equal number through all the small Lobes and that the Roots of the Vena Portae supply'd the place of Arteries and that there is such a Correspondence between the Porta and the Porus Biliarius that both their little Branches are closely contain'd under the same Covering 4. That the Roots of the said Vessels are not joyn'd together by way of Anastomoââ¦is but that the glandulous Balls constituting the chief substance of the Liver are in the middle between the Vessels that bring and carry by means whereof those that carry infuse their liquor into those that bring From which Observations he concludes that the Liver is a conglomerated or cluster'd glandule separating the Choler and this Ibid. cap. 3. he endeavours to prove by several Reasons And because this is proper to conglomerated Glandules that besides the Arteries Veins and Nerves they enjoy their own proper emptying Vessel as is apparent in the Parotides Sweetbread and others which is dispers'd through their Substance and extracting and carrying off the design'd Humour he asserts this Vessel in the Liver to be the Porus Biliarius with the Gall Bag. Most certainly these new Observations of the famous Malpigius dispel many Hepatic Obscurities and lighten us to the inmost knowledge of the Liver For formerly there was no question made but Choler was generated in the Liver but how it came to be separated from the Blood was not known but now by the Observations of this quick-sighted Artist it appears to be done by the small Kernels and glandulous Balls lying up and down * VII But tho' Malpigius by reason of these new Golden Inventions seems unwilling to call the Liver a Bowel for the future but rather a conglomerated or cluster'd Glandule yet I beseech him to grant us this liberty that we may still for a while call it a Bowel lest by too sudden a change of the name we should render our Discourse obscure especially among those who never heard of this Denomination before VIII In the mean time the Condition of the unfortunate Liver is to be lamented as being that which formerly was call'd the Principal Bowel and by Galen seated in the highest Throne of Sanguisication and there has been worship'd for many Ages by the common consent of Physic yet that in these our times it should be torn and depos'd from its Throne and despoil'd of all its Soveraignty nay that it should be said to be dead and therefore be buried and only remembred with an Ironical Epitaph by Bartholine and yet contrary to the expectation of all men like a Silkworm chang'd into a Butterflie so metamorphos'd into a pitiful conglomerated Glandule be beholding to a miserable resurrection in that likeness IX The Colour of the Liver obvious to sight which is ruddy is not peculiar to it by reason of its frame and composition but accidental by reason of the copious quantity of Blood infus'd into it through the Vena Portae as by the following Experiment of Glissons may appear The proper Colour of it is pale slightly inclining to yellow which however it seems to be a tincture which it receives from the Choler passing through it and hence it is that Malpigius ascribes to it a white Colour X. By reason of the vast quantity of Blood that flows to it the temperament of it is hot and moist and by its heat it cherishes and comforts the Stomach XI It is incompass'd with a thin Membrane arising from the Peritonaeum that girds the Diaphragma and rolls it self back about the Liver XII It hangs as it were strictly fasten'd above through all its Circumference to the Diaphragma with a broad membranous strong Ligament arising from the Peritonaeum where it adheres to the joynted Cartilage Erroneously therefore wrote Spigelius that it is distant a fingers breadth from the Diaphragma This Ligament is not only fasten'd to the outermost Membrane of the Liver but constitutes it and to the end it may sustain the weight of so large a Bowel without the hazard of breaking it descends toward the inner parts of it and is fasten'd to the common sheath or swath of the Branch of the Vena Portae where the Navel Vein adjoyns to it To this broad Ligament is joyn'd another peculiar round and strong Ligament springing also from the Peritonaeum where the Liver is joyn'd upon the right and left side to the Diaphragma But this Ligament we have seen more than once wanting in Men and for the most part is not to be found in Beasts and there some Dissecters of Beasts that have not seen many Dissections of Human Bodies from their Dissection of Brutes believ'd that Ligament to be frequently wanting in Men. Below it is fasten'd to the Abdomen by the Navel Ligament that is the Navel Vein cut off after the Birth and chang'd into a Ligament by which the massie Bowel is kept fast in its place and hinder'd from ascending higher with the Diaphragma XIII It also adheres to other neighbouring Parts as the Vena Cava and Vena Portae the Omentum c. Which Ligaments however do not hold it in its hanging Posture XIV By these Ligaments altho' the Liver be fix'd in its place yet is it not so straightly ty'd but that it may be mov'd with Convenience enough in Respiration upwards and downwards and in the Motion of the Body to the Right or Left or in any other Posture as Necessity requires XV. It admits into it four very small Nerves two from the sixth Pair a third from the Stomach Pair and a fourth from the Costal Pair to which the obtuse Sense or Feeling of that Membrane or Tunicle only that involves it is attributed for they do not seem to penetrate into the inner Substance of it However Galen 4. de us part c. 23. 3. de loc affect c. 3. 4. has observ'd two notable Nerves which accompany the Vena Portae enter the Parenchyma It wanted not bigger nor more inward Nerves as that which needed not to feel and
making the Ferment it self might well be without the fermentative Quality of the Animal Spirits XVI It is furnished with very small Arteries coming to it from the right Coeliac Branch according to Veslingius very few but according to Walaeus innumerable and Dominic de Marchettis anat c. 4. writes that he has sometimes seen when the upper Mesenteric Artery has communicated a large Branch to the Liver These Arteries Galen tells us are chiefly dispersed through the Hollow or Saddle Part of it Rolfinch says that he has observ'd 'em very numerous in the Convex Part of it Glisson observes no little Branches of small Arteries extended toward the inner Parts of the Liver but all plainly to terminate in the Membrane Reason altogether confirms Glissons Opinion for the Substance of the Liver has hardly any need of Arteries seeing that the Blood flows to it in Quantity sufficient enough through the Porta Vein which here performs the Office of an Arterie which Blood by reason of its similitude in Substance is more convenient for its own Nourishment and making of choleric Ferment than the Arterous Blood Nor does the Vena Portae with its Branches nor the Roots of the Vena Cava want Arteries as being sufficiently furnished and nourished with their own contain'd Blood nor does it ever appear that any little Branches of Arteries are inserted into the Tunicles of any Veins for their Nourishment Therefore because fewer Parts of the Liver are nourished with arterial Blood Veslingus seems not erroneously to have observ'd that only a few Arteries enter the Liver Hence Lindan takes notice and that very truly that those Arteries seem rather to stop in the investing Membrane than to penetrate into the Substance of the Liver XVII It has double Veins For in the upper Part the Vena Cava seems to be joyn'd to it into which many Roots being up and down dispersed through the Substance of the Liver discharge their Blood With these Roots in the lower Part meet the little Branches of the Vena Portae which run likewise through the whole Parenchyma XVIII To these Vessels is adjoyned the Porus Biliarius which is dispersed through the Liver with innumerable Roots receiving the Choler separated from the bloody Ferment With which moreover are intermingl'd other very thin Roots afterwards closing together and in one little Pipe conveighing the Choler to the Vesicle of the Gall. XIX Besides these Vessels Asellius writes that he has observ'd a Branch of the milkie Vessels in the Liver But without doubt the Egress of the lymphatic Vessels at that time altogether unknown from the Liver deceived him For there are no milkie or chyliferous Vessels that run to the Liver as we have a thousand times demonstrated in our Dissections of Brutes as well alive as dead but many milkie Vessels issue forth out of it carrying a most clear and transparent Juice So also Gualter Charleton l. de Oecon. Animal saith that the same is to him unquestionable by a thousand Experiments and therefore he concluded without any farther Scruple that there was no Portion of the Chylus conveighed to the Liver And therefore no Credit is to be given to Gassendus and Backius who believe the Chylus to be carried to the Liver through the Ductus Cholidochus For the obstructing Valves and the narrow and oblique Entrance of the Ductus into the Duodenum and the contrary Motion of the Choleric and Pancreatic or Sweet-bread Juice toward the Intestine in living Animals obvious to the Sight sufficiently refute their Opinion XX. The Vessels of the Liver are intermix'd after a wonderful manner through its Substance or little Lobes as plainly appears if the Flesh be separated which is to be done leisurely and carefully for fear of tearing the Vessels For the performing of which Excarnation Glisson describes three ways Anat. hep c. 21. Formerly it was asserted by the Anatomists that the Roots of the Vena Cava ran chiefly through the upper Part but that the little Branches of the Vena Portae ran chiefly through the lower part of the Liver But by the more indefatigable Industry of Glisson and Malpigius it is since discovered that both the aforesaid Vessels and the small Branches of the Gall-Vessels are equally dispers'd and intermix'd one with another through the whole Parenchyma and reach to every Part alike But that the little Branches of the Gall-Vessels are much less than those of the Vena Cava or Portae For that through those the fewer and thinner Choleric Humours glide through these the more bloody and somewhat thicker are to be conveighed And it was but Reason that these Vessels should be dispersed through the whole Bowel when all its Parts conspire to the same Performances However the Liver is harder in its lower Part by reason of the Ingress and Egress of the larger Vessels as also for that the Conglobated Glandules are there chiefly seated XXI But how all these little Branches are intermingl'd one among another in the Liver there is a great Dispute among the Anatomists For I say nothing of the Lymphatic Vessels for that they take their Rise no farther than from the Conglobated Glandules nor enter any farther into the rest of the Substance of the Liver The greatest part of Anatomists following Galen write that the little Branches of the Porta with the Roots of the Vena Cava are joyned together by many Anastomoses so that sometimes they close together at their Ends sometimes their Ends enter into the Sides of other little Branches and that to these the interjected Bilarie Vessels are fasten'd by frequent Anastomoses To these Fallopius Cartesius Riolanus and several others are of a contrary Judgment who altogether question those Anastomoses and affirm that either they are not at all or else very obscure Bartholine writes from the Observation of Harvey that the Roots of the Vena Portae creeping through the Gibbous Part of the Liver are covered with Sieve-like Tunicles full of infinite Pinholes otherwise than the Branches of the Vena Cava which are divided into large Arms and that the various Excursions of each Vessel run forth into the Bossie Part of the Bowel without any Anastomoses Bauhinus tells us of a remarkable Anastomoses which represents a Channel and is as it were a common and continued Passage from the Branches of the Vena Portae into the Roots of the Vena Cava admitting the point of a good bigg Bodkin Into this apparent Channel others deny that any Branches of the Vena Porta are opened because that no such Opening could either be seen or observ'd Glisson writes that this Chanel is a Production or Continuation of the Umbilical Vein through which in the Embryo the Navel-Blood is carried directly to the Vena Cava But that it is altogether shut up in Men that are once Born and together with the Umbilical Vein supplys the Office of a Ligament neither do any Orifices of any other Vessels open into it XXII So that how the
together to burst forth into Tears X. Some few were of Opinion that Tears were a Portion of the Potulent Humors contain'd in the Brain and Veins of the Eyes and more especially in the Veins of the Corners of each Eye which bursts forth upon the Compression or Dilation of those Veins occasion'd by much Joy or Sorrow But the narrowness and small number of those Veins hereby discernable contradict this Opinion together with the vast quantity of the Lachrimal Humors which cannot be collected to that Abundance in those diminutive Vessels and flow forth in so large a quantity nor can it be so suddenly transmitted to them nor pass through them Add to this that the little Veins of the Eyes take in at their Extremities the superfluous bloody Humors and carry them to the Jugulars but pour none out from themselves because there is no passage for that potulent Matter to come to the Eye XI Nor do they differ much from the foregoing Opinion who believes the Tears to be nothing else but the Serum which is separated from the Blood which is carried to the Head when the Pores are so disposed by a certain Motion of the Spirits that it may be able to burst forth But they neither tell us what that Disposition is nor that same certain Motion of the Spirits which two things in regard they are so extreamly different and multi-cacious and cannot be naturally the same as well in Constriction as Dilatatiââ¦n in Sadness as in Joy in which contrary Accidents however Tears must flow from one and the same next Cause and not from diverse and contrary there is nothing remains that can desend that Opinion XII At this day many ascribe the Flux of Tears only to the Lymphatic Vessels carry'd to the Eyes Yet never any Person that I know of has hitherto demonstrated that manner of Lachrymation nor those Vessels themselves besides Nicholas Stenonis that most accurate Describer of Kernels who lately going about to explain that Opinion more at large not without reason affirms them to be a Serous sort of Liquor chiefly separated from the Arterious Blood but as to the manner and place of Separation his Opinion is quite different from what any body has hitherto propounded For he believes that the Blood is carried through the Arteries into the Glandules of the Eyes and that the Superfluity of it is suckt up by the Veins But that the Veins if they be squeez'd together by any Cause do not perform that Office sufficiently and then by reason of the long stay of the abounding Blood in the Glandules the Serum is separated from it in greater quantity and flows in the form of Tears through the Lymphatic Vessels proceeding from the Kernels Then he believes the Veins to be compress'd by the swelling of the Glandules caused by a more copious Influx of Animal Spirits which creeping into the Glandules through the diminutive Nerves at the disposal of the Mind as in Grief Anger Joy Sadness flow sometimes more sometimes fewer into the Kernels more than after a various manner and streighten them more or less To this cause he refers those Tears that are shed contrary to Inclination as also those which proceed from Fumes and sharp Vapors or break forth upon any violent motion of the Body and farther believes his Opinion to be mainly confirmed by the bursting forth of bloody Tears which are sometimes observ'd Certainly this new Opinion is propounded very speciously but in the mean time it does not sufficiently discover the Fountain of Tears For if we compare the great quantity of Tears so swiftly bursting forth with the diminutive Blood-bearing Vessels of those Kernels presently this Opinion will fall to the Ground at the very Threshold For how few and how small are those little Arteries which are carried to the Kernels of the Eyes The most of them are invisible Therefore though in the time of Sadness all the Veins of those Kernels which would carry back the Blood should be altogether obstructed and all their little Arteries open'd by a Solution of the Continuum and out of these not only the Serous Part of the Blood but all the Blood that was contain'd therââ¦in and carried through them should burst forth they would not be able to pour forth the hundredth part of such a quantity of Liquor in a whole hour as often in great Sadness is wept out in Tears in the space of one single quarter of an hour If it be answered that in the time of Sadness the Blood is carried in greater quantity to the Eyes and that the said Kernels swell and are more compress'd and the Veins streightned Reason will teach us the contrary For in Sadness the Pulse of the Heart and Arteries is little and contracted and the exterior Parts wax cold because the Heart sends from it self much less Blood into any of the Arteries much less into those of the Head Neither is there any reason why in Sadness it should be carried in greater quantity and more serous to the Kernels of the Eyes than to any other Parts Moreover the little Arteries of those small Kernels are too few and too narrow for so great a quantity of Blood and Serum to pass through them in so short a time as is so swiftly wept out in Tears Lastly there is nothing to cause those little Kernels more to swell or be compressed in time of Grief than at other times For as to those Animal Spirits which as Nicholas Stenonis asserts How forth at the Disposal of the Mind Sometimes more sometimes fewer as in Grief Anger Joy c. and move the Kernels after a various manner we grant that they enter the Kernels in a small quantity through those diminutive few and for the most part invisible Nerves moderately to separate the saltish symphatic Liquor from the Arterious Blood and pour it forth through the small Vessels describ'd in the foregoing Chapter for the necessary moistning and smoothing of the Eyes but not in so great a quantity as to move the Eyes and cause them so swiftly to swell or to compress them and so to squeeze out such a quantity of Tears For by the Influx of those Animal Spirits hardly any other Parts are mov'd at the disposal of the Mind then the Muscles and such parts as are mov'd by the Muscles Add to this that in Sadness the Animal Spirits flow in lesser quantity than is usual to any parts whatsoever which is the reason that the Joynts often tremble and the Sight of the Eys is darkened For the Heart contracting it self and beating but weakly as in Sadness little Blood is sent to the Brain to encrease their Generation and withal the Motion of the Brain it self being thereby weakned it sends forth fewer Animal Spirits to the rest of the Parts Lastly though we should grant what that Famous Gentleman asserts his Opinion is not thereby confirm'd but quite overturn'd For thence it follows that the more copiâ⦠us those Animal Spirits
firm and so weakly covering the Lachrymal Hole that it gives way to the least violence of the Internal Serous Humors and so procures an immediate Passage for the said Lachrymal Humors To which we may add another Humor that both the one and the other are subject to Grief that arises from Irksomness Love or Anger by reason whereof the Brain contracting its self with its Membranes presses forth the petuitous and serous Humors and expels them through the Sieve-representing Bones Cartesius alledges another Cause of this Matter but not so true for he ascribes the whole thing to the plenty of Blood from whence several Vapors are carried to the Eyes But this Opinion has been sufficiently refuted already Now to tell you how it comes to pass that some weep upon vehement Motion or the riding of swift Race-Horses of this there are three Causes 1. Because the Glandulous Kernels being mov'd from their Places by the violent Motion do not exactly cover the Lachrymal Holes 2. Because those Caruncles are contracted by the troublesome Reverberation of the cold Air. 3. Because those pituitous Humors through violent Agitation flow easily from the Head and descend in a greater quantity than usually through the Sieve-like narrow Passages And the same thing also happens when the Glandulous Caruncles of each Canthus being contracted by the greater Cold of the Air alone especially if suddain the Lachrymal Holes are not well covered and therefore give a free Passage to the Tears XVIII Onions Mustard Errhines and Sternutories provoke Tears by reason that through their attenuating and cutting Acrimony the Humors in the Head are properly attenuated and rendred more fluid Properly the Brain with its Membranes contracts it self by reason of the troublesome Vellication that twinges the Eyes and Nostrils and by that means presses forth and expels the pituitous Humors contain'd therein which glide the more easily through the Lachrymal Holes because the annate Tunicle of the Eye and the Glandulous Caruncles that cover the Holes being twing'd by the same Acrimony are also contracted and so give free passage to the descending Humors XIX Dust Straws Smoak c. that pain the Eye are also the Cause of shedding Tears because that upon the twinging of the Conjunctive Tunicle which is the most sensible the Glandulous Lachrymal Kernel adjoyning to it is contracted in both Eyes but chiefly in that which is most afflicted and so the Hole is uncovered Also the Brain with its Membranes is contracted by reason of that same sad Sensation and by means of that same Contraction pressing forth the serous and pituitous Humors contain'd in its self and its Ventricles expels them through the Mamillary Processes toward the Sive-like Bone and the Nostrils of which the thicker Particles flow forth through the Nostrils the thinner and more fluid through the Lachrvmal Holes XX. Now to tell you why Tears continue so plentiful in Grief so that many People weep for several days together that happens for this reason for that the Brain being contracted with Sadness is refrigerated and cannot duly perform its Work of Concoction so that a great quantity of serous Humors are separated in this Glandulous Bowel from the Blood which is carried thither for its Nourishment and many crude Humors are also generated at the same time which are continually press'd forth by that Contraction and expell'd out of the Ventricles toward the Nostrils But when the Mind refrains from thinking of the sad Accident and the Contraction hereupon relaxes that Effussion of Tears ceases but upon the return of sad Thoughts the Tears burst forth again by reason of the same pressing and squeezing as before But because so large and moist a Bowel has humid Nourishment in great quantity hence it is certain that many and moist Excrements cannot but be generated therein of which there is a long and most plentiful Increase as in Catarrs and the Pose as we found in a Woman dissected by Us in the Year 1663. who had long liv'd in a great deal of Grief and Sorrow and had a thousand times complain'd of a Heaviness in her Head and was very apt to weep and shed Tears in abundance whose Brain was so moist that a viscous Serum distill'd out of the Substance of it squeez'd by our Hand as out of a Spunge dipp'd in Water besides that the Ventricles were also sufficiently fill'd with it To this we may add that the Vapors carried from the lower Parts of the Body to the Head and so wont to be expell'd through the Pores of the Body when it comes to pass that the Pores are streightned by that Refrigeration and Contraction of the Brain and its Membranes cannot be expell'd but being thickned are squeezed toward the Nostrils together with the rest of the Humors which greatly encreases the quantity of Tears By reason of the same bad Concoction of the Brain it comes to pass that many times the Tears are salt and sharp and corrode the Cheeks and for the same reason it is that sharp and salt Catarrhs happen which by their Acrimony corrode the Teeth and exulcerate the Chaps and other Parts because that by reason of their Crudity the salt Particles are more fix'd and not sufficiently dissolved nor exactly mix'd with the rest of the serous Particles Which being so four Doubts remain to be unfolded 1. How it comes to pass that People in sorrow receive great ease from weeping and that they find themselves almost choak'd through sorrow of Mind and are oppressed with Heaviness in their Heads upon the shedding of Tears are very much reliev'd The reason is because that in heavy Sorrow the Brain is many times so contracted that the Evacuatory Passages are streightned so that neither the pituitous and serous Humors can flow out nor the Arterious Blood conveniently flow in whence it appears that fewer Spirits are generated therein and fewer Animal Spirits consequently flow out from thence to the rest of the Parts Through the scarcity of which the detention of the Excrements with all in the Brain several inconveniences happen to Persons in those doleful Conditions their Heads grow heavy their Ratiocination and Judgment grow benum'd most parts tremble the Sight grows dim the Respiration becomes slow with deep Sighs and profound Sobs difficulty of Swallowing and the Orifices of the Heart are streightned so that they can neither expel nor receive the Blood hence an extream Anxiety which with all the other Inconveniences diminishes again and the sorrowful are extreamly eas'd when the Evacuatory Vessels being loosned the serous and pituitous Humors flow through the Eyes like Tears in great quantity from the Brain and also are evacuated through the Nostrils Palate and Mouth which consequently gives a freer access of Arterious Blood to the Brain a more plentiful Generation of Animal Spirits and a larger Influx into the Parts XXI 2. How it comes to pass that in extraordinary Sadness a Man cannot weep yet perceives the foresaid Anxiety with
Heaviness of the Head but after he is somewhat come to himself he pours forth Tears in great quantity with Relief Thus Historians tell us of Psammenitus who wept and beat his Head at the Death of his Friend but when he saw his Children lead to Execution beheld the Spectacle without shedding a Tear Hence the ancient Proverb Light Sorrows talk and weep vast Sorrows stupifie The cause of this is no other than the extream Contraction of the Brain for in an extraordinary Consternation a Man is as it were astonished and the Brain as it were stupified is every way more strangely contracted which causes the Humors to be coagulated and thickned to stop and settle therein However this extraordinary Contraction when the griev'd Person recollects and comes to himself and begins to bear his Grief with more Patience is very much diminished so that the serous and pituitous Humors are more liberally expell'd out of the Brain to the Relief of the Person and Tears burst forth more plentifully through the Evacuatory Passages overstreightned before and now again open'd and loosen'd And hence it is apparent wherefore upon the giving of Wine freely to those that are in Sorrow the Tears that before stopp'd in a short time will burst forth in great quantity Because Wine refreshes the Heart and the Brain encreases Courage and mitigates Sadness whence that extraordinary Contraction of the Brain is somewhat diminished and the Evacuatory Passages are again let loose 3. Why those that weep weep in a shrill Tone those that laugh make a deep Noise This is a Question propounded by Aristotle and the reason is because that at the time when Men are weeping and sad their Vocal Organs are streightned and extended but when People laugh those Organs are more extended and loose and most certain it is that the Air causes a shriller Sound in narrow than in wide Pipes Now the Vocal Organs are streightned by the Cold the Orifices of the Heart being contracted in great Grief and consequently little Blood and Heat is communicated from thence to the Parts which causes the whole Body to shake with Cold. XXII 4. Why Man among all other Creatures chiefly sheds Tears Because he of all Creatures being endued with reason is only sensible with great attention of Mind of Sorrow Mourning Grief c. which is the reason that he alone suffers those Contractions of the Brain and Pressings forth of the Humors As for the Crocodiles Harts and if there be any other Beasts that may be said to weep they shed very few Tears and they chiefly seem to flow forth partly by reason of the great quantity of serous Humors abounding in the Head partly by reason of the uncovering of the Lachrymal Hole the Contraction of the Caruncle of the bigger Canthus caused by the cold Air or some other Cause which are two Causes sometimes of Tears also in Men without any Agitation of the Mind or Fault in the Organ As to the end of Tears Philosophers generally alledge it to be on purpose to declare the Affections of the Mind and to exonerate the Brain of its superfluous Moisture And thus we hope we have described the true Original of Tears confirm'd not by Reason only but Experience CHAP. XVI Of the Vessels and Muscles of the Eye THE Eyes which are the Organs of Sight consist of three Parts of which some serve for Nourishment as the Arteries and Veins others to cause and facilitate Motion as Muscles Fat Kernels and Lymphatic Vessels others contribute to the Sight it self as Optic Nerves Tunicles and Humors I. The Arteries which carry the Vital Blood to the Nourishment of the Eyes Muscles Kernels and Fat are properly external from the External Branch of the Carotis partly internal from the inner Branch of the same Carotis which constitutes the Nett-Resembling Fold II. In like manner there are also External Veins so visible in the White of the Eye which run forth to the External Branch of the Iugular as internal accompanying the Optic Nerve running along to the Inner Branch of the same Iugular Artery Of the Kernels and Lymphatic Vessels has already been spoken Chap. 14. III. The Eyes of Men are mov'd every way by the Assistance of six Muscles surrounding the Eyes below the Cavity of the Orbit Of these the four greater being streight cause a streight Motion upward downward and sideway The two much the lesser cause an oblique Motion Between all which there is interlay'd a sufficient quantity of Fat to facilitate the Motion as also to moisten warm and smooth the Eye IV. All these arise with an accute beginning from the deepest part of the Orbit near the Hole through which the Optic Nerve enters the Orbit to the Membrane of which they adhere and end in a most slender Tendon sticking to the Horny Tunicle in which all the Tendons being joyned together in a Circle make a kind of a Tendonny Tunicle vulgarly call'd the Innominate which is joyn'd to the Eye like a broader Circle only it does not encompass it V. The first of the Right Muscles which is the uppermost and thickest raises the Eye which being a Motion usual among haughty People is thence called the Proud Muscle VI. The second which is lesser and opposite to the first from its lower or more humble Seat where it is placed is called the Humble VII The third which stands in the inner Corner brings the Eye inward toward the Nose which because it is familiar with those that drink while they look in the Glass is called the Bibitory Muscle VIII The fourth which moves the Eye toward the outer Parts to the little Corner is call'd the Indignabund because it expresses the lateral Aspect of disdainful and scornful People IX The first of the Oblique Muscles which is slender round and short seated in a lower Place and in the Extream Part of the lower Orbit that is to say at the joyning of the first Bone of the Iaw with the fourth Bone ascends toward the outer Corner of the Eye-lid and there embracing the Eye transversly with a short Tendon toward the upper Parts meets the Tendon of the other Eye and moving the Eye downward turns it and brings it to the outer Corner X. The other of the Oblique Muscles which is thinner longer and seated above rising from the common Beginning together with the third of the streight Muscles is carried directly to the inner Corner of the Eye where passing the Grisly Winding with a slender Body hence called the Trochlear Muscle proceeds with an Oblique turning through the upper Parts of the Eye and terminates near the End of the Oblique Tendon of the lower Muscle XI Now the Trochlear Gristle is a perforated Gristle hanging forward to the Bone of the upper Iaw near the inner Corner of the Eye the first finding out of which Spigelius attributes to Fallopius but Riolanus ascribs to Rondeletius These
because in that space all the Chylus of one Meal or the greatest part of it is mixt with the Blood in the hollow Vein and passes through the Heart and the Remainders more or less cause those slighter Palpitations afterwards V. Now the reason why that sharp Humor continually flowing with the Veiny Blood to the Heart does not cause a continual Palpitation is because the Particles of the Blood and sharp Humor fermented in the Heart are many times more equal more mitigated and less sharp so that such vehement Effervescencies cannot be excited in the Heart especially if they fall into the Ventricles by degrees and in lesser quantity But when the Body being heated by exercise the Blood more copiously and rapidly passes through the Heart with its sharp Particles mixed with it then the Heat encreasing and the sharp Humors abounding the Effervescency increases and thence the vehement Palpitation which abates upon Rest and Diminution of the Heat and extraordinary Motion of the Blood VI. This salt and sharp Humor is bred through a particular Depravity of the Spleen and emptied out of it into the Liver through the Spleenic Branch where it is concocted with the sulphurous Juice and mixed in the hollow Vein with the Blood flowing to the Heart The Vice of the Spleen is a depraved and salt ill Tempet with some Obstruction causing that troublesome Ponderosity VII The Stomach still craves and digests well because it is not affected besides that the same sharp Humors carried with the Blood through the Arteries to the Tunicles of it raise a Fermentation within it VIII He sleeps well but troubled with troublesome Dreams because that Vapors ascending to the Brain do cause Sleep but being somewhat sharp they twitch the Membranes of the Brain and the beginnings of the Nerves and so disordering the Fancy procure frightful Dreams IX This Disease is dangerous because the Heart is affected and because the depraved Disposition of the Bowels is not so soon reformed X. The Cure aims at three things 1. To correct the Depravity of the Spleen 2. To attenuate and concoct the salt and sharp Hââ¦mors in the Brain 3. To corroborate the Heart XI First then let the Patient be three or four times purged with Pill Cochiae Hiera Pills or Golden Pills Electuary of Diaphoenicon Hiera Picra Confection Hamech or Infusion of Senna Leaves Agaric c. XII Afterwards let him take this Apozem â Roots of Elecampane Fennel an ⥠j. Of Capers Tamarisch an ⥠s. Germander Dodder Fumitory Borage Motherwort Water Trefoil an M. j. Baum M. ij Citron Rind Iuniper Berries an Êv Fennel-seed Êiij Blew Currans ⥠ij Water and Wine equal Parts Boil them to an Apozem of lbj. s. XIII After he has taken this let him drink every Morning a Draught of this medicated Wine â Roots of Acorus Elecampane an ⥠j. Of Capers and Tamarisch an Êij Water Tresoil Germander an M. s Orange-peels ⥠s. Iuniper Berries Êvj Choice Cinnamon Êj s. Cloves â j. Fennel-seed Êij Lucid Aloes white Agaric an â iiij Make them into a Bag to be sleeped in Wine XIV In the Afternoon let him take the quantity of a Nutmeg two or three times â Specier Diambrae Sweet Diamosch an Êj Orange-peel and Root of candy'd Elecampane Conserve of Anthos of Flowers of Sage and Baum an ⥠s. Syrup of Elecampane q. s. for a Conditement XV. Let him keep a good Diet upon Veal Lamb young Mutton Pullets Rabbets and Partridges c. The Broths of which must be prepar'd with Rosemary Borage Baum Betony Hyssop Calamint creeping Thyme Leaves of Lawrel Root of wild Raddish Rinds of Citron and Oranges Seeds of Anise and Fennel Nutmeg Cinnamon Cloves Ginger c. Also gravelly River-fish Turneps and new-laid Eggs. His Drink midling Ale with a little Wine at Meals Moderate Sleep and Exercise and a soluble Belly THE CURES OF THE Chief Diseases OF THE LOWER BELLY WITH THE CASES OF THE PATIENTS IN THREE HISTORIES HISTORY I. Of a Preternatural Ravening Hunger A Young Man twenty eight years of age of a healthy Constitution but somewhat Melââ¦ncholy and a great Lover of hard salt and acid Diet was sometimes seized with a very great and extraordinary Hunger so that unless he presently drank two or three Draughts of strong Ale or Wine and eat a piece of Bread or other Meat he complained of a Dimness of Sight accompanied with a slight Vertigo and presently became so weak that not being able to stand he fell into a Swoon From which when he recovered and had refreshed himself with Bread and Wine he continued free from that excessive Hunger for some days This Distemper suddenly came upon him sometimes in the Morning when he was fasting sometimes an hour after Meals before his Stomach was well emptied without any Nauseousness or Vomiting I. THE Stomach of this Man was affected in the upper Part of the Stomach and the Disease is called Bulinus Which is a Preternatural and Insatiable hunger seizing a Man on a suddain with Weakness and Swooning II. The remote Cause was a Melancholly Disposition of the Body and such a Dyet as somewhat vitiated the Concoction of the Spleen which bred many sharp and Acid Humors in the Body ill concocted by the Spleen which being carried to the Ventricles and adhering to the upper Part of it near the Stomach twich'd it after a peculiar manner and by means of a certain acid Distemper and Constriction caused an extraordinary Hunger III. The swooning follows together with a notorious weakness because of the great consent between the Stomach the heart and the Brain by means of the vagous Nerves which are inserted into the Stomach and upper Part of the Ventricle with infinite little Branches which being ill affected about the Stomach by Sympathy the Heart and Brain are affected Now the Brain being affected presently the Animal Spirits were disturbed which caused the dimness of Sight and the Vertigo The same disorderly and sparing Influx was the occasion of the weakness and faintness of the Heart which is the reason it makes lesser Vital Spirits and sends a lesser quantity of Arterious Blood to the Heart IV. Now whether a few hours after Meals or Fasting t is all one for at whatever time that subacid Juice flows into the Ventricle and knaws the upper Part of it that vehement Hunger seizes V. The Patient is so corroborated with strong Ale or generous Wine and the Distemper is presently mitigated because such sort of Liquor refreshes both Animal and Vital Spirits and washes off nay sometimes concocts and digests the acid Humor sticking to the Tunicles of the Ventricle and breaks the sowre Force of it till there be a sufficient quantity of the same Humor collected again to make the same Vellication VI. The danger of this Distemper is least the Patient should be seized at any time with this raving Hunger where Meat and Drink are not to be had and so should be carry'd off in