An Accompt of Two Books

As the Author alledges this Example to fortifie his Opinion concerning the Cause that impells the Chyle to the Breasts, which he takes to be the Mother's or Nurse's strong imagination and passion to give Suck; so he adds another, for the same purpose, known to himself, and happen'd in his own Family, which is, That a little Boy of his having been suckled for a while by his own Mother, the Author's Wife; but being fallen very Sick, and for great weakness unable to Suck any more for six or seven Weeks, and consequently given over for Dead; the Mother, having cast off all hopes of giving it any further Suck, let her Milk dry up. But the Child by great Care recovering so far as to be able to Suck again, and being put to an hired Nurse, after the Mother's Breasts were dried up, and this Nurse not using the Child well, the Mother out of great Compassion to her Child, did, about the End of the ninth Month from the time of her being brought to Bed, take the Babe to her self again, and whilst another Nurse was looked for, with a thousand embraces she passionately wish'd and desired, she might have a full Breast to give Suck again her self. A Nurse being found the same Day, and the Child put to her Breasts, the Wife of our Author found at Night, from her strong imagination and passion (faith he) that her Breasts, though not stroked by her, nor sucked by the Child, swell'd again, after they had for eight whole Months been quite dried up, and they yielded so much good Milk, that, if the new Nurse had not been hired, she could have given plentiful Suck to the Boy her self. An Accompt of two Books. I. Tractatus quinque Physico-Medici, de SALE-NITRO & SPIRITU NITRO-AEREO; de RESPIRATI-ONE; de RESPIRATIONE FÆTUS in UTERO & OVO; de MOTU MUSCULARI & SPI-RITIBUS ANIMALIBUS; de RACHITIDE: Auth. Joh. Mayow, LL. D. & Medici, &c. Oxonii, e Theat. Sheldoniano 1674, in 8°. The first Treatise of this Book handling of Niter, and the Nitro-aerial Spirit, premiseth a History of Niter, and concerning it teaches; What are its component Parts; How it is produced in the Earth; What the Air contributes to its Generation, and what the Earth itself: Which last he esteems to be made of a fix'd Salt and Sulphur closely combin'd, and to contain the Seeds of fix'd Salts, even when elixivated; which Seeds he faith, are by an Aerial Influx and Ferment in tract of time Digested and Matur'd into a fix'd Salt. Having deliver'd the constitutive Principles of Niter in general, the Author treats in particular of the Acid Spirit of Niter, affirming it to be produced partly by the Air, and partly by a Terrestrial Matter. Where he refers the Reader to those Boylean Experiments, * which make it out, that the Air furnishes something that is necessary to make a Flame: Which done, he teaches, that in Niter there do reside Igneous Particles of the Air, which constitute its most active Part, and by which the flame of kindled Niter is produced, without any Sulphur, which Substance he will not at all admit to be found in pure Niter, being of Opinion, that the deflagration of Niter is made, not by any Sulphureous Parts of its own, (of which he faith those Fiery Aerial Parts, put into a very quick Motion. Concluding upon the whole Matter, that the Aerial Parts of Niter are nothing else but the igneo-aerial Particles thereof, requisite to make Flame, and that this Aerial Part of Niter is lodged in the Acid * Spirit of the same, and not in the fixed Salt; which Acid Spirit, in his Opinion, is compounded of a Terren Matter, that is flexible and humid, and of Ethereal Corpuscles, that are Rigid, Dry, Active and Igneous, proceeding from the Air. And these Igneous Particles, conceived by him to be common to Niter and Air, he calls Nitro-aerial, from whence the Spirit of Niter derives its caustique and corrosive Nature, which he calls a Potential fire, and from whence he thinks also that the Form or Fire chiefly, if not only, depends. Now, forasmuch as this Nitro-aerial igneous Spirit Spirit resides in the Acid Spirit of Niter, he hence infers, that that Nitro-aerial Spirit is of a Nitro-salin Nature, obtaining rather the Nature of an Acid than fix'd Salt; considering also, that the Effects of Fire answer to a very subtile and corrosive Salt. These things being thus by our Author presuppos'd, he descends to the Explication of the Nature of Fire, and makes its Form and Essence principally to depend from the said Nitro-aerial Spirit put into Motion; rejecting the Opinion of those, that will have Fire producible by the subtile and briskly mov'd Parts of any Matter, and declaring on this Occasion his dissent from those Philosophers, that deduce all Effects of Nature from the same Uniform Matter, and the various Modifications thereof; which he thinks inconsistent with the Phenomena of Fire, not at all, in his Opinion, producible but by a certain determinate Kind of Particles, such as he calls Nitro-aerial. This he endeavours to prove by divers Experiments. Having done with the Aerial Part of the Spirit of Niter, he proceeds to its Terrestrial and Acid Part, and labours to shew, How the Spirit of Niter is produced in the Earth. For the better understanding whereof he premises something concerning the Spirit of Sulphur and other Acid Liquors; teaching, that that Spirit does not exist in Sulphur before deflagration or the Operation of the Fire; and affirming, that, as the Nitro-aerial Spirit of the Fire, by a very brisk Motion and Effervescence contending with and acting upon the Salino-sulphureous Particles, does in a very short time comminute and render Fluid the Salin Parts included in the Sulphureous; so the same Spirit, boiling up by a more remiss Motion with the same Salino-sulphureous Parts, doth in a longer time turn the Salin Parts into an Acid Liquor. Where he takes Occasion to Discourse, How Liquors in general become Acid by the Operation of the Nitro-aerial Spirit; as also, Wherein Fermentation consists, viz. In the Effervescence of the Nitro-aerial Particles with the Salino-sulphureous ones of the Liquor. This being explain'd, he thinks it not difficult to understand, How the Acid Spirit of the Niter is generated in the Earth; decla- ring, That as the Nitro-aerial Spirit, put into a vehement effervescence with the Particles of common Sulphur, doth sooner or later evacuate and make Fluid the Salino-metallic Parts thereof; so the same Spirit penetrating into the Bowels of the Earth, falls there upon the Terrestrial Sulphur, and therewith Fermenting, so breaks and attenuates the Salin Parts harbour'd therein, that at length they become Flexil, Liquid, and highly Acid; and these Salin Parts being thus reduced to Fluidity, become a fit receptacle for the Nitro-aerial ones to lodge in; from the strict union of both which he affirms such a Spirit of Niter to be constituted, as is obtain'd by Distillation. And these Particles of the Nitrous Spirit being thus generated in the Earth, meeting with the Seeds of fixed Salt, harbour'd in the Earth, do quickly embrace the same, and being closely combin'd with them, make up that Salt called Niter. So that, according to this Author, Sal-Niter is made up of a threefold Salt; whereof one the most Active, deduces its origin from the Air, and is of an Ethereal and Igneous Nature; and this by its Architectonical power forms to itself out of a Terrestrial Matter a Salin Vehicle, which, together with the Igneous Salt residing in it, constitutes the Spirit of Niter, which as soon as it is Generated falls a working upon the fixed Salts of the Earth brought to due maturity, and together with them makes up the Common Niter. From this Nitro-aerial Spirit he derives all Fermentations tending both to the Production and Dissolution of Things. From the same he deduces Rigidity, and particularly Congelation, and the Expansion made therein; where he examines the explication given by Des-Cartes of the Rarefaction of congealed Water. And as he makes Rigidity the Effect of that Spirit, so he would have the Restitution of Rigid and Infected Bodies, in which consists Springiness, to result from the same. And acknowledging, from the many Boylean Experiments, * that the Air is endow'd with a considerable Spring, he attempts to give an Account, whence that Elastique power ariseth; taking it for granted, that the Air, contains store of those Nitro-aerial Particles, that to him are abfo- * To be met with in Mr. Boyle's Physico-Mechanical Experiments of the Year 1660, at Oxford; and the Continuation of the Year 1669, at Oxford; where the considering Reader may find a full information of what our Author here declares. absolutely necessary to make Fire, of which the Air being exhaust by Deflagration, the Fire needs must be extinguish'd; and assuming thereupon, that the Elasticity of the Air proceeds from such Aerial Particles as maintain Flame; having found, as he saith, by Experiments, that Air deprived of those Nitro-aerial Parts looseth its Springy Vertue; which Vertue he also affirmes to be lessened by the Respiration of Animals, who, in his Opinion, do exhaust out of the Air certain Vital, and those Elastique, Particles; insomuch, that he doubts not but that something Aerial, absolutely necessary to Life, passeth into the Blood of Animals by means of their Respiration; whose Necessity therefore he cannot acknowledge to arise from thence only, that thereby and by the Motion of the Lungs the Mass of Blood may be communicated, as some have asserted: Concluding at last, that Fire and Life are maintain'd by the same Aerial Parts; and giving a Reason, why an Animal is able to live in a Receiver a while after a Candle is extinguish'd; which is, that, in his Opinion, there is required a greater Quantity of Aerial Particles to the burning of a Candle, than the maintaining of Life. Whence yet he would by no means have it infer'd, that, though Flame and Life are maintain'd by the same Particles, therefore the Mass of Blood is kindled, as some teach: Which Doctrine how solidly our Author disputes against, we leave to those that are concern'd to examine. Mean time, finding great Difficulties in this Matter of Springiness, he considers, by what ways the Elastique Vertue of Things may arise; where he concludes, that though it may partly proceed from the Agitation of the Aerial Parts by a subtle Matter interspers'd amongst them; yet it seems to him, that the Spring of the Air doth chiefly proceed from, and consist in this, That the rigid Parts of the Air, being comprst by the Weight of the incumbent Atmosphere, and thereby inflected, do endeavour to expand themselves. Next, he attempts to explain, How the Air comes to loose its Spring in Flame; affirming, that forasmuch as the Rigidity of the Ramous Parts of the Air proceeds from the Nitro-aerial corpuscles therein infixed, and the Spring from that Rigidity, therefore the former Parts of the Air being depriv'd of the latter, they not only become unfit to maintain the Fire, but also from rigid become flexible, and consequently loose their Spring. Here he takes occasion to deliver his Thoughts again of the Nature of Fire, which seems to him to be nothing else, than a Congeries of very minute Sparks copiously struck out of the Aerial parts by the allision of the Sulphureous ones; esteeming the Aerial parts solid and rigid enough, to have Fire struck out of them. This done, he further declares, that the Nitro-aerial Particles, from which, in his Opinion, the Spring of the Air proceeds, are lodged in the very Parts of the Air, and carried away from it by the Burning of a Candle, or the Respiration of Animals; so that, to him, those Nitro-aerial and Elastique parts, that come to fail, are not the Air itself, but the subtilest and the most active Part thereof, which being expell'd by burning or respiration, the Air becomes effete, and destitute of its Spring. Moreover, he considers, How the Air, when deprived of its Nitro-aerial parts, is afresh supplied with them? Likewise, he takes occasion to declare his Opinion, first, of the Nature of the Sun, viz. That it seems to be nothing else than a vast Chaos of Nitro-aerial corpuscles, wheeled about by a perpetual and very soft rotation; secondly, of the Nature of Cold, that it is something Positive, consisting in this, That the Nitro-aerial parts, which being vehemently mov'd constitute the Body of the Sun, when remov'd from the Sun into the Middle-Region of the Air, cease from that Motion of Circumgiration, and either totally cease, or move on punctim like so many Bristles or Darts. Further, he observes, That since the Parts of the Air being deprived of the Nitro-aerial Spirit are raised upward, and being there impregnated afresh, return thence downward again; therefore the Air being the Blood as it were of the Macrocosm, is in a continual Circulation, and doth it self, forasmuch as in Circulating it takes in the Nitro-aerial Spirit, exercise a Kind of Respiration. Hereupon he proceeds to explain, In what manner the Nitro-aerial Spirit is breathed in by Animals; and how it comes to loose in them its Elastique Power; and of what use it is being inspired: where he teacheth, That those Nitro-aerial Parts are in Animals as well as in Vegetables the principal Instrument of Life. Life and Motion; and that the Fermentation both of the Blood and the Vegetable Juice depends on the same. Then he passes on to deliver his Opinion about the Flamma vitalis, esteeming, that the Fermentation of the Blood, and consequently the Incalescence of it, ariseth from its Nitro-aerial Parts boiling up with the Salino-sulphureous ones, without a necessity of having any recourse to such a Flame; which he doth somewhat sarcastically Exagitate, thereby provoking the Maintainers thereof to a Vindication, if the Matter will bear it. This done, he enquires, Whether Air may be generated de novo, and, on this Occasion, recites an Experiment, which he faith, is like to one formerly made by Mr. Boyle, tending to prove the Affirmative of the Question. Concerning which, this Author is of Opinion, that though the Aura, produced by that Experiment, and by others here recited, be endow'd with a no less Spring than the Air we breath in; yet it is no true Air, such as contains vital and igneous Parts; for as much as that aura, wherein he found an Animal and a lighted Candle to expire; was, as he faith, endow'd with a Spring as well as an unvibrated Ait, but destitute of Nitro-aerial and vital Parts. Mean time, he suggests an Experiment to discover, Whether the pretended new generated Air be true Air indeed and fit for to maintain any Life; and by that Experiment determines this Matter in the Negative, though he denies not that there is a great Affinity betwixt them. After this, he spends a Chapter in discoursing, How Fire is kindled and propagated, and in what manner all Fermentations are made, namely, by the pulsation of the Cartesian materia subtilis, whereby as by a Substance that constantly moves, he faith, the Ignited Parts are put into a vehement Motion. And here he declares, That Fire seems to him to be nothing else than a very great Fermentation of Nitro-aerial and Sulphurous Parts; and concludes, That, as the most vehement Motion of the igneous Particles proceeds from thence, that the Sulphureous ones pass into the Particles of the Niter or Air, and there hitting upon the briskly agitated materia subtilis, are by the impulse of the same, together with the Nitro-aerial Parts, found in the said Substances, by an Elastique impetus struck out; so all the more remiss Fermentations of natural Things are caused hence, that the said Nitro-aerial Particles, penetrating the Salino-fulphureous Mass, do enter into the Body of the Subtile matter, by which, being put in a great Agitation, the said Nitro-aerial Parts are protruded together with the Sulphureous ones; so that the Effervescence of Fire seems to him to differ from the more remiss Intestine Motions, by which Vegetables are generated or dissolved, only in this; That in Fire the Nitro-aerial Particles being closely joyn'd with the fixed Salts or Parts of the Air, are by the impulse of the sulphureous Parts and the subtil Matter carried away with Violence, and put in a very swift Agitation; whereas in other Fermentations, the sulphureous Parts not being lodged so fast in the embraces of the fixed Salt, are by the pulsation of the Nitro-aerial Parts and of the materia jibtilis moved with more remissness. Having dispatch'd this Argument, he maketh an excursion into the Ocean, and labours to give an Account of that Ascent of the Waters in the Sea, which is commonly call'd a Spout; deducing it from a vehement Vertigo or Whirling of the Air: of the Particulars thereof himself may be consulted. Next, he Discourses of Light and Colours, embracing the Doctrine of Des-Cartes, making Light to consist in a pulse, which by reason of the continuity of the luminous Medium is suddenly transmitted to the greater Distance; but this Impulse our Author would have made by his Nitro-aerial Particles; as he is of Opinion, That Colours are produc'd not from a light Reflected, but from a peculiar Impulse of the Medium, altogether different from that of Light; concerning which and the manner of which, the Discourse itself may likewise be perused. To this he subjoyns a Chapter about Lightning, which he denies to proceed from kindled Exhalations; and having espoused the Cartesian Opinion of the Production of Thunder from the impetuous fall of the upper condensed and conglaciated Clouds upon the lower; he hence infers, That Lightning is made by his Nitro-aerial Particles struck out of the Air, and by their vehement igneous Motion, causing a slight and momentaneous Flash spreading it felt over the whole Hemisphere. Where he adds his Thoughts about the Force of Lightning, and its wonderful derful Effects, in melting Swords without hurting their Scabards, in killing Animals, in occasioning very tempestuous Winds, &c. This is follow'd by an Explication of the Manner, How Heat is raised in Quick-lime by pouring Water upon it; which he deduces from two contrary Salts, the Acid and Alcali, working upon one another: So that flaked Lime seems to him to be nothing else but a Magistery constituted by two contrary Salts, and a stony Earth united together. Where he adds the reason, Why Quicklime is not Heated by the affusion of well-rectified Spirit of Wine, or of Spirit of Turpentine, or any other sulphureous Liquor; viz. because such Liquors are unfit to dissolve the Salts contain'd in the Lime. To which he subjoyns, a Discourse about the Convening of contrary Salts both with themselves, and with other Things; as also concerning Precipitation; giving withal a caution, not rashly to prescribe contrary Salts in the same Medicine, lest the one destroy the efficacy of the other, or change it into a third, quite different from what it was before. After this, he makes a Digression to examine the Bath-Waters; judging them to be impregnated with a Kind of Vitriolat Tar-tar, or an aluminous Salt; which Salts yet, he saith, do not destroy one another, but either of them falls into an effervescence with its contrary, for as much as those Salts are so imperfect, that joined together they are not able to destroy one another. So that he denyeth there is any Solution either of Niter or Sulphur in those Waters, as hath been hitherto believed; declaring it to be a Cheat, that Silver Coins immersed in those Waters are tinged Yellow; for as much as they are rather tinged Black, if immediately they be put into them without any previous dawbing them with a salino-sulphureous Dung. Nor will he admit these Waters to be Heated by any subterraneal Fire, but with the learned Jordan asserts, that Heat to be produced by a Fermentation made in the Bowels of the Earth: To explain which, he descends no consider the Origin of Fountains, most of which he conceives, with many others, to have their rise from Rain-waters, and not from the Sea; which being supposed, he asserts, that the Air and the Rain-waters passing deep into the porous Earth. Earth, and there meeting with Salino-sulphurous Mines, do excite therein a very intense Heat, and that the Springs flowing forth from Mines thus Heated, constitute these Hot-Baths. So much, if not too much, of the first Treatise. Of the other four, there are two, viz. that of Respiration, and the Rickets; the former of which having been Publish'd once already, we have given an Account thereof in Num. 70. of the Tracts; so that, for fear of being too Prolix, we must say no more of it here; as we also shall forbear to discourse of that other of the Rickets; but to hasten to make some mention of the two remaining Parts, treating of the Respiration of a Fetus in the Womb and the Egg, and of the Muscular Motion and the Animal Spirits. Touching the former of these, our Author considering with himself, How a fetus can live in the Womb without the access of Air, and finding the Offices hitherto Assigned to the Umbilical Arteries to be ill grounded, scruples not to affirm with the learned Everard, that the said Arteries are formed chiefly, if not only, for the Use of Respiration, declaring, That the Blood of the Embryo, being convey'd through the Umbilical Arteries to the placenta uteri, carries to the fetus, not only the nutritious Juice, but also with it a quantity of the Nitro-aerial Particles, whereby the Blood of the fetus, by its Circulation through the Umbilical Vessels, is impregnated just as it is in the Vessels of the Lungs: Whence he would not have that Placenta call'd any more the Liver but the Lungs of the Womb. And this Supplement for Respiration he extends to the Chicken in an Egg, asserting, that the same doth no otherwise than a Child in the Womb breath by the said Arteries; esteeming, that the primogenial Liquors of the Egg, furnish'd with a pure aerial Substance, being incessantly convey'd through the umbilical Vessels to the Chick, perform to the same the Office not only of Nutrition, but of Respiration also. To this he adds, that even that gentle Warmth, excited in the Egg by Incubation, may also contribute something, there to supply the defect of Respiration: forasmuch as he supposes to have proved in his Treatise of Respiration in general, that the Nitro-aerial Particles, by the Bloods fermentation struck out of the Parts of the Air, serve Animals for Respiration; and that, as all Heat proceeds, in his Opinion Opinion, from such Nitro-aerial Particles put into Motion, so in this case, the Heat given by the incubating Bird, and received and detained in the Albumen, is thence collected by the many small Suckers of the Umbilical Vessels, and so conveyed to the Chicken. Upon which ground he undertakes to solve that difficult Quæstion, viz. Why a Fetus after it is born and yet closed up in its Membrans, may yet live for some Hours; whereas, if being delivered of those Skins, it have once taken Air into its Lungs, it cannot live a Moment after without it? Which he answers thus; That a Fetus born, and yet wrapped close within the Membrans, is in a like State, and Breaths much after the same manner as a Chick included in an Egg. But, if those Membrans being pull’d away from the Fetus, it do, for Breathing, with labour contract the Muscles of the Chest and the Midriff, it spends in that muscular Labour much more of those Nitro-aerial Parts than before; whence there is a greater Necessity for the Fetus to breath in the open Air, there being now nothing to compensate the defect of that Respiration. But enough also of this Exercitation; let us pass to the last, which is of Muscular Motion, and Animal Spirit. It is undoubted, that the Motion of Animals is made by the Contraction of the Muscles; but it is controverted, in what manner that Contraction is made? The most received Opinion is, That the Fibres of the Muscles are inflated by some Elastique Matter, swelling them as to their breadth, but contracting them as to their length; though the learned Steno in his Mythology, thinks it needless to take in a springy Matter for the Contraction of the Muscles; forasmuch as he judges it may be effected by the sole Change of their Figure. Concerning which our Author considers, that it appears not; 1. How that Motion, requisite to make a Change in the Figure, can be produc’d without the Accession of some new Matter. 2. How it comes to pass, if no new Matter enters the Muscle, that in its Contraction it is so sensibly hard and tense? And whereas Anatomists have hitherto taught, that the Carneous Fibres chiefly make the Contraction in Muscles, our Author thinks it more probable, that the Fibrilla, tranversely inserted into the greater Fibres, perform the chief Part in that Contraction, by reason as well of their position, as their size and number. And as to the Cause of this Contraction in these Fibrilli, he thinks, that, besides the Animal Spirits, there are also required to this Motion some of the Salino-sulphureous Parts of the Blood; and that those Animal Spirits, that contribute to the animal Motion, consist of those Nitro-aerial Parts, which he asserts to be transmitted into the Blood by Inspiration. And both these Parts he judges necessary to this Muscular Motion, because he understands not, how that Animal Motion can be perform'd without different Particles mixed together and briskly moved; in regard that, in his Opinion, it cannot be effected by Springiness and Weight, which do the work in Automata, since their impetus will soon cease: Whence he concludes, that the Muscular contraction is perform'd by the Effervescence of the Salino-sulphureous and Nitro-aerial Particles; of which two he endeavours to shew the later to constitute the very Animal Spirits, proceeding from the Brain in such Animals as commonly are call'd perfect, and (according to Malpighius) from the Medulla spinalis in Insects. But, though our Author ascribes so much to the Nitro-aerial Particles as to make them the same with the Animal Spirits; yet would he not have us think, that he believes the Sensitive Soul to consist in a Congeries of Animal Spirits, since he conceives that Soul to be a thing different from them, and to consist of a Matter yet more subtil and æthereal; of which those Nitro-aerial Particles, that is, the Animal Spirits, are the instrument of operation. And concerning that Sensitive Soul he thus declares his Mind, viz. That it is a more divine aura, endow'd with sense from its first Creation, and co-extended to the whole World; a small Portion of which being contain'd in a duly disposed Subject, exerts such Functions, as we see and admire in the Bodies of Animals. Having dispatch'd this Hypothesis about the Nature of Animal Spirits, he endeavours to explain from thence the manner of all Fermentations and Concoctions perform'd in the viscera of Animals, and particularly in the Stomach, Pancreas, and Spleen; in the last of which he takes Occasion to shew, both how the Fixed Salts in Animals are volatiliz'd, and that from Plants, (which he saith are furnish'd with no Volatile Salt) if they be laid to putrify, a considerable Quantity of Volatile Salt Salt may be extracted by Distillation. He concludeth this Part by shewing, 1. In what manner the Fibrillae of the Muscles are contracted; namely, not by Inflation, but Contorsion, as very spontaneous to the constriction and hardness of contracted Muscles, as well as to that strong Traction of the Muscles, sometimes perform'd with a wonderful Vgour; to which he adds, the fitness of the Motion of the Nitro-aerial Particles (by which the Muscular contraction is, in his sentiment, perform'd) for such a Contorsion; enforced by Experiment. 2. How the Muscles themselves are mov'd; viz. not by bringing the Extremities of the shortened Fibres to the Middle, but by drawing the looser End and the middle Part of the contracted Fibres to the fastned End, or to the Head of the Muscle, which is a fixed and immoveable Tendon. 3. How the Diaphragme, and the Heart are contracted; and how Saltation is perform'd. But apprehending we have already been too tedious in giving this Account, we must here break off, and in these and some other Particulars refer to the Author himself. II. ANATOME CORPORIS HUMANI, conscripta ab Isbrando de Diemerbroeck, Med. & Anatomes Professore, Ultrajeeti, 1671 in 4°. This Comprehensive Body of Anatomy, but lately come to my Hands, consists of 12 Parts or Books: The first, second, and third, treat of Three Venters of the Human Body, as they are wont to be call'd by Anatomists; the Author having premised thereunto some general Considerations touching the great diversity to be met with therein, as to its outward Form, Size and Colour; where he takes particular Notice of the Observations, made both by Schouten in his Voyages, of having found about the Straights of Magellan, Men of ten and eleven Cubits High; and by Fazellus in his 1. decad. lib. 1. c. 6. of Men found, some 17, some 18, some 20, and even 22 Cubits Tall. Treating of the Concoction made in the Stomach, he considers the Cause of Chylification, why the Aliments there are turned into Chyle rather than into Bile, Blood, &c. examining al- so the Opinions of Physicians concerning the Cause of Hunger, and subjoyning his own, illustrated by Histories, shewing, That such as have fasted for a Couple of Days are then not sensible of Hunger, and find no other Trouble but that of Feebleness of Body. He also he discusses three Problems. 1. What is the Cause of unnatural Appetite, call'd Pica? Which Cause he placeth rather in the Brain than the Stomach. 2. Whether in a depraved Constitution and Concoction of the Stomach, the Bile may be made in the same, such as in the Cholera morbus is voided both upward and downward? Which he denyeth against Regius, and others. 3. Whether all the Chyle flows out of the Stomach into the Gut? Which he answers in the Affirmative, refuting those that assert, part thereof to pass by the vas breve, and other neighbouring gastric Veins, into the Spleen; and assigning the manner of the sudden Refection of the Body after Eating and Drinking. This done, he Discourses of the Use of the Chyle, and inquires, Whether any Parts of the Body are immediately nourish'd by the Chyle before its Conversion into Blood? Which he resolves in the Negative; though he affirms withal, that whilst the Blood is the ultimate Aliment of all the Parts, the Chyle doth linneat the Stomach and the milky Vessels. Treating of the Mesentery, and the many and considerable Glanduls thereof, he observeth, that from the Obstruction of those Glanduls, Fluxes and Atrophies are frequently occasioned; refuting withal the Opinion of Riolan, who makes the Glanduls of the Mesentery the root of all Strumosity. Examining the Pancreas, he reproveth those that would deduce almost all the Origins and Causes of Diseases, from the vitiated Humour of the Pancreas: Where he also rejects Dr. Wharton's Opinion concerning the Use of this Part, viz.: that into it are voided the excrementious Juices of the Nerves. Searching into the ductus thoracicus (the Conveyer of the Chyle,) he declares, that that winding Circle of De Bills, into which he affirmed the said ductus to be propagated at the place of the division of the Jugular Veins, is not a Protraction of that ductus, nor receives from it any Chyle, nor carries any; but a Channel, in which is collected the Lympha, conveyed out of the circum- circumjacent Glanduls and other Parts, and to be conveyed into the neighbouring Veins, &c. Here he also treats of that Question, Whether through his ductus all the Chyle passeth to the subclavial Vessel? which he answers affirmatively, except that sometimes, yet very seldom, and in an extraordinary Case it flows to the Bladder, and ordinarily in Women with Child to the Womb, and those that give Suck, to the Breasts. Refuting withal Regius Denfingius, and others, that labour to maintain the contrary. Inquiring into the Lymphatic Vessels, he explodes the Assertion of the same De Bills; teaching, that the Lympha is the self same Liquor with the Chylous Juice contain'd in the Lacteals, and that it passeth out of the Chyliferous Vessels into the Liver and Glanduls, and from thence into the Spermatic Vessels for the Humectation and Nourishment, and not from the Glanduls and Liver to the Chyliferous Vessels. Having dispatch'd this Controversy, he examines, What Kind of Liquor this Lympha is? Where having endeavour'd to disprove the Opinion of Dr. Glisson, esteeming it to be made of the Steams of the Blood, collected like Dew, and impelled into these Vessels, and repassing with the Vehicle of the Aliment carried through the Nerves; he asserts the Lympha to be a peculiar subtile Liquor, separated in the conglobate Glanduls from the Serum of the Blood, and embued with store of volatile Salt, and with some Sulphureous Particles, getting into those small Vessels, and by them convey'd partly into the Chyliferous Vessels, partly into many Veins; into the former, the more to attenuate the Chyle and thereby to facilitate its Dilatation in the Heart; into the latter, to prepare also the Venal Blood to a more expedit Rarefaction in the same Part. Before he leaves these Vessels, he notes, That the Rupture of them often causeth the Ascites, and that their being obstructed occasions other dangerous Diseases. In the Anatome of the Liver, he chiefly commends the accuracy and diligence of Dr. Glisson and Signor Malpighi, especially as to the Position of the Branches of the vena cava and porta, and the Vessels of the Bladder of Gall, and how the Blood of the Porta enters into the Roots of the Cava and those of the said Bladder, not by opening themselves into one another, nor by having having their Branches inserted into the Sides of one another, but only by sending the sanguineous Liquors through the Ends of the Ramifications of the Porta in the Substance of the Liver, and from thence conveying the said Liquors into the extremities of the cava and the Vessels of the Bladder of Gall: Where he also expresses his Agreement to the Assertion and solid Proof of the learned Dr. Glisson, importing, That in a Liver there is not any Anastomosis of any Vessels: Whence he concludes it to be evident, How that in other Parts also the Circulation of the Blood is perform'd not by the sole Anastomosis of the Arteries with the Veins, but by the very Pores of the Substance of the Parts themselves. Further, having with most of the modern Anatomists deny'd Sanguification to be perform'd in the Liver, and ascribed to it, and the Spleen together, the province of making the Ferment of the Blood, to render it spirituous; he subjoyns two or three Observations of Persons cured of considerable Wounds inflicted in the Liver; and another of a Youth whose Liver was immediately joyned to his Lungs, without any other diaphragme or mediastinum at all; as also of one Ortelius, that had neither Liver or Spleen, and whose vena cava proceeded out of the Guts themselves; concerning which latter Case the sagacious Malpighi conjectures, that the glandulous Substance of the Liver in the said Ortelius, exended it self all along his Guts. In the examination of the Juice of Gall he observes, That that Liquor doth not only promote the excretion of the Feces, but is also highly necessary to the Fermentation of the Chyle and Blood; and teacheth, that it is a fermentative Juice prepared in the Liver out of the Sulphureous Parts of the Venal Blood, and the Saltish and Sub-acid Liquor of the Spleen; refuting not only the new Opinion of Sylvius and Regius concerning the Generation of this Liquor; but also that of Malpighius, importing, That the Bile is not generated out of any Blood, or by a Concoction of divers Juices made in the Liver, but only separated from the Blood by means of the Kernels of the Liver. After this he discusses and disproves the Doctrine of Backius and Sylvius about the Motion of the Bile, asserting it to be produced in the folliculus, and to pass partly through the common ductus colidochus into the Guts, and partly through the porus bilarius into the Liver, ver, there to mix with and to attenuate the Blood; but that nothing of the Bile flows out of the Liver through the said porus into the Guts. In the disquisition of the Spleen, he highly applaudeth the discovery of the excellent Malpighius, who found it to be wholly made up of little membranous Cells like Hony-combs, accurately explained in his Dissertation de Liene c. 5. and formerly described in these Tracts, Numb. 44. p. 890. As to its Use, he thinks that to be no other, than to make out of the arterial Blood a sub-acid Matter, from which, being anew concocted with sulphureous Particles in the Liver, is made a bilious Ferment of the Blood and Chyle. Entering here upon the Consideration of the Necessity of the Spleen in the Body, and relating amongst other Particulars, that it having been written out of England, that those Bitches, of whom the Spleen had been cut out, had proved steril afterwards, Dr. de Graef had thereupon made himself an Experiment upon a Bitch, which having been deprived of her Spleen, had afterwards conceived and brought forth Puppies: Which Story is certainly grounded upon a Mistake, forasmuch as it is most notorious over all London, that, divers Years since, a Bitch, yet alive, of a considerable Nobleman, after she had lost her Spleen, hath been several times with Puppies, of which some, out of Curiosity, were opened, and found to have a very fair Spleen. Our Author having explain'd the structure and use of the Pancreas, the Liver, Bile, and Spleen; spends a whole Chapter upon the Ferment of the Blood and Chyle, to which he judgeth, that the Operations of the Liver, Spleen and Pancreas do joyntly concur; where he takes Occasion to Discourse largely of the Matter, Nature, Preparation, and Manner of working of Ferments; and observes Particularly, from whence those Sharp and fermentative Particles in our Bodies are derived; adscribing their origine to Sulphur and Salt, to be found in all Aliments; the former causing the Commotion, and the latter the principal Acrimony. To all which he adds, the Inconveniencies and Diseases arising in the Body, for want of the due Manner and competent Degree of Fermentation in the Juices thereof. Next, our Author proceeds to the consideration of the Kid- neyi, where, having rejected the Opinion of Hieronymus Barbatus, teaching, That the Serum is as alimentary to the Spermatique Parts, as the Blood is to the Carneous; he highly commends what Signor Malpighi hath detected in the Kidneys, lib. de Renibus, (of which see also Numb. 44. of these Tracts p. 890.) and Discourses at large of the Manner of Separation of the Serum from the Blood, which, in his Opinion, is done by a peculiar Fermentation made in that Part; yet leaving it in the dark, How by that effervescence the serious Part of the Blood, together with many Impurities, is separated, and what Configuration it requires, fit to pass alone through the Pores of the Kidneys, with exclusion to the Blood? And, which is much more strange, How divers solid and hard Bodies, as Needles, small Nails, Fennel and Anni-seeds, &c. (of which here are alledged Examples well attested,) can be excreted with Urine, but without Blood: To render some tolerable Account of which Phænomena, as also, to conceive the better, How Spaw-waters can be in so great plenty Voided, without passing through the Heart, Lungs and Kidneys, and without molesting the Heart; our Author suspects, there are some Lacteous Vessels, going some yet unknown Way to the Bladder and Womb; which Suspition he confirms by this, That sometimes a chylous milky Matter hath been seen voided with the Urine: By which Way he imagines also that those Liquors do pass, whose colour and scent do remain unchanged in the Wine: Of which Cases he names several, not only of Oyl of Turpentine, and Asparagus (which are commonly known to do so,) but also of a black Medicine, rendering black the Urine, soon made after; of Saffron given to a Woman in Travel, and having tinged the Child born within a quarter of an Hour after; of some, that had eaten the roasted Fat of Lambs-Kidneys, which by the Author himself was seen soon after to come almost alway with the Urine, &c. Treating of the Parts of Generation; he animadverts upon Veslingius and others, that teach the spermatique Veins and Arteries to terminate in the Paraflatae, and there to be changed into the vasa deferentia, as Bodies continued to them; whereas he thinks it evident, That those Vessels do not enter into the Paraflatae, but the Testicles themselves; which latter being Discour- Discoursed of by him, he not only alledges Examples of some, that had 3 Testes but also an Instance of one that was born without any at all, and yet acted the Part of Virility in coitu. Then he rejects the Opinion of those, that hold a three-fold Semen, elaborated in three different Parts, and necessary to Generation: He shews also, how castrated Animals may Engender; and yet how inconsequent it is, that because some Animals destitute of Testicles do Generate, therefore the Testes do not conficere semen. Proceeding to the Female Sex, he inquires into the Nature of the fermentum uterinum quod inducit menstrua; and examines, Whether a Fetus may be formed extra uterum? Whether the uterus do remove from its place in hysterical Women? How farid Things do help in hysterical Fits? Whether a Fetus can be born, the Mother being dead? An mulierum genitalia solo sita a virorum genitalibus differant? An mulier mutari possit in virum? What is the constituent Matter of the Seed? Whether any Thing besides Arterial Blood, and Animal Spirits? How imagined Ideas are imprinted in the Seed? Whence comes the external likeness in the Fetus? Whether the semen muliebre be the formative Cause of the Fetus, and the virile be only a Ferment to open and put into act the forming Power of the Female Seed? What may be said to the Harveyan Observations concerning the Non-Appearance of the Seed soon after the Coit? Further, he considers the whole Work of the Formation of the Fetus; and investigates, what is its Power? Whether the Seed be actually animate? Whether a Vegetative Soul be to be admitted in Man; and wherein that consists? Moreover he inquires, Whether the Nutrition of the Fetus is perform'd by the Navel, or the Mouth, or by both? and resolves for the last; alledging for the Nutrition by the Mouth, among other Arguments, an Observation he made of a Child of his own, which about an Hour after it was Born, did void at the Mouth a copious Milk, before it had sucked or taken in any Thing. Next, he discusses that great Question, Whether the Fetus respireth in the Womb? And resolves it in the Negative; asserting on this Occasion, That a Fetus never cries in the Womb, &c. Passing on to the Middle Ventre, or Chest; he there examines the Breasts, and particularly, Whether there be a Communication of their Lacteous Vessels with any Chyliferous Channel? Whether the Chyle do pass through the Arteries themselves to the Breasts? What Milk is? How it is produced of the Chyle? What impells the Chyle to the Breasts? Concerning which last Question, he declares his Opinion to be, that it is a strong Imagination, and an earnest and frequent Thought and Desire of Milk and giving Suck, which works that impulse; forasmuch as the vehement Passions of the Mind are able to cause various Motions of the Spirits and Humours; where the Author taketh Pains to shew, how this Cause hath place in Brutes. Treating of the Heart, he will not admit it to be a Muscle, and endeavours to solve the Arguments alleged to prove it to be one. He recites divers memorable Examples of Men wounded in the Heart, yet not dying presently, &c. In the Lungs, he considers its Structure out of Malpighius; observes the many odd Things, often found in them, and, among the rest, Stone of Stone-dust in the Lungs of a Stone cutter; assigneth them the Office of Respiration, to refrigerate and condense the Blood, and so to make it pass to the left Venticle of the Heart. Where he contends against those, that would have some Air mix it self with the Blood, and those also that would reject Cooling as the chief Use of Respiration; and particularly against Dr. Thynson, for discharg- ing the Heart from the Office of Sanguification, and charging the same upon the Lungs. To which he subjoyns a Quere, viz. Whether a Man born can live any Time without Respiration? Alleding divers noble Examples of Men, that have done so. Proceeding to the Third Venter, the Head, he endeavours to refute the Cartesian Opinion about the Origin of the Brain; and then, among many other Particulars, animadverts, on those that alledge Instances of humane Bodies, that were distitute of all Brain, which he is unwilling to believe, suspecting, that it is grounded only upon superficial Inspection. Which done, he disputes against both the Cartesian Use of the Conarion, and that assigned by Dr. Wharton; as also against the Office, ascribed by Dr. Willis to the Cerebellum, viz. to serve for the performing of the Involuntary functions and actions of Animals. After which he Discourses largely of the Animal Spirits, attempting to disprove Dr. Glisson's Doctrine about the Matter, whence those Spirits are Generated, and that also of Des-Cartes, esteeming them not to differ Specie from the Vital: Himself in the mean time affirming them to be prepared in the Brain, thirstily out of the salin and a few sulphureous Particles of the Blood, and design'd not only for the animal, but also for some of the natural Actions of the Body, especially the Nutrition of the spermatic Parts, &c. Passing to the Eye, he gives the anatome of the structure of this Organ, and the consideration of the Uses of every Part thereof. The like he does as to the Ear, and the rest of the Organs of our Senses. Discoursing of the Tongue, he will not acknowledge that Part to be a Muscle, as Spigelius, Bellinus, and others, take it to be. Speaking of the Salival Channels, he takes Notice of the contention risen between Blasius and Steno concerning the priority of their Discovery, &c. Having dispatch'd these three Books, and in them the Three Venters, he goes on to the remaining seven Books, which he dispatches with more Brevity; treating therein of the Artus, the Muscles, with an Appendix about the Membrans and Fibres, the Arteries, the Veins, the Nerves (not allowing of Dr. Glisson's Doctrine, that the Nerves convey the nutritious Juice,) the Bones, the Cartilages and Ligaments, concerning which we cannot here enlarge. ERRATA, In Numb. 104. p. 70. l. 29. r. decay. In this Numb. 105. p. 90. l. 18. r. for the annual. p. 95. l. 14. r. The button V. ib. l. 18. r. upon it; b, the Hammer, p. 96. l. 15. r. the hollow place, y, in fig. 1. ib. l. 17. r. hole, i. 2. 3. 4. in fig. 2. LONDON: Printed for John Martyn, Printer to the Royal Society. 1674.