Account of a Book

VIII. Account of a Book, entitled, Adversariorum Anatomico-Medico-Chirurgicorum Decas tertia. Auctore Frederico Ruysch, M. D. Anatom. & Botan. Prof. Amstel. R. S. Soc. § I. THE learned Author, who has so long improv'd the World by his curious Searches into the nicest Secrets of the Animal-Machine, and illustrated them by his admirable Preparations, gives an Account of preternatural Things found in Tumors, of that Sort which we call Atheroma, ordinarily a Cyft filled with a thick Matter like Pult; such are Bones, Flesh, Hair, Teeth, and other Things very surprizing and unaccountable. He tells us, he first found out the Fabric of the cortical Part of the Brain; that 'tis made of small pulpy Canals from the Ends of the Arteries: That many Years ago he drew, by simple Distillation, from crude Vegetables, a perfect volatile Salt; and that 'tis easily done from fresh Seeds of the hot antiscorbutic Herbs, such as Mustard, Rocket, Onions, &c. § II. He dissects a Pear, which he says is entirely compos'd of the Pipes in the Stalk, dilated into a soft and moist Pulp, like what they antiently call'd the Parenchyma, that composes the Liver and Spleen, which he affirms to be pure Vessels, not Glands distinguisht by being invelop'd with one proper Membrane. You may, if you please, call the Pear, the Liver and the Spleen, taken in the whole, a Gland; but he denies any particular Glands in their Composition. § III. He tells a remarkable Story of a Girl, who had frequent Eruptions of Blood from the Skin of her Head, Ears, Mouth, Navel, and the Nipples of her Breast: Breast: For fourteen Weeks she eat no Meat, nor had any Excretion by Siege or Urine; and many other odd Symptoms. § IV. He gives us a pretty Observation of the Cicatricula, as commonly call'd, in the Ovaria of Females, whence the impregnated Egg is dropt into the Fallopian Tubes. He shews, that in reality it is a Calyx, or natural Aperture, which enlarges itself for that Purpose by Degrees, and after Exclusion closes again, as the Os Uteri afterwards; so that the Egg truly drops from it, as an Acorn when ripe from its Cup; and the Trace of it soon becomes imperceptible. He says farther, he has frequently seen the thick Part of the Male Sperm carry'd up even into the Fallopian Tubes upon Impregnation. § V. He speaks of an Obstruction, that has sometimes happen'd in the Intestines of new-born Infants, so that they have had no Manner of Passage by Stools, and that gentle Lenitives have not been able to relieve them: In this case, he advises strong Purgers, adapted to their tender Age. § VI. The Author informs us of wonderful Appearances within the very Center of human Bones; for in eight several Preparations he has, of Leg and Thigh Bones, and others, of Men and Infants, he has observed plain Chrysalis's of Insects, and very perfect, of different Sorts, lodged in the Cavities of the Marrow: How they come there, he can no more account for, than for whole Bundles of Worms twisted together, which he has found in the great Artery just by the Heart; or for six fat, thick Eruca in a Sheep's Brain; and many of the like Nature, that have happened in the Way of his Observation, which are in the Czar's Repository. In § VII. he says, very often, upon Dissection of the Bodies of old Women, he has found the mesenteric Glands, Glands, that minister to the Conveyance of the Chyle, perfectly wasted away; so that he judges it not improbable, that, in such Cases, the mesaraic Vessels absorb the Chyle from the Guts, and carry it into the Blood, at least in part, according to the Notion of the Antients, who knew not the lacteal Vessels: This he thinks not a little confirm'd by the like wasting of the glandular Part of the Breasts in old Women, which though formerly very large, shall have nothing but the Nipples left. § VIII. He treats of the Epidermis, or Scarf-Skin, with a good Method of separating it for publick Demonstrations: He takes off a Piece of the whole Skin, and nails it upon a Board with the Outside uppermost, and then puts it into boiling Water, which raises it so, that with a blunt Knife it is easily separable, which is a much better Way, than that of burning or blistering. He says, the different Colours of the Skin are owing to the Corpus Reticulare, which in Blackmoors is perfectly black, in Moors of a tawny Colour, in white People perfectly white. The Epidermis is ever found absolutely void of Blood-Vessels: upon which occasion the Author offers to lay Two Guineas with Mr. St. Andre, who, he says, falsly asserts he has Preparations shewing these Vessels, and has pretended to show them to some of his Countrymen the Dutch. He adds, that he gueises the Occasion of his Mistake to be thus: The Skin of new-born Infants, in some certain Places, if it be carefully separated from all Fat, is so fine and thin, that it becomes like the Epidermis in Adults. This no doubt is extremely full of Vessels, and is what he has imagined to impose upon Mr. St. Andre. § IX. He treats of human Bones, in which Search he has long laboured: He observes the Epiphyses up- on the Ends of the Bones are chiefly fastened to them by the Periosteum; which being taken off, they easily fall asunder. 'Tis a Mistake, that we vulgarly think this is done by means of an intermediate Cartilage: The Truth is, both the Epiphyses and Ends of the Bones, at first, are cartilaginous; but in Time become bony, and then are only joined by the Periosteum. The Ossification always begins in the middle of Bones. Sometimes he has found human Bones so void of Cavities, that he has made Knife-Handles of them: It has been thought that cartilaginous Parts were exsanguious; but falsely, as he demonstrates by several Preparations thereof. § X. He considers the Papillæ of the nervose Tunic in the Inside of the Stomach, and finds that the Figure of them is roundish, in that Part of the Stomach over which the Spleen is fixt; but longish in other Parts thereof, and in the Inside of the Jejunum. He takes Notice, that the Fabrick of the Womb is made of much the same Sort of thick muscular Fibres as the Bladder, both to facilitate their proper Exclusion; particularly these Fibres are more remarkable upon the Fundus Uteri, to which Part the Placenta most generally fastens its self, and most evidently for this Reason. FINIS. ERRATUM. P. 402. l. 9. pro indicium l. judicium. LONDON: Printed for W. and J. Innys, Printers to the Royal Society; at the Prince's-Arms, the West End of St. Paul's Church-Yard.