FOOTNOTES:
[a] The Uses assign’d to Respiration by all the Anatomists before Malpighi’s Discoveries of the Structure of the Lungs, are so various, and many of them so improbable, that it would be frivolous to recount them. But the more eminent modern Anatomists assign these Uses. Willis thus sums up his Opinion, Præcipua Pulmonum functio, & usus sunt, sanguinem & aerem per totas partium compages, intimosque recessus, atq; ductus quosque minutissimos traducere, & ubique invicem committere; in cum nempe finem, ut sanguis venosus à circuitu redux, & chymo recenti dilutus,——tum perfectiùs misceatur & velut subigatur, tum potissimùm ut secundùm omnes suas partes ab aëre nitroso de novo accendatur. Pharmaceut. p. 2. S. 1. c. 2. §. 2. Mayow saith rightly, that one grand Use of Expiration is, Ut cum aëre expulso, etiam vapores è sanguine exhalantes, simul exsufflentur. And as for Inspiration, that it coveyeth a nitro-aerial ferment to the Blood, to which the Animal-Spirits are owing, and all Muscular-Motion. Mayow de Respir. p. 22. &c. meâ Edit.
Somewhat of the Opinion of these two last cited, if I mistake not (it being long since I read their Tracts, and have them not now at hand,) were Ent, Sylvius, Swammerdam, Diemerbroek, and my Friend Mr. Ray in an unpublished Tract of his, and in his Letters now in my Hands.
But our Dr. Thurston, for good Reasons, rejects these from being principal Uses of Respiration, and thinks, with great Reason, the principal Uses to be to move, or pass the Blood from the right to the left Ventricle of the Heart. Upon which account Persons hanged, drowned, or strangled by Catarrhs, so suddenly die, namely, because the Circulation of their Blood is stopped. For the same Reason also it is, that Animals die so soon in the Air-Pump. Among other Proofs he instanceth in an Experiment of Dr. Croon, Profess. Gresh. which he made before our R. S. by strangling a Pullet, so that not the least Sign of Life appear’d; but by blowing Wind into the Lungs through the Trachea, and so setting the Lungs a playing, he brought the Bird to Life again. Another Experiment was once tried by Dr. Walter Needham, before Mr. Boyl, and others at Oxford, by hanging a Dog, so that the Heart ceased moving. But hastily opening the Dog, and blowing Wind into the Ductus Pecquetianus, he put the Blood in Motion, and by that means the Heart, and so recovered the Dog to Life again. V. Thurston de Respir. Us. p. 60, and 63. meâ Edit.
Such an Experiment as Dr. Croon’s my Friend, the late justly renowned Dr. Hook shewed also our R. S. He cut away the Ribs, Diaphragm, and Pericardium, of a Dog; also the top of the Wind-Pipe, that he might tie it on to the Nose of a Pair of Bellows; and by blowing into the Lungs, he restored the Dog to Life; and then ceasing blowing, the Dog would soon fall into dying Fits; but by blowing again, he recovered; and so alternately would die, and recover, for a considerable Time, as long, and often as they pleased. Philos. Trans. Nᵒ. 28.
For the farther Confirmation of Dr. Thurston’s Opinion, the ingenious Dr. Musgrave cut off, and close stopped up the Wind-Pipe of a Dog with a Cork, and then threw open the Thorax; where he found the Blood stagnating in the Lungs, the Arteria Pulmonaris the right Ventricle and Auricle of the Heart, and the two great Trunks of the Cava, distended with Blood to an immense Degree; but at the same Time, the Vena Pulmonaris, the left Ventricle and Auricle of the Heart in a manner empty, hardly a spoonful of Blood therein. Philos. Trans. Nᵒ. 240. Or both the Experiments may be together met with in Lowth. Abridg. Vol. 3. p. 66, 67.
This Opinion of our learned Thurston, the late learned Etmullerus espoused, who being particular in reckoning up the Uses of Respiration, I shall therefore the more largely cite him. Respiration, saith he, serves, 1. Ad Olfactum. 2. Ad Screatum & Sputationem. 3. Ad Oscitationem, Tussim, Sternutationem, Emunctionemque. 4. Ad liquidorum Sorbitionem, Suctionemve. 5. Ad Loquelam, Cantum, Clamorem, Risum, Fletum, Flatum, &c. 6. Ad facum Alvi, Urinæ, Fœtûs Molæve, necnon Secundinarum expulsionem. 7. Ad promovendi Ventriculi, Intestinorum, Lacteorumque vasorum, &c. contenta. 8. Ad halitus aqueos Sanguinis è pulmonibus, aëris ope, exportandos. 9. Ad Diapnoën. 10. Ad exactiorem Chyli, Lymphaque, necnon Sanguinis——miscelam. 11. Ad conciliandum sanguini——coccineam rubedinem, &c. 12. Nec merosè negabimus, aërem——pulmones, & sanguinem illos transcurrentem, minùs calida reddere, &c. 13. Quod denique aër sanguini singulis Respirationibus aliquantillâ sui parte, admixtus, paucissimas quasdam in spiritum animalium elaboratione particulas simul contribuat. All these Uses, although of great Consequence, yet he thinks rather conduce to the Well-Being, than the Being of the Animal; because without any of them, the Animal would not so speedily die, as it doth by Strangling, or in the Air-Pump. He therefore assigns a 14ᵗʰ, and the principal Use of Respiration to be, For the passing of the Blood through the Lungs, that is thrown into them by the Heart. Etmull. Dissert. 2. c. 10. §. 1. & 16.
But the late Dr. Drake, with great Ingenuity and Address, (like a Person so considerable for his Years, as he was in his Time,) not only establish’d this Notion of Respiration, but also carries it farther, making it the true Cause of the Diastole of the Heart; which neither Borelli, Lower, or Cowper, much less any before those great Men, have well accounted for. That the Heart is a Muscle, is made evident beyond all doubt by Dr. Lower. And that the Motion of all Muscles consists in Constriction, is not to be doubted also. By which means the Systole is easily accounted for. But forasmuch as the Heart hath no Antagonist-Muscle, the Diastole hath puzzled the greatest Wits. But Dr. Drake with great Judgment, and much Probability of Reason, maketh the Weight of the Incumbent Atmosphere to be the true Antagonist to all the Muscles which serve both for ordinary Inspiration and the Constriction of the Heart. The Particulars of his Opinion may be seen in his Anatomy, l. 2. c. 7. And in Philos. Trans. 281.
And I remember when I was at the University, my most ingenious and learned Tutor Dr. Wills, when he read Anatomy to us, was of Opinion, that the Lungs were blown up by the Weight of the incumbent Air, and represented the manner of Respiration in this manner, viz. He put a Bladder into a Pair of Bellows, turning back the Neck of the Bladder, and tying it fast, so that no Air might enter in between the Bladder and Bellows. This being done, when the Bellows were opened, the Bladder would be blown up by the Weight of the incumbent Air; and when shut, the Air would be thereby pressed forcibly out of the Bladder, so as to blow the Fire. This Experiment I take Notice of here; because (besides the Illustration it gives to Respiration) that great Genius seems to have had a truer Notion of this Phænomenon, than was very common then, viz. about the Year 1677 or 78; as also, because I have in some Authors met with the same Experiment, without mention of Dr. Wills, whose I take it to have been.
Another Use of great Consideration, the already commended Dr. Cheyne assigns; namely, to form the elastick Globules of which the Blood principally consists, without which there would be a general Obstruction in all the capillary Arteries. Cheyne’s Phil. Prin. of Nat. Rel. or Harris’s Lex. Tech. in Lungs.
[] Gen. ii. 7. vi. 17. and vii. 15.
[c] Because it would be endless to specify the curious Mechanism of all the Parts, concurring to the Formation of the Voice; I shall therefore for a Sample note only two Things, 1. There are thirteen Muscles provided for the Motion of the five Cartilages of the Larynx, Gibs. Anat. l. 2. c. 14, a Sign of the careful and elaborate Provision that is made for the Voice. 2. It is a prodigious Faculty of the Glottis, in contracting and dilating itself with such Exquisiteness, as to form all Notes. For (as the ingenious Dr. Keil saith) supposing the greatest Distance of the two Sides of the Glottis, to be one tenth Part of an Inch in sounding 12 Notes, (to which the Voice easily reaches;) this Line must be divided into 12 Parts, each of which gives the Aperture requisite for such a Note, with a certain Strength. But if we consider the Sub-division of Notes, into which the Voice can run, the Motion of the Sides of the Glottis is still vastly nicer. For if two Chords sounding exactly Unisons, one be shortened, ⅟₂₀₀₀ Part of its Length, a just Ear will perceive the Disagreement, and a good Voice will sound the Difference, which is ⅟₁₉₆ Part of a Note. But suppose the Voice can divide a Note into 100 Parts, it follows that the different Apertures of the Glottis actually divide the tenth Part of an Inch into 1200 Parts, the Effect of each of which produces a sensible Alteration upon a good Ear. But because each Side of the Glottis moves just equally, therefore the Divisions are just double, or the Sides of the Glottis, by their Motion do actually divide one tenth Part of an Inch into 2400 Parts. Keil’s Anat. c. 3. Sect. 7.
[d] Among the Instruments of Speech, the Tongue is a necessary one; and so necessary, that it is generally thought no Speech can be without it. But in the third Tome of the Ephem. Germ. is published, Jac. Rolandi Aglossostomographia, sive Descriptio Oris sine Linguâ, quod perfecte loquitur, & reliquas suas functiones naturalitèr exercet. The Person described is one Pet. Durand, a French Boy of eight or nine Years old, who at five or six lost his Tongue by a Gangrene, occasioned the Small-Pox. Notwithstanding which, he could (as the Title saith) speak perfectly, as also taste, spit, swallow, and chew his Food; but this latter he could do only on that Side he put it into, not being able to turn it to the other Side his Mouth.
In the same Tract, Chap. 6. is this Observation of ventriloquous Persons, Memini me à quodam sat celebri Anatomico audivisse, dum de duplicaturâ Mediastini ageret, si Membrana ista duplex naturalitèr unita in duas partes dividatur, loquelam quasi ex pectore procedere, ut circumstantes credant Dæmoniacum hunc, aut Sternomythum.
[e] The Variation of the Wind-pipe is observable in every Creature, according as it is necessary for that of the Voice. In an Urchin, which hath a very small Voice, ’tis hardly more than membranous. And in a Pigeon, which hath a low and soft Note, ’tis partly cartilaginous, and partly membranous. In an Owl, which hath a good audible Note, ’tis more cartilaginous; but that of a Jay, hath hard Bones instead of Cartilages; and so of a Linnet: Whereby they have both of them a louder and stronger Note, &c.
The Rings of the Wind-pipe are fitted for the Modulation of the Voice: For in Dogs and Cats, which in the Expression of divers Passions use a great many Notes, (as Men do,) they are open and flexible, as in Man. Whereby all, or any of them are dilated, or contracted, more or less, as is convenient for a higher or deeper Note, &c. whereas in some other Animals, as in the Japan-Peacock, which useth hardly more than one single Note, they are entire, &c. Grew’s Cosmolog. Sacr. Book I. Chap. 5. §. 9, 10.
[f] It is a farther manifest Indication of singular Design in the cartilaginous Rings of the aspera Arteria, that all the Way where they are contiguous to the Oesophagus, they are membranous, to afford an easie Passage to the Food; but after that, in the Bronchi; they are, some compleatly annular, some triangular, &c. And another observable is, the lower Parts of the superior Cartilages, receive the upper Parts of the inferior, in the Bronchi; whereas in the aspera Arteria, the Cartilages run and remain parallel to one another; which is a noble Difference or Mechanism in this (in a Manner) one and the same Part, enabling the Lungs and Bronchi to contract themselves in Expiration, and to extend and dilate themselves in Inspiration.
[g] I shall not here intrench so much upon the Anatomist’s Province, to give a Description of the Lungs, although it be a curious Piece of God’s Workmanship; but refer to Seignior Malpighi, the first Discoverer of their Vesiculæ in 1660, in his two Letters to Borelli de Pulmon. Also to Dr. Willis’s Pharm. Rat. p. 2. S. 1. c. 1. de Respir. Orig. & Us. who as he wrote after Malpighi, so hath more accurately described those parts; and to Mr. Cowper’s Anat. Tab. 24, 25. And if the Reader hath a Mind to see what Opposition Seignior Malpighi’s Discoveries met with at Home and Abroad, and what Controversies he had on that Account, as also his Censures of Dr. Willis’s Descriptions and Figures, he may consult Malpighi’s Life written by himself, pag. 4 to 21.
That the Lungs consist of Vesiculæ, or Lobuli of Vesiculæ admitting of Air from the Bronchi, is visible, because they may be blown up, cleansed of Blood, and so dried. But Mr. Cowper saith, he could never part the Lobuli, (so as to make Dr. Willis’s Fig. 1. Tab. 3. & 4.) so that probably the Vesiculæ are contiguous to one another throughout each Lobe of the Lungs. And not only Air; but Diemerbroeck proves, that the Vesiculæ admit of Dust also, from two asthmatick Persons he opened; one a Stonecutter’s Man, the Vesiculæ of whose Lungs were so stuffed with Dust, that in cutting, his Knife went as if through an Heap of Sand; the other was a Feather-driver, who had these Bladders filled with the fine Dust or Down of Feathers.
[h] There is a considerable Difference between Dr. Willis, and Etmuller, viz. Whether the Vesiculæ of the Lungs have any muscular Fibres or not? Etmuller expressly saith, Nullas Fibras musculosas, multo minùs rubicundam Musculorum compagem (sunt enim Vesiculæ albidæ & fere diaphanæ) in ipsis reperiri. ubi supr. c. 6. §. 2. And afterwards, §. 3. Pulmones esse molles flexilesque musculosis fibris ceu propriæ explicationis organis destitutos. But Dr. Willis as expressly alerts they have musculous Fibres, and assigns an excellent Use of them; Cellulæ istæ vesiculares, ut nixus pro expiratione contractivos edant, etiam fibras, utì per Microscopium planè conspicere est, musculares obtinent, ubi supr. §. 16. And in the next §, Ut pro datâ occasione majorem aëris copiam exsufflent, aut materiam extussiendam ejiciant, fibris muscularibus donatæ, sese arctiùs contrahunt, contentaque sua penitùs exterminant. Et enim ordinariæ pectoris Systolæ, quas musculorum relaxationes ex parte efficiunt, aërem forsan totum à Tracheâ & Bronchiis, haud tamen à Vesiculis, quâque vice ejiciunt: propter has (quoties opus erit) inaniendas, & totius Pectoris cavitas plurimùm angustatur, & cellulæ ipsæ vesiculures à propriis fibris constrictis coarctantur.
[] Circa hos motus [Scil. Pectoris dilatationem, &c.] divini Conditoris mechanicen, ad regulas Mathematicas planè adaptaram, satis admirari non possumus; siquidem nullâ aliâ in re manifestùs Ὁ Θεὸς γεωμετρεῖν videtur. Quippe cùm pectoris, tum ampliato, tum coarctatio à quibusdam Musculis (quorum munus unicum est contrahere) perfici debeat; res ita instituitur, ut Costæ quæ thoracis, volut parallelogrammi oblongi versus cylindrum incurvati, latera efformant, in figuram modò quadratam, cum angulis rectis, pro pectoris ampliatione; modò in rhomboeidem, cum angulis acutis pro ejusdem contractione, ducantur, &c. Willis, ubi supr. §. 28.
Galen having spoken of the Parts ministring to Respiration, concludeth, Nihil usquam à Naturâ ullo pacto per incuriam, fuisse præteritum, qua cùm omnia præsentiret & provideret, quæ sunt necessaria illa, quæ causa alicujus extiterunt, confecutura, omnibus instaurationes parare occupavit, cujus apparatus copiosa facultas admirabilem Sapientiam testantur. De us. part. l. 5. c. 15. See also l. 6. c. 1.
[k] For the Structure of the Intercostals, Midriff, &c. I shall refer to Dr. Willis, and other Anatomists. Bur Dr. Drake taxeth Dr. Willis with an Error in fancying there is an Opposition in the Office of the Intercostals, by reason that the Fibres of the external and internal Intercostals decussate; that therefore the external serve to raise the Ribs, the internal to draw them down. But Dr. Drake is of Steno’s, and Dr. Mayow’s Opinion, that notwithstanding the Decussation of their Fibres, the Power they exert upon, and the Motion they effect in the Ribs, is one and the same. Drake’s Anat. l. 2. c. 7. and l. 4. c. 5. Mayow de Respir. c. 7.
[l] Although Dr. Drake and some others deny the Intercostals being Antagonist-Muscles, as in [the preceding Note], yet they, and most other Anatomists that I have met with, attribute a considerable Power to them in the act of Respiration, as they do also to the Subclavian and Triangular Muscles: but the learned Etmuller denies it for these three Reasons, 1. Quia respirando nullam in illis contractionem sentio. 2. Quia——sibi invicem non adducuntur, &c. 3. Quia Costæ omnes ab aliis modò enarratis musculis moventur, idque simul, &c. Intercostales itaque, necnon Subclavios Musculos Costis, parietum instar, ad complenda interstitia intercostalia, pectusque integrandum, ac Costas connectendas, intertectos esse, probabiliter concludo; quo munere triangulares etiam——fungi, rationi consentaneum est. Etmul. Dissert. 2. cap. 4. §. 6.
But as to the Use of the Triangular Muscle in Respiration, we may judge of it, from its remarkable Size, and Use in a Dog; of which Dr. Willis gives this Account from Fallopius: In Homine parvus adeò & subtilis iste [Musculus] est, ut vix pro Musculo accipi queat: in Cane per totum os pectoris protenditur, & cartilagines omnes, etiam verarum Costarum sterno inosculatas, occupat: Cujus discriminis ratio divinam circa Animalium fabricas Providentiam planè indigitat. Quippe cùm hoc animal, ad cursus velocissimos & diu continuandos natum, quo sanguis, dum intensiùs agitatur, ritè accendatur eventileturque, aërem celerrimè & fortiter uti inspirare, ita etiam exspirare debet——idcirco propter hunc actum firmiùs obeundum (cujus in Homine haud magnus est usus) musculus caninas molem ingentem & tanto operi parem fortitur. Willis ubi supr. §. 32.
[m] Ray’s Wisdom of God in the Creation, p. 343.
[n] Mr. Cheselden, an ingenious and most accurate Anatomist, having somewhat particular in his Observations about the Circulation of the Blood through the Heart of the Fœtus, I shall present the Reader with some of his Observations, which he favoured me with the Sight of. The Blood (saith he) which is brought to the Heart by the ascending Cava, passes out of the right Auricle into the left, through a Passage called Foramen Ovale, in the Septum [common to them both] without passing through the right Ventricle (as after the Birth) while the Blood from the descending Cava passeth through the right Auricle and Ventricle into the pulmonary Artery, and thence into the Aorta through the Duct, betwixt that and the pulmonary Artery, called Ductus Arteriosus, whilst a small Portion of the Blood, thrown into the pulmonary Artery passeth through the Lungs, no more than is sufficient to keep open the pulmonary Vessels. Thus both Ventricles are employed in driving the Blood through the Aorta to all Parts of the Fœtus, and to the Mother too. But after the Birth, the Blood being to be driven from the Aorta through the Fœtus alone, and not the Mother too, one Ventricle becomes sufficient, whilst the other is employed in driving the Blood through the Lungs, the Ductus Arteriosus being shut up by means of the Alteration of its Position, which happens to it from the raising the Aorta by the Lungs when they become inflated. After that the Blood is thus driven into the Lungs, in its return it shuts the Valve of the Foramen Ovale against the Foramen it self, to whose Sides it soon adheres, and so stops up the Passage. The Ductus Arteriosus, or Ductus Arteriosus in Ligamentum versus, is seldom to be discerned in adult Bodies, but the Figure of the Foramen Ovale is never obliterated.
[o] It hath been generally thought to be not improbable, but that on some Occasions the Foramen Ovale may remain open in Man. In a Girl of four or five Years of Age, Dr. Connor found it but half closed, and in the Form of a Crescent. And he thinks somewhat of this kind might be in the Person whose Skeleton was found to have no Joynts in the Back-Bone, Ribs, &c. Of which a Description, with Cuts, may be found in Phil. Trans. Nᵒ. 215. and more largely in his Dissert. Med. Phys. de stupendo Ossium coalitu, where he adds to the Girl, in whom the For. Ov. was not shut, a like Observation of another Girl he opened at Oxford of three Years Old, In quâ Foramen Ovals ferè erat occlusum, in medio tamen, exili foramine, per quod Turundam facilè transmisi, erat pervium, pag. 30. So Mr. Cowper (than whom none more accurate and a better Judge) saith, I have often found the Foramen Ovale open in the Adult. Anat. Append. Fig. 3. But Mr. Cheselden is of a different Opinion. Of which in [the following Note].
From somewhat of this Cause I am apt to think it was that the Tronningholm Gardiner escaped drowning, and some others mentioned by Pechlin. His Stories are, Hortulanus Tronningholmensis etiamnum vivens, annos natos 65, pro illâ ætate satis adhuc valens & vegetus, cùm ante 18 annos, alii in aquas delapso opem ferre vellet, forte fortunâ & ipse per glaciem incautiùs procedens, aquas incidet 18 ulnas profundas: ubi ille, corpore erecto quasi ad perpendiculum, pedibus fundo adhæsit. Constitit sic per 16 horas, antequàm produceretur in auras. Dixit autem, simul ac infra aquarum superficiem fuit demersus, statim obriguisse totum, &, si quem tum habuit motum & sensum, amisisse, nisi quod sonantes Stockolmii campanas etiam sub aquis obscuriùs percipere sibi sit visus. Sensit etiam, statim sese velut vesiculam ori applicâsse, adeò ut aqua nulla os penetraverit, in aures verò transitum, etiam sentiente illo, habuerit; atque inde auditum suum debilitatum aliquandiu esse. Hoc statu dum 16 horas permansit frustrà quæsitus, tandem repertum, conto in caput infixo, cujus etiam sensum se habuisse dixit, fundo extraxerunt, sperantes ex more aut persuasione gentis revicturum esse. Itaque pannis linteisque productum obvolvunt, ne aër admitti possit perniciosus futurus subito illapsu: custoditum sic satis ab aëre sensim sensimque tepidiori loco admovent mox calidis adoriuntur fasciis, fricant, radunt, & sufflaminatum tot horis sanguinis corporisque motum negotiosâ illâ operâ reducunt: denique antapoplecticis & genialibus liquoribus vitæ reddunt & pristinæ mobilitati. Retulit is atque ostendit se etiamnum in capite circumferre vestigia violentiæ à conto illatæ, & cephalalgiis vexari gravissimis. Et propter hunc ipsum casum, religiosè à popularibus, & hujusce rei testibus probatum, Serenissimæ Reginæ matris munificentiâ & annuo stipendio est donatus——& Serenis. Principi——oblatus, vivus sui testis——Consignatam manu habes Historiam D. Tilasii, Biblioth. Reg. Præfecti, qui testatus est se prænovisse mulierem, quæ tres ipsos dies sub aquis hæsit, & similem in modum, quo Hortulanus ille, resuscitata, adhuc dum lucis plenâ fruitur usurâ. Accedit Nob. Burmanni——fides. qui confessus est,——se in pago Boness parochiæ Pithoviæ concionem frequentâsse funebrem, in quâ, dum acta recenseret Præco Senis cujusdam septuagenarii Laur. Jonæ——audiverit ex ore Concionatoris, vivum eum, adolescentum 17 annorum, aquis submersum, 7 demum hebdomadâ (rem prodigiosam!) extractum ad se rediisse vivum & incolumem. Pechlin. de Aer. & Alim. def. c. 10.
Shall we to this Cause, or to the Ossification, or more than ordinary Strength of the Wind-Pipe, attribute the Recovery to Life of Persons hanged? Of which Pechlin gives an Instance that fell under his own Knowledge, of a Woman hanged, and in all Appearance dead, but recovered by a Physician accidentally coming in, with a plentiful Administration of Spir. Sal. Armon. Pechl. ib. c. 7. And the Story of Anne Green, executed at Oxford, Dec. 14. 1650. is still well remembered among the Seniors there. She was hanged by the Neck near half an Hour, some of her Friends in the mean Time thumping her on the Breast, others hanging with all their Weight upon her Legs, sometimes lifting her up, and then pulling her down again with a sudden Jirk, thereby the sooner to dispatch her out of her Pain: as her printed Account wordeth it. After she was in her Coffin, being observed to breath, a lusty Fellow stamped with all his Force on her Breast and Stomach, to put her out of her Pain. But by the assistance of Dr Peity, Dr. Willis, Dr. Bathurst, and Dr. Clark, she was again brought to Life. I my self saw her many Years after, after that she had (I heard) born divers Children. The Particulars of her Crime, Execution and Restauration, see in a little Pamphlet, called News from the Dead, written, as I have been informed, by Dr. Bathurst, (afterwards the most vigilant and learned President of Trinity-College, Oxon,) and published in 1651. with Verses upon the Occasion.
[p] The Sea-Calf hath the Foramen Ovale, by which means it is enabled to stay long under the Water, as the Paris. Anatomists. Of which see in [Book VI. Chap. 5. Note (c).]
But the fore-commended Mr. Cheselden thinks the Foramen Ovale is neither open in amphibious Creatures, nor any adult Land-Animals. When I first (saith he) applied my self to the Dissection of Human Bodies, I had no distrust of the frequent Accounts of the Foramen Ovale being open in Adults: but I find since, that I mistook the Ostium Venarum Coronariarum for the Foramen. The like I suppose Authors have done, who assert that it is always open in amphibious Animals: for we have made diligent Enquiry into those Animals, and never found it open. Neither would that (as they imagine) serve these Creatures to live under Water, as the Fœtus doth in Utero, unless the Ductus Arteriosus was open also.
This Opinion of Mr. Cheselden hath this to render it probable, that the Ostium Venarum Coronariarum is so near the Foramen Ovale, that without due regard, it may be easily mistaken for it. Such therefore as have Opportunity of examining this Part in amphibious Animals, or any other Subject, ought to seek for the Ostium, whenever they suspect they have met with the Foramen.
[q] Of the singular Conformation of the Heart and Lungs of the Tortoise, which is an amphibious Animal. See [Book VI. Chap. 5. Note (b).]
[r] Acts xvii. 25.
CHAP. VIII.
Of the Motion of Animals.
Next to the two grand Acts of animal Life, their Sense or Respiration, I shall consider their Motion, or locomotive Faculty; whereby they convey themselves from Place to Place, according to their Occasions, and Way of Life: And the admirable Apparatus to this Purpose, is a plain Demonstration of God’s particular Foresight, Care, and especial Providence towards all the animal World.
And here I might view in the first Place the Muscles, their curious Structure[a], the nice tacking them to every Joynt, to pull it this Way, and that Way, and the other Way, according to the special Purpose, Design, and Office of every such Joint: Also their various Size and Strength; some large and corpulent, others less, and some scarce visible to the naked Eye; all exactly fitted to every Place, and every use of the Body. And lastly, I might take Notice of the muscular Motions, both involuntary and spontaneous[].
Next, I might survey the special Fabrick of the Bones[c], ministring to animal Motion. Next, I might take notice of the Joynts[d], their compleat Form adjusted to the Place, and Office they are employed in; their Bandage, keeping them from Luxations; the oily Matter[e] to lubricate them, and their own Smoothness to facilitate their Motion.
And lastly, I might trace the various Nerves throughout the Body; sent about to minister to its various Motions[f]. I might consider their Origine[g], their Ramifications to the several Parts, and their Inosculations with one another, according to the Harmony and Accord of one Part with another, necessary for the Benefit of the Animal. But some of those Things I have given some Touches upon already, and more I shall mention hereafter[h], and it would be tedious here to insist upon them all.
I shall therefore only speak distinctly to the Locomotive Act it self, or what directly relates to it.
And here it is admirable to consider the various Methods of Nature[], suited to the Occasions of various Animals. In some their Motion is swift, in others slow. In some performed with two, four, or more Legs: in some with two, or four Wings: in some with neither[k].
And first for swift or slow Motion. This we find is proportional to the Occasions of each respective Animal. Reptiles, whose Food, Habitation, and Nests, lie in the next Clod, Plant, Tree, or Hole, or can bear long Hunger and Hardship, they need neither Legs nor Wings for their Transportation; but their vermicular or sinuous Motion (performed with no less Art, and as curiously provided for as the Legs or Wings of other Creatures: This, I say,) is sufficient for their Conveyance.
Man and Beasts, whose Occasions require a large Room, have accordingly a swifter Motion, with proper Engines for that Service; answerable to their Range for Food, their Occupation of Business, or their want of Armature, and to secure them against Harms[l].
But for the winged Creatures (Birds and Insects,) as they are to traverse large Tracts of Land and Water, for their Food, for their commodious Habitation, or Breeding their Young, to find Places of Retreat and Security from Mischiefs; so they have accordingly the Faculty of flying in the Air; and that swiftly or slowly, a long or short a Time, according to their Occasions and Way of Life. And accordingly their Wings, and whole Body, are curiously prepared for such a Motion; as I intend to shew in a proper Place[m].
Another remarkable Thing in the motive Faculty of all Creatures, is the neat, geometrical Performance of it. The most accurate Mathematician, the most skilful in mechanick Motions, can’t prescribe a nicer Motion (than what they perform) to the Legs and Wings of those that walk or fly[n], or to the Bodies of those that creep[o]. Neither can the Body be more compleatly poised for the Motion it is to have in every Creature, than it already actually is. From the largest Elephant, to the smallest Mite, we find the Body artfully balanced[p]. The Head not too heavy, nor too light for the rest of the Body, nor the rest of the Body for it[q]. The Viscera are not let loose, or so placed, as to swag, over-balance, or over-set the Body; but well-braced, and distributed to maintain the æquipoise of the Body. The motive Parts also are admirably well fixed in respect to the Center of Gravity; placed in the very Point, fittest to support and convey the Body. Every Leg beareth his true Share of the Body’s Weight. And the Wings so nicely are set to the Center of Gravity, as even in that fluid Medium, the Air, the Body is as truly balanced, as we could have balanced it with the nicest Scales.
But among all Creatures, none more elegant than the sizing the Body of Man, the gauging his Body so nicely, as to be able to stand erect, to stoop, to sit, and indeed to move any way, only with the Help of so small a Stay as the Feet[r]: whose Mechanism of Bones, Tendons and Muscles to this purpose, is very curious and admirable.