FOOTNOTES:
[a] Notwithstanding I have before, in [Book IV. Chap. 12. Note (p)], taken Notice of the Earth-Worm; yet it being a good Example of the Creator’s wise and curious Workmanship, in even this meanest Branch of the Creation, I shall superadd a few farther Remarks from Drs. Willis and Tyson. Saith Willis, Lumbricus terrestris, licet vile & contemptibile habetur, Organa vitalia, necnon & alia viscera, & membra divino artificio admirabiliter fabrefacta sortitur: totius corporis compages musculorum annularium catena est, quorum fibræ orbiculares contractæ quemque annulum, prius amplum, & dilatum, angustiorem & longiorem reddunt. [This Muscle in Earth-Worms, I find is spiral, as in a good Measure is their Motion likewise; so that by this Means they can, (like the Worm of an Augre,) the better bore their Passage into the Earth. Their reptile Motion also, may be explain’d by a Wire wound on a Cylinder, which when slipp’d off, and one End extended and held fast, will bring the other nearer it. So the Earth-Worm, having shot out, or extended its Body, (which is with a Wreathing,) it takes hold by those small Feet it hath, and so contracts the hinder Part of its Body. Thus the curious and learned Dr. Tyson, Phil. Trans. Nᵒ. 147.] Nam proinde cùm portio corporis superior elongata, & exporrecta, ad spatium alterius extenditur, ibidemque plano affigitur, ad ipsum quasi ad centrum portio corporis inferior relaxata, & abbreviata facile pertrabitur. Pedunculi serie quadruplici, per totam longitudinem Lumbrici disponuntur; his quasi totidem uncis, partem modò hanc, modò istam, plano affigit, dum alteram exporrigit, aut post se ducit. Supra oris hiatum, Proboscide, quâ terram perforat & elevat, donatur. And then he goes on with the other Parts that fall under View, the Brain, the Gullet, the Heart, the spermatick Vessels, the Stomachs and Intestines, the Foramina on the Top of the Back, adjoyning to each Ring, supplying the Place of Lungs, and other Parts. Willis de Anim. Brut. P. 1. c. 3.
[c] There is a great Deal of geometrical Neatness and Nicety, in the sinuous Motion of Snakes, and other Serpents. For the assisting in which Action, the annular Scales under their Body are very remarkable, lying cross the Belly, contrary to what those in the Back, and rest of the Body do; also as the Edges of the foremost Scales lye over the Edges of their following Scales, from Head to Tail; so those Edges run out a little beyond, or over their following Scales; so as that when each Scale is drawn back, or set a little upright by its Muscle, the outer Edge thereof, (or Foot it may be call’d,) is rais’d also a little from the Body, to lay hold on the Earth, and so promote and facilitate the Serpent’s Motion. This is what may be easily seen in the Slough, or Belly of the Serpent-kind. But there is another admirable Piece of Mechanism, that my Antipathy to those Animals hath prevented my prying into; and that is, that every Scale hath a distinct Muscle, one End of which is tack’d to the Middle of its Scale; the other, to the upper Edge of its following Scale. This Dr. Tyson found in the Rattle-Snake, and I doubt not is in the whole Tribe.
[d] The wise Author of Nature, having deny’d Feet and Claws to enable Snails to creep and climb, hath made them amends in a Way more commodious for their State of Life, by the broad Skin along each Side of the Belly, and the undulating Motion observable there. By this latter ’tis they creep; by the former, afflicted with the glutinous Slime emitted from the Snail’s Body, they adhere firmly and securely to all Kinds of Superficies, partly by the Tenacity of their Slime, and partly by the Pressure of the Atmosphere. Concerning this Part, (which he calls the Snail’s Feet,) and their Undulation, See Dr. Lister’s Exercit. Anat. 1. §. 1. and 37.
[e] The motive Parts, and Motion of Caterpillars, are useful, not only to their Progression and Conveyance from Place to Place; but also their more certain, easy and commodious gathering of Food. For having Feet before and behind, they are not only enabled to go by a kind of Steps made by their fore and hind Parts; but also to climb up Vegetables, and to reach from their Boughs and Stalks for Food at a Distance; for which Services, their Feet are very nicely made both before and behind. Behind, they have broad Palms for sticking too, and these beset almost round with small sharp Nails, to hold and grasp what they are upon: Before, their Feet are sharp and hook’d, to draw Leaves, &c. to them, and to hold the fore-part of the Body, whilst the hinder-parts are brought up thereto. But nothing is more remarkable in these Reptiles, than that these Parts and Morton are only temporary, and incomparably adapted only to their present Nympha-State; whereas in their Aurelia-State, they have neither Feet nor Motion, only a little in their hinder parts: And in their Mature-State, they have the Parts and Motion of a flying Insect, made for Flight.
[f] It is a wonderful pretty Mechanism, observable in the going of Multipedes, as the Juli, Scolopendræ, &c. that on each Side the Body, every Leg hath its Motion, one very regularly following the other from one End of the Body to the other in a Way not easy to be describ’d in Words; so that their Legs in going, make a kind of Undulation, and give the Body a swifter Progression than one would imagine it should have, where so many Feet are to take so many short Steps.
[g] Vertebrarum Apophysos breviores sunt, præcipuè juxta caput, cujus propterea flexus in aversum, & latera, facilis Viperis est: secus Leonibus, &c.——Incumbit his Ossibus ingens Musculorum minutorum præsidium, tum spinas tendinum exilium magno apparatu diducentium, tum vertebras potissimum in diversa flectentium, atque erigentium. Adeoque illam corporis miram agilitatem, non tantùm (ut Aristot.) ὅτι ἐπικαμπεῖς καὶ χονδρώδεις ὁι σπόνδυλοι quoniam faciles ad flexum, & cartilagineas produxit vertebras, sed quia etiam multiplicia motûs localis instrumenta musculos fabrefecit provida rerum Parens Natura, consecuta fuit. Blas. Anat. Anim. P. 1. c. 39. de Viperâ è Veslingio.
That which is most remarkable in the Vertebræ [of the Rattle-Snake, besides the other curious Articulations,] is, that the round Ball in the lower Part of the upper Vertebra, enters a Socket of the upper Part of the lower Vertebra, like as the Head of the Os Femoris doth the Acetabulum of the Os Ischii; by which Contrivance, as also the Articulation with one another, they have that free Motion of winding their Bodies any Way. Dr. Tyson’s Anat. of the Rattle-Snake in Phil. Trans. Nᵒ. 144. What is here observ’d of the Vertebræ of this Snake, is common to this whole Genus of Reptiles.
[h] My ingenious and learned Friend, Dr. Mead, examined with his Microscope, the Texture of a Viper’s Poyson, and found therein at first only a Parcel of small Salts nimbly floating in the Liquor; but in a short Time the Appearance was chang’d, and these saline Particles were shot out into Crystals, of an incredible Tenuity and Sharpness, with something like Knots here and there, from which they seem’d to proceed; so that the whole Texture did in a Manner represent a Spider’s Web, though infinitely finer. Mead of Poysons, p. 9.
As to the Nature and Operation of this Poyson, see the same ingenious Author’s Hypothesis, in his following Pages.
This Poyson of the Viper, lieth in a Bag in the Gums, at the Upper-end of the Teeth. It is separated from the Blood by a conglomerated Gland, lying in the anterior lateral Part of the Os Sincipitis; just behind the Orbit of the Eye: From which Gland lieth a Duct, that conveys the Poyson to the Bags at the Teeth.
The Teeth are tubulated, for the Conveyance, or Emission of the Poyson into the Wound, the Teeth make; but their Hollowness doth not reach to the Apex, or Top of the Tooth, (that being solid and sharp, the better to pierce;) but it ends in a long slit below the Point, out of which the Poyson is emitted. These Perforations of the Teeth, Galen saith, the Mountebanks us’d to stop with some kind of Paste, before they suffer’d the Vipers to bite them before their Spectators. Cuts of these Parts, &c. may be seen in the last cited Book of Dr. Mead. Also Dr. Tyson’s Anat. of the Rattle-Snake, in Philos. Transact. Nᵒ. 144.
[] That Vipers have their great Uses in Physick, is manifest from their bearing a great Share in some of our best Antidotes, such as Theriaca Andromachi, and others; also in the Cure of the Elephantiasis, and others the like stubborn Maladies, for which I shall refer to the medical Writers. But there is so singular a Case in the curious Collection of Dr. Ol. Worm. related from Kircher, that I shall entertain the Reader with it. Near the Village of Sassa, about eight Miles from the City Bracciano in Italy, saith he, Specus feu caverna (vulgò La Grotta delli Serpi) duorum hominum capax, fistulosis quibusdam foraminibus in formam cribri perforata cernitur, ex quibus ingens quædam, principio veris, diversicolorum Serpentum, nullâ tamen, ut dicitur, singulari veneni qualitate imbutorum progenies quotannis pullulare solet. In hæc speluncâ Elephantiacos, Leprosos, Paralyticos, Arabriticos, Podagricos, &c. nudos exponere solent, qui mox halituum subterraneorum calore in sudorem resoluti, Serpentum propullulantium, totum corpus infirmi implicantium, suctu linctuque ita omni vitioso virulentoque humore privare dicuntur, ut repetito hoc per aliquod tempus medicamento, tandem perfecta sanitati restituantur. This Cave Kircher visited himself, found it warm, and every Way agreeable to the Description he had of it; he saw their Holes, heard a murmuring hissing Noise in them; but although he missed seeing the Serpents (it being not the Season of their creeping out) yet he saw great Numbers of their Exuviæ, or Sloughs, and an Elm growing hard by laden with them.
The Discovery of this Cave, was by the Cure of a Leper going from Rome to some Baths near this Place; who losing his Way, and being benighted, happened upon this Cave; and finding it very warm, pull’d off his Cloaths, and being weary and sleepy, had the good Fortune not to feel the Serpents about him, till they had wrought his Cure. Vid. Museum Worm. L. 3. c. 9.
The before-commended Dr. Mead, thinks our Physicians deal too cautiously and sparingly, in their prescribing only small Quantities of the Viper’s Flesh, &c. in the Elephantiasis, and stubborn Leprosies: But he recommendeth rather the Gelly or Broth of Vipers; or, as the ancient Manner was, to boil Vipers, and eat them like Fish; or at least to drink Wine, in which they have been long infused. Vid. Mead. ubi supr. p. 34.
[k] That Earth-worms live upon Earth, is manifest from the little curled Heaps of their Dung ejected out of their Holes. But in Philos. Transact. Nᵒ. 291, I have said, it is in all Probability Earth made of rotted Roots and Plants, and such like nutritive Things, not pure Earth. And there is farther Reason for it, because Worms will drag the Leaves of Trees into their Holes.
[l] Snails might be in Danger of wanting Food, if they were to live only upon such tender Plants as are near the Ground, within their Reach only; to impower them therefore to extend their Pursuits farther, they are enabled by the Means mentioned in [Note (d)], to stick unto, and creep up Walls and Vegetables at their Pleasure.
CHAP. II.
Of the Inhabitants of the Waters.
I have now gone through that Part of the Animal World, which I proposed to survey, the Animals inhabiting the Land.
As to the other Part of the Terraqueous Globe, the Waters, and the Inhabitants thereof, not having Time to finish what I have begun, on that large Subject, I shall be forced to quit it for the present, altho’ we have there as ample and glorious a Scene of the Infinite Creator’s Power and Art, as hath been already set forth on the dry Land. For the Waters themselves are an admirable Work of God[a], and of infinite Use[] to that Part of the Globe already surveyed; and the prodigious Variety[c], and Multitudes of curious and wonderful Things observable in its Inhabitants of all Sorts, are an inexhaustible Scene of the Creator’s Wisdom and Power. The vast Bulk of some[d], and prodigious Minuteness of others[e], together with the incomparable Contrivance and Structure of the Bodies[f] of all; the Provisions and Supplies of Food afforded to such an innumerable Company of Eaters, and that in an Element, unlikely one would think, to afford any great Store of Supplies[g]; the Business of Respiration perform’d in a Way so different from, but equivalent to what is in Land Animals[h]; the Adjustment of the Organs of Vision[] to that Element in which the Animal liveth; the Poise[k], the Support[l], the Motion of the Body[m], forwards with great Swiftness, and upwards and downwards with great Readiness and Agility, and all without Feet and Hands, and ten thousand Things besides; all these Things, I say, do lay before us so various, so glorious, and withal so inexhaustible a Scene of the divine Power, Wisdom and Goodness, that it would be in vain to engage my self in so large a Province, without allotting as much Time and Pains to it, as the preceding Survey hath cost me. Passing by therefore that Part of our Globe, I shall only say somewhat very briefly concerning the insensitive Creatures, particularly those of the vegetable Kingdom, and so conclude this Survey.
