To confirm and illustrate all which, I desire, that the following familiar Observations may be considered:
1. If a Horse, fat and fair to look on, without a hollow to be seen between his Muscles, be rid extreme hard, and into a great sweat, and then kept one day without water or moist meat, you shall see him took so thin in many places as in the musculous parts, that you will hardly believe it to be the same Horse, especially if he be (as the Phrase is among Horse-masters) a Nash or Wash-Horse. The cause of which thinness will easily be granted to be only an exhaustion of Juice, expended out of the Blood, which did stuff out these Vessels. And whoever, that is used to ride hard, shall observe, how thick this foul Horse breaths, and at what a rate he will reek and sweat, will not much wonder at the alteration. But if the Horse be a hardy one, and used to be hard ridden, then you will see, that one days rest, and his belly full of good meat and drink, will in one day or two almost restore him to his former plight, the food being within that short space of time so distributed, that all the Vessels will be replenish'd again, as before. And the cleaner the Horse is, the sooner recruited, and the less sign of hard riding will appear. This seems to shew the facility, with which the Juice, called Blood, passeth; Which surely, if there were such a thing as a Parenchyma might by several accidents (not difficult to mention) be so deprav'd in several parts of it, that it might lose its receptive faculty; than which it may be thought to have none of greater use, being supposed to be without Vessels.
2. Discoursing sometimes with Grasiers in the Country, about the Pasture of Cattle, I have been informed by them, that, if they buy any Old Beasts, Oxen, or Cows to feed, they choose rather those that are as poor as can be, so they be sound; because that, if they are pretty well in flesh, what they then add to them by a good pasture, though it make them both look and sell well, yet it will not make them eat so well, their flesh proving hard and very tough: Which some may suppose to be the age of Parenchyma; and so it is of that so called. But if those Beasts be old and extremely poor, then they feed very kindly, and will be not only very fat but spend well, like young ones, and eat very tender.
Of which I take the reason (excluding a Parenchyma now) to be this. When an Oxe or a Cow is grown old, and in an indifferent plight as to his flesh (for so it is called) all those Vessels having been kept at that size for the most part, have contracted a tenseness and firmness, and their fibers less extensive, nor so fitted for the reception of more unctuous particles to relaxe them; and that additional unctuous matter, which occasions fatness, is forced to seek new quarter any where (often remote from Muscles) where it can be with least difficulty received; sometimes to one place, sometimes to
another, as may be seen in Shambles. Whereas, if there were such a thing as a Parenchyma, that certainly would, like a hungry Sponge, immediately swell up in several parts, (which without much difficulty might be discover'd in the dissection) and more eminently, where it should find the pores most potent: And in the dissection of such Muscles it would be very strange, not to find some, if not many, pieces of them in various shapes, to the great inconvenience of the parts, in which they are seated: Which yet I confess I could never find in any Muscle unless it were where there had been a Contusion, or an Impostume, or the like. But according to my opinion of the Parenchymous parts, the reason, why the Flesh of a very lean Ox or Cow, that hath got new Flesh in a good pasture, eats tenderer, seems to be this: That in a very lean Beast the Vessels designed for admitting and distributing the nourishing Juice, are so near contracted, and lye so close together; that, when once they are relax'd; by fresh and unctuous nourishment, they extend every way in all extensive parts, until in a short time the whole Creature is, as it were, created a new, having got new flesh upon old bones. And the necessity of extreme extension makes all those parts, that are, as has been said, for the admission of nourishment, so thin and fine, that it will make the lean Beast, put into a rich pasture, eat young and tender: Whereas one of the same Age, that never was very poor, fed in the same pasture, shall eat hard and tough.
3. It has been observed, that Corpulent Persons in some Diseases, that seize on them, do fall away to wonder, not only in the Wast, but in the Arms, Legs, and Thighs; and the very Calves of the Legs have been observed so flaccid and loose, that one might wrap the skin about the bones. The reason whereof, according to the opinion deliver'd, may be easily rendred to be, A great Consumption of the Stock of Liquors, that in Health kept the Vessels turgid; Which Vessels I suppose to make up those Muscles. But when the Pores are obstructed, that the nourishment is hindred (which then also uses to be but sparingly administred) and sweats, either spontaneous, or forced, are large, there must needs be a great expence of those Liquors, the supply being but inconsiderable: which cannot but contract all these ducts of all sorts nearer together, and make them much less in themselves, meerly from Exhaustion: Or, if there should be no sweats, the internal Heat spends the spirits, and dries up the Liquors; the consequence whereof may reasonably be presumed to be this Flaccidity of parts, and great and sudden Change, made in them; not that there is need of any Parenchyma to fill up these Muscles considering what hath been said. Mean while, I humbly conceive, that if it be in any part of a Muscle, their Ingenuity, that plead for it, will put them upon some experiments, to bring it to Ocular Demonstration, either in Living or Dead Muscle, any kind of flesh, raw, rosted, boyl'd, or in what they can best make it out. And when I shall be convinc'd of an Errour in what I have discoursed, I shall beg pardon for giving the Occasion of the trouble of that Experiment, which shall prove a
Parenchyma in any Muscle; and think my time well spent in receiving a full satisfaction of the ungroundedness of my opinion; and readily submit to the Author, with a grateful acknowledgement of my Obligation to any one that shall rectifie me in my mistake, if it be one.
Observables touching Petrification.
Though much hath been already said and written of Petrification, yet 'tis conceived, that all that comes so far short of a competent stock for the composing of a perfect History of Petrification, that the incompleatness thereof ought to awaken the more diligent attention of the Curious, and to call in their aid for Additions, thereby so to encrease and to complete the Materials for that work, that it may the better serve to clear and make out the Cause of that Transmutation. And that the rather, because if it lay in the power of humane Skill (by the knowledge of Nature's works) to raise Petrification, or to allay, or prevent it, or to order and direct it (which perchance in time might be attained the said way) much use might be made of this Art; especially if it could be made applicable to hinder the Generation of the Stone and Gravel in humane Bodies, or to dissolve the Stone, where 'tis formed; besides other valuable Uses, that might be excogitated.