[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.