NERVOSA et tenuis membrana

[Illustration: page image]

hæc continuo sequitur. Membrana rur-

sus è musculis ortum habens huic statim

subiungitur, ubi recta mox linea appa-

ret in medio.

MVSCVLI obliqui duo descenden-

tes uersus imum uentrem his subiacent.

Musculis obliquis ascendentibus sub his

locus est. Recti duo musculi uendicant lo-

cum proximum. Atqꝫ infimi omnium

sunt musculi transuersi. Octo igitur hi

sunt quorum ferè singulis sunt suæ tuni-

cæ neruosæ quibus à se inuicem discri-

minantur.

SVBTENDITVR his aponeurωsis

siue potius membrana quædam spissa et

tenax quam aliqui falsò peritonæum ap-

pellant. Hactenus de Epigastrio et eius

partibus.

CERTÈ peritonæum neruosa pars

est, tactu mollis, tenacitatis mediocris, to-

tum uentrem occupans, et aponeurωsi si-

[Illustration: page image]

ue membranæ quam dixi subsidēs. Græ-

ci id illi nomen indiderunt. Barbari Si-

phacid uocant.

ZIRBVS siue omentum subperito-

næo exporrigitur. Adipis quoddam

genus Zirbus est, ex neruosis filis tenu-

iqꝫ neruorum substantia adiposa constās

priore adipe minus crassū. Intestina plu-

rima et imum uentriculum operit, et ali-

menti coctionem expedit.

INTESTINA à uentriculo exori-

untur, è quibus quod rectum et lon-

ganon appellatur, omnium intestinorum

infimum est, et siccum alui onus conti-

net, et inter nates caput exerit, ut onus

deponat. Colon illi continuatur, et in

ascensu renem sinistrum ambit, et ad uen-

triculi latera dextrosum cædit. Quod

Græci τυφλον et µονόφθαλµον, Romani

cæcum intestinum et unoculum uocant,

colo accrescit, cuius unicus est meatus, al-

[Illustration: page image]

tera enim extremitate clauditur, ut coctio-

ni subseruiat cōmodius, uentriculi cuius-

dam modo. Hinc igitur rei nomen. Atqꝫ

intestina quidem crassiora tot sint.

ILEON excipit cæcum, intestinum

in crebros intortum sinus a qua figura et

Græci nomen illi fecerunt παρα του ἐιλεῖ-

σθαι .i. ab inuoluendo, cuius morbus et

iliacus dicitur. Illi ieiunum adheret. Hoc

ieiuni nomen corporum dissectores in-

testino dederunt ab euentu quòd semper

inane reperiatur, et nihil continere. Iecur

enim auulsit prius quicquid haberet in se

ieiunum. Assurgit supra hæc intestina

omnia, duodenum quod ieiuno inferne,

superne Pylωro affigitur. Græcis δωδεκα

δάκτῦλοµ uocatur à duodecim digitorū

mensura. Tria hæc substantiæ suæ ratio-

ne appellentur gracilia intestina.

VENTRICVLVS sub transuerso

septo locatus est, cuius os superius in

[Illustration: page image]

quod œsophagus terminatur, stoma-

chus proprie appellatur, inferius per

q__uod_ intestina alimentū deriuatur πυλωρος

dicitur.

LIEN RARAE sustantiæ uiscus,

uentriculo adiacet ad sinistrum latus

et iecur ad dexterum Hypochondrium,

hoc rotundum, ac quadam tenus lunare,

illud oblongum, ac ueluti quadratum.

Vtriusqꝫ horum gibbosa pars ad inferio-

res costas pertinet. Quod in alterutro cō-

cauum est, id et uentriculo est proximum.

Iecur sanguinē gignit. Lien eundē repur-

gat ab atrabile. Inuaugescit Lien cū reli-

qui corporis dispendio. Iecoris magnitu-

do totius corporis compagi utilis est,

quòd sanguinē et naturalē spiritū summi-

nistret ubertim. Iecur habet suas penu-

las quos Græci λοβούς nominant, inter-

dum treis, interdum plureis, in cuius ca-

uo et uessicula fellis prominet, qua san-

[Illustration: page image]

guis à bile defecatus et purus euadit.

Cuius utiqꝫ uessiculæ exhalatione et tran-

spiratu inficiuntur nonnunquam duode-

num et ieiunum, nonnunquam et pungi

se senciunt, si transpiratus maior sit et bi-

lis mordacior.

À IECORIS concauo uena portæ

oritur: multis exilibus iecoris uenis con-

currentibus ex quibus ea una constat. E

diuerso rursus in innumeras eadem spar-

gitur parteis, uenarumq́ꝫ immensam red-

dit multitudinem, quæ postea passim in-

testinis propè omnibus inseruntur, ad

mistis unâ membranulis adiposis, ut nu-

trimentalem substantiam iecori suppedi-

tent in sanguinis generationem. Chilus

namqꝫ cibusq́ꝫ à uentriculo statim ad in-

testina demittitur concædente exitū py-

lωro, ubi primum accæperit uentriculus

quantum usibus suis sufficiat, et coctio-

nem suam perægerit qui nisi et in sangui-

[Illustration: page image]

nis naturam transmutandus sit, parum

admodum in reliqui corporis nutricio-

nem contulerit. Hunc ergo usum præ-

stant numerosæ hæ uenulæ, ut optimum

nutrimenti succū haud satis adhuc coctū

interaneis exugant, et iecoris cauo man-

dent, quo illic sanguis fiat. Quas nimi-

rum uenulas et Meseraicas, et Mesenteri-

cas Græco uocabulo nominare licebit.

Latini eas lacteis uocant. Ad harum mu-

nimen ne per ramificationis frequentiam

ualentiore corporis motu earum qúæuis

distrahantur dilanientúr ue, quo firmius

constent singulæ sibi uenulæ duodeno

πανκρεασ adhæret, glandulosa scilicet ca-

ro, quæ et καλλίκρεασ Græcis uocatur in-

terdum.

SANGVIS meat à iecoris cōcauo, in

quo paulo āte formatus est, ad gibbū

iecoris, non qualis tamen omnino factus

fuerit in cauo, sed syncerior et simplicior,

[Illustration: page image]

utrâqꝫ bile ab eo secreta, et ad concæpta-

cula sua transmissa, ut corpori salubriter

alendo et gignēdis spiritibus inculpatior

sit. À gibbo uero et in totum undiqꝫ cor-

pus porrigitur sanguis, per uenam cauā

(Græcis κοιλη dicitur) et multiplices eius

uenæ ramos. Hæc profecto uena reliquas

omneis corporis uenas inagnitudine su-

perat, et à iecoris oritur gibbo. À qua per

mediam spinam descendēte unus utrinqꝫ

ramos renes petit, alterutro ramo in pal-

mi longitudinem protenso.

HI CONCAVAE uenæ rami ue-

næ sunt emulgentes. Quem nouissi-

me secuimus, illi leuus ramus in corpore

alciorem exortus sui locum habebat. Sę-

pissime tamen contra fit, ut emulgens

dextera uena sublimius in corpus effera-

tur. His emulgentibus uenis natura uti-

tur ad deferendam sanguinis aquositatē

et bilem à iecore ad renes. Totidem et ar-

[Illustration: page image]

teriarum ramuli, eodem situ, et á magna

Aorta arteria cauam uenam subeunte, in

æquam longitudinem procurrunt in re-

nes, sub emulgentibus uenis, bile et san-

guine aquoso cor exonerantes, quibus et

arteriarum emulgentium nomen est.

DESCENDVNT et à sinistris e-

mulgentibus uena et arteria in sinistræ

partis testem. Seminales eæ sunt meatus

sanguine et spiritu turgentes, fœminas in

his contenta seminis materia procreat,

quód humor sit aquosus et coctionem

desyderet. Meatus seminales itidem arte-

ria et uena à dexteris demittūtur in dexte-

rum testem, uerum à uenæ cauæ et Aortæ

arteriæ truncis excrescentes, ac proinde

succus in eis minus aquosus, ac probe cō-

coctus, maribus generandis aptior est.

In his meatibus sanguis percoquitur, qui

póst ad glandulosam testium carnē trans-

latus, seminis formam acquirit.

[Illustration: page image]

RENES solida et dura uiscera sunt,

non sentientia, uis attractrix in eis pollet

plurimum. Sanguinem ab aquositate ac

bile purgant. Sed sanguinem retinent, ut

quo alantur reliquum humorem expri-

munt. Eis enim ὀυρῆτῆρες adnectūtur .i.

urinarij meatus, candidi fistulosi, ac ten-

siles, qualeis nimirum ad uesicam pertine-

re dixeris et eius substantiæ confineis esse.

SEPTVM transuersū est mēbranosa

quædam substantia, uitalia et natura-

lia membra intercursans. Græcis διάφραγ-

µα dicitur. Interraneis uim expultricem

firmat, spiritui destinatis membris inscri-

bitur, fumidosqꝫ uapores coërcet ne cor-

dis, aut cerebri, uiuidos spiritus offuscent.

Cui supernę affigitur neruosa tunica quæ

Thoracem intrinsecus uestit, et pectoris

costas statis intersticijs deligat, quam tu-

nicam Græci πλεῦραν bona ex parte no-

mināt, aliqnando uero ὑποζωµα ijsdem

[Illustration: page image]

uocatur. Huius inflammatione fit Pleu-

relis, morbi nomine à tunica ducto.

A PLEVRA iuxa spinam nascitur

et membrana pulmones et intimū

Thoracem æquis portionibus per media

distinguens. Mediastinum uulgo appel-

latur, pulmonibus tanto commodo infi-

tum ut alterius pulmonis uicium alteri fa-

cile ex eo non communicetur. Certè pul-

mones in medio pectoris palacio habi-

tant, cordis et cerebri spiritus recreant, ca-

lorem attemperant, et præfocationis peri-

culum auertunt, quibus et suæ sunt pe-

nulle perinde atqꝫ iocinori. Habent et cor

perpetuo in quibusdam ueluti amplexi-

bus blandissimarum nutricum more, et

qualitatum quendam concentum acci-

nunt, quo singulas corporis particulas de

mulceant, et uegetas faciant. E mediasti-

ni parte illa quæ medios habet pulmo-

nes, profert se membrana egregie spissa,

[Illustration: page image]

duraq́ꝫ, qua cor circumquaqꝫ integitur

περικαρδιον Græcitas nominat. Hæc tue

tur cor, ne ab aduenticijs afficiatur, nè ue

asperginoso fomento careat, quo feruori

suo moderetur. Hæc et uireis cordis unit,

et halituosos illinc spiritus uehemēti mo-

tu dissolui prohibet. Hic cor se condit

princeps membrum, et in turbinem fasti-

giatū uiscus, tribus intus uentriculis con-

cauum ac assidue palpitans, cui et suæ

sunt utrinqꝫ auriculæ in quibus superest

quam longissime uita. In sinistro cordis

uentriculo spiritus et exigui sanguinis se-

des est, à qua uenalis arteria progrediens

pulmones subit aëremq́ꝫ ab eis concipit

præparatiorem, quem in cordis sinus in-

troducat, ne importunius æstuent. Dex-

ter uentriculus plurimū et calidissimum

sanguinem continet. In hunc iecoris uena

caua per mediam spinam scandit ac uita-

lis spirtus fomitem infundit. À quo et ue-

[Illustration: page image]

na arterialis in pulmones copiosum san-

guinem eructat. Medio dexteri et sinistri

uentriculo, sanguis temperatus, et quan-

titate mediocris, inest. Ab hoc magna ar-

teria cui Aorte nomen, nascitur uitalis spi-

ritus uehiculum, ea susqꝫ deqꝫ perpetuo

agitatur contrarijs motibus dilatatione

et constrictione, ac secatur demum in ra-

morū myriadas ut percalēteis toto corpo-

re parteis miti flatu refocillet. De mēbris

uitalibus huc usqꝫ sermonē produximus.

MEMBRANA ossosum capitis or-

bem forinsecus obducens, περικρα-

νιον Grecis appellatur, et dura est, et spissa

et tenax, et exteriori cerebri tunicæ, du-

ram matrem eam uulgo uocant, in sub-

stantia conformis. Pendet et affixa duræ

matris tunica pericranio, sic naturæ ui-

sum est, ne in contactu cerebro efficiat,

subter quam et tenuis mollisq̀ꝫ membra-

na, pia mater ei nomen est, cerebrum in-

[Illustration: page image]

uoluit et nutrit, crebris uenis aspersa.

Dure matri et ipsius cerebri substantiæ

continuatur, et cerebri uentriculos pene-

trat. Hinc se, proxime, oculis offert ipsum

cerebrum, et eius uentriculi, et postico ca-

pitis inditum cerebellum, a quo et me-

dulla spinæ in uertebras descendit. Hinc

et plexus reticularis (rete mirabile triuia-

libus uocatur) summo cerebello, è crebris

uenarum ac arteriarum mutuo sese can-

cellantibus filamentis, phantasiam sui

præbet, in quo spiritus uitalis a corde sur-

sum uectus per arterias dum plenius co-

quitur rarescit, et animalis fit spiritus: sen-

sus et motus caussa in uniuerso corpore.

Neruorum enim fons cerebrum est ner-

ui uero spiritus animalis sunt deferētia ua-

sa, qui à medulla spinæ (Nucha barbaris

dicitur) in omneis corporis particulas di-

geruntur. Quin et à cerebroseptem neruo-

rum coniugationes procædunt. Bini ner-

[Illustration: page image]

ui antrorsum nareis spectant, olfactus ni

mirum organa. Bini ad oculos feruntur,

in itinere sese intersecantes, è quibus uidē-

di facultas. Alij bini motum oculis, bini a

lij linguæ motum et gustum tribuunt. E

duobus et uentriculis sensu pollet, quo mi-

nus appetentia illi desit, è totidem et exili-

bus neruis sapores discernit palatum.

Vnus postræmum neruus utrinqꝫ por-

rectus ab uno principio, auribus largitur

dexteræ et sinistræ, ne surditate extundan-

tur. Hæc sunt quæ de membris animali-

bus abs me per compendium dicta, intro-

ductionē hanc in Anatomicen iusta pro-

lixitate finiāt. Cætera enim quæ ad hanc

tractationem pertinent, in alio opere pro-

sequemur: ubi ad Anatomices omneis nu-

meros sermonem accommodabimus.

EXCVDEBAT ROB. REDMA-

nus Londini Anno

M. D. XXXII.

CVM PRIVILEGIO.

_To the Distinguished and Illustrious

Henry, Earl of Surrey._

_David Edwardes, Physician, Sends Greetings_

How often, Henry, I have recalled the honourable achievements of those

noble dukes, in what great honour all Englishmen held your grandfather

during his lifetime for his remarkable ability and happy successes in

warfare, as well as his extraordinary prudence in the administration of

civil affairs; and also at present how expertly everything that pertains

to us English is daily managed by your famous father. I cannot

sufficiently admire your family, but not so much for those reasons as

because I see you established above what can be said for many other

young men in this age, and turning your mind so seriously to those

things which will render it better. I am by no means certain whether I

ought to ascribe this to the benefit of that stock from which you have

been brought forth to us, whether to the gods who through you smile upon

and favour us English. However it may be, let us hope what has occurred

will be to the advantage of our commonwealth, and that the more so since

you have pursued worth-while things for so long a time. Thus you will

approach the next age better prepared, and good habits will meanwhile

strengthen your mind so that later you will not easily fall into worse.

But the more you may be strengthened by counsel and prudence, with

confidence placed in your family, so much the better guidance will

Norfolk have when you succeed as heir to your father’s estates.

Meanwhile how much more useful you will be to your people as Earl of

Surrey, and finally so much the more will all Englishmen desire you to

undertake the affairs of the commonwealth. There is no doubt that you

can achieve all these things which will be to the increase of your

honours and to the honour of your family.

As your talent and gravity of character promise, so we have great hope

that you will be like your father and grandfather. I wish you both the

greatest successes and the most fruitful increase of all the best

things. And once more I wish that this whole year from its beginning may

be happy for you and yours. With this augury I dedicate to you this our

introduction to anatomy. For as this part of the art of medicine is not

known to all, because it is something very difficult to comprehend, it

requires an easy arrangement by which readers, as if led by the hand to

it, may lean upon it. This is indeed a slight work, but wholly useful

for all physicians and surgeons, because it explains many things

briefly. It contains nothing obscure, nothing elaborate, very readily

accessible to the talents of all those who are neither dull nor

ill-adapted to matters of knowledge. In this, if anything differs from

the common opinions of physicians, let no one be astonished because the

learned do not believe the same in these matters.

Hereafter, if God permit, I shall compose a complete book of anatomy in

which I shall further the opinions of all the learned, to which my own

opinion will be added. I could have done this at present but not,

however, with the same effort or with the form of an introduction

preserved. It remains that this little book, which we have enlisted in

the service of the commonwealth, may be pleasing to you, for it

recognizes the existence of those very few unlearned physicians by whose

mistakes many perish, from which this fact will be gathered, that no

parts of the body should be unknown to physicians. Farewell. Cambridge.

1 January.

THE INTRODUCTION TO

ANATOMY OF

DAVID EDWARDES

ENGLISHMAN

The whole lower venter—for thence it is necessary to begin the

dissection of the human body because that part putrefies very

readily—from the outer skin to the peritoneum is called EPIGASTRION by

the Greeks and _mirach_[1] by the Barbarians, of which the following are

the parts.

The superficial skin which covers the whole body is completely

insensitive. The skin lying and stretched under the very thin and

superficial skin is sensitive.[2] The Greeks call it HYPODERMA. A kind

of fat occupies the whole venter and is spread under the sensitive skin

except for the middle.

A sinewy and thin membrane immediately follows this. A membrane taking

origin from the muscles is subjoined firmly to this where a straight

line appears in the middle.[3]

Two oblique descending muscles[4] lie under these toward the lowest

venter. The oblique ascending muscles[5] are placed under these. Two

rectus muscles have a close relationship. And lowest of all are the

transverse muscles.[6] Therefore there are these eight for which there

are nearly individual sinewy coverings by which they are distinguished

from one another.

An aponeurosis, or rather a thick and firm membrane, is stretched under

them which some falsely call the peritoneum. So much for the epigastrium

and its parts.

Certainly the peritoneum is a sinewy part, soft to the touch, of

ordinary firmness, occupying the whole venter, and resting under the

aponeurosis or membrane which I mentioned. The Greeks gave that name to

it. The Barbarians call it _siphac_.

The _zirbus_ or omentum is extended under the peritoneum. The _zirbus_

is a kind of fat derived from sinewy threads and the slender adipose

substance of the nerves; it is less thick than the fat previously

mentioned. It covers much of the intestines and the lowest part of the

stomach and assists the coction of aliment.

The intestines take origin from the stomach; of them, that which is

called rectum and _longanon_[7] is the lowest of all the intestines and

contains the dry burden of the bowel, and its head extends outward

between the nates so that it may dispose of its burden. The colon is

continuous with it and in its ascent goes around the left kidney, and at

the sides of the stomach it falls away to the right.[8] What the Greeks

call TYPHLON and MONOPHTHALMON, the Romans the blind intestine and

one-eyed,[9] is attached to the colon, of which it is the only passage;

for the other end is closed so that it may assist coction more suitably

in the manner of the stomach. Hence the name for the thing. And such is

the number of the thicker intestines.

The caecum is continuous with the ileon,[10] an intestine twisted into

numerous sinuses; from its shape the Greeks gave it the name PARA TOU

EILEISTHAI, that is, from its involvement; and its disease is called

_iliacus_. The jejunum follows it. Dissectors of bodies gave this name

jejunum to the latter intestine because of the fact that it is always

found empty and contains nothing. For the liver first snatches away

whatever the jejunum might contain. Above all these intestines arises

the duodenum which is continuous below with the jejunum and above with

the pylorus. It is called DŌDEKA DAKTYLOM by the Greeks from the measure

of twelve fingers. These three [intestines] by reason of their substance

are called the slender intestines.

The stomach is located under the diaphragm, of which the upper mouth

ends in the oesophagus, properly called _stomachus_; the lower opening

through which aliment is sent into the intestines is called PYLŌROS.

The spleen is an organ of rare substance and lies at the left side of

the stomach; the liver being in the right hypochondrium. The latter is

rounded and to some degree lunate, the former longish and somewhat

quadrate. The gibbous part[11] of each of these extends toward the lower

ribs, because there is a concavity in each of them which is very close

to the stomach. The liver gives rise to the blood.[12] The spleen purges

it of black bile. The spleen increases with loss to the rest of the

body. The size of the liver is useful to the whole bodily structure,

because it provides copious blood and natural spirit. The liver has

lobes which the Greeks call LOBOUS, sometimes three, sometimes more,[13]

and in its hollow extends the gall bladder by which the blood is freed

of bile and issues forth pure. It is especially by exhalation and

transpiration of this bladder that the duodenum and jejunum are

sometimes stained;[14] sometimes they are irritated if there is a very

large transpiration of particularly corrosive bile.

From the hollow of the liver[15] arises the portal vein which is formed

from the concurrence of the many slender veins of the liver. On the

other hand, it divides again into innumerable parts and gives off an

immense multitude of veins which afterward are inserted here and there

into almost all the intestines and to the little adipose membranes mixed

together, so that they provide nutritional substance for the liver in

the generation of blood. For chyle and food are sent down from the

stomach directly to the intestines; the pylorus yields an exit as soon

as the stomach has received as much as suffices for its uses and has

accomplished its coction. Unless it be transmuted into the nature of

blood [this food] contributes very little toward the nourishment of the

rest of the body. Therefore these numerous venules serve to draw out

from the intestines the best juice of the nutriment as yet not

sufficiently concocted, and deliver it to the hollow of the liver where

the blood is made. Doubtless those venules can be called meseraics, or

by the Greek word mesenterics. The Latins call them milk veins.[16] For

their protection, lest in their numerous ramifications some of them be

torn apart or rent by a more vigorous motion of the body, the PANKREAS,

that is, glandular flesh which is sometimes called KALLIKREAS by the

Greeks, attaches to the duodenum so that the venules may individually be

more firmly supported.

The blood passes from the hollow of the liver, in which it was formed a

little earlier, to the gibbosity[17] of the liver; however, it is not

the same kind as was made in the hollow but more pure and simple, since

both biles have been strained from it and transmitted to their

receptacles so that the blood may be more unsullied for nourishing the

body wholesomely and for producing spirits. From the gibbosity the blood

is extended throughout the whole body through the vena cava—called KOILĒ

by the Greeks—and by the many branches of that vein. This vein surpasses

all the rest of the veins of the body in size and arises from the

gibbosity of the liver. Descending from this through the middle of the

spine, one [branch] on each side seeks the kidneys, each branch

extending a palm’s length.

These branches of the vena cava are the emulgent veins.[18] In the body

of that one whom we dissected very recently the left branch had a higher

place of origin.[19] Very often, however, the opposite occurs, so that

the right emulgent vein is carried higher in the body. Nature employs

these emulgent veins for carrying down the watery part and bile of the

blood from the liver to the kidneys. A like number of little branches of

arteries in the same site, from the great aorta artery going under the

vena cava, run an equal length into the kidneys under the emulgent

veins, unburdening the heart of bile and watery blood; these have the

name of emulgent arteries.

A vein and artery descend from the left emulgents into the testis of the

left side. They are the seminal passages swollen with blood and spirit;

the seminal matter contained in them procreates females, because their

humour is watery and requires coction. Seminal passages, likewise an

artery and vein, are extended downward from the right [emulgents] into

the right testis; but having arisen from the trunks of the vena cava and

aorta artery, therefore the juice in them is less watery, and properly

concocted is more suited for the generation of males. In these passages

blood is concocted, and afterward transferred to the glandular flesh of

the testes it acquires the form of semen.[20]

The kidneys are solid and hard organs, not sentient, and the attractive

force in them is very powerful. They purge the blood of its watery part

and bile, but they retain [some of] the blood so that they may be

nourished by it and expel the rest of the humour. For the OURĒTĒRES are

attached to them,[21] that is, the urinary passages, whitish, reed-like

and tensile which it may be said extend to the bladder and are similar

to its substance.

The diaphragm is a membranous substance, running between the vital and

natural members. It is called DIAPHRAGMA by the Greeks. It strengthens

the expulsive force in the intestines, it is assigned to the members

selected for spirit, and it curbs the smoky vapours lest they blacken

the vigorous spirits of the heart and brain. Above, there is affixed to

it a sinewy covering[22] which clothes the thorax inwardly and binds the

pectoral ribs to the interstitial spaces, which covering the Greeks in

good part name PLEURA, but sometimes it is called HYPOZŌMA[23] by them.

By its inflammation pleurisy occurs, the name taken from the covering.

From the pleura near the spine arises a membrane separating the lungs

and lower thorax into equal parts through the middle. It is commonly

called the mediastinum, and is so well adapted to the lungs that a

defect of one lung is not easily communicated to the other.[24]

Certainly the lungs inhabit the middle palace of the chest, invigorate

the spirits of the heart and brain, temper the heat and avert the danger

of suffocation, and have lobes like the liver. They hold the heart

constantly in a kind of embrace in the manner of very caressing nurses

and sing a harmony of qualities by which they soothe the individual

parts of the body and make them vigorous. From that part of the

mediastinum which holds the middle of the lungs, a thick and hard

membrane appears which completely covers the heart,[25] called in Greek

PERIKARDION. This protects the heart lest it be afflicted by accidental

things; and lest it lack the moistening fomentation by which its heat is

moderated. It unites the forces of the heart and prevents the exhaled

spirits from being dispersed by vehement motion. Here the heart

establishes itself, prince of members[26] and an organ sharpened into

[the shape of] a top; hollow within; continuously palpitating by its

three ventricles,[27] with an auricle on each side in which life remains

the longest.[28] The seat of the spirit and a small amount of blood is

in the left ventricle of the heart, from which the pulmonary vein

advances and enters the lungs to receive better-prepared air from

them;[29] this it introduces into the ventricles of the heart lest they

become unduly heated. The right ventricle contains more and very hot

blood. The vena cava rises into this[30] through the middle of the spine

and pours in the tinder of the vital spirit from the liver. From this

the pulmonary artery belches much blood into the lungs. In the ventricle

between the right and left there is tempered blood of slight quantity.

From this ventricle the large artery called the aorta arises, the

vehicle of the vital spirits; it is constantly agitated up and down by

the contrary motions of dilatation and constriction, and finally it is

divided into myriads of branches so that it revivifies the living parts

in the whole body by a gentle flatus. This is the end of the account of

the vital members.

The membrane covering the bony roundness of the head outwardly is called

PERIKRANION by the Greeks, and it is hard, thick and firm, and conforms

in substance to the exterior covering of the brain which is commonly

called the dura mater. The covering of the dura mater hangs affixed to

the pericranium, so it seemed to nature, lest in contact it have an

effect on the brain; under this covering a thin and soft membrane, which

is called the pia mater, sprinkled with numerous veins, envelops and

nourishes the brain. It is continuous to the dura mater and the

substance of the brain, and it penetrates the ventricles of the brain.

Hence the brain displays itself very clearly to the eyes, both its

ventricles and the cerebellum placed at the rear of the head from which

the medulla descends into the vertebrae of the spine. Here the reticular

plexus (commonly called the _rete mirabile_), woven together from

numerous slender threads of veins and arteries at the summit of the

cerebellum, displays its _phantasia_; in it the vital spirit carried

upward from the heart through the arteries, having been fully concocted

and rarefied, becomes animal spirit, the cause of sensation and motion

in the whole body. For the brain is the source of the nerves, but the

nerves are the vessels which distribute animal spirit;[31] from the

medulla of the spine (it is called _nucha_ by the Barbarians) they are

distributed to all parts of the body. Furthermore, there extend from the

brain seven pairs of nerves.[32] Two nerves look forward to the

nares,[33] the olfactory organs. Two are carried to the eyes,[34]

intersecting in their course, from whence comes the faculty of vision.

Another two [carry] motion to the eyes,[35] another two give motion and

taste to the tongue.[36] From two the stomach acquires sensation[37] so

that appetite may not be lacking to it, and from as many slender nerves

the palate distinguishes flavours.[38] Finally, from a single origin one

nerve is extended on each side, provided for the right and for the left

ear lest they be struck by deafness.[39] These things which have been

said by me briefly regarding the animal members, within the proposed

limits, end this introduction to anatomy. Other matters which pertain to

this subject I shall discuss in another work where we shall adapt the

discourse to all aspects of anatomy.

Printed by Rob. Redman in London

M.D.XXXII

With Privilege