Neck, that would otherwise be wearied by being fo long put upon the Stretch.

CHA P. IV.

Of the STOMACHS of QUADRUPEDS.

FRO

ROM the Neck, let us defcend to the Stomach, a Part as of abfolute Neceffity to the Being and Well-being of Animals, fo is in the feveral Species of Quadrupeds, fized, contrived, and made with the utmost Variety and Art. (a) What Artift, what Being, but the infinite Confervator of the World, could fo well adapt every Food to all the feveral Kinds of thofe grand Devourers of it! Who could fo well fute their Stomachs to the Reception and Digeftion thereof; one kind of Stomach to the Carnivorous, another to the Herbaceous Animals; one fitted to digeft by bare Maftication; and a whole fet of Stomachs in others, to digeft with the Help of Rumination! Which laft Act, together with the Apparatus for that Service, is fo peculiar, and withal fo curious an Artifice of Nature, that it might juftly deserve a more

(a) The peculiar Contrivance and Make of the Dromeda ry's or Camel's Stomach, is very remarkable, which I will give from the Parifian Anatomifts: At the top of the Second [of the 4 Ventricles] there were feveral fquare Holes, which were the Orifices of about 30 Cavities, made like Sacks placed between the two Membranes, which do compofe the Subftance of this Ventricle. The View of these Sacks made us to think that they might well be the Refervatories, where Pliny faith, that Camels do a long Time keep the Water, which they drink in great Abundance - to supply the Wants thereof in the dry Defarts, &c. Vid. Memoirs, &c. Anat. of Dromedary, P. 39. See alfo Peyer, Merycol. L. 2. c. 3.

particular

particular Enquiry; but having formerly mentiond it (b), and leaft I fhould be too tedious, I fhall pass it by.

(6) Book IV. ch. 11.

CHA P. V.

Of the HEART of QUADRUPEDS.

IN this Part there is a notable Difference found between the Heart of Man and that of Beafts, concerning the latter, of which I might take notice of the remarkable Confirmation of the Hearts of Amphibious Quadrupeds, and their Difference from thofe of Land-Animals, fome having but one Ventricle (a), fome three (b), and fome but two (like Land-Animals) but then the Foramen Ovale therewith (c). All which may be justly esteemed

as

(a) Frogs are generally thought to have but one Ventricle in their Hearts.

(b) The Tortoife hath three Ventricles, as the Parisian Academifts in their Memoirs affirm. Befides these two Ventricles [before fpoken of] which were in the hinder Part of the Heart, which faceth the Spine; there was, fay they, a third in the Fore-part, inclining a little towards the Right-fide, &c. Memoirs, 4. p. 259. But Mr. Buffiere charges this as a Miftake in thofe ingenious Gentlemen, and afferts there is but one Ventricle in the Tortoife's Heart. See his Description of the Heart of the Land Tortoise, in Philof. Tranfalt. No. 328.

(c) The Sea-Calf is faid by the French Academifts, to have this Provifion, and their Account of it is this: Its Heart was round and flat. Its Ventricles appeared very large, and its Auricles Small. Underneath the great Aperture, through which the Trunk of the Vena Cava conveyed the Blood into the right Ventricle of the Heart, there was another, which pe

Y 3

netrated

Book VI. as wonderful, as they are excellent Provifions for the Manner of thofe Animals living. But I fhall content my felf with bare Hints of thefe Things, and fpeak only of two Peculiars more, and that but briefly.

One is the Situation of the Heart, which in Beasts is near the middle of the whole Body; in Man, nearer the Head (d). The Reafons of which I fhall give from one of the most curious Anatomists of that Part (e). "Seeing, faith he, the Trajec❝tion and Distribution of the Blood depends wholly on the Syftole of the Heart, and that its Liquor is not driven of its own Nature fo readily "into the upper Parts as into Veffels even with it,

ἐσ

or downwards into thofe under it: If the Situa"tion of the Heart had been further from the Head, "it muft needs either have been made ftronger to "caft out its Liquor with greater Force; or elfe "the Head would want its due Proportion of "Blood. But in Animals that have a longer Neck, "and which is extended towards their Food as it "were, the Heart is feated as far from the other "Parts; and they find no Inconvenience from it, "because they feed with their Head for the most cr part hanging down; and fo the Blood, as it hath "farther to go to their Head than in others, so it 66 goes a plainer and often a steep Way (f).

The

netrated into the Arteria Venofa, and from thence into the left Ventricle, and afterwards into the orta. This Hole called the Foramen Ovale in the Foetus, make the Anaftomofis, by the Means of which, the Blood goes from the Cava into the Aorta, without paffing through the Lungs. French Anatomifts, p. 124.

(4) Τήν τε Καρδίαν αεὶ τὸ μέσον πλίω εν ̓Ανθρώπῳ, &c. Arift. Hift. An. L. 2. c. 17.

(e) Dr. Lower, de Corde, c. 1.

(f) I might have mentioned another wife Provifion from the fame Author, which take in his own Words: In Vitulis

The other peculiar Matter is, the fastning (I formerly mentioned) which the Cone of the Pericardium hath in Man to the Diaphragm (g), whereas in all Quadrupeds it is loofe. By which Means the Motion of the Midriff, in that neceflary Ac of Refpiration, is affifted both in the upright Pofture of Man, as alfo in the prone Pofture of Quadrupeds (b), which would be hindred, or rendred more difficult, if the Cafe was otherwife: "Which

muft needs be the Effect of Wisdom and Design, "and that Man was intended by Nature to walk erect, and not upon all-four, as Quadrupeds do: To exprefs it in the Words of a great Judge in fuch Matters (i).

Equis, imò plerique aliis animalibus majoribus, non folas propagines à Nervo fexti paris ut in Homine, fed etiam plurimas à Nervo intercoftali, ubi rectà cor tranfit, cor accedere. imo in parenchyma ejus dimitti; & hoc ideo à Naturâ quafi fubfidium Brutis comparatum, ne capita que terram prona fpetant, non fatis facilè aut copiosè Spiritus Animales impertirent, Blafii Anat. Animal. Par. r. c. 4. ex Lowero, de Corde.

(g) Diaphragmatis circulo nerveo firmiter adharet [Pericardium] quod Homini fingulare; nam ab eo in Canibus & Simiis diftat, item in aliis animalibus omnibus. Bartholin. Anat. L. 2. C. 5.

(b) Finalem caufam quod attinet, cùm erectus fit 'Hominis inceffus atque figura, eoque faciliùs abdominis vifcera fuo pondere defcendant, minore Diaphragmatis nixu arque Systole ad Infpirationem opus eft: porrò, cùm in Exfpiratione pariter neceffarium fit Diaphragma relaxari, cùm capfula cordis om

nino connectendum fuit, in Homine, ne fortè, quamdiu erectus incedit, ab Hepatis aliorumque vifcerum appenforum pondere deorfum adeò deprimeretur, ut neque Pulmo fatis concidere, neque Exfpiratio debito modo peragi potuerit. Quocirca in Quadrupedibus, ubi abdominis vifcera in ipfum Diaphragma incumbunt, ipfumque in pectoris cavitatem fuo pondere impellunt, ifta partium accretio Exfpirationi quidem inutilis, Infpirationi autem debitam Diaphragmatis tenfionem impediendo, prorfus incommoda fuiffet. Lower, ib. p. 8:

(i) Dr. Tyfon's Anat. of the Orang-Outang in Ray's Wifa. of God, p. 262.

CHAP.

CHAP. VI.

Of the Difference between MAN and QUADRUPEDS in the Nervous Kind.::

Here is only one Difference more between

T Man and Quadrupeds that I shall take notice

of, and that is the Nervous Kind: And because it would be tedious to infift upon many Particulars (a), I fhall, for a Sample, infift chiefly upon one, and that is, of Nature's prodigious Care for a due Communication and Correfpondence between the Head and Heart of Man, more than what is in the fourfooted Tribe. For this Purpose, befides the Correspondence thofe Parts have by Means of the Nerves of the Par Vagum (common both to Man and Beaft) there is a farther and more fpecial Communication and Correfpondence occafioned by the Branches) (b) of the intercoftal Pair fent from the Cervical Plexus to the Heart, and Præcordia. By which Means the Heart and Brain of Man have a

(a) Amongst thefe, I might name the Site of the Nerves proceeding from the Medulla spinalis, which Dr. Lower takes notice of. In Beafts, whofe Spine is above the rest of the Body, the Nerves tend directly downwards; but in Man, it being erect, the Nerves fpring out of the Spine, not at Right, but in Oblique Angles downwards, and pafs alfo in the Body the fame Way. Ibid. p. 16.

(b) In plerifq; Brutis tantùm hâc viâ (i. e. by the Parvagum) vix omnino per ullos Paris Intercofialis nervos, aditus ad cor aut Appendicem ejus patefcit. Verùm in Homine, Nervus Intercoftalis, prater officia ejus in imo ventre buic cum cateris animalibus communia, etiam ante pectoris clauftra internuncii fpecialis loco eft, qui Cerebri & Cordis fenfa mutua ylirą citraque refert. Willis Nervor. defcr, & ufus, Cap. 26.

mutual