HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY;
ILLUSTRATE!) BY
NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.
BY
ROBLEY T^UNGLISON, M. D.
PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGY, PATHOLOGT, &C. IN THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA,
MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, &C.
"Vastissimi studii primas quasi lineas circumscripsi."—Hallee.
VOL. II.
PHjHbADELPHIA:
CAREY & LEA
1832.
2 -'it*
I23X
[Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight
hundred and thirty-two, by Robley Dunglison, M. D. in the clerk's office of the
District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.]
SKERRETT—NINTH STREET,
PHILADELPHIA.
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
Absorption............
b,b. Lymphatic glands. The arrows rings of the trachea. It is formed of lobes,
indicate the direction m which the,?, i i • • i • ., 1 1 1 i i
chyle passes. which subdivide into lobules and granula;
has a red and sometimes a yellow colour; and presents, internally,
vesicles, filled with a fluid, which is viscid and colourless or yel-
lowish. It has no excretory duct; and, consequently, it is difficult
to discover its use. It is larger in the foetus than in the adult; and
has, therefore, been supposed to be, in some way, inservient to
foetal existence. It continues, however, through life, receives large
arteries, as well as a number of nerves and lymphatics, and hence,
it has been supposed, fills some important office through the whole
of existence. This, however, is all conjecture.
The thyroid gland is the seat of goitre or bronchocele, the
swelled neck, Derbyshire neck, papas, &c. as it has been termed
lymph.
29
in different quarters of the globe,—a singular affection, which is
common at the base of lofty mountains in every part of the world;
and, in the cure of which, we have a valuable remedy in the
iodine. The sorbefacient property of this drug is particularly exert-
ed on the thyroid gland and on the mammae; and it affords us an ad-
ditional instance, to the many already known, of remedial agents,
not only exerting their properties upon a particular system, but
even upon a small part of such system, without our being able,
in the slightest degree, to account for the preference. The iodine
stimulates the absorbent vessels of the gland to augmented action;
and the consequence is, the absorption of the morbid deposit.
Lastly, the supra-renal or atrabiliary capsules or glands, are
small bodies in the abdomen, without the peritoneum, and above
each kidney. The arteries, distributed to them, are large; and the
glands themselves are larger in the foetus than in the adult. They,
likewise, remain during life. These bodies consist of small sacs
with thick, parenchymatous parietes; are lobular and granular;
the internal cavity being filled with a viscid fluid, which is reddish
in the foetus, yellow in childhood, and brown in old age.
With their uses we are totally unacquainted. By the ancients,
they were believed to be the secretory organs of the imaginary
atrabilis; and hence their name.
Lymph may be procured in two wayg, either by opening a lym-
phatic vessel, and collecting the fluid, that issues from it,—but this
is an uncertain method,—or by making an animal fast for four or
five days, and then obtaining the fluid from the thoracic duct. This
has been considered pure lymph; but it is obvious, that it must be
mixed with the product of the digestion of the different secretions
from the part of the digestive tube above the origin of the chyli-
ferous vessels.
The fluid, thus obtained, is of a rosy, slightly opaline tint, of a
marked spermatic smell, and saline taste. At times, it is of a de-
cidedly yellowish colour; and, at others, of a madder red; circum-
stances, which may have given occasion to erroneous inferences,
in experiments, made on the absorption of colouring matters. Its
specific gravity is, to that of distilled water, as 1022.28 to 1000.00.
Its colour is affirmed to be more rosy, in proportion to the length
of time the animal has fasted. When examined by the microscope,
it exhibits globules like those of the chyle; and, like the chyle,
bears considerable analogy, in its chymical composition, to the
blood. When left at rest, it separates into two portions;—the one,
a liquid, nearly like the serum of the blood; and the other a coa-
gulum or clot of a deeper rosy hue; in which a multitude of reddish
filaments appear, disposed in an arborescent manner; and,* in ap-
pearance, very analogous to the vessels, which are distributed in
the tissue of the organs.
When a portion of coagulated lymph is examined, it seems to
consist of two parts;—the one, which is solid, formed of numerous
30
ABSORPTION.
cells containing the other or more liquid part; and, if the solid por-
tion be separated, the latter coagulates.
Mr. Brande collected the lymph from the thoracic duct of an
animal, which had been kept without food for twenty-four hours.
He found its chief constituent to be water; besides which, it con-
tained muriate of soda and albumen;—the latter being in such mi-
nute quantity, that it coagulated only by the action of galvanism.
The lymph of a dog yielded to Chevreul, water, 926.4; fibrine,
4.2; albumen, 61.0; muriate of soda, 6.1; carbonate of soda, 1.8;
phosphate of lime, phosphate of magnesia, and carbonate of lime,
0.5.
It is impossible to estimate the quantity of lymph contained in
the body. It would seem, however, that notwithstanding the great
capacity of the lymphatic vessels, there is, under ordinary circum-
stances, but little fluid circulating in them. Frequently, when ex-
amined, they have appeared empty, or pervaded by a mere thread
of lymph. Magendie endeavoured to obtain the whole of the
lymph from a dog of large stature. He could collect but an ounce
and a half; and it appeared to him, that the quantity increased,
whenever the animal was kept fasting; but on this point he does
not seem to express himself positively.
Physiology of Lymphosis.
The term lymphosis has been proposed by Chaussier for the ac-
tion of elaboration, by which lymph is formed; as chylosis has been,
for the formation of chyle; and hsematosis, for that of the blood. In
describing the organs, concerned in this function, the striking si-
milarity, we might almost say, identity, in structure and arrange-
ment between them and the chyliferous organs, will have been ap-
parent. A part, indeed, of the vascular apparatus is common to
both; and they manifestly constitute one and the same system.
This would be sufficient to induce us to assign them similar func-
tions; and it would require powerful and positive testimony to es-
tablish an opposite view. At one period, the lymph was consi-
dered to be simply the watery portion of the blood; and the lym-
phatic vessels were regarded as the mere continuation of the ulti-
mate arterial ramifications. It was affirmed, that the blood on
reaching the final arterial branches, separated into two parts; the
red and thicker portion returning to the heart by the veins; and the
white, serous portion passing by the lymphatics. The reasons for
this belief were, the great resemblance between the lymph and
serum of the blood; and the facility with which an injection passes,
in the dead body, from the arterial, into the lymphatic, capillary
vessels. Magendie has revived the ancient doctrine; and, of con-
sequence, no longer considers the lymphatics to form part of the ab-
sorbent system; but to belong to the circulatory apparatus, and to
serve, as we shall see, the office of waste pipes, in cases of emer-
LYMPHATICS.
31
gency. Without canvassing this subject, now, we may assume it
for granted, that the lymph, which circulates in the lymphatic ves-
sels, is identical in its nature, or as little subject to alteration as the
chyle; and that, consequently, whatever may be the materials, that
constitute it, an action of elaboration and selection must be exerted
in its formation.
That it strongly resembles the blood is no evidence of its being
formed from that fluid; the chyle, which it resembles even more
than it does the blood, is procured from materials differing largely
from its own nature; more, indeed, than any of the substances,
whence the lymph is formed, differ from that fluid.
Assuming, for the present, that the lymph is obtained from ma-
terials already deposited in the body; the next inquiry is;—into
the mode in which the separation and simultaneous absorption are
effected. On this topic, we have no additional arguments to em-
ploy to those adduced, regarding the function of the chyliferous
radicles. In every respect they are identically situated; and to
their history we refer for an exposition of how little we know of
this part of lymphosis.
The causes of the progression of the lymph in the vessels are
the same, also, as those that influence the chyle. In addition, how-
ever, to those mentioned under chyliferous absorption, there is
one, which applies equally to chyliferous and lymphatic vessels;
and arises from the mode, in which the thoracic duct enters the
subclavian vein. It has been already observed, that this occurs at
the point of junc-
tion between the
jugular and sub-
clavian, as at D,
Fig. 100, where
J represents the
jugular; and V S,
the subclavian, in
which the blood
flows from V to-
wards S, the car-
diac extremity.
Now it is a
physical fact, that
when a small
tube is insert-
ed perpendicu-
larly into the
lower side of a
horizontal coni-
cal pipe, in which the water is flowing from the narrower to the
wider portion; and if the small vertical tube he made, to dip into
a vessel of water, not only will the water of the larger pipe not
32
ABSORPTION.
descend into the vessel; but it will actually draw up the water
through the small tube, so as to empty the vessel. Instead of sup-
posing the canals in Fig. 100, to be veins and the thoracic duct;
let us presume, that they are rigid mechanical tubes; and that the
extremity of the tube D, which represents the thoracic duct, dips
into the vessel B. As the fluids, proceeding from J to S and from
V to S are passing from the narrower portions of conical tubes to
wider, it follows, that the fluid will be drawn out of the vessel B,
simply by traction, or, by what Venturi terms, the lateral
communication of fluids. This would happen in whatever part
of the vessel the tube B D terminated. But its insertion at D has
another advantage. By the mode in which the current, from J to-
wards S, unites with that from V towards S, a certain degree of
diminished pressure must exist at D; so that the atmospheric pres-
sure, on the surface of the water, in the vessel B, will likewise be
exerted in propelling it forwards. In the progress of the chyle and
lymph, then, along the thoracic duct, not only may the attraction
of the more forcible stream along the veins draw the fluid in the
thoracic duct along with it, but, owing to the diminished pressure
at the mouth of the duct, atmospheric pressure may have some,
although probably but little influence, in forcing the chyle and
lymph from the chyliferous and lymphatic radicles onwards. The
lymphatic glands have been looked upon as small hearts for the
propulsion of the lymph ; and Malpighi accounts for the greater
number in the groin in this way;—the lymph having to ascend to
the thoracic duct against its own gravity: this appears, also, to have
been somewhat the opinion of BiCHAT.There seems, however, to be
nothing in their structure, which should lead to this belief; and,
if not muscular or contractile, it is manifest, that their number
must have the effect of retarding rather than of accelerating the
flow of the lymph. The most prevalent sentiment is, that they are
somehow concerned in the admixture of the lymph; and by many
it is conceived, that some kind of elaboration is effected by them;
but, on this topic, we have only conjectures for our guidance. Of
their true functions we know nothing definite.
On the subject of the moving powers of the lymph, Adelon has
judiciously remarked, that if we admit the lymph to be the serous
portion of the blood, and that the lymphatics are vessels of return,
as the veins are, the heart might be considered to have the same
influence over lymphatic, that it has been presumed to have over
venous, circulation; and it is somewhat singular, that its action has
not been invoked by those who embrace that opinion.
Hereafter, however, we shall see, that even in the circulation in
the veins the agency of the heart can have little or no influence.
Still less can it be expected to exert an influence over a system, so
obscurely connected with the arteries as the lymphatic, especially
when regard is paid to the numerous ganglions, which must have
the effect of destroying such force, if exerted.
LYMPHOSIS.
33
The course of the lymph is by no means rapid. If, a lymphatic
vessel be divided, in a living individual, the* lymph oozes out
slowly, and never with a jet. Cruikshank estimated its velocity
along the vessels to be four inches per second or twenty feet per
minute ; but the data, for any such evaluation, are altogether ina-
dequate.
In man and in living animals, the lymphatics of the limbs, head,
and neck rarely contain lymph ; their inner surface appearing to
be merely lubricated by a very thin fluid. Occasionally, however,
the lymph stops in different parts of the vessels ; distends them;
and gives them an appearance very like that of varicose veins,
except as to colour. Soemmering states that he has seen several in
this condition on the top of the foot of a female; and Magendie
one around the corona glandis of the male. In dogs, cats and other
living animals, lymphatics, filled with lymph, are frequently seen
at the surface of the liver, gall-bladder, vena cava, vena portae, and
at the sides of the spine. Magendie remarks, that he has never
met with the thoracic duct empty, even when the lymphatics of
the rest of the body were entirely so. It must be recollected, how-
ever, that the thoracic duct must always contain the product of the
digestion either of food or of the secretions from the alimentary
tube. This kind of stagnation of lymph in particular vessels
has given occasion to the belief, that the lymph flows with different
degrees of velocity in the different parts of the system; and this
notion has entered into the pathological views of different writers,
who have presumed, that something like determinations of lymph
can occur, so as to produce lymphatic swellings. Bordeu, indeed,
speaks of currents of lymph. The whole phenomena of the
course of the lymph negative such presumption; and induce us to
believe, that its progress is pretty uniform and always slow ; and
when an accumulation or engorgement or stagnation occurs in any
particular vessel, it is more probably owing to increased secretion
by the lymphatic radicles, which communicate with the vessel in
question, and the consequently augmented quantity of lymph.
The lymph, which proceeds by the thoracic duct, is emptied,
along with the chyle, into the subclavian vein. At the con-
fluence, a valve is placed, which does not, however, appear to be
essential, as the duct opens so favourably between the two cur-
rents from the jugular and subclavian, that there is no tendency
for the blood to reflow into it. It has been suggested, that its use
may be,—to moderate the instillation of the fluid of the thoracic
duct into the venous blood. With regard to the question, whether
the lymph is the same at the radicles of the lymphatics as in the
thoracic duct, or whether it does not gradually become more and
more animalized in its course towards the venous system, and
especially in its progress through the lymphatic glands, the re-
Vol. II. 5
34 ABSORPTION.
marks, made upon the subject, as respects the chyle, apply with
equal force to the lymph ; and our ignorance is no less profound.
The glands of the mesentery and of the lymphatics in general
seem to be concerned in some of the most serious diseases. Swel-
ling of the lymphatic glands of the groin indicates the existence
of a venereal sore on the penis. A wound on the foot will pro-
duce tumefaction of the inguinal glands; one on the hand will
inflame the glands in the axilla. Whenever, indeed, a lymphatic
gland is symptomatically enlarged, the source of irritation will be
found at a greater distance from the vein into which the great
lymphatic trunks pour their fluid, than the gland is. In plague,
one of the essential symptoms is the appearance of swelling of the
lymphatic glands of the groin and axilla; hence, it has been
termed by some adeno-adynamic fever (from «^»;v, a gland.)
In scrofula, the lymphatic system is generally deranged; and, in
the doctrine of Broussais, a very active sympathy is affirmed to
exist between the glands of the mesentery and the mucous surface
of the stomach and intestines. This discovery, we are told, be-
longs to the "physiological doctrine," which has shown, that all
gastro-enterites are accompanied by tumefaction of the mesenteric
glands: although chyle may be loaded with acrid, irritating or
even poisonous matters, it traverses the glands with impunity, pro-
vided it does not inflame the gastro-intestinal mucous surface.
" Our attention," Broussais adds, " has been for a long time di-
rected to this question, and we have not observed any instance of
mesenteric ganglionitis, which had not been preceded by well-
evidenced gastro-enteritis." The discovery will not immortalize
the " doctrine." We should as naturally look for tumefaction of
the mesenteric glands or ganglia, in cases of irritation of the intes-
tine, as for enlargement of the glands of the groin when the foot
is irritated.
Lastly; the lymph, from whatever source obtained—united with
the chyle—is discharged into the venous system. Both of these,
therefore, go to the composition of the body. They are entirely
analogous in properties; but differ materially in quantity;—the nu-
tritious fluid, formed from materials obtained from without, being
by far the most copious. A due supply of it is required for con-
tinued existence ; yet the body can exist for a time, even when the
supply of nutriment is entirely cut off. Under such circumstances
the necessary proportion of nutritive fluid must be obtained from
the decomposition of the tissues; but from the perpetual drain,
that takes place through the various excretions, this soon becomes
insufficient, and death is the result.
We have seen, that both chyle and lymph are poured into the
venous blood;—itself a compound of the remains of arterial blood,
and of various heterogeneous absorptions. As an additional preli-
minary to the investigation of the agents of internal absorption,
VENOUS system.
35
let us now inquire into the nature and course of the fluid contained
in the veins; but so far only as to enable us to understand the
function of absorption; the other considerations, relating to the
blood, appertaining to the function of circulation.
Sect. III. VENOUS ABSORPTION.
Anatomy of the Venous System.
This system consists of myriads of vessels, called veins, which
commence in the very textures of the body, by what are called
capillary vessels; and from thence pass to the great central organ
of the circulation—the heart; receiving, in their course, the pro-
ducts of the various absorptions not only effected by themselves,
but by the chyliferous and lymphatic vessels.
The origin of the veins, like that of all capillary vessels, is im-
perceptible. By some, they are regarded as continuous with the
capillary arteries; Malpighi and Leeuenhoek state this as the
result of their microscopic observations on living animals; and it
has been inferred, from the facility with which an injection passes
from the arteries into the veins. According to others, cells exist
between the arterial and the venous capillaries, in which the former
deposit their fluid and whence the latter obtain it. Others, again,
substitute a spongy tissue for the cells.
A question has also been asked,—whether the veins terminate
by open mouths; or whether there may not be more delicate ves-
sels, communicating with their radicles,—similar to the exhalants,
which are presumed to exist at the extremities of the arteries, and
are the agents of exhalation.
All this is, however, conjectural. It has already been observed,
that the mesenteric veins have been considered to terminate by
open mouths in the villi of the intestines; and the same arrange-
ment has been conceived to prevail with regard to other veins.
Ribes concludes, from the results of injecting the veins, that some
of the venous capillaries are immediately continuous with the mi-
nute arteries, whilst others open into the cells of the laminated
tissue, and into the substance of the different organs.
When the veins become visible, they appear as an infinite num-
ber of tubes, extremely small, and communicating very freely with
each other; so as to form a very fine net-work. These vessels gra-
dually become larger and less numerous, but still preserve their
reticular arrangement; until, ultimately, all the veins of the body
empty themselves into the heart, by three trunks,—the vena cava
inferior, the vena cava superior, and the coronary vein. The
first of these receives the veins from the lower part of the body,
and extends from the fourth lumbar vertebra to the right auricle;
the second receives all the veins of the upper part of the body; and
36
ABSORPTION.
into it the subclavian opens, into which the chyle and lymph are
discharged. It extends from the cartilage of the first rib to the
right auricle. The coronary vein belongs to the heart exclusively.
Between the superior and inferior cava a communication is
formed by means of the vena azygos.
Certain organs appear almost wholly composed of venous radi-
cles. The spleen is one of these.
Fig. 101.
The accompanying figure represents the ramifications of the
splenic artery, a, in the substance of that organ; and if we consider,
that the splenic vein has corresponding ramifications, the viscus
would seem to be almost wholly formed of blood-vessels. The
same may be said of the corpus cavernosum of the penis and cli-
toris, the nipple, urethra, glans penis, &c. If an injection be
VENOUS SYSTEM.
37
thrown into one of the veins, that issue from these different tis-
sues, they are wholly filled by the injection; which rarely occurs,
if the injection be forced into the artery. Magendie affirms, lhat
the communication of the cavernous tissue of the penis with the
veins occurs through apertures two or three millimeters.—In. 0.117.
—in diameter.
In their course towards the heart, particularly in the extremities,
the veins are divided into two planes ;—one subcutaneous or superfi-
cial; the other deep-seated, and accompanying the deep-seated arte-
ries. Numerous anastomoses occur between these, especially when
the veins become small, or are more distant from the heart.
We find that their disposition differs according to the organ.
In the brain, they form, in great part, the pia mater; and enter the
ventricles, where they contribute to the formation of the plexus
choroides and tela choroidea. Leaving the organ, we find them
situated between the laminse of the dura mater; when they take
the name of sinuses. In the spermatic cord, they are extremely
tortuous, anastomose repeatedly, and form the corpus pampini-
forme; around the vagina, they constitute the corpus retiforme;
in the uterus, the uterine sinuses, &c. The veins have three coats
in superposition. The outer coat is cellular, dense, and very diffi-
cult to rupture. The middle coat has been termed the proper
membrane of the veins. The generality of anatomists describe it
as composed of longitudinal fibres, which are more distinct in the
vena cava inferior than in the vena cava superior ; in the su-
perficial veins than in the deep-seated; and in the branches than
in the trunks. Magendie states, that he has never been able to
observe the fibres of the middle coat; but that he has always seen
a multitude of filaments interlacing in all directions; and assum-
ing the appearance of longitudinal fibres, when the vein is folded
or wrinkled longitudinally, which is frequently the case in the large
veins. It exhibits no signs of muscularity; even when the galva-
nic stimulus is applied ; yet Magendie suspects its chemical na-
ture to be fibrinous. If so, it is perhaps different from every other
tissue in the body. It was remarked, in an early part of this work,
that the bases of the cellular and muscular tissues were, respective-
ly, gelatine, and fibrine; and that the various resisting solids could
all be brought to one or other of these tissues. To which, then,
ought the middle coat of the veins to be attached. Magendie,
however, merely states its fibrinous nature to be a suspicion;
and, like numerous suspicions, it may be devoid of foundation.
Yet we have reason to believe, that the veins are contractile;
and the possession of this property would be in accordance with
their fibrinous character. Broussais affirms, that this action
is one of the principal causes of the return of the blood to the
heart. He conceives, that the alternate movements of contrac-
tion and relaxation are altogether similar to those of the heart;
38
absorption.
but that they are so slight as not to have been rendered perceptible
by any process in the majority of the veins, although very visible
in the vena cava of frogs, where it joins the right auricle. In some
experiments by Sarlandiere on the circulation, he observed these
movements to be independent of those of the heart. After the
heart was removed, the contraction and relaxation of the vein con-
tinued, for many minutes, in the cut extremity, and even after the
blood had ceased to flow.
The inner coat is extremely thin and smooth at its inner sur-
> face. It is very extensible, and yet presents considerable resist-
ance ; bearing a very tight ligature without being ruptured.
In many of the veins, parabolic folds of the inner coat exist,
like those in the lymphatics, and inservient to a similar purpose:
the free edge of these valves is directed towards the centre of the
circulation; showing that their office is to permit the blood to flow
in that direction and to prevent its retrogression. They do not
seem, however, in many cases, well adapted for the purpose, inas-
much as their size is insufficient to obliterate the cavity of the vein.
By most anatomists, this arrangement is considered to depend upon
primary organization, but Bichat conceives it to be wholly owing
to the state of contraction, or dilatation of the veins at the moment
of death. Magendie, however, affirms, that he has never seen
the distention of the veins exert any influence on the size of the
valves; but that their shape is somewhat modified by the state of
contraction or dilatation, and this he thinks probably misled Bi-
chat.
Their number varies in different veins. As a general principle,
they are more numerous, where the blood proceeds against its
gravity, or where the veins are very extensible and receive but
a feeble support from the circumambient parts, as in the ex-
tremities. They are entirely wanting in the veins of the deep-
seated viscera;—in those of the brain and spinal marrow, of the
lungs; in the vena portae and in the veins of the kidneys, bladder
and uterus. They exist, however, in the spermatic veins; and,
sometimes, in the internal mammary, and in the branches of the
vena azygos.
On the cardiac side of these valves cavities or sinuses exist,
which appear externally in the form of varices. These dilata-
tions enable the refluent blood to catch the free edges of the valves,
and thus to depress them, so as to close the cavity of the vessel;
serving, in this respect, precisely the same functions as the sinuses
of the pulmonary artery and aorta in regard to the semilunar
valves.
The three coats united form a solid vessel,—according to Bichat
devoid of elasticity, but, in the opinion of Magendie, elastic in
an eminent degree. The elasticity is certainly much less than that
of the arteries.
VENOUS BLOOD.
39
The veins are nourished by vasa vasorum, or by small arteries,
which have their accompanying veins. Every vessel, indeed, in
the body, if we may judge from analogy, appears to draw its nu-
triment, not from the blood circulating in it, but from small arte-
rial vessels, hence termed vasa vasorum. This applies not only
to the veins, but to the arteries. The heart, for example, is not
nourished by the fluid constantly passing through it; but by ves-
sels, which arise from the aorta, and are distributed over its sur-
face, and in its intimate texture. The coronary arteries and their
corresponding veins are, consequently, the vasa vasorum of the
heart. In like manner, the aorta and all its branches, as well as
the veins, receive their vasa vasorum. There must, however, be
a term to this; and if our powers of observation were sufficient,
we ought to be able to discover a vessel, which must derive its
support or nourishment exclusively from its own stores.
The nerves, that have been detected in the veins, are branches
of the great sympathetic.
The capacity of the venous, is generally esteemed to be double
that of the arterial, system. It is obvious, however, that we can
only arrive at an approximation, and that not a very close one.
The size and number of the veins is generally so much greater than
that of the corresponding arteries, that, when the vessels of a
membranous part are injected, the veins are observed to form a
plexus, and, in a great measure, to conceal the arteries: in the in-
testines, the number is more nearly equal. The difficulty of arriv-
ing at any exact conclusion, regarding the relative capacities of the
two systems, is forcibly indicated by the fact; that whilst Borelli
conceived the preponderance in favour of the veins to be as four to
one; Sauvages estimated it at nine to four; Haller at sixteen
to nine; and Keil at twenty-five to nine.
There is one portion of the venous system, to which allusion has
already been made, which is peculiar. We mean the abdominal
venous or portal system. All the veins, that return from the di-
gestive organs, situated in the abdomen, unite into a large trunk
called the vena portae. This, instead of passing into a larger vein'
into the vena cava, for example, proceeds to the liver, and ramifies,
like an artery, in its substance. From the liver, other veins, called
supra-hepatic, arise, which empty themselves into the vena cava •
and which correspond to the branches of the hepatic artery as well
as to those of the vena portae. The portal system is concerned only
with the veins of the digestive organs situated in the abdomen; as,
the spleen, pancreas, stomach, intestines and omenta. The veins
of all the other abdominal organs,—of the kidney, supra-renal cap-
sules, &c. are not connected with it. The first part of the vena
portae is called, by some authors, vena portse abdominalis vel
ventrahs, to distinguish it from the hepatic portion, which is of
great size, and has been called the sinus of the vena portse.
40
ABSORPTION.
The blood strongly resembles the chyle in its properties;—the
great difference consisting in the colour; and the venous blood, and
the chyle, and the lymph become equally converted into the same
fluid—arterial blood—in the lungs.
Venous blood, which chiefly concerns us at present, is contained
in all the veins, in the right side of the heart, and in the pulmo-
nary artery;—organs, which constitute the apparatus of venous cir- \
culation. As drawn from the arm, its appearance is familiar to
every one. At first, it seems to be entirely homogeneous; but, after
resting for some time, it separates into different portions. The
colour of venous blood is much darker than that of the arterial ;—
so dark, indeed, as to have had the epithet black blood applied to
it. Its smell is faint and peculiar; by some compared to a fragrant
garlic odour, but it is sui generis; its taste is slightly saline and
also peculiar. It is viscid to the touch ; coagulable, and its tem-
perature has been estimated at 96° of Fahrenheit ; simply, we
believe, on the authority of the inventor of that thermometric
scale, who marked 96° as blood heat. This is too low by at least
three or four 'degrees. Rudolphi and the German writers in ge-
neral, estimate it at 29° of Reaumur or " from 98° to 100° of
Fahrenheit;" whilst, by the French writers in general, its mean
temperature is stated at 31° of Reaumur or 102° of Fahrenheit.
Magendie, who is usually very accurate, fixes the temperature
of venous blood at 31° of Reaumur, or 102° of Fahrenheit ;
and that of arterial blood at 32° of Reaumur, or 104° of Fahren-
heit. 100° may be perhaps taken as the average.
In many animals, the temperature is considerably higher than
that of man. In the sheep it is 102 or 103°; but, of all animals,
it is most elevated in birds. In the duck it is 107°. On this sub-
ject, further information will be given under the function of calo-
rification. Its specific gravity is differently estimated by different
writers. Hence it is probable, that it varies in different individuals,
and in the same individual at different periods. Compared with
water, its mean specific gravity has been estimated to be as 1.0527
to 1.0000. It is stated, however, to have been found as high as
1.126; and, in disease, as low as 1.022. It has, moreover, been
conceived, that the effect of disease is, invariably, to make it lighter;
and that the more healthy the individual, the greater is the specific
gravity of the blood, but our information on this point is vague.
When blood is examined with a microscope of high magnifying
powers, it appears to be composed of numerous, minute, red parti-
cles or globules, suspended in the serum. These red particles have
a different shape and dimension, according to the nature of the
animal. In the mammalia, they are circular; and, in birds and
cold-blooded animals, elliptical. In all animals, they are affirmed
by some observers, to be flattened, and marked in the centre with
a luminous point, of a shape analogous to the general shape of the
VENOUS BLOOD.
41
globule. It must, however, be remarked, that here, as in every
case, which rests on microscopic observation, the greatest discre-
pancy prevails, not only as regards the shape but the size of these
globules. They were first noticed by Malpighi, and were after-
wards more minutely examined by Leeuenhoek, who at first de-
scribed them, correctly enough, in general terms; but,subsequently,
became hypothetical, and advanced the phantasy, that the red par-
ticles are composed of a series of globular bodies, descending in
regular gradations; each of the red particles being supposed to be
composed of six particles of serum; a particle of serum of six par-
ticles of lymph, &c. Totally devoid of foundation, as the whole
notion was, it was implicitly believed for a considerable period,
even until the time Haller wrote.
Hewson described the globules, as consisting of a solid centre,
surrounded by a vesicle, filled with a fluid; and to be "as flat as a
guinea." Hunter, on the other hand, did not regard them as
solid bodies, but as liquids, possessing a central attraction, which
determines their shape. Della Torre supposed them to be a kind
of disk, or ring, pierced in the centre; whilst Monro conceived
them to be circular, flattened bodies, like coins, with a dark spot
in the centre, which he thought was not owing to a perforation,
as Della Torre had imagined, but to a depression. Cavallo,
again, conceived, that all these appearances are deceptive, de-
pending upon the peculiar modification of the rays of light, as
affected by the form of the particle; and he concluded, that they
are simple spheres.
Amici found them of two kinds, both with angular margins; but,
in the one, the centre was depressed on both sides; whilst, in the
other, it was elevated.
The observations of Dr. Young, of Sir JSverard Home and
Mr. Bauer, and of MM. Prevost and Dumas, accord chiefly
with those of Hewson. All these gentlemen consider the red par-
ticles to be composed of a central globule, which is transparent and
whitish, and of a red envelope, which is less transparent.
Still more recently, however, Dr. Hodgkin has denied, that they
are spherical, and that they consist of a central nucleus inclosed
in a vesicle. He affirms, on the authority of a microscope, which,
on comparison, was found equal to a celebrated one, taken a few
years ago to Great Britain by Professor Amici, that the particles
of human blood appear to consist of circular, flattened, transparent
cakes, their thickness being about ^jth part of their diameter.
These, when seen singly, appear to be nearly or quite colourless.
Their edges are rounded, and being the thickest part, occasion a
depression in the middle, which exists on both surfaces. His view,
consequently, appears to resemble that of Monro.
Amidst this discordance, it is difficult to know which view we
ought to adopt. The belief in their consisting of circular, flattened,
Vol. II. 6
42
ABSORPTION.
transparent bodies, with a depression in the centre, appears to have
the greatest weight of authority in its favour; and that they consist
of an external envelope and of a central nucleus, the former of
which is red and gives colour to the blood. The nucleus is devoid
of colour, and it appears to be independent of the envelope; as,
when the latter is destroyed, the central portion preserves its ori-
ginal shape. The nucleus is much smaller than the envelope, be-
ing, according to Dr. Young, only about one-third the length, and
one-half the breadth of the entire particle.
According to Sir Everard Home, the globules, when envelop-
ed in the colouring matter, are -lyY^ri part of an inch in diameter,
requiring 2,890,000 to a square inch; but, when deprived of their
colouring matter, they appear to be ^vV^th part of an inch in dia-
meter, requiring 4,000,000 of globules to a square inch. From
these measurements, the globules, when deprived of their colour-
ing matter, are not quite one-fifth smaller.
The views of MM. Prevost and Dumas, who have investigated
this subject with extreme care and signal ingenuity, are deserving
of great attention. They conceive the blood to consist essentially
of serum, in which a quantity of red particles is suspended; that
each of these particles consists of an external red vesicle, which
incloses, in its centre, a colourless globule; that, during the pro-
gress of coagulation, the vesicle bursts, and permits the central glo-
bule to escape; that, on losing their envelope, the central globules
are attracted together; that they are disposed to arrange themselves
in lines and fibres; that these fibres form a net-work, in the meshes
of which they mechanically entangle a quantity both of the serum
and of the colouring matter; that these latter substances may be
removed by draining, and by ablution in water; that, when this is
done,there remains only pure fibrine; and that, consequently, fibrine
consists of an aggregation of the central globules of the red parti-
cles, while the general mass, that constitutes the crassamentum or
clot, is composed of the entire particle.
So far this seems satisfactory; but, we have seen, Dr. Hodgkin
does not recognise the existence of external vesicle or of central
globule; and he affirms, contrary to the notion of Sir Everard
Home and others, that the particles are disposed to coalesce in
their entire state. This is best seen, when the blood is viewed be-
tween two slips of glass. Under such circumstances, the following
appearances, according to Hodgkin, are perceptible. When humfin
blood, or that of any other animal having circular particles, is ex-
amined in this manner, considerable agitation is, at first, seen to
take place among the particles; but, as this subsides, they apply
themselves to eaeh other by their broad surfaces, and form piles or
rouleaux, which are sometimes of considerable length. These
rouleaux often again combine amongst themselves,—the end of one
being attached to the side of another,—producing, at times, very
curious ramifications.
VENOUS blood.
43
Nor are these microscopical discordances less evidenced by the
estimates, which have been made of the size of the red globules,
notwithstanding that all are adduced on the faith of positive ad-
measurements. ^ Leaving out of view the older, and, consequently,
it might-be presumed, less accurate observations, the following table
will show their diameter in human blood, on the authority of some
of the most eminent microscopic observers of more recent times.
Bauer, with colouring matter, 1y10-0th part of an inch.
Do. without do. smrs
Hodgkin, - - - -j-^
Sprengel, - - - -joVo to -j-j^
Cavallo, ... tttoo" to -j^tnr
Blumenbach, - - tjot
KATER, - - - 4^olT t0 S~oW
Prevost and Dumas, - \oi6
Wollaston, - - Tcnro
Young, - - - ^Vr
The blood of different animals is found to differ greatly, in
the relative quantity of the red globules it contains;—the number
seeming to bear a pretty exact ratio with the temperature of the
animal. The higher the natural temperature the greater the propor-
tion of particles; and arterial always contains a much greater pro-
portion than venous blood. ,
MM. Prevost and Dumas have attempted an evaluation of
the weight of the globules compared with that of the serum in
which they are held in suspension. Admitting that the clot, pro-
duced at the moment of coagulation, is impregnated with serum
as a sponge would be if placed in that fluid, the proportion between
each of these matters might be easily appreciated. We should
have; first,—serum, consisting of water and solid matters ; and,
secondly, clot, formed of globules and serum. By drying the
serum, the proportion, between the water and the solid matters it
contains, can be detected. By drying the clot, the quantity of
water, which it contains, can be known; and if the fluid is in the
state of serum, the quantity of dry matters, which ought to be left
by the serum, must be deducted from the weight of the clot. The
weight remaining will be that of the globules. By adding the
water of the serum to that of the clot, we have the whole quantity
of water contained in the blood.
By adopting this course, MM. Prevost and Dumas obtained
the following results from the blood of different animals:
44
absorption.
10,000 parts of blood contain, __A________________*
Name of the Its mean r Albumen and ,
Animal. Temperature. Globules. Water.
Soluble Salts.
Pigeon, - - 108° Fah. 1557 469 7974
Hen, - - - 107° 1571 630 7799
Duck, - - - 109° 1501 847 7652
Rook, - - - 109° 1466 " 564 7970
Heron, - - 106° 1326 592 8080
Ape, - - - 96° 1461 779 7760
Man, - - - 102° 1292 869 7839
Guinea Pig, - 101° 1280 872 7848
Dog, - - - 100° 1238 655 8107
Cat, - - - 101° 1204 843 7953
Goat, - - - 103° 1020 834 8146
Calf, - - - << 912 828 8260
Rabbit, - - - 101° 938 683 8370
Horse, - - - 98° 920 897 8183
Sheep, arterial ~) blood, 5 101° 935 772 8293
Do. venous 5 blood, 3 a 861 775 8364
Trout, - - - a 638 79.5 8637
Burbot, > Gadus Lota, $ that of the air 481 657 8862
Frog, - \ 49° in waters at 46° 5 690 464 8846
Turtle, - - that of the air 1506 806 7688
Eel, - - - do. 600 940 8460
In the above table, we are struck with the difference between
the number of globules in the arterial and venous blood of the
sheep; as well as with the anomaly presented by the turtle. In
all these experiments, MM. Prevost and Dumas found it indis-
pensable to adopt numerous precautions, on account of the rapid
changes, induced by bleeding in the composition of the blood. In
proportion as the blood is drawn, water is absorbed from every
organ, and it becomes, thus, impoverished in globules.
It has been already remarked, that innumerable globules have
been found in the chyle. These are colourless; and they have been
asserted to be of precisely the same magnitude as the nucleus of
the red globule of the blood. It is presumed too, that the globules
of the chyle obtain their colour, and their external envelope on
which it depends, in the lungs; and that this is the finish given to
the process of digestion. The notion is,however, problematical. The
following table exhibits the diameter of the circular and elliptical
globules iu different animals, according to MM. Pbevost and
Dumas.
VENOUS BLOOD. 45
ANIMALS WITH CIRCULAR GLOBULES.
Animal. Diameter in fractions of a Millimetre.*
Callitrichus or green Monkey of Africa, -Man, the Dog, Rabbit, Hog, Hedge-hog, Guinea-pig and Dormouse,..... The Ass, - ..... The Cat, gray and white Mouse, field Mouse, -Sheep, Bat, Horse, Mule, Ox, -Chamois, Stag, - -Goat,........ T^rth. 1 40 Allen and Pepys, 16*
Sprengel, J. Borelli, 15 to 40
Soemmering, Goodwyn, - 14
Thomson, Sir H. Davy, 13 to 17
Bostock, Abernethy, 12
Jurin, 35 to 38 Keutsch, 6 to 12
In passing through the mouth, nasal fossae, pharynx, larynx, tra-
chea, and bronchi, the inspired air acquires pretty nearly the tem-
perature of the body; and, if the air has been cool, the same quan-
tity by weight occupies a much larger space in the lungs, owing to
its rarefaction in those organs. In its passage, too, it becomes mix-
ed with the halitus, which is constantly exhaled from the mucous
membrane of the air-passages; and, in this condition, it enters the
air-cells, and becomes mixed with the residuary air in the lungs
after expiration.
Expiration.—An interval, scarcely appreciable, elapses after the
accomplishment of inspiration, before the reverse movement of ex-
piration succeeds; and the air is expelled from the chest. The
EXPIRATION.
85
■great cause of this expulsion is the restoration of the chest to its
former dimensions; and the elasticity of the yellow tissue compos-
ing the bronchial ramifications, which have been put upon the
stretch by the air rushing into them, during inspiration.
The restoration of the chest to its dimensions may be effected
simply by the cessation of the contraction of the muscles, that have
raised it; and the elasticity of the cartilages, which connect the bony
portion of the ribs with the sternum or breast-bone. In active ex-
piration, however, the ribs are depressed, by the action of appro-
priate muscles, and the chest is thus still farther contracted. The
chief expiratory muscles are the triangularis sterni, the broad mus-
cles of the abdomen, rectus abdominis, sacro-lumbalis, longissimus
dorsi, serratus posticus inferior, &c. Haller conceived, that the
ribs, in expiration, are successively depressed towards the last rib;
which is first fixed by the abdominal muscles and quadratus lumbo-
rum. The intercostal muscles then act and draw the ribs succes-
sively downwards. Magendie contests the explanation of Haller;
and the truth would seem to be, that the muscles, just mentioned,
participate with the intercostals in every expiratory movement.
By this action, the capacity of the chest is diminished; the lungs
are correspondently pressed upon, and the air issues by the glottis.
It has been already remarked, that, during expiration, the aryte-
noidei muscles contract, and the glottis appears to close. Still space
sufficient is left to permit the exit of the air.
It has been asked—is the air expired precisely that which has
been taken in by the previous inspiration ? It is impossible to empty
the lungs wholly by the most forced expiration. A portion still
remains; and hence it has been assumed, that the use of inspiration
is to constantly renew the air remaining in the air-cells. On this
subject we are not well informed; but it is probable, that the lighter
and more rarefied air gives way to the newly-arrived and denser
medium; and that, thus, fresh air is continually exposed to the blood
of the pulmonary vessels. A multitude of experiments have been
made to determine the change of bulk which air experiences by
being respired. According to Sir Humphry Davy, it is diminished,
by a single inspiration and expiration, from T^th to T^otn Part °f
its bulk. Cuvier makes it about j^th; Allen and Pepys a little
more than a half per cent. Berthollet from 0.69 to 3.70 per cent;
and Bostock -g^fh* as the average diminution. Assuming this last
estimate to be correct, and forty cubic inches to be the quantity of
air drawn into the lungs at each inspiration, it will follow, that half
a cubic inch disappears each time we respire. This, in a day, would
amount to 14,400 cubic inches, or to rather more than eight cubic
feet. The experiments of MM. Dulong and Despretz make the
diminution considerable. The latter gentleman placed six small
rabbits in forty-nine quarts of air for two hours, at the expiration of
which time the air had diminished one quart. A portion of the in-
spired air must consequently have been absorbed.
86 • respiration.
Attempts have been made to estimate the quantity of air re-
maining in the lungs after respiration; but the sources of discrepancy
are here as numerous as in the cases of inspiration or expiration.
Goodwyn estimated it at 109 cubic inches; Menzies at 179;
Jurine at 220; Fontana at 40; and Cuvier, after a forced inspi-
ration, at from 100 to 60. Davy concluded, that his lungs, after
a forced expiration, still retained 41 cubic inches of air. After a
natural expiration they contained - - 118 cubic inches.
After a natural inspiration, - - - 135
After a forced inspiration, - 254
By a full forced expiration after a forced inspiration, he threw
out ------- 190 cubic inches.
After a natural inspiration, - 78.5
After a natural expiration, ... 67.5
It is impossible, from such variable data, to deduce any thing like
a satisfactory conclusion; but if we assume with Bostock, (and
Dr. Thomson is disposed to adopt the estimate,) 170 cubic inches
as the quantity, that may be forcibly expelled, and that 120 cubic
inches will be still left in the lungs, we shall have 290 cubic inches
as the measure of the lungs in their natural or quiescent state; to this
quantity, 40 cubic inches are added by each ordinary inspiration,
giving 330 cubic inches as the measure of the lungs in their dis-
tended state. Hence it would seem, that about one-eighth of the
whole contents of the lungs is changed by each respiration; and that
rather more than two-thirds can be expelled by a forcible expira-
tion. Supposing, that each act of respiration occupies three seconds,
or that we respire twenty times in a minute, a quantity of air, rather
more than 2| times the whole contents of the lungs, will be ex-
pelled in a minute, or about four thousand times their bulk in twenty
four hours. The quantity of air, respired during this period, will
be 1,152,000 cubic inches, about 666^ cubic feet. SuchisBosTocx's
estimate.
It is the residuary air, that gives to the lungs the property of
floating on the surface of water, after they have once received the
breath of life, and no pressure that can be employed, will force out
the air, so as to make them sink. Hence, the chief proofs, whether
a child has been born alive or dead, are deduced from the lungs.
These proofs constitut ethe docimasia pulmonum, or Lungen-
probe of the Germans.
Expiration, like inspiration, has been divided into three grades:
ordinary, free, and forced; but it must necessarily admit of multi-
tudinous shades of difference. In ordinary passive respiration,
expiration is effected solely by the relaxation of the diaphragm. In
free active expiration, the muscles, that raise the ribs, are likewise
relaxed, and there is a slight action of the direct expiratory mus-
cles. In forced expiration, all the respiratory muscles are thrown
into action. In this manner, the air makes its way along the air-
passages through the mouth or nostrils or both; carrying with it a
NUMBER OF RESPIRATIONS.
87
fresh portion of the halitus from the mucous membrane. This it
deposits, when the atmosphere is colder than the temperature ac-
quired by the respired air, and if the atmosphere be sufficiently
cold, as in winter, the vapour becomes condensed as it passes out, and
renders expiration visible.
The number of respirations, in a given time, differs considerably
in different individuals. Dr. Hales reckons them at twenty. A
man, on whom Menzies made experiments, breathed only fourteen
times in a minute. Sir Humphry Davy made between twenty-six
and twenty-seven in a minute. Dr. Thomson about nineteen, and
Magendie fifteen. Our own average is sixteen. The average de-
duced from the few observers, that have recorded their statements,
—or twenty per minute,—has generally been taken; but we are satis-
fied it is above the truth; eighteen would be nearer the general
average; and it has,accordingly,been admitted by many. Eighteen
in a minute give twenty-five thousand nine hundred and twenty in
the twenty-four hours.
The number of respirations is influenced by various circum-
stances. The child and the female breathe more rapidly than the adult
male. We find'as much variety, too, in him as we do in the horse;
whilst some men are short-winded, others are long-winded; and this
last condition may be improved by appropriate training; to which
the pedestrian, and the prize-fighter, equally with the horse, are sub-
mitted for some time before they exhibit their powers. In sleep,
the respiration is generally deeper, less frequent, and appears to be
effected greatly by the intercostals and diaphragm.
Motion has also a sensible effect in hurrying the respiration, as
well as the distention of the stomach by food; certain mental emo-
tions, &c. and its condition during disease becomes a subject of in-
teresting study to the physician, and one that has been much facili-
tated by the acoustic method, introduced by Laennec. To his in-
strument—the stethoscope—allusion has already been made. By it
or by the ear applied to the chest, we are able to hear distinctly
the character of the respiration; and thus to judge of the nature of
the existing pulmonary disease. But this is a topic that appertains to
pathology.
There are certain respiratory movements, concerned in effecting
other functions, which require consideration. Some of these have
already been topics of discussion. Adelon has classed them into:—
First. Those employed in the sense of smell, either for the pur-
pose of conveying the odorous molecules into the nasal fossae; or to
repel them, and prevent their ingress. Secondly. The inspiratory
action, employed in the digestive function, as in sucking. Thirdly.
Those connected with muscular motion, when forcibly exerted; and
particularly in straining or the employment of violent effort.
Fourthly. Those concerned in the various excretions, either vo-
luntary, as in defecation and spitting, or involuntary, as in
88
RESPIRATION.
coughing, sneezing, vomiting, accouchement, &c; and lastlyy
such as constitute phenomena of expression, as, sighing,yawning,
laughing, crying, sobbing, &c.
Some of these, that have already engaged our attention, do not
demand comment, others are topics of considerable interest and re-
quire investigation.
Straining. The state of respiration is much affected during the
more active voluntary movements. Muscular exertion, of whatever
kind, when considerable, is preceded by a long and deep inspira-
tion; the glottis is then closed; the diaphragm and respiratory mus-
cles of the chest are contracted, as well as the abdominal muscles
which press upon the contents of the abdomen in all directions. At
the same time that the proper respiratory muscles are exerted, those
of the face participate, owing to their association through the me-
dium of the respiratory nerves. By this series of actions, the chest
is rendered capacious; and the force, that can be developed, is aug-
mented, in consequence of the trunk being rendered immovable as
regards its individual parts; and thus serving as a fixed point for
the muscles that arise from it, so that they are enabled to employ
their full effect.
The physiological state of muscular action, as connected with the
mechanical function of respiration, is happily described by Shakes-
peare, when he makes the 5th Harry encourage his soldiers at the
siege of Harfleur:—
" Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood;
" Now set the teeth, and stretch the nostrils wide:
" Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
"Tohis full height."
In the effort required for effecting the various excretions, a simi-
lar action of the respiratory muscles takes place. The organs, from
which these excretions have to be removed, exist either in the tho-
rax or abdomen; and, in all cases, the organs have to be compressed
by the parietes of those cavities. See Fig. 107.
A full inspiration is first made; the expiratory muscles, with
those that close the glottis, are then forcibly and simultaneously
contracted, and by this means the thoracic and abdominal viscera
are compressed.
Some difference, however, exists, according as the viscus, to
be emptied, is seated in the abdomen or thorax. In the evacua-
tion of the faeces, the lungs are first filled with air; and whilst
the muscles of the larynx contract to close the glottis, those of the
abdomen contract also; and as the lung, in consequence of the in-
cluded air, resists the ascent of the diaphragm, the compression
bears upon the large intestine. The same happens in the excretion
of the urine and in accouchement.
coughing, sneezing, &C. 89
When the organ, that has to be cleared, is in the thorax,—as in
coughing to remove mu- jftvirw
cus from the air-passages, ■ri6- lv'-
the same action of the mus-
cles of the abdomen is in-
voked; but the glottis is
open to allow of the exit
of the mucus. In this case
the expiratory muscles con-
tract convulsively and for-
cibly, so that the air is dri-
ven violently from the
lungs, and in its passage
sweeps off the irritating
matter and conveys it out
of the body. To aid this,
the muscular fibres, at the
posterior part of the tra-
chea and larger bronchial
tubes, contract, so as to
diminish the calibre of
these canals; and, in this
way, as Dr. Physick has
suggested, the expectora-
tion is facilitated.
The action differs, how-
ever, according as the ex-
pired air is sent through
the nose or mouth; in the
fnrmpr pn<5P f (instituting A. Right lung.-B. Left lung.-C. Right ventricle of the
IOrmer Case, COU&LlLULiuSheart_g. Rigla auricle of the heart.-E. Vena cava superior.
nr)PPzin& • in the latter,— F,F. Subclavian veins.—G, G. Internal jugular veins.—H.
Sneezing, *" "»c l* .»Ascending aorta.-l. Pulmonary artery.-K. Diaphragm.-
COUghing. 1 he former IS L, L. Right and left lobes of liver.—M. Ligamentum rotun-
3 . °, ,, ,i„ i . dum.—N. Fundus of gall-bladder.—O. Stomach.—P. Spleen.
more Violent tnan tne iai-_Q(q. situation of thekidneys, behind the intestines.-R, R.
ter, and is involuntary; small intestines.
whilst the latter is not necessarily so. In both cases, the
movement is excited by some external irritant, applied directly
to the mucous membrane of the windpipe or nose; or by some
modified action in the very tissue of the part, which acts as an
irritating cause. In both cases the air is driven forcibly forward,
and both are accompanied by sounds that cannot be mistaken.
In these actions we have striking exemplifications of the extensive
association of muscles, through the system of respiratory nerves, to
which we have so often alluded. The pathologist, too, has repeated
opportunities for observing the extensive sympathy between dis-
tant parts of the frame, as indicated by the actions of sneezing and
coughing, especially of the former. If a person be exposed for a
short period to the partial and irregular application of cold, so that
Vol. II. 12
90
RESPIRATION.
the capillary action of a part of the body is modified, as where we
get the feet wet, or sit in a draught of air, a few minutes will fre-
quently be sufficient to exhibit sympathetic irritation in the Schnei-
derian membrane of the nose, and sneezing. Nor is it necessary,
that the capillarji'action of a distant part shall be modified by the
application of cold. We have had the most positive evidence, that
if the capillary circulation be irregularly excited, even by the ap-
plication of heat, whilst the rest of the body is receiving none of its
influence, inflammation of the mucous membrane of the nasal fossae
and fauces follows with no less certainty.
Blowing the Nose.—The substance, that has to be excreted by
this operation, is composed of the nasal mucus, the tears sent down
the ductus ad nasum, and the particles deposited on the membrane
by the air, in its passage through the nasal fossae. Commonly, this
is only present in quantity sufficient to keep the membrane moist,
the remainder being evaporated or absorbed. Frequently, however,
it exists in such quantity as to fall by its own gravity into the
pharynx, whence it is sent down into the stomach by degluti-
tion, is thrown out at the mouth, or passes out at the anterior nares.
To prevent this last effect more especially, we have recourse to
blowing the nose. This is accomplished by taking in air, and
driving it suddenly and forcibly out, closing the mouth at the same
time, so that the air may issue by the nasal fossae and clear them;
the nose being compressed so as to make its velocity greater, as
well as to express all the mucus that may be forced forwards.
Spitting differs somewhat according to the part in which the
mucus or matter to be ejected is seated. At times, it is exclusively
in the mouth; at others in the back part of the nose, pharynx, or
larynx.
When the mucus or saliva of the mouth has to be excreted, the
muscular parietes of the cavity, as well as the tongue, contract so
as to eject it from the mouth; the lips being at times approximated,
so as to render the passage narrow, and impel the sputa more strongly
forward. The air of expiration may be, at the same time, driven
forcibly through the mouth, so as to send the matter to a consider-
able distance. The practised spitter sometimes astonishes us with
the accuracy and power of propulsion of which he is capable.
When the matter to be evacuated is in the nose, pharynx, or
larynx, it requires to be brought, first of all, into the mouth. If in
the posterior nares, the mouth is closed, and air is drawn in forcibly
through the nose; the pharynx being at the same time constricted
so as to prevent the substances from passing down into the oesopha-
gus. The pharynx now contracts, from below to above, in an in-
verse movement from that required in deglutition, and the farther
excretion from the mouth is effected in the manner just described.
Where the matters are situated in the air-passages, the action
may consist in coughing; or, if higher up, simply in hawking. A
SIGHING, YAWNING, &C.
91
forcible expiration, unaccompanied by cough, is, indeed, in many
cases, sufficient to detach the superfluous mucous secretion from
even the bronchial tubes.
In hawking, the expired air is forcibly sent forwards, and the
parts about the fauces are suddenly contracted so as to diminish the
capacity of the tube and propel the matters onwards. The noise is
produced by their discordant vibration. Both these modes bear the
general name of expectoration.
When these secretions are swallowed, they are subjected to the
digestive process; a part is taken up, and the remainder rejected;
so that they belong to the division of recremento-excrementitial
fluids of some physiologists.
Lastly, it remains to speak of the expiratory phenomena, that
strictly form part of the function of expression, and depict the mo-
ral feeling of the individual who gives utterance to them.
Sighing consists of a deep inspiration, by which a large quantity
of air is received slowly and gradually into the lungs, to compen-
sate for the deficiency in the due aeration of the blood which pre-
cedes it. The most common cause of sighing is mental uneasiness;
it also occurs at the approach of sleep, or immediately after waking.
In all these cases, the respiratory efforts are executed more imper-
fectly than under ordinary circumstances; the blood consequently
does not circulate through the lungs in due quantity, but accumu-
lates more or less in these organs, and in the right side of the heart;
and it is to restore the due balance that the deep inspiration is now
and then established.
Yawning, oscitancy, oscitation, or gaping, is likewise a full,
deep, and protracted inspiration, accompanied by a wide separation
of the jaws, and followed by a prolonged and sometimes sonorous ex-
piration. Yawning is excited by many of the same causes as sighing.
It is not, however, the expression of any depressing passion, but is
occasioned by any circumstance that impedes the necessary aeration
of the blood; whether this be retardation of the action of the respira-
tory muscles, or the air being less rich in oxygen. Hence, we yawn at
the approach of sleep, and immediately after waking. The inspiratory
muscles, fatigued from any cause, experience some difficulty in di-
lating the chest; the lungs are consequently not properly traversed by
the blood from the right side of the heart. Oxygenation is, therefore,
not duly effected; an uneasy sensation is induced, which is put an end
to by the action of yawning, which allows the admission of a consi-
derable quantity of air. We yawn at the approach of sleep, because
the agents of respiration, becoming gradually more debilitated, re-
quire to be now and then excited to fresh activity, and the blood
needs the necessary aeration. Yawning on waking seems to be
partly for the purpose of stimulating the respiratory muscles to
greater activity, the respiration being always slower and deeper
during sleep. It is of course impossible to explain why the respi-
ratory nerves should be those that are chiefly concerned under the
92
RESPIRATION.
guidance of the brain, in these respiratory movements of an expres-
sive character. The fact, however, is certain, and is remarkably
proved by the circumstance, that yawning can be excited by even
looking at another affected in this manner; nay, by simply looking
at a sketch, and by even thinking of the action. The same also ap-
plies to sighing and laughing, and especially to the latter.
Pandiculation or stretching is a frequent concomitant of yawn-
ing, and appears to be established instinctively to arouse the exten-
sor muscles to a balance of power, when the action of the flexors
has been predominant. In sleep, the flexor muscles exercise that
preponderance which, in the waking state, is exerted by the exten-
sors. This, in time, is productive of some uneasiness; and, hence,
at times during sleep, but still more at the moment of waking, the
extensor muscles are roused into action, to restore the equipoise; or
perhaps, as the muscles of the upper extremities and those concern-
ed, directly or indirectly, in respiration, are chiefly concerned in
the action, it is exerted for the purpose of arousing the respiratory
muscles to increased activity.
By Dr. Good, yawning and stretching have been regarded as
morbid affections and amongst the signs of debility and lassitude:—
" Every one," he remarks, " who resigns himself ingloriously to
a life of lassitude and indolence will be sure to catch these motions
as a part of that general idleness, which he covets. And, in this
manner, a natural and useful action is converted into a morbid
habit; and there are loungers to be found in the world, who, though
in the prime of life, spend their days as well as their nights in a
perpetual routine of these convulsive movements over which they
have no power; who cannot rise from the sofa without stretching
their limbs, nor open their mouths to answer a plain question with-
out gaping in one's face. The disease is here idiopathic and chro-
nic; it may perhaps be cured by a permanent exertion of the will,
and ridicule or hard labour will generally be found the best reme-
dies for calling the will into action."
Laughing \s a convulsive action of the muscles of respiration and
voice, accompanied by a facial expression, which has been explain-
ed elsewhere. It consists of a succession of short, sonorous expi-
rations. The air is first inspired so as to fill the lungs. To this
succeeds short interrupted expirations, with simultaneous contrac-
tion of the muscles of the glottis, so that this aperture is slightly
contracted, and the lips assume the tension, necessary for the pro-
duction of sound. The interrupted character of the expirations is
caused by convulsive contractions of the diaphragm, which consti-
tute the greatest part of the action. In very violent laughter, the
respiratory muscles are thrown into such forcible contractions, that
the hands are applied to the sides to support them. The convulsive
action of the thorax, likewise interferes with the circulation through
the lungs; the blood, consequently, stagnates in the upper part of
the body; the face becomes flushed; the sweat trickles down the
WEEPING, SOBBING, PANTING, &C.
93
forehead, and the eyes are suffused with tears; but this is apparently
owing to mechanical causes; not to the lachrymal gland being ex-
cited to unusual action, as in weeping. At times, however, we find
the latter cause in operation, also.
The action of weeping is very similar to that of laughing; although
the causes are so dissimilar. It consists in an inspiration, followed
by a succession of short, sonorous expirations. The facial expres-
sion, so diametrically opposite to that of laughter, has been depicted
in another place.
Laughter and weeping appear to be characteristic of humanity.
Animals shed tears, but this does not seem to be accompanied with
the mental emotion which characterizes crying in the sense in which
we employ the term. It has, indeed, been affirmed by Steller, that
the phoca ursina or ursine seal; by Pallas, that the camel; and by
Humboldt, that a small American monkey shed tears when labour-
ing under a distressing emotion. The last scientific traveller states,
that " the countenance of the titi of-the Orinoco,—the simia sciu-
rta of Linn-eus,—is that of a child;—the same expression of inno-
cence; the same smile; the same rapidity in the transition from
joy to sorrow. The Indians affirm, that it weeps like man, when
it experiences chagrin; and the remark is accurate. The large eyes
of the ape are suffused with tears, when it experiences fear or any
acute suffering."
Shakespeare's description of the weeping of the stag,—
" That from the hunter's aim had ta'en a hurt,"
is doubtless familiar to most of our readers.
*' The wretched animal heav'd forth such groans,
That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat
Almost to bursting; and the big round tears
Cours'd one another down his innocent nose
In piteous chase; and thus the hairy fool,
Much marked of the melancholy Jaques,
Stood on th' extremest verge of the swift brook,
Augmenting it with tears."
We have less evidence in favour of the laughter of animals. Le
Cat, indeed, asserts that he saw the chimpanse both laugh and
weep. The ourang-outang, carried to Great Britain from Batavia,
by Dr. Clarke Abel never laughed; but he was seen occasionally
to weep.
Sobbing still more resembles laughing, except that, like weeping,
it is usually indicative of the depressing passions; and generally
accompanies weeping. It consists of a convulsive action of the dia-
phragm; which is alternately raised and depressed, but to a greater
extent than in laughing and with less rapidity. It is susceptible of
various degrees and has the same physical effects upon the circula-
tion as weeping.
Lastly, panting or anhelation consists in a succession of alter-
nate, quick and short inspirations and expirations. Their physio-
94 RESPIRATION.
logy, however, does not differ from that of ordinary respiration. Thu
object is, to produce a frequent renewal of air in the lungs, in cases
where the circulation is unusually rapid; or where, owing to dis-
ease of the thoracic viscera, a more than ordinary supply of fresh
air is demanded. We can, hence, understand, why dyspnoea should
be one of the concomitants of most severe diseases of the chest; and
why it should occur whenever the air we breathe does not contain
a sufficient quantity of oxygen. The panting, produced by running,
is owing to the necessity for keeping the chest as immovable as pos-
sible, that the whole effort may be exerted on the muscles of loco-
motion; and thus suspending, for a time, the respiration or admitting
only of its imperfect accomplishment. This induces an accumulation
of blood in the lungs and right side of the heart; and panting is the
consequence of the augmented action necessary for transmitting it
through the vessels.
Having studied the mode, in which air is received into, and ex-
pelled from, the lungs, we have now to inquire into the changes
produced on the venous blood—containing the products of the va-
rious absorptions—in the lungs, as well as on the air itself. These
changes constitute the function of sanguification, hxmatosis, res-
piration properly so called, arterialization of the blood, aera-
tion, &c.
With the ancients this process was but little understood. It was
generally believed to act as a means of cooling the body; and, in
modern times, Helvetiu* revived the notion, attributing to it
the office of refrigerating the blood, heated by its passage through
the long and narrow channels of the circulation, by the cool air
constantly received into the lungs. The reasons, that led to this
opinion, were:—that the air, which enters the lungs in a cool state,
issues warm;—that the pulmonary veins, which convey the blood
from the lungs, are of less dimension than the pulmonary artery,
which conveys it to them. From this it was concluded, that the
blood, during its progress through the lungs, must lose somewhat of
its volume or be condensed by refrigeration. The warmth of the
expired air can, however, be readily accounted for; whilst it is not
true that the pulmonary veins are smaller than the pulmonary arte-
ry. The reverse is, indeed, the fact; and it is equally obvious that
the doctrine of Helvetius does not explain how we can exist in
a temperature superior to our own; this ought, in his hypothesis,
to be impracticable.
Another theory, which prevailed for some time, was:—that dur-
ing inspiration, the vessels of the lungs are unfolded, as it were; and
that thus the passage of the blood from the right side of the heart
to the left through the lungs, is facilitated. Its progress was, in-
deed, conceived to be impossible during expiration, in consequence
of the considerable flexures of the pulmonary vessels. The disco-
very of the circulation of the blood gave rise to this theory; and
Haller attaches considerable importance to it, when taken in con-
H-ffiMATOSIS.
95
nexion with the changes effected upon the blood in the vessels. It
is inaccurate, however, to suppose, that the circulation of the blood
through the lungs is interrupted, when respiration is arrested. It
continues for some time afterwards, and when it ceases, it is owing
to the heart, like every other part of the body, being incapable of
acting without a due supply of arterial blood; which cannot, in this
case, be sent to it, in consequence of the air no longer entering the
lungs. Numerous other objections might be made to this view. In
the first place, it supposes, that the lungs are emptied at each expi-
ration ; and, again, if a simple development or unfolding of the
vessels were all that is required, any gas ought to be sufficient for
respiration, which is not the fact.
In these different theories, the principal object of respiration is
overlooked—the conversion of the venous blood and its various ab-
sorptions, conveyed to the lungs by the pulmonary artery, into ar-
terial blood.
This is effected by the contact of the inspired air with the venous
blood; in which they both lose certain elements, and gain others.
Most physiologists have considered, that the whole function of hae-
matosis or sanguification, is effected in the lungs. Chaussier, how-
ever, has presumed, that the air, in passing through the cavities of
the nose and mouth, and the different bronchial ramifications, expe-
riences some kind of elaboration, by being agitated with the bron-
chial mucus; similar to what he conceived to be effected in the ali-
ment in its passage from the mouth to the stomach: but this is con-
jectural in both one. case and the other.
Legallois, again, thought, that hasmatosis commences at the
part, where the chyle and lymph are mixed with the venous blood,
or in the subclavian veins. This admixture, he conceives, occurs
more or less immediately, is aided in the heart; and the conversion
is completed in the lungs. To this belief he was led by the circum-
stance, that when the blood quits the lungs, it is manifestly arterial,
and he thought, that what the products of absorption lose or gain in
the lungs, is too inconsiderable to account for the important and
extensive change; and that therefore it must have commenced pre-
viously. Facts, however, are not exactly in accordance with the
view of Legallois. They seem to show, that the blood of-the
pulmonary artery is analogous to that of the subclavian veins; and
hence it is probable, that there is no other action exerted upon the
fluid in this part of the venous system, than a more intimate admix-
ture of the venous blood with the chyle and lymph in their passage
through the heart.
The changes, wrought on the air by respiration, are considerable.
It is always immediately deprived of a portion of one of its consti-
tuents—oxygen; and it always contains, when expired, a quantity
of carbonic acid greater than it had when received into the lungs,
along with an aqueous and albuminous exhalation to a considerable
amount.
96
RESPIRATION.
Oxygen is consumed by the respiration of all animals, from the
largest quadruped to the most insignificant insect; and if we examine
the expired air, the deficiency is manifest.
Many attempts have been made to estimate the precise quantity
of oxygen, consumed during respiration; but the results vary essen-
tially from each other; partly owing to the fact, that the amount of
oxygen, consumed by the same animal in different circumstances,
is not identical.
Menzies was, probably, the first that attempted to ascertain the
quantity consumed by a man in a day. According to him, 36 cubic
inches are expended in a minute; and, consequently, 51840 in the
twenty-four hours, equal to 17496 grains. Lavoisier makes it
46048 cubic inches, or 15541 grains. This was the result of his
earlier experiments; and in his last, which he was executing at the
time when he fell a victim to the tyranny of Robespierre, he
makes it 15592.5 grains; corresponding largely with the results
of his earlier observations. The experiments of Sir Humphry
Davy coincide greatly with those of Lavoisier. He found the
quantity consumed in a minute, to be 31.6 cubic inches; making
45504 cubic inches, or 15337 grains in twenty-four hours. The
result obtained by Messrs. Allen and Pepys is much less. They
consider the average consumption to be, in the twenty-four hours,
under ordinary circumstances, 39534 cubic inches, equal to 13343
grains. Now, if we regard the experiments of Lavoisier and
Davy, between which there is the greatest coincidence, to be an
approximation to the truth, it will follow, that in a day, a man con-
sumes rather more than 25 cubic feet of oxygen; and as the oxygen
amounts to only about one-fifth of the respired air, he must render
125 cubic feet of air unfit for supporting combustion and respiration.
The experiments, however, of Crawford, Jurine, Lavoisier
and Seguin, Prout, Fype, and Edwards, have proved, that the
quantity of oxygen consumed, varies, according to the condition
of the functions and of the system generally. Seguin found that
muscular exertion increases it nearly four fold. Prout, who gave
much attention to the subject, was induced to conclude, from his
experiments, that moderate exercise increases the consumption;
whilst, if the exercise be continued, so as to induce fatigue, a dimi-
nished consumption takes place. The exhilarating passions also ap-
peared to increase the quantity; whilst the depressing passions and
sleep, the use of alcohol and tea diminished it. He discovered, also,
that the quantity of oxygen consumed, is not uniformly the same
during the twenty-four hours. Its maximum he found to occur be-
tween 10 A. M. and 2 P. M., or generally between 11 A. M. and
1 P. M.; its minimum commenced about S3 P. M., and it continued
nearly uniform till about 3% A. M.
Dr. Fyfe found, that the quantity was likewise diminished by a
course of nitric acid, by a vegetable diet, and by affecting the
system with mercury.
H.EMATOSIS. 97
Temperature also has an effect upon the consumption. Crawford
found, that a Guinea-pig, confined in air at the temperature of 55°,
consumed double the quantity which it did in air at 104°. He also
observed, in such cases, that the venous blood, when the body was
exposed to a high temperature, had not its usual dark colour; but,
by its florid hue, indicated that no change had taken place in its
constitution, in the course of circulation. We can thus understand
the great lassitude and yawning, induced by the hot weather of
summer; and the languor and listlessness, which are so character-
istic of those who have long resided in torrid climes.
Dr. Prout conceives, that the presence or absence of the sun
alone regulates the variation in the consumption of oxygen, which
he has described; but the deduction of Dr. Fleming appears to us
more legitimate,—that it keeps pace with the degree of muscular
action, and is dependent upon it. Consequently, a state of increased
consumption is always followed by an equally great decrease, in the
same manner as activity is followed by fatigue.
The disagreement of experimenters, regarding the removal of
nitrogen or azote from the air, during respiration, is still greater
than in the case of oxygen. Priestley, Davy, Humboldt, Hen-
derson, Cuvier, Pfaff, and Thomson found a less quantity ex-
haled than was inspired. Spallanzani, Lavoisier and Seguin,
Vauquelin, Allen and Pepys, Ellis, and Dalton, inferred, that
neither absorption nor exhalation takes place; the quantity of that
gas undergoing no change during its passage through the air-cells
of the lungs; whilst Jurine, Nysten, Berthollet, and Dulong
and Despretz, on the contrary, found an increase in the bulk of
the azote. In this uncertainty, most physiologists have been of
opinion, that the azote is entirely passive in the function.
The facts, however, ascertained by Dr. John Edwards of Paris,
shed considerable light on the causes of this discrepancy amongst
observers. He has satisfactorily shown, that, during the respiration
of the same animal, the quantity of azote may, at one time, be aug-
mented, at another diminished, and, at a third, wholly unchanged.
These phenomena he has traced to the influence of the seasons, and
he suspects, that other causes have a share in their production. In
nearly all the lower animals that were the subjects of experiment,
an augmentation of azote was observable during summer. Some-
times, indeed, it was so slight, that it might be disregarded; but, in
numerous other instances, it was so great as to place the fact beyond
the possibility of doubt; and, on some occasions, it almost equalled
the whole bulk of the animal. Such were the results of his obser-
vations until the close of October, when he noticed a sensible di-
minution in the nitrogen of the inspired air, and the same continued
throughout the whole of winter and the beginning of spring. Dr.
Edwards considers it probable, that, in all cases, both exhalation
and absorption of azote are going on; that they are frequently ac-
curately balanced, so as to exhibit neither excess nor deficiency of
Vol. II.- 13
98
respiration.
nitrogen in the expired air, whilst, in other cases, depending, as it
would appear, chiefly upon temperature, either the absorption or the
exhalation is in excess, producing a corresponding effect upon the
composition of the air of expiration.
But, not only has the respired air lost its oxygenous portion, it
has gained, as we have remarked, an accession of carbonic acid, and,
likewise, a quantity of serous vapour.
If we breathe through a tube, one end of which is inserted into
a vessel of lime water, the fluid soon becomes milky, owing to the
formation of carbonate of lime, which is insoluble in water. Car-
bonic acid must consequently have been given off from the lungs.
Here, again, the quantity formed in the day, has been attempted
to be computed. Jurine conceived, that the amount, in air once
respired in natural respiration, is in the enormous proportion of -j\fih
or T\th. Menzies, that it is ■s\rtn> anc' ^rom ms estimate of the total
quantity of air respired in the twenty-four hours, he deduced the
amount of carbonic acid formed to be 51840 cubic inches, equal to
24105.6 grains.
Lavoisier and Seguin, in their first experiments, valued it at
17720.S9 grains; but, in the very next year, they reduced their es-
timate more than one-half;—to 8450.20 grains; and, in Lavoisier's
last experiment, it was farther reduced to 7550.4 grains. Sir
Humphry Davy's estimate nearly corresponds with that of the first
experiment of Lavoisier and Seguin,—17811.36 grains; and MM.
Allen and Pepys accord pretty nearly with him. The expe-
riments and observations of Crawford, Prout, Edwards, and
others, to which we have referred—as regards the consumption of
oxygen, under various circumstances,—apply equally to the quan-
tity of carbonic acid formed, which always bears a pretty close
proportion to the oxygen consumed. These experiments also ac-
count, in some degree, for the descrepancy in the statements of dif-
ferent individuals on this subject.
It has been a question, amongst physiologists, whether the quan-
tity of carbonic acid gas, given out, is equal in bulk to the oxygen
taken in. In Priestley's experiments, the latter had the prepon-
derance. Menzies, and Crawford found them to be equal. La-
voisier and Seguin supposed the oxygen, consumed in the twenty-
four hours, to be 15661.66 grains; whilst the oxygen, required for
the formation of the carbonic acid given out, was no more than
12924 grains; and Sir Humphry Davy, in the same time, found the
oxygen, consumed, to be 15337 grains; whilst the carbonic acid pro-
duced was 17811.36 grains; which would contain 12824.18 grains
of oxygen.
The experiments of Allen and Pepys, however, seem to show,
that the oxygen, which disappears, is replaced by an equal volume of
carbonic acid; and hence, it was supposed, that the whole of it must
have been employed in the formation of this acid. They, consequent-
ly, accord with Menzies,and Crawford; and the view is embraced
byDALTON, Prout, Ellis, Henry, and otherdistinguished individu-
H.3EMAT0SIS. gg
als. On the other hand, the view of those who consider that the quan-
tity of carbonic acid produced is less than that of the oxygen which
has disappeared, is embraced by Thomson, and by Dulong and
Despretz. In the carnivorous animal, they found the difference as
much as one-third; in the herbivorous, on the average, only TVth.
The more recent experiments of Dr. Edwards have shown, that
here, again, the discordance has not depended so much upon the
different methods and skill of the operators, as upon a variation in
the results, arising from other causes; and he concludes, that the pro-
portion of oxygen consumed, to that employed in the production of
carbonic acid, varies from more than one-third of the volume of car-
bonic acid to almost nothing; that the variation depends upon the
particular animal species, subjected to experiment; upon its age, or
on some peculiarity of constitution, and that it differs considerably
in the same individual at different times.
It would appear, then, that the whole of the oxygen, which res-
piration abstracts from the air, is not accounted for, in all cases, by
the quantity of carbonic acid formed; and that, consequently, some
of it disappears altogether. It has been supposed, by some, that a
part of the watery vapours, given off during expiration, is occasioned
by the union of a portion of the oxygen of the air with hydrogen
from the blood in the lungs; by others, that the oxygen is absorbed
into the blood, and lost in its course through the system, &c; but
these views are entirely conjectural. With regard to the quantity
of vapour, combined with the expired air, it will be the subject of
inquiry under the head of Secretion.
The air likewise loses, during inspiration, certain foreign mat-
ters, that may be diffused in it. In this way, indeed, medicines
have been attempted to be conveyed into the system. If air, charged
with odorous particles,—as with those of turpentine,—be breathed
for a short time, their presence in the urine will be detected; and
it is probably in this manner, that miasmata produce their effects
on the frame. All these substances pass immediately through the
coats of the pulmonary veins by imbibition, and, in this manner,
speedily attain the most distant parts of the system.
These changes, produced in the air during respiration, are easily
shown, by placing an animal under a receiver, until it dies. On
examining the air, it will be found to have lost largely of its oxy-
gen, and to contain much carbonic acid and aqueous vapour.
Let us inquire, then, whether the changes, produced in the re-
spired air, are connected with those effected on the blood in the
lungs. In its progress through the lungs this fluid has been changed
from venous into arterial. It has become of a florid red colour; of a
stronger odour; of a higher temperature by nearly two degrees; of
less specific gravity, and it coagulates more speedily. That this
conversion is owing to the contact of air in the lungs we have many
proofs. Lower was one of the first, who clearly pointed out, that
the change of colour occurs in the capillaries of the lungs. Prior
to his time, the most confused notions had prevailed on the subject,
100 RESPIRATION.
and the most visionary hypotheses had been indulged. On opening
the thorax of a living animal, he observed the precise point of the
circulation at which the change of colour takes place, and he showed,
that it is not in the heart, since the blood continues to be purple,
when it leaves the right ventricle. He then kept the lungs artifi-
cially distended; first with a regular supply of fresh air, and after-
wards with the same portion of air without renewing it. In the
former case, the blood experienced the usual change of colour. In the
second, it was returned to the left side of the heart unchanged.
Experiments, more or less resembling those of Lower, have been
performed by Goodwyn, Cigna, Bichat, Wilson Philip, and
numerous others, with precisely similar results.
The direct experiments of Priestley more clearly showed, that
the change, effected on the blood, was to be ascribed to the air.
He found, that the clot of venous blood, when confined in a small
quantity of air, assumed a scarlet colour, and that the air expe-
rienced the same change as by respiration. He afterwards examined
the effect produced on the blood by the gaseous elements of the at-
mosphere separately, as well as by the other gaseous fluids, that had
been discovered. The clot was reddened more rapidly by oxygen
than by the air of the atmosphere; whilst it was reduced to the dark
purple by nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbonic acid.
Since Priestley's time, the effect of different gases on the co-
lour of venous blood has been investigated by numerous indivi-
duals. The following is the result of their observations as given
by Thenard. It must be remarked, however, that all experiments
have been made on the blood, when out of the body; and that it by
no means follows, that precisely the same changes would be accom-
plished if the fluid were circulating in the vessels.
Gas.
Colour.
Remarks.
Oxygen.....
Atmospheric air - - -
Ammonia.....
Gaseous oxyd of carbon
Deutoxide of azote - -
Carburetted hydrogen -
Azote......
Carbonic acid - - -
Hydrogen - - - - -
Protoxide of azote - -
Arsenuretted hydrogen
Sulphuretted hydrogen
Hydrochloric gas - -
Sulphurous gas - - -
Chlorine
Rose red.
Do.
Cherry red.
Slightly violet red
Do.
Do.
Brown red.
Do.
Do.
Do.
{Deep violet, pass-
ing gradually to a
greenish brown.
Maroon brown.
Black brown.
f Blackish brown,
J passing by de-
| grees to a yel-
lowish white.
The blood employed
had been beaten, and,
consequently, depriv-
ed of its fibrine.
These three gases
coagulate the blood at
the same time.
hjematosis.
101
It is sufficiently manifest, then, from the disappearance of a part
of the oxygen from the inspired air, and from the effects of that gas
on venous blood out of the body, that it forms an essential part in
the function of sanguification. But we have seen, that the expired
air contains an unusual proportion of carbonic acid. Hence carbon,
either in its simple state or united with oxygen, must have been
given off from the blood in the vessels of the lungs.
To account for these changes on chymical principles has been a
great object with chymical physiologists at all times. Priestley
supposed the conversion of venous into arterial blood, to be a kind of
combustion; and, according to the notion of combustion then preva-
lent, it was presumed to consist in the disengagement of phlogiston;
in other words, the abstraction or addition of a portion of phlogis-
ton made the blood, he conceived, arterial or venous; and the re-
moval of phlogiston he looked upon as the principal use of respira-
tion. This view was modified by Lavoisier, who conceived, that
both carbon and hydrogen are given off from the lungs, and that
they unite with the oxygen of the air by a kind of combustion; a
part of the oxygen uniting with the carbon and forming carbonic
acid, another portion uniting with the hydrogen and forming water.
The presence of hydrogen was, however, found to be entirely ideal;
and, subsequently, the general opinion was, that the most important
change experienced by the blood in respiration, consists in the re-
moval of its carbon.
Two chief chymical hypotheses have been formed to explain the
mode in which this carbon is given off. The first is that of Black,
Priestley, Lavoisier, and Crawford ;—that the oxygen of the
inspired air attracts carbon from the venous blood, and that the
carbonic acid is generated by their union. The second, which
has been supported by Lagrange, Hassenfratz, Edwards, Bos-
tock, and others,—that the carbonic acid is generated in the course
of the circulation, and is given off from the venous blood in the
lungs, whilst oxygen gas is absorbed.
The former of these views is still maintained by a number of
physiologists. It is conceived, that the oxygen, derived from the air,
unites with certain parts of the venous blood,—the carbon and the
hydrogen,—the result of which union is that carbonic acid and water
are found in the expired air; and the venous blood, thus depurated
of its carbon and hydrogen, becomes arterialized; and, in conse-
quence of these various combinations, heat enough is disengaged to
keep the body always at the due temperature. According to this
theory, as we have seen in the views of Priestley, Lavoisier, &c.
respiration is assimilated to combustion.
The resemblance, indeed, between the two processes is, at first
sight, considerable. The presence of air is absolutely necessary for
respiration; in every variety of respiration the air is robbed of its
oxygen; and hence a fresh supply is continually needed ; and it is
always arrested before the whole of the oxygen of the air is ex-
102
RESPIRATION.
hausted, and this partly on account of the carbonic gas given off
during expiration. Lastly, it can be continued much longer when
an animal is confined in pure oxygen gas than in atmospheric air.
All these circumstances likewise prevail in combustion. Every
kind of combustion requires the presence of air. A part of the oxy-
gen of the air is consumed; and, unless the air be renewed, com-
bustion is impossible. It is arrested, too, before the whole of the
oxygen is consumed,owing to the carbonic acid formed; and it can
be longer maintained in pure oxygen. Moreover, when the air has
been respired, it becomes unfit for combustion,—and conversely.
From these analogies, respiration has been assimilated to combus-
tion.
Again, the oxygen of the air, in which combustion is taking
place, combines with the carbon and hydrogen of the burning body;
hence the formation of carbonic acid and water; and as, in this
combination, the oxygen passes from the state of a very rare gas,
or one containing a considerable quantity of caloric between its
molecules, to the condition of a much denser gas, or even of a
liquid, the whole of the caloric, which the oxygen contained in its
former state, can no longer be held in the latter, and it is accord-
ingly disengaged; hence the heat which is given off. In like man-
ner, in respiration, the oxygen of the inspired air combines with
the carbon and hydrogen of the venous blood; giving rise to the
formation of carbonic acid and water; and, as in these combinations,
the oxygen passes, also, from the state of a very rare to that of a
denser gas, or of a liquid, there is a considerable disengagement of
caloric, which becomes the source of the high temperature, main-
tained by the human body.
M. Thenard, admits a modification of this view,—sanguification
being owing, he conceives, to the combustion of the carbonaceous
parts of the venous blood, and probably of its colouring matter, by
the oxygen of the air.
This chymical theory, which originated chiefly with Lavoisier
. and La Place, and Seguin, was adopted by Crawford, Gren,
Girtanner, and others, with but little modification. Of these mo-
difications it may be well to refer to one or two. Crawford was
of opinion, that venous blood contains a peculiar compound of car-
bon and hydrogen, called hydro-carbon, the elements of which
unite in the lungs with the oxygen of the air, forming water with
the one, and carbonic acid with the other; and that the blood, pu-
rified in this manner, assumes the scarlet hue, and becomes adapted to
the necessities of the economy. It is only necessary to say, that
this supposed hydro-carbon is entirely conjectural.
Mr. Ellis imagined, that the carbon is separated from the ve-
nous blood by a secretory process; and that, then, coming into di-
rect contact with oxygen, it is converted into carbonic acid. The
circumstance that led him to this opinion, was his disbelief in the
possibility of oxygen being able to act upon the blood through the
H.SEMATOSIS.
103
animal membrane or coat of the vessel, in which it is confined.
It is obvious, however, that if the oxygen penetrates to the blood
circulating in the lungs, it must in all cases pass through the coats of
the pulmonary vessels. These coats, indeed, offer little or no obstacle,
and, consequently, there is no necessity for the vital or secretory
action suggested by Mr. Ellis. Priestley and Hassenfratz ex-
posed venous blood to atmospheric air and to oxygen in a bladder.
In all cases, the parts of the blood, in contact with the gases, be-
came of a florid colour. The experiments of Dr. J. K. Mitchell are,
in this aspect, pregnant with interest. They prove the great facility
with which the tissues are penetrated by the gases, and confirm the
facts developed by the experiments of Priestley and Hassen-
fratz.
The second hypothesis,—that the carbonic acid is generated in
the course of the circulation,—was proposed by Lagrange, in
consequence of the objection he saw to the former hypothesis,—
that the lung ought to be consumed by the perpetual disengage-
ment of caloric taking placejwithin it; or if not so, that its tempera-
ture ought, at least, to be superior to- that of other parts. He ac-
cordingly suggested, that, in the lungs, the oxygen is simply ab-
sorbed; passing into the venous blood, circulating with it, and
uniting, in its course, with the carbon and hydrogen, so as to form
carbonic acid and water, which circulate with the blood, and are
finally exhaled from the lungs. The objection of Lagrange was,
however, ingeniously attempted to be obviated by assuming, that
arterial blood has a greater capacity for caloric than venous blood,
and, consequently, that when the combustion, under the former
theory, takes place in the lungs, the disengaged caloric is taken up
by, and becomes latent in, the arterial blood, so that no sensible in-
fluence can be exerted by it on the lungs; whilst it is disengaged
in the capillary vessels, when the blood again becomes venous and
acquires a less capacity for caloric; thus giving rise to the pheno-
mena of animal heat, which will have to be considered hereafter.
The ingenious and apparently accurate experiments of Dr. Ed-
wards prove convincingly, not only that oxygen is absorbed by
the pulmonary vessels, but that carbonic acid is exhaled from them.
When he confined a small animal in a large quantity of air, and
continued the experiment sufficiently long, he found, that the rate
of absorption was greater at the commencement than towards the
termination of the experiment; and, at the former period, there
must have been an excess of oxygen present, and at the latter an
excess of carbonic acid. This proved to him that the diminution
was dependent upon the absorption of oxygen, not of carbonic acid.
His experiments, in proof of the exhalation of carbonic acid, ready
formed by the lungs, are very decisive. Spallanzani had asserted,
that when certain of the lower animals are confined in gases, con-
taining no oxygen, the production of carbonic acid is uninterrupt-
ed. Upon the strength of this assertion, Edwards confined frogs
104 RESPIRATION.
in pure hydrogen, for a length of timev The result indicated, that
carbonic acid was produced, and, in such quantity as to show, that
it could not have been derived from the residual air in the lungs,
as it was, in some cases, equal to the bulk of the animal. The same
results, although to a less degree, were obtained with fishes and
snails,—the animals on which Spallanzani's observations were
made.
The experiments of Edwards were extended to the mammalia.
Kittens, two or three days old, were immersed in hydrogen. They
remained in this situation for nearly twenty minutes, without dying.
On examining the air of the vessel after death, it was found that
they had given off a quantity of carbonic acid greater than could
possibly have been contained in their lungs at the commencement
of the experiment. The conclusion, deduced by Dr. Edwards,
from his experiments, is, "that the carbonic acid expired is an ex-
halation proceeding wholly or in part from the carbonic acid con-
tained in the mass of blood." Several experiments have been re-
cently made by M. Collard de Marthgny, who substituted azote
for hydrogen; and in all cases, carbonic acid gas was given out in
considerable quantity.
These experiments, then, would seem to show, that carbonic acid
is exhaled in the lungs, and that oxygen is absorbed; but it is by no
means proved, that the latter goes to the formation of the former in
the lungs or elsewhere. They would, also, prove the existence of
carbonic acid in the venous blood, respecting which so much dissi-
dence has existed amongst chymists; and certain experiments by
Girtanner are cited as proofs, that free oxygen is contained in
arterial blood. He placed the arterial blood of the sheep under a
bell-glass filled with azote. In thirty hours, enough oxygen was
disengaged to admit a candle to burn for two minutes under the glass.
Chaussier and Adelon, again, regard the whole process of hae-
matosis as essentially organic and vital. They think, that an ac-
tion of selection and elaboration is demanded, both as regards the
reception of the oxygen and the elimination of the carbonic acid.
But their arguments on this point are unsatisfactory, and are nega-
tived by the facility with which oxygen can be imbibed, and with
which carbonic acid transudes through animal membranes. In their
view, the whole process is effected in the lungs, as soon as the air
comes in contact with the vessel containing the venous blood. The
imbibition of oxygen they look upon as a case of ordinary absorp-
tion ; the transudation of carbonic acid as one of exhalation; both of
which they conceive to be, in all cases, vital actions, and not to be
likened to any physical or chymical operation.
Admitting, that the oxygen and a portion of nitrogen absolutely
enter the pulmonary vessels, of which we appear to have the most
direct proof, are they, it has been asked, separated from the air in
the air-cells, and then absorbed; or does the air enter, undecomposed,
into the vessels, and then furnish the proportion of each of its con-
HiEMATOSIS. 105
stituents, which is necessary for the wants of the system, the excess
being rejected ? Could it be shown that such a decomposition is ac-
tually effected at the point of contact between the pulmonary vessels
and the air in the lungs, it would go far to prove the notion of
Ellis, and of Chaussier and Adelon, that an action of selection,
or of vitality is exerted; but we have no evidence in favour of this.
Sir Humphry Davy, indeed, is of opinion, that the whole of the air
is absorbed, and that the surplus quantity of each of the constituents
is subsequently discharged. In favour of this view, he remarks, that
air has the power of acting upon blood through a stratum of serum;
and he thinks, that the undecomposed air must be absorbed before it
can arrive at the blood in the vessels. This is extremely probable;
for we have already seen, that air disappears during respiration, and
consequently, it must have been taken into the system.
It has been remarked, that when oxygen is applied to venous
blood it changes it to a florid colour. On what part of the blood,
then, does the oxygen act ? The general belief is, upon the red glo-
bules. The facts we have stated in the description of venous blood,
have shown, that these globules appear to consist of a colourless
nucleus, surrounded by a coloured envelope; that both of these are
devoid of colour, whilst they exist as chyle and lymph ; but that, in
the lungs, the contact of air changes the envelope to a florid red.
Some, indeed, have believed, that both the envelope and its colour
are added in the lungs. The coloration of the blood, consequently,
seems to be effected m the lungs; but whether this change is of any
importance in haematosis is doubtful. In many animals, the red co-
lour does not exist; and, in all, it can perhaps only be esteemed an
evidence, that the other important changes have been accomplished
in the lungs. Recently, the opinion has been revived, that the oxy-
gen of the air acts upon the iron which Engelhart and Rose have
detected in the colouring matter, but how we know not. It is as-
serted, that if the iron be separated, the rest of the colouring mat-
ter, which is of a venous red colour, loses the property of becoming
scarlet by the contact of oxygen.
The slight diminution, if it exist, in the specific gravity of arterial
blood, is considered, but we know not on what grounds, to be owing
to the transpiration which takes place in the air-cells, and which
was formerly thought to be owing to the combustion of oxygen
and hydrogen. This will engage us in another place, as well as the
changes produced in its capacity for heat, and on which several in-
genious speculations have been founded, to account for animal
temperature. The other changes are at present inexplicable, and
can only be understood hereafter by minute chymical analysis, and
by an accurate comparison of the two kinds of blood,—venous and
arterial.
It is manifest, from the preceding detail, that our knowledge re-
garding the precise changes, effected upon the air and the blood by
respiration, are by no means definite. In the first place:—the air
Vol. II. H
106
RESPIRATION.
loses a part of its oxygen, but this loss varies according to numerous
circumstances. 2dly, It is found to have acquired carbonic acid, the
quantity of which is also variable; but as a general principle it is
less than the oxygen consumed. 3dly, The bulk of the air is dimi-
nished; but the quantity of this likewise differs. 4thly, Azote is
both absorbed and exhaled by the lungs, to a variable amount. 5thly,
The blood, when it attains the left side of the heart, has a more florid
colour. 6thly, This change appears to be caused by the contact of
oxygen. 7thly, The blood in the lungs gets rid of a quantity of car-
bon, united with oxygen in the form of carbonic acid. 8thly, It ab-
sorbs oxygen, and more than is necessary for the carbonic acid form-
ed. 9thly, The blood, as it passes through the lungs, probably both
absorbs and exhales azote;—the proportion which these processes bear
to each other being extremely variable. lOthly, The air passes
directly through the coats of the pulmonary vessels, and certain
portions of each of its constituents are discharged or retained, ac-
cording to circumstances; and, lastly, a quantity of aqueous vapour,
containing albumen, is discharged from the lungs; but this is a true
secretion, and not a consequence of respiration.
A question, again, has arisen, whetherany absorption and exhalation
of air and conversion of blood from venous to arterial takes place in
any other part of the body than the lungs. The reasons urged in favour
of the affirmative of this view, are:—that, in the lower classes of ani-
mals, the skin is manifestly the organ for the reception of the air;
that the mucous membrane of the lungs evidently absorbs air, and
is simply a prolongation of the skin, and resembles it in texture; and,
lastly, that when a limited quantity of air has been placed in con-
tact with the skin of a living animal, it has been absorbed and expe-
rienced the same changes, as are effected in the lungs. Mr. Cruik-
shank and Mr. Abernethy analyzed the air, in which the hand or
foot had been confined for a certain length of time, and detected in
it a considerable quantity of carbonic acid. Jurine, having placed
his arm in a cylinder hermetrically closed, found, after it had re-
mained there two hours, that oxygen had disappeared, and that
0.08 of carbonic acid had been formed. These results were con-
firmed by Gattoni. On the other hand, Drs. Priestley, Klapp,
and Gordon could never perceive the least change in the air under
such circumstances. Perhaps in these, as in all cases, where the res-
pectability of testimony is equal, the positive, should be adopted
rather than the negative evidence. It is probable, however, that,
in all cases, the absorption must be effected with difficulty: and
that the cuticle is placed on the outer surface to obviate the bad
effects, which would be induced by heterogeneous, gaseous, mias-
matic, or other absorption. We have seen, that some of the dele-
terious gases, as the sulphuretted hydrogen, are most powerfully
penetrant, and, if they could enter the absorbents of the surface of
the body with readiness, unfortunate results might supervene. It
is probable, however, that in those parts, where the cuticle is ex-
effects of the section of the eighth pair of nerves. 107
tremely delicate, as in the lips, some conversion of the venous blood
into arterial may be effected, and be a great cause of their florid
colour. According to this view, the arterialization of the blood occurs
in the lungs chiefly, owing to their formation being so admirably
adapted to the purpose, and it is not effected in other parts, owing
to their arrangement being unfavourable for such result.
It remains for us to inquire into the effect, produced on the lungs
by the cerebral nerves distributed to them,—or rather into what is
the effect of depriving the respiratory organs of their nervous in-
fluence from the brain. The only cerebral or encephalic nerves, dis-
tributed to them, are the pneumogastric or eighth pair of Willis,
which we have seen are sent, as their name imports, to both the
lungs and the stomach. The section of these nerves early suggest-
ed itself to physiologists, but it is only in recent times that the phe-
nomena resulting from it have been clearly comprehended. The
operation appears to have been performed as long ago as the time
of Rufus of Ephesus, and was afterwards repeated by Chirac,
Bohn, Duverney, Vieussens, Schrader, Valsalva, Morgagni,
Haller, and numerous other distinguished physiologists. It is
chiefly, however, in very recent times, and especially by the labours
of Dupuytren, Dumas, De Blainville, Provencal, Legallois,
Magendie, Breschet, Hastings, Broughton, Brodie, and Wil-
son Philip, that the precise effects upon the respiratory and diges-
tive function have been appreciated.
When these nerves are divided in a living animal, on both sides
at once, the animal dies more or less promptly; at times, imme-
diately after their division; but sometimes it lives for a few days;
Magendie says never beyond three or four.
The effects produced upon the voice, by the division of the pneu-
mogastric nerves above the origin of the recurrents, have been re-
ferred to, under another head. Such division, however, does not
simply implicate the larynx, but necessarily affects the lungs, as
well as the stomach. As regards the larynx, precisely the same re-
sult would be produced by dividing the trunk of the pneumogastric
above the origin of the recurrents, as by the division of the recur-
rents themselves: the muscles, whose function it is to dilate the
glottis, are paralyzed; and, consequently, during inspiration, no dila-
tation takes place; whilst the constrictors, which receive their
nerves from the superior laryngeal, preserve all their action, and
close the glottis, at times so completely, that the«nimal dies imme-
diately from suffocation. But if the division of these nerves should
not induce instant death in this manner, a series of symptoms fol-
lows, considerably alike in all cases, which go on, until the death
of the animal. These phenomena, according to Magendie, are the
following:—the respiration is, at first, difficult; the inspiratory
movements are more extensive and rapid; and the animal's attention
appears to be particularly directed to it; the locomotive movements
KkS
* RESPIRATION.
are less frequent, and evidently fatigue; frequently the animal re-
mains entirely at rest: the formation of arterial blood is not pre-
vented at first; but soon, in the second day for instance, the diffi-
culty of breathing augments, and the inspiratory effects become
gradually greater. The arterial blood has now no longer the Ver-
million hue, which is proper to it. It is darker than it ought to be.
Its temperature falls. Respiration requires the exertion of all the
respiratory powers. At length, the arterial blood is almost like the
venous, and the arteries contain but little of it; the body gradually
becomes cold, and the animal dies. On opening the chest, the air-
cells, the bronchi, and, frequently, even the trachea, are found filled
by a frothy fluid, which is sometimes bloody; the substance of
the lung is tumid; the divisions and even the trunk of the pulmo-
nary artery are greatly distended with dark, almost black, blood;
and extensive effusions of serum and even of blood are found in the
parenchyma of the lungs. Experiments have, likewise, shown, that,
in proportion as these symptoms appeared, the animals consumed
less and less oxygen, and gave off a progressively diminishing
amount of carbonic acid.
From the phenomena that occur after the section of these nerves
on both sides, it would seem to follow, that the first effect is exert-
ed upon the tissue of the lungs, which, being deprived of the nervous
influence they receive from the brain, are no longer capable of
exerting their ordinary elasticity or muscularity, whichsoever it
may be. Respiration, consequently, becomes difficult; the blood no
longer circulates freely through the capillary vessels of the lungs;
the consequence of this is, that transudation of its serous portions,
and occasionally effusion of blood, owing to rupture of small ves-
sels, takes place, filling the air-cells more or less; until, ultimately,
all communication is prevented between the inspired air and the
blood-vessels of the lungs, and the conversion of the venous into
arterial blood is completely precluded. Death is, then, the inevitable
and immediate consequence.
The division of the nerve of one side affects merely the lung of the
corresponding side; life can be continued by the action of one only.
It is, indeed, a matter of astonishment how long some individuals
have lived, when the lungs have been almost wholly obstructed.
Every morbid anatomist must have had repeated opportunities for
observing, that, in cases of pulmonary consumption, for a length of
time prior to dissolution, the process of respiration must have been
wholly effected by a very small portion of lung.
The experiments of Dr. Wilson Philip and others moreover show,
—what has been more than once inculcated,—the great similarity
between the nervous and galvanic fluids. When the state of dys-
pnoea was induced by the division of the pneumogastric nerves,
the galvanic current was passed from one divided extremity to
:the other, and, in numerous cases, the dyspnoea entirely ceased.
RESPIRATION OF GASES. 109
The results of these experiments induced him to try the effect of
galvanism in cases of asthma. By transmitting its influence from
the nape of the neck to the pit of the stomach, he gave decided
relief in every one of twenty-two cases, four of which occurred in
private practice, and eighteen in the Worcester Infirmary.
There is one other topic, which, although not directly belonging
to physiology, has been so much the subject of experiment with
physiologists, that it is worthy of observation. We allude to the
Respiration of different Gases.
Experience has sufficiently proved, that no combination of gases,
except that which exists in the atmosphere, is adapted for the pro-
longed existence of animals, or even of plants. Of the other gases,
there are some, which are entirely irrespirable,producing a spasmodic
closure of the glottis, and thus inducing suffocation; others that are
negatively deleterious, by depriving the animal of its due supply
of oxygen; and others, again, which acton the body in a positively
noxious manner.
Soon after the gases were discovered, their effects upon the respi-
ration of animals were tested; but the most accurate and extensive
information, which we possess on the subject, was afforded by the
labours of Beddoes, and his distinguished pupil Sir Humphry
Davy.
The gases, which have been chiefly subjected to experiment, are:—
oxygen, protoxide of azote, hydrogen, azote, carburetted hydro-
gen, carbonic acid, carbonic oxide, sulphuretted hydrogen, arse-
nuretted hydrogen, ammoniacal gas, muriatic acid gas, nitrous
acid gas, nitric oxide, and chlorine.
Oxygen.—This gas, which we have seen to be so essential to res-
piration, and which has hence acquired the name vital air, has
been subjected to numerous experiments, and the general result
appears to be, a belief, that it acts in a positively deleterious man-
ner; and that, although an animal may live in a limited portion of
it a considerable time longer than in the same quantity of atmos-
pheric air, its respiration becomes hurried and laborious before the
whole is consumed, and it dies, although a fresh animal of the same
kind is capable of sustaining life for some time in the residuary air.
The belief is not perhaps legitimate. A part, if not the whole,
of the dyspnoea and death may be produced by the evolution of
carbonic acid, which is unfavourable to animal life; whilst a fresh
animal may be enabled to resist its action for a time and take up
some of the residuary oxygen. Oxygen is one of the gases, which
has been regarded, on very insufficient evidence however, to exert a
stimulant effect upon the blood, by which the left side of the heart,
to which the blood is returned from the lungs, and the arterial sys-
tem are excited to action; and it was accordingly respired, at one
110
respiration.
time, in diseases of chronic debility—in chlorosis, asthma, paralysis,
&c; but its use has been long abandoned.
Protoxide of Azote.—This gas, which consists of the same con-
stituents as atmosphericair,—oxygen and azote,—but in different pro-
portions, is possessed of very singular properties. It is the dephlo-
gisticated nitrous air of its discoverer Priestley, the nitrous
oxide, protoxide of nitrogen, or laughing gas; the last name hav-
ing been assigned to it by reason of its properties.
Sir Humphry Davy first showed, that, by breathing a few quarts
of this gas from a silken bag, for two or three minutes, effects, resem-
bling those produced by drinking intoxicating liquors, are excited;
yet it does not produce the same effect on all individuals, as might,
indeed, have been expected. It is strange, however, that although
the evidence in Sir Humphry Davy's "Researches" was most
overwhelming; and although it is annually breathed in the chymical
rooms of this country and Great Britain, by hundreds of students,
and even made the subject of itinerant exhibition, the French chy-
mists assert, that, in all cases in which they have tried it, it has sim-
ply produced indisposition. In the very last edition of his Chy-
mistry, Thenard affirms, " tous ceux a quije Vaivu respirer s'en
sont irouvis mal," and professor Pelletan, in his" Bictionnaire
de Chimie," remarks—that "In England several persons have
exhibited a kind of delirious gaiety, to such an extent, that it was
necessary to snatch away the bladder, that contained the gas; debi-
lity and syncope soon, however, succeeded this primary state of
excitement (!!) In France, in the experiments of Vauquelin and
Thenard, vertigo, head-ache and protracted lassitude were alone
experienced; and in no case could it be respired more than a few
minutes."
The only way of accounting for these results is by the supposi-
tion, that these distinguished chymists must have had idiosyncrasies,
which caused them to be affected differently from most other indi-
viduals; or that the gas was impure; and that the promulgation of
the fact of indisposition having succeeded the respiration of the gas
in a few cases has deterred others from having recourse to it.
In his " Researches" on this subject, Sir Humphry Davy has
given the autographies of several eminent individuals relative to
the effects produced upon them. Sir Humphry himself breathed
four quarts of nitrous oxide from, and into, a silk bag. His first
feelings were those of giddiness; but, in less than half a minute,
the respiration being continued, they diminished gradually and were
succeeded by a sensation, analogous to gentle pressure on all the
muscles, attended by a highly pleasurable thrilling, particularly in
the chest and extremities. The objects, around him, became daz-
zling, and his hearing more acute. Towards the last inspiration,
the thrilling increased, the sense of muscular power became greater;
and, at last, an irresistible propensity to action was indulged. What
followed after this he recollected but indistinctly; but his motions
RESPIRATION of gases.
Ill
were various and violent. The effects soon ceased after respiration;
and, in ten minutes, he had recovered his natural state of mind.
The thrilling in the extremities continued longer than the other sen-
sations.
Dr. Robert Southey, the distinguished laureate of England,
could not discriminate between the first effects and an apprehension
of which he was unable to divest himself. His first definite sensa-
tions were, a fullness and dizziness in the head, such as to induce a
fear of falling. This was succeeded by an involuntary laugh, but
one of a highly pleasurable character, accompanied with a peculiar
thrilling in the extremities;—a sensation perfectly new and delight-
ful. For many hours after this experiment, he imagined, that his
taste and smell were more acute, and he felt unusually strong and
cheerful. In a second experiment, he felt still superior pleasure;
and has poetically remarked, that he supposes the atmosphere of the
highest of all possible heavens to be composed of this gas.
Mr. Wedgewood breathed atmospheric air first without knowing
it was so. He declared it to have no effect, which confirmed him
in his disbelief of the power of the gas. After breathing the nitrous
oxide, however, for some time, he threw the bag from him, kept
breathing on laboriously with an open mouth, holding his nose with
his left hand, without power to take it away, though aware of the
ludicrousness of his situation. All his muscles seemed to be thrown
into vibratory movement. He had a violent inclination to make
antic gestures; seemed lighter than the atmosphere, and as if about
to ascend. Before the experiment he was a good deal fatigued after
a long ride ; but the feeling left him during the respiration of the
gas.
All these and analogous effects are daily produced by the exhi-
bited of this singular compound; and we have seen it annually
given to a class for the last seven years without any of the indispo-
sition resulting, which has been referred to by the French chymists.
There are some, however, in whom its effects are always painful.
The gas, according to the experiments of Dr. Mitchell, is pos-
sessed of considerable penetrative power. By means of this, it can
readily pass through the coats of the pulmonary vessels, get into
the venous blood, and produce its effects directly upon the brain, in
the same manner as other intoxicating substances.
Although capable of being respired, nitrous oxide is unfit to support
life. Priestley found that this was the fact, and it has been confirm-
ed by other chymists. Mice, introduced into ajar of it, die almost
immediately, whilst in azote, hydrogen, and carbonic acid, they
struggle for a short time.
Hydrogen.—This gas does not appear, from the experiments of
Lavoisier, Sir H. Davy, and others, to exert any positively dele-
terious power, when respired; and seems to destroy by excluding
oxygen; hence, its effects are of a negative character. In a pure
state, if the lungs have been previously emptied, as far as possible,
112 RESPIRATION.
of atmospheric air, it can be breathed for a very short time only j
quickly occasioning giddiness and a sense of suffocation; the coun-
tenance becoming livid, and the pulse sinking rapidly, followed by
a state of insensibility.
When the gases were employed medicinally, hydrogen was used
to diminish muscular power and sensibility, and a reduction of the
force of the circulation; in catarrh, spitting of blood, consump-
tion, &c.
Nitrogen or azote, when respired, exerts, like hydrogen, a nega-
tive influence, and proves fatal simply by excluding oxygen; an
opinion, which as Bostock properly remarks, might naturally be
formed respecting a substance, that enters so largely into the con-
stitution of the atmosphere, and which, if it were possessed of any
positively hostile properties, would be unfitted for its office, seeing
that it is at all times received so largely into the lungs of animals.
Carburetted hydrogen gas.—This is the most active of the
gases that are conceived to operate by depressing the vital func-
tions. Even when largely diluted with atmospheric air, it occa-
sions vertigo, sickness, diminution in the force and velocity of the
pulse, reduction of muscular vigour, and every symptom of dimi-
nished power. In an undiluted state, it can scarcely be respired.
Sir Humphry Davy found, that, at the third inspiration, total in-
sensibility was induced, and symptoms of excessive debility con-
tinued for a considerable period; effects which sufficiently exhibit
its positively deleterious agency. At one time, in a properly di-
luted condition, it was conceived to exert a beneficial effect in dis-
eases of increased action; but it is now entirely laid aside.
Carbonic acid.—The experiments of Pilatre de Rozier and
of Sir H. Davy have shown, that this gas proves more speedily
fatal than either nitrogen or hydrogen ; and there is every reason
for believing, that it excites spasmodic contraction of the epiglottis
and suffocation. Sir H. Davy found, that air was still irrespirable
when it contained three-fifths of its volume of carbonic acid, but
that when the proportion was diminished to three parts in ten, it
might be received into the lungs. The effect, which it occasioned,
after being breathed for a minute, was slight giddiness and tendency
to sleep. In pneumatic medicine, it was employed as a sedative in
phthisis, being diluted with atmospheric air.
Carbonic oxide or oxide of carbon appears to act i n a similar man-
ner. Sir Humphry Davy took three inspirations of this gas, mixed
with about one-fourth of common air; the effect was a temporary
loss of sensation, succeeded by giddiness, nausea, acute pains in
different parts of the body, and excessive debility. Some days elapsed
before he entirely recovered. Mr. Witter, of Dublin, was struck
with symptoms of apoplexy, by breathing it, but was speedily re-
stored by the inhalation of oxygen. It is probable, that both this
gas and carbonic acid, in their pure state, occasion the closure
of the glottis, and, consequently, do not enter the lungs; but, when
respiration of gasesj
113
breathed in a more dilute condition, that they pass through the coats
of the blood-vessel, and exert their action on the brain whilst circu-
lating through it.
Sulphuretted hydrogen.—This gas is extremely deleterious.
When respired in a pure state, it kills instantly, and its deadly
agency is rapidly exerted when put in contact with any of the tis-
sues, through which it penetrates with astonishing rapidity. Even
when mixed with a portion of air, it has proved immediately de-
structive. Dr. Paris refers to the case of a chymist of his acquaint-
ance, who was suddenly deprived of sense, as he stood over a pneu-
matic trough, in which he was collecting the gas.
From the experiments of Dupuytren and Thenard, air that
contains a thousandth part of sulphuretted hydrogen kills birds im-
mediately. A dog perished in air, containing ^th part; and a
horse in air, containing ^oth. It is the deleterious agent exhaled
from privies, which has been so fatal, at times, to nightmen, who
have been employed to remove or to cleanse them.
When this gas is breathed in a more dilute state, it produces
powerful sedative effects, the pulse being rendered extremely small
and weak, the contractility of the muscular organs considerably en-
feebled, with stupor and more or less suspension of the cerebral
functions; and if the person recovers, he regains his strength very
tardily.
Arsenuretted hydrogen also instantly destroys small animals,
and is extremely deleterious, having proved fatal to a German chy-
mist, M. Gehlen.
With regard to the other gases, the ammoniacal gas, muriatic
acid gas, nitrous acid gas, nitric oxide or deutoxide of azote, and
chlorine, they are completely irrespirable, producing spasmodic
closure of the glottis, and asphyxia or suffocation.
According to the division already established, we may consider,
then, that all these gases, when breathed in an undiluted condition,
admit of being classed as follows:—
Carbonic acid, carbonic oxide, ammo-
niacal gas, muriatic acid gas, deu-
toxide of azote, nitrous acid gas,
and chlorine.
2. Negatively deleterious! H dr0 azote<
gases. 3 J °
„ „ .,. 7 7 , ^ . } Oxygenf?), protoxide of azote, carbu-
3. Positively deleterious f /eJted^y^rogenj suiphuretted hy-
8ases- ^ drogen, and arsenuretted hydrogen.
Irrespirable gases.
Vol. II.
15
114 RESPIRATION.
In concluding the subject of respiration, we may briefly ad-
vert to the different modes in
which the process is effected in
the classes of animals, and espe-
cially in birds, the respiratory
organs of which constitute one
of the most singular structures of
i e._ the animal economy. The lungs
themselves,—as in the mar-
ginal figure of the lungs, &c. of
the ostrich,—are comparatively
small, and are adherent to the
chest,—where they seem to be
placed in the intervals of the
ribs. They are covered by the
pleura only on their under sur-
face, so that they are, in fact, on
the outside of the cavity of the
chest. A great part of the thorax,
as well as of the abdomen, is oc-
cupied by membranous air-cells,
into which the lungs open by
considerable apertures. Besides
o. Heart,'lodged in one^ataiwieii.-ft. The sto-these cells, a considerable por-
mach — c. The intestines, surrounded by large air-f:nn nf *Up clrAlptrm forms rpppn.
cells.-d. The trachea dividing into bronchiT-e, e. UOn OI lne SKeieiOn IOrmS recep-
Theiungs.^,2,3.^.oAergieatair-ceiis,communi.tacles for air, in many birds; and
eating with other cells and with the lungs.—g,g. The . - , 17. t J r !_• j
openings by which such communication is made. n we break a long bone Of a bird
of flight, and blow into it, the body of the bird being immersed in
water, bubbles of air will escape from the bill. The object, of course,
of all this, is to render the body light, and thus to facilitate its mo-
tions. Hence the largest and most numerous bony cells are found
in such birds as have the highest and most rapid flight, as the eagle.
The barrels of the quills are likewise hollow, and can be filled with
air, or emptied at pleasure.
In addition to the uses just mentioned, these receptacles of air
diminish the necessity of breathing so frequently, in the rapid and
long-continued motions of several birds, and in the great vocal ex-
ertions of singing birds.
In fishes, in the place of lungs we find branchiae or gills, which
are placed behind the head on each side, and have a movable gill-
cover. By means of the throat, which is connected with these or-
gans, the water is conveyed to the gills, and distributed through
them; by which means, the air, contained in the water, comes in
contact with the blood circulating through the gills. The water is
afterwards discharged through the branchial openings,—aperturse
branchiales,—and, consequently, they do not expire along the same
channel as they inspire.
RESPIRATION OF ANIMALS. 115
Lastly, in the insect tribe,—in the white-blooded animal,—we
find the function of respiration effected altogether by the surface of
the body; at least, so far as regards the reception of air, which
passes into the body through apertures termed stigmata, the ex-
ternal terminations of trachese or air-tubes, whose office it is to con-
vey the air to different parts of the system.
In all these cases we find precisely the same changes effected
upon the inspired air, and especially, that oxygen has disappeared,
and that carbonic acid is contained in nearly equal bulk in the resi-
duary air.
116
CIRCULATION.
CIRCULATION.
The next function to be considered is that by which the products
of the various absorptions, converted into arterial blood in the lungs,
are distributed to every part of the body,—a function of the most
important character to the physiologist and the pathologist, and
without a knowledge of which, it is impossible for the latter to
comprehend the doctrine of disease.
Assuming the heart as the great central organ of the function,
every particle of the circulatory fluid must set out from it, be dis-
tributed through the lungs, undergo aeration there, be sent to the
opposite side of the heart, whence it is distributed to every part of
the system, and be thence returned, by the veins, to the right side,
whence it set out,—thus performing a complete circuit.
It is not easy to ascertain the total quantity of blood, circulating
* in both arteries and veins. Many attempts have been instituted for
this purpose, but the statements are most diversified, partly owing
to the erroneous direction followed by the experimenters, but, still
more, to the variation that must be perpetually occurring in the
amount of fluid, according to age, sex, temperament, activity of se-
cretion, &c.
Harvey and the earlier experimenters formed their estimates,
by opening the veins and arteries freely on a living animal, collect-
ing the blood that flowed, and comparing this with the weight of
the body. This method is, however, extremely objectionable, as
the whole of the blood can never be obtained in this manner, and
the proportion discharged varies in different animals and circum-
stances. By this method, Moulins found the proportion in a sheep
to be.^d; King, in a lamb, ^Vh* m a duck, ^n'f an^ m a rabbit,
^o-th. From these and other observations Harvey concluded, that
the weight of the blood of an animal is to that of the whole animal
as 1 to 20. Drelincourt, however, found the proportion in a dog
to be nearly TVth; and Moor, fVth.
An animal, according to Sir Astley Cooper, generally ex-
pires, as soon as blood, equal to about TVth of the weight of the
body, is abstracted. Thus, if it weighs sixteen ounces, the loss of
an ounce of blood will be sufficient to destroy it: ten pounds will
destroy a man weighing one hundred and sixty pounds; and, on
examining the body, blood will still be found—in the small vessels
especially, even although every facility has been afforded for drain-
ing them.
weight op the circulating fluid.
117
The following table exhibits the computations of different phy-
siologists, regarding the weight of the circulating fluid—arterial
and venous.
Harvey, Lister, Mullen, lbs. > - 8 F. Hofmann, Haller, lbs. 28 28 to 30
Abildguard,
Blumenbach,^ LOBB, > Lower, 5 Sprengel, -Quesnai, 10 10 to 15 27 Young, Hamberger, Keill, 40 80 - 100
Although the absolute estimate of Hofmann is below the truth,
his proportion is probably nearly accurate. He conceives, that the
weight of the blood is to that of the whole body as 1 to 5. Ac-
cordingly, an individual weighing one hundred and fifty pounds,
will have about thirty pounds of blood; one of two hundred pounds,
forty; and so on.
Of this, one-third is supposed to be contained in the arteries, and
two-thirds in the veins. The estimate of Haller is, perhaps, near
the truth; the arterial blood being, he conceives, to the venous as
4 to 9. If we assume, therefore, that the whole quantity of the
blood is thirty pounds in a man weighing one hundred and fifty
pounds,—which is perhaps allowing too much,—nine pounds, at
least, may be contained in the arteries, and the remainder in the veins.
The lower classes of animals differ essentially, as we shall find
hereafter, in their organs of circulation: whilst, in some, the apparatus
appears to be confounded with the digestive; in others,the blood is
propelled without any great central organs; and in others, again, the
heart is but a single organ. In man, however, and in the upper
classes of animals, the heart is double;—consisting of two sides, or
really of two hearts, separated from each other by a septum. As
all the blood of the body has to be emptied into this organ, and to
be subsequently sent from it; and as its flow is continuous, two ca-
vities are necessarily required in each heart,—the one to receive the
blood, and the other to propel it,—which contract and dilate alter-
nately. The cavity or chamber of each heart, which receives the
blood, is called auricle, and the vessels that transport it thither, are
the veins; the cavity by which the blood is projected forwards, is
called ventricle, and the vessels, along which the blood is sent, are
called arteries.
One of these hearts is entirely appropriated to the circulation of
venous blood, and has hence been called the venous heart, also the
right or anterior heart, from its situation, and the pulmonary
from the pulmonary artery arising from it. The other is for the cir-
culation of arterial blood, and is hence called the arterial heart,
118 circulation.
also the left or posterior, from its situation, and the aortic heart,
from the aorta rising from it.
In the figure 109, the two hearts are separated from each
other, and shown to be
Fig. 109. distinct organs in the
adult, although in the
subject they seem to
form but one organ. Be-
tween the two, after
birth, there is not the
slightest communication;
and, consequently, every
portion of blood, which
has to attain the left side
of the heart, must make
the circuit through the
lungs.
The whole of the ves-
sels, communicating with
the right heart, contain
venous blood; whilst
those of the left side
contain only arterial.
If we consider the
o, a. Venae cavse, ascendens, and descendens.—b. Right auricle. neart tO be tne Centre,
-c, c. Right ventricle.-d. Pulmonary artery.—e. Pulmonary t\VO circulations are aC-
vtxo.s.—J. Left auricle.—g. Left ventricle.—A, h. Aorta. , »
The arrows indicate the course of the blood. COmpllshed, before the
blood, setting out from one side of the heart, performs the whole cir-
cuit to the other. One of these consists in the transmission of the blood
from the right side of the heart, through the lungs, to the left; the
other in its transmission from the left side, along the arteries, and
by means of the veins, back to the right side.
The former of these is called the lesser or pulmonic, the latter
the greater or systemic, circulation.
The organs, by which these are accomplished, will require a
more detailed examination.
Anatomy of the Circulatory Organs.
The circulatory apparatus is composed of the organs, by which
the blood is put in motion, and along which it passes during its
circuit.
To simplify the consideration of the subject, we shall consider
the heart double; and that each system of circulation is composed
of a heart; of arteries, through which the blood is sent from the
heart; and of veins, by which the blood is conveyed to it. At the
minute terminations of each of these, small vessels are situated, con-
stituting the capillary system.
circulatory apparatus. 119
We shall first describe the central organ, as forming two distinct
hearts; and afterwards regard these as united.
The pulmonic, right, or anterior heart,—called also the heart of
black blood,—is composed of an auricle and a ventricle. The auricle,
so termed from some resemblance
to an ear, is situated at the base of
the organ, and receives the whole of
the blood returning from various
parts of the body by three veins;—
the two vense cavae, and the coronary
vein; the vena cava descendens,term i-
nates in the auricle in the direction
of the aperture by which the auricle
communicates with the ventricle.
The vena cava ascendens, the
termination of which is directed
more backwards, has the remains
of a valve, which is much larger in
the foetus, called the valve of Eusta-
chius. The third vein is the car-
diac or coronary, which returns the
blood from the heart, that has been
Pulmonic heart.
A. The right auricle with its venae cavae.—
J. The right ventricle.—C
carried thither by the coronary ar- artery.
The pulmonary
Fig. 111.
tery. In the septum, between the right and left auricle, there is a
superficial depression, about the size of the point of the finger, which
is the vestige of the foramen ovale, an important part of the circu-
latory apparatus of the foetus, as we shall see hereafter.
The opening, through which the auricle projects its blood into
the ventricle, is situated down-
wards and forwards, and is seen
in figure 111.
The inner surface of the proper
auricle, or that which more par-
ticularly resembles the ear of a
quadruped,—the remainder being
sometimes called the sinus ve-
nosus, or sinus venarum cava-
rum,—is distinguished by having
a number of fleshy pillars in it,
which, from their supposed re-
semblance to the teeth of a comb,
are called musculi pectinati.
They are mere varieties, how-
ever, of the columnse carnese of
the ventricles.
The right ventricle or pulmo-
nary ventricle is situated in the m NUTRITION.
i
supplies the loss, which it has sustained by the previous action of
decomposition.
The former of these actions obviously belongs to the function of
absorption; but its physiology, it will be recollected, was de-
ferred, in consequence of its close application teethe function we
are now considering.
It comprises what is meant by interstitial, organic, or decom-
posing absorption, and does not require many comments, after
the long investigation of the phenomena of absorption, into which
we have entered. The conclusion, at which we then arrived, was,
—that the chyliferous and lymphatic vessels form only chyle and
lymph respectively, refusing the admission of all other substances;
that the veins admit every liquid which possesses the necessary
tenuity; and that, whilst all the absorptions,—which require the
substance acted upon to be decomposed and transformed,—are
effected by the chyliferous and lymphatic vessels, those that de-
mand no alteration are accomplished through the coats of the veins
directly by imbibition.
It is easy, then, to deduce the agents to which we refer the ab-
sorption of decomposition. As it is exerted on solids, and as these
cannot pass through the coats of the vessels in their solid condition1,
it follows, that other agents than the veins must accomplish the
process; and, again, as we never find in the lymphatic vessels any
thing but lymph, and as we have every reason to believe, that an
action of selection is exerted at their extremities, similar to thatof
the chyliferous vessels on the heterogeneous substances exposed to
them, we naturally look to the lymphatics as the sole organs con-
cerned in the absorption of solids.
In making this affirmation, we leave unexplained the mysterious
operation by which these vessels are enabled to reduce to their
elements, bone, muscle, tendon, &c, and to recqmpose them into
the form of lymph. Dr. Bostock fancifully suggests, that the first
step in this series of operations, is the death of the part, by which
expression he means, that it is no longer under the influence of ar-
terial action. " It therefore ceases to receive the supply of matter
which is essential to the support of all vital parts, and the process
of decomposition necessarily commences." The whole of his re-
marks on this subject are eminently gratuitous, and are manifestly
luggested by his extreme unwillingness to ascribe the process to
any thing but physical causes. If there is, however, any one phe-
nomenon of the animal economy, which is more manifestly refer-
able to vital action than another, it is the whole function of nutri-
tion, both as regards the absorption of parts already deposited, and
the exhalation of new; and it is wise to confess our utter ignorance
of the mode in which it is accomplished. We know that the blood
contains most of the principles that are necessary for the nutrition
of organs, and that it must contain the elements of all. Fibrine,
albumen, fat, osmazome, salts, &c. exist in it, and these are depo-
GROWTH OP PARTS.
167
sited, as the blood traverses the tissues; but why one should be
selected by one set of vessels, as by the exhalants of bone, and
another by another set, and in what manner the elements of those,
not ready formed in the blood, are brought together, is totally un-
known to us. Blood has been designated as "liquid flesh,"—
chair coulante,—but something more than simple transudation
through vessels is necessary to form it into flesh, and to give it
the "compound organization of fibrine, gelatine, osmazome, &c. in
the form of muscular fibre and cellular membrane, which we ob-
serve in the muscle.
Nothing perhaps more clearly exhibits our want of knowledge
on the subject than the following vague attempt at solving^the
mystery by one of the most distinguished physiologists of the age:
—" Some immediate principles, that enter into the composition of
the organs or of the fluids, are not found in the blood,-^such as
gelatine, uric acid, &c. They are consequently formed at the ex-
pense of other principles, in the parenchyma of the organs, and by
a chymical action, the nature of which is unknown to us, but which
is not the less real, and must necessarily have the effect of develop-
ing heat and electricity."
It is the action of nutrition, that occasions the constant fluc-
tuations in the weight and size of the body, from the earliest
embryo condition till advanced life. The cause of the' develop-
ment or growth of organs and of the body generally, as well
as of the limit, accurately assigned to such development, accord-
ing to the animal or vegetable species, is dependent upon vital
laws that are unfathomable, and which the endosmose of Dutro-
chet is little calculated to explain. Nor are we able to detect the
precise mode in which the growth of parts is effected. It cannot
be simply extension, for the obvious reason that the body and its
various compartments augment in weight as well as in dimension.
In the large trees of our forests, we find a fresh layer or ring add-
ed each year to the stem, until the full period of development; and
it has been supposed that the growth of the animal body may be
effected in a similar manner, both as regards its soft and harder
materials, that is, by layers deposited externally. That the long
bones lengthen at their extremities is proved by an experiment of
Mr. Hunter. Having exposed the tibia of a pig, he bored a hole
into each extremity of the shaft, and inserted a shot. The distance
between the shot was then accurately taken. Some months after-
wards, the same bone was examined, and the shots were found at
precisely their original distance from each other; but the extremi-
ties of the bone had extended much beyond their first distance from
the shot.
The flat bones also increase by a deposition at their margins, and
the long bones by a similar deposition at their periphery,—circum-
stances strongly exhibiting the analogy between the successive de-
velopment of animals and vegetables.
168
NUTRITION.
Exercise or rest, freedom from or presence of pressure, pro-
duce augmentation of the size of organs or the contrary; and there
are certain medicines, as iodine, which occasion the emaciation, of
particular organs only—as of the female mammae. The effect of
disease is likewise, in this respect, familiar and striking.
The ancients had noticed the changes effected upon the body by
the function we are considering, and attempted to estimate the pe-
riod at which a thorough conversion must be accomplished, so that
not one of its quondam constituents shall be present. By some,
this was supposed to be seven years; butBERNouiLLi reduced it to
three. It is hardly necessary to say, that, in such a calculation, we
have nothing but conjecture to guide us. The nutrition of the body
and of its parts varies, indeed, according to numerous circumstances.
It is not the same during the period of growth as subsequently, when
the absorption and deposition are balanced, so far at least as con-
cerns the augmentation of the body in one direction. Particular
organs have, likewise, their period of development, at which time
the nutrition of such parts must necessarily be more active,—the
organs of generation, for example, at the period of puberty; the
enlargement of the mammae in the female; the appearance of the
beard and the amplification of the larynx in the male, &c,—and all
these changes occur after a determinate plan.
The activity of nutrition appears to be increased by exercise, at
least in the muscular organs; hence the well-marked muscles of the
arm in the prize-fighter, of the legs in the dancer, &c. The mus-
cles of the male are, in general, much more clearly defined; but
the difference between those of the hard-working female and of the
inactive male may not be very apparent.
There are several textures of the body that do not experience
nutrition, but, when once deposited, appear to remain permanent-
ly, such as the epidermis, the nails, the teeth, the colouring matter of
the skin, and, it is presumed, the cartilages,—especially the inter-
articular. The most active in their nutrition are the glands, mus-
cles, and skin, which alter their character—as to size, colobr and
consistence—with great rapidity; whilst the tendons, fibrous mem-
branes, bones, &c. are much less so, and are altered more slowly
by the effect of disease.
A practice which prevails amongst certain professions and people,
would seem at first sight to show, that the nutrition of the skin
cannot be energetic. Sailors are frequently in the habit of forcing
gunpowder through the cuticle with a pointed instrument, and of
figuring the initials of their names upon the arm in this manner; the
particles of the gunpowder are thus driven into the cutis vera and
remain for life. The operation of tattooing, or of puncturing and
staining the skin, prevails in many parts of the globe and especially
in Polynesia, where it is looked upon as greatly ornamental. The
art is said to be carried to its greatest perfection in the Washington
or New Marquesas Islands; where the wealthy are often covered
TATTOOING.
169
with various designs from head to foot; subjecting themselves to a
most painful operation for this
strange kind of personal deco- Fig. 119.
ration. The operation consists
in puncturing the skin with
some rude instrument, ac-
cording to figures previously
traced upon it, and then rub-
bing into the punctures a thick
dye, frequently composed of
the ashes of the plant that
furnishes the colouring mat-
ter. The marks, thus made,
are indelible. Magendie
asks:—"How can we reconcile
this phenomenon with the re-
novation, which, according to
authors," (and, he might have
added, according to himself,)
" happens to the skin?" It
does not seem to us to be in any
manner connected with the
nutrition of the skin. The
colouring matter is an extra-
neous substance, which takes no part in the changes, constantly
going on in the tissue in which it is imbedded; and the circum-
stance seems to afford a powerful negative argument in favour of
venous absorption. Had the substance possessed the necessary
tenuity it would have entered the veins like other colouring mat-
ters; but the particles are too gross for this, and hence they remain
free from all absorbent influence.
Tattooed head of a New Zealand Chief.
Vol. II. 22
170 CALORIFICATION.
CALORIFICATION, OR ANIMAL TEMPERATURE.
The function, we have now to consider, is one of the most im-
portant to organic existence, and one of the most curious in its
causes and results. It has, consequently, been an object of inte-
resting examination with the physiologist, both in animals and
plants, and as it has been presumed by a large class of speculatists,
to be greatly owing to respiration, it has been a favourite topic with
the chymist also. Most of the hypotheses devised for its explanation
have, indeed, been of a chymical character; and hence it will be
advisable to premise a few observations regarding the physical rela-
tions of caloric or the matter of heat,—an imponderable body,
according to common belief, which is generally distributed through-
out nature. It is this, which constitutes the temperature of bodies,
by which is meant, the sensation of heat or cold which we expe-
rience, when bodies are touched by us; or the height at which the
mercury is raised or depressed by them, in the instrument called the
thermometer;—the elevation of the mercury being caused by the
caloric entering between its particles, and thus adding to its bulk;
and the depression being produced by the abstraction.of caloric.
Caloric exists in bodies in two states;—in the free, uncombined
or sensible, and in the latent or combined. In the former case, it is
intimately united with the other constituent elements of bodies,
and is neither indicated by the feeling nor by the thermometer. It
has, consequently, no agency in the temperature of bodies; but,
by its proportion to the force of cohesion, it determines their con-
dition;—whether they shall be solid, liquid or gaseous. In the
latter case, caloric is simply interposed between the molecules, and
is incessantly disengaged, or abstracted from surrounding bodies;
and, by impressing the surface of the body or by acting upon
the thermometer, it indicates to us their temperature.
Equal weights of the same body, at the same temperature, con-
tain the same quantities of caloric; but equal weights of different
bodies, at the same temperature, have by no means the same quan-
tities. The quantity, which one body contains, compared with
that in another is called its specific caloric, or specific heat; and
the power or property, which enables bodies to retain different
quantities of caloric, is called capacity for caloric. If a pound
of water, heated to 156°, be mixed with a pound of quicksilver at
40°, the resulting temperature is 152°,—instead of 98°, the exact
mean. The water, consequently, must have lost four degrees of
temperature, and the quicksilver gained 112°; from which we de-
LAWS OF CALORIC. 171
duce, that the quantity of caloric, capable of raising one pound of
mercury from 40° to 152° is the same as that required to raise one
pound of water from 152° to 156°; or, in other words, that the
same quantity of heat, which raises the temperature of a pound of
water four degrees, raises the same weight of mercury one hun-
dred and twelve degrees. Accordingly, it is said, that the capacity
of water for heat is to that of mercury, as 28 to 1; and that the
specific heat is twenty-eight times greater.
All bodies are capable of giving and taking free caloric, and, con-
sequently, all have a temperature. If the quantity given off be
great, the temperature of the body is elevated. If it take heat
from the thermometer, it is cooler than the instrument.
In inorganic bodies the disengagement of caloric is induced by
various causes; such as electricity, friction, percussion, compres-
sion, the change of condition from a fluid to a solid state; and by
various chymical changes, giving rise to new compounds, so that
the caloric, which was previously latent, becomes free. If, for
example, two substances, each containing a certain amount of spe-
cific heat, unite, so as to form a compound whose specific heat is
less, a portion of caloric must be set free, and this will be indicated
by a rise in the temperature. It is this principle which is chiefly
concerned in some of the theories of calorification that have been
proposed. The subject of the equilibrium and conduction of calo-
ric has already been treated of, under the sense of touch; where
several other topics are discussed, that bear more or less upon the
present inquiry. It is there stated, that inorganic bodies speedily
attain the same temperature, either by radiation or conduction; so
that the different objects, in an apartment, will exhibit the same
degree of heat by the thermometer. The temperature of animals,
however, being a vital operation they retain the degree of heat
peculiar to them, with but little modification from external tempe-
rature. There is a difference, however, in this respect, sufficient to
cause the partition of animals into two great divisions—the warm-
blooded and the cold-blooded; the former comprising those animals,
whose temperature is high, and but little influenced by that of ex-
ternal objects;—the latter those whose temperature is greatly mo-
dified by external influences. The range of the temperature of the
warm-blooded—amongst which are all the higher animals—is limit-
ed; but of the cold-blooded extensive.
The following Table exhibits the peculiar temperature of various
animals in round numbers;—that of man being 98° or 100°.
172
CALORIFICATION.
Animals.
Observers. Temperature.
Arctic fox,.....
Arctic wolf, }
Squirrel, $
Hare,.....}
Whale,.....5
Arctomys citillus, zizil,—in summer,
Do. when torpid, ...
Bat, in summer, ....
Musk,......
Marmotabobac—Bobac, -
House mouse, ....
Arctomys marmota, marmot,—in
summer, -
Do. when torpid
Rabbit,.....
Dog,.....
Cat,.....
Swine,.....
Sheep,.....
Ox, .....
Guinea-pig, ....
Arctomys glis, ...
Shrew,.....
Young wolf, -
Fringilla arctica, Arctic finch,
Rubecola, redbreast
Fringilla linaria, lesser red poll,
Falco palumbarius, goshawk, -
Caprimulgus Europaeus, European
goat-sucker, ...
Emberiza nivalis, snow bunting
Falco lanarius, lanner, -
Fringilla carduelis, goldfinch,
Tetrao perdrix, partridge,
Anas clypeata, shoveler,
Tringa pugnax, ruffe,
Scolopax limosa, lesser godwit,
Tetrao tetrix, grouse,
Fringilla brumalis, winter finch,
Loxia pyrrhula, ...
Falco nisus, sparrowhawk,
Vultur barbatus,
Anser pulchricollis,
Colymbus auritus, dusky grebe,
Tringa vanellus, lapwing, (wounded)
I Tetrao lagopus, ptarmigan,
{ Fringilla domestica, house sparrow
Capt. Lyon.
Do.
Pallas.
Do.
ScORESBY.
Pallas.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
De la Roche.
Martine.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
De la Roche.
Pallas.
Do.
Do.
Braun.
Pallas.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
107
105
104
103
80 to 84
102
102
101 or 102
101
101 or 102
43
100 to 104
100 to 103
100 to 102
99
98
96
111
111
110 or 111
110
109 or 110
109
108
107
107 to 111
TEMPERATURE OF ANIMALS. 173
(Table Continued.)
Animais. Observers. Temperature.
Strix passerina, little owl, Pallas.
Haematopus ostralegus, sea pie Do.
Anas penelope, wigeon, > Do. 106
Anas strepera, gadwall, - Do.
Pelecanus carbo, - Do.
Falco ossifragus, sea eagle, «• Do.
Fulica atra, coot, - Do. 105
Anas acuta, pintail duck, i Do.
Falco milvus, kite, (wounded) \ Merops apiaster, bee eater, - \ Do. 104
Do.
Goose,..... Martine.
Hen,..... Dove,..... > Do. Do. 103 to 107
Duck,..... Do.
Ardea stellaris, 1 Pallas.
Fulco albicollis, Do. 103
Picus major, - 1 Do.
Cossus ligniperda, - - - - SCHULTZE. 89 to 91
Shark, ...... Davy. 83
Torpedo marmorata, - - RUDOLPHI. 74
According to the table, it will be observed, that the inhabitants
of the Arctic regions, whether belonging to the class of mammalia
or birds, are amongst those whose temperature is highest. That of
the Arctic fox is, indeed, probably higher than the amount given
in the table, being taken after death, when the temperature of the
air was as low as — 14° of Fahrenheit, and when loss of heat
may be supposed to have taken place rapidly.
The temperature of the smaller insects it is, of course, impractica-
ble to indicate; but we can arrive at an approximation in those that
congregate in masses, as the bee and the ant; for it is impossible to
suppose with Maraldi, that the augmented temperature is depen-
dent upon the motion and friction of the wings and bodies of the
busy multitudes.
Juch found that, when the temperature of the atmosphere was
— 18° of Fahrenheit, that of a hive of bees was 44°; and, in an
ant-hill, the thermometer stood at 68° or 70°, when the tempera-
ture of the air was 55°; and at 75°, when that of the air was 66°.
The power of preserving their temperature within certain limits
is not, however, possessed exclusively by animals. The heat of
a tree, examined by Mr. Hunter, was found to be always seve-
ral degrees higher than that of the atmosphere, when the tem-
perature of the air was below 56° of Fahrenheit ; but it was
always several degrees below it when the weather was warmer.
Some plants develope a considerable degree of heat, during the pe-
174
CALORIFICATION.
riod of blooming. This was first noticed by Lamarck in the Arum
italicum. In the Arum cordifolium of the Isle of Bourbon, Ilu-
rert found, when the temperature of the air was 80°, that of the
spathe or sheath as high as 134°; and Bory De St. Vincent ob-
served a similar elevation, although to a less degree, in the Arum
esculentum, esculent arum or Indian kale.
The animal body is so far influenced by external heat, as to rise
or fall with it; but the range, as we have already remarked, is
limited in the warm-blooded animal; more extensive in the cold-
blooded. Dr. Currie found the temperature of a man, plunged into
sea-water at 44°, sink in the course of a minute and a half after im-
mersion, from 9S° to 87°; and, in other experiments, it descended
as low as 85°, and even as 83°. It was always found, however,
that, in a few minutes, the heat approached its previous elevation;
and, in no instance, could it be depressed lower than 81i°, or 15°
below the temperature at the commencement of the operation. Si-
milar experiments have been performed on other warm-blooded
animals. Hunter found the temperature of a common mouse
to be 99°, when that of the atmosphere was 60°; but when the same
animal was exposed for an hour to an atmosphere of 15°, its heat
had sunk to 83°; but the depression could be carried no farther.
He found, also, that a dormouse, whose heat in an atmosphere at
64° was 81£°, when pu£ into air, at 20°, had its temperature raised,
in the course of half an hour, to 93°; an hour after, the air being
at 30°, it was still 93° ; another hour after, the air being at 19°, the
heat of the pelvis was as low as 83°,—an experiment, which strongly
proves the great counteracting influence exerted, when animals are
exposed to an unusually low temperature. In this experiment, the
dormouse had maintained its temperature about 70° higher than
that of the surrounding medium, and for the space of two hours
and a half.
In the hybernating torpid quadrupeds the reduction of tempe-
rature, during their torpidity, is considerable. Jenner found the
temperature of a hedge-hog, in the cavity of the abdomen, towards
the pelvis, to be 95°, and that of the diaphragm 97° of Fahren-
heit, in summer, when the thermometer in the shade stood at
78°; whilst in winter, the temperature of the air being 44°, and
the animal torpid, the heat in the pelvis was 45°,and of the dia-
phragm 48£°. When the temperature of the atmosphere was at
26°, the heat of the animal, in the cavity of the abdomen, where an
incision was made, was reduced as low as 30°; but, what singularly
exhibits the power possessed by the system of regulating its tem-
perature, when the same animal was exposed to the cold atmos-
phere of 26°, for two days, its heat, in the rectum, was raised to
93°, or 67° above that of the atmosphere. At this time, however,
it was lively and active, and the bed, on which it lay, felt warm.
In the cold-blooded animal, we have equal evidence of the gene-
ration of heat. Hunter found, that the heat of a viper, placed in
EFFECTS OF DEPRESSED TEMPERATURE. 175
a vessel, at 10°, was reduced in ten minutes to 37°; in the next ten
minutes, the temperature of the vessel being 13°, it fell to 35°;
and in the next ten minutes, the vessel being at 20°, to 31°. In
frogs, he was able to lower the temperature to 31°; but beyond this
point it was not possible to lessen the heat, without destroying the
animal.
In the Arctic regions, the animal temperature appears to be
steadily maintained, notwithstanding the intense cold that prevails;
and we have already seen, that the animals of those hyperborean
latitudes possess a more elevated temperature than those of more
genial climes. In theenterprizing voyages, undertaken by the Bri-
tish government for the discovery of a north-west passage, the
crews of the ships were frequently exposed to a temperature of
— 40° or —50° of Fahrenheit's scale; and the same thing hap-
pened during the disastrous campaign of Russia in 1812, in which
so many of the French army perished from cold. During the se-
cond voyage of Captain Parry, the following temperatures of ani-
mals, just after death, were taken principally by Captain Lyon.
An Arctic fox Temperature of the
1821. Nov. 15. r" """ Animal. - 106|° Atmosphere. - - —14°
Dec. 3. Do. - - 101$ - - — 5
Do. - - 100 - - — 3
11. Do. - - 10H - - — 21
15. Do. - - 993 - - — 15
17. Do. - - 98 - - — 10
19. Do. . - 991 - - — 14
1822.
Jan. 3. Do. - - 1042 . — 23
9. A white hare - - 101 . — 21
10. An Arctic fox - - 100 - — 15
17. Do. - - 106 - - — 32
24. Do. - - 103 - - — 27
Do. - - 103 - — 27
Do. - - 102 - - — 25
27. Do. - - 101 - - — 32
Feb. 2. A wolf - - 105 - - — 27
These animals must have to disengage a quantity of caloric, at
least 100° higher than the temperature of the atmosphere, through-
out the whole of winter; and it would appear as if the counteract-
ing influence becomes proportionately greater as the temperature is
more depressed. It is, however, a part of the nature of those ani-
mals to be constantly eliciting this unusual quantity of caloric,
and therefore they do not suffer. Where animals, not so accus-
tomed, are placed in an unusually cold medium, the efforts of the
system rapidly exhaust the nervous energy; and when this be-
176
CALORIFICATION.
comes so far depressed as to interfere materially with the function
of calorification, which we shall find is to a certain extent under
the nervous influence, the temperature sinks and the individual
dies lethargic—or as if struck with apoplexy.
The ship Endeavour, being on the coast of Terra del Fuego, on
the 21st of December, 1769, Messrs. Banks, Solander, and others
were desirous of making a botanical excursion upon the hills on the
coast, which did not appear to be far distant. The party, consisting of
eleven persons, were overtaken by night, on the hills during ex-
treme cold. Dr. Solander, who had crossed the mountains which
divide Sweden from Norway, knowing the almost irresistible de-
sire for sleep produced by exposure to great cold, more especially
when united with fatigue, enjoined his companions to keep moving,
whatever pains it might cost them, and whatever might be the re-
lief promised by an indulgence in rest. " Whoever sits down,"
said he, "will sleep, and whoever sleeps will wake no more."
Thus admonished, they set forward, but whilst still upon the bare
rock, and before they had got among the bushes, the cold suddenly
became so severe, as to produce the effects that had been dreaded.
Dr. Solander himself was the first who found the desire irre-
sistible, and insisted on being suffered to lie down. Mr. Banks,
(afterwards Sir Joseph,) entreated and remonstrated in vain. He
lay down upon the ground, although it was covered with snow;
and it was with the greatest difficulty, that his friend could keep
him from sleeping. Richmond, also, one of the black servants,
began to linger and to suffer from the cold, in the same manner as
Dr. Solander. Mr. Banks, therefore, sent five of the company
forward to get a fire ready at the first convenient place they came
to; and himself, with four others, remained with the doctor and
Richmond, whom, partly by persuasion and partly by force, they
carried forward; but when they had got through the birch and
swamp, they both declared they could go no farther. Mr. Banks
had again recourse to entreaty and expostulation, but without ef-
fect. When Richmond was told, that if he did not go on, he
would, in a short time, be frozen to death, he answered, that he
desired nothing but to lie down and die. Dr. Solander was not
so obstinate, but was willing to go on, if they would first allow
him to take some sleep, although he had before observed, that to
sleep was to perish. Mr. Banks and the rest of the party found it
impossible to carry them, and they were consequently suffered to
sit down, being partly supported by the bushes, and, in a few mi-
nutes, they fell into a profound sleep. Soon after, some of the
people, who had been sent forward, returned with the welcome in-
telligence, that a fire had been kindled about a quarter of a mile
farther on the way. Mr. Banks then endeavoured to rouse Dr.
Solander, and happily succeeded, but, although he had not slept
five minutes, he had almost lost the use of his limbs; and the mus-
cles were so shrunk, that his shoes fell from his feet. He con-
EFFECTS OF ELEVATED TEMPERATURE. 177
sented to go forward with such assistance as could be given him,
but no attempts to relieve Richmond were successful. He, with
another black left with him, died. Several others began to lose
their sensibility, having been exposed to the cold near an hour and
a half, but the fire recovered them.
The preceding history is interesting in another point of view be-
sides the one for which it was more especially adduced. Both the
individuals that perished were blacks, and it has been a common
observation that they bear exposure to great heat with more impu-
nity, and suffer more from intense cold, than the white variety of
the species. As regards inorganic bodies, it has been satisfactorily
shown, that the phenomena of the radiation of caloric are connect-
ed with the nature of the radiating surface; and that those surfaces
which radiate most, possess, in the highest degree, the absorbing
power; in other words, bodies that have their temperatures most
readily raised by radiant heat are those that are most easily cooled
by their own radiation. In the experiments of Professor Leslie
it was found, that a clean metallic surface produced an effect upon
the thermometer equal to 12 ; but when covered with a thin coat of
glue its radiating power was so far increased as to produce an effect
equal to 80; and, on covering it with lamp-black, it became equal
to 100. We can thus understand wThy, in the negro, there should
be a greater expense of caloric than in the white, owing to the
greater radiation; not because as much caloric may not have been
elicited as in the white. In the same manner we can understand
that, owing to the greater absorbing power of his skin, he may
suffer less from excessive heat than the white; and this is perhaps
the great use of the dark rete mucosum. To ascertain whether
such be the fact, the following experiments were instituted by Sir
Everard Home. He exposed the back of his hand to the sun at
twelve o'clock, with a thermometer attached to it, another thermo-
meter being placed upon a table with the same exposure. The
temperature, indicated by that on his hand, was 90°; by the other,
102°. In forty-five minutes, blisters arose, and coagulable lymph
was thrown out The pain was very severe.
In a second experiment, he exposed his face, eyelids, and the
back of his hand to water heated to 120°; in a few minutes, they
became painful; and, when the heat was farther increased, he was
unable to bear it; but no blisters were produced.
In a third experiment, he exposed the backs of both hands,
with a thermometer upon each, to the sun's rays. The one hand
was uncovered; the other had a covering of black cloth, under
which the ball of the thermometer was placed. After ten minutes,
the degree of heat of each thermometer was marked, and the ap-
pearance of the skin examined. This was repeated at three different
times. The first time, the thermometer under the cloth stood at 91°,
the other thermometer at 85°; the second time, they indicated re-
spectively 94° and 91°; and the third time, 106° and 98°. In every
Vol. II. 23
178
CALORIFICATION.
one of these trials, the skin, that was uncovered, was scorched,
whilst the other had not suffered in the slightest degree.
From all his experiments, Sir Everard concludes, that the
power of the sun's rays to scorch the skin of animals is destroyed,
when applied to a black surface; although the absolute heat, in
consequence of the absorption of the rays, is greater.
When cold is applied to particular parts of the body, the heat of
those parts sinks lower than the minimum of depressed tempera-
ture. Although Hunter was unable to heat the urethra one degree
above the maximum of elevated temperature of the body, he suc-
ceeded in cooling it 29° lower than the minimum of depressed
temperature, or to 58°. He succeeded in cooling down the ears of
rabbits until they froze; and, when thawed, they recovered their
natural heat and circulation. The same experiment was performed
on the comb and wattles of a cock. He found, however, that re-
suscitation occurred in no instance where the whole body had been
frozen.
Hunter found, that the power of generating heat, when ex-
posed to a cooling influence, was possessed even by the egg.
An egg, which had been frozen and thawed, was put into a cold
mixture along with one newly laid. The latter was seven minutes
and a half longer in freezing than the other.
In another experiment, a fresh laid egg, and one which had been
frozen and thawed, were put into a cold mixture at 15° ; the thaw-
ed one soon rose to 32°, and began to swell and congeal; the fresh
one sunk to 29i, and, in twenty-five minutes after the dead one,
it rose to 32°, and began to swell and freeze. All these facts prove,
that when the body is exposed to a lower temperature than usual,
a counteracting power of calorification exists; but that, in the hu-
man species, such exposure to cold is incapable of depressing the
temperature of the system lower than about 15° beneath the natu-
ral standard.
On the other hand, when the human body is exposed to a tem-
perature greatly beyond the natural standard, an action of refrige-
ration is exerted; so that animal heat does not rise heyond a cer-
tain number of degrees;—to a much smaller extent in fact than it is
capable of being depressed by the opposite influence.
Boerhaave 'maintained the strange opinion, that no warm-
blooded animal could exist in a temperature higher than that of its
own body. In the part of Virginia in which we are now situated,
there are some days in every summer in which the thermometer
reaches 98° of Fahrenheit ; whilst in other parts of this country
it is occasionally much higher. The meteorological registers show
it to be at times as high as 108° at Council Bluffs in Missouri; at
104° in New York; and at 100° in Michigan; whilst in most of
the states on some day of summer it reaches 96° or 98°. At Sierra
Leone, Messrs. Watt and Winterbottom saw the thermometer
frequently at 100°, and even as high as 102° and 103° at some dis-
EFFECTS OF ELEVATED TEMPERATURE. 179
tance from the coast. Adanson saw it at Senegal as high as 108§°.
Brydone affirms, that when the scirocco blows in Sicily, the heat
rises to 112°. Dr. Chalmers observed a heat of 115° in South
Carolina; Humboldt of 110° to 115° in the Llanos or Plains near
the Orinoco ; and Captain Tuckey asserts, that on the Red Sea he
never observed the thermometer at midnight under 94°; at sunrise
under 104°; or at midday under 112°.
So long ago as 1758, Governor Ellis of Georgia had noticed
how little the heat of the body is influenced by the external atmos-
phere. "I have frequently," he remarks, "walked an hundred
yards under an umbrella with a thermometer suspended from it by
a thread, to the height of my nostrils, when the mercury has rose
to 105°, which is prodigious. At the same time I have confined
this instrument close to the hottest part of my body, and have been
astonished to observe, that it has subsided several degrees. Indeed
I never could raise the mercury above 97° with the heat of my
body."
Two years afterthedate of this communication, the powerof resist-
ing a much higher atmospheric temperature was discovered by acci-
dent. MM. Duhamel and Tillet,—in some experiments for de-
stroying an insect that infested the grain of the neighbourhood,—
having occasion to use a large public oven on the same day in which
bread had been baked in it,weredesirous of ascertaining its tempera-
ture. This they endeavoured to accomplish by introducing a thermo-
meter into the oven at the end of a shovel. On being withdrawn, the
thermometer indicated a degree of heat considerably above that of
boiling water; but M. Tillet, feeling satisfied that the thermo-
meter had fallen several degrees in approaching the mouth of the
oven, and seeming to be at a loss how to rectify the error, a girl,
—one of the servants of the baker, and an attendant on the oven,—
offered to enter, and mark with a pencil the height at which the
thermometer stood within the oven. The girl smiled at M. Til-
let's hesitation at her proposition, entered the oven, and noted
the thermometer to be at 260° of Fahrenheit. M. Tillet,
anxious for her safety, called upon her to come out; but she assured
him she felt no inconvenience from her situation, and remained
ten minutes longer, when the thermometer had risen to 280° and
upwards. She then came out of the oven, with her face considera-
bly flushed, but her respiration by no means quick or laborious.
These facts excited considerable interest, but no farther experi-
ments appear to have been instituted, until, in the year 1774, Dr.
Geo. Fordyce and Sir Charles Blagden made their celebrated
trials with heated air. The rooms, in which these were made, were
heated by flues in the floor. Having taken off his coat, waistcoat,
and shirt, and being provided with wooden shoes tied on with list,
Dr. Fordyce went into one of the rooms, as soon as the thermo-
meter indicated a degree of heat above that of boiling water. The
first impression of this heated air upon his body was exceedingly
180 calorification.
disagreeable; but, in a few minutes, all uneasiness was removed by
copious perspiration. At the end of twelve minutes he left the
room very much fatigued, but not otherwise disordered. The
thermometer had risen to 220°. In other experiments, it was
found, that a heat of even 260° could be borne with tolerable ease.
At this temperature, every piece of metal was intolerably hot;
small quantities of water, in metallic vessels, quickly boiled; and
streams of moisture poured down over the whole surface of the
body. That this was merely the vapour of the room, condensed
by the cooler skin, was proved by the fact, that when a Florence
flask, filled with water of the same temperature as the body, was
placed in the room, the vapour condensed in like manner upon its
surface, and ran down in streams. Whenever they breathed upon
the thermometer the mercury sank several degrees. Every expi-
ration, especially if made with any degree of violence, communi-
cated a pleasant impression of coolness to the nostrils, scorched
immediately before by the hot air rushing against them when they
inspired. In the same manner, their comparatively cool breath
cooled their fingers, whenever it reached them. "To prove,"
says Sir Charles Blagden, " that there was no fallacy in the
degree of heat, shown by the thermometer, but that the air, which
we breathed, was capable of producing all the well-known effects
of such an heat on inanimate matter, we put some eggs and a beef-
steak upon a tin frame, placed near the standard thermometer, and
farther distant from the cockle than from the wall of the room. In
about twenty minutes, the eggs were taken out, roasted quite hard;
and in forty-seven minutes the steak was not only dressed, but
almost dry. Another beef-steak was rather over done in thirty-
three minutes. In the evening, when the heat was still greater,
we laid a third beef-steak in the same place; and as it had now
been observed, that the effect of the heated air was much increased
by putting it in motion, we blew upon the steak with a pair of bel-
lows, which produced a visible change on its surface and seemed
to hasten the dressing; the greatest part of it was found pretty
well done in thirteen minutes."
In all these experiments, and similar ones were made in the fol-
lowing year by Dobson of Liverpool, the heat of the body, in a high
temperature, speedily reached 100°, but exposure to 212° and more
did not carry it higher. These results are not, however, exactly in
accordance with those of MM. Berger and De La Roche, deduced
from experiments, performed in 1806. Having exposed them-
selves for some time to a stove,—the temperature of which was 39°
of Reaumur, or 120° of Fahrenheit,—their temperature was ele-
vated 3° of Reaumur, or 6^° of Fahrenheit; and M. De La
Roche found, that his rose 4° of Reaumur, or 9° of Fahrenheit,
when he had remained sixteen minutes in a stove, heated to 176°
of Fahrenheit. In some experiments of Chabert, who has
been exhibiting his powers as a " Fire-king," in this country as
EFFECTS OF ELEVATED TEMPERATURE. 181
well as in Europe, he is said to have entered an oven with impu-
nity, the heat of which was from 400 to 600° of Fahrenheit.
Experiments have shown, that the same power of resisting ex-
cessive heat is possessed by other animals. Drs. Fordyce and
Blagden shut up a dog in a room, the temperature of which was
between 220° and 236° for half an hour; at the end of this time, a
thermometer was applied between the thigh and flank of the ani-
mal; and in about a minute, the mercury sank down to 110°; but
the real heat of the body was certainly less than this, as the
ball of the thermometer could not be kept a sufficient time in pro-
per contact, and the hair, which felt sensibly hotter than the bare
skin, could not be prevented from touching the instrument. The
temperature of this animal, in the natural state, was 101°.
Wejind, in the case of aquatic animals, some astonishing cases
of adaptation of beings to the medium in which they live. Al-
though man is capable of breathing air, heated to above the boil-
ing point of water with impunity, we have seen that he cannot bear
the contact of water much below that temperature. Yet we find
fishes living in water at a temperature, which would be entirely
sufficient to boil them if dead. In the thermal springs of Bahia,
in Brazil, many small fishes are seen swimming in a rivulet, that
raises the thermometer to 88°, when the temperature of the air is
only 77s0. Sonnerat, again, found fishes existing in a hot spring
at the Manillas,at 158° Fah.; and MM. Humboldt and Bonpland,
in travelling through the province of Quito in South America,
perceived fishes thrown up alive and apparently in health, from
the bottom of a volcano, in the course of its explosions, along with
water and heated vapour that raised the thermometer to 210°, or
only two degrees short of the boiling point.
When the heating influence is applied to a part of the body only,
as to the urethra, the temperature of the part is not increased
beyond the degree to which the whole body may be raised.
From all these facts, then, we may conclude, that when the body
is exposed to a temperature, greatly above the ordinary standard
of the animal, a frigorific influence is exerted; but this is effected
at a considerable expense of the vital energy; and hence is followed
by considerable exhaustion, if the effort be prolonged.
In the cold-blooded animal, the power of resisting heat is not
great; so that it expires in water not hotter than the human blood
occasionally is. Dr. Edwards found, that a frog, which can live
for eight hours in water at 32°, is destroyed in a few seconds, in
water at 105°; which appears to be the highest temperature, that
cold-blooded animals can bear.
Observation has shown, that although the average temperature
of an animal is such as we have stated in the table, yet that parti-
cular circumstances give occasion to some fluctuation. A slight
difference exists, according to sex, temperament, idiosyncrasy, &c.
MM. Edwards and Gentil found the temperature of a young
1S2
calorification.
female half a degree less than that of two boys of the same age.
Edwards tried the temperature of twenty sexagenarians, thirty-
seven septuagenarians, fifteen octogenarians, and five centenarians,
at the large establishment of Bicetre, and he observed a slight dif-
ference in each class. John Davy found, that the temperature of
a lamb was a degree higher than that of its mother; in five new-
born children, the heat was about half a degree higher than that of
the mother, and it rose half a degree higher in the first twelve
hours after birth. Edwards, on the other hand, found, that, in
the cold-blooded animal, the faculty of producing heat was less, the
nearer to birth; and that in many cases, as soon as the young
dropped from the mother, the temperature fell to within a degree
or two of that of the circumambient air; and he moreover affirms,
that the faculty of producing heat is at its minimum at birth; and
that it increases successively to the adult age. His trials on chil-
dren, at the large Hopital des Enfans of Paris; and on the aged,
at Bicetre, showed, that the temperature of infants, one or two
days old, was 94° or 95° of Fahrenheit; thatof the sexagenarian
from 95° to 97°; of the octogenarian 94° or 95°; and that, as a ge-
neral principle, it varied according to the age. .
The state of the system, as to health or disease, also influences
the evolution of heat. Dr. Francis Home, of Edinburgh, took
the heat of various patients, at different periods of their indisposi-
tions. He found that of two persons, labouring under the cold
stage of an intermittent, to be 104° ; whilst, during the sweat and
afterwards, it fell to 101° and to 99°. The highest degree, which
he noticed in fever, was 107°. We have often witnessed the ther-
mometer at 106° in scarlatina and in typhus, but it probably rarely
exceeds this, although it is stated to have been seen as high as 112°.
Hunter found the interior of a hydrocele, on the day of opera-
tion, to raise the mereury to 92° ; on the following day, when in-
flammation had commenced, it rose to 99°. The fluid, obtained
from the abdomen of an individual, tapped for the seventh time for
dropsy of the lower belly, indicated a temperature of 101°. Twelve
days thereafter, when the operation was repeated for the eighth
time, the temperature was 104°.
Dr. James Currie had himself bled; and during the operation,
the mercury of a thermometer, which he held in his hand, sank,
at first slowly and afterwards rapidly, nearly 10° ; and when he
fainted, the assistant found, that it had sank 8° farther.
MM. Edwards and Gentil also assert, that they have ob-
served diurnal variations in the temperature of individuals, and
these produced, apparently, by the particular succession in the ex-
ercise of the different organs; as where intellectual meditation was
followed by digestion. These variations, they affirm, frequently
amounted to two or three degrees, between morning and evening.
Such are the prominent facts, connected with the subject of ani-
SEAT OF CALORIFICATION. 183
mal heat. It is obvious, that it is altogether disengaged by an ac-
tion of the system, which enables it to counteract, within certain
limits, the extremes of atmospheric heat and cold. The animal
body, like all other substances, is subjected to the laws regarding
the equilibrium, the conduction, and the radiation of caloric ; but,
by virtue of the important function we are now considering, its
own temperature is neither elevated nor depressed by those influ-
ences to any great amount. Into the seat and nature of this mys-
terious process, and the various ingenious theories, that have been
indulged, we will now inquire.
Physiologists have been by no means agreed, regarding the or-
gans or apparatus of calorification. Some, indeed, have affirmed
that there is not, strictly speaking, any such apparatus; and that
animal heat results from all the other vital operations. Amongst
those, too, who admit the existence of such an apparatus, a differ-
ence of sentiment prevails ; some esteeming, that it is local, or ef-
fected in some particular part of the body ; others, that it is gene-
ral, or disseminated through the whole of the economy.
Under the name caloriciti Chaussier admits a primary vital
property, by virtue of which living beings disengage the caloric on
which their proper temperature is dependent, in the same manner
as they accomplish their other vital operations, by other vital pro-
perties ; and, in support of this doctrine, he adduces the circum-
stance, that each living body has its own proper temperature;
which is coexistent only with the living state ; is common to every
living part; ceases at death; and augments by every cause, that
excites the vital activity.
It has been properly, however, objected to this view, that the
same arguments would apply equally to many other vital opera-
tions ; to nutrition for example; and that it would be obviously
improper to admit, for each of these functions, a special vital prin-
ciple. The notion has not experienced favour from the physiolo-
gist, and is, we believe, confined to the individual from whom it
emanated. •
BoNi,again,according to Adelon, considers that no particular or-
gan is specially charged with the disengagement of caloric; but that
it is the common resultant of all the vital actions, nervous or muscu-
lar, of digestion, respiration, circulation, nutrition, secretion, &c.
The arguments, that he adduces, in favour of his position, are,—that
the exercise of any of these functions actually modifies the tempera-
ture of the body; thab mental labour heats the head,—hence the ex-
citement witnessed in the maniac, and the great resistance to cold
for which he is distinguished; and that, during emotion, we are hot
or cold, whatever may be the condition of the atmosphere.
The action of the various organs of the body, and especially of
the nervous system, we shall see, have considerable influence in
modifying the disengagement of heat; and it is probable, that it
184
CALORIFICATION.
occurs in the different organs, referred to by Boni, but not directly
in consequence of the functions they accomplish.
Amongst those, who admit that calorification is a local action,
some have believed that the caloric is disengaged in a particu-
lar organ, whence it is distributed to every part of the body;
whilst others conceive, that every part disengages its own caloric
and has its special temperature.
So striking a phenomenon as animal temperature could not fail
to attract early attention; and, accordingly, we find, amongst the
ancients, various speculations on the subject. The most prevalent
was, that its seat is in the heart; that it is communicated to the
blood in that viscus, and is afterwards sent to every part of the
system; and that the great use of respiration is to cool the heart;
but this hypothesis is liable to all the objections, that apply to the no-
tion of any organ of the body acting as a furnace,—that such organ
ought to be calcined ; and it has the additional objection, which
applies to all the speculations regarding the ebullition and efferves-
cence of the blood as a cause of heat, that it is purely conjectural,
without the slightest fact or argument in its favour. It was not,
indeed, until the chymrcal doctrines prevailed, that any thing like
argument was adduced in favour of the local disengagement of
heat: the opinions of physiologists then settled almost universally
upon the lungs ; and this chiefly in consequence of the observation,
that animals, which do not breathe, have a temperature but little
superior to the medium in which they live; whilst man and ani-
mals that breathe have a temperature considerably higher than
the medium heat of the climate in which they exist, and one which
is but little affected by changes in the thermal condition of that
medium ; and, moreover, that birds, which breathe, in proportion,
a greater quantity of air than man, have a still higher temperature
than he.
Mayow, whose theory of animal heat was, in other respects,
sufficiently unmeaning, affirmed, that the effect of respiration is not
to cool the blood, as had been previously maintained, but to gene-
rate heat, which it did by an operation analogous to combustion.
It was not, however, until the publication of Dr. Black's doc-
trine on latent heat, that any plausible explanation of the pheno-
menon appeared. According to that distinguished philosopher, a
part of the latent heat of the inspired air becomes sensible; conse-
quently, the temperature of the lungs and of the blood passing
through them must be elevated; and as the blood is distributed to
the whole system, it communicates its heat to the parts as it
proceeds in its course. But this view was liable to an obvious
objection, which was, indeed, fatal to it, and so Black himself
appears to have thought, from his silence on the subject. If the
whole of the caloric is disengaged in the lungs, as in a furnace, and
is distributed through the blood-vessels, as heated air is trans-
THEORIES OF CALORIFICATION. 1S5
mitted along conducting pipes, the temperature of the lungs ought
to be much greater than that of the parts more distant from the
heart; so great, indeed, as to consume that important organ in a
short space of time.
The doctrine, maintained by Lavoisier and Seguin, was:—
that the oxygen of the inspired air combines with the carbon and
hydrogen of the venous blood and produces combustion. The calo-
ric, given off, is then taken up by the blood-vessels, and is distri-
buted over the body. The arguments they adduced in favour of
this view, were:—the great resemblance between respiration and
combustion; so that if the latter gives off heat, the former ought to
do so likewise;—the fact that arterial blood is somewhat warmer
than venous;—certain experiments of Lavoisier and La Place,
which consisted in placing animals in the calorimeter, and com-
paring the quantity of ice, which they melted, and, consequently,
the quantity of heat they gave off, with the quantity of carbonic
acid produced; and finding that the quantity of caloric, that would
result from the carbonic acid formed, was exactly that disengaged
by those animals. Independently, however, of other objections,
this hypothesis is liable to those already urged against that of
Black, which it closely resembles.
The objection, that the lungs ought to be much hotter than
they really are—both absolutely and relatively—was attempt-
ed to be obviated by Dr. Crawford, in a most ingenious and
apparently logical manner. The oxygen of the inspired air, accord-
ing to him, combines with the carbon given out by the blood, so
as to form carbonic acid. But the specific heat of this is less
than that of oxygen; and, accordingly, a quantity of latent calo«-
ric is set free; and this caloric is not only sufficient to support the
temperature of the body, but also to carry off the water—which
was supposed to be formed by the union of the hydrogen and the
oxygen—in the state of vapour, and to raise the temperature of
the inspired air considerably. So far the theory of Crawford
was liable to the same objections as those of Black, and Lavoisier
and Seguin. He affirmed, however, that the same process, by
which the oxygen of the inspired air is converted into carbonic
acid, converts likewise the venous into arterial blood; and as he
assumed from his experiments, that the capacity for caloric of arte-
rial blood is greater than that of venous, in the proportion of
1.0300 to 0.8928; he conceived, that the caloric, set free in the
formation of the carbonic acid, in place of raising the temperature
of the arterial blood, is employed in saturating its increased capa-
city, and in maintaining its temperature at the same degree with
the venous.
According to this view, therefore, the heat is not absolutely set
free in the lungs, although arterial blood contains a greater quan-
tity of caloric than venous; but when, in the capillaries, the arte-
rial becomes converted into venous blood, or into blood of a less
Vol. II. 24
186
CALORIFICATION.
capacity for caloric, the heat is set free, and occasions the tempe-
rature of the body.
If the facts, which have served as a foundation for this theory
of animal heat, were not false, the deductions would be irresistible;
and, accordingly, it was, at one time, almost universally received,
especially by those who consider that all vital operations can be
assimilated to chymical processes. But numerous objections arise
against it. In the first place, we have elsewhere endeavoured to
show, that respiration is not a combustion; and that our know-
ledge is limited to the fact, that oxygen is taken into the pulmo-
nary vessels and carbonic acid given off, but we have no means of
knowing whether the one goes immediately to the formation of the
other. Dr. Crawford had inferred from his experiments, that
the specific heat of oxygen is 1.7490; of carbonic acid, 1.0454; of
azote, 0.7936; and of atmospheric air, 0.2669; but the more re-
cent experiments of De La Roche and Berard, make that of
oxygen, 0.2361;of carbonic acid, 0.2210; of azote, 0.2754; and of
atmospheric air, 0.2669; a difference of such a trifling amount,
that it has been conceived the quantity of caloric, given out by
oxygen during its conversion into carbonic acid, would be insuffi-
cient to heat the residual air, that is expelled in breathing, to its
ordinary elevation. Secondly. The one or two degrees of eleva-
tion of temperature, which appears to occur in the conversion of
venous into arterial blood, although generally believed in, is not
assented to by all. The experiments instituted on this point have
been few and imprecise. Thirdly. M. Dulong,—on repeating the
experiments of Lavoisier and La Place, for comparing the quan-
tities of caloric given off by animals, in the calorimeter, with those
that would result from the carbonic acid formed during the same
time in their respiration,—did not attain a similar result. The quan-
tity of caloric, disengaged by the animals, was always superior to
that which would result from the quantity of carbonic acid formed.
Fourthly. The estimate of Crawford, regarding the specific heat
of venous and arterial blood, has been contested. He made that of
the former, we have seen, to be 0.8928; of the latter 1.0300. The
result of the experiments of Dr. John Davy give 0.903 to the
former, and 0.913 to the latter; and in another case, which has been
adopted by Magendie, the specific heat of the venous was greater
than that of the arterial blood, in the proportion of .852 to .839.
Granting, however, that the case is as stated by Crawford, it is
insufficient to explain the phenomena. Legallois has, indeed,
attempted to show that if the whole of the caloric, set free in the
manner mentioned, were immediately absorbed, it would be insuf-
ficient for the constitution of the arterial blood; and that, instead
of the-lung running the risk of being calcined, it would be threat-
ened with congelation.
But the theory of Crawford was most seriously assailed by
other experiments, tending to show that the function of calorifi-
theories of calorification. 187
cation is derived from the great nervous centres. When an animal
is decapitated, or when the spinal marrow, or the brain, or both, are
destroyed, we have seen that the action of the heart may be still
kept up, provided the lungs be artificially inflated. In such cases,
it is found, that the usual change in the blood, from the venous to
the arterial state, is produced; oxygen is absorbed and carbonic
acid exhaled as usual. Mr. Brodie, in performing this experiment,
directed his attention to the point, whether animal heat is, under
such circumstances, evolved, and the temperature maintained, as
where the brain and spinal marrow are entire; and he found, that
although the blood appeared to undergo its ordinary changes, the
generation of animal heat seemed to be suspended; and conse-
quently, if the inspired air happened to be colder than the body,
the effect of respiration was to cool the animal; so that an animal,
on which artificial respiration was kept up, became sooner cold
than one killed at the same time and left undisturbed.
The inference, deduced from these experiments, was, that in-
stead of circulation and respiration maintaining the heat, they
dissipate it; and that as the heat is diminished by the destruction
of the nervous centres, its disengagement must be ascribed to the
action of those centres, and particularly to that of the encephalon.
M. Chossat has endeavoured to discover the precise part of the
nervous system engaged in calorification; but the results of his ex-
periments have not been such as to induce him to refer it with
Brodie to the encephalon.
He divided the brain, anterior to the pons varolii, in a living
animal, so that the eighth pair of nerves were uninjured. Respira-
tion, consequently, continued, and inflation of the lungs was un-
necessary. Notwithstanding this serious mutilation, the circulation
also went on; and Chossat observed distinctly, that arterial blood
circulated in the arteries. Yet the temperature of the animal gra-
dually sank, from 104° Fahr.,—its elevation at the commence-
ment of the experiment,—to 76°, in twelve hours, when the ani-
mal died. It seemed manifest to M. Chossat, that from the time
that the brain was divided, heat was no longer given off, and the
body gradually cooled as it would have done after death. Farther
than this, he noticed, that the time at which the refrigeration oc-
curred most rapidly was that in which the circulation was most
active,—at the commencement of the experiment. In other expe-
riments, M. Chossat paralyzed the action of the brain by a violent
concussion, and by injecting a strong decoction of opium into the
jugular vein,—keeping up respiration at the same time artificially.
The results were the same. From these experiments he drew the
conclusion that the brain has a direct influence over the production
of heat.
His next experiments were directed to the discovery of the
medium through which the brain acts,—the eighth pair of
nerves, or spinal marrow. He divided the eighth pair of nerves in
188
CALORIFICATION.
a dog, and kept up artificial respiration. The temperature of the
animal sank gradually, and at the expiration of sixty hours when
the animal died, it was reduced to 68° of Fahrenheit. Yet the
animal did not die of asphyxia or of suspension of the pheno-
mena of respiration, as the lungs crepitated, exhibited no signs of
infiltration, and were partly filled with arterial blood. It appeared
to M. Chossat to expire from cold. As, however, the mean de-
pression of heat was less than in the preceding experiments, he in-
ferred, that a slight degree of heat is still disengaged after the sec-
tion of the eighth pair, whilst after injury done to the brain directly
it is no longer given off.
Again, he divided the spinal marrow beneath the occiput, and
although artificial respiration was maintained, as in the experiments
of Brodie, the temperature gradually fell, and the animal died ten
hours afterwards, at a heat of 79°; and as death occurred in this
case so much more speedily than in the last, he inferred, that the
influence of the brain over the production of heat is transmitted
rather by the spinal marrow than by the eighth pair of nerves.
In his farther experiments, Chossat found, that when the spinal
marrow was divided between each of the twelve dorsal vertebra?,
the depression of temperature occurred less and less rapidly, the
lower the intervertebral section, and it was imperceptible at the
lowest; he therefore concluded, that the spinal marrow did not act
directly in the function, but indirectly through the trisplanchnic
nerve. To satisfy himself on this point, he opened a living animal
on the left side, beneath the twelfth rib, and removed the supra-
renal capsule of that side, dividing the trisplanchnic, where it joins
the semilunar plexus. The animal gradually lost its heat, and died
ten hours afterwards in the same state as regarded temperature as
when the spinal marrow was divided beneath the occiput.
Desiring to obtain more satisfactory results,—the last experiment
applying to only one of the trisplanchnic nerves,—he tied the aorta,
which supplies both with the materials on which they operate, be-
neath the place where it passes through the arch of the diaphragm,
at the same time preventing asphyxia by inflation of the lungs. The
animal lost its heat much more rapidly, and died in five hours. In all
these cases, the animal, according to Chossat, died of cold; the func-
tion, by which the caloric, constantly abstracted from the system by
the surrounding medium,isgenerated,having been rendered imprac-
ticable. To have a medium of comparison, he killed several ani-
mals by protracted immersion in cold water, when he found, that
the lowest degree, to which the warm-blooded could be reduced and
life yet exist, was 79° of Fahrenheit. M. Chossat also alludes
to cases of natural death by congelation, which he conceives to de-
stroy, in the manner we have before suggested, by diminution
of the nervous energy, as indicated by the progressive stupor, and
debility of the chief functions of the animal economy.
Lastly,—On killing animals suddenly, and attending to the pro-
THEORIES OF CALORIFICATION. 189
gress of refrigeration after death, he found it to be identical with
that which follows direct injury of the brain, or division of the
spinal marrow beneath the occiput.
A view, somewhat analogous to this of M. Chossat, has been
indulged by Sir Everard Home. He conceives, that the phe-
nomenon is restricted to the ganglionic part of the nervous sys-
tem, and he rests the opinion chiefly upon the position, that there
are certain animals which have a brain, or some part equivalent to
it, but whose temperature is not higher than that of the surround-
ing medium; whilst, on the other hand, all the animals that evolve
heat are provided with ganglia.
The doctrines of Brodie and Chossat have been considered by
the generality of the chymists,—by Brande, Thomson, and Pa-
ris,—as completely subversive of the chymical doctrines, which re-
fer the production of animal heat to the respiratory function.
Their position,—that it is a nervous function,—has,likewise,been
confirmed by the facts attendant upon injury done to the nerves of
parts; and by what is witnessed in paralytic limbs, the heat of
which is generally and manifestly inferior to that of the sound
parts. But there are many difficulties in the way of admitting,
that the nervous system is the special organ for the production of
animal temperature. Dr. Wilson Philip, from a repetition of the
experiments of Mr. Brodie, was led to conclude, that the cause
why the temperature of the animal body diminished more rapidly,
where artificial inflation was practised, than where the animal was
left undisturbed, was owing to too large a quantity of air having
been sent into the lungs; and he found, that when a less quantity
was used, the cooling process was sensibly retarded by the infla-
tion. The experiments of Legallois, Hastings, and Williams,
although differing from each other in certain particulars, corrobo-
rate the conclusion of Dr. Philip, and what is singular, would ap-
pear to show, that the temperature occasionally rises during the ex-
periment.
Many of the facts, detailed by Chossat, are curious, and exhibit
the indirect agency of the nervous system, but his conclusion, that
the trisplanchnic is the special organ for its development is liable
to the objections we have urged regarding the theory, which looks
upon the heart, or the lungs as furnaces for the disengagement of ca-
loric, viz. that they ought to be consumed in a short space of time
by the operation.
All these facts exhibit, that, in the upper classes of animals, the
three great acts of innervation, respiration and circulation are indi-
rectly concerned in this function ; not that any one is the special
apparatus. M. Edwards has attempted to show, that it is more
connected with the second of these than with either of the others.
Thus, animals, whose temperature is highest, bear privation of air
the least, whilst cold-blooded animals suffer comparatively little
from it; and young animals are less affected than the adult.
190
calorification.
The greater the temperature of the animal, and the nearer to the
adult age, the greater is the consumption of oxygen; and he far-
ther observed, that whilst the seasons modify calorification, they
affect also respiration ; and that if, in summer, less heat is elicit-
ed, and in winter more, respiration consumes less oxygen in the
former season than in the latter.
That innervation is indirectly concerned in the phenomenon is
proved by the various facts that have been referred to ; and Le-
gallois, although he does not accord with Mr. Brodie, conceives
that the temperature is greatly under the influence of the nervous
system, and that whatever weakens the nervous power, proportion-
ally diminishes the capability of producing heat. Dr. Philip, too,
concluded from his experiments, that the nervous influence is so
intimately connected with the power of evolving heat, that it must
be looked upon as a necessary medium between the different steps
of the operation. He found, that if the galvanic influence be ap-
plied to fresh drawn arterial blood, an evolution of heat, amounting
to three or four degrees takes place, whilst the blood assumes the
venous hue and becomes partly coagulated. He regards the pro-
cess of calorification as a secretion; and explains it upon his gene-
ral principle of the identity of the nervous and galvanic influences,
and of the necessity for the exercise of such influence in the func-
tion of secretion.
Of the fact of the circulation being necessary to calorification we
have evidence in the circumstance, that if the vessels, proceeding
to a part, be tied, animal heat is no longer disengaged from it.
It is manifest then, that in animals, and especially in the warm-
blooded, the three great vital operations are necessary for the dis*
engagement of the due temperature, but we have no sufficient evi-
dence of the direct agency of any one, whilst we see heat elicited
in the vegetable, in which these functions are at all events rudi-
mental; and the existence of one of them—innervation—more than
doubtful.
The view of those, who consider, that the disengagement of ca-"
loric occurs in the capillary system of the whole of the body, ap-
pears to us the most consistent with observed phenomena. These
views have varied according to the physical circumstances, that
have been looked upon as producing heat. By some, it has been
regarded as the product of an effervescence of the blood and hu-
mours; by others, as owing to the disengagement of an igneous
matter, or spirit from the blood ; by others to an agitation of the
sulphureous parts of the blood ; whilst Boerhaave and Douglas
ascribed it to the friction of the blood against the parietes of the
vessels, and of the globules against each other. In favour of the last
hypothesis, it was urged, that animal heat is in a direct ratio with
the velocity of the circulation, the circumference of the vessels,
and the extent of their surface; and that thus we are able to explain,
why the heat of parts decreases in a direct ratio with their distance
THEORIES OF CALORIFICATION. 191
from the heart; and they accounted for the greater heat of the arte-
rial blood, in the lungs, by the supposition, that the pulmonary cir-
culation is far more rapid.
Most of these notions are entirely hypothetical. The data are
generally incorrect, and the deductions characteristic of the faulty
physics of the period in which they were indulged.
The correct view, it appears to us, is that embraced by, perhaps,
the generality of physiologists, who admit the caloric to be disen-
gaged in every part, by a special action, under the nervous influ-
ence, and the presence of arterial blood ; the latter either furnish-
ing the materials, or merely acting as a stimulus. In this manner,
calorification becomes, like nutrition, a function executed in the
capillary system, and therefore appropriately considered in this
place.
It is by this theory alone, that we are capable of accounting for
the increased heat that occurs in certain local diseases, in which
the temperature exceeds, by several degrees, that of the blood in
the large vessels.
By some, it has been doubted whether, in cases of local inflam-
mation, any such augmentation of temperature exists, but the error
seems to have arisen from the temperature of the part, in health,
having generally been ranked at blood heat; whereas, we shall find,
that it differs essentially in different parts. Dr. Thomson found,
that a small inflamed spot, in his right groin, gave out, in the course
of four days, a quantity of heat, sufficient to have heated seven
wine-pints of water from 40° to 212°; yet the temperature was
not sensibly less than that of the rest of the body at the end of the
experiment, when the inflammation had ceased.
Of the mode, in which heat is evolved in the capillaries, it is
impossible for us to arrive at any satisfactory information. The
result alone indicates, that the process has been accomplished. In
the present state of our knowledge, we are compelled to refer it to
some vital action, of the nature of which we are ignorant; but which
seems to be possessed by all organized bodies,*—vegetable as well as
animal.
By supposing, that calorification is effected in every part of the
body, we can understand why different portions should have dif-
ferent temperatures; as the activity of the function may vary, in
this respect, according to the organ. Chopart and Dessault
found the heat of the rectum to be 100°; of the axilla and groin,
when covered with clothes, 96°; and of the chest, 92°. Davy
found the temperature of a naked man, just risen from bed, to be
90° in the middle of the 2ble of the foot; 93° between the inner
ancle and tendo Achilles; 91.5° in the middle of the skin; 93° in
the calf; 95° in the ham; 91° in the middle of the thigh; 96.5° in
the fold of the groin; 95° at three lines beneath the umbilicus;
94° on the sixth rib of the left side; 93° on the same rib of the right
side; and 98° in the axilla. MM. Edwards and Gentil found
192 calorification.
the temperature of a strong adult male, to be, in the rectum and
mouth, 102°; in the hands, 100°; in the axillae and groins, 98°; in
the cheeks, 97°; in the prepuce and the feet, 96°, and in the chest
and abdomen, 95°. ✓
All these experiments, it is obvious, concern only the tempera-
ture of parts which can be readily modified by the circumambient
medium. To judge of the comparative temperature of the inter-
nal organs, Davy killed a calf, and noted the temperature of dif-
ferent parts, both external and internal. The blood of the jugular
vein raised the thermometer to 105°. 5; that of the carotid artery
to 107°; of the rectum to 105°.5; of the metatarsus to 97°; of the*
tarsus to 90°; of the knee to 102°; of the head of the femur to 103°;
of the groin to 104°; of the under part of the liver to 106°; of the
substance of that organ to 106°; of the lung to 106°.5; of the left
ventricle to 107°; of the right to 106°; and of the substance of
the brain to 104°. It is not easy to account for these differences
without supposing, that each part has the power of disengaging
its own heat; and that the communication of caloric is not suffici-
ently ready to prevent the difference from being perceptible.
We have stated, early in this section, that man possesses the
power of resisting cold as well as heat within certain limits; and
of preserving his own temperature greatly unmodified. Let us
inquire into the direct and indirect agents of these counteracting
influences.
As the mean temperature of the warmest regions does not ex-
ceed 85° of Fahrenheit, it is obvious that he must be constantly
disengaging caloric to the surrounding medium:—still his tempera-.
ture remains the same. This is effected by the mysterious agency,
which we have been considering, materially aided, however, by
several circumstances both intrinsic and extrinsic to the system.
The external envelope of the body is a bad conductor of caloric,
and therefore protects the internal organs, to a certain extent, from
the sudden influence of excessive heat or cold. The cutaneous sys-
tem of man is, however, a much less efficient-protection than that
of animals. In the warm-blooded animals, in general, the bo-fc,
dies are covered with hair or feathers. The whale is destitute
of hair; but besides the protection, which is afforded by the ex-
traordinary thickness of its skin, and the stratum of fat,—a bad
conductor of caloric,—with which the skin is lined, as the animal
constantly resides in the water, it is not subjected to the same
vicissitudes of temperature as the land animals. The seals, bears
and walruses, which seek their food in the same seas, sleep on land.
They have a coating of hair to protect Uiem. In the case of some of
the birds of the genus Anas, of northern regions, we meet with a
singular anomaly,—the whole of the circumference of the anus be-
ing devoid of feathers; but to make amends for this deficiency, the
animal has the power of secreting an oleaginous substance, with
which the surface is kept constantly smeared. It may be remarked
calorification.
193
that we do not find the quantity of feathers on the bodies of birds
to be proportionate to the cold of the climates in which they re-
side, as is pretty universally the case regarding the quantity of
h»jj on the mammaliatfMan is compelled to have recourse to cloth-
ing, for the impose ofpreventing the sudden abstraction or.recep-
tion oTjigji&Ey J*This he does by ein»ering himself with subslaj|ces,
that arebad conductors of caloric, and retain an atmosphere next
to the suM§pS|' wfrift is warmed by the caloric of the body, T^Hkis
compelled, j^gj infhe colder seasons, to have recourse to artifi-
cial temperature.
It will be^ibvious, from what has already been said, that the
greater thefMBe of activity of any organ or set of organs, the
greater willQ^the^s^jdeveloped1^ and, in this way, muscular ex-
"efjion, and digestion jgpuence its production.
'"' By an attention to all these points, and by his acquaintance with
the physical laws relative to the development ahdjpsopagation of
caloric, man is enabled to live amongst the arctic snj^wSy .and to
exist in climates, where the j^^^rta^eis frequently,, for a length
of time, upwards of 140° lower than that of his pwpii,.body. The
ingenious contrivances, adopted in the polar voyages, under the
direction*^Captain Parry, are monumentssfij&enuity, directed
to obviate*one of the greatest obstacles to pljee^fged exisier|ce*ih
those inhospitable regions, for which., man is naturally incapaci-
tated, and attains the capab^^jsojely, by the exercise of that supe-
]fior intellect, wfth wtach n&lwir&been vested b$Uhe author of his
In periods of intense cold, the Jptrerne psWLs of the body do
not possess the necessary degree?*™'£rit*K*».-tn rpsfst r>nnorp.la.
to resist congela*
tion, unlessj&fogsftare carefully Ijfotected. • In the disastrous expe-
ditions of ^RT^^^n to Russia, me loss of the nji^angPears was a
common casualty;ti8fii£in arctic voyages j&$^bit69^ occur in
spite of every^|je!"j^^fen the temperature of the whole body
sinks to about 78° or 79°, death takes place, preceded by the symp-
toms of nervous depression, ;fhat have been already depicted.
The counteracting influence, which is exerted, when the body
is exposed to a temperature greatly above the ord^^j^tandard of
Hie animal, is as difficult of appreciation as that bjlwhich calorifi-
cation is-effected. The probability is, that, in such case, thei^s-
engagement of animal heat is ftgliftided; and that the body recejfes
heat from without by direct, ^ut not by rapid, communication,
owing to its being an imperfect conductor of caloric. Through the
agency of this extraneous heat the temperature rises a limited num-
ber of degrees; but its elevation is checked by the evaporation,
constantly taking place through the cutaneous and pulmonary trans-
pirations. For this last idea, we are indebted to Franklin, and its
truth has been confirmed by others.
B MM. Bergx?r and De LARocHE,for example,put into an oven,-—
heated to from 120° to 140°,—a frog, one of those porous vessels,
Vol. II. *5 »-
194
i ALORTFICATION-
called alcarazas,—which permit the transudation of the fluid,
within them, through their sides,—filled with water at the animal
heat, and two sponges, imbibed with the same water. The tem-
perature of the frog at the expiration of two hours, was 99°; and
the other bodies continued at the same. Having substituted a rab-
bit for the frog, the result was identical. On the other hand, having
placed animals in a warm atmosphere, so saturated with humidity
that no evaporation could occur, they received the caloric by com-
munication, and their temperature rose; whilst inert evaporahlc
bodies, put into a dry stove, became but slightly warmed ;—much
less so, indeed, than the warm-blooded animals in the moist stove.'
Hence they concluded, that evaporation is one of the great refri-
gerative agents, when the body is exposed to excessive heat; and,
this conclusion is confirmed by the loss in weight, which animals
sustain by the experiment.
Dr. Edwards, in his experiments on the influence of physical
agents on life, found, that warm-blooded animals have less power
of producing heat, after they have been exposed for some time to
an elevated temperature, as.in summer,—whilst the opposite effect
occurs in winter. He instituted a series of experiments, which
consisted in exposing birds to the influence of a freezing mixture,
first in February^ and afterwards in July and August, and observ-
ing in what degree they were cooled by remaining in this situation
for equal lengths of time ; the result of which was, that the same
kind of animal was cooled six or eight times as much in the sum-
mer as in the winter months. This principle he presumes to be of
great importance in maintaining the regularity-of the temperature
at the different seasons; even more so than evaporation, the effect,
of which, in this respect, he thinks has been greatly exaggerated.
When exposed to high atmospheric temperature, the ingenuity
of man has to be as much exerted as in the opposite condition.
The clothing must be duly regulated according to physical princi-
ples, and perfect quietude be observed, so that undue activity of
any of the organs that materially influence the disengagement of
animal heat, may be prevented.
It is only within limits, that this refrigeratory action is sufficient.
At a certain degree, the transpiration is inadequate^ the tempera-
ture of the animal rises, and death supervenes.
secretion
195
SECRETION.
We have yet to describe an important and multiple function,
which takes place in the very tissue of our organs—in the capillary
system,—and which separates from the blood the various humours
of the body. This is the function of secretion,—a term which has
been applied-both to the operation and "• the product. Thus, the
liver is said to separate the bile from the blood by an action of se-
cretion, and The' bile is said to be a secretion.
The organs that execute the various secretory operations, differ
greatly from each other. They have, however, been grouped by
anatomists in three classes, each of which will require a general
notice.
Anatomy of the Secretory Apparatus.
The secretory organs have been divided into exhalant, follicu-
lar, and glandular.
The remarks made respecting the exhalant vessels, under the
head of nutrition, will render it unnecessary to allude, in this
place, to any of the apochryphal descriptions of them, especially
as their very existence is supposititious. Many, indeed, imagine
them to be nothing more than the minute radicles of ordinary ar-
teries.
The follicle or crypt has the form of an ampulla or vesicle, and
is situated in the substance of the skin and mucous membranes; se-
creting a fluid forthe purpose of lubricating those parts. In the
exhalant vessel, the secreted fluid passes immediately from the
blood-vessel, without being received into any excretory duct; and
in the follicle there is essentially no duct specially destined for
the excretion of the humour.
The follicle is membranous and vascular, having an internal ca-
vity in which the secretion is accomplished; and the product is
poured upon the surface, beneath which it is situated, either by a
central aperture, or by a very short duct—if duct it can be called—
termed a lacuna.
The gland is of a more complex structure than the last. It con-
sists of an artery, which conveys blood to it; of an intermediate
body,—the gland, properly so called,—and of an excretory duct
to carry off the secreted fluid, and pour it on the surface of the
skin or mucous membranes. The blood-vessel, which conveys to
the gland the material from which the secretion has to be operated,
enters the organ at times by various branches; at others, by a
196
SECRETION.
single trunk, and ramifies in the tissue of the gland; communi-
cating at its extremities with the origins of the veins and of the ex-
cretory ducts. These ducts arise by fine radicles at the part where
the arterial ramifications terminate; and they unite to form larger
and less numerous canals, until they terminate in one large duct,
as in the pancreas; or in several, as in the lachrymal gland ; the
duct generality leaving the gland at the part where the blood-ves-
sel enters. Of this we have a good exemplification in the kidney,
(see Fig. 123.)
Besides these vessels, veins exist, which communicate with the
vessels that convey blood to the gland, both for the formation of
the humour and the nutrition of the organ, and return the resi-
duary blood to the heart. Lymphatic vessels likewise exist; and
nerves, which proceed from the ganglionic system, form a net-
work around the secreting arteries, as in Fig. 120, accompany them
into the interior of the organ, and terminate, like them, invisibly:
Fig. 120.
a a. A portion of intestine.—b b. Part of the aorta.—c c. Nerves following the branches of the
aorta, to supply the intestine.
Bordeu was of opinion, that the glands, judging from the paro-
tid, are largely supplied with nerves. The nerves, however, do not
all belong to it, merely crossing it in their course to other parts.
Bichat, from the small number sent to the liver, was induced? to
draw opposite conclusions to those of Bordeu.
These may be looked upon as the great components of the glan-
dular structure, along with cellular membrane, to bind them toge-
ther, and, at times, an outer envelope.
SECRETORY APPARATUS. 197
The intimate texture of these organs has been a topic of much
speculation. It is generally considered, that the final ramifications
of the arterial vessels, with the radicles of the veins and excretory
ducts, and the final ramifications of the lymphatic vessels and nerves,
form so many small lobules, composed of minute, granular masses.
Such, indeed, is the appearance the texture presents, when exa-
mined by the naked eye. Each lobule is conceived to contain a
final ramification of the vessel or vessels conveying blood to the
organ, a nerve, a vein, a lymphatic, and an excretory duct,—with
cellular tissue binding them together. When the organ has an ex-
ternal membrane, it usually forms a sheath to the various ves-
sels. The lobated structure is not, however, equally apparent in
all the glands. It is well seen in the pancreas, and in the salivary
and lachrymal.
The precise mode in which the blood-vessel, from the blood
of which the secretion is effected, communicates with the excre-
tory duct, does not admit of detection. Some have supposed, that
between the termination of the blood-vessel and the commence-
ment of the duct, a secretory vessel, specially charged with the
function, exists, which conveys the secreted humour into the ex-
cretory duct. Of this, however, we have no evidence; and the
existence of any, except the minute capillary vessel, appears need-
less.
Malpiohi maintained, that such glands as the liver are com-
posed of very minute bodies, called acini, from their resemblance
to the stones of grapes; that these acini are hollow internally, and
are covered externally by a net-work of blood-vessels; and that
these minute blood-vessels pour into the cavities of the acini the
secreted fluid, from which it is subsequently taken up by the ex-
cretory ducts.
Ruysch, however, satisfied himself, that the acini of Malpighi
are merely convoluted vessels, and that they are continuous with
the excretory ducts. In Malpighi's view, the secretory organ is
a mere collection of follicles: in Ruysch's, simply an exhalant
membrane variously convoluted. The latter is the view almost
universally embraced by the anatomist and physiologist. " The
'chief, if not the only difference," says Sir Charles Bell, " be-
tween the secreting structure of glands and that of simple surfaces,
appears to consist in the different number and the different arrange-
ment of their capillary vessels. The actual secreting organ is in
both cases the same,—capillary blood-vessel; and it is uncertain
whether either its peculiar arrangement, or greater extent in glan-
dular texture, be productive of any other effect than that of fur-
nishing the largest quantity of blood-vessels within the smallest
space. Thus convoluted and packed up, secreting organ may be
procured to any amount that may be required, without the incon-
veniences of bulk and weight."
It is manifest, then, that the three classes of secretory organs.
tot
>ECRET(ON.
however different they may appear to be, are essentially varieties
of the same structure; that the capillary vessel is the important
agent of the secretion; that the simplest form of the secretory ap-
paratus is this simple capillary vessel; and that the follicles and
glands are structures of a more complex organization.
Physiology of Secretion.
The uncertainty which rests upon the intimate structure of se-
creting organs, and upon the mode in which the different blood-
vessels communicate with the commencement of the excretory
duct, envelopes the function, executed by those parts, in obscurity.
We see the pancreatic artery pass to the pancreas, ramify in its
tissue, become capillary, and escape detection; and we see other
vessels becoming larger and larger, and emptying themselves into
vessels of greater magnitude, until, ultimately, all the secreted hu-
mour is contained in one large duct, which passes onwards and
discharges its fluid into the small intestine. Yet if we follow the
pancreatic artery as far as the eye can carry us, even when aided
by glasses of considerable magnifying powTer, or if we trace back
the pancreatic duct as far as is practicable, we find, in the former
vessel, always arterial blood, and, in the latter, always pancreatic
juice. It must, consequently, be between the part at which the
artery ceases to be visible, and the pancreatic duct becomes so, that
secretion is effected f and we cut.the knot by asserting, that it oc-
curs in the very tissue, parenchyma, or in the capillary system of
the secretory organ.
Conjecture, in the absence of positive knowledge, has been busy,
at all times, in attempting the explanation of the mysterious agency
by which we find such various humours separated from the same
fluid; and, according as chymical, or mechanical, or vital doctrines
have prevailed in physiology, the function has been referred to one
or other of those agencies.
The general belief, amongst the physiologists of the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, was, that each gland possesses a pecu-
liar kind of fermentation, .which assimilates to its own nature the
blood passing through it. The notion of fermentation was, indeed,
applied to most of the vital phenomena. It is now totally abandon-
ed, owing to its being purely imaginary, and inconsistent with all
our ideas of the vital operations. When this notion passed away,
and the fashion of accounting for physiological phenomena on me-
chanical principles usurped its place, the opinion prevailed, that
the secretions are operated through the glands as through filters.
To admit of this mechanical result, it was maintained, that all the
secreted fluids exist ready formed in the blood, and that when they
respectively arrive at the different secretory organs, they pass
through, and are received by the excretory ducts.
Descartes and Leibnitz were warm supporters of this mecha-
physiology op secretion. 199
nical doctrine, although their views differed materially with regard
to the precise nature of the operation. Descartes supposed, that
the particles of the various humours are of different shapes, and
that the pores of the glands have respectively' a corresponding
figure; so that each gland permits those particles only to pass
through it, which have the shape of its pores. Leibnitz, on the
other hand, likened the glands to filters, which had their pores
saturated with their own peculiar substance, so that they admitted
this substance alone to pass through them, and excluded all others,__
as paper, saturated with oil, will prevent the filtration of water, and
vice versa.
The mechanical doctrine of secretion was taught by Malpigiii
and by Boerhaave and continued to prevail even till the time
of Haller. All the secretions were conceived to be ready form-
ed in the blood, and the glands were looked upon as sieves or
strainers to convey off the appropriate fluids or humours. In this
view of the subject, all secretion was a transudation through the
coats of the vessels,—the blood globules of various sizes passing
through pores adapted to them.
The mechanical doctrine of transudation, in this shape, is founded
upon supposititious data; and the whole facts and arguments are
so manifestly defective, that no refutation is necessary. It is now,
indeed, wholly abandoned. MM. Magendie and Fodera have,
however, revived the mechanical doctrine of late years, but under
an essentially different form; and one applicable especially to the
exhalations.
The former gentleman, believing that many of the exhalations
exist ready formed in the blood, thinks that the character of the
exhaled fluid is dependent upon the physical arrangement of the
small vessels, and his views repose upon the following experi-
ments.
If, in the dead body, we inject warm water into an artery pass-
ing to a serous membrane, as soon as the current is established from
the artery to the vein, a multitude of minute drops are observed
oozing through the membrane, which speedily evaporate.
If, again, a solution of gelatine, coloured with vermilion, be in-
j^ftted into all the vessels, it will often happen, that the gelatine is
deposited around the cerebral convolutions, and in the anfractuosi-
ties, without the colouring matter escaping from the vessels, whilst
the latter is spread over the external and internal surface of the
choroid. If again, linseed oil, also coloured with v^rwiilion, form
the matter of the injection, the oil, devoid of colouring matter is
deposited in the articulations furnished with large synovial cap-
sules, whilst no transudation takes place at the surface of the brain,
or in the interior of the eye.
Magendie asks, if these are not instances of true secretion
taking place post mortem, and evidently dependent upon the phy-
sical arrangemenl of the small vewls; and whether it is not ex-
200
SECRETION.
trem|0|probable, thatjifcsame arrangement must, in part at least,
presuf^over exhalation^d&ring life?
Fodera, to whosejjpKJments on the imbibition of tissues we
had occasion to allude under the head of ^sorption, eni|^ thf
views of Magendie. If the vessels of a dead body, he remarks,
be injected, the substance of the injection is seen oozing through
the vessels ;'anfi if an artery and a vein be ex^Pwjin a living ani-
mal, a similar oozing through theJ^Se^Ris f$tfi|g|able. This is
more manifest if the trunk, whencetl^^terv originates, be tied;
the fluid being occasionally bloodg^Tf the iftail^j^eins be tied,
not only cedema occurs in the SjP&^above the jigatures, but there
is an increase of the sai&$r^secretion.
It is not necessary to dppceJtfieJWous ex|as^j*n-ts of Fode-
ra, relating to this topic, or those of LawrenCe, Coates and
Harlan, or of Dutrochet, Togno, MitjO^ell and others. They
are of pjiettisely the same character as those; tjrat we Aa$|ii pre-
viously -described, regarding the imbibition of tissues ; and transu-
dation is only imbibition or soaking from without to within; Ma-
gendie and Fodera, indeed, conclude, that one ^pjijf^ "~
sical cause of exhalation is the same as thatof absorption,/*
imbibition. 4fa »«*, - ._.
^ Another physical causeT^dduceWby Magendij;,
experienced by the blood in thejpra ory syste
conceives, ^bntributgs powerfully Toeausethe i_
to pass through the:«joats of the, vessels. If watei^f
jected, by means of a syringe )£&»«. an artery, all tfye, surfaces, to
which the ves^^jis £itribute^{as.well as the larger tranches and
the trunk itself, exhibit the injected fluid oozing in greater abun-
dance, according to thejfbrcg exertedvjji the injection. **, . <.-
He farther remarks,l{pwa|er be injected into the veihj£bf..a$:ani-
mal, in sufficiebtjfeMJBotii'Kio.double or treble the natural amount of
blood, a consjd^fi^^^^^^on of the circulatory organs is pro-
duced; and, consequently, the pressure, exj^lenced^ by the^circu-
lating fluid, is largely augumented. If any serous membrane be
now examined,—as the peritoneum,—a serous fluid is observed
issuing.rapidly from its surface,»,t$»ich accumulates in the cavity,
and pi$jj|jp<$©5 a true dropsy under the eyes of the experimenter,
and, ocjeaaionally, the colouring part of the blood transudes at the
surface of certain organs, as the liver, spleen, &c.
Hamberger, again, br^jMjfjjed the untenable physical hypothesis,
that each secreted humour is deposited in its proper secretory or-
gan, by jgirtue of its specificjp;avity.
It is obvious, lhakall ^^Lapeculations proceed upon the belief,
that the exhalations existgfrqliij^formed in the blood; and that,
consequently, the act of secretion, so far as concerns them, is one
of sepaty$iftiji or of secerning,—not of fresh formation.
That this is the case with the n^pre aqueous secretions is proba-
ble, and not impossible with regard to the rest. Organic chymistry
THEORIES OF SECRETION. 201
is, however, subject to more difficulties in the way of analysis than
inorganic ; and it can be readily understood, that in a fluid so he-
terogeneous as the blood, the discovery of any distinct humour may
be impracticable. Of course, the elements of every fluid, as well
as solid, must be contained in it; and we have already seen, that
not merely^the inorganic elements, but the organic or compounds
of organization, have been detected by the labours of Chevreul and
others.
There are, however, some singular facts connected with this sub-
ject. MM. Prevost and Dumas having removed the kidneys in
cats and dogs, and afterwards analyzed the blood, found urea in it—
the characteristic element of urine. This principle was contained
in greater quantity, the longer the period that had elapsed after the
operation; whilst it cannot be detected in the blood, where the
kidneys exist.
The experiment was afterwards repeated by Segalas with the
same results. He also introduced urea into the veins of an animal,
whose kidneys were left untouched, and was unable to detect the
principle in the blood; but the urinary secretion was largely aug-
mented after the injection. Whence he concludes that urea is an
excellent diuretic.
Adelon, too, asserts, that since their experiments on urea, MM.
Prevost and Dumas are said to have found the principles of other
secreted humours in the blood, after the secretory organs of the re-
spective humours had been removed in the living animal; and it
has been asserted, that after having extirpated the testicles of a frog,
artificial fecundation has been effected with the blood of the animal;
and that after the removal of the mammae in animals, sugar of milk
has been detected in the blood.
These are singular facts, entirely inexplicable in the existing state
of our knowledge, under the doctrines of simple mechanical filtration
or transudation, and unlike any physical process, which can be
imagined.
The doctrines of filtration and transudation can apply only to
those exhalations, in which the humour has undergone no apparent
change; and it is obviously impossible to specify these, in the im-
perfect state of our means of analysis. In the ordinary aqueous se-
cretions, simple transudation may embrace the whole process; and,
therefore, it is unnecessary to have recourse to any other explana-
tion; especially after the experiments instituted by Magendie,
supported by the pathological observations of Bouillaud of Pa-
ris, Dr. D. Davis of the London University, Ribes, Velpeau, and
others. Bouillaud found, that partial oedema of the legs was con-
stantly accompanied by more or less complete obliteration of the
veins of the infiltrated part,—the vessels being obstructed by fibrin-
ous coagula, or compressed by circumjacent tumours; and he sug-
gests, that ascites or dropsy of the lower belly is frequently occa-
Vol. II. 26
202
SECRETION.
sioned by obstruction of the portal circulation in the liver. In this
way, we can account for the numerous cases in which we find a
union of hydropic and hepatic affections in the same individual.
The same pathological doctrine, founded on direct observation,
has been extended to phlegmatia dolens, or swelled leg; an affec-
tion occurring in the puerperal state, and which has jpeen found
connected with obstruction in the great veins that convey the blood
back from the lower extremity.
The generality of physiologists have regarded the more complex
secretions—the follicular and the glandular—as the results of chy-
mical operations; and under the view, that they do not exist ready
formed in the blood, and that the elements alone are contained in
that fluid, it is impossible not to admit that chymical agency must
be exerted.
In support of the chymical hypothesis, which has appeared un-
der various forms,—some, as Keill, presuming that the secretions
are formed in the blood, before they arrive at the place appointed
for secretion, others, that the change is effected in the glands them-
selves,—the fact of the formation of a number of substances from a
very few elements, provided these are united in different propor-
tions, has been invoked. For example, take the elementary bodies,
oxygen and azote. These, in one proportion, compose atmos-
pheric air; in another, nitrous oxide; in another, nitric oxide; in a
fourth, hyponitrous acid; in a fifth, nitrous acid, and in a sixth, ni-
tric acid; substances which differ as much as the various secretions
differ from each other and from the blood.
Many of the compounds of organization likewise exhibit by their
elementary composition, that but a slight change is necessary,in order
that they shall be converted into each other. Dr. Prout has exhi-
bited this close alliance between three substances—urea, lithic
acid and sugar—and has shown how they may be converted into
each other, by the addition or subtraction of single elements of their
constituents. Urea is composed of two atoms of hydrogen, and one
of carbon, oxygen and azote respectively: by removing one of the
atoms of hydrogen and the atom of nitrogen, it is converted into
sugar; or, by adding to it an additional atom of carbon, into lithic acid.
Bostock,—who is disposed to push the application of chymistry to
the explanation of the functions as far as possible,—to aid us in con-
ceiving how a variety of substances may be produced from a single
compound, by the intervention of physical causes alone, supposes
the case of a quantity of the materials adapted for the vinous fer-
mentation, being allowed to flow from a reservoir, through tubes of
various diameters, and with various degrees of velocity. " If we
were to draw off portions of this fluid in different parts of its course
or from tubes, which differed in their capacity, we should, in the
first instance, obtain a portion of unfermented syrup; in the next,
we should have a fluid in a state of incipient fermentation; in a
theories of secretion.
J03
third, the complete vinous liquor; while, in a fourth, we might
have acetous acid." Any explanation, however, founded upon this
loose analogy, is manifestly too physical: this Bostock admits, for
he subsequently remarks, that " if we adopt the chymical theory of
secretion, we must conceive of it as originating in the vital action
of the vessels, which enables them to transmit the blood, or certain
parts of it, to the various organs or structures of the body, where it
is subjected to the action of those reagents, which are necessary to
the production of these changes."
The admission of such vital agency, in some shape, seems to be
indispensable. Attempts have, indeed, been made to establish it as
a nervous action; and numerous arguments and experiments have
been brought forward in support of the position.
That many of the secretions are affected by the condition of the
mind is known to all. The act of crying, in evidence of joy or sor-
row; the augmented action of the salivary glands at the sight of
pleasant food; the increased secretion of the kidneys during fear or
anxiety, sufficiently indicate, that the organs of secretion can be in-
fluenced through the nervous system in the same manner as the
functions of nutrition and calorification.
The discovery of galvanism naturally suggested it as an im-
portant agent in the process,—or rather, that the nervous fluid
strongly resembled it. This conjecture seems to have been first ha-
zarded by Berzelius, and by Sir Everard Home; and, about the
same time, an experiment was made by Dr. Wollaston, which he
conceived to throw light upon the process. He took a glass tube,
two inches high and three-quarters of an inch in diameter; and
closed it at one extremity with a piece of bladder. He then poured
into the tube, a little water, containing 5|7th of its weight of muriate
of soda, moistened the bladder on the outside, and placed it upon a
piece of silver. On curving a zinc wire so that one of its extremi-
ties touched the piece of metal, and the other dipped into the liquid
to the depth of an inch, the outer surface of the bladder immediate-
ly indicated the presence of pure soda; so that, under this feeble
electric influence, the muriate of soda was decomposed, and the
soda, separated from the acid, passed through the bladder.
M. Fodera performed a similar experiment, and found, that
whilst ordinary transudation frequently required an hour before it
was evidenced, it was instantaneously exhibited under the galvanic
influence. On putting a solution of prussiate of potassa into the
bladder of a rabbit; forming a communication with the solution by
means of a copper wire; and placing on the outside a cloth, soaked
in a solution of sulphate of iron, to which an iron wire was attach-
ed; he found, by bringing these wires into communication with the
galvanic pile, that the bladder or the cloth was suddenly coloured
blue, according as the galvanic current, set from without to within,
or from within to without; that is, according as the iron wire was
204
secretion.
made to communicate with the positive pole, and the copper wire
with the negative, or vice versa.
The effects of the section of the pneumogastric nerves on the func-
tions of digestion and respiration have been given elsewhere at some
length. It was there stated, that when digestion was suspended by
their division, Dr. Wilson Philip was led to ascribe it to the se-
cretion of the gastric juice having been arrested; an opinion, which
Mr. Brodie had been induced to form previously, from the results
of experiments, which showed that the secretion of urine is suspend- v
ed by the removal or destruction of the brain; and that when an
animal is destroyed by arsenic, after the division of the pneumogas-
tric nerves, all the usual symptoms are produced, except the pecu-
liar secretion from the stomach. Mr. Brodie did not draw the
conclusion, that the nervous influence is absolutely necessary to
secretion, but that it is a step in the process. We have, indeed,
numerous evidences, that the nervous system cannot be indispen-
sably necessary to this function. In all animals, this power must
exist, yet there are many animals in which no nervous system is
apparent. Bostock has given references, in a note, to many cases
of monstrous or deformed foetuses, born with many of their organs
fully developed, yet where there was no nervous system.
Setting aside, however, the cases of animals, we have the most
indisputable testimony of the existence of secretion in the vegetable,
in which there is no nervous system, or, at the most, a rudimental
one only; yet the function is accomplished as perfectly, although
not in as multiple a manner, as in man.
It is manifest, therefore, that this is one of the vital actions oc-
curring in the very tissue of organs, of which we have no more
knowledge than we have of the capillary actions in general. All
that we know is, that in particular organs various humours are se-
creted from the blood, some of which can be detected in that fluid,
others not, but that we are ignorant of the precise agency, by which
this mysterious process is effected.
In describing the physiology of the different secretions, one of
three arrangements has usually been adopted; either according to
the nature of the secreting organ, the functions of the secreted fluid,
or its chymical character. "
The first of these has been followed by Bichat and by Magen-
die, who have adopted the division into exhaled, follicular and
glandular secretions. According to the second, embraced by
Boyer, Sabatier, and Adelon, they are divided into recrementi-
tial secretions or such as are taken up by internal absorption and
reenter the circulation, and into excrementitial, or such as are eva-
cuated from the body and constitute the excretions. Some physi-
ologists add a third division—the recremento-excrementitial,—in
which a part of the humour is absorbed and the remainder is ejected.
Lastly, the division, according to chymical character has been fol-
SEROUS EXHALATION.
205
** lowed with more or less modification, by Plenck, Richerand,
Blumenbach, Young, and Bostock: the last of whom, the most re-
cent writer, has eight classes:—the aqueous, albuminous, mucous,
gelatinous, fibrinous, oleaginous, resinous, and saline. To all
of these classifications, cogent objections may be made. The one
we shall follow is the anatomical, not because it is the most perfect,
but because it is the course, that has been usually adopted through-
out this work.*
Sect. I.—Of the Exhalations.
All the exhalations occur in the areolae or internal cavities of the
body, or from the skin and mucous membranes:—hence their di-
vision into internal and external. The former are all recremen-
titial; the latter recremento-excrementitial. To the class of in-
ternal exhalations belong; 1. The serous exhalation. 2. The serous
exhalation of the cellular membrane. 3. The adipous exhalation of
the cellular membrane. 4. The exhalation of the marrow. 5. The
synovial exhalation. 6. The exhalation of the colouring matter of
the skin, and of other parts; and 7. The areolar exhalation. To the
class of external exhalations belong; 1, that of the skin, or cuta-
neous transpiration. 2. The exhalation of the mucous membranes.
1. The Serous Exhalation.
This is the fluid secreted by the serous membranes that line the
various cavities of the body; as the pleura, pericardium, peritoneum,
arachnoid coat of the brain, and tunica vaginalis testis.
From these membranes a fluid is exhaled, which is of an albumi-
nous character, considerably resembling the serum of the blood ex-
cept in containing less albumen.
In the healthy condition, this fluid never accumulates in the ca-
vities; the absorbents taking it up in proportion as it is deposited;
but if, from any cause, the exhalants should pour out a larger quan-
tity than usual, whilst the absorbents are not proportionably ex-
cited, accumulation takes place; or the same effect ensues if the ex-
halants pour out no more than their usual quantity, whilst the ab-
sorbents do not possess their due activity. Under either circum-
stance, we have accumulation or dropsy; and, accordingly, dropsy
may be either active or passive.
The exhaled fluid probably transudes through the parietes of the ar-
teries, and reenters the circulation by imbibition through the coats of
the veins. If we kill an animal and open it immediately afterwards,
this exhalation appears in the form of a halitus or vapour, and the
fluid is seen lubricating the free surface of the membrane.
• For an enumeration of the different fluids or humours of the body, see
Vol. I.
20G
slXKETlOX
This, indeed, appears lobe its principal office; by which it favour
the motion of the organs upon each other.
The serous exhalations probably differ somewhat in each cavity,
or according to the precise structure of the membrane. The differ-
ence betv/een the chymical character of the fluid of the dropsy of
different-cavities would lead to this belief. As a general rule, ac-
cording to Dr. Bostock, the fluid from the cavity of the abdomen
contains the greatest proportion of albumen, and that from the brain
the least; but many exceptions occur to this.
2. Serous Exhalation of the Cellular Membrane.
The cellular membrane, wherever existing, is kept moist by a
serous fluid, analogous to that exhaled from serous membranes, and
which appears to have the same uses,—that of facilitating the motion
of the lamellae or plates on each other, and consequently of the or-
gans, between which the cellular tissue is placed.
When this secretion collects, from the causes mentioned in the
last section, the disease, called oedema or anasarca, is induced.
3. Adipous Exhalation of the Cellular Membrane.
Considerable diversity of opinion has prevailed regarding the pre-
cise organ of the secretion oifat. Haller supposed that the sub-
stance exists ready formed in the blood, and that it simply transudes
through the pores of the arteries; and Chevreul has given some
countenance to this opinion, by the circumstance of his having met
with a fatty matter in that fluid.
Anatomists have, likewise, been divided upon the subject of the
precise tissue into which the fat is deposited; some believing it to
be the ordinary cellular tissue, into which it is dropt by the agency
of appropriate vessels; others, as Malpighi and William Hunter,
believing in the existence of a peculiar adipous tissue, consisting, ac-
cording to Beclard, of small bursae or membranous vesicles, which
inclose the fat, and are found situated in the areolae of the cellular
tissue. These vesicles are said to vary greatly in size: generally,
they are round and globular; and, in certain subjects, receive ves-
sels, that are very apparent. These vesicles form so many small
sacs without apertures, in the interior of which are filaments ar-
ranged like septa. In fatty subjects, these adipous vesicles are very
perceptible, being attached to the cellular tissue and neighbouring
parts by a vascular pedicle.
The arrangement of this tissue, as well as the quantity of fat,
varies in different parts of the body. It is always found in the or-
bit, on the sole of the foot, and at the pulps of the fingers and toes.
The subcutaneous cellular tissue, and that covering the heart, kid-
neys, &c. also generally contain it; but it is never met with in the
eyelids, scrotum, or within the cranium.
adipous exhalation.
207
Fat is exhaled by the secretory vessels, in a fluid state; but, after
it is deposited, it becomes more or less solid. According to the
researches of Chevreul, human fat is almost always of a yellow
colour; inodorous, and composed of two portions;—the one fluid,
and the other concrete, which are themselves composed, but in dif-
ferent proportions, of two new immediate principles, to which that
chymist gave the names elaine and stearine respectively.
It is probable, that chymical analysis would exhibit the fat to
vary in different parts of the body, as its sensible properties are
manifestly different. Sir Everard Home, on loose analogies and
inconclusive arguments, has advanced the opinion, that it is more
than probable, that fat is formed in the lower portion of the intes-
tines, and from thence is carried, through the medium of the cir-
culating blood, to be deposited in almost every part of the body.
" When there is a great demand for it, as in youth, for carrying on
growth, it is laid immediately under the skin, or in the neighbour-
hood of the abdomen. When not likely to be wanted, as in old age,
it is deposited in the interstices of muscular fibres, to make up in
bulk for the wasting of these organs."
The uses of the fat are both general and local. The great gene-
ral use is, by some physiologists, conceived to be,—to serve as a
provision in cases of wasting indisposition; when the digestive func-
tion is incapacitated for performing its due office, and emaciation
is the consequence. In favour of this view, the rapidity with which
fat disappears after slight abstinence has been urged, as well as the
facts, connected with the torpidity of animals, which are always
found to diminish in weight during this state.
Professor Mangili of Pavia, procured two marmots from the Alps,
on the first of December. The larger weighed 25 Milanese ounces;
the smaller only 22-|th; on the third of January, the larger had
lost iths of an ounce, and the smaller i|ths. On the fifth of Febru-
ary, the larger weighed only 22|ths; the smaller 21.
Dr. Monro kept a hedge-hog from the month of November to
the month of the March following, which lost, in the meanwhile, a
considerable portion of its weight. On the 25th of December, it
weighed 13 ounces and 3 drachms; on the 6th of February, 11
ounces and 7 drachms; and on the eighth of March, 11 ounces and
3 drachms. The loss was 13 grains daily.
The local uses of the fat are chiefly of a physical character. On
the sole of the foot it diminishes the effects of pressure, and its use
is the same on the nates: in the orbit, it forms a kind of cushion,on
which the eyeball moves with facility; and when in certain limits,
it gives that rotundity to the frame, which we are accustomed to
regard as symmetry. In another place, it was observed, that fatty
substances are bad conductors of caloric; and hence that it may tend
to preserve the temperature of the body in cold seasons;—a view,
which is favoured by the fact, that many of the arctic animals are
largely supplied with fat beneath the common integuments; and it
208
SECRETION.
has been affirmed, that fat people generally suffer less than lean from
the cold of winter.
It is obviously impracticable to estimate, accurately, the total
quantity of fat in the body. It has been supposed, that, in an adult
male of moderate size, it fjrms ^th of the whole weight; but it is
doubtful whether we ought to regard this as even an approximation;
the data being so inadequate.
In some cases of polysarcia or obesity, the bulk of the body has
been enormous. In the Philosophical Transactions, No. 185, the
case of a girl is detailed, who weighed 256 pounds, when only four
years old. A man of the name of BRiGHT,atMaldon, England, weigh-
ed 728 pounds; and the celebrated Daniel Lambert, of Leicester,
England, weighed 739 pounds a little before his death, which occur-
red in the fortieth year of his age. The circumference of his body
was three yards and four inches; of his leg one yard and one inch.
His coffin was six feet four inches long; four feet four inches wide;
and two feet four inches deep.
In some of the varieties of the human family we meet with sin-
gular adipous deposits. In the Bosjesman female vast masses of fat
accumulate on the buttocks, which give them the most extrava-
gant appearance. The projection of the posterior part of the body,
in one subject, according to Barrow, measured five inches and a
half from a line touching the spine. " This protuberance," he re-
marks, " consisted of fat, and when the woman walked, had the
most ridiculous appearance imaginable, every step being accom-
panied with a quivering and tremulous motion, as if two masses of
jelly were attached behind."
The " Hottentot Venus," who had several projections, measured
more than nineteen inches across the haunches; and the projection
of the hips exceeded 6§ inches. Dr. Somerville found, on dissec-
tion, that the size of the buttocks arose from a vast mass of fat, in-
terposed between the integuments and muscles, which equalled
four fingers breadth in thickness. It is singular, that, according to
the statement of this female, which is corroborated by the testimony
of Mr. Barrow, this deposition does not take place till the first
pregnancy.
Pallas has described a variety of sheep—the ovis steatopyga
or" fat-buttocked,"—which is reared in immense flocks by the pas-
toral tribes of Asia. In it, a large mass of fat covers the nates and
occupies the place of the tail. The protuberance is smooth beneath,
and resembles a double hemisphere, when viewed behind; the os coc-
cygis or rump-bone being perceptible to the touch in the notch be-
tween the two. They consist merely of fat; and when very large,
shake in walking like the buttocks of the female Bosjesman. Mr.
Lawrence remarks, that there are herds of sheep in Persia, Syria,
Palestine and some parts of Africa, in which the tail is not want-
ing as in the ovis steatopyga, but retains its usual length and be-
comes loaded with fat.
EXHALATION OF THE MARROW. 209
The circumstances, which favour obesity, are absence of activity
and of excitement of all kinds; hence, for the purpose of fattening ani-
mals in rural economy, they are kept in entire darkness,—to deprive
them of the stimulus of light, and to favour sleep and muscular inacti-
vity. Castration—by abolishing one kind of excitability—and the
time of life at which the generative functions cease to be exerted,
especially in the female, are favourable to the same result.
4. Exhalation of the Marrow.
A fluid, essentially resembling fat, is found in the cavity of long
bones, in the spongy tissue of short bones, and in the areolae of
bones of every kind. This is the marrow. The secretory organ is
the very delicate membrane, which is perceptible in the interior of
the long bones, lining the medullary cavity, and sending prolonga-
tions into the compact substance, and others internally, which form
septa and spaces for the reception of the marrow. The cells, thus
formed, are distinct from each other; and, from the observations of
Howship, it would seem probable, that the oil of bones is deposited
in longitudinal canals, that pass through the solid substance of the
bone, and through which its vessels are transmitted. This oil of
bones is the marrow of the compact structure, the latter term being
generally restricted to this secretion, when contained in the cavities
of long bones; that which exists in the spongy substance being term-
ed by some writers, the medullary juice.
The medullary membrane, called also the internal periosteum,
consists chiefly of blood-vessels ramifying on an extremely delicate
cellular tissue, in which nerves may likewise be traced.
Berzelius examined marrow obtained from the thigh-bone of an
ox, and found it to consist of the following constituents:—pure
adipous matter, 96; skins and blood-vessels, 1; albumen, gelatine,
extractive, peculiar matter and water, 3.
The marrow is one of the corporeal components, of whose use
we can scarcely offer a plausible conjecture. It has been supposed
to render the bones less brittle; but this is not correct, as those of
the foetus, which contain little or no marrow, are less brittle than
those of the adult; and the bones of old persons, in which the me-
dullary cavity is extremely large, are more hrittle than those of the
adult. It is possible that it may be placed in the cavities of the
bones,—which would otherwise be so many vacant spaces,—to serve
the general purposes of the fat, when it is required by the system.
The other hypotheses, that have been entertained on the subject,
are not deserving of notice.
5. Synovial Exhalation.
Within the articular capsules, and the bursae mucosae,—which
have been described under the head of muscular motion,—a fluid is
Vol. II. 27
210 secretion.
secreted, which is spread over the articular surfaces of the bones,
and facilitates their movements.
Havers considered this fluid to be secreted by synovial glands,
for such he conceived the reddish cellular masses to be, that are found
in certain articulations. Haller, again, strangely regarded the syno-
via as the marrow, that had transuded through the spongy extremi-
ties of the bones; but, since the time of Bichat, every anatomist
and physiologist has ascribed it to the exhalant action of the syno-
vial membrane, which strongly resembles the serous membranes in
form, structure and functions, and whose folds constitute the pro-
jections, which Havers mistook for glands.
This membrane exists in all the movable articulations, and in
the channels and sheaths in which the tendons play. The gene-
rality of anatomists regard the articular capsules as shut sacs; the
membrane being reflected over the incrusting cartilages. Magen-
die, however, affirms, that he has several times satisfied himself,
that the membranes do not pass beyond the circumference of the
cartilages.
From the inner surface of these membranes, the synovia is ex-
haled, precisely in the same manner as in other serous cavities.
Margueron analyzed the synovia, obtained from the lower ex-
tremity of the ox, and found it to consist of fibrous matter, 11.86;
albumen, 4.52; muriate of soda, 1.75; soda, 0.71; phosphate of
lime, 0.70; and water, 80.46.
6. Exhalation of the Colouring Matter of the Skin and of other
parts.
The nature of the exhalation, which constitutes the colouring
matter of the rete mucosum, has already engaged our attention,
when treating of the skin under the sense of touch. It is presumed
to be exhaled by the vessels of the skin, and to be deposited beneath
the cuticle, so as to communicate the colours that characterize the
different races. Such are regarded as the secretory organs by most
anatomists and physiologists; but Gautier, whose researches into
the intimate constitution of the skin have gained him much cele-
brity, is of opinion, that it is furnished by the bulbs of the hair; and
he assigns, as reasons for this belief, that the negro, in whom it is
abundant, has short hair; that the female, whose hair is more beau-
tiful and abundant than that of the male, has the fairest skin; and
that when he applied blisters to the skin of the negro, he saw the
colouring matter oozing from the bulbs of the hair, and deposited at
the surface of the rete mucosum.
The composition of this pigment cannot be determined with pre-
cision, owing to its quantity being too small to admit of examina-
tion. Chlorine deprives it of its black hue, and renders it yellow.
A negro, by keeping his foot for some time in water, impregnated
with this gas, deprived it of its colour, and rendered it nearly white;
AREOLAR EXHALATION.
211
but, in a few days, the black colour returned with its former inten-
sity. This experiment was made with similar results on the fingers
of a negro.
Blumenbach, as is noticed elsewhere, thought, that the mucous
pigment was formed chiefly of carbon ; and his notion has received
favour with many.
The uses of this pigment, as well as of that which lines the cho-
roid coat of the eye, the posterior surfaces of the iris, and of the
ciliary processes, are detailed in another place.
7. Areolar Exhalation.
Under this term, Adelon has included different recrementitial
secretions effected within the organs of sense, or in parenchymatous
structures,—as the aqueous, crystalline, and vitreous humours of the
eye, and the liquor of Cotugno, all of which have already engaged
attention, the exhalation of a kind of albuminous, reddish, or whitish
lymph into the interior of the lymphatic ganglions, and into the or-
gans, called, by Chaussier, glandiform ganglions, and by Be-
clard, sanguineous ganglions;—viz: the thymus, thyroid, supra-
renal capsules, and spleen. We know but little, however, of the
fluids, formed in these various parts. They have never been ana-
lyzed, and their uses are inappreciable.
By some physiologists, a fluid is supposed to be exhaled from the
inner coat of the arterial, venous, and lymphatic vessels. Not only,
however, are we unaware of the nature of this fluid, but its very
existence is doubted. Its use is presumed to be, to lubricate the in-
terior of the vessel, and to prevent adhesion between it and the fluid
circulating within it.
The following belong to the external exhalations.
8. Cutaneous Exhalation or Transpiration.
A transparent fluid is constantly exhaled from the skin, which is
generally invisible, in consequence of its being converted into vapour
as soon as it reaches the surface; but, at other times, owing to augmen-
tation of the secretion, or to the air being loaded with humidity, it
is apparent on the surface of the body.
When invisible, it is called the insensible transpiration or per-
spiration; when perceptible, sweat.
In the state of health, according to Thenard, this fluid reddens
litmus paper; yet the taste is rather saline,—resembling that of com-
mon salt,—than acid.
Its smell is peculiar, and becomes almost insupportable when
concentrated, and especially when subjected to distillation. It is
composed, according to Thenard, of much water, a small quantity
oi acetic acid, muriate of soda, and perhaps of potassa, a very little
212
SECRETION.
earthy phosphate, a trace of oxide of iron, and an inappreciable
quantity of animal matter. Berzelius regards it as water, holding
in solution the muriates of potassa and soda, lactic acid, lactate of
soda, and a little animal matter.
Numerous experiments have been instituted for the purpose of
discovering the quantity of transpiration that takes place in a given
time. Of these, the earliest were by Sanctorius, for which he is
more celebrated than for any other of his labours. For thirty years,
this indefatigable experimentalist weighed daily, with the greatest
care, his solid and liquid ingesta and egesta, and his own body,
with the view of deducing the loss sustained by the cutaneous
and pulmonary exhalations. He found, that every twenty-four
hours, his body returned sensibly to the same weight, and that he
lost the whole of the ingesta;—five-eighths by transpiration, and
three-eighths by the ordinary excretions. For eight pounds of
ingesta, there were only three pounds of sensible egesta, which con-
sisted of forty-four ounces of urine, and four of faeces.
It is lamentable to reflect, that so much time was occupied in the
attainment of such insignificant results. The self-devotion of Sanc-
torius, gave occasion, however, to the institution of numerous ex-
periments of the same kind; as well as to discover the variations in
the exhalation, according to age, climate, &c. The results of these
have been collected by Haller, but they afford little instruction;
especially as they were directed to the transpiration in general,
without affording us any data to calculate the proportion exhaled
from the lungs to that constantly taking place by the cutaneous
surface.
Rye, who dwelt in Cork, lat. 51° 54', found, in the three winter
months,—December, January, and February—that the quantity of
urine was 3937 ounces; of the perspiration, 4797: in the spring
months—March, April, and May—the urine amounted to 3558;
the perspiration to 5405: in the summer months of June, July, and
August, the urine amounted to 3352; the perspiration to 5719: and
in the three autumnal months—September, October, and November
—the quantity of urine was 3369: that of the perspiration 4471.
The daily average estimate in ounces was as follows:—
Urine. Perspiration.
Winter,.....42T7T - - 53
Spring,.....40 -, - - 60
Summer,.....37 ---63
Autumn,.....37--- 50
thus, making the average daily excretion of urine, throughout the
year, to be a little more than 39 ounces; and of the transpiration,
56 ounces.
Keill, on the other hand, makes the average daily perspiration,
31 ounces; and that of the urine 38; the weight of the faeces being
CUTANEOUS EXHALATION.
213
5 ounces, and that of the solid and liquid ingesta, 75 ounces. His
experiments were made at Northampton, England, lat. 52° 11'.
Bryan Robinson found, as the result of his observations in Ire-
land, that the ratio of the perspiration to the urine was, in summer,
as 5 to 3; in the winter as 2 to 3; whilst in April, May, October,
November, and December, they were nearly equal. In youth, the
ratio of the perspiration to the urine, was as 1340 to 1000; in the
aged, as 967 to 1000.
Hartmann, when the solid and liquid ingesta amounted to 80
ounces, found the urine discharged 28 ounces; the faeces 6 or 7
ounces; and the perspirable matter, 45 or 46 ounces. Von Gorter,
in Holland, when the ingesta were 91 ounces, found the perspiration
to amount to 49 ounces; the urine to 36; and the faeces to S.
Dodart asserts, that in France, the ratio of the perspiration to
the faeces, is as 7 to 1; and to the whole egesta as 15 to 12 or 10.
The average perspiration, in the twenty-four hours, he estimates at
33 ounces and 2 drachms; and Sauvages, in the south of France,
found, that when the ingesta were 60 ounces in the day, the trans-
piration amounted to 33 ounces; the urine to 22; and the faeces to 5.
Most of these estimates were made in the cooler climates,—the
" regiones boreales,"—as Haller has, not very happily, termed
them.
According to Lining, whose experiments were made in South
Carolina, lat. 32° 47', the perspiration exceeded the urine in the
warm months; but in the cold, the latter had the preponderance.
The following table gives the average daily proportion of the urine
and perspiration, for each month of the year, in ounces,—as quoted
by Haller.
December, Urine. 70.81 - Perspiration. - 42.55
January, February, March, - 72.43 -77.86 -70.59 - - 39.97 - 37.45 - 43.23
April, ... May, June, - 59.17 -56.15 -52.90 - - 47.72 - 5S.11 - 71.39
July, August, September, October, 43.77 -55.41 -40.60 -47.67 - - 86.41 - 70.91 - 77.09 - 40.78
November, 63.16 - - 40.97
After the period at which Haller wrote, no experiments of any
moment were adopted for appreciating the transpiration. When-
ever trials were instituted, the exhalation from both the skin and
the lungs was included in the result, and no satisfactory means
were adopted for separating them, until Lavoisier and Seguin
made their celebrated experiments.
214
SECRETION.
Seguin inclosed himself in a bag of gummed taffeta, which was
tied above the head, and had an aperture, the edges of which were
fixed around the mouth by a mixture of turpentine and pitch. By
means of this arrangement, the pulmonary transpiration alone es-
caped into the air. To estimate its quantity, it was merely ne-
cessary for M. Seguin to weigh himself in the sack, in a very
delicate balance, at the commencement and termination of the
experiment. By repeating the experiment out of the sack, he de-
termined the total quantity of the transpired fluid; so that, by de-
ducting from this the quantity of fluid exhaled from the lungs, he
obtained the amount of the cutaneous transpiration. He, moreover,
kept an account of the food, which he took; of the solid and liquid
egesta; and, as far as he was able, of every circumstance that could
influence the transpiration.
The results, at which Lavoisier and Seguin arrived by a series of
well-devised and well-conducted experiments were the following:—
First. Whatever may be the quantity of food taken, or the
variations in the state of the atmosphere, the same individual, after
having increased in weight by the whole quantity of nourishment
taken, returns daily, after the lapse of twenty-four hours, to nearly
the same weight as the day before; provided he be in good health;
his digestion perfect; that he is not fattening, or growing; and
that he avoids all kinds of excess.
Secondly. If, when all other circumstances are identical, the
quantity of food varies; or if—the quantity of food being the same
—the effects of transpiration differ; the quantity of the excrements
augments or diminishes, so that every day, at the same hour, we
return nearly to the same weight;—proving that when digestion
goes on well, the causes, that concur in the loss or excretion of the
food taken in, afford each other mutual assistance;—in the state of
health one charging itself with what the other is unable to accom-
plish.
Thirdly. Defective digestion is one of the most direct causes of
the diminution of transpiration.
Fourthly. When digestion goes on well, and the other causes are
alike, the quantity of food has but little effect on the transpiration.
Seguin affirms, that he has very frequently taken, at dinner, two
pounds and a half of solid and liquid food; and, at other times, four
pounds, yet the results, in the two cases, differed but little from each
other; provided only, that the quantity of fluid did not vary materi-
ally in the two cases.
Fifthly. Immediately after dinner, the transpiration is at its mi-
nimum.
Sixthly. When all other circumstances are equal, the loss of
weight, induced by insensible transpiration, is at its maximum dur-
ing digestion. The increase of transpiration, during digestion, com-
pared with the loss sustained when fasting is, at an average, 2 ,\
grains per minute.
CUTANEOUS EXHALATION. 215
Seventhly. When circumstances are most favourable, the greatest
loss of weight, caused by insensible transpiration, was, according to
their observations, 32 grains per minute; consequently 3 ounces, 2
drachms and 4S grains, poids de marc, per hour; and 5 pounds in
twenty-four hours; under the calculation that the loss is alike at all
hours of the day, which is not the fact.
Eighthly. When all the accessory circumstances are least favour-
able, provided only that digestion is properly accomplished, the
smallest loss of weight is 11 grains per minute; consequently, 1
ounce, 1 drachm and 12 grains per hour; and 1 pound, 11 ounces
and 4 drachms in the twenty-four hours.
Ninthly. Immediately after eating, the loss of weight, caused by
the insensible perspiration, is 10£ grains per minute, during the
time at which all the extraneous causes are most unfavourable to
transpiration; and 19T^ grains per minute, when these causes are
most favourable and the internal causes are alike. " These differ-
ences," says M. Seguin, " in the transpiration after a meal, accord-
ing as the causes, influencing it, are more or less favourable, are
not in the same ratio with the differences, observed at any other
time, when the other circumstances are equal; but we know not
how to account for the phenomenon."
Tenthly. The cutaneous transpiration is immediately dependent
both on the solvent virtue of the circumambient air, and on the
power possessed by the exhalants of conveying the perspirable fluid
as far as the surface of the skin.
Eleventhly. From the average of all the experiments it seems,
that the loss of weight caused by the insensible transpiration is IS
grains per minute; and that of these 18 grains, 11, on the average,
belong to the cutaneous transpiration, and 7 to the pulmonary.
Twelfthly. The pulmonary transpiration, compared with the
volume of the lungs, is much more considerable than the cutaneous,
compared with the surface of the skin.
Thirteenthly. When every other circumstance is equal, the pul-
monary transpiration is nearly the same before and immediately
after a meal; and if, as an average, the pulmonary transpiration be
17-j grains per minute before dinner, it is 17T7ff grains after dinner.
Lastly. Every other intrinsic circumstance being equal, the
weight of the solid excrements is least during winter.
Although these results are probably fairly deduced from the ex-
periments; and the experiments themselves were as well conceived
as the subject admits of, we cannot regard the estimates as more
than approximations. Independently of the fact, that the envelope
of taffeta must necessarily have retarded the exhalation, and caused
more to pass off by pulmonary transpiration; the perspiration must
incessantly vary according to circumstances within and without the
system; some individuals, too, perspire more readily than others;
and its extent is dependent, as we have seen, upon climate and sea-
son,—and likewise upon the quantity of fluid received into the
216
SECRETION.
digestive organs. From all these and other causes, Bichat is led
to observe, that the attempt to determine the quantity of the cuta-
neous transpiration is as vain as to endeavour to specify what quan-
tity of water is evaporated every hour, by a fire, the intensity of
which is varying every instant.
Since the time of Lavoisier and Seguin, Dr. Edwards has
made some experiments, for the purpose of illustrating the effect
produced upon cutaneous transpiration by various circumstances, to
which the body is subjected. His first trials were made on cold-
blooded animals, in which the cutaneous transpiration can be rea-
dily separated from the pulmonary, owing to the length of time,
that they are capable of living without respiring. All that is neces-
sary is to weigh the animal before and after the experiment, and to
make allowance for the ingesta and egesta.
In this way he discovered, that the body loses successively less
and less in equal portions of time; that the transpiration proceeds
more rapidly in dry than in moist air; in the extreme states nearly
in the proportion of 10 to 1; that temperature has, also, considera-
ble influence,—the transpiration, at 68° of Fahrenheit, being
twice as much; and, at 104°, seven times as much as at 32°. He
likewise found, that frogs transpire, whilst they are in water, as is
shown by the diminution, which they experience while immersed
in that fluid, and by the appearance of the water itself, which
becomes perceptibly impregnated by the matter excreted by the
skin.
In warm-blooded animals, he found, as in the cold-blooded, the
transpiration become less and less in proportion to the quantity of
fluid evaporated from the body; and he observed the same difference
between the effects of moist and dry air, and between a high and a
low temperature. The effects of these agents were essentially the same
on man as on other animals. He found, that the transpiration was
more copious during the early than the latter part of the day; that
it is greater after taking food; and, on the whole, appeared to be
increased during sleep.
Whenever the fluid, which constitutes the insensible transpira-
tion, does not evaporate, owing to the causes referred to at the com-
mencement of this article, it appears on the surface in the form of
insensible perspiration or sweat. It has been supposed by some
physiologists, that the insensible and sensible perspiration are two
distinct functions. Such appears to be the opinion of Haller and
of Edwards, but no sufficient reason seems to exist why we should
not regard them as different degrees of the same function. It is, in-
deed, affirmed, that the sweat is generally less charged with carbonic
acid than the vapour of transpiration, but that it is richer in salts,
which are deposited on the skin, and are sometimes seen in the form
of white flocculi; but our knowledge on this matter is extremely
vague.
Particular parts of the body perspire more freely, and sweat more
CUTANEOUS EXHALATION.
217
readily, than others. The forehead, armpits, groins, hands, feet, &c.
exhibit the evidences most frequently; some of these, perhaps, ow-
ing to the fluid, when exhaled, not evaporating readily,—the con-
tact of air being impeded. It is presumed, likewise, that the sweat has
not every where the same composition. Its odour certainly varies in
different parts of the body. In the armpits and feet it is more acid;
in the violent sweats, accompanying acute rheumatism, this acidity
always attracts attention; in the groins, its odour is strong and rank.
It differs too greatly in individuals, and especially in the races. In
the red-haired, it is said to be unusually strong; and in the negro,
during the heat of summer, it is alliaceous and overwhelming. By
cleanliness, the red-haired can obviate the unpleasant effects, in a
great measure, by preventing undue accumulation in the axillae,
groins, &c; but no ablution can remove the odour of the negro, al-
though cleanliness can detract from its intensity. Each race appears
to have its characteristic scent; and, according to Humboldt, the
Peruvian Indian, whose smell is highly developed by education,
can distinguish the European, the American Indian, and the negro,
in the middle of the night, by the sole evidence of this sense.
Some physiologists have doubted whether the odorous matter of
the skin belongs properly to the perspiration, and have presumed
it to be the product of specific organs. This is, however, conjec-
tural; and the experiments of Thenard, as well as the facts we
have just mentioned, would rather seem to show, that the matter
of sweat itself has, within it, the peculiar odour. The fact of the
dog tracing its master to an immense distance, and discovering him,
perhaps, in a crowd, has induced a belief, that the scent may be
distinct from the matter of sweat; but the supposition is not neces-
sary, if we admit the matter of perspiration to be itself odorous.
Besides the causes before referred to, the quantity of perspiration
is greatly augmented by running or by violent exertion of any kind;
especially if the temperature of the air be elevated. Warm fluids
favour it greatly, and hence their use, alone or combined with sudo-
rifics, where this class of medicines is indicated. Magendie con-
ceives, that being readily absorbed, they are also readily exhaled.
This is true; but, in hot climates, ice-cold drinks are as rapidly fol-
lowed by sensible perspiration, owing, probably, to the copious ex-
halation which is constantly going on diminishing the quantity of
fluid circulating in the vessels; and, we know that, under such cir-
cumstances, the activity of absorption is largely augmented.
With regard to the uses of the insensible transpiration, it has been
supposed to preserve the surface supple, and thus to favour the ex-
ercise of touch; and, also, by undergoing evaporation, to aid in the
refrigeration of the body. It is probable, however, that these are
quite secondary uses, under ordinary circumstances and that the
great office, performed by it, is to remove a certain quantity of
fluid from the blood: hence it has been termed by Broussais the
cutaneous depuration. In this respect, consequently, it bears a
Vol. II. 28
218
secretion.
striking analogy to the urine, which is the only other depuratory
secretion, with the exception of the pulmonary transpiration, which,
we shall find, essentially resembles the cutaneous.
It can, therefore, be readily conceived, that any interruption to
this necessary exhalation should be attended with equally serious
effects as in the case of the urinary depuration. Most diseases are,
indeed, produced probably by irregularly impeded cutaneous transr
piration. By exposure to currents of air, or to the irregular action
of cold in any manner to the surface, the depuration of the part
is morbidly modified; and, owing to the extensive sympathy exist-
ing, as we have elsewhere seen, between every part of the capillary
surface, any organ, which may be at the time particularly predis-
posed to irritation, is affected with disease. Sudden atmospheric
vicissitudes are not so liable to excite such partial disease, as when
the check to perspiration is more local and irregular; the exhalation
from the lungs taking place in greater abundance, so as in some
measure to compensate for the diminished cutaneous exhalation.
As the sensible transpiration or sweat is merely the insensible
perspiration in increased quantity, its uses demand no special no-
tice.
The pulmonary transpiration, to which we have so often al-
luded, bears a striking analogy to the cutaneous. At one time, it
was universally believed to be owing to the combustion of the air
with the hydrogen and carbon given off from the lungs; but we
have elsewhere shown, that no such combustion occurs; and besides
the exhalation occurs when gases,, containing no oxygen, have been
respired by animals.
It is now universally admitted to be exhaled into the air-cells of
the lungs from the pulmonary artery chiefly, but partly from the
bronchial arteries, distributed to the mucous membrane of the air-
passages.
Several interesting experiments have been made on this exhala-
tion, by Magendie, Milne Edwards, Breschet, and others. If
water be injected into the pulmonary artery, it passes into the air-
cells, in an innumerable quantity of almost imperceptible drops,
and mixes with the air contained in them.
Magendie found, that its quantity might be augmented at plea-
sure on living animals, by injecting distilled water, at a tempera-
ture approaching that of the body, into the venous system. He
injected into the veins of a small dog, a considerable amount of
water. The animal was at first in a state of real plethora, the vessels
being so much distended that it could scarcely move; but, in a few
minutes, the respiration became manifestly hurried, and a large
quantity of fluid was discharged from the mOuth, the source of which
appeared evidently to be in the pulmonary transpiration considera-
bly augmented.
Not only, however, is the aqueous portion of the blood exhaled
pulmonary exhalation. 219
in this manner. Experiment shows that many substances, when in-
troduced into the veins by absorption, or by direct injection, issue
by the lungs. Weak alcohol, a solution of camphor, ether and other
odorous substances, when thrown into the cavity of the perito-
neum or elsewhere, were found, by Magendie, to be speedily ab-
sorbed by the veins and conveyed to the lungs, where they trans-
uded into the bronchial cells, and were recognised by the smell in
the expired air.
Phosphorus, when injected, exhibited this transmission in a sin-
gular and evident manner.
Magendie, on the suggestion of M. Armand de Montgarny,
" a young physician," he remarks, " of much merit," now no more,
injected into the crural vein of a dog, half an ounce of oil, in which
phosphorus had been dissolved; and, scarcely had he finished the
injection, before the animal sent through the nostrils clouds of a
thick, white vapour, which was phosphorous acid. When the expe-
riment was made in the dark, these clouds were luminous.
More lately, MM. Breschet and Milne Edwards have made
several experiments, for the purpose of discovering why the pul-
monary transpiration expels so promptly the different gaseous and
liquid substances received into the blood.
Considering properly, that exhalation differs only from absorp-
tion in taking place in an inverse direction, these gentlemen con-
jectured, that it ought to be accelerated by every force that would
attract the fluids from within to without; and such a force they con-
ceive inspiration to be, which, in their view, solicits the fluids of
the economy to the lungs, in the same mechanical manner as it
occasions the entrance of the air into the air-cells. In support of
this view, they adduce the following experiments.
1. To the trachea of a dog, a pipe, communicating with a bel-
lows, was adapted, and the thorax was largely opened. Natural
respiration was immediately suspended; but artificial respiration
was kept up by means of the bellows. The surface of the air-cells
was, in this way, constantly subjected to the same pressure; there
being no longer diminished pressure during expiration, as when
the thorax is sound, and the animal breathing naturally.
Six grains of camphorated spirit were now injected into the pe-
ritoneum of the animal; and, at the same time, a similar quantity
was injected into another dog, whose respiration was natural. In
the course of from three to six minutes, the odorous substance was
detected in the pulmonary transpiration of the latter; but in the
other it was never manifested.
In the first animal, they now exposed a part of the muscles of
the abdomen, and applied a cupping-glass to it; when the smell of
the camphor speedily appeared at the cupped surface. The conclu-
sion was obvious, that the pulmonary surface, having ceased to be
subjected to the suction force of the chest, during inspiration, the
exhalation was arrested, whilst that of the skin was developed as
220 SECRETION.
soon as an action of aspiration was exerted upon it by the cupping-
glass.
2. Into the crural veins of two dogs;—one of which breathed
naturally, and the other was circumstanced as in the last experi-
ment,—they injected the essential oil of turpentine. In the first of
these, the substance was soon apparent in the pulmonary transpira-
tion ; and, on opening the body, it was discovered, that the turpen-
tine had impregnated the lung and the pleura much more strongly
than the other tissues. In the other animal, on the contrary, the odour
of the turpentine was scarcely apparent in the vapour of the lungs;
and, on dissection, it was not found in greater quantity in the lungs,
than in the other tissues;—in the pleura than in the peritoneum.
From the results of these experiments, MM. Breschet and
Edwards conclude, that each inspiratory movement constitutes a
kind of suction, which attracts the blood to the lungs; and which
causes the ejection, through the pulmonary surface, of the liquid
and gaseous substances that are mingled with that fluid, more than
through the other exhalant surfaces of the body.
In their experiments, these gentlemen did not find that the ex-
halation was effected with equal readiness in every part of the sur-
face, when the cupping-glass was applied in the manner that has
been mentioned. The skin of the thigh, for example, did not indi-
cate the odour of camphorated alcohol, as that of the region of the
stomach.
The chymical composition of the pulmonary transpiration is pro-
bably nearly identical with that of the sweat; appearing to consist
of water, holding in solution, perhaps, some saline and albuminous
matter; but our information, on this matter, derived from the chy-
mist, is not precise, Chaussier found, that by keeping a portion of
it in a close vessel, exposed to an elevated temperature, a very evi-
dent putrid odour was exhaled on opening the vessel. This could
only have arisen from the existence of animal matter in it.
The pulmonary transpiration being liable to all the modifications
that apply to the cutaneous, it is not surprising that we should meet
with so much discordance in the estimates of different individuals,
regarding its quantity in a given time. Hales valued it at 20 ounces
in the twenty-four hours; Menzies at 6 ounces; Abernethy at 9
ounces; Lavoisier and Seguin at 17£ ounces, poids de marc;
Thomson at 19 ounces, and Dalton at 1 pound Si ounces.
The uses it serves, in the animal economy, are identical with
those of the cutaneous depuration.
9. Exhalation of the Mucous Membranes.
The mucous membranes, like the skin, which they so strongly
resemble in their structure, functions and diseases, exhale a similar
transpiratory fluid; which has not, however, been subjected to chy-
mical examination. It is, indeed, almost impracticable to separate it
follicular secretions.
221
from the follicular secretions, poured out from the same membrane;
and from the extraneous substances, almost always in contact with
it. It is probably, however, similar to the fluid of the cutaneous
and pulmonary depurations, both in character and use.
Sect. II.—Follicular Secretions.
The follicular secretions must, of necessity, be effected from the
skin or the mucous membranes; as the follicles or crypts are met
with there only. They may, therefore, be divided into two classes:—
1st, the mucous follicular secretion; and 2d, the cutaneous follicu-
lar secretion.
1. Mucous Follicular Secretion.
The whole extent of the great mucous membranes, lining the ali-
mentary canal, the air-passages and the urinary and genital organs,
is the seat of a secretion, the product of which has received, in the
abstract, the name of mucus; although it differs somewhat accord-
ing to the situation and character of the particular follicles, whence
it proceeds. Still, essentially, the structure, functions and product
are the same.
In the history of the different functions, in which some of the mu-
cous membranes are concerned, the uses of this secretion have been
detailed; and in those that will hereafter have to engage attention,
in which other mucous membranes are concerned, their uses will
fall more conveniently under notice then. But few points will,
therefore, require explanation at present.
The mucus, secreted by the nasal follicles, seems alone to have
been subjected to chymical analysis. Fourcroy and Vauquelin
found it composed of precisely the same ingredients as the tears.
According to the analysis of Berzelius, its constituents are as fol-
lows:—water, 933.7; mucus, 53.3; muriates of potassa and soda,
5.6; lactate of soda, with animal matter, 3.0; soda, 0.9; albumen
and animal matter, soluble in water, but insoluble in alcohol, with
a trace of phosphate of soda, 3.5.
The great use of mucus, wherever met with, is to lubricate the
surface on which it is poured.
2. Follicular Secretion of the Skin.
This is the sebaceous and micaceous humour, observed in the
skin of the cranium, and in that of the pavilion of the ear. It is
also the humour, which occasionally gives the appearance of small
worms beneath the skin of the face, when it is forced through the
external aperture of the follicle; and which causes, when exposed
to the air, the black spots sometimes observable on the face. The
cerumen is, likewise, a follicular secretion, as well as the whit-
222
secretion.
ish, odorous and fatty matter, which forms under the prepuce of
the male, and in the external parts of the female, where cleanli-
ness is disregarded. The humour of Meibomius is also follicu-
lar, as well as that of the caruncula lachrymalis. The use of this
secretion is,—to favour the functions of the part over which it is
distributed. That which is secreted from the skin, is spread over
the epidermis, hair, &c, giving suppleness and elasticity to the
parts, rendering the surface smooth and polished, and thus obviat-
ing the evils of abrasion that might otherwise arise. It is also con-
ceived, that its unctuous nature may render the parts less permeable
to humidity.
Sect. III.—Glandular Secretions.
The glandular secretions are seven in number;—those of the tears,
saliva, pancreatic juice, bile, urine, sperm, and milk.
1. Secretion of the Tears.
The lachrymal apparatus, being a part of that accessory to vision,
was described under that head. As we meet with the tears, they
are not simply the secretion of the lachrymal gland, but of the
conjunctiva, and occasionally of the caruncula lachrymalis and folli-
cles of Meibomius. They have a saline taste; mix freely with water;
and, owing to the presence of free soda, communicate a green tint
to the blue infusion of violets. Their chief salts are the muriate, and
phosphate of soda. According to Fourcroy and Vauquelin, the
animal matter of the tears is mucus; but it is presumed by some to
be albumen or an analogous principle.
This secretion is more influenced by the emotions than any other;
and hence it is concernedjn the expressions of lively joy and sor-
row, especially of the latter.
2. Secretion of the Saliva.
The salivary apparatus has, likewise, engaged attention else-
where. It consists of a parotid gland on each side, situated in
front of the ear and behind the neck and ramus of the jaw; a sub-
maxillary, beneath the body of the bone; and a sublingual, situ-
ated immediately beneath the tongue,—the parotids and submaxil-
lary glands having each but one excretory duct, the sublingual se-
veral.
All these ducts pour the fluids of their respective glands into the
mouth, where it collects, and becomes mixed with the exhalation
from the mucous membrane of the mouth, and the secretion from
its follicles. It is this mixed fluid, that has been generally ana-
lyzed by the chymist.
According to Berzelius, its constituents arc,—water, 992.2; pc-
pancreatic secretion. 223
culiar animal matter, 2.9; mucus, 1.4; muriates of potassa and soda,
1.7; lactate of soda, and animal matter, 0.9 ; soda, 0.2. Drs. Bos-
tock and Thomas Thomson think, that the " mucus" of Berzelius
resembles coagulated albumen in its properties.
MM. Leuret and Lassaigne analyzed pure saliva, obtained
from an individual labouring under salivary fistula, and found it to
contain,—water, mucus, traces of albumen, soda, chloride of potas-
sium, chloride of sodium, carbonate and phosphate of lime ;—and
lastly, Messrs. Tiedemann and Gmelin affirm, that the saliva con-
tains only one or two-hundredths of solid matter, which are com-
posed of a peculiar substance, called salivary matter; osmazome;
mucus; perhaps albumen; a little fat, containing phosphorus; and
the insoluble salts—phosphate and carbonate of lime. Besides these,
they detected the following soluble salts;—acetate, carbonate, phos-
phate, sulphate, and muriate of potassa, and the sulpho-cyanate of
potassa.
As the salivary secretion forms an important part in the processes
preparatory to stomachal digestion, its uses have been detailed in
the first volume of this work.
3. Secretion of the Pancreatic Juice.
The pancreas or sweatbread, Fig. 122, G., secretes a juice or
humour, called succus pancreaticus or pancreatic juice. Its tex-
ture resembles that of the salivary glands ; and hence it has been
called, by some, the abdominal salivary gland. It is situated
transversely in the abdomen, behind the stomach, towards the con-
cavity of the duodenum; is about six inches Jong; of a reddish-
white colour, and firm consist-
ence. Its excretory ducts ter- Fig. 121.
minate in one,—called the
duct of Wirsung,—which
opens into the duodenum, at
times separately from the duc-
tus communis choledochus,
but close to it; at other times,
being confounded with, or
opening into, it.
The quantity of fluid, se-
creted by the pancreas, does
not seem to be considerable.
Magendie, in his experi-
ments, was struck with the
", ' ,., ,. , , a. The hepatic duct, formed by a branch from the right,
Small quantity discharged, and one from the left lobe of the liver.-6. Fundusof gall-
-r, -i l j bladder.—c. d. Body and neck of gall-bladder.—e. Cystic
r requently, Scarcely a drop duct.-/. Ductus communis choledochus.—£#. Trunkand
■ Pllni • u~]C nn V,mir. onrl branches of the pancreatic duct.—A. Termination of the
ISSUea in Iidll dli nuui , dim, ductuS communis choledochus and the ductus pancreati"
occasionally, a much longer cus~i-Theduodenum*
time elapsed. Nor did he find that the flow, according to the com-
224 secretion.
mon opinion and to probability, was more rapid whilst digestion was
going on.
It will be easily understood, therefore, that it cannot be an easy
task to collect it. De Graaf, a Dutch anatomist affirms, that he
succeeded by introducing, into the intestinal end of the excretory
duct, a small quill, terminating in a phial fixed under the belly of
the animal. Magendie, however, states, that he tried this plan
several times but without success; and he believes it to be imprac-
ticable. The plan he adopts is to expose the intestinal orifice of
the duct; to wipe, with a fine cloth, the surrounding mucous mem-
brane; and, as soon as a drop of the fluid oozes, to suck it up by
means of a pipette or small glass tube. In this way he collected a
few drops, but never sufficient to undertake a satisfactory analysis.
Messrs. Tiedemann and Gmelin make an incision into the ab-
domen ; draw out the duodenum, and a part of the pancreas; and,
opening the excretory duct, insert a tube into it; and a similar plan
was adopted successfully on a horse by MM. Leuret and Lass aigne.
The difficulty experienced in collecting a due quantity, is a pro-
bable cause of some of the discrepancy amongst observers, regarding
its sensible and chymical properties.
Some of the older physiologists affirm it to be acidulous and sa-
line; others assert that it is alkaline.
The majority of those of the present day compare it to the sa-
liva, and affirm it to be inodorous, insipid, viscid, limpid, and of a
bluish white colour. The latest experimenters by no means ac-
cord with each other.
According to Magendie, it is of a slightly yellowish hue, saline
taste, devoid of smell, occasionally alkaline, and partly coagulable
by heat.
MM. Leuret and Lassaigne found that of the horse, of which
they obtained three ounces, to be alkaline, and composed of 991
parts of water in 1000; of an animal matter, soluble in alcohol;
another, soluble in water; traces of albumen and mucus; free soda;
chloride of sodium; chloride of potassium, and phosphate of lime.
In their view, consequently, the pancreatic juice strongly resem-
bles the saliva.
MM. Tiedemann and Gmelin succeeded in obtaining upwards
of two drachms of the juice in four hours; and, in 100 parts, they
found from five to eight solid. These solid parts consisted of
osmazome; a matter which became red by chlorine; another analo-
gous to caseine, and probably associated with salivary matter; much
albumen; a little free acid, probably the acetic; the acetate, phos-
phate, and sulphate of soda, with a little potassa; chloride of potas-
sium, and carbonate and phosphate of lime: so that, according to these
gentlemen, the pancreatic juice differs from the saliva in containing;
—a little free acid, whilst the saliva is alkaline; much albumen,
and matter resembling caseine; but little mucus and salivary mat-
ter, and no sulpho-cyanate of potassa.
OF THE BILE. 225
The precise use of the pancreatic juice in digestion is not deter-
mined.
4. Secretion of the Bile.
The biliary secretion is, also, a digestive fluid, of which we have
spoken in the appropriate place. The mode, however, in which
the process is effected, has not yet been investigated.
The apparatus consists of the liver, which accomplishes the for-
mation of the fluid; the hepatic duct,—the excretory channel, by
which the bile is discharged; the gall-bladder, in which a portion
of the bile is retained for a time; the cystic duct—the excretory
channel of the gall-bladder; and the ductus communis choledochus,
or choledoch duct, formed by the union of the hepatic and cystic
ducts, and which conveys the bile immediately into the duodenum.
The liver, A, A, Fig. 92, and
A, A, Fig. 122, is the largest gland
in the body; situated in the abdo-
men, beneath the diaphragm, above
the stomach, the arch of the colon,
and the duodenum; filling the
whole of the right hypochondrium,
and more or less of the epigas-
trium, and fixed in its situation by
duplicatures of the peritoneum,
called ligaments of the liver..
The weight of the human liver
is generally, in the adult, about
three or four pounds. In disease,
however, it sometimes weighs
twenty or twenty-five pounds;
and, at other times, not as many
ounces. Its shape is irregular,
and it is divided into three chief
lobes, the right, the left, and the
lobulus spigelii. Its upper convex
surface touches every where the
arch of the diaphragm. The lower
concave surface corresponds to the
stomach, colon, and right kidney.
At the COncave surface, tWO A»,A- Concave surface of liver turned up-
j. , iii wards, andtothenphtside.—B. Lobulus spigelii.
JlSSUreS are Observable;---the One— Between B and C, the porta of the liver.—D.
• _ p___if . i i • i j Ligamentum rotundum.—E, F. Gall-bladder.—
passing from before to behind, and g. The Pancreas.-H. The Bpieen.-i The
lodging the umbilical vein in the *ST& ,^3^E^Bft2£
foetus—called the horizontal sulcus £SEf.'xtoESSSZSZStfbSZ
or fissure, great fissure, or fossa mon aiac v«n;--v. End of coion.-x. com-
■L'f v a.\ *l ,*• i meneement of the rectum.-V, y. Urinary
umbuicalis; the other, cutting the bladder.
last at right angles, and running from right to left, by which the
Vol. II. 29
226
SECRETION.
different nerves and vessels proceed to and from the liver, and
called the principal fissure, or sulcus transversus.
The liver itself is composed of the following anatomical elements:
—1. The hepatic artery, a branch of the coeliac, which ramifies
minutely through the substance of the organ. The minuter branches
of this artery are arranged somewhat like the hairs in a painter's
brush, and have hence been called the penicilli of the liver. 2. The
vena porta, which we have elsewhere seen to be the common trunk
of all the veins of the digestive organs and of the spleen. It divides
like an artery, its branches accompanying those of the hepatic artery.
Where the vein lies in the transverse fissure, it is of great size, and
has hence been called sinus venae portae. The possession of two
vascular systems, containing blood, is peculiar to the liver, and has
been the cause of some difference of opinion, with regard to the precise
material—arterial or venous—from which the bile is derived. 3. The
excretory ducts or biliary ducts. These are presumed to arise
from acini, communicating, according to some, with the extremities
of the vena portae; according to others, with the radicles of the he-
patic artery. At their commencement, they are termed pori biliarii.
These ultimately form two or three large trunks, which issue from
the liver by the transverse fissure, and end in the hepatic duct. 4.
Lymphatic vessels. 5. Nerves, in small number, compared with
the size of the liver, some proceeding from the eighth pair; but the
majority from the solar plexus, and following the course and divi-
sions of the hepatic artery. 6. The supra-hepatic veins, or venae
cavae hepaticse, which arise in the liver by imperceptible radicles,
communicating with the final ramifications of both the hepatic artery
and vena porta?. They return the superfluous blood, carried to the
liver by these vessels, by means of two or three trunks, and six or
seven branches, which open into the vena cava inferior. These
veins generally pass, in a convergent manner, towards the posterior
margin of the liver, and cross the divisions of the vena porta? at
right angles. 7. The remains of the umbilical vein, which, in the
foetus, enters at the horizontal fissure. This vein, after respiration
is established, becomes converted into a ligamentous substance,
called, from its shape, ligamentum rotundum, or round ligament.
The parenchyma, formed by these anatomical elements, it is dif-
ficult to describe; and although the term liver-coloured is used in
common parlance, it is not easy to say what are the ideas attached
to it.
The organ has two coats;—the outer, derived from the perito-
neum, which is very thin, transparent, easily lacerable, and vascular,
and is the seat of the secretion, operated by serous membranes in
general. It does not cover the posterior part, nor the excava-
tion for the gall-bladder, the vena cava, nor the fissures in the con-
cave surface of the liver. The inner coat is the proper mem-
brane of the liver. It is thin, but not easily torn, and it covers not
only every part of the surface of the liver, but also the large vessels
OF THE BILE.
227
that are proper to the organ. The condensed cellular substance,—
which unites the sinus of the vena portae and its two great branches,
the hepatic artery, the common biliary duct, lymphatic glands,
lymphatic vessels, and nerves in the transverse fossa or fissure of the
liver,—was described by Glisson as a capsule; and hence has been
called the capsule of Glisson.
The gall-bladder, (Figs. 92,121, and 122,) is a small membranous
pouch, of a pyriform shape, situated at the inferior and concave sur-
face of the liver, to which it is attached, and above the colon and
duodenum. A quantity of bile is usually found in it.
The gall-bladder is not found in all animals. It is wanting in the
elephant, horse, stag, camel, rhinoceros, and goat; in certain of the
cetacea; and in some birds, as the ostrich, pigeon, and parrot; and
is occasionally deficient in man.
Its largest part or fundus,Figs. 121 and 122, is turned forwards;
and, when filled, frequently projects beyond the anterior margin of
the liver. Its narrowest portion, cervix or neck is turned backwards,
and terminates in the cystic duct. Externally, it is partly covered
by the peritoneum which attaches it to the liver, and to which it is,
moreover, adherent by cellular tissue and vessels.
Internally, it is rugous; the folds being reticulated, and appearing
somewhat like the cells of a honey-comb.
Anatomists have differed with regard to the number of coats pro-
per to the gall-bladder. Some have described two only;—the peri-
toneal and mucous; others have added an intermediate cellular coat;
whilst others have reckoned four;—a peritoneal coat;—a thin stra-
tum of muscular fibres, passing in different directions, and of a pale
colour; a cellular coat, in which a number of blood-vessels is situ-
ated; and an internal mucous coat. The existence of the muscular
coat has been denied by perhaps the generality of anatomists; but
there is reason for believing in its existence. Amussat saw mus-
cular fibres distinctly in a gall-bladder dilated by calculi; and
Dr. Monro, the present Professor of anatomy in the University of
Edinburgh, asserts, that he has seen it contract, in a living animal,
for half an hour, under mechanical irritation, and assume the shape
of an hour-glass.
The mucous coat forms the ruga? to which we have already al-
luded. In the neck, and in the beginning of the cystic duct, there are
from three to seven,—sometimes twelve,—semilunar duplicatures,
which retard the flow of any fluid inwards or outwards. These are
sometimes arranged spirally, so as to form a kind of valve, accord-
ing to Amussat.
On the inner surface of the gall-bladder, especially near its neck,
numerous follicles exist; the secretion from which is said to fill the
gall-bladder, when that of the bile has been interrupted by disease,
as in yellow fever, scirrhus of the liver, &c.
The hepatic duct, Fig. 121, a, is the common trunk of all the
excretory vessels of the liver; and makes its exit from that organ
228
SECRETION.
by the transverse fissure. It is an inch and a half in length, and
about the diameter of an ordinary writing quill. It is joined, at a
very acute angle, by the duct from the gall-bladder—the cystic duct,
Fig. 121, e, to form the ductus communis choledochus. The cystic
duct is about the same length as the hepatic.
The ductus communis choledochus is about three or three and
a half inches long. It descends behind the right extremity of the
pancreas, through its substance; passes for an inch obliquely between
the coats of the duodenum, diminishing in diameter; and ultimately
terminates by a yet more contracted orifice, on the inner surface
of the intestine, at the distance of three or four inches from the sto-
mach.
The structure of all these ducts is the same. The external coat
is thick, dense, strong, and generally supposed to be of a cellular
character; the inner is a mucous membrane, like that, which lines
the gall-bladder.
The secretion of the bile is probably effected like the other glan-
dular secretions; modified, of course, by the peculiar structure of the
liver. We have seen that the organ differs from every other secre-
tory apparatus, in having two kinds of blood distributed to it:—ar-
terial blood by the hepatic artery; and venous blood by the vena
portse. A question has consequently arisen—from which of these
is the bile formed?
Anatomical inspection throws no light on the subject; and, ac-
cordingly, argument is all that can be adduced on one side or the
other.
The most common and the oldest opinion is, that the bile is se-
parated from the blood of the vena porta?; and the chief reasons, ad-
duced in favour of this belief, are the following. First. The blood
of the portal system is better adapted than arterial blood for the for-
mation of bile, on account of its having, like all venous blood, more
carbon and hydrogen, which are necessary for the production of a
humour as fat and oily as the bile; and it has been imagined, by
some, that the blood, in crossing the omentum, becomes loaded with
fat. Secondly. The vena porta? ramifies in the liver, after the manner
of an artery, and evidently communicates with the secretory ves-
sels of the bile. Thirdly. It is larger than the hepatic artery; and
more in proportion to the size of the liver; the hepatic artery
seeming to be merely for the nutrition of the liver, as the bronchial
artery is for that of the lung.
In answer to these positions it has been argued; that there'
seems to be no more reason why the bile should be formed from
venous blood than the other fatty and oleaginous humours—the mar-
row and fat, for example,—which are derived from arterial blood.
It is asked, again, whether, in fact, the blood of the vena porta is
really more rich in carbon and hydrogen? and whether there is a
closer chymical relation between the bile and the blood of the vena
OF THE BILE. 229
porta?, than between the fat and arterial blood? The notion of the
absorption of fat from the omentum, it is properly urged, is totally
gratuitous. Secondly. Admitting that the vena porta? is distributed
to the liver after the manner of an artery; is it clear, it has been
asked, that it is inservient to the biliary secretion? Thirdly. If the
.vena porta? be more in proportion to the size of the liver than the
hepatic artery, the latter appears to bear a better ratio to the quan-
tity of bile secreted; and, moreover, it is probable, as has been
shown in another place, that the liver has other functions connect-
ed with the portal system, in the admixture of heterogeneous liquids
absorbed from the intestinal canal.
In the absence of direct experiment, however, physiologists have
usually embraced one or other of these exclusive views. The gene-
rality, as we have remarked, assign the function to the vena portae.
Bichat, on the other hand, ascribes it to the hepatic artery. Broussais
thinks it probable, that the blood of the vena porta? is not foreign
to the formation of the bile, since it is confounded with that of the
hepatic artery in the parenchyma of the liver; " but to say with the
older writers, that thebile cannot be formed but by venous blood,
is, in our opinion" he remarks " to advance too bold a position,
since the hepatic artery sends branches to each of the glandular aci-
ni, that compose the liver." Magendie likewise concludes, that
nothing militates against the idea of both kinds of blood serving in
the secretion; and that it is supported by anatomy: as injections
prove, that all the vessels of the liver,—arterial, venous, lymphatic,
and excretory,—communicate with each other.
The view, that ascribes the bile to the hepatic artery, appears to
us the most probable. It has all analogy in its favour. We have
no disputed origin as regards the other secretions. They all pro-
ceed from arterial blood; and function sufficient, we think, can be
assigned to the portal system, without conceiving it to be concerned
in the formation of bile. We have, moreover, pathological cases,
which prove that the bile can be formed from the blood of the he-
patic artery. Mr. Abernethy met with an instance, in which the
trunk of the vena porta? terminated in the vena cava; yet bile was
found in the biliary ducts, which could have been derived only
from the hepatic artery. A similar case is given by Mr.Lawrence;
and the present Professor Monro, in his "Elements of Anatomy"
details a case communicated to him by the late Mr. Wilson, of the
Windmill street school, in which there was reason to suppose, that
the greater part of the bile had been derived from the hepatic ar-
tery. The patient, a female, thirteen years old, died from the ef-
fects of an injury of the head. On dissection, Mr. Wilson found a
large swelling at the root of the mesentery, consisting of several ab-
sorbent glands in a scrofulous state. Upon cutting into the mass,
he accidentally observed a large vein passing directly from it into
the vena cava inferior, which, on dissection, proved to be the vena
portae; and on tracing the vessels entering into it, one was found to
230 secretion.
be the inferior mesenteric vein; and another, which came directly
to meet it from behind the stomach, proved to be a branch of the
splenic vein, but somewhat larger, which ran upwards by the side
of the vena cava inferior, and entered that vein immediately before
it passes behind the liver. Mr. Wilson then traced the branches
of the trunk of the vessel corresponding to the vena porta? suffi-
ciently far in the mesentery and mesocolon, to be convinced, that
it was the only vessel that returned the blood from the small in-
testines, and from the caecum and colon of the large. He could
trace no vein passing into the liver at the cavity of the porta; but
a small vein descended from the little epiploon, and soon joined one
of the larger branches of the splenic vein. The hepatic artery came
off in a distinct trunk from the aorta, and ran directly to the liver.
It was much larger than usual.
The greater size of the hepatic artery, in this case, would favour the
idea, that the arterial blood had to execute some office, that ordina-
rily belongs to the vena porta?. Was this the formation of bile? The
case shows positively, too, that bile can be formed from the blood of
the hepatic artery.
When bile is once secreted in the tissue of the liver, it is re-
ceived into the minute excretory radicles, whence it proceeds along
the ducts, until it arrives, from all quarters, at the hepatic duct.
A difference of sentiment exists regarding the flow of the bile
from the liver and gall-bladder into the duodenum. According to
some, it is constantly passing along the choledoch duct; but the
quantity is not the same during digestion as at other times. In the
intervals, a part only of the secreted bile attains the duodenum; the
remainder ascends along the cystic duct, and is deposited in the
gall-bladder. During digestion, however, not only the whole of
the secretion arrives at the duodenum, but all that which has been
collected in the interval is evacuated into the intestine. In sup-
port of this view it is affirmed, that bile is always met with in the
duodenum; that the gall-bladder always contains more bile when
abstinence is prolonged, whilst it is empty immediately after di-
gestion.
The great difficulties have been, to explain how the bile gets into
the gall-bladder, and how it is expelled from that reservoir. In
many birds, reptiles, and fishes, the hepatic duct and the cystic duct
open separately into the duodenum; whilst ducts, called hepato-
cystic, pass directly from the liver to the gall-bladder. In man,
however, the only visible route by which it can reach that reservoir,
is by the cystic duct, the direction of which is retrograde; and, con-
sequently, the bile has to ascend against gravity. The spiral valve
of Amussat has been presumed to act like the screw of Archi-
medes, and to facilitate the entrance of the refluent bile, but this
appears to be imaginary. It is, indeed, impossible to see any analogy
between the corporeal and the hydraulic instrument. The arrange-
ment of the termination of the choledoch duct in the duodenum has
OF THE BILE.
231
probably a more positive influence. The embouchure is the narrowest
part of the duct, the ratio of its calibre to that of the hepatic duct
having been estimated at not more than one to six, and to the calibre
of its own duct as one to fifteen. This would render it impracticable
for the bile to flow into the duodenum as promptly as it arrives at
the embouchure; and, in this way, collecting in the duct, it might
reflow into the gall-bladder. Amussat, indeed, affirms, that this
can be demonstrated on the dead body. By injecting water or mer-
cury into the upper part of the hepatic duct, the injected liquid was
found to issue both by the aperture into the duodenum, and by the
upper aperture of the cystic duct into the gall-bladder.
With regard to the mode in which the gall-bladder empties itself
during digestion, it is probably by a contractile action. We have
seen, that it has not usually been admitted to possess a muscular
coat, but that it is manifestly contractile. The chyme, as it passes
into the duodenum, excites the orifice of the choledoch duct; this
excitement is propagated along the ducts to the gall-bladder, which
contracts; but, according to Amussat, does not evacuate its con-
tents suddenly, for the different planes of the spiral valve are ap-
plied against each other, and only permit the flow to take place
slowly. This he found was the case, in the subject, when water
was injected into the gall-bladder, and pressed out through the cys-
tic duct.
Other physiologists have presumed, that although the bile is se-
creted in a continuous manner, it only flows into the duodenum at
the time of chylification; at other times, the choledoch duct is con-
tracted, so that the bile is compelled to reflow through the cystic
duct into the gall-bladder; and it is only when the gall-bladder is
filled, that it passes freely into the duodenum. Independently,
however, of other objections to this view, vivisections have shown,
that if the orifice of the choledoch duct be exposed, whatever may
be the circumstances in which the animal is placed, the bile is seen
issuing guttatim at the surface of the intestine.
The biliary secretion, which proceeds immediately from the
liver,—hence called hepatic bile,—differs from that obtained from
the gall-bladder, which is termed cystic bile. The latter possesses
greater bitterness, is thicker, of a deeper colour, and is that which
has been usually analyzed. It is of a yellowish-green colour, viscid,
and slightly bitter. Its chymical properties have been frequently
examined; yet much is still needed, before we can consider the
analysis satisfactory. It has been examined by Boerhaave, Ver-
heyen, Baglivi, Hartmann, Macbride, Ramsay, Gaubius,
Cadet, Van Bochante, Poulletier de la Salle, Fourcroy,
Macclurg, Thenard, Berzelius, Chevreul, Leuret find Las-
saigne, Tiedemann and Gmelin, &c. &c.
Thenard's analysis of 1100 parts of human bile is as follows:—
Water, 1000; albumen, 42; resinous matter, 41; yellow matter, 2
to 10; free soda, 5 or 6; phosphate, muriate, and sulphate of soda,
232 secretion.
phosphate of lime, and oxide of iron, 4 or 5. According to Cheval-
lier, it contains also a quantity of picromel.
Berzelius calls in question the correctness of Thenard's ana-
lysis, and gives the following:—Water, 90S.4; picromel, SO; albu-
men, 3.0; soda, 4.1; phosphate of lime, 0.1; common salt, 3.4; phos-
phate of soda, with some lime, 1.0.
The results of Dr. Davy's analysis of healthy bile were as fol-
lows:—Water, 86.0; resin of bile, 12.5; albumen, 1.5. Lastly, the
few experiments, that were performed by Tiedemann and Gmelin
on human bile, indicated the existence of cholesterine, resin, picro-
mel, &c, and accorded greatly with the analysis of Thenard.
Hepatic and cystic bile do not appear to differ materially from
each other, except in the greater concentration of the different ele-
ments in the latter. Leuret and Lassaigne found them to be alike
in the dog. Orfila, however, affirms, that human hepatic bile
does not contain picromel.
The great uses of the bile have been detailed under the head of
digestion. It has, likewise, been conceived to be a necessary depu-
rative excretion; separating from the blood matters that would be
injurious if retained. This last idea is probable; but our knowledge
of the precise changes, produced in the mass of blood by it, are ex-
tremely limited. If its excretion be prevented from any cause, we
know that derangement is induced; but it is probable, that its agency
in the production of disease is much overrated; and that, as Brous-
sais has suggested, the source of many of the affections, termed
bilious,\s in the mucous membrane liningthe stomach and intestines;
which, owing to the heterogeneous matters constantly brought into
contact with it, must be peculiarly liable to be morbidly affected.
When irritation exists there, we can easily understand how the
secretion from the liver may be consecutively modified; the excite-
ment spreading directly along the biliary ducts to the secretory
organ.
5. Secretion of Urine.
This is the most extensive secretion, accomplished by any of the
glandular structures of the body, and is essentially depurative; its
suppression giving rise to formidable evils. The apparatus consists
of the kidneys, which secrete the fluid; the ureters, which convey
the urine to the bladder; the bladder itself, which serves as a.reser-
voir for the urine; and the urethra, which conveys the urine exter-
nally. These will require a distinct consideration.
The kidneys are two glands situated in the abdomen; one on
each side of the spine, (Fig. 122, K, K,) in the posterior part of the
lumbar region. They are without the cavity of the peritoneum,
which covers them at the anterior part only, and are situated
in the midst of a considerable mass of adipous cellular tissue. The
right kidney is nearly an inch lower down than the left, owing
OF THE URINE. 233
Fig. 123.
to the thick posterior margin of the right lobe of the liver pressing
it downwards.
Occasionally, there is but one kidney; at other times, three have
been met with.
They have the form of the haricot or kidney-bean, which has
indeed been called after them; and are situated vertically—the fis-
sure being turned inwards.
If we compare them with the liver, their size is by no means in
proportion with the extensive secretion effected by them. Their
united weight does not amount to more than six or eight ounces.
They are hard, solid bodies, of a brown colour. The sangui-
ferous vessels, which convey and return the blood to them, as
well as the excretory duct, communicate with the kidney at the
fissure.
The anatomical constituents of these organs are:—1. The renal ar-
tery, which arises from the abdominal
aorta at a right angle, and, after a short
course, enters the kidney, ramify-
ing in its substance. 2. The excretory
ducts, which arise from every part of
the tissue, in which the ramifications
of the renal artery terminate, and end
in the pelvis of the kidney. (Fig.123.)
3. The renal veins, which receive
the superfluous blood, after the urine
has been separated from it, and ter-
minate in the renal or emulgent
vein, which issues at the fissure, and
opens into the abdominal vena ca-
va. 4. Of lymphatic vessels, arrang-
ed in two planes—a superficial and
deep-seated, which terminate in the
lumbar glands. 5. Of nerves, which
proceed from the semilunar gan-
glion, solar plexus, &c, and which
surround the renal artery as with a «,a,Thecortical substance.-6, a, Thetubu-
■i r>n • •-• ii -a __-lar portion.—c, c, c, c, The papillse.—d, The
net-WOrk, following it in all ltS rami-pelvw; and e, The ureter.
fications. 6. Of cellular membrane, which, as in every other organ,
binds the parts together. These anatomical elements, by their
union, constitute the organ as we find it.
When the kidney is divided longitudinally, it is seen to consist
of two substances; which differ in their situation, colour, consist-
ence and texture. The one of these and the more external is called
the cortical or glandular substance. It forms the whole circum-
ference of the kidney; is about two lines in thickness; of less con-
sistence than the other: of a pale red colour; and receives almost
entirely the ramifications of the renal artery. The other and inner-
most is the tubular, medullary, uriniferous,conoidalor radiated
Vol. II. 30
234 SECRETION.
substance. It is more dense than the other; less red; and seems to
be formed of numerous minute tubes, which unite in conical bun-
dles of unequal size, and the base of which is turned towards the
cortical portion; the apices forming the papillae or mammillary
processes, and facing the pelvis of the kidney. The papilla? vary in
number, from five to eighteen; are of a florid colour; and upon
their points or apices are the terminations of the uriniferous tubes,
large enough to be distinguished by the naked eye. Around the
root of each papilla a membranous tube arises, called calix or in-
fundibulum: this receives the urine from the papilla and con-
veys it into the pelvis of the kidney, which may be regarded as the
commencement of the ureter.
Similar ideas, with regard to the precise termination of the blood-
vessel, and the commencement of the excretory duct, have prevailed
as in the case of the liver and other glands; their intimate structure,
however, escapes detection.
In the quadruped, each kidney is made up of numerous lobes,
which are more or less intimately united, according to the species.
In birds, the kidneys consist of a double row of distinct, but
connected, glandular bodies, placed on both sides the lumbar ver-
tebra?.
The ureter is a membranous duct, which extends from the kid-
ney to the bladder. It is about the size of a goose-quill; descends
through the lumbar region; dips into the pelvis by crossing in front
of the primitive iliac vessels and the internal iliac; crosses the vas
deferens at the back of the bladder, and, penetrating that viscus ob-
liquely, terminates in an orifice, ten or twelve lines behind that of
the neck of the bladder. At first, it penetrates two of the coats
only of that viscus; running for the space of an inch between the
mucous and muscular coats, and then entering the cavity.
The ureters have two coats. The outermost is a dense fibrous
membrane; the innermost
Fig. 124. a thin mucous layer, con-
tinuous at its lower ex-
tremity with the inner
coat of the bladder; and,
at the upper end,supposed,
by some, to be reflected
over the papilla?, and even
to pass for some distance
into the tubuli uriniferi.
The bladder is a mus-
culo-membranous sac, si-
tuated in the pelvis; ante-
rior to the rectum, and
behind the pubis. Its supe-
A. Crus penis.—B. Bulb of the urethra.—C'Membranous n / , ,
partoftheuiethra.—D. Prostate gland.—E. Vesicute seminales. Upper JUnaUS; and the
-FF.Vasa deferentia.-G. Ureter.-H. Upper part of thc blad- 1',,,,„ „„j «u • r •
der, covered by peritoneum. lower end, the lUjertOr
OF THE URINE. 235
fundus or bas-fond; the body being situated between the two. The
part where it joins the urethra is the neck. The shape and situation
of the organ is influenced by age and by sex. In very young in-
fants, it is cylindroid, and rises up almost wholly into the abdomen.
In the adult female, who has borne many children, it is nearly sphe-
rical; has its greatest diameter transverse, and is more capacious
than in the male.
Like the other hollow viscera, the bladder consists of several coats.
1. The peritoneal coat which covers only the fundus and back part.
Towards the lower portion the organ is invested by cellular
membrane, which takes the place of the peritoneal coat of the fun-
dus. This tissue is very loose and permits the distention and con-
traction of the bladder. 2. The muscular coat is very strong; so
much 60, that it has been classed amongst the distinct muscles, un-
der the name detrusor urinae. The fibres are pale, and pass in vari-
ous directions. Towards the lower part of the bladder, they are
particularly strong; arranged in fasciculi, and form a kind of net of
muscles inclosing the bladder. In cases of stricture of the urethra,
where much effort is necessary to expel the urine, these fasciculi
acquire considerable thickness and strength. 3. The mucous or
villous coat is the lining membrane, which is continuous with those
of the ureters and urethra, and is generally rugous, in consequence,
of its being more extensive than the muscular coat without. It is
furnished with numerous follicles, which secrete a fluid to lubricate
it. Towards the neck of the organ, it is thin and white, though
reddish in the rest of its extent.
A fourth coat, called the cellular, has been reckoned by most
anatomists, but it is nothing more than cellular tissue uniting the
mucous and muscular coats.
The part of the internal surface of the bladder, situated immedi-
ately behind and below its neck, and occupying the space between
it and the orifices of the ureters, is called the vesical triangle, tri-
gonus Lieutaudi, or trigone vesical. The anterior angle of the tri-
angle looks into the orifice of the urethra, and is generally so pro-
minent, that it has obtained the name of uvula vesicas. It is merely
a projection of the mucous membrane, dependent upon the subja-
cent third lobe of the prostate gland, which, in old people, is fre-
quently enlarged, and occasions difficulty in passing the catheter.
The neck of the bladder penetrates the prostate gland, but, at its
commencement, is surrounded by loose cellular tissue, containing a
very large and abundant plexus of veins. The internal layer of
muscular fibres is here transverse; and they cross and intermix
with each other, in different directions, forming a close, compact
tissue, which has the effect of a particular apparatus for retaining
the urine, and has been called the sphincter. Anatomists have not
usually esteemed this structure to be distinct from the muscular
coat at large; but Sir Charles Bell asserts, that if we begin the
dissection by taking off the inner membrane of the bladder from
236
SECRETION.
around the orifice of the urethra, a set of fibres will be discovered,
on the lower half of the orifice, which, being carefully dissected,
will be found to run in a semicircular form around the urethra.
These fibres make a band of about half an inch in breadth, particu-
larly strong on the lower part of the opening; and having ascended
a little above the orifice, on each side, they dispose of a portion of
their fibres in the substance of the bladder. A smaller and some-
what weaker set of fibres will be seen to complete their course, sur-
rounding the orifice on the upper part.
The arteries of the bladder proceed from various sources, but
chiefly from the umbilical and common pudic. The veins return
the blood into the internal iliacs. They form a plexus of considera-
ble size upon each side of the bladder, particularly about its neck.
The lymphatics accompany the principal veins of the bladder,
and, at the under part and sides, pass into the iliac glands. The
nerves are from the great sympathetic and sacral.
The urethra is the excretory duct of the bladder. It extends, in
the male, from the neck of the bladder to the extremity of the
glans; and is from seven to ten inches in length. In the female it is
much shorter. The male urethra has several curvatures in the state
of flaccidity of the penis; but. is straight or nearly so, if the penis
be drawn forwards and upwards, and if the rectum be empty.
The first portion of this canal, which traverses the prostate gland,
is called the prostatic portion. Into it open,—on each side of a
caruncle, called the verumontanum, caput gallinaginis or crista
urethralis,—the two ejaculatory ducts, those of the prostate, and, a
little lower, the orifice of Cowper's glands.
Between the prostate and the bulb is the membranous part of
the urethra, which is eight or ten lines long. The remainder of
the canal is called the corpus spongiosum or spongy portion, be-
cause surrounded by an erectile spongy tissue. It is situated beneath
the corpora cavernosa, and passes forward to terminate in the glans;
the structure of which will be considered under generation.
At the commencement of this portion of the urethra is the bulb
of the urethra, Fig. 124, B.; the structure of which resembles that
of the corpora cavernosa of the penis—to be described hereafter.
The dimensions of the canal are various. At the neck of the
bladder, it is considerable; behind the caput gallinaginis it contracts,
and immediately enlarges in the forepart of the prostate. The
membranous portion is narrower; and, in the bulb, the channel en-
larges. In the body of the penis, it diminishes successively, till it
nearly attains the glans, when it is so much increased in size as to
have acquired the name fossa navicularis. At the apex of the
glans it terminates by a short vertical slit.
Mr. Shaw has described a set of vessels, immediately on the
outside of the internal membrane of the urethra; which, when
empty, are very similar, in appearance, to muscular fibres. These
Vessels, he remarks, form an internal spongy body, which passes
OF THE URINE. 237
down to the membranous part of the urethra, and forms even a
small bulb there. Dr. Horner, however, says, that this appeared
to him to be rather the cellular membrane connecting the canal of
the urethra with the corpus spongiosum.
The whole of the urethra is lined by a very vascular and sensible
mucous membrane, which is continued from the inner coat of the
bladder. It has, apparently, a certain degree of contractility, and
therefore, by some anatomists, is conceived to possess muscular
fibres. Sir Everard Home, from the results of his microscopical
observations, is disposed to be of this opinion. This is, however,
so contrary to analogy, that it is probable the fibres may be seated
in the tissue surrounding it.
The membrane contains numerous follicles, and several lacuna?,
one or two of which, near the extremity of the penis, are so large
as occasionally to obstruct the catheter, and to convey the impres-
sion that a stricture exists.
The prostate and the glands of Cowper,being more concerned in
generation, will be described hereafter.
There are certain muscles of the perineum, that are engaged in the
expulsion of the urine from the urethra; and some of them in defe-
cation and in the evacuation of the sperm likewise; as the accelera-
tores urinas, or bulbo-urethrales, which propel the urine or semen
forward; the transversus perinei, or ischio-perinealis, which
dilates the bulb for the reception of the urine or semen; the sphinc-
ter ani, which draws down the bulb, and thus aids in the ejection
of the urine or sperm; and the levator ani which surrounds the
extremity of the rectum, the neck of the bladder, the membranous
portion of the urethra, the prostate gland, and a part of the vesicula?
seminales, and assists in the evacuation of the bladder, vesicula? se-
minales, and prostate. A part of the levator, which arises from the
pubis and assists in indosing the prostate gland, is called by Soem-
mering, compressor prostatas.
Between the membranous part of the urethra and that portion of
the levator ani which arises from the inner side of the symphysis
pubis, a reddish, cellular, and very vascular substance exists, which
closely surrounds the canal, has been described by Mr. Wilson
under the name compressor urethras, and is termed, by some of the
French anatomists, muscle de Wilson. By many, however, it is
considered to be a part of the levator ani. Amussat asserts, that
the membranous part of the urethra is formed, externally, of muscu-
lar fibres, which are susceptible of energetic contraction, and Ma-
gendie confirms his assertion.
With regard to the urinary organs of the female,—the kidneys
and ureters have the same situation and structure as those of the
male. The bladder, also, holds the same place behind the pubis,
but rises higher when distended. It is proportionally larger than
the bladder of the male, and is broader from side to side, thus al-
lowing the greater retention to which females are often necessitated.
238
SECRETION.
The urethra is much shorter, being only about an inch and a half, or
two inches long, and it is straighter than in the male, having only a
slight curve downwards between its extremities, and passing almost
horizontally under the symphysis of the pubis. It has no prostate
gland, but is furnished, as in the male, with follicles and lacunae,
which provide a mucus to lubricate it.
In birds in general, and in many reptiles and fishes, the urine,
prior to expulsion, is mixed with the excrement in the cloaca. No-
thing analogous to urinary organs has been detected in the lowest
classes of animals, although in the dung of the caterpillars of certain
insects, traces of urea have been met with.
The urine is separated from the blood in the kidneys. The proofs
of this are easy and satisfactory; but with regard to the mode in
which the operation is effected, we are in the same darkness that
hangs over the glandular secretions in general. The transformation
must, however, occur in the cortical part of the organ; for the tubu-
lar portion seems to consist only of a collection of excretory ducts,
and if we cut into it urine oozes out.
The urinary secretion takes place continuously. If a catheter be
left in the bladder, the urine drops constantly; and in cases of ex-
strophia of the bladder—a faulty conformation, in which the organ
opens above the pubes, so that a red mucous surface, formed by the
inner coat of the bladder is seen in the hypogastric region, in which
two prominences are visible, corresponding to the openings of the
ureters—the urine is seen to be constantly passing out at these
openings.
After the secretion has been effected in the cortical substance, it
flows through the tubular portion, and issues guttatim through the
apices of the papilla? into the pelvis of the kidney, whence it pro-
ceeds along the ureter to the bladder. When the uriniferous cones
are slightly compressed, the urine issues in greater quantity, but,
instead of being limpid, as when it flows naturally, it is thick and
troubled. Hence a conclusion has been drawn, that it is really fil-
tered through the hollow fibres of the medullary or tubular portion.
If this were the case, what must become of the separated thick por-
tion? Ought not the tubes to become clogged up with it? And is it
not more probable, that compression, in this case, forces out with
the urine some of the blood that is connected with the nutrition
of the organ?
The fresh secretion constantly taking place in the kidney causes
the urine to flow along the tubuli uriniferi to the pelvis of the or-
gan, whence it proceeds along the ureter, if we are in the erect
attitude, by virtue of its gravity; the fresh fluid too, continually
secreted from the kidney, pushes on that which is before it; and
moreover, there is not improbably some degree of contractile ac-
tion exerted by the ureters themselves; although, like the excre-
tory ducts in general, such a power has been denied them. These
OF THE URINE. 239
Fig. 125.
are the chief causes of the progression of the urine into the bladder,
which is aided by the pressure of the abdominal contents and mus-
cles, and, it is supposed, by the pulsation of the renal and iliac
arteries; but the agency of these must be trivial.
The orifices of the ureters form the posterior angles of the tri-
gone visical, and are contracted somewhat below the size of the
ducts themselves. They are said, by Sir Charles Bell, to be fur-
nished with a small fasciculus of muscular fibres, which runs back-
wards from the orifice of the urethra, immediately beneath the la-
teral margins of the triangle, and when it contracts, stretches the
orifice of the ureter so as to permit the urine to enter the bladder
with facility.
As the urine enters, it gradually distends the organ until the quan-
tity has attained a certain amount. It cannot reflow by the ureters,
on account of the smallness of their orifices and their obliquity; and
as the bladder becomes filled,—owing to the duct passing forsomedis-
tance between the muscular and mucous coats,—the sides are pressed
against each other, so that the cavity is obliterated. (Fig. 125.) Besides,
when we are in the erect attitude,
the urine would have to enter the
ureters against gravity. These ob-
stacles are so effective, that if an in-
jection be thrown forcibly and co-
piously through the urethra into the
bladder, it does not enter the ureters.
On the other hand, equally powerful
impediments exist to its being dis-
charged through the urethra. The
inferior fundus of the bladder is situ-
ated lower than the neck; and the
sphincter presents a degree of re-
sistance, which requires the bladder
to contract forcibly on its contents,
aided by the abdominal muscles to
overcome it. Magendie considers
the contraction of the levatores ani
to be the most efficient cause of the
retention of the urine; the fibres
which pass around the urethra press- siMlorificeofthTu"reter.c'
ing its sides against each other and thus closing it.
The urine accumulates in the bladder until the desire arises to
expel it During its stay in this reservoir, it is believed to be de-
prived of some of its more aqueous portions by absorption, and
to become of greater specific gravity, and more coloured: it is
here that those depositions are apt to take place which constiiute
ureteSso ^ "^ WUh them in b°th the kidne-vs and
As in every excretion, a sensation first arises, in consequence of
A. Cavity of the bladder.—B. Ureter.—C. Ve-
240 SECRETION.
which the muscles required for the ejection of the secreted matter
are called into action. This sensation arises whenever the urine has
accumulated to the necessary extent, or when it possesses irritating
qualities, owing to extraneous substances being contained in, or de-
posited from, it; or if the bladder be unusually irritable from any
morbid cause, the sensation may be repeatedly, nay, almost inces-
santly experienced. The remarks, that have been made on the sen-
sations accompanying the other excretions, are equally applicable
here. The impression takes place in the bladder; such impression is
conveyed to the brain, which accomplishes the sensation ; and, con-
secutively, the muscles concerned in the excretion, are called into
action by volition.
Physiologists have differed regarding the power of volition over
the bladder. Some have affirmed, that it is as much under cerebral
control as the muscles of locomotion ; and they have adduced, in
support of this view, that the bladder receives spinal nerves, which
are voluntary; that it is paralyzed in affections of the spinal mar-
row, like the muscles of the limbs; and that a sensation which
seems destined to arouse the will is always the precursor of its
action.
Others, again, have denied, that the muscular fibres of the blad-
der are contractile under the will; and they adduce the cases of other
reservoirs,—the stomach and the rectum, for example,—whose
influence in excretion we have seen to be involuntary; as well as
the fact, that we no more feel the contraction of the bladder than
we do that of the stomach or intestines; and they affirm, that the
action of the bladder itself has been confounded with that of the
accessory muscles, which are manifestly under the influence of the
will, and are important agents in the expulsion of the fluid from
the bladder.
The views, last expressed, appear to be most accurate, and the
catenation of phenomena seems to be as follows:—the sensation to
expel the urine arises; the abdominal muscles are thrown into con-
traction by volition; the viscera are thus pressed down upon the
pelvis; the muscular coat of the bladder is, at the same time, stimu-
lated to contraction; the levatores ani and the sphincter fibres are
relaxed, so that the resistance of the neck of the organ is diminished,
and the urine is forced out through the whole extent of the urethra,
being aided in its course, especially towards the termination, by the
contractile action of the urethra itself, as well as by the levatores
ani and acceleratores urina? muscles. These expel the last drops by
giving a slight succussion to the organ, and directing it upwards
and forwards; an effect which is aided by shaking the organ to free
it from the drops that may exist in the part of the canal near its
extremity. The gradually diminishing jet, which we notice, as the
bladder is becoming empty, indicates the contraction of the mus-
cular coat of the bladder; whilst the kind of intermittent jet, coinci-
dent with voluntary muscular exertion, indicates the contraction
OF THE URINE.
241
of the urethral muscles. When we feel the inclination to evacuate
the bladder, and do not wish to obey it, the same muscles,—the
levatores ani, the acceleratores urina?, and the fibres around the
membranous portion* of the urethra and the neck of the bladder—
are thrown into contraction, and resist thatof the bladder.
Such is the ordinary mechanism of the excretion of urine. The
contraction of the bladder is, however, of itself sufficient to expel
its contents. Magendie affirms, that he has frequently seen dogs
pass the urine when the abdomen was opened, and the bladder re-
moved from the influence of the abdominal muscles; and he farther
states, that if, in a male dog, the bladder, with the prostate and a
small portion of the membranous part of the urethra, be removed
from the body, the bladder will contract after a few moments, and
project the urine, with an evident jet, until it is entirely expelled.
Urine,—voided in the morning by a person who has eaten heartily,
and taken no more fluid than sufficient to allay thirst,—is a transpa-
rent, limpid fluid, of an amber colour, saline taste, and a peculiar
odour. Its specific gravity is a little above that of water, or 1.030.
It is slightly acid, for it reddens vegetable blues. Although at
first quite transparent, it deposits an insoluble matter on standing;
so that urine, passed at bed-time, is found to have a light cloud
floating in it by the following morning. This substance consists,
in part, of mucus from the urinary passages; and, in part, of the
super-urate of ammonia, which is much more soluble in warm than
in cold water.
The urine is extremely prone to decomposition. When kept for
a few days, it acquires a strong smell, which, being sui generis, has
been called urinous; and as the decomposition proceeds, the odour
becomes extremely disagreeable. The urine, as soon as these
changes commence, ceases to have an acid reaction, and the earthy
phosphates are deposited. In a short time, a free alkali makes its
appearance; and a large quantity of the carbonate of ammonia is
generated. These phenomena are owing to the decomposition of
urea, which is almost wholly resolved into carbonate of ammonia.
Dr. Henry affirms, that the following substances have been satis-
factorily proved to exist in healthy urine,—water, free phosphoric
acid, phosphate of lime, phosphate of magnesia, fluoric acid, uric
acid,* benzoic acid, lactic acid, urea, gelatine, albumen, lactate of
ammonia, sulphate of potash, sulphate of soda, fluate of lime, mu-
riate of soda, phosphate of soda, phosphate of ammonia, sulphur^
and silex.
The most recent and elaborate analysis of the urine has been
given by Berzelius. He states it to consist in 1000 parts, of wa-
ter, 933.00; urea, 30.10; sulphate of potassa, 3.71; sulphate of soda,
3.16; phosphate of soda, 2.94; muriate of soda, 4.45; phosphate of
* In Vol. I. p.17, this acid is accidentally said to be "found in the urine of man,
birds, serpents, &c. and silk worms," instead of, " and in the excrements of silk
worms."
Vol. II. 31
242 SECRETION.
ammonia, 1.65: muriate of ammonia, 1.50; free lactic acid, lactate
of ammonia, animal matter soluble in alcohol, and urea not sepa-
rable from the preceding, 17.14; earthy phosphates, with a trace of
fluate of lime, 1.00; lithic acid, 1.00; mucus of the bladder, 0.32;
silex, 0.03.
The yellowish-red incrustation, deposited on the sides of chamber
utensils, is the uric acid. This is the basis of one of the varieties
of calculi.
The quantity of urine, passed in the twenty-four hours, is very
variable. On the average, it is estimated at two pounds, or two
pounds and a half; hence the cause of the great size of the renal ar-
tery, which, according to the estimate of Haller, conveys to the
kidney a sixth or eighth part of the whole blood. Its quantity and
character vary according to age, and, to a certain extent, according
to sex. We have already seen, under the head of cutaneous exha-
lation, how its quantity varies, according to climate and season; and
it is influenced by the serous, pulmonary, and cellular exhalations
likewise: one of the invariable concomitants of dropsy is diminution
in the renal secretion. Its character, too, is modified by the nature
of the substances received into the blood. Rhubarb, turpentine, and
asparagus materially alter its physical properties; whilst certain
articles stimulate the kidney to augmented secretion, or are diure-
tics.
The urine does not appear to be intended for any local function.
Its use seems to be restricted to the removal of the elements of the
substances, of which it is composed, from the blood; hence it is
solely depuratory and decomposing.
How this decomposition is accomplished, we know not. We
have already referred to the experiments, performed by MM.
Prevost and Dumas, and by Segalas, in which urea was found in
the blood of animals whose kidneys had been extirpated: an in-
quiry has consequently arisen,—how it exists there. Prior to these
experiments, it was universally believed, that its formation is one
of the mysterious functions executed in the intimate tissue of the
kidney.
The peculiarity of urea is, that it contains a very large proportion
of azote, so that it has been imagined, the kidney may possibly be
the outlet for any excess of nitrogen, or for preventing its accumu-
lation in the system.
The quantity of azote discharged in the form of urea, is so great,
even in those animals, whose food does not essentially contain this
element, that it has been conceived a necessary ingredient in the
nutrition of parts, and especially in the formation of fibrine, which,
we have seen to be a chief constituent of the blood, and of every
muscular organ. The remarks, made on the absorption of azote
during respiration, indicate how it is received into the system; and
it has been presumed, that the superfluous portion is thrown off in
the form of urea.
OF THE URINE. 243
The experiments of MM. Prevost and Dumas, and of Segalas,
would certainly favour the conclusion, that urea may exist ready
formed in the blood, and that the great function of the kidney may
be to separate it along with the other constituents of the urine.
Adelon ascribes the source of the urea to the products of inter-
stitial decomposition. He conceives, that, in this shape, they are
received into the blood, and that the office of the kidneys is to se-
parate them. All this is necessarily conjectural, and it must be ad-
mitted, that our knowledge of the subject is by no means ample,
and that we must wait for farther developments.
Certain it is, that the removal of the constituents of the urinary
secretion from the blood is all important. Experiments on animals
have shown, that if it be suppressed by any cause for about three
days, death supervenes, and the dangers to man are equally im-
minent.
In consequence of the rapidity with which fluids, received into
the stomach, are sometimes voided by the urinary organs, it has
been imagined, either that vessels exist which communicate directly
between the stomach and bladder, or that the fluid passes through
the intermediate cellular tissue, or by means of the anastomoses of
the lymphatics.
In support of the opinion that a more direct passage exists, the
assertion of Chirac,—that he saw the urinary bladder become filled
with urine, when the ureters were tied, and that he excited urinous
vomiting, by tying the renal arteries, is adduced. It has been
farther affirmed, that the oil, composing a glyster, has been found
in the bladder. Darwin, having administered to a friend a few^
grains of nitrate of potassa, collected his urine at the expiration of
half an hour, and had him bled. The salt was detected in the urine,
but not in the blood. Brande made similar experiments with the
prussiate of potassa, from which he inferred, that the circulation
is not the only medium of communication between the stomach and
the urinary organs, without, however, indicating the nature of the
supposed medium; and this view is embraced by Sir Everard
Home, Wollaston, Marcet, and others. Very recently, Lippi,
of Florence, thinks he has found an anatomical explanation of the
fact. According to him, the chyliferous vessels have not only nu-
merous inosculations with the mesenteric veins, either before their
entrance into the mesenteric glands, or whilst they traverse the
glands, but, when they attain the last of those glands, some of them
proceed to open directly into the renal veins, and into the pelves of
the kidneys. At this place, according to him, the chyliferous ves-
sels divide into two sets; the one, ascending and conveying the
chyle into the thoracic duct; the other, descending and carrying the
drinks into the renal veins and pelves of the kidneys. He affirms,
that the distinction between these two sets is so marked, that an in-
jection, sent into the former, goes exclusively into the thoracic duct,
244 SECRETION.
whilst if it be thrown into the latter it passes exclusively to the kid
neys. These direct vessels Lippi calls vasa chylopoietica urinifera.
If the assertions of Lippi were anatomical facts, it would be ob-
viously impossible to doubt some of the deductions; other anato-
mists have not, however, been so fortunate as he; and, consequently,
it may be well to make a few comments.
Some of these chylopoietica urinifera, he affirms, open into the
renal veins. This arrangement, it is obvious, cannot be invoked to
account for the shorter route,—the royal road to the kidney: the
renal vesSel is conveying the blood back from the kidney, and
every thing, that reaches it from the intestines, must necessarily
pass into the vena cava, and ultimately attain the kidney through
the renal artery. The vessels, therefore, that end in the renal veins,
must be put entirely out of the question, so far as regards the topic
of dispute; and our attention be concentrated upon those that termi-
nate in the pelvis of the kidney. Were this termination proved,
we should be compelled, as we have remarked, to bow to authority;
but not having been so, it may be stated as seemingly improbable,
that the ducts in question should take the circuitous course to the
pelvis of the kidney, instead of proceeding directly to the bladder.
We know, then, anatomically, nothing of any canal existing be-
tween the stomach and the bladder; and we have not the slightest
evidence,—positive or relative,—in favour of the opinion, that there
is any transmission of fluid through the intermediate cellular tissue.
We have, indeed, absolute testimony against it. MM. Tiedemann
and Gmelin, having examined the lymphatics and cellular tissue
of the abdomen in cases where they had administered indigo and
essence of turpentine to animals, discovered no traces whatever of
them, whilst they could be detected in the kidney.
The facts, again, referred to by Chirac, are extremely doubtful.
If the renal arteries be tied, the secretion cannot be effected by the
kidney; consequently, no urine ought to be found in the economy,
and urinous vomitings would be impossible. On the other hand,
if the ureters be tied, the secretion being practicable, death will oc-
eur if the suppression be protracted; and, in such case, the secreted
•fluid may pass into the vessels and give a urinous character to the
perspiration, vomited matters, &c. &c.
Again, the experiments of Darwin, Brande, Wollaston, and
others only demonstrate, that these gentlemen were unable to de-
tect that in the blood which they found in the urine. Against the
negative results attained by these gentlemen, we may adduce the
positive testimony of Fodera, an experimentalist of weight, espe-
cially on those matters. He introduced into the bladder of a rabbit
a plugged catheter, and tied the penis upon the instrument to pre-
vent the urine from flowing along its sides. He then injected into
the stomach a solution of the ferrocyanate of potassa. This being
done, he frequently removed the plug of the catheter, and received
the drops of urine on filtering paper: as soon as indications of
OF THE SPLEEN.
245
the presence of the salt appeared in the urine by the appropriate
tests,—which usually required from five to ten minutes after its re-
ception into the stomach,—the animal was killed; and, on examin-
ing the blood, the salt was found in the serum taken from the tho-
racic portion of the vena cava inferior, in the right and left cavities
of the heart, in the aorta, the thoracic duct, the mesenteric glands,
the kidneys, the joints, and in the mucous membrane of the bronchi.
Magendie, too, states, as the result of his experiments,—First.
That whenever prussiate of potassa is injected into the veins, or is
exposed to absorption in the intestinal canal, or in a serous cavity,
it speedily passes into the bladder, where it can be readily recog-
nised in the urine. Secondly. That if the quantity of prussiate in-
jected be considerable, it can be detected in the blood by reagents;
but if the quantity be small, it is impossible to discover it by the
ordinary means. Thirdly. That the same thing happens if the prus-
siate of potassa be mixed with the blood out of the body. Fourthly.
That the salt can be detected, in every proportion, in the urine.
The existence, consequently, of any more direct route from the
stomach to the bladder than through the venous system is disproved,
and the absorption of fluids must be considered to be effected through
the vessels described under the absorption of drinks.
Such are the glandular secretions that we shall consider in this
place. There are still two important fluids, whose uses will have
to be detailed in the next class of functions—the sperm and the
milk. There are several organs likewise, as the spleen, thyroid,
thymus and supra-renal capsules, which are termed glands by many
anatomists; but which Chaussier has termed glandiform gan-
glions. Of the uses of these we know little or nothing. Yet it is
necessary, that the nature of the organs, and the fancied functions
should meet with notice. The offices of the thyroid, thymus, and
supra-renal capsules, being apparently confined to fcetal existence,
will not require consideration here.
OP THE FUNCTIONS OF THE SPLEEN.
The spleen is a viscus of considerable size, situated in the left
hypochondriac region, (Fig. 122, H,) beneath the diaphragm, above
the left kidney, and to the left of the stomach. Its medium length
is about four and a half inches; its thickness two and a half inches;
and its weight about eight ounces. It is of a soft texture, somewhat
spongy to the feel, and easily torn. In a very recent subject, it is
of a grayish-blue colour; which, in a few hours, changes to a pur-
ple, so that it resembles a mass of clotted blood.
At its inner surface, or that which faces the stomach and kidney,
a fissure exists, by which the vessels, nerves, &c. enter or issue from
the organ.
246
OF THE SPLEEN.
The anatomical elements of the spleen are:—1. The splenio ar-
tery, which arises from thc coeliac, and after having given off
branches to the pancreas and thc left gastro-epiploic artery, divides
into several branches, which enter the spleen at the fissure, and
ramify in the tissue of the organ, so that it seems to be exclusively
formed by them. (Fig. 101.) Whilst the branches of the artery are
still in the duplicature of the gastro-splenic omentum, and before
they ramify in the spleen, they furnish the vasa brevia to the sto-
mach. The precise mode of termination of the arteries in the spleen
is unknown. The communication of the arteries with the veins does
not, however, appear to be as free as in other parts of the body, or
the anastomoses between the minute arteries as numerous.
If, according to Assolant, one of the branches of the splenic
artery be tied, the portion of the spleen to which it is distributed
dies; and if air be injected into one of these branches, it does not
pass into the others; so that the spleen would appear to be a con-
geries of several distinct lobes; and in certain animals the lobes are
so separated as to constitute several spleens. A similar appearance
is occasionally seen in the human subject. 2. The splenic vein
arises by numerous radicles in the tissue of the spleen; these be-
come gradually larger and less numerous, and leave the fissure of
the spleen by three or four trunks, which ultimately, with veins
from the stomach and pancreas, unite to form one, that opens into
the vena porta?. It is without valves, and its parietes are thin.
These are the chief constituents. 3. Lymphatic vessels, which
are large and numerous. 4. Nerves, proceeding from the coeliac
plexus: they creep along the coats of the splenic artery,—upon
which they form an intricate plexus,—into the substance of the
spleen. 5. Cellular tissue, which serves as a bond of union be-
tween these various parts; but is in extremely small quantity. 6.
A proper membrane, which envelopes the organ externally; ad-
heres closely to it, and furnishes fibrous sheaths to the ramifications
of the artery and vein; keeping the ramifications separated from the
tissue of the organ, and sending prolongations into the parenchyma,
which give it more of a reticulated than spongy aspect. 7. Of blood,
according to many anatomists, but blood differing from thatof both
the splenic artery and vein; containing, according to Vauquelin,
less colouring matter and fibrine, and more albumen and gelatine,
than any other kind of blood. This, by stagnating in the organ, is
conceived to form an integrant part of it. Malpighi believed it to
be contained in cells; but others have supposed it to be situated in
a capillary system intermediate to the splenic artery and vein.
Assolant and Meckel believe, that the blood is in a peculiar
state of combination and of intimate union with the other organic
elements of the viscus, and with a large quantity of albumen; and
that this combination of the blood forms the dark brown pulpy sub-
stance, contained in the cells formed by the proper coat, and which
can be easily demonstrated by tearing or cutting the spleen, and
OF THE SPLEEN.
247
scraping it with the handle of a knife. These cells and the cha
racter of the tissue of the spleen are
exhibited in the marginal figure. Fig. 126.
In addition to the pulp, many ana-
tomists assert, that they have met
with an abundance of rounded cor-
puscles, varying in size from an
almost imperceptible magnitude to
a line or more in diameter. By
Malpighi these were conceived to
be granular corpuscles, and by
Ruyscii simply convoluted vessels.
Besides the proper membrane,
the spleen also receives a peritoneal
coat; and between the stomach and
the organ, the peritoneum forms the
gastro-splenic epiploon or gastro-
splenic ligament, in the duplica-
ture of which are situated the vasa
brevia.
Lastly, the spleen is capable of
distention and contraction; and is
possessed of little sensibility in the
healthy state. It has no excretory duct.
The hypotheses, that have been indulged on the nature of the
spleen, are beyond measure numerous and visionary; and after all,
we are in the greatest obscurity as to its real uses.
Many of these hypotheses are too idle to merit notice; such are
those, that consider it to be the seat of the soul,—the organ of
dreaming,—of melancholy and of laughter,—of sleep and the vene-
real appetite—the organ that secretes the mucilaginous fluids of the
joints,—that serves as a warm fomentation to the stomach, and so on.
It was long regarded as a secretory apparatus, for the formation
of the atrabilis,—of a fluid intended to nourish the nerves,—of the
gastric juice,—of a humour intended to temper the alkaline cha-
racter of the chyle or bile, &c.
The absence of an excretory duct would be a sufficient answer to
all these speculations, if the non-existence of these supposititious
humours were insufficient to exhibit their absurdity.
MM. Tiedemann and Gmelin consider its function to be iden-
tical with that of the mesenteric glands. They regard it as a gan-
glion of the absorbent system, which prepares a fluid to be mixed
with the chyle and effect its animalization. In favour of the view,
that it is a part of the lymphatic system, they remark, that it exists
only in those animals that have a distinct absorbent system; that
its bulk, in animals is in a ratio with the development of the absor-
bent system; that the lymphatics predominate in the structure of
248
OF THE SPLEEN.
the organ; that its texture is like that of the lymphatic ganglions;
and lastly, that, on dissecting a turtle, they distinctly saw all the
lymphatics of the abdomen passing first to the spleen, then leaving
that organ of larger size, and proceeding to the thoracic duct.
In support of their second position, that it furnishes some mate-
rial towards the animalization of the chyle, they adduce;—the large
size of the splenic artery, which manifestly, they conceive, carries
more blood to the spleen than is needed for its nutrition; and
they affirm, that, in their experiments, they have frequently found,
whilst digestion and chylosis were going on, the lymphatic ves-
sels of the spleen gorged with a reddish fluid, which was carried by
them into the thoracic duct, where the chyle always has the most
rosy hue; and they add, that a substance injected into the splenic
artery,'passes readily into the lymphatics of the spleen. Lastly,
after extirpating the spleen in animals, the chyle appeared to them
to be more transparent; no longer depositing coagula; and the
lymphatic ganglions of the abdomen seemed to have augmented in
size.
Chaussier, as we have seen, classes thc spleen amongst the glan-
diform ganglions, and affirms, that a fluid is exhaled into its inte-
rior of a serous or sanguineous character, which, when absorbed,
assists in lymphosis.
Many, again, have believed, that the spleen is a sanguineous, not
a lymphatic ganglion, but they have differed regarding the blood
on which it exerts its action; some maintaining, that it prepares
the blood for the secretion of the gastric juice; others for that of
the bile. The former of these views is at once repelled by the fact,
that the vessels, which pass from the splenic artery to the stomach,
leave that vessel before it enters the spleen.
The latter view also rests on very uncertain data and deductions.
Since the period of Haller, the blood of the splenic vein has been
presumed to differ essentially from that of other veins, which has
led to the belief that some elaboration is effected in the spleen so as
to fit the blood for the secretion of the bile. It has been described
as more aqueous, more albuminous, more unctuous, and blacker than
other venous blood; to be less coagulable, less rich in fibrine, and
the fibrine it does contain to be less animalized. Yet these affirma-
tions have been denied; and even were they admitted, we have no
positive knowledge that such changes better adapt it for the forma-
tion of bile by the liver.
The ideas that have existed regarding its acting as a diver-
ticulum for the blood have been mentioned, under the head of
Circulation By some, it has been supposed to act as such in
the intervals of digestion; or, in other words, to be a diver-
ticulum to the stomach; by others, its agency in this way is
believed to apply to the whole circulatory system, so that when
the flow of blood is impeded or arrested in other parts, it may
be received into the spleen. It is hard to [say which of these
OF THE SPLEEN.
249
speculations is the most ingenious. None can satisfy the judicious
physiologist, especially when he considers the comparative impu-
nity consequent on extirpation of the organ.
This was an operation performed at an early period. Pliny
affirms that it was practised on runners to render them more swift.
On animals the spleen has been repeatedly removed, and although
many of these have died in consequence of the operation, several
have recovered.
Adelon refers to the case of a man who was wounded by a knife
under the last false rib of the left side. Surgical attendance was not
had until twelve hours afterwards; and, as the spleen had issued at
the wound, and was much altered, it was considered necessary to
extirpate it. The vessels were tied ; the man got well in less than
two months, and has ever since enjoyed good health.
Sir Charles Bell asserts, in his "Anatomy and Physiology,"
that an old pupil had recently given him an account of his having
cut off the spleen in a native of South America. The spleen had
escaped through a wound, and had become gangrenous. He could
observe no effect to result from the extirpation.
Dr. O'Brien, in an inaugural dissertation, published at Edin-
burgh in 1818, refers to a case which fell under his own ma-
nagement. The man was a native of Mexico; the spleen lay out,
owing to a wound of the abdomen, for two days before the surgeon
was applied to. The bleeding was profuse; the vessels and other
connexions were secured by ligature, and the spleen separated com-
pletely on the twentieth day of the wound. On the forty-fifth day,
the man was discharged from the hospital, cured; and he remarked
to some one about this time, that " he felt as well as he ever did in
his life."
Dulaurens, Kerckring, Baillie, and others, refer, also, to
cases, in which the spleen has been found wanting in man, with-
out any apparent impediment to the functions.
The experiments, that have been made on animals by removing
the spleen, have led to discordant results. Malpighi says, that the
operation was followed by increased secretion of urine; Dumas,
that the animals had afterwards a voracious appetite; Mead, and
Mayer, that digestion was impaired, that the evacuations were more
liquid,and the bile more watery; Tiedemann and Gmelin, that the
chyle appeared more transparent and devoid of clot; Professor Cole-
man, that the dogs,—the subjects of the experiment,—were fat and
indolent.
Dupuytren extirpated the spleens of forty dogs on the same day,
without tying any vessel, but merely stitching up the wound of the
abdomen,—yet no hemorrhage supervened. In the first eight days,
half the dogs, operated on, died of inflammation of the abdominal
viscera induced by the operation, as was proved by dissection. The
other twenty got well without any accident at the end of three
weeks at the farthest. At first, they manifested a voracious appetite,
Vol. II. 32
250 OF the spleen.
but it soon resumed its natural standard. They fed on the same ali-
ment, the same drinks, took the same quantity of food, and diges-
tion seemed to be accomplished in the same time. The fa?ces had
the same consistence, the same appearance, and the chyle appeared
to have the same character. Nor did the other functions offer any
modification.
Dupuytren opened several of these dogs some time afterwards,
and found no apparent change in the abdominal circulation,—in that
of the stomach, epiploon, or liver. The last organ, which appear-
ed to some of the experimenters to be enlarged, did not seem to
him to be at all so. The bile alone appeared a little thicker, and
deposited a slight sediment.
These circumstances render it extremely difficult to arrive at any
theory regarding the offices of this anomalous organ. It is mani-
festly not essential to life, and therefore not probably inservient to
the purposes assigned to it by Tiedemann and Gmelin. Bostock
properly remarks, that its office must be something of a supple-
mentary or vicarious nature; and this would accord best, perhaps,
with the notion of its serving as a diverticulum; the blood speedily
passing, after the organ has been extirpated, into other channels.
It must be admitted, however, that our knowledge of the function
is of a singularly negative and unsatisfactory character.
generation.
■251
CLASS III.
FUNCTIONS OF REPRODUCTION, OR GENERATION.
The functions, which we have been hitherto considering, relate
exclusively to the individual. We have now to investigate those,
that refer to the preservation of the species; and without which
living beings would soon cease to exist. Although these are really
multiple, it has been the custom with physiologists to refer them
to one head—generation—of which they are made to form the sub-
ordinate divisions.
The function of generation, much as it varies amongst orga-
nized bodies, is possessed by them exclusively. When a mineral
gives rise to another of a similar character, it is at the expense of
its own existence; whilst the animal and the vegetable, produce
being after being, without any curtailment of theirs.
The writers of antiquity considered that all organized bodies
are produced in one of two ways. Amongst the upper classes of
both animals and vegetables they believed the work of reproduc-
tion to be effected by a process, which is termed univocal or regu-
lar generation; but in the very lowest classes, as the mush-
room, the worm, the frog, &c. they conceived that the putrefaction
of different bodies, aided by the influence of the sun, might gene-
rate life. This has been termed equivocal or spontaneous gene-
ration; and is supposed to have been devised by the Egyptians,
to account for the swarms of frogs and flies, which appeared on the
banks of the Nile after its periodical inundations.
Amongst the ancients the latter hypothesis was almost univer-
sally credited. Pliny unhesitatingly expresses his belief, that the
rat and the frog are produced in this manner; and, at his time, it
was generally thought, that the bee, for example, was derived at
times from a parent; but at others from putrid beef.*
The passage of Virgil,—in which he describes how the shepherd
Aristjeus succeeded in producing swarms of bees from the entrails
of a steer, exposed for nine days to putrefaction,—is probably fami-
liar to most readers:—
" First in a place, by nature close, they build
A narrow flooring, gutter'd, wall'd and til'd.
In this, four windows are contriv'd, that strike
To the four winds oppos'd, their beams oblique.
• A steer of two years' old they take, whose head
Now first with burnish'd horns begins to spread.
* "Apes nascuntur partim ex apibus, partim ex bubulo corpore putrefacto."—
Varro.
252 generation.
They stop his nostrils, while he strives in vain
To breathe free air, and struggles with his pain.
Knock'd down he dies; his bowels, bruised within,
Betray no wound on his unbroken skin.
Extended thus, in this obscene abode
They leave the beast; but first sweet flow'rs are strew'd
Beneath his body, broken boughs and thyme,
And pleasing cassia, just renew'd in prime.
» * * * *
The tainted blood, in this close prison pent,
Begins to boil, and through the bones ferment.
Then (wond'rous to behold) new creatures rise,
A moving mass, at first, and short of thighs;
Till, shooting out with legs, and imp'd with wings,
The grubs proceed to bees with pointed stings-,
And, more and more affecting air, they try
Their tender pinions, and begin to fly.
At length, like summer storms, from spreading clouds
That burst at once and pour impetuous floods—
Or flights of arrows from the Parthian bows,
When from afar they gall embattled foes: —
With such a tempest through the skies they steer,
And such a form the winged squadrons bear."
Georgic. Lib. iv.
The hypothesis of equivocal generation having been conceived,
in consequence of the impracticability of tracing ocularly the
function in the minute tribes of animals, it naturally maintained its
ground, as regarded those animals, until better means of observa-
tion were invented. The difficulty, too, of admitting regular gene-
ration as applicable to all animals, was augmented by the fact, not
at first known to naturalists, that many of the lower tribes conceal
their eggs, in order that their nascent larva? may find suitable
food.
The existence, however, of evident sexual organs in many of
those small species, induced physiologists, at an early period, to
believe, that they also might be reproduced by sexual intercourse;
but direct proofs were not obtained until the discovery of the mi-
croscope; after which the investigations of Redi, Vallisneri,
Swammerdam, Hooke, Reaumur, Bonnet and others clearly
demonstrated, that the smallest insects have eggs and sexes, and
that they reproduce like other animals.
In the case of plants, it has been supposed that the growth of
the fungi amongst dung, and of the various parasitical plants that
appear on putrid flesh, fruit, &c. furnishes facts in support of
the equivocal theory; but the microscope, exhibits the seeds of
many of these plants, and experiments show that they are pro-
lific. The characters, by which the different species and varieties
are distinguished, although astonishingly minute, are fixed; exhi-
biting no fluctuation, such as might be anticipated, did these plants
arise by spontaneous generation, or by the fortuitous concourse of
atoms.
The animalcules, that make their appearance in water, in which
GENERATION. 253
vegetable or animal substances have been infused or are contained,
would seem, at first sight, to favour the ancient doctrine. In these
cases, however, the species, again, have determinate characters;
presenting always the same proportion of parts; and appearing to
transmit their vitalit)' to their descendants in a manner not unlike
that of animals higher in the scale. The explanation offered by the
supporters of the univocal theory for those obscure cases, in which
direct observation fails us, is, that their seeds and eggs are so ex-
tremely minute, that they can be borne about by the winds; be
readily deposited in every situation, and when they find a soil or
nidus, favourable to their growth, can undergo development.
Thus, the soil, in which alone the monilia glauca flourishes, is pu-
trid fruit; whilst the small infusory animal—the vibrio aceti or
vinegar eel,—requires, for its growth, vinegar that has been for some
time exposed to the air. " That the atmosphere," says Dr. Good,
" is freighted with myriads of insect eggs, that elude our senses;
and that such eggs, when they meet with a proper bed, are hatched
in a few hours, into a perfect form, is clear to any one who has
attended to the rapid and wonderful effects of what, in common lan-
guage, is called a blight, upon plantations and gardens. I have seen,
as probably many, who may read this work, have also, a hop-
ground completely overrun and desolated by the aphis humuli or
hopgreen-louse, within twelve hours after a honey-dew, (which is
a peculiar haze or mist, loaded with a poisonous miasm,) has slowly
swept through the plantation, and stimulated the leaves of the hop
to the morbid secretion of a saccharine and viscid juice, which,
while it destroys the young shoots by exhaustion, renders them a
favourite resort for this insect, and a cherishing nidus for the my-
riads of little dots that are its eggs. The latter are hatched within
eight-and-forty hours after their deposit, and succeeded by hosts of
other eggs of the same kind; or, if the blight take place in an early
part of the autumn, by hosts of the young insects produced vivi-
parously; for in different seasons of the year, the aphis breeds both
ways.
"Now it is highly probable, that there are minute eggs or ovula,
of innumerable kinds of animalcules floating in myriads of myriads
through the atmosphere, so diminutive as to bear no larger propor-
tion to the eggs of the aphis than these bear to those of the wren,
or the hedge-sparrow; protected, at the same time, from destruction
by the filmy integument, that surrounds them, till they can meet
with a proper nest for their reception, and a proper stimulating
power to quicken them into life; and which, with respect to many
of them, are only found obvious to the senses in different descrip-
tions of animal fluids.
"The same fact occurs in the mineral kingdom; stagnant water,
though putrid by distillation and confined in a marble basin, will,
in a short time, become loaded on its surface or about its sides with
various species of confervas; while the interior will be peopled with
254 generation.
microscopic animalcules. So, while damp cellars are covered with
boletuses, agarics and other funguses, the driest brick walls are often
lined with lichens and mosses. We see nothing of the animal and
vegetable eggs or seeds by which all this is effected; but we know,
that they exist in the atmosphere, and that this is the medium of
their circulation."
This view of the extraneous origin of the seeds of the confervas,
&c. is strongly corroborated by an experiment of Senebier. He
filled a bottle with distilled water and corked it accurately; not an
atom of green matter was produced, although it was exposed to the
light of the sun for four years; nor did the green matter, considered
as the first stage of spontaneous organization, exhibit itself in a glass
of common water, covered with a stratum of oil.
The subject of intestinal worms has been eagerly embraced by the
supporters of the doctrine of equivocal generation, who, are of opi-
nion, that the germs need not be received from without; whilst the
followers of the univocal doctrine maintain, that they must always
be admitted into the system.
The first opinion includes amongst its supporters the names of
Needham, Buffon, Patrinus, Treviranus, Rudolphi, Bremser
and Himly. The latter comprises those who believe in the Har-
veian maxim,—omne vivum ex ovo;—in other words, the majority
of the physiologists of the present day.
To support the latter opinion, it has been attempted to show, that
the worms, found in the human intestines, are precisely the same
as others that have been found out of the body; but the evidence in
favour of this position is by no means strong or satisfactory.
LiNNasus affirms, that the distoma hepaticum or fluke has been
met with in fresh water: the taenia vulgaris,—of a smaller size,
however,—in muddy springs; and the ascarides vermiculares in
marshes and in the putrescent roots of plants. Gadd also affirms,
that he met with the taenia articulata plana osculis lateralibus
geminis in a chalybeate rivulet; Unzer, the taenia in a well; and
Tissot, that he found a taenia, exactly like the human, in a river;
whilst Leeuenhoek, Schaeffer, Palmer and others affirm,
that they have found the distoma hepaticum in water; but
Mueller, who took extraordinary pains in the comparative exa-
mination of the entozoa, that infest the human body, with those
that are met with in springs, states that he has frequently de-
tected the planarias, but never saw one like the distoma hepa-
ticum.
On the other hand, the supporters of the equivocal theory have
attempted, with a good deal of success, to show, that a difference is
always discoverable between the worms, that are found without and
those within the body; but were it demonstrated to a mathematical
certainty, that such difference exists, it would not be an invincible ar-
gument against the accuracy of the univocal theory; as difference of
locality, food, &c. might induce important changes in their corpo-
generation. 255
real development, and give occasion to the diversity which is occa-
sionally perceptible amongst them.
If we admit, however, that the germs of the entozoa are al-
ways received from without, their occurrence, in different stages
of development, in the foetus in utero is a circumstance some-
what difficult of explanation under that theory. Small, indeed,
must be the germ, which, when received into the digestive organs
of the mother, can pass into her circulation, be transmitted into
the vessels of the foetus, be deposited in some viscus and there
undergo its full development; yet such cases have occurred, if the
theory be correct. Certain it is, that, however the fact may be ac-
counted for, worms have been'found in the foetus by individuals
whose testimony cannot be doubted. Frommann saw the distoma
hepaticum in the liver of the foetal lamb; Kerckring, ascarides
lumbricoides in the stomach of a foetus six and a half months old;
Brendel, taeniae in the human foetus in utero; Heim, taeniae in the
new-born infant; Blumenbach, taeniae, in the intestine of the new-
born puppy; and Goeze, Bloch, and Rudolphi, the same parasite
in sucking lambs.
Perhaps the conclusion of Cuvier is the soundest and most con-
sistent with analogy, that these parasites "propagate by germs
so minute as to be capable of transmission through the narrowest
passages; so that the germs may exist in the infant at birth."
We have seen, that not simply the germs, but the animals them-
selves have been found at this early period of existence.
Still there are many distinguished naturalists, who conceive it
probable, that spontaneous generation may occur in the lowest di-
visions of the living scale. Amongst these Lamarck and Geoffroy
are perhaps the greatest names; and Adelon seems to accord with
them; but the facts, which he adduces in support of the position are
singularly inapposite, and feeble.
The views of Lamarck, regarding the formation of living bodies,
are strange in the extreme; and exhibit to us, what we so frequently
witness, that in order to get rid of a subject, which is difficult to the
comprehension, the philosopher will frequently explain facts, or
adopt suppositions, that require a much greater stretch of the ima-
gination to invent, and present stronger obstacles to belief than
those for which they are substituted. M. De Lamarck maintains,
that the first organized beings were formed throughout by a true
spontaneous generation; owing their existence to an excitative cause
of life, probably furnished by the circumambient medium, and con-
sisting of light and the electric fluid. When this cause met with a
substance of a gelatinous consistence and dense enough to retain fluids,
it organized the substance into cellular tissue, and a living being re-
sulted. This process, according to Lamarck, is occurring daily at
the extremity of the vegetable and animal kingdoms.
The being, thus formed, manifested three faculties of life;—
nutrition, growth, and reproduction,—but only in the most simple
256 GENERATION.
manner. The organization soon, however, became more complica-
ted, for it is, he remarks, a property of the vital movement to tend
always to a greater degree of development of organization, to create
particular organs, and to divide and multiply the different centres
of activity; and, as reproduction constantly preserved all that had
been acquired, numerous and diversified species were, in this man-
ner, formed, possessing more and more extensive faculties. So that,
according to this system, nature was directly concerned only in
the first draughts of life; participating indirectly in the existence
of living bodies of a more complex character; and these last pro-
ceeded from the former after the lapse of an enormous time, and
an infinity of changes in the incessantly increasing complication of
organization;—reproduction continuing to preserve all the ac-
quired modifications and improvements.
The simplest kind of generation does not require sexual organs.
The animal, at a certain period of existence, separates into several
fragments, which form so many new individuals. This is called
fissiparous generation, or generation by spontaneous division.
We have examples of it in the infusory animalcules—as the vine-
gar eel or vibrio aceti.
A somewhat more elevated kind of reproduction is the gemmi-
parous, which consists in the formation of buds or germs on some
part of the body. These, at a particular period, drop off, and form
as many new individuals. According as the germs are developed
at the surface of the body, or internally, the gemmiparous generation
is said to be external or internal.
In these two varieties the whole function is executed by a single
individual.
Higher up in the scale we find special organs for the accomplish-
ment of generation—male and female. In those animals, however,
that possess special reproductive organs, some have both sexes in
the same individual, or are hermaphrodite or androgynous, as
is the case in almost all plants, and in some of the lower tribes of
animals.
In these, again, we notice a difference. Some are capable of re-
production without the concourse of a second individual; others,
again, although possessing both attributes, require the concourse of
another; the male parts of the one uniting with the female parts of
the other, and vice versa. Both, in this way, become impregnated.
The helix hortensis or garden snail affords us an instance of this
kind of reproduction. They meet in pairs, according to Shaw, and
stationing themselves an inch or two apart, launch several small
darts, not quite half an inch long, at each other. These are of a
horny substance, and sharply pointed at one end. The animals,
during the breeding season, are provided with a little reservoir for
them, situated within the neck, and opening on the right side. On
the discharge of the first dart, the wounded snail immediately re-
taliates on its aggressor; by throwing a similar dart; the other re-
GENERATION/ 257
news the battle, and in turn, is again wounded. When the darts are ex-
pended, the war of love is completed, and its consummation succeeds.
In the superior animals each sexual characteristic is possessed by
a separate individual,—the species being composed of two indivi-
duals, male and female, and the concourse of these individuals, or
of matters proceeding from both sexes, being absolutely necessary
for reproduction.
But here, again, two great differences are met with in the pro-
cess. Sometimes the fecundating fluid of the male sex is not ap-
plied to the ovum of the female, until after its ejection by the latter,
as in fishes. In other cases, the ovum cannot be fecundated after its
ejection, and the fluid of the male sex is applied to it whilst still
within the female, as in birds and the mammalia. In such case, the
male individual is furnished with an organ for penetrating the parts of
the female^ and in this kind of generation there must be copulation.
Again, where there is copulation, the following varieties may
exist. First. The ovum, when once fecundated, may be imme-
diately laid by the female, and may be hatched out of the body, con-
stituting oviparous generation. Secondly. Although the process
of laying may commence immediately, the fecundated ovum may
pass so slowly through the excretory passages, that it may be
hatched there, and the new individual may issue from the womb of
the parent possessing the proper formation. This constitutes ovo-
viviparous generation, of which we have an example in the viper.
Lastly. The fecundated ovum may be detached from the ovary
soon after copulation, but, in place of being ejected, it may be de-
posited in a reservoir, termed a womb or uterus; be fixed there;
attract fluids from the organ adapted for its development, and thus
increasing at the expense of the mother, be hatched, as it were, in
this reservoir, so that the new individual may be born under its
appropriate form. In such case, moreover, the new being, after
birth, may be for a time supported on a secretion of the mother—
the milk. These circumstances constitute viviparous generation;
in which there are copulation, fecundation, gestation or pregnancy,
and lactation or suckling.
There is a very considerable difference in animals as regards the
nurturing care afforded by the parents to their young. Amongst
the oviparous animals, many are satisfied with instinctively de-
positing their ova in situations, and under circumstances favour-
able to their hatching, and then abandoning them, so that they
can never know their progeny. This is the case with insects.
Others again, as birds, subject their ova to incubation, and, after
they have been hatched, administer nourishment to their young
during the early period of existence. In the viviparous animal,
these cares are still more extensive; the mother drawing from her
own bosom the nutriment needed by the infant, or suckling her
young.
There are some other varieties in the generation of animals. In
Vol. II. 33
258
GENERATION.
some, it can be performed but once during the life of the individual;
in others, we knbw it can be effected repeatedly. Sometimes one
copulation fecundates but a single individual; at others, several ge-
nerations are fecundated. A familiar example of this fecundity
occurs in the common fowl, in which a single access will be suffi-
cient to fecundate the eggs for the season. In the insect tribe this
is still more strikingly exemplified. In the aphis puceron or
green-plant louse, through all its divisions, and in the monoculus
pulex, according to naturalists, a single impregnation suffices for at
least six or seven generations. There is in this case another strange
deviation from the ordinary laws of propagation, viz. that in the
warmer summer months the young are produced viviparously, and
in the cooler autumnal months oviparously.
A single impregnation of the queen bee will serve to fecundate
all the eggs she may lay for two years at least. Huber believes for
the whole of her life, but he has had numerous proofs of the former.
She begins to lay her eggs forty-six hours after impregnation, and
will commonly lay about three thousand in two months, or at the
rate of fifty eggs daily. Lastly, the young are sometimes born with
the shape which they have always to maintain; at others, under
forms, which are, subsequently, materially modified, as in the papi-
lio or butterfly genus.
The reproduction of the human species requires the concourse of
both sexes; these sexes being separate, and each possessed by a dis-
tinct individual—male and female. All the acts comprising it
may be referred to five great heads. 1. Copulation, the object of
which is to apply the fecundating principle, furnished by the male,
to the germ of the female. 2. Conception or fecundation, the
prolific result of copulation. 3. Gestation or pregnancy, com-
prising the sojourn of the fecundated ovum in the uterus, and the
development it undergoes there. 4. Belivery or accouchement,
which consists in the detachment of the ovum; its excretion and
the birth of the new individual; and lastly, lactation, or the nou-
rishing of the infant on the maternal milk.
Of the Generative Apparatus.
The part, taken by the two sexes in the process of generation, is
not equally extensive. Man has merely to furnish the fluid, neces-
sary for effecting fecundation, and to convey it within the female.
He consequently participates only in copulation and fecundation;
whilst, in addition, the acts of gestation and lactation are accom-
plished by the female. Her generative apparatus is therefore more
complicated, and consists of a greater number of organs.
1. Of the Genital Organs of the Male.
The generative apparatus of the male comprises two orders of
parts:—those which secrete and preserve the fecundating fluid, and
GENERATIVE APPARATUS. 259
those which accomplish copulation. The first consist of two simi-
lar glands—the testes—which secrete the sperm or fecundating fluid
from the blood. 2. The excretory ducts of those glands—the vasa
deferentia. 3. The vesiculae seminales, which communicate with
the vasa deferentia and urethra ; and 4. Two canals, called ejacu-
latory, which convey the sperm from the vesicula? seminales into
the canal of the urethra, whence it is afterwards projected exter-
nally. The second consists of the penis, an organ essentially com-
posed of erectile tissue, and capable of acquiring considerable ri-
gidity. These parts will require a more detailed notice.
Testes.—The testicles are two glands situated in a bag, suspend-
ed beneath the pubes, called the scrotum; the right being a little
higher than the left. They are of an ovoid shape, compressed late-
rally, their size being usually that of a pigeon's egg, and their weight
about seven and a half, or eight drachms.
Like other glands, they receive arterial blood by an appropriate <
vessel, which communicates with the excretory duct. The sper-
matic artery conveys the blood, from which the secretion has to
be operated, to the testicle. It arises from the abdominal aorta at a
very acute angle, is small, extremely tortuous, and passes down to
the abdominal ring, through which it proceeds to the testicle.
When it reaches this organ, it divides into two sets of branches,
some of which are distributed to the epididymis, others enter the
testicle at its upper margin, and assist in constituting its tissue.
The excretory ducts form, in the testicle, what are called the
seminiferous vessels or tubuli seminiferi. These terminate in a
white cord or nucleus, situated at the upper and inner part of the
organ, where the excretory duct commences, and which is called
the corpus highmorianum or sinus of the seminiferous vessels.
Besides these anatomical elements of the testes, there are also—1.
Veins, termed spermatic, which return the superfluous blood back
to the heart. These arise in the very tissue of the organ, and form
the spermatic plexus, the divisions of which collect in several
branches, that pass through the abdominal ring, and unite into a
single trunk, which subsequently divides again into another plexus,
termed corpus pampinifor me. This has been described as pecu-
liar to the human species, and as a diverticulum for the blood of
the testicle, whose functions are intermittent. These veins ulti-
mately terminate on the right side in the vena cava, and on the left
in the renal vein. 2. Lymphatic vessels, in considerable number,
the trunks of which, after having passed through the abdominal
ring, open into the lumbar glands. 3. Nerves, partly furnished
by the renal and mesenteric plexuses and by the great sympathetic,
partly by the lumbar nerves, and which are so minute as not to be
traceable as far as the tissue of the testicle. 4. An outer membrane
or envelope to the whole organ, called tunica albuginea or peri-
testis. This is of an opaque white colour, of an evidently fibrous
and close texture, and envelopes and gives shape to the organ. It
also sends into the interior of the testicle numerous filiform, flat-
260
GENERATION.
tened prolongations, which constitute incomplete septa or parti-
tions. These form triangular spaces, filled with seminiferous ves-
sels, that pass, with considerable regularity, towards the superior
margin and the corpus highmorianum.
These elements united constitute the testicle, the substance of
which.is soft, of a yellowish-gray colour, and divided by prolonga-
tions of the tunica albuginea, into a considerable number of lobes
and lobules. It seems to be formed of an immensity of very deli-
cate, tortuous filaments, interlaced and convoluted in all directions,
loosely united, and between which are ramifications of the sper-
matic arteries and veins.
According to Monro Secundus, the seminiferous tubes of the
testicle do not exceed the -^oth part of an inch in diameter, and,
when filled with mercury, the -j-^th Par^ °f an incn« He calcu-
lated, that the testis consists of 62,500 tubes, supposing each to be
one inch long; and that if the tubes were united, they would be
5208 feet and 4 inches long. The tubuli seminiferi finally termi-
nate in straight tubes, called vasa recta, which unite near the cen-
tre of the testis, in a complicated arrangement bearing the name
rete testis or rete vasculosum testis; from this from 12 to 18
ducts proceed upwards and backwards to penetrate the corpus
highmorianum and the tunica albuginea. These ducts are called
vasa efferentia. Each of them is afterwards convoluted upon
itself, so as to form a conical body, called conus vasculosus, having
its base backwards; and at its base the tube of each cone enters the
tube of which the epididymis is formed.
The epididymis is the prismatic arch, B, C.
127.
Fig. 127, which rests
vertically on the back
of the testicle and ad-
heres to it by the re-
flection of the tunica
vaginalis, so as to ap-
pear a distinct part
from the body of the
testis. It is enlarged at
both ends; the upper
enlargement being
formed. by the coni
vasculosi, and called
the globus major;
the lower the globus
minor. The epidi-
dymis is formed by
a single convoluted
tube, the fourth of a
line in diameter.When
Left hand Fig. The testicle covered by its membranes, and seeming the tube attains the
like one body .—Rig ht lumd F;>.The testicle! freed from its outer coat, i 1 f .1 1
—A. Body of the testicle.— B. Commencementof the epididymis, or lOWer CnU 01 tne glO-
ft.m°/0''"C'Thesmallhcador*r'o6"f minor'"D" Th'vasdc' bus minor, it becomes
GENERATIVE APPARATUS.
261
less convoluted, enlarges, turns upwards, and obtains the name of
vas deferens.
The testes of most animals, that procreate but once a year, are
comparatively small during the months when they are not excited.
In man, the Organ before birth, or rather during the greater part
of gestation, is an abdominal viscus; but, about the seventh month
of foetal existence, it gradually descends through the abdominal
ring into the scrotum, which it reaches in the eighth month, by a
mechanism to be described hereafter. In some cases, it never de-
scends, but remains in the cavity of the abdomen, giving rise to
considerable mental distress in many instances, and exciting the
idea, that there may be a total absence of the organs, or that,
if they exist, they cannot effect the work of reproduction. The
uneasiness is needless, the descent appearing to be by no means
essential. It has been sufficiently demonstrated, that indivi-
duals, so circumstanced, are capable of procreation. In many
animals, the testicles are always internal; whilst, in some, they
appear only in the scrotum during the season of amorous excite-
ment. Foder6 has indeed asserted, that the crypsorchides, or
those whose testes have not descended, are occasionally remarked
for the possession of unusual prolific powers and sexual vigour.*
It appears, that there is a set of barbarians at the back of the
Cape of Good Hope, who are generally possessed of but one testi-
cle, or are monorchides; and Linn.eus, under the belief that this
is a natural defect, has made them a distinct variety of the human
species. Mr. Barrow has noticed the same singularity; but Dr.
Good thinks it doubtful, whether, like the want of beard amongst
the American savages, the destitution may not be owing to a bar-
barous custom of extirpation in early life. The deviation is not,
however, more singular than the unusual formation of the nates
and of the. genital organs of the female in certain people of these
regions, to which we shall have to refer.
The testicle is connected with the abdominal ring by means of
the spermatic cord, a fasciculus of about half an inch in diameter,
which can be readily felt through the skin of the scrotum. It is
formed, essentially, of the vessels and nerves that pass to or from
the testicle;—the spermatic artery, spermatic veins, lymphatics and
nerves of the organ, and the vas deferens, or excretory duct.
These are bound together by means of cellular tissue; and, exter-
nally, a membranous sheath of a fibrous character envelopes the
cord, and keeps it distinct from the surrounding parts, and espe-
cially from the scrotum. When the cord has passed through the
abdominal ring, its various elements are no longer held together,
but each passes to its particular destination.
* " Ces organes paraissant tirer du bain chaud ou its se trouvent plong^s plus
d'aptitude a. la secretion que Iorsqu'ils sout descendus au dehors dans leurs en-
veloppes ordinaires"!—Truite de Medecint legale, t. 1, p. 370.
262
GENERATION.
The scrotum or purse is a continuation of the skin, of the
Inner side of the thighs, the perineum, and the penis. It is sym-
metrical, the two halves being separated by a median line or raphe.
The skin is of a darker colour here than elsewhere; is rugous,
studded with follicles, and sparingly furnished with hair. This
may be considered its outermost coat. Beneath this is the dartos,
—a reddish, cellular membrane, which forms a distinct sac for
each testicle, and a septum—the septum scroti—between them.
Much discussion has taken place regarding the nature of this en-
velope; some supposing it to be muscular, others cellular. Bres-
chet and Lobstein affirm,^hat it does not exist in the scrotum
before the descent of the testes, and they consider it to be formed
by the expansion of the gubernaculum testis. Meckel, however,
suggests, that it constitutes the transition between the cellular and
muscular tissues, and that there exists between it and other mus-
cles the same relation that there is between the muscles of the su-
perior and inferior animals. It consists of long fibres considerably
matted together, and passing in every direction, but which are
easily separable by distention with air or water, and by slight ma-
ceration.
The generality of anatomists conceive it to be of a cellular cha-
racter, yet it is manifestly contractile, corrugates the scrotum,
and probably consists of muscular tissue also. Dr. Horner, in-
deed, affirms that he dissected a subject in January, 1830, in which
the fibres were evidently muscular, although interwoven.
Beneath the dartos a third coat exists, which is manifestly mus-
cular:—it is called the cremaster or tunica erythroides. It arises
from the lesser oblique muscle of the abdomen, passes through the
abdominal ring, aids in the formation of the spermatic cord, and
terminates insensibly on the inner surface of the scrotum. It draws
the testicle upwards.
The cellular substance, that connects the dartos and cremaster
with the tunica vaginalis, has been considered by some as an ad-
ditional coat, and termed tunica vaginalis communis.
The tunica vaginalis or tunica elytroides is a true serous
membrane, enveloping the testicle and lining the scrotum; having,
consequently, a scrotal and a testicular portion. We shall see,
hereafter, that it is a dependence of the peritoneum, pushed down
by the testicle in its descent, and afterwards becoming separated
from any direct communication with the abdomen.
The vas deferens or excretory duct of the testicle commences
at the globus minor of the epididymis, (C, Fig. 127,) which is itself,
we have seen, formed of a convoluted tube. This, when unfolded,
according to Monro, measures as much as thirty-two feet. As
soon as the vas deferens quits the testicle, it joins the spermatic
cord, passes upwards to the abdominal ring, separates from the
blood-vessels on entering the abdomen, and descends downwards
and inwards to the posterior and inferior part of the bladder, pass-
GENERATIVE APPARATUS. 263
Fig. 128.
ing between the bas-fond of the latter and the ureter. It then
converges towards its fellow along the under extremity of the
bladder, at the inner margin of the vesicula seminalis of the same
side, and ultimately opens into the urethra near the neck of the
bladder. (Fig. 124.) At the base of the prostate it receives a ca-
nal from the vesicula, and continues its course to the urethra un-
der the name of ejaculatory duct.
The vas deferens has two coats, the outermost of which is very
firm and almost cartilaginous; but its structure is not manifest.
The inner coat is thin, and belongs to the class of mucous mem-
branes.
The vesiculae seminales, E, Fig. 124, are considered to be two
convoluted tubes,—one on each side,—which are two inches or
two inches and a half long, and six or seven lines broad at the fun-
dus, are situated on the lower fundus of the bladder, between it
and the rectum and behind the prostate gland. At their anterior
extremities they approach each other
very closely, being separated only
by the vasa de*ferentia. When in-
flated and dried, they present the
appearance of cells; but are gene-
rally conceived to be tubes, which,
being convoluted, are brought with-
in the compass of the vesicula?.
When dissected and stretched out,
they are four or five inches long by
about one-fourth of an inch in dia-
meter. Amussat, however, denies
this arrangement of the vesicula?;
and he affirms, that he has disco- , „ „ .
, , , c ac • V. Section of vas deferens.—S. Section of ve-
Vered them tO be formed Ol a mi-siculaseminalis.—E. Section of ejaculatory duct.
nute canal of considerable length, variously convoluted, the folds
of which are united to each other by cellular filaments, like those
of the spermatic vessels.
At the anterior part, termed the neck, a short canal passes off,
which unites at an acute angle with the vas deferens, to form the
ductus ejaculatorius.
The vesicula? are formed of two membranes; the more external
like that of the vas deferens, and capable of contracting in the act
of ejaculation; and an internal lining, of a white, delicate charac-
ter, a little like that which lines the interior of the gall-bladder,
and supposed to be mucous. Although the vesicula? are manifestly
contractile, no muscular fibres have been detected in them. They
are found filled, in the dead body, with an opaque, thick, yellow-
ish fluid, very different, in appearance, from the sperm ejaculated
during life.
The prostate gland, Fig. 124, D, is an organ of a very dense
tissue, embracing the neck of the bladder, and penetrated by the
264 GENERATION.
urethra, which traverses it much nearer its upper than its lower
surface. The base is directed backwards, the point forwards,
and its inferior surface rests upon the rectum, so that, by passing
the finger into the rectum, enlargements of the organ may be de-
tected.
The prostate was once universally esteemed glandular, and it is
still so termed. It is, now, generally and correctly regarded,
as an agglomeration of several small follicles, filled by a viscid,
whitish fluid. These follicles have numerous minute excretory
ducts, which open on each side of the caput gallinaginis.
The glands of Cowper are two small, oblong bodies; of the
size of a pea; of a reddish colour, and of a somewhat firm tissue.
They are situated anterior to the prostate, parallel to each other,
and at the sides of the urethra. Each has an excretory duct, which
creeps obliquely in the spongy tissue of the bulb, and opens before
the verumontanum.
The male organ or penis consists of the corpus cavernosum
and corpus spongiosum; parts essentially formed of an erectile
tissue, and surrounded by a very firm elastic covering, which pre-
vents over-distention, and gives form to the organ.
The corpora cavernosa constitute the great body of the penis.
They are two tubes which are united and separated by an imper-
fect partition. Within them a kind of cellular tissue exists,
into which blood is poured, so as to cause erection. The posterior
extremities of these cavernous tubes are called crura penis. These
separate in the perineum, each taking hold of a ramus of the pubis;
and, at the other extremity, the cavernous bodies terminate in
rounded points under the glans penis. The anatomical elements
of the internal tissue of the corpora cavernosa, are,—the ramifica-
tions of the cavernous artery, which proceeds from the internal
pudic; those of a vein bearing the same name; and, probably,
nerves, although they have not been traced so far. All these ele-
ments are supported by filamentous prolongations from the outer
dense envelope. A difference of opinion prevails amongst anato-
mists, with regard to the precise arrangement of these prolonga-
tions. Some consider them to form cells, or a kind of spongy
structure, on the plates of which the ramifications of the cavernous
artery and vein and of the nerves terminate, and into which the
blood is extravasated.
Others conceive, that the internal arrangement consists of a
plexus of minute arteries and veins, supported by the plates of the
outer membrane, interlacing like the capillary vessels, but with
this addition, that, in place of the minute veins becoming capillary
in the plexus, they are of greater size, forming very extpnsible dila-
tations and net-works, and anastomosing freely with each other. If
the cavernous artery be injected, the matter first fills the ramifica-
tions of the artery, then the venous plexus of the cavernous bodies,
and it ultimately returns by the cavernous vein, having produced
GENERATIVE APPARATUS.
265
erection. The same effect is caused still more readily by injecting
the cavernous vein.
Attached to the corpora cavernosa of the penis, and running in
the groove beneath them, is a spongy
body, of a similar structure,—the cor-
pus spongiosum urethras,—through
which the urethra passes. It commences,
posteriorly, at the bulb of the urethra,
already described under the Secretion
of Urine, and terminates, anteriorly, in
the glans, which is, in no wise, a de-
pendency of the corpora cavernosa, but
is separated from them by a portion of E
their outer membrane; so that erection
may take place in one and not simulta-
neously in the other; and injections into
the corpora cavernosa of the one do not
pass into those of the other. The glans
appears tO be the final expansion of the A. External membrane or sheath of the
,.i ,. i-i i i penis.—B. Corpus cavernosum.—D. Cor-
erectile tissue which surrounds the ure- pus spongiosum urethra.
thra. The posterior circular margin of the glans is called the
corona glandis, and behind this is a depression called the cervix,
collum or neck. Several follicles exist here, called the glandulas
odoriferas Tysoni, which secrete an unctuous humour, called the
smegma praeputii, which often accumulates largely, where clean-
liness is not attended to.
The penis is covered by the skin, which forms, towards the
glans, the prepuce or foreskin. The cellular tissue that unites it
to the organ is lax, and never contains fat. The inner lamina of
the prepuce being inserted circularly into the penis, some distance
back from the point, the glans can generally be denuded, when the
prepuce is drawn back. The under and middle part of the prepuce
is attached to the extremity of the glans by a duplicature, called
the frasnum praeputii, which extends to the orifice of the urethra.
The skin is continued over the glans, but it is greatly modified
in its structure, being smooth and velvety, highly delicate, sensi-
ble, and vascular.
Lastly.—In addition to the acceleratores urinse, the transversus
perinei, the sphincter ani, and the levator ani muscles, which we
have described as equally concerned in the excretion of urine and
semen, the erector penis or ischio-cavernosus muscle is largely
connected with the function of generation.
The genital organs of man are, in reality, merely an apparatus
for a glandular secretion, of which the testicle is the gland; the
vesiculae seminales are supposed to be the reservoir; and the vas
deferens and urethra the excretory ducts;—the arrangement which
we observe in the penis being for the purpose of conveying the
secreted fluid into the parts of the female.
Vol. II. 34
266
GENERATION.
The sperm or semen is secreted by the testicles from the blood
of the spermatic artery, by a mechanism, which is no more under-
stood than that of secretion in general. When formed it is re-
ceived into the tubuli seminiferi, and passes along them to the
epididymis, the vas deferens, and the vesiculae seminales, where it
is generally conceived to be deposited, until it is projected into the
urethra, under the venereal excitement. That this is its course is
sufficiently evidenced by the arrangement of the excretory ducts,
and by the function which the sperm has to fulfil. De Graaf,
however, adduces an additional proof. On tying the vas deferens of
a dog, the testicle became swollen, and ultimately the vas deferens
gave way between the testicle and the ligature.
The causes of the progression of the sperm through the ducts
are, the continuity of the secretion by the testicle, and a contrac-
tion of the excretory ducts themselves. These are the efficient
agents.
It has been a question with physiologists, whether the secretion
of the sperm is constantly taking place, or whether, as the func-
tion of generation is accomplished at uncertain intervals, the secre-
tion may not likewise be intermittent. It is impossible to arrive
at any positive conclusion on this point. It would seem, however,
unnecessary for the secretion to be operated at all times; and it is
more probable, that when the vesicula? seminales are emptied of
their contents, during coition, a stimulus is given to the testes
by the excitement, and they are soon replenished. This, how-
ever, is more and more difficult in proportion to the number of re-
petitions of the venereal act, the excretory ducts becoming more and
more emptied, whilst the secretion takes place at best but slowly.
By some, the spermatic and pampiniform plexuses have been
regarded ao diverticula to the testes during this intermission of
action.
The sperm passes slowly along the excretory ducts of the testi-
cle, owing partly to the slowness of the secretion, and partly to the
arrangement of the ducts, which, as we have seen, are remarkably
convoluted, long, and minute.
The use of the vesicula? seminales has been disputed. The ma-
jority of physiologists regard them to be reservoirs for the sperm,
and to serve the same purpose as the gall-bladder in the case of the
bile. Others, however, have supposed, that they secrete a fluid of a
peculiar nature, the use of which may probably be to dilute the sperm.
They are manifestly not essential to the function, as they do not
exist in all animals. The dog and cat kind, the bears, opossums,
sea-otter, seals, &c, possess them not; and there are several in
which there is no direct communication between the duct and the
vas deferens, which open separately into the urethra. This cir-
cumstance, however, with the fact, that they generally contain,
after death, a fluid of different appearance and properties from those
of the sperm, with the glandular structure which their coats seem
SECRETION OF SPERM. 267
to possess in many instances, is opposed to the views that they are
simple reservoirs for the semen, and favours that which ascribes to
them a peculiar secretion. Where this communication between the
duct of the vesicles and the vas deferens does exist, a reflux of the
semen may take place, and an admixture between the sperm and
the fluid secreted by them. It is not improbable, however, as
Adelon suggests, that all the excretory ducts of the testicle may
act as a reservoir; and in the case of animals, in which the vesi-
cula? are wanting, they must possess this office exclusively. If
we are to adopt the description of Amussat as an anatomical fact,
the vesicula? themselves are constituted of a convoluted tube, hav-
ing an arrangement somewhat resembling that which prevails in
the excretory ducts of the testis.
But how, it has been asked, does it happen, that the sperm, in
its progress along the vas deferens, does not pass directly on into
the urethra by the ejaculatory duct, instead of reflowing into the-
spermatic vesicles? This, it has been imagined, is owing to the ex-
istence of an arrangement at the opening of the ejaculatory duct
into the urethra similar to that which prevails at the termination of
the choledoch duct in the duodenum.
It is affirmed, by some, that the prostate exerts a pressure on the
ductus ejaculatorius, and that the opening of the duct into the
urethra is smaller than any other part of it; by others, that the
ejaculatory ducts are embraced, along with the neck of the bladder,
by the levator ani, and consequently, that the sperm finds a readier
access into the duct of the vesicula? seminales.
The sperm is of a white colour, and of a faint smell, which,.
owing to its peculiar character, has been termed spermatic. It is
of a viscid consistence, of a saline, irritating taste, and appears com-
posed of two parts, the one more liquid and transparent, and the
other more grumous. In a short time after emission, these two
parts unite and the whole becomes more fluid. When examined
chymically, the sperm appears to be of an alkaline, and albuminous
character. Vauquelin analyzed it and found it to be composed,—
in 1000 parts,—of water, 900; animal mucilage, 60; soda, 10; cal-
careous phosphate, 30. Berzelius affirms that it contains the
same salts as the blood along with a peculiar animal matter. No
analysis however, has been made of the sperm as secreted by the
testicle. The fluid examined has been the compound of the pure
sperm and the secretions of the prostate gland and of those of Cow-
per. The thicker, whitish portion, is considered to be the secre-
tion of the testicles;—the more liquid and transparent consisting of
the fluids of the accessory glands or follicles.
Some authors have imagined, that a sort of halitus or aura is
given off from the sperm, which they have called the aura semi-
nis, and have considered to be sufficient for fecundation. The
fallacy of this view will be exhibited hereafter. Others have dis-
covered, by the microscope, numerous minute bodies in the sperm,
268
GENERATION.
which they have conceived to be important agents in generation.
These animalcules, however, have been denied to be peculiar to this
fluid, and have been regarded as infusory animalcules, similar to
those met with in all animal infusions; by others, they have been
esteemed organic molecules of the sperm; whilst Virey,—a phy-
siologist, strangely fantastic in his speculations,—conceives, that, as
the pollen of vegetables is a collection of small capsules, containing
wTithin them the true fecundating principle, which is of extreme
subtlety, the pretended spermatic animalcules are tubes containing
the true sperm, and the motion we observe in them is owing to
the rupture of the tubes.
The agency of the sperm in fecundation will be considered here-
after. It may be observed, however, that in all examinations of
it, whether by the microscope or otherwise, we must bear in mind
the caution to which we have adverted more than once as applica-
ble to the examination of animal fluids in general,—that we ought
not to conclude,'positively, from the results of our observations of
the fluids when out of the body, that they possess precisely the
same characteristics when in it; and this remark is especially ap-
plicable to the sperm, which varies manifestly in its sensible pro-
perties in a short time after it has been excreted.
The sperm being the great vivifying agent,—the medium by
which life is communicated from generation to generation,—it has
been looked upon as one of the most important if not the most im-
portant of animal fluids; and hence it is regarded, by some physi-
ologists, as formed of the most animalized materials, or of those
that constitute the most elevated part of the new being—the ner-
vous system.
The quantity of sperm secreted cannot be estimated. It varies
according to the individual, and to his extent of voluptuous excite-
ment, as well as to the degree of previous indulgence in venereal
pleasures. Where the demand is frequent, the supply is larger;
although, when the act is repeatedly performed, the absolute quan-
tity at each copulation may be less.
2. Genital Organs of the Female.
The genital organs of the male effect fewer functions than those
of the female. They are inservient to copulation and fecundation
only. Those of the female, in addition to parts which fulfil these
offices, comprise others for gestation, and lactation.
The soft and prominent covering to the symphysis pubis—which
is formed by the common integuments, elevated by fat, and, at the
age of puberty, covered by hair,—is called the mons veneris. Be-
low this, are the labia pudendi or labia majora, which are two
large soft lips, formed by a duplicature of the common integuments,
with adipous matter interposed. The inner surface is smooth, and
studded with sebaceous follicles. The labia commence at the sym-
GENERATIVE APPARATUS.
269
physis pubis, and descend to the perineum, which is the portion of
integument, about an inch and a half in length, between the pos-
terior commissure of the labia and the anus'. This commissure is
called the frasnum labiorum or fourchette. The opening be-
tween the labia is the vulva.
At the upper junction of the labia, and within them, a small organ
exists, called the clitoris, which greatly resembles the penis. It
is formed of corpora cavernosa, and is terminated, anteriorly, by
the glans, which is covered by a prepuce, consisting of a prolonga-
tion of the mucous membrane of the vagina. Unlike the penis,
however, it has no corpus spongiosum, or urethra attached to it;
but is capable of being made erect by a mechanism similar to
that which applies to the penis, and has two erector muscles—the
erectores clitoridis,—similar to the erectores penis.
From the prepuce of the clitoris, and within the labia majora, are
the labia minora or nymphas, the organization of which is simi-
lar to that of the labia majora. They gradually enlarge as they
pass downwards, and disappear when they reach the orifice of the
vagina.
A singular variety is observed in the organization of those parts
amongst the Bosjesmen or Bushmen, the tribe to whose peculiari-
ties of organization we have already had occasion to refer. Dis-
cordance has, however, prevailed regarding the precise nature of
this peculiarity, some describing it as existing in the labia, others
in the nympha?, and others, again, in a peculiar organization; some
deeming it natural, others artificial. Dr. Somerville, who had
numerous opportunities for observation and dissection, asserts, that
the mons veneris is less prominent than in the European, and is
either destitute of hair, or thinly covered by a small quantity of a
soft, woolly nature; that the labia are very small, so that they seem
at times to be almost wanting; that the loose, pendulous, and ru-
gous growth, which hangs from the pudendum, is a double fold;
and that it is proved to be the nympha?, by the situation of the cli-
toris at the commissure of the folds, as well as by all other circum-
stances ; and that they sometimes reach five inches below the mar-
gin of the labia; Le Vaillant says nine inches.
Cuvier examined the Hottentot Venus, and found her to agree
well with the account of Dr. Somerville. The labia were very
small; and a single prominence descended between them from
the upper part. It divided into two lateral portions, which passed
along the sides of the vagina to the inferior angle of the labia. The
whole length was about four inches. When she was examined,
naked, by the French Savans, this formation was not observed.
She kept the tablier, ventrale cutaneum, or, as it is termed by
the Germans, schurze, carefully concealed, either between her
thighs, or yet more deeply; and it was not known, until after her
death, that she possessed it.
270
GENERATION.
the
the
Its
has
Both Mr. Barrow- and Dr. Somerville deny that the pecu-
liarity is artificially excited.
In warm climates, the nympha? are often greatly and inconve-
niently elongated, and amongst the Egyptians and other African
tribes, it has been the eustom to extirpate them, or to diminish
their size. This is wnat is meant by circumcision in the female.
The vagina is a canal, which extends between the vulva and
the uterus, the neck of which it embraces.
It is sometimes called the vulvo-uterine canal, and is from four
to six inches long, and an inch and a half, or two inches in diameter.
It is situated in the pelvis, between the bladder before, and the
rectum behind; is
F£g. 130. slightly curved,
with the concavity
forwards, and is
narrower at
middle than at
extremities.
inner surface
numerous—chiefly
transverse---ruga?,
which become less
in the progress of
age, after repeated
acts of copulation,
and especially after
accouchement.
The vagina is
A. Section of os pubis.—B. Section of spine and sacrum.—C. Urinary Composed of an in-
bladder, moderately distended, and rising; behind the pubis.—D. The fOT,nol miinriMa mom
urethra.—E. The uterus.—G. The vagina, embracing the neck of the lemal mUCOUS mem-
womb, with the os uteri projecting into it. , brane, suppl ied with
numerous mucous follicles, of a dense cellular membrane, and be-
tween these a layer of erectile tissue, which is thicker near the
vulva, but is, by some, said to extend even as far as the uterus. It
is termed the corpus spongiosum vaginae. It is chiefly situated
around the anterior extremity of the vagina, below the clitoris, and
at the base of the nympha?: the veins of which it is constituted are
called plexus reteformis. The upper portion of the vagina, to a
small extent, is covered by the peritoneum.
The sphincter or constrictor vaginae muscle surrounds the
orifice of the vagina, and covers the plexus reteformis. It is about
an inch and a quarter wide; arises from the body of the clitoris,
and passes backwards and downwards, to be inserted into the
dense, white substance in the centre of the perineum, which is
common tothe transversi perinei muscles, and the anterior point
of the sphincter ani.
Near the external aperture of the vagina, is the hymen, or vir-
ginal, or vaginal valve, which is a more or less extensive, mem-
GENERATIVE APPARATUS. 271
branous duplicative, of variable shape, and formed by the mucous
membrane of the vulva where it enters the vagina, so that it closes
the canal, more or less completely. It is generally very thin, and
easily lacerable; but is sometimes-extremely firm, and prevents
penetration. It is usually of a semilunar shape, but is sometimes
oval from right to left, or almost circular, with an aperture in the
middle, whilst, occasionally, it is entirely imperforate, and of
course prevents the issue of the menstrual flux. It is easily de-
stroyed by mechanical violence of any kind, as by strongly rubbing
the sexual organs of infants by coarse cloths, and by ulcerations of
the part; hence its absence is not an absolute proof of the loss of
virginity, as it was of old regarded by the Hebrews. Nor is its
presence a positive evidence of continence. Individuals have
conceived in whom the aperture of the hymen has been so small
as to prevent penetration.
Around the part of the vagina, where the hymen was situated,
small, reddish, flattened, or rounded tubercles afterwards exist,
which are of various sizes, and are formed, according to the general
opinion, by the remains of the hymen; but Beclard considers
them to be folds of the mucous membrane. Their number varies
from two to five, or six.
Fig. 131.
The uterus is a hollow organ, for the reception of the foetus,
and its retention during gestation. It is situated in the pelvis, be-
tween the bladder, which is before, and the rectum behind, and be-
low the convolutions of the small intestines. Fig. 130 gives a la-
teral view of their relative situation, and Fig. 131, of their posi-
tion, when regarded from before. It is of a conoidal shape, flat-
272
GENERATION.
tened on the anterior and posterior surfaces; rounded at the base,
which is above, and truncated at its apex, which is beneath. It is
of small size; its length being only about two and a half inches; its
breadth one and a half inch at the base, and ten lines at the neck; its
thickness about an inch.
It is divided into the fundus, body, and cervix or neck. The
fundus is the upper part of the organ, which is above the insertion
of the Fallopian tubes. The body is the part between the insertion
of the tubes and the neck; and the neck is the lowest and narrow-
est portion, which projects and opens into the vagina.
Fig. 132.
a. Fundus uteri.—b. Body of the uterus.—c. Neck of the uterus.—d. Os uteri.—e. Vagina.—/",/. Fal-
lopian tubes.—g,g. Broad liguments of the uterus.—h, h. Round lig-aments.-^i, p. Fimbriated extremi-
ties of the Fallopian tube.—o, o. Ovaries.—I, I. Ligaments of the ovary.
At each of the two superior angles are—the opening of the Fal-
lopian tube, the attachment of the
ligament of the ovary, and that of the
round ligament. The inferior angle
is formed by the neck, which projects
into the vagina to the distance of four
or five lines, and terminates by a
cleft, situated crosswise, called os
tineas, os uteri, or vaginal orifice
of the uterus. The aperture is
bounded by two lips, which are
smooth and rounded in those that
have not had children; jagged and
rugous in those who are mothers,—
the anterior lip being somewhat
thicker than the posterior. It is from
three to five lines long, and is gene-
rally more or less open, especially
in those who have had children. "
The internal 4javity of the uterus is very small in proportion to
the bulk of the organ, owing to the thickness of the parietes, which
almost touch internally. It is divided into the cavity of the body,
and that of the neck, (Fig. 133.) The former is triangular. The
GENERATIVE APPARATUS. 273
tubes open into its upper angles. The second cavity is more long
than broad; is broader at the middle than at
either end, and at the upper part where it Fig. 134.
communicates with the cavity of the body of
the uterus, an opening exists, called the in-
ternal orifice of the uterus: the external orifice
being the os uteri. The inner surface has
several transverse ruga?, which are not very
prominent. It is covered by very fine villi,
and the orifices of several mucous follicles are
visible.
The marginal figure exhibits the cavity of
the uterus, as seen by a vertical antero-poste-
rior section.
The precise organization of the uterus has
been a topic of interesting inquiry amongst
anatomists. It is usually considered to be
formed of two parts, a mucous membrane in-
ternally, and the proper tissue of the uterus, which constitutes the
principal part of the substance.
The mucous membrane has been esteemed a prolongation of
that which lines the vagina. It is very thin; of a red hue in the
cavity of the body of the organ; white in that of the neek. Chaus-
sier, Ribes and Madame Boivin, however, deny its existence.
Chaussier asserts, that having macerated the uterus and a part of
the vagina in water, in vinegar, and in alkaline solutions; and
having subjected them to continued ebullition, he always observed
the mucous membrane of the vagina stop at the edge of the os uteri;
and Madame Boivin,—a well-known French authoress on ob-
stetrics, who has attended carefully to the anatomy of those organs
during pregnancy,—says, that the mucous membrane of the vagina
terminates by small expansible folds, and by a kind of prepuce, un-
der the anterior lip of the os uteri. In their view, the inner surface
of the uterus is formed of the same tissue as the rest of it. The
proper tissue of the organ is dense, compact, not easily cut, and
somewhat resembles cartilage in colour, resistance, and elasticity.
It is a whitish, homogeneous substance, penetrated by numerous
minute vessels. In the unimpregnated state, the fibres, which seem
to enter into the composition of the tissue, appear ligamentous and
pass in every direction, but so as to permit the uterus to be more
readily lacerated from the circumference to the centre than in any
other direction. The precise character of the tissue is a matter of
contention amongst anatomists. To judge from the changes it ex-
periences during gestation, and by its energetic contraction in deli-
very, it would seem to be decidedly muscular? or at least capable
of assuming that character; but, on this point, we shall have occa-
sion to dwell hereafter.
The uterus has, besides the usual organic constituents,—arte-
Vol. II. 35
274 GENERATION.
ries, veins, lymphatics, and nerves. The arteries proceed from
two sources:—from the spermatic, which are chiefly distributed
to the fundus of the organ, and towards'the part where the Fallo-
pian tubes terminate; and from the hypogastric, which are sent
especially to the body and neck. Their principal branches are
readily seen under the peritoneum, which covers the organ: they are
very tortuous; frequently anastomose, and their ramifications are
lost in the tissue of the viscus, and on its inner surface. The veins
empty themselves partly in the spermatic, and partly in the hypo-
gastric. They are even more tortuous than the arteries; and, dur-
ing pregnancy, they dilate and form what have been termed the
uterine sinuses. The nerves are derived partly from the great
sympathetic, and partly from the sacral pairs.
The appendages of the uterus are:—1. The ligamenta lata or
broad ligaments, which are formed by the peritoneum. This
membrane is reflected over the anterior and posterior surfaces and
over the fundus of the uterus, and the lateral duplicatures of it form
a broad expansion, and envelope the Fallopian tubes and ovaria.
These expansions are the broad ligaments. (See Fig. 132, g,g, and
Fig. 131.) 2. The anterior and posterior ligaments, which are
four in number and are formed by the peritoneum. Two of these
pass from the uterus to the bladder,—the anterior; and two be-
tween the rectum and uterus,—the posterior. 3. The ligamenta
rotunda or round ligaments, which are about the size of a goose-
quill, arise from the superior angles of the fundus uteri, and,
proceeding obliquely downwards and outwards, pass out through
the abdominal rings to be lost in the cellular tissue of the groins.
They are whitish, somewhat dense, cords, formed by a collection
of tortuous veins and lymphatics, of nerves, and of longitudinal
fibres which were, at one time, believed to be muscular, but are
now generally considered to consist of condensed cellular tissue.
Meckel thinks, that these different ligaments contain, between
the layers composing them, muscular fibres, which are more or
less marked, and which proceed from the lateral margin of the
uterus. 4. The Fallopian or uterine tubes; two conical, tor-
tuous canals, four or five
Fig. 135. inches in length; situated
in the same broad liga-
ments, which contain the
ovaries, and extending
from the superior angles
of the uterus as far as the
lateral parts of the brim
of the pelvis. (Figs. 131,
132, and 135.) The ute-
ri ne extremity of the tube
(Figs. 133 and 135,) is ex-
tremely small, and opens into the uterus by an aperture so minute,
GENERATIVE APPARATUS. 375
as to scarcely admit a hog's bristle. The other extremity is called
the pavilion. It is trumpet-shaped, fringed, and commonly inclined
towards the ovary, to which it is attached by one of its longest
fimbria?. This fringed portion is called corpus fimbriatum or
morsus diaboli. The Fallopian tubes, consequently, open at one
end into the cavity of the uterus, and at the other through the peri-
toneum into the cavity of the abdomen. They are covered exter-
nally by the broad ligament, or peritoneum; are lined internally
by a mucous membrane, which is soft, villous, and has many longi-
tudinal folds; and between these coats is a thick, dense, whitish
membrane, which is possessed of contractility; although muscular
fibres cannot be detected in it. Santorini asserts, that in robust
females the middle membrane of the tubes has two muscular lay-
ers; an externa], the fibres of which are longitudinal, and an in-
ternal, whose fibres are circular.
The ovaries, (Figs. 132 and 136,) are two ovoid bodies, of a pale
red colour, ru- a Fig. 126. b.
gous, and near-
ly of the size
of the testes of
the male. They
are situated in
the Cavity of Ovary. Section of ovary.
the pelvis, and are contained in the posterior fold of the broad liga-
ments of the uterus. At one time they were conceived to be glan-
dular, and were called the female testes; but as soon as the notion
prevailed, that they contained ova, the term ovary or egg-vessel
was given to them. The external extremity of the ovary has at-
tached to it one of the principal fimbria? of the Fallopian tube.
The inner extremity has a small fibro-vascular cord inserted into
it: this passes to the uterus to which it is attached behind the
insertion of the Fallopian tube, and a little lower. It is called the
ligament of the ovary, and is in the posterior ala of the broad
ligament. It is solid, and has no canal.
The surface of the ovary has many round prominences, and the
peritoneum envelopes the whole of it, except at the part where the
ovary adheres to the broad ligament. The precise nature of its
parenchyma is not determined. When torn or divided longitu-
dinally, as in Fig. 136, 6, it appears to be constituted of a cellulo-
vascular tissue. In this, there are from fifteen to twenty spheri-
cal vesicles—ovula Graafiana—varying in size from half a line
to three lines in diameter. These are rilled with an albuminous
fluid, which is colourless or yellowish, and may be readily seen by
dividing the vesicles carefully with the point of a pair of fine
scissors.
The arteries and veins of the ovaries belong to the spermatics.
Their nerves, which are extremely delicate, are from the renal plex-
uses; and their lymphatics communicate with those of the kidneys.
276
GENERATION.
Such is the anatomy of the chief organs, concerned in the func-
tion of generation. Those of lactation we shall describe hereafter.
It is obvious, that the sexual characteristics in man are widely
separate; and the two sexes are never perhaps, united in the same
individual. Yet such an unnatural union has been supposed to
exist; from the fabulous son of 'Effmsand a^o^tjj,—Mercury and
Venus,—to his less dignified representatives of modern times:—
"Nee foemina dici,
Nee puer ut possent, neutrumque et utrumque videntur."—Ovid.*
We have already remarked, that in the lower animals and in
plants such hermaphrodism is common; but in the upper classes,
and especially in man, a formation, which gives to an individual the
attributes of both sexes, has never, perhaps, been witnessed. Mon-
strous formations are occasionally met with; but, if careful examina-
tion be made, it can usually be determined to what sex the being be-
longs. The generality of cases are produced by unusual develop-
ment of the clitoris in the female, or by a cleft scrotum in the male.
Only two instances of the kind have fallen under the observation
of the author, one of which has been described by the late Profes-
sor Beclard of Paris, whose details we borrow.
Marie-Madeleine Lefort, aged sixteen years, seemed to
belong to the male sex, if attention were paid merely to the pro-
portions of the trunk, limbs, shoulders, and pelvis; to the confor-
mation and dimensions of the pelvis; to the size of the larynx; the
tone of the voice, the development of the hair; and to the form of
the urethra, which extended beyond the symphysis pubis. An
attentive examination, however, of the genital organs showed, that
she* belonged to the female sex. The mons veneris was round and
covered with hair. Below the symphysis pubis was a clitoris, re-
sembling the penis in shape, twenty-seven millimetres, or about an
inch long in the state of flaccidity; and susceptible of slight elon-
gation during erection; having an imperforate glans, hollowed be-
neath by a duct or channel, at the inferior part of which were five
small holes, situated regularly on the median line.
Beneath and behind the clitoris a vulva existed, with two nar-
row, short and thin labia, furnished with hair, devoid of any thing
like testicles, and extending to within ten lines of the anus. Be-
tween the labia was a very superficial cleft, pressure upon which
communicated a vague sensation of a void space in front of the
anus. At the root of the clitoris was a round aperture, through
which a catheter could not be passed into the bladder. It could
be readily directed, however, towards the anus, in a direction pa-
rallel to the perineum.
* " Bath bodies in a single body mix,
A single body with a double sex."—AnDiso>..
hermaphrodism. 277
When the catheter was passed a little backwards and upwards to
the depth of eight or ten centimetres it was arrested by a sensible
obstacle, but no urine flowed through it. It seemed to be in the
vagina. At the part where the vagina stopped, a substance could
be distinguished through the parietes of the rectum, which appeared
to be the body of the uterus. No where could testicles be dis-
covered. She had menstruated from the age of eight years; the
blood issuing in a half coagulated state through the aperture at the
root of the clitoris. She experienced, too, manifest inclination
for commerce with the male, and a slight operation only would
probably have been necessary to divide the apron, closing the vul-
va from the clitoris to the posterior commissure of the labia. The
urethra extended in this case for some distance beneath the cli-
toris, as in the penis, which is unusual. From all the circum-
stances M. Beclard concluded, that the person, subjected to the
examination of the Sociiti de Mtdecine of Paris, was a female; and
that she possessed several of the essential organs of the female;—
the uterus, and vagina—whilst she had only the secondary charac-
ters of the male;—as the proportions of the trunk and limbs; that
of the shoulders and pelvis; the conformation and dimensions of the
pelvis; the size of the larynx; the tone of the voice; the develop-
ment of the hair; the urethra extending beyond the symphysis
pubis, &c.
In the year 1818, an individual was exhibited in London, who
had a singular union of the apparent characteristics of the two sexes.
The countenance resembled that of the male, and she had a beard,
but it was scanty. The shape, however, of the body and limbs
was that of the female. The students of the Anatomical Theatre of
Great Blenheim street, London, of whom the author was one, of-
fered her a certain sum, provided she would permit the sexual or-
gans to be inspected by the veteran head of the school—Mr. Brookes:
to this she consented.
She was, accordingly, exposed before the class; and her most
striking peculiarities exhibited. The clitoris was large, but not
perforate. Mr. Brookes, desirous of trying the experimentum
crucis, passed one catheter into the vagina, and attempted to
introduce another into the urethra; but fearing discovery, and
finding that the mystery of her condition was on the point of being
unveiled, she started up and defeated the experiment. No doubt
existed in the mind of Mr. Brookes, that there were two distinct
canals,—one forming the vagina; the other the urethra,—and that
she was consequently female.
One of the most complete cases of admixture of the sexes is con-
tained in the recent journals, the particulars of which were present-
ed by Rudolphi to the Academy of Sciences of Berlin. It was
met with in the body of a child, which died, it was said, seven days
after birth, but the development of parts led to the supposition,
that it was three months old. The penis was divided inferiorly;
^78
GENERATION.
the right side of the scrotum contained a testicle; the left side was
small and empty. There was a uterus, which communicated at its
superior and left portion with a Fallopian tube, behind which was
an ovary destitute of its ligament. On the right side, there was
neither Fallopian tube, nor ovary, nor ligament, but a true testicle,
from the epididymis of which arose a vas deferens. Below the
uterus was a hard, flattened, ovoid body, which, when divided, ex-
hibited a cavity with thick parietes. The uterus terminated above,
in the parietes of this body, but without penetrating its cavity. At
its inferior part was a true vagina, which terminated in a cul-de-
sac. The urethra opened into the bladder, which was perfect;
and the anus, rectum and other organs were naturally formed.
Rudolphi considered the ovoid body, situated beneath the uterus,
to be the prostate, and vesiculae seminales in a rudimental state.
The varieties of these sexual vagaries are extremely numerous;
and form occasionally the subject of medico-legal inquiry.
Instances of animals being brought forth, whose organs of gene-
ration are preternaturally formed, sometimes occur, and they have
been commonly called hermaphrodites; but such examples have
been rarely investigated.
Monstrous productions, having a mixture of the male and fe-
male organs, seem to arise most frequently in neat cattle, and have
been called free-martins. When a cow brings forth twin calves,
one a male and the other apparently a female, the former always
grows up to be a perfect bull, but the latter appears destitute of all
sexual functions and propensities, and never propagates. This is
the free-martin.
From Mr. Hunter's observations it would seem, that in all the
instances of free-martins, which he examined, no one had the com-
plete organs of the male and female, but partly the one and partly
the other; and, in all, the ovaria and testicles were too imperfect
to perform their functions.
In noticing this phenomenon, Sir Everard Home remarks, that
it may account for twins being most commonly of the same sex;
"and when they are of different sexes," he adds, "it leads us to
inquire whether the female, when grown up, has not less of the
true female character than other women, and is incapable of having
children." "It is curious," says Sir Everard, " and in some mea-
sure to the purpose, that, in some countries, nurses and midwives
have a prejudice, that such twins seldom breed." The remark of
Sir Everard is signally unfortunate, and ought not to have been
hastily hazarded, seeing that a slight examination, would have ex-
hibited, that there is no analogy between the free-martin and the
females in question; and, more especially, as the suggestion
accords with a popular prejudice, highly injurious to the pros-
pects and painful to the feelings of all who are thus situated.
In the London Medical Repository, for September, 1823, Mr.
Cribb, of Cambridge, England, has properly observed, that the
MENSTRUATION.
279
external characters and anatomical conformation of the free-martin
are totally unlike those of the human female. In external appear-
ance, the free-martin differs considerably from the perfectly formed
cow, the head and neck in particular, bearing a striking resem-
blance to those of the bull. Mr. Cribb has, however, brought
forward the most decisive evidence in favour of the fallacy of the
popular prejudice, by the history of seven cases, which are of
themselves sufficient to put the matter for ever at rest. Of these
seven cases,—which are all that he had ever known, of women,
born under the circumstances in question, having been married,—
six had children.
Before proceeding to the physiology of generation there is one
function, peculiar to the female, which will require consideration.
This consists in a periodical discharge of blood from the vulva, oc-
curring from three to six days in every month, during the whole
time that the female is capable of conceiving, or from the period of
puberty to what has been termed the critical age. This discharge
is called the catamenia, menses, flowers, &c., and the process
menstruation. It seems to be possessed by the human species
alone. F. Cuvier, however, asserts that he has discovered indica-
tions of it in the females of certain animals.
In some females, menstruation is established suddenly, and with-
out any premonitory symptoms; but, in the greater number, it is
preceded and accompanied by some inconvenience. The female
complains of signs of plethora, or general excitement, indicated by
redness and heat of skin, heaviness in the head, oppression, quick
pulse, and pains in the back or abdomen; whilst the discharge
commences drop by drop, but continuously.
During the first twenty-four hours the flow is not as great as af-
terwards, and is more of a serous character, but on the following
day it becomes more abundant and sanguineous, and gradually sub-
sides, leaving, in many females, a whitish, mucous discharge, tech-
nically termed leucorrhasa, and, in popular language, the whites.
The quantity of fluid, lost during each menstruation, varies
greatly, according to the individual and to the climate. Its ave-
rage is supposed to be from six to eight ounces in temperate climes.
By some, it has been estimated as high as twenty, but this is an
exaggeration.
The menstrual fluid proceeds from the interior of the uterus, and
not from the vagina. At one time, it was believed, that in the in-
tervals between the flow of the menses, the blood gradually accu-
mulates in some parts of the uterus, and when these parts attain
a certain degree of fulness, they give way and the blood flows.
This office was ascribed to the cells,—which were conceived to
exist in the substance of the uterus between the uterine arteries
and veins,—and, by some, to the veins themselves, which, owing
280 GENERATION.
to their great size, were presumed to be reservoirs, and hence were
called uterine sinuses.
The objection to these views is,—that we have no evidence of
the existence of any such accumulation; and that when the interior of
the uterus of one, who has died during menstruation, is examined,
there are no signs of any such rupture as that described; whilst the
enlarged vessels exist only during pregnancy or during thc expand-
ed state of the uterus; the veins, in the unimpregnated uterus,
being extremely small, and totally inadequate to such a purpose.
The menstrual fluid is a true exhalation, effected from the inner
surface of the uterus. This is evident from the change in the lining
of the organ during the period of its flow. It is rendered softer
and more villous, and exhibits bloody spots, with numerous pores
from which the fluid may be expressed. An injection, sent into
the arteries of the uterus, also readily transudes through the lining
membrane. The appearance of the menstrual fluid in the cavity
of the uterus, during the period of its flow; its suppression in va-
rious morbid conditions of the organ; and the direct evidence, fur-
nished in cases of prolapsus uteri, where the fluid has been seen
distilling from the os uteri, likewise show that it is a uterine exha-
lation.
It has been a question, whether the fluid proceeds from the ar-
teries or veins; and this has arisen from the circumstance of its
being regarded as mere blood, which it is not. It is in truth but
little like blood except in its colour; and it may be distinguished
from blood by the smell, which is sui generis, and also by its not
being, in general, coagulable. "It is," says Mr. Hunter, " neither
similar to blood taken from a vein of the same person, nor to that
which is extravasated by accident in any other part of the body ;
but is a species of blood, changed, separated, or thrown off from
the common mass by an action of the vessels of the uterus, similar
to that of secretion, by which action the blood loses the principle
of coagulation and, I suppose, life."
The fact of the injection, sent into the arteries, transuding through
the inner lining of the uterus is in favour of the exhalation taking
place from the arteries, and the analogy of all the other exhalations,
is confirmatory of the position.
The efficient cause of menstruation has afforded ample scope for
speculation and hypothesis. As its recurrence corresponds to a
revolution of the moon around the earth, lunar influence has been
invoked ; but before this solution can be admitted it must be shown,
that the effect of lunar attraction is different in the various relative
positions of thc moon and earth. There is no day of the month,
in which numerous females do not commence their menstrual flux,
and whilst the discharge is beginning with some, it is at its acme
or decline with others. The hypothesis of lunar influence must
therefore be rejected.
MENSTRUATION. 281
In the time of Van Helmont, it was believed that a ferment
exists in the uterus, which gives occasion to a periodical, intestine
motion in the vessels, and a recurrence of the discharge; but inde-
pendently of the want of evidence of the existence of such a fer-
ment, the difficulty remains of accounting for its regular renova-
tion every month.
Local, and general plethora have been assigned as causes, and
many of the circumstances, that modify the flow, favour the
opinion. The fact of, what has been called, vicarious men-
struation, has been urged in favour of this view. In these cases,
instead of the menstrual flux taking place from the uterus, hemor-
rhages occur from various other parts of the body, as the breasts,
lungs, ears, eyes, nose, &c.
It does not seem, however, that in any of these cases, the term
menstruation is appropriate; inasmuch as the fluid is not men-
strual, but consists of blood periodically extravasated. Still they
would appear to indicate, that there is a necessity for the monthly
evacuation, or purgations, as the French term it; and that if this
be obstructed, a vicarious hemorrhage may be established; yet the
loss of several times the quantity of blood from the arm, previous
to, or in the very act of, menstruation does not always prevent or
interrupt the flow of the catamenia; and in those maladies, that are
caused by their obstruction, greater relief is afforded by the flow
of a few drops from the uterus itself, than by ten times the quan-
tity from any other part.
Some of the believers in local plethora of the uterus have main-
tained, that the arteries of the pelvis are more relaxed in the female
than in the male; whilst the veins are more unyielding; and hence,
.that the first of these vessels convey more blood than the second
return. It has been also affirmed, that whilst the arteries of the
head predominate in man, by reason of his being more disposed for
intellectual meditation; the pelvic and uterine arteries predominate
in the female, owing to her destination being more especially for
reproduction.
Setting aside all these gratuitous assumptions, it is obvious that
a state, if not of plethora, at least of irritation, must occur in the
uterus every month, which gives occasion to the menstrual secre-
tion; but, as Adelon has properly remarked, it is not possible to
say why this irritation is renewed monthly, any more than to ex-
plain why the predominance of one organ succeeds that of another
in the succession of ages. The function is as natural, as instinctive,
to the female, as the development of the whole sexuak system at
the period of puberty. That it is connected most materially with
the capability of reproduction is shown by the fact, that it does not
make its appearance until puberty,—the period at which the young
female is capable of conceiving,—and that it disappears at the cri-
tical time of life, when conception is impracticable. It is arrested,
too, as a general principle, during pregnancy, and lactation; and in
Vol. II. 36
282
generation.
amenorrhea or obstruction of the menses fecundation is not readily
effected. In that variety, indeed, of menstruation, which is ac*
complished with much pain, at every period, and is accompanied
by the secretion of a membranous substance having the shape of
the uterine cavity, conception may be esteemed impracticable. Pro-
fessor Hamilton, of the University of Edinburgh, is, indeed, in the
habit of adducing this, in his lectures, as one of two circumstances—
the other being the want of a uterus—which are alone invincible ob-
stacles to fecundation. Yet, in the case of dysmenorrhcea, of the
kind mentioned, if the female can be made to pass one monthly
period without suffering, or without the morbid secretion from the
uterine cavity, she will sometimes become pregnant, and the whole
of the evil will be removed: for, the effect of pregnancy being to
arrest the catamenia, the morbid habit is Usually got rid of during
gestation, and lactation, and does not subsequently recur.
Gall strangely supposes, that some general, but extraneous
cause of menstruation exists,—not the influence of the moon;
and he affirms that, in all countries, females generally menstruate
about the same time; that there are, consequently, periods of the
month in which none are in that condition; and he affirms, that all
females may, in this respect, be divided into two classes:—the one
comprising those that menstruate in the first eight days of the
month, and the other, those that are " unwell"—as it is termed by
them, in some countries—in the last fortnight. He does not,
however, attempt to divine what this cause may be. We are sa-
tisfied that his positions are erroneous. Some considerable atten-
tion to the matter has led us to the belief, already expressed, that
there is no period of the moon, at which the catamenial discharge
is not taking place in some, and we have not the slightest reason
for believing, that on the average more females are menstruating
at any one part of the month than at another.
After these comments, it is unnecessary to notice the visionary
speculations of those, who have regarded menstruation as a me-
chanical consequence of the erect attitude, or the opinion of Rous-
sel, that it originally did not exist, but that being produced arti-
ficially by too succulent a regimen, it was afterwards propagated
from generation to generation; or finally, that of Aubert, who
maintained, that if the first amorous inclinations were satisfied, the
resulting pregnancy would totally prevent the establishment of
menstruation. The function, it need scarcely be said, is instinc-
tive, and forms an essential part of the female constitution.
The age, at which menstruation commences, varies in indi-
viduals and in different climates. It is a general law, that the
warmer the climate, the earlier the discharge takes place, and the
sooner it ceases. In some climates, it begins at nine years of age,
whilst in northern regions, women may not arrive at puberty until
they are seventeen or eighteen years old. In the temperate zone,
the most common period is from thirteen to fifteen years. Men-
INSTINCT OP REPRODUCTION.
283
struation commonly ceases in the same zone at from forty to fifty
years of age. In oriental climes, the menses begin soon, flow co-
piously, and end early: females being old when those of the tem-
perate regions would be still in their prime. In northern regions,
on the contrary, they begin late, flow sparingly, and continue long.
These rules are, however, liable to many exceptions. The
menses, with powers of fecundity, have continued, in particular
instances, much beyond the ages that have been specified; some of
these protracted cases having had regular catamenia; in others, the
discharge, after a long suppression, having returned. A relation
of Haller had two sons after her fiftieth year; and children are
said to have been born, even after the mother had attained the age
of sixty. Holdefreund relates the case of a female, in whom
menstruation continued till the age of seventy-one; Bourgeois till
the age of eighty; and Hagendorn to ninety; but it is probable,
that these were not cases of true menstruation, but perhaps of irre-
gularly periodical discharges of true blood from the uterus or va-
gina.
During the existence of menstruation the system of the female
is more irritable than at other times; so that all exposure to sud-
den and irregular checks of transpiration should be avoided, as well
as every kind of mental and corporeal agitation, otherwise the pro-
cess may be impeded, or hysterical and other troublesome affec-
tions be excited,.
Physiology of Generation.
In man and the superior animals, in which each sex is possessed
by a distinct individual, it is necessary that there should be a union
of the sexes, and that the fecundating fluid of the male should be
conveyed within the appropriate organs of the female; in order
that, from the concourse of the matters furnished by both sexes, a
new individual may result.
To this union we are incited by an imperious instinct, establish-
ed within us for the preservation of the species; as the senses of
hunger and thirst are placed within us for the preservation of the
individual. This has been termed the desire or instinct of repro-
duction; and, for wise purposes, its gratification is attended with
the most pleasurable feelings which man or animals can experience.
Prior to the period of puberty, or whilst the individual is inca-
pable of procreation, this desire does not exist; but it suddenly
makes its appearance at puberty, persists vehemently during
youth and the adult age, and disappears in advanced life, when pro-
creation becomes again impracticable. It is strikingly exhibited in
those animals, in which generation can only be effected at particu-
lar periods of the year, or whilst they are in heat: as in the deer
during the rutting season.
The views that have been entertained, regarding the seat of this
2S4
GENERATION.
instinct—whether in the encephalon or genital organs—were con*
sidered under the head of the mental and moral manifestations. It
was there stated, that Cabanis and Broussais make the internal
impressions to proceed from the genital organs, but to form a
part of the psychology of the individual; and that Gall assigns
an encephalic organ—the cerebellum—for its production, and
ranks the instinct of reproduction amongst the primary facul-
ties of the mind. In farther proof of the idea, which refers it
to the encephalon, it may be remarked, that the instinct has been
observed in those who, owing to original malformation, have
wanted the principal part of the genital organs, whilst it has con-
tinued in the case of eunuchs, not castrated till after the age of
puberty.
In opposition to this view, it has been urged, that simple titilla-
tion of the organs will excite the desire. This, however, may be
entirely dependent upon association, in which the brain is largely
concerned. In many cases, the desire is produced through the
agency of vision; when the brain must necessarily be first ex-
cited, and, through its influence, the generative apparatus.
The cause of the desire has, by some, been ascribed to the pre-
sence of sperm, in the requisite quantity, in the vesicula? semi-
nales; but, in answer to this, it is urged, that eunuchs, as under
the circumstances above mentioned, and females, in whom there
is no spermatic secretion, have the desire. ,
The fact is, we have no more precise knowledge of the na- j?l
ture of this instinct, than we have of any of the internal sensations
or moral faculties. We know, however, that it exhibits itself in
various degrees of intensity, and occasionally assumes an opposite
character—constituting anaphrodisia.
In the union of the sexes, the part performed by the male is the
introduction of the penis,—the organ for the conveyance of the
sperm to the uterus,—and the excretion of that fluid, during its in-
troduction. In the flaccid state of the organ this penetration is im-
practicable; it is first of all necessary, that, under the excitement
of the venereal desire, the organ should attain a necessary state of
rigidity, which is termed erection. In this state, the organ be-
comes enlarged, and raised towards the abdomen; its arteries beat
forcibly; the veins become tumid; the skin more coloured, and the
heat augmented. It becomes also of a triangular shape, and these
changes are indicated by an indescribable feeling of pleasure.
Erection is not dependent upon volition. At times, it manifests
itself against the will; at others, it refuses to obey it; yet it re-
quires, apparently, the constant excitement of the encephalic organ
concerned in its production;—the slightest distraction of the mind
causing its cessation. The modest and retiring spouse is, at times,
unable to consummate the marriage for nights, perhaps weeks; yet,
he is only temporarily impotent; for the inclination and the con-
COPULATION.
285
sequent erection supervene sooner or later. Pills of the crumb of
bread, and a recommendation to the individual not to apfproach his
wife for a fortnight, whatever may be his desire, have in almost
all cases removed the impotence.
The state of erection is not long maintained, except under un-
usual excitement; the organ soon returning to its ordinary flacci-
dity.
Its cause is evidently a congestion of blood in the erectile tissue
of the corpora cavernosa, urethra, and glans. Swammerdam and
De Graaf cut off the penis of a dog during erection, and found
the tissue gorged with blood, and that the organ returned to its
flaccid condition, as the blood flowed from it. The same fact, ac-
cording to Adelon, has been observed in the human subject,
where erection has continued till after death. Mr. Callaway, of
Guy's Hospital, London, has described the case of an individual,
who, in a state of inebriation, had communication three times with
his wife the same night, without the consequent collapse succeed-
ing, although emission ensued each time. This condition persisted
for sixteen days, notwithstanding the use of the appropriate means:
at this time, an opening was made with a lancet in the left crus of
the penis, below the scrotum, and a large quantity of dark, grumous
blood, with numerous small coagula, escaped. By pressing the
penis, the corpora cavernosa were immediately emptied, and each
side became flaccid; the communication by the pecten, or septum
penis, permitting the discharge of the contents of both corpora by
the incision into the left crus. After recovery, the person remain-
ed quite impotent, the organ being incapable of erection, owing,
as Mr. Callaway judiciously suggests, to the deposition of coa-
gulable lymph in the cells of the corpora cavernosa preventing the
admission of blood, and the consequent distention of the organ.
Artificial erection can, likewise, be induced in the dead body
by injections, so that but little doubt need exist, that the enlarge-
ment and rigidity of the penis, during erection, are caused by the
larger quantity of blood sent into it.
The great difficulty has been, to account for this increased flow.
The older writers ascribed it to the compression of the internal
pudic vein against the symphysis pubis, owing to the organ being
raised towards the abdomen by the ischio-cavernosi muscles; and
as the cavernous vein empties its blood into the internal pudic,
stagnation of blood in the corpora cavernosa ought necessarily to
result from such compression, and consequent distention of the or-
gan; whilst the cavernous arteries, being firmer, would not yield
to the compression, and would, therefore, continue to convey the
blood to the penis.
It is obvious, however, that here,—as in every case, where the
erectile tissue is concerned,—the congestion must be of an active
kind: the beating of the arteries and the coloration of the organ in-
286
GENERATION.
dicate this; and, besides, it is not possible, that any compression of
the pudic vein can precede erection; it must, if it occur at all, be re-
garded rather as a consequence of erection than as its cause. The
case of the female nipple affords us an instance of erectility, where
no compression can be invoked, and where the distention must be
caused by augmented flow of blood by the arteries. If the nipple
be handled, particularly whilst the female is under voluptuous ex-
citement, it will be found to enlarge,and to become rigid, or to be in
a true state of erection. The common opinion, amongst physiolo-
gists, is, that irritation of this erectile tissue is the first link in the
chain of phenomena constituting erection. The feeling of pleasure
is certainly experienced there, prior to, and during, erection; and
this irritation, like every other, solicits an increased flow of blood
into the erectile tissue, which, by organization, is capable of con-
siderable distention.
The erectile tissues of the corpora cavernosa, and of the corpus
spongiosum urethra?, and glans, are all concerned in the process,
but in what precise manner physiologists are not entirely agreed.
Some have supposed, that the blood is effused into the cells, and
is consequently out of the vessels. Another view, supported by
some of the most eminent anatomists and physiologists is, that the
blood simply accumulates in the venous plexuses of the corpora
cavernosa. Such seems to have been the inference of Cuvier,
Chaussier, and Beclard, from their injections; and the rapidity,
with which erection disappears, favours the notion.
It has been asked, again, whether this accumulation of blood
be, as we have remarked, an increased afflux by the arteries, or
a diminished action of the veins; or these two states combined.
The last opinion is probably the most correct. The arteries
first respond to the appeal; the organ is, at the same time, raised
by the appropriate muscles; its tissue becomes distended, the.
plexus of veins becomes turgid, and the return of blood im-
peded. In this way, the organ acquires the rigidity, necessary for
penetrating the parts of the female. The friction which then occurs,
keeps up the voluptuous excitement and the state of erection. This
excitement is extended to the whole generative system; the secre-
tion of the testicle is augmented; the sperm arrives in greater
quantity in the vesicula? seminales; the testicles are drawn up to-
wards the abdominal rings by the contraction of the dartos and
cremaster, so that the vas deferens is rendered shorter, and, in the
opinion of some, the sperm, filling the excretory ducts of the tes-
ticle is, in this manner, forced mechanically forwards towards the
vesicles. When these have attained a certain degree of distention
they contract suddenly and powerfully, and the sperm is projected
through the ejaculatory ducts into the urethra. It is at this period,
that the pleasurable sensation is at its height. When the sperm
reaches the urethra, the canal is thrown into the highest excitement;
COPULATION.
287-
the ischio-cavernosi and bulbo-cavernosi muscles, with the trans-
versus perinei, and levator ani are thrown into violent contraction;
the two first holding the penis straight, and assisting the others in
projecting the sperm along the urethra. By the agency of these mus-
cles and of the proper muscular structure of the urethra, the fluid
is expelled, not continuously, but in jets, as it seems to be sent into
the urethra by the alternate contractions of the vesicula? semi-
nales.
The quantity of sperm, discharged, varies materially according
to the circumstances previously mentioned; its average is estimated
at about two drachms.
Along with the true sperm, the fluids of the prostate and of the
glands of Cowper are discharged; so as to constitute the semen as
we meet with it. When the emission is accomplished, the penis
gradually returns to its ordinary state of flaccidity; and it is usually
impracticable, by any effort, to repeat the act without the inter-
vention of a certain interval of repose, to enable the due quantity
of sperm to collect in the spermatic vessels and vesicles. In some
persons, however, the excitability is so great, and the secretion of
sperm so ready, that no interval is required between the first and
second attempt.
This comprises the whole of the agency of the male in the func-
tion of generation.
In man, the emission of sperm is* soon effected ; but in certain
animals it is a long process. In the dog, which has no vesicula?
seminales, the penis swells so much, during copulation, that it can-
not be withdrawn until the emission of sperm removes the erec-
tion.
In the female, during copulation, the clitoris is in the same
state of erection as the penis; as well as the spongy tissue, lining
more especially the entrance of the vagina, and it is in these parts,
particularly in the clitoris, that pleasure is experienced during
sexual desire, and during copulation. This feeling persists the
whole time of coition, and ultimately attains its acme, as in the case
of the male, but without any spermatic ejaculation. It is not ow-
ing to the contact of the male sperm,—-for it frequently occurs before
or after emission by the male,—but is dependent upon some inap-
preciable modification in the female organs,—in the ovaries or
Fallopian tubes, it is supposed by some physiologists. In most
cases, an increased discharge takes place from the mucous follicles
of the vagina and vulva; but this appears to be gradual, during the
progress of coition, and in nowise to resemble the ejaculation
of the male. After the kind of convulsive excitement into which
the female is thrown, a sensation of languor and debility is expe-
rienced, as in the male, but not to the same extent,—and in conse^
quence of no spermatic emission taking place in her, she is capable
of a renewal of intercourse more speedily than the male, and can
better support its frequent repetition.
28S
GENERATION.
An admixture having, in this manner, been effected between the
materials furnished by the male and those of the female, after a
fecundating copulation conception or fecundation results, and the
rudiments of the new being are instantaneously constituted. The
well-known fact, that, after the removal of the testicles, the indi-
vidual is incapable of procreation, although the rest of the genital
organs may remain entire, is of itself sufficient to show, that the
fecundating fluid is the secretion of those organs, and that this fluid
is indispensable. Physiologists have not, however, been satisfied
with this fact. Spallanzani examined frogs with great attention,
whilst in the act of copulation both in and out of water; and he
observed, that, at the moment when the female deposited her eggs,
the male darted a transparent liquor through a tumid point which
issued from its anus. This liquor moistened the eggs, and fecun-
dated them. To be certain that it was the fecundating agent, he
dressed the male in waxed taffeta breeches; when he found that
fecundation was prevented, and that sperm enough was contained
in the breeches to be collected. This he took up by means of a
camel's-hair pencil, and all the eggs, which he touched with it,
were fecundated. Three grains of this sperm were sufficient to
render a pound of water fecundating; and a drop of this solution,
which could not contain more than the 2,994,687-500th part of a
grain was enough for the purpose.
To diminish the objection, that the frog is too remote in orga-
nization from man to admit of any analogical deduction, Spallan-
zani took a spaniel bitch, which had engendered several times;
shut her up some time before the period of heat, and waited until
she exhibited evidences of being in that condition, which did not
happen until after twenty-three days of seclusion. He then in-
jected into the vagina and uterus, by means of a common syringe
warmed to 100° of Fahrenheit, nineteen grains of sperm ob-
tained from a dog. Two days afterwards she ceased to be in heat,
and, at the ordinary period, she brought forth three young ones,
which not only resembled her but the dog from which the sperm
had been obtained. This experiment has been repeated by Rossi
of Pisa, and byBuFFOLiNi of Cesena, with similar results.
In some experiments on generation, Prevost and Dumas fe-
cundated artificially the ova of the frog. Having expressed the
fluid from several testicles, and diluted it with water, they placed
the ova in it. These were observed to become tumid and deve-
loped ; whilst other ova, placed in common water, merely swelled
up, and in a few days became putrid. They observed, moreover,
that the mucus, with which the ova are covered in the oviduct,
—the part corresponding to the Fallopian tube in the mammalia,—
assists in the absorption of the sperm, and in conducting it to the
surface of the ovum; and that, in order to succeed in these arti-
ficial fecundations, the sperm must be diluted. If too much con-
centrated its action is less. They satisfied themselves, likewise,
FECUNDATION.
289
that the chief part of the sperm penetrates as far as the ova, as ani-
malcules could be detected moving in the mucus covering their
surface, and these animalcules they conceive to be the active part
of the sperm.
It is not, however, universally admitted, that the positive con-
tact of the sperm with the ovum is indispensable to fecundation.
Some physiologists maintain, that the sperm proceeds no farther
than the upper part of the vagina ; whence, according to some, it
is absorbed by the vessels of that canal, and conveyed through the
circulation to the ovary. This is, however, the most improbable
of all the views that have been indulged on this topic; for if such
were the fact, impregnation ought to be effected as easily by in-
jecting sperm into the blood-vessels,—the female being, at the time,
in a state of voluptuous excitement. Others have presumed, that
when the sperm is thrown into the vagina, a halitus or aura—
the aura seminis—escapes from it, makes its way to the ovary,
and impregnates an ovum. Others, again, think that the sperm
is projected into the uterus, and that in this cavity it undergoes
admixture with the germ furnished by the female ; whilst a last
class, with more probability in their favour, maintain that the
sperm is thrown into the uterus, whence it passes through the Fal-
lopian tube to the ovary, the fimbriated extremity of the tube, at
the time, embracing the latter organ.
Dr. Dewees,—the able adjunct professor of midwifery in the
University of Pennsylvania,—has suggested, that after the sperm
is deposited on the labia pudendi or in the vagina, it may be taken
up by a set of vessels,—which, he admits, have never been seen in
the human female—whose duty it is to convey the sperm to the
ovary. This conjecture he conceives to have been in part con-
firmed, by the discovery of ducts, leading from the ovary to the
vagina, in the cow and sow, by Dr. Gartner of Copenhagen.
The objections that may be urged against his hypothesis, Dr. De-
wees remarks, "he must leave to others." We have no doubt,
that his intimate acquaintance with the subject could have suggested
many that are pertinent and cogent. It will be obvious, that if
we admit the existence of the ducts, described by Gartner, it by
no means follows, that they are certainly inservient to the function
in question. Independently, too, of the objection, that they have
not been met with in the human female, it may be urged, that if
we grant their existence, there would seem to be no reason, why
closure of tfye os uteri after impregnation, or division of the Fal-
lopian tubes, should prevent subsequent conception, in the former
case during the existence of pregnancy, in the latter, for life. These
vessels ought, in both cases, to continue to convey sperm to the
ovary, and extra-uterine pregnancies or superfcetation ought to be
constantly occurring.
MM. Prevost and Dumas are the most recent writers, who
Vol. II. 37
290 generation.
maintain, that fecundation takes place in the uterus, and they as-
sign the following reasons for their belief. First. That in their
experiments, they always found sperm in the cornua of the uterus,
and they conceive it natural, that fecundation should be operated
only where sperm is. Secondly. That in those animals, whose
ova are not fecundated until after they have been laid, fecundation
must necessarily be accomplished out of the ovary; and Thirdly,
that in their experiments on artificial fecundation, they have never
been able to fecundate ova taken from the ovary.
In reply to the first of these positions it has been properly re-
marked by Adelon, that the evidence of MM. Prevost and Du-
mas, with regard to the presence of sperm elsewhere than in the
uterus, is only of a negative character; and that, on the other hand;
we have the positive testimony of physiologists in favour of its ex-
istence in the Fallopian tubes and ovary. Haller asserts, that
he found it there; and MM. Prevost and Dumas afford us evi-
dence against the position they have assumed respecting the seat
of fecundation. They affirm, that in the first day after copulation,
the sperm was discoverable in the cornua of the uterus, and that
it was not until after the lapse of twenty-four hours, that it had at-
tained the summits of the cornua. Once they detected it in the Fal-
lopian tubes:—a circumstance which is inexplicable under the view,
that fecundation is accomplished in the uterus. Leeuenhoek
and Hartsoeker also found it in some cases in the Fallopian
tube.
In reply to the second argument it may be remarked, that ana-
logies drawn from the inferior animals are frequently very loose
and unsatisfactory, and ought consequently to be received with
caution. This is peculiarly one of these cases; for the fecundation,
in the case adduced, is always accomplished out of the body, and
analogy might with equal propriety be invoked to prove, that in
the human female, fecundation is also effected out of the body.
In answer to the third negative position of MM. Prevost and
Dumas, the positive experiments of Spallanzani may be adduced,
who succeeded in producing fecundation in ova, that had been pre-
viously separated from the ovary.
The evidence, that conception takes place in the ovary appears
to us convincing. The cases of ovarian pregnancy offer irresistible
proof. Of these Mr. Stanley of Bartholomew's Hospital has given
an instructive example in the sixth volume of the Medical Trans-
actions; and a still more extraordinary instance is related by Dr.
Granville in the Philosophical Transactions for 1820. Other
varieties of extra-uterine pregnancy are confirmative of the same
position. At times, the foetus is found in the cavity of the abdo-
men,—the ovum seeming to have escaped from the Fallopian tube,
when its fimbriated extremity grasped the ovary to receive the
ovum and convey it to the cavity of the uterus. At other times,
FECUNDATION. 291
the foetus is developed in the Fallopian tube,—as in the marginal
figure,—someimpedimenthav-
ing existed to the passage of Fig. 137.
the ovum from the ovarium
to the uterus. This impedi-
ment can, indeed, be excited
artificially so as to give rise to
tubal pregnancy. Nuck ap-
plied a ligature round one of
the cornua of the uterus of a
bitch, three days after copula-
tion; and he found, afterwards,
two foetuses arrested in the Fal- Tubal pregnancy.
lopian tube between the ligature and the ovary.
It is obvious, then, from these facts, either that fecundation oc-
curs in the ovarium, or else that the ovum, when fecundated in the
uterus, travels along the Fallopian tube to the ovarium and from
thence back again to the uterus, which is not probable. Moreover,
that the ovaries are indispensable agents in the function of genera-
tion is shown by the well-known fact, that their removal, by the
operation of spaying, not only precludes reproduction but takes
away all sexual desire. In the Philosophical Transactions for
1805, a case is detailed of a natural defect of this kind in an adult
woman, who had never exhibited the slightest desire for commerce
with the male, and had never menstruated. On dissection, the
ovaria were found deficient; and the uterus was not larger than an
infant's.
But, to prevent impregnation, it is not even necessary that the
ovaries should be removed. It is sufficient to deprive them of all
immediate communication with the uterus, by simply dividing the
Fallopian tubes. On this subject, Haighton instituted numerous
experiments, the result of which was, that after this operation, a
foetus was in no instance produced. The operation is much more
simple than the ordinary method of spaying by the removal of the
ovaries, and it has been for several years successfully practised, at
the recommendation of the author, on the farm of his friend Mr.
Jefferson Randolph, of Virginia. It does not seem that the sim-
ple division of the Fallopian tubes takes away the sexual desire,
like the removal of the ovaries. Dr. Blundell has proposed this
division of the tubes, and even the removal of a small portion of
them, so as to render them completely impervious, where the pel-
vis is so contracted as not to admit of the birth of a living child in
the seventh month; and he goes .so far as to affirm, that the opera-
tion is much less dangerous than delivery by perforating the head,
when the pelvis is greatly contracted.
We have already remarked, that sperm has been found in the
cavity of the uterus, and even in the Fallopian tubes. Fabricius
ab Acquapendente maintained that it could not be detected there;
292 GENERATION.
and Harvey contended, that, in the case of the cow, whose vagina
is very long, as well as in numerous other animals, the sperm cannot
possibly reach the uterus, and that there is no reason for supposing
that it ever does so. In addition, however, to the facts already
cited, we may remark, that Mr. John Hunter killed a bitch in
the act of copulation, and found the semen in the cavity of the
uterus, conveyed thither, in his opinion, per saltum. Ruysch
discovered it in the uterus of a woman taken in adultery by her
husband and killed by him; and Haller in the uterus of a sheep
killed forty-five minutes after copulation. Blumenbach supposes,
that, during the venereal orgasm, the uterus sucks in the sperm.
It is impossible to explain the mode in which this is accomplish-
ed, but the fact of the entrance of the fluid into the uterus seems
unquestionable.
Granting, then, that conception occurs in the ovarium, and that
sperm is projected into the uterus, with or without the action of
aspiration referred to by Blumenbach, in what manner does the
sperm exert its fecundating agency on the ovarium ? It is mani-
festly impossible, that the force of projection from the male can
propel it, not only as far as the cornua of the uterus, but also
through the narrow media of communication between the uterus
and ovary by the Fallopian tubes. This difficulty suggested the
idea of the aura seminis or aura seminalis, which, it was sup-
posed, might readily pass into the uterus, and through the tubes
to- the ovary. Haighton, indeed, embraced an opinion more
obscure than this, believing that the semen penetrates no farther
than the uterus, and acts upon the ovaria by sympathy; and this
view has been adopted by some distinguished individuals. In
opposition to the notion of the aura seminis, we have some striking
facts and experiments. In all those animals, in which fecundation
is accomplished out of the body, direct eontact of the sperm ap-
pears necessary. Spallanzani, and MM. Prevost and Dumas
found, in their experiments on artificial fecundation, that they were
always unsuccessful when they simply subjected the ova to the
emanation from the sperm. Spallanzani took two watch-glasses,
capable of being fitted to each other, the concave surface of the one
being opposed to that of the other. Into the lower he put ten or
twelve grains of sperm, and into the other about twenty ova. In
the course of a few hours, the sperm had evaporated, so that the
ova were moistened by it; yet they were not fecundated, but fecun-
dation was readily accomplished by touching them with the sperm
that remained in the lower glass. A similar experiment was per-
formed by MM. Prevost and Dumas. They prepared about an
ounce and a half of a fecundating fluid from the expressed humour
of twelve testicles, and as many vesicula? seminales. With two and
a half drachms of this fluid they fecundated more than two hundred
ova. The remainder of the fluid was put into a small retort to which
an adopter was attached. In this, forty ova were placed, ten of which
fecundation.
293
occupied the hollowest part, whilst the rest were placed near the
beak of the retort. The apparatus was put under the receiver of
an air-pump, and
air sufficient with- Fig. 138.
drawn to diminish
the pressure of the
atmosphere one-
half. The rays of the
sun were now di-
rected upon the bo-
dy of the retort, un-
til the temperature Tl
Within rose to about a. The retort containing the sperm.—B. The adopter containing the
90° • and after the ova,-c# Bodyof the retort--d- Beak of the retort-
lapse of four hours the experiment was stopped, when the follow-
ing were the results. The eggs, at the bottom of the adopter, were
bathed in a transparent fluid, the product of distillation. They had
become tumid as in pufe water, but had undergone no develop-
ment. The eggs, near the beak of the retort, were similarly cir-
cumstanced, but all were readily fecundated by the thick sperm,
which remained at the bottom of the retort. No aura, no emana-
tion from the sperm appeared consequently to be capable of im-
pregnating these ova. Absolute contact was indispensable.
This is probably the case with the human female, and if so, the
sperm must proceed from the uterus along the Fallopian tube to
the ovarium. The common opinion is, that, during the intense ex-
citement at the time of copulation, the tube is raised, and its digi-
tated extremity applied to the ovarium. The sperm then proceeds
along it,—in what manner impelled we know not,—and attains
the ovary. Haller states, that by injecting the vessels of the
tube in the dead body, it has assumed this kind of action. De
Graaf, too, affirms, that he has found the fimbriated extremity
adhering to the ovary, twenty-seven hours after copulation; and
Magendie, that he has seen the extremity of the tube applied to
a vesicle.
As the aura seminis appears to be insufficient for impregnation,
it is obviously a matter of moment, that the sperm should be eja-
culated as high up into the vagina as possible. It has been often ob-
served, that where the orifice of the urethra does not open at the
extremity of the glans, but beneath the penis, or at some distance
from the point, the individual has been rendered less capable of
procreation. In a case that fell under the care of the author, the
urethra was opened opposite the corona glandis by a sloughing
syphilitic sore, and the aperture continued, in spite of every effort
to the contrary. The individual was married, and the father of
three or four children; but after this occurrence he had no increase
of his family. Many medico-legal writers have considered, that
when the urethra terminates at some other than its natural situa-
294 generation.
tion, impotence is the necessary result,—that although copulation
may be effected, impregnation is impracticable. Zacchias, how-
ever, gives a positive case to the contrary. Belloc, too, asserts,
that he knew a person, in whom the orifice of the urethra termi-
nated at the root of the fra?num, who had four children, that re-
sembled the father, two having the same malformation; and Dr.
Francis refers to the case of an inhabitant of New York, who,
under similar circumstances, had two children. We cannot, there-
fore, regard it as an absolute cause of impotence, but the inference
is just, that if the semen be not projected far up into the vagina,
and in the direction of the os uteri, impregnation is not likely to
be accomplished; a fact, which it might be of moment to bear in
mind, where the rapid succession of children is an evil of magni-
tude.
The part, then, to which the semen is applied is the ovary.
Let us now inquire into the changes experienced by this body after
a fecundating copulation.
Fabricius ab Acquapendente, having killed hens a short time
after they had been trodden, examined their ovaries, and observ-
ed,—amongst the small yellow, round, granula, arranged racemi-
ferously, which constitute those organs,—one having a small spot,
in which vessels became developed. This increased in size, and
was afterwards detached, and received by the oviduct; becoming
covered, in its passage through that tortuous canal and the cloaca,
by particular layers, especially by the calcareous envelope; and
being ultimately extruded in the form of an egg. Harvey, in
his experiments on the doe, made similar observations. He af-
firms, positively, that the ovary furnishes an ovum, and that the
only difference, which exists amongst animals in this respect, is,
that, in some, the ovum is hatched after having been laid, whilst,
in others, it is deposited in a reservoir—a womb—where it under-
goes successive changes.
De Graaf instituted several experiments on rabbits, for the
purpose of detecting the series of changes in the organs from
conception till delivery. Half an hour after copulation, no al-
teration was perceptible, except that the cornua of the uterus
appeared a little redder thaln usual. In six hours, the coverings
of the ovarian vesicles, or vesicles of De Graaf, seemed reddish.
At the expiration of a day from conception, three vesicles in one
of the ovaries, and five in the other, appeared changed, having
become opaque and reddish. After twenty-seven, forty, and
fifty hoyrs, the cornua of the uterus and the tubes were very
red, and one of the tubes had laid hold of the ovary; a vesicle was
in the tube, and two in the right cornu of the uterus. These vesi-
cles were as large as mustard seed. They were formed of two
membranes, and were filled by a limpid fluid. On the fourth
day, the ovary contained only a species of envelope, called, by
De Graaf, a follicle: this appeared to be the capsule that had
fecundation.
295
contained the ovum. The ovum itself was in the cavity of the
uterus, had augmented in size, and its two envelopes were very
distinct. Here it remained loose until the seventh day, when
it formed an adhesion to the uterus. On the ninth day, De Graaf
observed a small opaque point, a kind of,cloud, in the transparent
fluid that filled the ovum. On the tenth day, this point had the
shape of a small worm. On the eleventh, the embryo was clearly
perceptible; and from this period it underwent its full develop-
ment, until the thirty-first day, when delivery took place.
Malpighi and Vallisnieri also observed, in their experiments,
that after a fecundating copulation, a body is developed at the sur-
face of the ovary, which subsequently bursts, and suffers a smaller
body to escape. This is laid hold of by the tube, and conveyed
by it to the uterus. It is not, however, universally admitted,
that this body is the impregnated ovum; some affirming, that it is a
sperm similar to that of the male; and others, that it is an amor-
phous substance, which, after successive developments, becomes the
new individual.
Haller exposed the females of sheep and of other animals to
the males, on the same day; and killed them at different periods
after copulation, for the purpose of detecting the whole series of
changes, by which the vesicle is detached from the ovary and con-
veyed to the uterus.
Half an hour after copulation, one of the vesicles of the ovary ap-
peared to be prominent; to have on its convexity a red, bloody spot,
and to be about to break; in an hour or more, the vesicle gave
way, and its interior seemed bleeding and inflamed. What remained
of the vesicle in the ovary, and appeared to be its envelope, gradu-
ally became inspissated, and converted into a body of a yellowish
colour, to which Haller gave the name corpus luteum. The cleft,
by which the vesicle escaped, was observable for some time, but,
about the eighth day, it disappeared. On the twelfth day, the cor-
pus luteum became pale and began to diminish in size. This it
continued to do until the end of gestation; and ultimately became
a small, hard, yellowish or blackish substance, which could always
be distinguished in the ovarium, by the cicatrix left by it. Its size
was greater the nearer the examination was made to the period
of conception. In a bitch, for example, on the tenth day, it was
half the size of the ovary; yet it proceeded in that case, from one
vesicle only. In multiparous animals, as many corpora lutea ex-
isted as foetuses.
The experiments of Haller have been frequently repeated and
with similar results. Magendie, whose trials were made on bitches,
observed that the largest vesicles of the ovary were greatly augment-
ed in size, thirty hours after copulation; and that the tissue of the
ovary, surrounding them, had acquired greater consistence, had
changed colour, and become of a yellowish-gray. This part was
the corpus luteum. It increased for the next three or four days
296 GENERATION.
as well as the vesicles; and seemed to contain, in its areola?, a white,
opaque fluid, similar to milk. The vesicles now successively rup-
tured the external coat of the ovary, and passed to the surface of
the organ, still adhering to it, however, by one side. Their size
was sometimes that of a common hazelnut, but no germ was per-
ceptible in them. The surface was smooth, and the interior filled
with fluid. Whilst they were passing to the uterus, the corpus
luteum remained in the ovary, and underwent the changes referred
to by Haller.
In similar experiments, instituted by MM. Prevost and Dumas,
no change was perceptible in the ovary during the first day after
fecundation; but, on the second day, several vesicles enlarged, and
continued to do so for the next four or five days, so that, from be-
ing two or three millimetres in diameter, they attained a diameter
of eight. From the sixth to the eighth day, the vesicles burst,
and allowed an ovule to emerge, which often escaped observation,
owing to its not being more than half a millimetre in diameter,
but was clearly seen by MM. Prevost and Dumas by the aid of
the microscope. This part they term ovule, in contradistinction
to that developed in the ovary, which they call vesicle. The latter
has the appearance at its surface, of a bloody cleft, into which a
probe may be passed; and in this way it can be shown, that the
vesicle has an interior cavity, which is the void space left by the
ovule after its escape from the ovarium into the Fallopian tube.
On the eighth day, in the bitch, the ovule passes into the uterus.
All the ovules do not, however, enter that cavity at the same time;
an interval of three or four days sometimes occurring between
them. When they attain the uterus, they are at first free and
floating; and, if examined with a microscope magnifying twelve
diameters, they seem to consist of a small vesicle, filled with an
albuminous, transparent fluid. If examined in water, their up-
per surface has a mammiform appearance, with a white spot on
the side. This is the cicatricula. These ovules speedily aug-
ment in size, and on the twelfth day foetuses can be recognised in
them.
From these facts, then, we may conclude, that the sperm excites
the vesicles in the ovaria to development; that the ova, within
them, burst their covering, are laid hold of by the Fallopian tube,
and conveyed to the uterus, where they remain during the period
of gestation.
The exact time, required by the ovum or ova to make their
way into the uterus, has not been accurately determined. Cruik-
shank found, that in rabbits forty-eight hours were necessary.
Haighton divided one of the Fallopian tubes in a rabbit; and,
having exposed the animal to the male, he observed, that gesta-
tion occurred only on the sound side. On making this section after
copulation, he found, that if it were executed within the two first
days, the descent of the ovule was prevented; but if it were de-
FECUNDATION.
297
layed for sixty hours, the ovula had passed through' the tube and
were in the cavity of the uterus. A case, too, is quoted by writers
on this subject, on the authority of a surgeon named Bussieres,
who observed an ovoid sac, about the size of a hazelnut and con-
taining an embryo, half in the Fallopian tube and half adherent
to the ovary.
The minuteness of the calibre of the Fallopian tube is not as
great a stumbling-block in the way of understanding how this pas-
sage is effected, as might appear at first sight. The duct is, doubt-
less, extremely small in the ordinary state; but it admits of con-
siderable dilatation. Magendie asserts, that he once found it half
an inch in diameter.
The period, that elapses between a fecundating copulation and
the passage of the ovum from the ovarium to the uterus, is different
in different animals. In rabbits, it occurs on the third day after co-
pulation; in bitches on the fifth, and in the human female, perhaps,
about the same time. Maygrier refers to a case of abortion twelve
days after copulation; the abortment consisting of a vesicle, shaggy
on its surface and filled by a transparent fluid.
But the most instructive case that we possess on this subject is
given by Sir Everard Home. A servant maid, twenty-one years
of age, had been courted by an officer, who had promised her mar-
riage, in order that he might more easily accomplish his wishes.
She was but little in the habit of leaving home, and had not done
so for several days, when she requested a fellow servant to remain
in the house, as she was desirous of calling upon a friend, and
should be detained some time. This was on the seventh of Janu-
ary, 1817. After an absence of several hours she returned with a
pair of new corsets and other articles of dress which she had pur-
chased. In the evening she got one of the maid servants to assist
her in trying on the corsets. In the act of lacing them, she com-
plained of considerable general indisposition, which disappeared on
taking a little brandy. Next day she was much indisposed. This
was attributed to the catamenia not having made their appearance,
although the period had arrived. On the following day, there was
a wildness in her manner, and she appeared to suffer great mental
distress. Fever supervened, which confined her to bed. On the
13th she had an epileptic fit, followed by delirium, which conti-
nued till the 15th, when she expired in the forenoon. On making
inquiries of her fellow servants, many circumstances were men-
tioned, which rendered it highly probable, that on the morning of
the 7th, when she was immediately on the point of menstruating,
her lover had succeeded in gratifying his desires; and that she had
become pregnant on that day, so that, when she died, she was in
the seventh or eighth day of impregnation. Dissection showed
the uterus to be much larger than in the virgin state and conside-
rably more vascular. On accurately observing the right ovarium,
in company with Mr. Clift, Sir Everard noticed, upon the most
Vol. II. 38
298
generation.
prominent part of its outer surface, a small ragged orifice. This
induced him to make a longitudinal incision in a line close to this
orifice, when a canal was found, leading to a cavity filled with coa-
gulated blood and surrounded by a narrow yellow margin, in the
structure of which the lines had a zig-zag appearance. The cavity
of the uterus was then opened, by making an incision through the
coats from each angle; and from the point where these incisions
met, a third incision was continued down through the ps uteri to
the vagina., The os uteri was found completely blocked up by a
plug of mucus, so that nothing could have escaped by the vagina;
the orifices, leading to the Fallopian tubes, were both open, and
the inner surface of the cavity of the uterus was composed of a
beautiful efflorescence of coagulable lymph resembling the most
delicate moss. By attentive examination, Sir Everard discovered
a small, spherical, transparent body concealed in this efflorescence,
which was the impregnated ovum. This was submitted to thc mi-
croscopic powers of Mr. Bauer, who made various drawings of it,
and detected two projecting points, which were considered to mark
out, even at this early period, and before the ovum was attached
to the uterus, the seat of the brain and spinal marrow. This case
shows, that an ovum had left the ovarium, and that it was in the
interior of the uterus, prior to the seventh or eighth day after im-
pregnation.
But it has been asked, is it a mere matter of chance, which of
the ovarian vesicles shall be fecundated; or are there not some
one or more that are riper than the rest, and that receive, by pre-
ference, the vivifying influence of the sperm? MM. Prevost and
Dumas have shown that such is the case with oviparous animals.
They found, in their experiments, that not only were the vesicles
of the ovaries of frogs of different sizes, but that the largest were
always first laid, whilst the smallest were not to be deposited until
subsequent years. In all the animals, whose eggs were fecundated
externally, they seemed evidently prepared or maturated. We
have, too, the most indubitable evidence that birds—although un-
questionable virgins—will lay infecund eggs. Analogy would lead^
us to believe that something similar may happen to the viviparous
animal, and direct observation has confirmed the position. Not
longer ago than the year 1808 the existence of corpora lutea in the
ovaria was held to be full proof of impregnation. In that year
* Charles Angus, Esq. of Liverpool, England, was tried at the
Lancaster Assizes, for the murder of a Miss Burns, a resident of
his house. The symptoms, previous to her decease, and the ap-
pearances observed on dissection, were such as to warrant the sus-
picion that she had been poisoned. The uterine organs were also
found to be in such a state as to induce a belief, that she had been
delivered a short time before her death of a foetus, which had near-
ly arrived at maturity. It was not, however, until after the trial,
that the ovaria were examined, in the presence of a number of
fecundation.
299
physicians, and a corpus luteum was distinctly perceived in one
of them. The uterus was taken to London and shown to several of
the most eminent practitioners there, all of whom appear to have
considered that the presence of a corpus luteum proved the fact
of pregnancy beyond a doubt. Such, indeed is the positive aver-
ment of Haller, an opinion which was embraced by Haighton,
who maintained that they furnish " incontestable proof" of pre-
vious impregnation. It was this belief, coupled with the fact, that
division of the Fallopian tubes, in his experiments, prevented im-
pregnation, whilst corpora lutea were found, notwithstanding, in
the ovary, which led him to the strange conclusion, that the semen
penetrates no farther than the uterus, and acts upon the ovaria by
sympathy.
Sir Everard Home has satisfactorily shown, that corpora lutea
exist independently of impregnation. " Upon examining," says
he, "the ovaria of several women, who had died virgins, and in
whom the hymen was too perfect to admit of the possibility of im-
pregnation, there were not only distinct corpora lutea, but also
small cavities round the edge of the ovarium, evidently left by
ova, that had passed out at some former period;" and he affirms,
that whenever a female quadruped is in heat, one or more ova pass
from the ovarium to the uterus, whether she receives the male or
not.
This view of the subject appears to have been first propounded
by Blumenbach, in the Transactions of the Royal Society of
Guttingen, in which he remarks, that the state of the ovaria of
females, who have died under strong sexual passion, has been
found similar to that of rabbits during heat; and he affirms, that in
the body of a young woman, eighteen years of age, who had been
brought up in a convent, and had every appearance of being a vir-
gin, Vallisnieri found five or six vesicles pushing forward in one
Ovarium, and the corresponding Fallopian tube redder and larger
than usual, as he had frequently observed in animals during heat.
Bonet, he adds, gives the history of a young lady, who died ve-
hemently in love with a man of low station, and whose ovaria were
turgid with vesicles of great size.
Buffon, again, maintained, that instead of the corpus luteum of
Haller being the remains of the ovule it is its rudiment; and that
the corpus exists prior to fecundation, as he also found it in the
virgin. Lastly, Dr. Blundell states, that he has in his possession
a preparation, consisting of the ovaries of a young girl, who died
t>f chorea under seventeen years of age, with the hymen, which
nearly closed the entrance of the vagina, unbroken. In these ova-
ries the corpora lutea are no fewer than four; two of them being a
little obscure, but easily perceptible by an experienced eye. The
remaining two are very distinct, and differ from the corpus luteum
of genuine impregnation merely by their more diminutive size and
the less extensive vascularity of the contiguous parts of the ovary.
300
GENERATION.
"In every other respect," says Dr. Blundell, "in colour and
form, and the cavity which they contain, their appearance is per-
fectly natural, indeed, so much so, that I occasionally circulate
them in the class-room, as accurate specimens of the luteum upon
the small scale."
In a paper, published in the sixth volume of the Transactions
of the College of Physicians of London, Mr. Stanley confirms
the fact of the corpora lutea of virgins, being of smaller size than
those, that are the consequences of impregnation.
The structure of the corpus luteum is of a peculiar kind, and
is not distinctly seen in small animals or in those that have nu-
merous litters; but in the cow, which commonly has only one calf
at a birth, it is so large, according to Sir Everard Home, that,
when magnified, the structure can be made out. It is a mass of
thin convolutions bearing a greater resemblance to those of the
brain than of any other organ. Its shape is irregularly oval, with
a central cavity, and, in some animals, its substance is of a bright
orange colour, when first exposed. The corpora lutea are found
to make their appearance immediately after puberty, and they con-
tinue to succeed each other, as the ova are expelled, till the period
arrives when impregnation can no longer be accomplished. Sir
Everard's theory, regarding these bodies, is, that they are glands,
formed purposely for the production of ova,—that they exist pre-
vious to, and are unconnected with, sexual intercourse,—and, when
they have fulfilled their office of forming ova, they are removed by
absorption whether the ova be fecundated or not.
Fig. 139.
Figures, 139, a and b, afford an external and internal view of
a human ovary, that did not contain the ovum, from which a
child had been developed. It was taken immediately after the
child was born. The corpus luteum is nearly of the full size.
a and b, Fig. 140, afford an external and internal view of an ova-
fecundation. 301
rium, in which the impregnated ovum had been formed. The
latter figure exhibits how much the corpus luteum had been broken
down. In it we see a new corpus luteum forming.
Fig. 140.
From all these facts, then, we are perhaps justified in concluding
with Sir Everard Home, and Messrs. Blundell, Saumarez,
Cuvier, and the generality of physiologists, that the corpus luteum
may be produced independently of sexual intercourse, by the mere
excitement of high carnal desire, during which it is probable, that
the digitated extremity of the Fallopian tube embraces the ovary,
a vesicle bursts its covering, and a corpus luteum remains; the
vesicle being conveyed along the tube into the uterus, but, being
infecund, undergoing no farther development there; so that un-
impregnated ova may, under such circumstances^ be discharged as
we observe in the oviparous animal.
We have now endeavoured to demonstrate the part performed
by the two sexes in fecundation. We have seen that the material
furnished by the male is the sperm; that afforded by the female
an ovum. The most difficult topic of inquiry yet remains,—how
the new individual results from their commixture? Of the nature
of this mysterious process we are, indeed, profoundly ignorant;
and if we could make any comparison between the extent of our
ignorance on the different vital phenomena, we should be dis-
posed to decide that the function of generation is the least intelli-,
gible. The new being must be stamped instantaneously, as by the
die. From the very moment of the admixture of the materials, at
a fecundating copulation, the embryo must have within it the
powers necessary for its own formation, and under impulses, com-
municated by each parent,—as regards likeness, hereditary predis-
positions, &c. From this moment the father has no communication
302 generation.
with it; yet we know, that it will resemble him in its features and
in its predispositions to certain morbid states,—whilst the mother
probably exerts but a slight and indirect control over it after-
wards, her office being chiefly to furnish the homunculus with a
nidus, in which it may work its own formation, and with the ne-
cessary pabulum. We have seen, that even so early as the seventh
or eighth day after fecundation, two projecting points arc observed
in the ovum, which indicate the future situations of the heart and
brain.
Our want of acquaintance with the precise character of this im-
penetrable mystery will not, however, excuse us from passing over
some of the ingenious hypotheses, that have been entertained on
the subject. These have varied according to the views that have
prevailed respecting the nature of the sperm; and to the opinions
indulged regarding the matter furnished by the ovary. Drelin-
court, who died in 1G97, collected as many as two hundred and
sixty hypotheses of generation; but they may all, perhaps, be
classed under two,—the system of epigenesis and that of evo-
lution.
1. Epigenesis.—According to this system, which is the most
ancient of all, the new being is conceived to be wholly constituted
of materials furnished by both sexes, the particles composing these
materials having previously possessed the arrangement necessary
for constituting it, or having suddenly received such arrangement.
Still it is requisite that these particles should have some controlling
agent to regulate their affinity, different from any of the ordinary
forces of matter; and hence a force has been imagined to exist, which
has been termed cosmic, plastic, essential, nisus formatiuus,—
the Bildungstrieb of the Germans,—force of formation, &c.
Hippocrates maintained, that each of the two sexes possesses
two kinds of seed, formed by the superfluous nutriment, and by
fluids constituted of materials proceeding from all parts of the
body, and especially from the most essential,—the nervous. Of
these two seeds, the stronger begets males, the weaker females. In
the act of generation, these seeds become mixed in the uterus, and
by the influence of the heat of that organ, they form the new in-
dividual, by a kind of animal crystallization, male or female, ac-
cording to the predominance of the stronger or the weaker seed.
Aristotle thought that it is not by seed that the female parti-
cipates in generation, but by the menstrual blood. This blood he
conceived to be the basis of the new individual, and the principles
/urnished by the male, to communicate to it the vital movement,
and to fashion it.
Empedocles, Epicurus, and various other ancient physiolo-
gists, contended, that the male and female respectively contribute
a seminal fluid, which equally co-operates in the generation and
development of the foetus, and that it belongs to the male or fe-
male sex, or resembles more closely the father or the mother, ac-
theory op epigenesis.
303
cording as the orgasm of the one or the other predominates, or is
accompanied by a more copious discharge:—
" Semper enim partus duplici de semine constat;
Atque utrique simile esfrmagis id quodcumque creatur."
Lucret. lib. iv.
Lactantius, in quoting the views of Aristotle on generation,
fancifully affirms, that the right side of the uterus is the proper
chamber of the male foetus, and the left of the female,—a belief,
which appears to be still prevalent amongst the vulgar, in many
parts of Great Britain. But, he adds, if the male or stronger semen
should, by mistake, enter the left side of the uterus, a male child
may still be conceived ; yet as it occupies the female department,
its voice, face, &c. will be effeminate. On the contrary, if the
weaker or female seed should flow into the right side of the uterus,
and a female foetus be engendered, it wifl exhibit evidences of a
masculine character.
The idea of Aristotle, with regard to the menstrual blood, has
met with few partisans, and is undeserving of notice. That of
Hippocrates, notwithstanding the objections which we now know
to apply to it,—that the female furnishes no sperm, and that the
ovaria are probably in no respects analogous to the testes of the
male,—has had numerous supporters amongst the moderns, being
modified to suit the scientific ideas of the time, and of the indivi-
dual. Descartes, for example, considered the new being to arise
from a kind of fermentation of the seed, furnished by both sexes.
Pascal, that the sperm of the male is acid, and that of the fe-
male alkaline; and that they combine to form the embryo. Mau-
pertuis maintained that, in each seed, parts exist, adapted for the
formation of every organ of the body, and that, at the time of the
union of the seed in a fecundating copulation, each of the parts is
properly attracted and aggregated by a kind of crystallization.
The celebrated hypothesis of the eloquent but too enthusiastic
Buffon is but a modification of the Hippocratic doctrine of epi-
genesis. According to him, there exist in nature two kinds of
matter,—the living and the dead; the former perpetually changing
during life, and consisting of an infinite number of small, incor-
ruptible particles, or primordial monads, which he called organic
molecules. These molecules, by combining in greater or less
quantity with dead matter, form all organized bodies; and, with-
out undergoing destruction, are incessantly passing from vegeta-
bles to animals, in the nutrition of the latter, and are returned from
the animal to the vegetable by the death and putrefaction of the
former. These organic molecules, during the period of growth,
are appropriated to the development of the individual; but, as
soon as he has acquired his full size, the superfluous molecules are
sent into depot in the genital organs, each molecule being invested
with the shape of the part sending it. In this way he conceived
304 „ generation.
the seed of both sexes to be formed of molecules obtained from
every part of the system.
In the commixture of the seeds, during a fecundating copula-
tion, the same force that assimilates the organic molecules to the
parts of the body for their nourishment and increase,—and which
Needham termed vegetative force,—causes them, in this hypo-
thesis, to congregate for the formation of the new individual;
and according as the molecules of the male or female predomi-
nate, so is the embryo male or female. The ingenuity of this
doctrine was most captivating; and it appeared so well adapted
for the explanation of many of the phenomena of generation,
that it had numerous and respectable votaries. It accounted for
the circumstance of procreation being impracticable, until the sys-
tem had undergone its great development at puberty. It explain-
ed why excessive indulgence in venery occasions emaciation and
exhaustion; and why, on the other hand, the castrated animal is
disposed to obesity,—the depot having been removed by the mutila-
tion. The resemblance of the child to one parent rather than to the
other was supposed to be owing to the one furnishing a greater pro-
portion of organic molecules than the other; and as more males
than females are born, the circumstance was ascribed to the male
being usually stronger, and therefore furnishing a stronger seed,
or more of it.
Prior to this hypothesis, Leeuenhoek had discovered what he
considered to be spermatic animalcules in the semen; but Buffon
contested their animalcular nature, and regarded them as his vital
particles or organic molecules; whilst he looked upon the ovarian
vesicle as the capsule that contained the sperm of the female. The
opinions of Buffon were slightly modified by Professor Blumen-
bach of Gottingen, and by Dr. Darwin. The former, like Buf-
fon, divided matter into two kinds, possessing properties essen-
tially different from each other;—the inorganic, and the organized;
the latter possessing a peculiar creative or formative effort, which
he called Bildungstrieb or nisus formativus,—a principle in
many respects resembling gravitation, and endowing every organ,
as soon as it acquires structure, with a vita propria. This force he
conceived to preside over the arrangement of the materials, fur-
nished by the two sexes in generation.
Darwin prefers to the term organic molecules that of vital
germs, which he says are of two kinds, according as they are
secreted or provided by male or female organs, whether animal or
vegetable. In the subdivision, however, of the germs the term
molecule is retained; but it is limited to those of the female; the
vital germs or particles, secreted by the female organs of a bud or
flower, or the female particles of the animal, being denominated by
him molecules with formative propensities; whilst those secreted
from the male organs are termed fibrils with formative appeten-
cies. To the fibrils he assigns a higher degree of organization than
THEORY OF EVOLUTION. 305
to the molecules. Both, however, he asserts, have a propensity or
appetency to form or create, and " they reciprocally stimulate and
embrace each other and instantly coalesce; and may thus popularly
be compared to the double affinities of chymistry."
Subtile as these hypotheses are, they are open to forcible objec-
tions of which a few only will suffice. The notion of this occult
force is identical with that, which, we shall see hereafter, has pre-
vailed as regards life in general and leaves the subject in the same
obscurity as ever. What do the terms plastic, cosmic, or vegeta-
tive force, or Bildungstrieb express, which is not equally
conveyed by vital force,—that mysterious property, on which so
many unfathomable processes of the animal body are dependent—
and of the nature or essence of which we know absolutely nothing?
The objection, urged against the doctrine of Hippocrates,—that
we have no evidence of the existence of female sperm, applies
equally to the hypotheses that have been founded upon it; and
even were we to grant, that the ovarium is a receptacle for female
sperm, the idea, that such sperm is constituted of organic mole-
cules, derived from every part of the body, is entirely gratuitous.
We have no facts to demonstrate the affirmative; whilst there
are many circumstances, that favour the negative. The indivi-
dual, for example, who has lost some part of his person—nose,
eye or ear, or has had a limb amputated, still begets perfect
children; yet whence can the molecules, in such cases, have
been obtained? It is true that if the mutilation affect but one
parent, the organic molecules of the lost part may still exist in the
seed of the other; but we ought, at least, to expect the part to be
less perfectly formed in the embryo, which it is not. Where two
docked horses are made to engender, the result ought, a fortiori,
to be imperfect, as the organic molecules of the tail could not be
furnished by either parent, yet we find the colt, in such cases, per-
fect in this appendage. An elucidative case is also afforded by the
foetus. If we admit the possibility of organic molecules constitut-
ing those parts that exist in the parents, how can we account for
the formation of such as are.peculiar to fcetal existence. Whence
are the organic molecules of the navel-string, or of the umbilical
vein, or of the ductus venosus, or the ductus arteriosus, or the umbi-
lical arteries,—all of which have to be described hereafter,—ob-
tained ?
These and other objections have led to the abandonment of the
theory of Buffon, which remains merely as a monument of the
author's ingenuity and elevation of fancy.
2. Evolution. According to this theory the new individual
pre-exists in some shape in one of the sexes, but requires to be
vivified by the other, in the act of generation; after which it com-
mences the series of developments or evolutions, which lead to the
formation of an independent being.
The great differences of sentiment, that have prevailed under
Vol. II. 39
306
GENERATION.
this view, have been owing to the part which each sex has been
considered to play in the function. Some have considered the germ
to exist in the ovary, and to require the vivifying influence of the
male sperm to cause its evolution. Others have conceived the male
sperm to contain the rudiments of the new being, and the female to
afford it merely a nidus, and pabulum during its development. The
former class of physiologists have been called ovarists;—the latter
spermatists, seminists, and animalculists.
The ovarists maintain, that the part furnished by the female is
an ovum from the ovary; and this ovum they conceive formed of
an embryo and of particular organs for the nutrition and first de-
velopment of the embryo; and adapted for becoming, after a series
of changes or evolutions, a being similar to the one whence it has
emanated. The hypothesis was suggested by the fact, that in
many animals but a single individual is necessary for reproduction;
and it is easier, perhaps, to consider this individual female than
male; as well as by what is noticed in many oviparous animals. In
these the part, furnished by the female, is manifestly an ovum or
egg; and in many, such egg is laid before the union of the sexes,
and is fecundated, as we have seen, externally. By analogy, the
inference was drawn, that this may happen to the viviparous ani-
mal also.
The notion is said, but erroneously, to have been first of all ad-
vanced by Joseph de Aromatariis, in his Epistola de gene-
ratione plantarum ex seminibus, published at Venice, in 1625.
It was developed by Harvey, who strenuously maintained the
doctrine omne vivurn ex ovo. The anatomical examinations of
Sylvius, Vesalius, Fallopius, De Graaf, Malpighi, Val-
lisnieri and others,—by showing, that what had been previously
regarded as female testes, and had been so called, were organs
containing minute vesicles or ova, and hence termed, by Steno,
ovaria,—were strong confirmations of this view, and startling
objections to the ancient theory of epigenesis, and the problem
appeared to be demonstrated, when it was discovered, that the ve-
sicle or ovum leaves the ovarium and passes through the Fallo-
pian tube to the uterus.
The chief arguments, that have been adduced in favour of this
doctrine are:—First. The difficulty of conceiving the formation,
ab origine, of an organized body, as no one part can exist without
the simultaneous existenoe of others. Secondly. The existence of
the germ prior to fecundation in many living beings. In plants,
for example, the grain exists in a rudimental state in the flower,
before the pollen, which has to fecundate it, has attained maturity.
In birds, too, the egg must pre-exist, as we find that those, which
have never had intercourse with the male, can yet lay. This is
more strikingly manifest in many fishes, and in the batracia or
frog kind; where the egg is not fecundated until after extrusion.
Spallanzani, moreover, asserts, that he could distinguish the pre-
THEORY OF EVOLUTION.
307
sence of the tadpole in the unfecundated ova of the frog; and Hal-
ler that of the chick in the infecund egg; at least he has seen them
containing the yolk, which, in his view, is but a dependence of
the intestine of the foetus, and if the yolk exists the chick exists
also. Thirdly. The fact, before referred to, that, in certain ani-
mals, a single copulation is capable of fecundating several succes-
sive generations. In these cases, it is argued, the germs of the
different generations must have existed in the first. Fourthly.
The fact of natural and accidental encasings or emboitements; as
in the bulb of the hyacinth, in which the rudiments of the flower
are distinguishable; in the buds of trees, in which the branches,
leaves, and flowers, have been detected in miniature, and greatly
convoluted; in the jaws of certain animals, in which the germs of
different series of teeth can be detected; in the volvox, a transpa-
rent animal, which exhibits several young ones encased in each
other; in the common egg, which occasionally has another within
it; and in the instances on record, in which human foetuses have
been found in the bodies of youths, of which there is a striking
example in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of Lon-
don; and a similar case in a boy, fourteen years of age, has been
related by Dupuytren. Fifthly. The fact of the various meta-
morphoses, that take place in certain animals. Of these we have
the most familiar instances in the batracia and in insects. The
forms they have successively to assume are evidently encased. In
the chrysalis, the outlines of the form of the future butterfly are
apparent; and in the larva we observe those of the chrysalis. The
frog is also apparent under the skin of the tadpole. Sixthly. The
fact of artificial fecundation, which has been regarded, by the ova-
rists, as one of the strongest proofs of their theory; the quantity of
sperm employed, as in the experiments of Spallanzani, already
detailed, being too small, in their opinion, to assist in the forma-
tion of the new individual, except as a vivifying material. Lastly.
They invoke the circumstance of partial reproductions, of which
all living bodies afford more or less manifest examples;—as the
reproduction of the hair and nails in man; of the teeth in the ro-
dentia;—of the tail in the lizard; of the claw in-the lobster; the head
in the snail, &c. &c. All these phenomena are, according to them,
owing to each part possessing within itself germs destined for its
reproduction, and requiring only favourable circumstances for their
development. The partisans of the doctrine of epigenesis, how-
ever, consider these last facts as opposed to the views of the
ovarists; and they maintain that in such cases there is throughout
a fresh formation.
The chief objections, that have been urged against the hypothe-
sis of the ovarists, are:—First. The resemblance of the child to
the father—a subject which we shall refer to presently. The ova-
rists cannot of course deny that such resemblance exists; and they
ascribe it to the modifying influence exerted by the male sperm,
308 GENERATION.
but without being able to explain the nature of such influence.
They affirm, however, that the likeness of the mother is more fre-
quent and evident. Certain cases of resemblance, it must be ad-
mitted, are weighty stumbling-blocks to ovism, or to the doctrine
of a pre-existent germ in the female. It is a well known fact, that
six-fingered men will beget six-fingered children. How can we
explain this upon the principle of the pre-existence of the germ in
the female, and of the part played by the male sperm being simply
that of a vivificative agent; and must we suppose, in the case of
monstrosities, that such germs have been originally monstrous?
Secondly. The production of hybrids is one of the strongest coun-
ter-arguments. They are produced by the union of the males and
females of different species. Of these the mule is the most familiar
instance—the product of the ass and the mare. This strikingly
participates of the qualities of both parents, and, consequently, the
pre-existing germ in the female must have been more than vivified
by the sexual intercourse. Its structure must have been altogether
changed, and all the germs of its future offspring annihilated, as the
mule is seldom fertile.
If a white woman marries a negro, the child is a mulatto; and if
the successive generations of this woman are continually united to
negroes, the progeny will ultimately become entirely black; or at
least the white admixture will escape recognition. As a general
principle, the offspring of different races have an intermediate tint
between those of the parents; and the proportions of white and
black blood, in different admixtures, have even been subjected to
calculation, in those countries where negroes are common. The
following table represents these proportions, according to the prin-
ciples sanctioned by custom.
Parents. Offspring. Begree of Mixture.
Negro and white, - mulatto, - - -| white, \ black.
White and mulatto, - terceron, - - 1 — % —
Negro and mulatto, < ^n,, ', , ' > \ — | —
° ' I or black terceron, 3 * 4
White and terceronx quarteron,
Negro and terceron, black quarteron,
White and quarteron, quinteron,
Negro and quarteron, black quinteron,
The two last are considered to be respectively white and black;
and of these the former are white by law and consequently free in
the British West India Islands. All these cases exhibit the great
influence, exerted by the father upon the character of the offspring,
and are great difficulties in the way of supposing, that the male
sperm is simply a vivifier of the germ pre-existing in the female.
Thirdly. The doctrine of the ovarists does not account for the
greater degree of fertility of cultivated plants and of domesticated
7 1
■5- —~4 S
1 7
s ~~' T
1 5 1
TS ~~~ lT
1 1 5
T3- 1 6
THEORY OF EVOLUTION.
309
animals. Fourthly. The changes, induced by the succession of
ages on the animal and vegetable species inhabiting the surface of
the globe, have been adduced against this hypothesis.
In examining the geological character of the various strata that
compose the earth, it has been observed by geologists, that many
of these contain imbedded the fossil remains of animals and vege-
tables. Now, under the supposition, that those rocks on which
others rest are the oldest, and that the successive strata above
these are more and more modern, it has been found, that the
organic fossil remains in the different strata differ more and
more from the present inhabitants of the surface of the globe in
proportion to the depth we descend ; and that the remains of those
beings, that have always been the companions of man, are found
only in the most recent of the alluvial deposites,—in the upper
crust of the earth.
In the older rocks the impressions are chiefly of the less perfect
plants—as the ferns and reeds ; and of the lower animals—the re-
mains of shells and corals ; whilst fish are uncommon. In the
more recent strata, the remains of reptiles, birds and quadrupeds
are apparent; but all of them differ essentially from the exist-
ing kinds ; and in none of the formations of more ancient date has
the fossil human skeleton been met with. The pretended human
bones, conveyed by Spallanzani from the Island of Cerigo—the
ancient Cythera—are not those of the human species any more
than the bones of the Homo diluvii testis of Scheuchzer; and
the skeleton of the savage Galibi, conveyed from Gaudaloupe and
deposited in the British museum is imbedded in a calcareous earth
of modern formation. From these facts it has been concluded,
that man is of a date posterior to animals in all countries where
fossil bones have been discovered.
These singular facts, furnished by modern geological inquiry,
have been attempted to be explained by the supposition, that the
present races of animals are the descendants of those, whose re-
mains are met with in the rocks, and that their difference of cha*
racter may have arisen from some change in the physical consti-
tution of the atmosphere, or of the surface of the earth, producing
a corresponding change on the forms of organized beings. It has
been properly remarked, however, by Dr. Fleming, that the ef-
fect of circumstances on the appearance of living beings is circum-
scribed within certain limits, so that no transmutation of species
was ever ascertained to have taken place; whilst the fossil species
differ as much from the recent kinds, as the last do from each
other; and he adds, that it remains for the abettors of the opinion
to connect the extinct with the living races by ascertaining the in-
termediate links or transitions. This will probably ever be im-
practicable. The difference, indeed, between the extinct and the
living races is in several cases so extreme, that many naturalists
310
GENERATION.
have preferred believing in the occasional formation of new orga-
nized beings. Linnjeus was bold enough to affirm, that, in his
time, more species of vegetables were in existence than in anti-
quity, and hence, that new vegetable species must necessarily have
been ushered into being; and Wildenow embraced the views of
Linneus. Lamarck, one of the most distinguished naturalists of
the day, openly professes his belief, that both animals and vege-
tables are incessantly changing under the influence of climate, food,
domestication, the crossing of breeds, &c, and he remarks, that if
the species, now in existence, appear to us fixed in their charac-
ters, it is because the circumstances, that modify those species, re-
quire an enormous time for action; and would consequently re-
quire numerous generations to establish the fact.
The manifest effect of climate, food, &c. on vegetables and ani-
mals, he thinks, precludes the possibility of denying those changes
on theoretical considerations; and what we call lost species are, in
his view, only the actual species before they experienced modifi-
cation.
It is proper, however, to observe, that the sculptures on the
wall of one of the sepulchres in the valley of Beban el Molook, at
Thebes, which is regarded by Champollion as having been exe-
cuted upwards of two thousand years before the Christian era, en-
able the features of the Jew and of the negro, amongst others, to
be recognised as easily as the representations of their descendants
of the present day ; so that, for the space of at least three thousand
eight hundred years, no modification of the kind referred to by
Lamarck seems to have occurred in the human species.
Another explanation has been afforded for these geological facts,
and for the rotation which we observe in the vegetable occupants
of particular soils in successive years. It has been supposed, that
as the seeds of plants and the ova of certain animals are so exces-
sively minute as to penetrate wherever water or air can enter; and
as they are capable of retaining the vital principle for an indefinite
length of time, of which we have many proofs, and of undergoing
evolution whenever circumstances are favourable, the crust of the
earth may be regarded as a receptacle of germs, each of which is
ready to expand into vegetable or animal forms, on the occurrence
of conditions necessary for their development. This is the hypo-
thesis of panspermia or dissemination of germs, according to
which the germs of the ferns and reeds were first expanded, and af-
terwards those of the staminiferous or more perfect vegetables;
and, in the animal kingdom, first the zoophyte, and gradually the
being more elevated in the scale •, the organized bodies of the first
period flourishing, so long as the circumstances, favourable to their
development, continued, and then making way for the evolution
of their successors,—the changes effected in the soil by the growth
and decay of the former probably favouring the evolution of the
THEORY OF EVOLUTION. 311
latter* which, again, retained possession of the soil so long as cir-
cumstances were propitious.
The changes that take place in forest vegetation are favourable
to this doctrine. If, in Virginia, the forest trees be removed so
as to make way for other growth, and the ground be prepared for
the first cultivation, the ^Phytolacca decandra or poke, which
was not previously perceptible on the land, usurps the whole sur-
face. When Mr. Madison went with Gen. Lafayette to the
Indian treaty, they discovered, that wherever trees had been blown
down by a hurricane, in the spring, the white clover had sprung
up in abundance, although the spot was many miles distant from
any cleared land; and it has often been remarked, that where
during a drought in the spring the woods have taken fire and the
surface of the ground has been torrefied, the water weed has made
its appearance in immense quantities, and occupied the burnt sur-
face.
The late Judge Peters, having occasion to cut ditches on his
land, in the western part of Pennsylvania, was surprised to find
every subterraneous tree that was met with, different from those
at the time occupying the surface; and Mr. Madison informs us,
that in the space of sixty or seventy years he has noticed the fol-
lowing spontaneous rotation of vegetebles. 1. Mayweed; 2. Blue
centaury; 3. Bottle-brush-grass; 4. Broomstraw; 5. White clo-
ver ; 6. Wild carrot; and the last is now giving way to the blue
grass.
The doctrine of panspermia is, however, totally inapplicable to
the viviparous animal, in which the ovum is hatched within the
body, and which, consequently, continues to live after the birth of
its progeny ; whilst the facts, furnished us by geology, seem clearly
to show, that the development of the animal kingdom has been
successive, not simultaneous; but under what circumstances they
were successively ushered into being we know not.
Lastly, as regards the ovarists themselves;—they differ in es-
sential points; whilst some are favourable to the doctrine of the
dissemination of germs, believing, as we have seen, that ova or
germs are disseminated over all space, and that they only undergo
development under favourable circumstances, as when they meet
with bodies capable of retaining them, and causing their grewth,
or which resemble themselves; others assert, that the germs are
inclosed in each other, and that they are successively aroused from
their torpor, and called into life, by the influence of the seminal
fluid; so that not only did the ovary of the first female contain the
ova of all the children she had, but one only of these ova con-
tained the whole of the human race. This was the celebrated sys-
tem of embbitement des germes, or encasing of germs, of which
Bonnet was the propounder, and Spallanzani the promulgator.
Yet how monstrous for us to believe, that the first female had,
within her, the germs of all mankind, born, and to be born; or
312
GENERATION.
to conceive, that a grain of Indian corn contains within it all the
seed, that may hereafter result from its culture. Many of the
ovarists, again, and they alone who have any thing like probability
in their favour, believe, that the female forms her own ova, as the
male makes his own sperm by a secretory action; and, so far as the
female is concerned in the generative process, we shall find that
this is the only philosophical view; but it is imperfect in not ad-
mitting of more than a vivifying action in the materials furnished
by the male.
About the middle of the seventeenth century, Hamme, Leeuen-
hoek, and Hartsoker discovered a prodigious number of small
moving bodies in the sperm of animals, which they regarded as
animalcules. This gave rise to a new system of generation, di-
rectly the reverse of that of Harvey,—that of generation ab ani-
malculo maris. As, in the Harveian doctrine, the germ was con-
ceived to be furnished by the mother and the vivifying influence
to be alone exerted by the male, so, in this doctrine, the entire
formation was regarded as the work of the father, the mother af-
fording nothing more than a nidus, and appropriate pabulum, for the
homunculus or rudimental foetus. The pre-existing germ was ac-
cordingly now referred exclusively to the male; and, by some, the
doctrine of emboitement or encasing was extended to it.
In support of this hypothesis, the spermatists urged;—that the
animalcules, they discovered, were peculiar to the semen, and
that they exist in the sperm of all animals, capable of generation;
that they differ in different species, but are always identical
in the sperm of the same animal, and in that of individuals of
the same species; that they are not perceptible in the sperm of
any animal, until the age at which generation is practicable, whilst
they are wanting in infancy and decrepitude; that their number is
so considerable, that a drop of the sperm of a cock, scarcely equal
in size to a grain of sand contains 50,000; and lastly, that their
size being so minute, is no obstacle to the supposition, that ge-
neration is accomplished by them; the disproportion between the
trees of our forest and the seed producing them being nearly if not
entirely as great as that between the animalcule and the being it
has to develope.*
The difficulty with the spermatists or animalculists was to de-
termine the mode, in which the homunculus attains the ovary, and
effects the work of reproduction. Whilst some asserted, that it
was only requisite, that the sperm should attain the uterus, whither
it attracted the ovum from the ovarium; others imagined, that the
animalcule travelled along the Fallopian tube to the ovary; entered
one of the ovarian vesicles; shut itself up there for some time, and
* Lt.euenhoek estimated those of the frog at about the l-10,000th part of a
human hair, and that the milt of a cod may contain 15,000,000,000,000,000 of
them.
THEORY of EVOLUTION. 313
then returned into the cavity of the uterus, to undergo its first de-
velopment, through the medium of the nutritive substance con-
tained in the vesicle; and a celebrated pupil of Leeuenhoek
even affirmed, that he not only saw these animalcules under the
shape of the tadpole, as they were generally described, but that
he could trace one of them, bursting through the envelope that
retained it, and exhibiting two arms, two legs, a human head and
a heart!
Although this doctrine was extremely captivating, and, for a time,,
kept the minds of many eminent philosophers in a state of delusive
enthusiasm;* it was, subsequently, strongly objected to by many;
and the great fact on which it rested—the very existence of the
spermatic animalcules—was, and is, strenuously contested.
Linn.eus discredited the observations of Leeuenhoek; Ver-
heyen denied the existence of the animalcules, and undertook to
demonstrate that the motion, supposed to be traced in them, was
a mere microscopic delusion:—whilst Needham and Buffon re-
garded them as organic molecules.
Of late years, MM. Prevost and Dumas have directed their at-
tention to the subject; and their investigations, as on every other
topic of physiological inquiry, are worthy of the deepest regard.
The results of their examinations have led them to confirm the
existence of these animalcules, and likewise to consider them as the
direct agents of fecundation. By means of the microscope they
detected them in all the animals, whose sperm they examined, and
these were numerous. Whether the fluid was observed after its
excretion by a living animator after its death, in the vas deferens
or in the testicle, the animalcules were detected in it with equal
facility.
They consider these bodies to be characteristic of the sperm,
as they found them only in that secretion; being wanting in every
other humour of the body, even in those, that are excreted with the
sperm, as the fluids of the prostate, and of the glands of Co wper, and
although similar in shape, and size, and in the character of their lo-
comotion in the individuals of the same species, they are of various
shapes and dimensions in different species. In passing through
the series of genital organs these animalcules experience no change,
being as perfect in the testicle as at the time of their excretion; and
MM. Prevost and Dumas controvert the remark of Leeuen-
hoek, that they are met with apparently of different ages.
They were manifestly endowed with spontaneous motion, which
gradually ceased,—in the sperm obtained during life by ejaculation,
* Dr. Thomas Morgan in a work, published in 1731, thus expresses himself
regarding this doctrine:—" That all generation is from an animalculum pre-ex-
isting in semine maris, is so evident in fact, and so well confirmed by experience
and observation, that I know of no learned men, who in the least doubt of it.
Vol. II. 40
314
GENERATION.
in the course of two or three hours; in that taken from the ves-
sels after death, in fifteen or twenty minutes; and in eighteen or
twenty hours, when left in i|s own vessels after death. In farther
proof of the position, that these animalcules are the fecundating
agents, MM. Prevost and Dumas assert, that they are only met
with whilst reproduction is practicable:—that in the human species
they are not found in infancy or decrepitude; and, in the majority
of birds, are apparent in the sperm only at the periods fixed for
their copulation; facts which, in their opinion, show, that they are
not mere infusory animalcules.
MM. Prevost and Dumas moreover affirm, that they appeared
to be connected with the physiological condition of the animal
furnishing them; their motions being rapid or languishing, accord-
ing as the animal, was young or old, or in a state of health or dis-
ease. They state, also, that in their experiments on the ova of the
mammiferous animal, they observed animalcules filling thc cornua
of the uterus, and remaining there alive and moving, until the ovule
descended into that organ, when the animalcules gradually disap-
peared; and they argue in favour of the influence of these animal-
cules;—that the positive contact of the sperm is necessary for fe-
cundation, and that the aura seminis is totally insufficient;—that
the sperm in twenty-four hours loses its fecundating property, and
it requires about this time for the animalcules to gradually cease
their movements and perish; and, lastly, that having destroyed the
animalcules in the sperm, the fluid lost its fecundating pro-
perty. One of these experiments consisted in killing all the ani-
malcules in a spermatized fluid,—whose fecundating power had
been previously tested,—by repeated discharges of a Leyden phial:
another consisted in placing a spermatized fluid on a quintuple
filter, and repeating this, until all the animalcules were retained
on the filter; when it was found, that the fluid, which passed through,
had no fecundating power, whilst the portion retained by the filter
had the full faculty; a result that had been obtained by Spallan-
zani, who found, besides, that he was capable of effecting fecun-
dation with water in which the papers, used as filters, had been
washed.
Lastly, MM. Prevost and Dumas, and Rolando, conjecture that
the spermatic animalcule forms the nervous system of the new be-
ing, and that the ovulum furnishes only the cellular frame-work
in which the organs are formed; but this is mere hypothesis. All
that seems to be proved to us by the essays of these ingenious ex-
perimenters is, the fact of the existence of peculiar animalcules in
the sperm, and their apparent agency in the generative process;
but how this agency is exerted we know not.
It is scarcely necessary to remark, that all the objections which
were urged against the system of the ovarists, as regards the proof
in favour of an active participation of both sexes in the work of
THEORY OF EVOLUTION. 315
reproduction, are equally applicable to the views of those animal-
culists, who refer generation exclusively to the spermatic animal-
cule.
Such are the chief theories that have been propounded on the
subject of generation. It has been already observed, that the par-
ticular modifications are almost innumerable. They may all, how-
ever, be classed with more or less consanguinity under some of
the doctrines enumerated. Facts and arguments are strongly
against any view that refers the whole process of formation to
either sex. There must be a union of materials furnished by both,
otherwise it is impossible to explain the similarity in conformation
to both parents, which is often so manifest. Accordingly, this modi-
fied view of epigenesis is now adopted by most physiologists;—that
at a fecundating copulation, the secretion of the male is united to
a material, furnished by the ovarium of the female; that from the
union of these elements the embryo results, impressed, from the
very instant of such union, with life, and with an impulse to a
greater or less resembance of this or that parent, as the case may
be; and that the material, furnished by the female, is as much a
secretion resulting from the peculiar organization of the ovarium,
as the sperm is from that of the testicle,—life being capable, in this
manner, of communication from father to child, without the ne-
cessity of invoking tHe incomprehensible and revolting doctrine of
the pre-existence of germs.
This admixture of the materials, furnished by both sexes, ac-
counts for the likeness that the child may bear to either parent,
whatever may be the difficulty in understanding the precise mode
in which they act in the formation of the foetus. It has been at-
tempted, however, by some, to maintain, that the influence of the
maternal imagination during a fecundating copulation may be suf-
ficient to impress the germ, within her, with the necessary im-
pulse ; and the plea has been occasionally urged in courts of justice.
Of this we have an example in a well-known case, tried in New
York, five-and-twenty years ago. A mulatto woman was delivered
of a female bastard child, which became chargeable to the authori-
ties of the city. When interrogated, she stated that a black man
of the name of Whistelo was the father, who was accordingly ap-
prehended, for the purpose of assessing him with the expenses.
Several physicians, who were summoned before the magistrates,
gave it as their opinion that it was not his child, but the offspring
of a white man. Dr. Mitchell, however, who, according to Dr.
Beck, seemed to be a believer in the influence of the imagination
over the foetus, thought it probable that the negro was the father.
Owing to this difference of sentiment, the case was carried before
the mayor, recorder, and several aldermen. It appeared in evi-
dence, that the colour of the child was somewhat dark, but lighter
316
GENERATION.
than the generality of mulattos, and that its hair was straight, and
had none of the peculiarities of the negro race.
The court very properly decided in favour of Whistelo, and
of course against the testimony of Dr. Mitchell, who, moreover,
maintained, that as alteration of complexion has occasionally been
noticed in the human subject,—as of negroes turning partially
white,—and in animals, so this might be a parallel instance. The
opinion does not seem entitled to much greater estimation than
that of the poor Irish woman, in a recent London police report,
who ascribed the fact of her having brought forth a thick-lipped,
woolly-headed urchin to her having eaten some black potatoes,
during her pregnancy.
It is obvious, that the effect of the maternal imagination can only
be invoked—by those who believe in its agency on the future ap-
pearance of the foetus—in the case of those animals in which copu-
lation is a part of the process. Where the eggs are first extruded
and then fecundated, all such influence must be out of the question;
and even in the viviparous animal we have seen, that experiments
on artificial impregnation have shown, that not only has the bitch
been fecundated by sperm injected into the vagina, but that the
resulting young have manifestly resembled the dog, whence the
sperm had been obtained.
The strongest case in favour of the influence of the maternal
imagination is given by Sir Everard Home. An English mare
was covered by a quaga,—a species of wild ass from Africa, which
is marked somewhat like the zebra. This happened in the year
1815, in the park of Earl Morton, in Scotland. The mare was
only covered once; went eleven months, four days, and nineteen
hours; and the produce was a hybrid, marked like the father. The
hybrid remained with the dam for four months, when it was wean-
ed and removed from her sight. She probably saw it again in the
early part of 1816, but never afterwards. In February, 1817, she
was covered by an Arabian horse, and had her first foal—a filly.
In May, 1818, she was covered again by the same horse, and had
a second. In June, 1819, she was covered again, but this year
missed; but in May, 1821, she was covered a fourth time, and had
a third; all being marked like the quaga.
Similar facts have been alluded to by other writers. Haller
remarks, that the female organs of the mare seem to be cor-
•rupted by the unequal copulation with the ass, as the young
foal of a horse from a mare, which previously had a mule by an
ass, has something asinine in the form of its mouth and hips; and
Becher says, that when a mare has had a mule by an ass, and af-
terwards a foal by a horse, there are evidently marks in the foal
of the mother having retained some ideas of her former paramour,
—the ass; whence such horses are commended on account of their
tolerance and other similar qualities.
FECUNDATION.
317
The mode in which the influence is exerted in this and similar
cases is most unfathomable; and the fact itself, although indisputa-
ble is astounding. Sir Everard Home thinks that it is one of the
strongest proofs of the effect of the mind of the mother upon her
young that has ever been recorded. Although we are totally inca-
pable of suggesting any satisfactory solution, it appears to us more
probable, that the impression must have been made in these cases
on the genital system, rather than upon the mind of the animal.
Conception usually occurs without the slightest consciousness
on the part of the female; and hence the difficulty of reckoning
the precise period of gestation. Certain signs, as shivering pain
about the umbilicus, &c. are said to have occasionally denoted its
occurrence, but these are rare exceptions, and the indications af-
forded by one are often extremely different from those presented
by another. In those animals, in which generation is only accom-
plished during a period of generative excitement, the period of
conception can be determined with accuracy; for, in by far the
majority of such cases, a single copulation will fecundate; the ex-
istence of the state of heat indicating that the generative organs
are ripe for conception. In the human female, where the sexual
intercourse can take place at all periods of the year, conception is
by no means as likely to follow a single intercourse; for,although
she may be always susceptible of fecundation, her genital organs
are perhaps at no one time so powerfully excited as in the animal
durin'g the season of love. It is not for the physiologist to inquire
into the morbid causes of sterility in either male or female; nor is
it desirable to relate all the visionary notions that have prevailed
regarding the circumstances that favour conception. It would cer-
tainly seem more likely to supervene when the venereal orgasm
oecurs simultaneously in both parties; and when the sperm is
thrown well forwards towards the mouth of the uterus. We have
already shown, that preternatural openings of the urethra, which
interfere with this projection of the sperm in the proper direction,
certainly render fecundation less probable.
It has been generally affirmed by writers, that conception is apt
to take place more readily immediately after menstruation ; either,
it has been imagined, because the uterus continues slightly open,
so as to admit the sperm more easily into its cavity, or because
the whole apparatus is in a state of some excitement. This opinion
is problematical; and, accordingly, a female is in the habit of
reckoning from a fortnight after her last menstrual period; for as
she might have fallen with child immediately after menstruation,
or not until immediately preceding the following menstruation; a
difference of three weeks might occur; and she, therefore, takes
the middle point between those periods; that is, ten days or a fort-
night after her last menstruation, or, what is the same thing, ten
days or a fortnight before the first obstructed menstruation. Sir
318
GENERATION.
Everard Home, however, differs on this topic from the generality
of physiologists,—affirming that, in the human species, the fulness
of the vessels of the womb, prior to menstruation, corresponds
with the state of heat in the female quadruped, and shows that, at
that period, the ova are most commonly fit for impregnation.
"The females in India," he observes, "where, from the warmth
of the climate, all the internal economy respecting the propagation
of the species goes on more kindly than in changeable climates,
reckon ten months as the period of utero-gestation. In the Apo-
crypha, the wisdom of Solomon, Chap. VII., v. 2,—'And in my
mother's womb was fashioned to be flesh in the time of ten
months.' This circumstance seems to prove, that immediately
before menstruation, when all the appendages of the womb are
loaded with blood, the ova and the ovaria are more frequently
ready for impregnation, in the climates most congenial for propa-
gation; and therefore the mode of reckoning is from the previous
menstruation, which is ten months before the birth."
It has been attempted to ascertain what age and season are most
prolific. From a register, kept by Dr. Bland of London, it would
appear, that more women, between the ages of twenty-six and
thirty years, bear children than at any other period. Of two
thousand one hundred and two women delivered, eighty-five were
from fifteen to twenty years of age; five hundred and seventy-eight
from twenty-one to twenty-five; six hundred and ninety-nine, from
twenty-six to thirty; four hundred and seven from thirty-one to
thirty-five; two hundred and ninety-one from thirty-six to forty;
thirty-six from forty-one to forty-five; and six from forty-six
to forty-nine.
At Marseilles, according to Raymond, women conceive most
readily in autumn and chiefly in October; next in summer; and
lastly in winter and spring; the month of March having fewest con-
ceptions. Morand again says, that July, May, June, and August
are the most frequent monthsfor conception; and November, March,
April, and October successively the least frequent. Mr. Burns
asserts, that the register for ten years of an extensive parish in
Glasgow, renders it probable that August and September are most
favourable for conception; and lastly, Dr. Gouverneur Emerson,
who has employed himself most profitably on the Medical Statistics
of Philadelphia, has furnished the following table of the number
of births, during each month, for the ten years ending in 1830.
FECUNDATION.
319
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dar months or forty weeks; but we have no less hesitation in
affirming, that it may be protracted, in particular cases, much be-
yond this. We find in animals, where the date of impregnation
can be rigidly fixed, that whilst the usual term can be determined
without difficulty, numerous cases are met with in which the period
is protracted, and there is no reason to doubt, that the same thing
happens occasionally to the human female.
In a case detailed by Dr. Dewees, an opportunity occurred for
dating with precision the time of fecundation. The case is, like-
wise, interesting in another respect, as demonstrating that fecunda-
tion does not necessarily arrest the succeeding catamenial discharge.
The husband of a lady, who was obliged to absent himself many
months, in consequence of the embarrassment of his affairs, return-
ed one night clandestinely; his visit being known only to his wife,
her mother, and Dr. Dewees himself. The lady was, at the time,
within a week of her menstrual period; and, as the catamenia ap-
peared as usual, she was induced to hope, that she had escaped
impregnation. Her catamenia did not, however, make their appear-
ance at the next period; the ordinary signs of pregnancy super-
vened; and in nine months and thirteen days, or in two hundred
and ninety-three days from the visit of the husband, she was deli-
vered.
In his evidence before the House of Peers, in the cause alluded
to, Dr. Granville stated his opinion, that the usual term of utero-
gestation is as we have estimated it; but he, at the same time,
detailed the case of his own lady, in whom it had been largely pro-
tracted. Mrs. Granville passed her menstrual period on the 7th
of April, and on the 15th of August following she quickened;—that
is, four months and six or seven days afterwards. In the early part
of the first week in January, her confinement was expected and a
medical friend desired to hold himself in readiness to attend. La-
bour pains came on at this time, but soon passed away; and Mrs. G.
went on till the 7th of February, when labour took place, and the
delivery was speedy. The child was larger and stronger than usual,
and was considered by Dr. Granville,—as well as by Dr. A. T.
Thomson, the Professor of Materia Medica in the University of
London,—as a ten months child.
332
generation.
If, in this case, we calculate that conception occurred only the
day before the interruption of menstruation, three hundred and six
days must have elapsed between impregnation and birth; and if we
take the middle period between the last menstruation and the inter-
ruption, the interval must have been three hundred and sixteen, or
three hundred and eighteen days.
The limit, to which the protraction of pregnancy may possibly ex-
tend, cannot be aligned. It is not probable, however, that it ever va-
ries largely from the ordinary period. The University of Heidelberg
allowed the legitimacy of a child, born at the expiration of thirteen
months from the date of the last connubial intercourse; and a case
was decided by the Supreme Court of Friesland, by which a child was
admitted to the succession, although it was not born till three hun-
dred and thirty-three days from the husband's death; or only a few
days short of twelve lunar months. These are instances of the ne
plus ultra of judicial philanthropy, and, perhaps we might say,
credulity. Still although extremely improbable we cannot say that
they are impossible. This much, however, is clear, that real excess
over two hundred and eighty days is by no means frequent; and
we think, in accordance with the civil code now in force in France,
that the legitimacy of an infant born three hundred days after the
dissolution of marriage may be contested; although we are by no
means disposed to affirm, that if the character of the woman be
irreproachable, the decision should be on the side of illegitimacy.
At the end of seven months of utero-gestation and even a month
earlier the foetus is capable of an independent existence; provided,
from any cause, delivery should be hastened. This is not, however,
the full period, and. although labour may occur at the end of seven
months, the usual course is for the foetus to be carried until the end
of nine calendar months. If the foetus is extruded prior to the pe-
riod at which it is able to maintain an independent existence, the
process is termed abortion or miscarriage; if between this time
and the full period, it is called premature labour.
With regard to the causes, that give rise to the extrusion, we are
in utter darkness. It is in truth as inexplicable as any of the other
instinctive operations of the living machine. Yet although this is
generally admitted, the discussion of the subject occupies a consi-
derable space in the works of some obstetrical writers. Our know-
ledge appears to be limited to the fact, that when the foetus has
undergone a certain degree of development, and the uterus a cor-
responding distention, its contractility is called into action, and
the uterine contents are beautifully and systematically expelled.
Nor can we always fix upon the degree of distention, that shall give
occasion to the exertion of this contractile power. Sometimes, it
will supervene after a few months of utero-gestation so as to pro-
duce abortion; at other times it will happen when the foetus is just
parturition.
333
viable; and at others, again, and in the generality of cases, it is not
elicited until the full period. In cases of twins, the uterus will
admit of still greater distention before its contractility is aroused.
A day or two preceding labour, a discharge is occasionally ob-
served from the vagina of a mucous fluid, more or less streaked with
blood. This is termed the show, because it indicates the commence-
ment of some dilatation of the neck, or mouth of the womb,—the
forerunner of labour or travail.
The external organs, at the same time, become tumid and flabby.
The orifice of the uterus, if an examination be made, is perceived
to be enlarging; and its edges are thinner. Along with this, slight
grinding pains are experienced in the loins and abdomen. After an
uncertain period, pains of a very different character come on, which
commence in the loins, and appear to bear down towards the os
uteri. These are not constant, but recur, at first after long intervals,
and subsequently after shorter;—the body of the uterus manifestly
contracting with great-force, so as to press the ovum down against the
mouth of the womb, and to dilate it. In this way, the membranes
of the ovum protrude through the os uteri with their contained
fluid, the pouch being occasionally termed the bag of waters.
Sooner or later the membranes give way, the ivaters are discharged,
and the uterus contracts so as to embrace the body of the child,
which was previously impracticable, except through the medium of
the liquor amnii.
At the commencement of labour, the child's head has not entered
the pelvis, the occiput, as in
the marginal figure, being Fig. 144.
generally towards the left
acetabulum ; but, when the
uterine contractions be-
come more violent, and are
accompanied by powerful
efforts on the part of the
abdominal muscles, the
head enters the pelvis, the
mouth of the womb be-
comes largely dilated, and
the female is in a state of
agitation and excitement,
owing to the violence of the
efforts, and the irresistible
desire she has of assisting
them as far as lies in her
power. When the head has
entered the pelvis, in the
position described,in which
the long diameter corres-
ponds to the longdiameter of the pel vis,it describes,laterally,an arc of
334
GENERATION.
a circle, the face passing into the hollow of the sacrum, and the occiput
behind the arch of the pubes,
as in Fig. 145. By the conti-
nuance of the pains, the head
presents at the vulva. The
pains now become most ur-
gent and forcing. Theoscoc-
cygis is pushed backwards,
and the perineum is distend-
ed—at times so considera-
bly, as to threaten, and even
to effect laceration; the anus
is also forced open and pro-
truded; the nymphasand ca-
runculae of the vagina are ef-
faced; the labia separated,
and the head clears the vulva,
from the occiput to the chin,
experiencing a vertical ro-
tation as depicted in Fig.
146. When the head is ex-
truded,the shoulders and rest
of the body readily follow, on
The child, however, still re-
mains attached to
the mother by the
navel-string, which
has to be tied, and
divided at a few
fingers' breadth
from the umbilicus.
After the birth of
the child,the female
has generally a short
interval of repose;
but, in a few mi-
nutes, slight bearing
down pains are ex-
perienced, owing to
the contraction of
the uterus for the
separation of the
placenta, and of the
membranes of the
ovum, called the se-
cundines or after-
birth.
The process of parturition is accomplished in a longer or shorter
account of their smaller dimensions.
PARTURITION.
335
time, according to the particular conditions of the female and foetus,
in different individuals, and in the same individual in different la-
bours. The parts, however, when once dilated, yield much easier
afterwards to similar efforts, so that the first labour is generally the
most protracted.
After the separation of the secundines, the female is commonly
left in a state of debility and fatigue; but this gradually disappears.
The uterus also contracts; its vessels become tortuous, small, and
their orifices are plugged up. For a short time blood continues to
be discharged from them; but as they become obliterated by the
return of the uterus to its usual size, the discharge loses its sangui-
neous character, and is replaced by one of a paler colour, called the
lochia, which gradually disappears, and altogether ceases in the
course of two or three weeks after delivery.
For a day or two after delivery coagula of blood form in the in-
terior of the uterus, especially in the second and subsequent labours,
which excite the organ to contraction for their expulsion. These
contractions are accompanied with pain, and are called after-pains:
as their object is the removal of that which interferes with the re-
turn of the uterus to its proper dimensions, it is obvious that they
ought not to be officiously interfered with.
Whilst the uterus is contracting its dimensions, the other parts
gradually resume the condition they were in prior to delivery; so that
in the course of three or four weeks, it is impracticable to pronounce
positively, whether delivery has recently taken place or not.
Labour, as thus accomplished, is more deserving of the term in
the human female than in
animals; and this is partly Fig. 147.
owing to the large size of
the foetal head, and partly
to the circumstance, that in
the animal the axis of the
pelvis is the same as that of
the body, whilst in the hu-
man female, the axis of the
brim, as represented by the
dotted straight lines in Fig.
146, forms a considerable
angle with that of the outlet.
The position of the child,
exhibited in Fig. 144,—with
the face behind and the oc-
cipital before,—constitutes
the usual presentation in
natural labour. Of twelve
thousand six hundred and
thirty-three children, born
at the Hospice de la Ma-
terniti of Paris, twelve thousand one hundred and twenty, accord-
336
GENERATION.
ing to M. Jules Cloquet, were of this presentation; sixty-three had
the face turned forward; one hundred and ninety-eight were breech
presentations; (see Fig. 147;) in one hundred and forty-seven cases the
feet presented; and in three the knees. All these, however, are cases,
in which labour can be effected without assistance; the knee and feet
presentations being identical, as regards the process of delivery,
with that of the breech. But whenever any other part of the foetus
presents, the position is unfavourable, and requires that the hand
should be introduced into the uterus, with the view of bringing
down the feet,and converting the case into a foot presentation. The
details of this subject, however, belong more appropriately to ob-
stetrics.
When the child has been separated from the mother, and con-
tinues to live by the exercise of its own vital powers, it has still to
be dependent upon her for the nutriment adapted to its tender con-
dition. Whilst in utero this nutriment consisted of fluids placed in
contact with it, but, after birth, a secretion serves this purpose,
which has to be received into the stomach and undergo the diges-
tive process. This secretion is the milk. It is prepared by the
mammae or breasts, the number, size, and situation of which are
characteristic of the human species. Each breast contains a mam-
mary gland, surrounded by the fat of the breast, and resting on the
pectoralis major muscle. It is formed of several lobes, united by a
somewhat dense, cellular tissue, and consisting of smaller lobules,
which seem, again, composed of round granulations, of a rosy-white
colour, and of about the size of a poppy seed. The glandular gra-
nula give origin to the excretory ducts, called tubuli lactiferi or
galactophori, which are tortuous,extensible, and transparent. These
enlarge and unite with each other, but so that those of each lobe re-
main distinct from, and have no communication with, the ducts of
any other lobe. All these finally terminate in sinuses, near the base
of the nipple, which are fifteen or eighteen in number, and open on
the nipple, without having communication with each other.
The size and shape of the breast are chiefly caused by the cel-
lular tissue in which the mammary gland is situated: this is co-
vered by a thin layer of skin, which is extremely soft and delicate,
and devoid of folds. In the middle of the breast is the tubercle,
called the nipple,—a prominence consisting of an erectile spongy
tissue,differing in colour from the rest of the breast,—and around it
is the areola, which is of a rosy hue in youth, but becomes darker
in the progress of life, and the capillary system of which is so deli-
cate as to blush, like the countenance, under similar emotions. The
changes, produced on the areola by gestation, have been already
described. The skin, at the base of the nipple, and on its surface,
is rough, owing to the presence of a number of sebaceous follicles,
which secrete a fluid for the lubrication of the part, and for defend-
ing it from the action of the saliva of the infant during lactation.
Numerous arteries, veins, nerves and lymphatics,—the anatomical
LACTATION.
337
constituents of organic textures in general,—also enter into the
composition of the mammas and nipples.
The secretion of milk is liable to longer intermissions than any
other function of the kind. In the unmarried and chaste female,
although the blood, whence milk is formed, may be constantly
passing to the nipple, no secretion takes place from it. It is only
during gestation and for some time afterwards, that the necessary
excitation exists to produce it. Yet although largely allied to the
generative function,—the mammae undergoing their chief develop-
ment in puberty and becoming shrivelled in old age,—the secretion
may arise independently of impregnation ; for it has been witnessed
in the unquestionable virgin, in the superannuated female, and even
in the male sex. The fact as regards the unimpregnated female is
mentioned by Hippocrates. Baudelocque states, that a young
girl at Alengon, eight years old, suckled her brother for the space
of a month. Dr. Gordon Smith refers to a manuscript in the col-
lection of Sir Hans Sloane, which gives an account of a woman,
at the age of sixty-eight, who had not borne a child for more than
twenty years, and who nursed her grandchildren, one after another;
and Dr. Francis, of New York, describes the case of a lady, who,
fourteen years previously, was delivered of a healthy child after a
natural labour. " Since that period," he remarks, " her breasts
have regularly secreted milk in great abundance, so that, to use her
own language, she could at all times easily perform the office of a
nurse." But these, and cases of a similar nature, of which there
are many on record, do not possess the same singularity as those of
the function being executed by the male. Yet we have the most
unquestionable authority in favour of the occurrence of such in-
stances. The Bishop of Cork relates a case in the Philosophical
Transactions for 1741, of a man who suckled his child after the
death of his wife. Humboldt adduces one of a man, thirty-two
years of age, who nursed his child for five months on the secretion
from his breasts; and Captain Franklin, in his "Journey to the
shores of the Polar Sea," gives a similar instance.
It appears, therefore, that the secretion of milk may be caused,
independently of a uterus, by soliciting the action of the mammary
glands, but that this is a mere exception to the general rule, ac-
cording to which the secretion is as intermittent as gestation itself.
We have noticed, as one of the signs of pregnancy, that the breasts
become enlarged and turgid, denoting the aptitude for the formation
of the fluid; and it not unfrequently happens that, towards the mid-
dle and latter periods of pregnancy, milk will distil from the nip-
ples. This fluid, however, as well as that which flows from the
breasts during the first two or three days after delivery, differs
somewhat from milk, containing more serum and butter, and less
caseum, and it is conceived to be more laxative, so as to aid the ex-
pulsion of the meconium. This first milk is called colostrum, pro-
togala, &c, and, in the cow, constitutes the biestings or beastings.
Vol. II. 43
338
GENERATION.
Generally, about the third day after confinement, the mammas be-
come tumid, hard, and even painful, and the secretion from this
time is established, the pain and distention soon disappearing.
It is hardly necessary to discuss the views of Richerand, who
considers the milk to be derived from the lymph; of others who
derive it from the chyle; or of Girard of Lyons, who gratuitously
asserts, that there is in the abdomen an apparatus of vessels,—in-
termediate between the uterus and mammae,—which continue in-
active, except during gestation, and for some time after delivery,
but, in those conditions, are excited to activity. All these notions
are entirely hypothetical, and there is no reason for believing, that
this secretion differs from others, as regards the kind of blood from
which it is separated. The separation takes place in the tissue of
the gland, and the product is received by thc lactiferous ducts, along
which it is propelled by the fresh secretion continuously arriving,
and by the contractile action of the ducts themselves, the milk re-
maining in the ducts and sinuses, until the mammas are, at times,
considerably distended and painful.
The excretion of the milk takes place only at intervals. When
the lactiferous ducts are sufficiently filled, a degree of distention
and uneasiness is felt, which calls for the removal of the contained
fluid. At times, the flow occurs spontaneously; but, commonly,
only when solicited either by sucking or drawing the breast, the
secretion under such circumstances being very rapid, and the con-
traction of the galactophorous ducts such, as to project the milk
through the orifices in a thready stream.
Milk is a highly azoted fluid, composed of water, caseum, sugar
of milk, certain salts,—as the muriate, phosphate, and acetate of
potassa, with a vestige of lactate of iron and earthy phosphate,—
and a little lactic acid. According to Berzelius, it consists of
cream, and milk properly so called,—the cream consisting of
butter, 4.5; cheese, 3.5; whey, 92.0;—arid the whey of milk and
salt, 4.4;—the milk containing, water, 928.75; cheese, with a trace
of sugar, 28.01; sugar of milk, 35.00; muriate of potassa, 1.70;
phosphate of potassa, 0.25; lactic acid, acetate of potassa, and lac-
tate of iron, 6.00; and phosphate of lime, 0.30.
Human milk contains more sugar of milk and less cheesy matter
than that of the cow; hence it is sweeter, more liquid, less coagula-
ble, and incapable of being made into cheese. Its quantity and cha-
racter differ according to the quantity and character of the food,—
a circumstance, which was one of the great causes of the belief, that
the lymphatics convey to the mammas the materials for the secre-
tion. The milk is, however, situated in this respect like the urine,
which varies in quantity and quality, according to the amount and
kind of solid or liquid food taken. The milk is more abundant,
thicker, and less acid, if the female lives on animal food, but pos-
sesses the opposite qualities when vegetable diet is used. It is apt,
also, to be impregnated with heterogeneous matters, taken up from
the digestive canal. The milk and the butter of cows indicate un-
FQ5TAL ANATOMY.
339
equivocally the character of their pasturage, especially if they
have fed on the turnip, wild onion, &c. Medicine, given to the
mother, may in this way act upon the infant.
The quantity of milk secreted is not always in proportion to the
bulk of the mammas; a female whose bosom is of middle size often
secreting more than another in whom it is much more developed;—
the greater size being usually owing to the larger quantity of adi-
pous tissue surrounding the mammary gland, and this tissue is in
nowise concerned in the function.
The secretion of milk usually continues until the period, when
the organs of mastication of the infant have acquired the necessary
development for the digestion of solid food: it generally ceases
during the second year. For a great part, or the whole of this time,
the menstrual flux is suspended; and if both the secretions,—mam-
mary and menstrual—go on together, the former is usually impo-
verished and in small quantity. Whilst lactation continues, the
female is less likely to conceive; and hence the importance,—were
there not even more weighty reasons,—of the mother's suckling her
own child, in order to prevent the too rapid succession of children.
When menstruation recurs during suckling, it is an evidence that
the womb is again fit for impregnation.
OF FOETAL EXISTENCE.
The subject of foetal existence forms so completely a part of the
function we are considering, that its investigation naturally succeeds
to that of the part performed by the parents in its production; and
especially as the development of the foetus is synchronous with all
the uterine changes that have been pointed out. By most writers
on physiology it has been the custom to include this subject under
the same head as gestation, but the anatomy and physiology of the
foetus have recently been so much studied as to sanction their sepa-
ration.
Anatomy of the Foetus.
The uncertainty, which hangs over the immediate formation of
the new individual, has been already mentioned; and it is not ne-
cessary for us to do more than refer to the description of the differ-
ent views regarding the predominance of the paternal or maternal
influence over the character of the'product of generation. The mi-
croscopical observations of Mr. Bauer, under the superintendance
of Sir Everard Home, would seem to show, that the human ovum
and that of the quadruped consist of a semitransparent, elastic, ge-
latinous substance, enveloped in two membranous coverings; that
this substance is formed in the ovarium independently of the male
influence, but requires the application of such influence to undergo
its developments.
The period, at which the embryo is first perceptible in the
340
GENERATION.—OF THE FOETUS.
ovule, differs in different animals. Haller asserts, that in sheep,
whose term of gestation is five months, he could observe nothing
more than a homogeneous mucus for the first sixteen days; but, at
this time, membranes seemed to envelope the ovule and to give
it shape; and on the twenty-fifth day, an opaque point indicated the
foetus. Haighton, in experimenting on rabbits, could detect no
change before the sixth day, and the foetus was not perceptible till
the tenth. In the case, related by Sir Everard Home to which
we have so frequently referred, the embryo was perceptible, under
the microscope of Mr. Bauer, and although its weight did not
probably exceed a grain, the future situation of the brain and spinal
marrow was apparent. From this period, and especially after the
fifteenth day, the ovule can be separated into two distinct sets of
parts,—the dependencies of the foetus, and the foetus itself. These,
in the course of pregnancy, become more and more readily se-
parable. Each will require some consideration.
Prior to this, however, it may be well to refer to the changes
that the egg undergoes during incubation; where we have an oppor-
tunity of observing the transmutations at all periods of foetal forma-
tion, independently of all connexion with either parent. The subject
has engaged the attention of physiologists of all ages; but it is chiefly
to those of more modern times—as Hunter, Cuvier, Dutrochet,
Parker, Rolando, Sir Everard Home, MM. Prevost and Du-
mas, &c. that we are indebted for more precise information on the
subject; although, unfortunately, they are by no means of accord-
ance on many points. The investigations of Sir Everard Home,
aided by those of the excellent microscopic observer, Mr.* Bauer,
are peculiarly interesting from the engravings that accompany
them, some of which we shall borrow in elucidation of the follow-
ing brief description.
The egg of a bird, of a hen for example, consists of two descrip-
tions of parts;—those which are but little concerned in the deve-
lopment of the new being, and which remain after the chick is
hatched,—as the shell and the membrane lining it,—and such as
undergo changes along with those of the chick and co-operate in its
formation,—as the white, the yolk, and the cicatricula or molecule.
The shell is porous, to allow of the absorption of air through it; and
of the evaporation of a part of the albumen or white. In the ova-
rium it is albuminous, but in the cloaca becomes calcareous. The
membrane, membrana albuminis, that lines the shell, is of a white
colour, and consists of two layers, which separate from each other
at the greater end of the egg, and leave a space filled with air, ow-
ing to the evaporation of the white and the absorption of air. This
space is larger the older the egg. Th<^ white does not exist, whilst
the egg is attached to the ovary. It is deposited between the yolk
and the shell as the egg passes through the oviduct. Of the white there
are two distinct kinds;—the outermost, thin and fluid, which evapo-
rates in part, and is less abundant in the old than in the fresh laid egg,
FOETAL ANATOMY. 341
Fig. 147 «.
and another, situated within the last, which is much denser, and
only touches the shell at the smaller extremity of the egg by a
prolongation of its substance, which has been called the ligament
of the white. The yolk seems to be, at first sight, a semifluid mass
without organization; but by examining it, it is found to consist of
a yolk-bag, two epidermic membranes, which envelope it as well as
the cicatricula or molecule. Two prolongations of these mem-
branes, knotty, and terminating in a flocculent extremity in the
albumen, called chalazes, or poles are attached to the two ends of
the egg and thus suspend it. It is also surrounded by a proper
membrane; and lastly, under the epidermic coats of the yolk, and
upon its proper coat lies the cicatricula, macula, tread of the cock,
or gelatinous molecule from which the future embryo is to be
formed. It is found before the yolk leaves the ovarium.
The external membrane of the yolk, when it quits the yolk-bag,
is very thin and deli-
cate; its surface is
studded over with
red dots, which dis-
appear in its passage
along the oviduct.
When this membrane
is removed, there is
a natural aperture in
the thick, spongy
covering under it,
through which is seen
the cicatricula or mo-
lecule, surrounded by
an areola, halo or
circulus. On exami-
nation, this areola
proves to be nothing
more than that part
of the surface of the
yolk, which is cir-
cumscribed by the
margin of the aper-
ture.
The molecule or
cicatricula itself, Fig.
147^, has a granulat-
aA annMM nno • onr\ The ova at different stages of increment. Ovarium of ajaying hen,
eu appeal ante, dim natural size.
according to Sir Everard Home is made up,in the centre, of globules
iTooth part of an inch in diameter, surrounded by circles of a mixed
substance; about two-thirds consisting of the same small globules,
and one-third of larger oval globules, about -^V^h part of an inch
342
GENERATION.—OF THE FOETUS.
Fig. 147 «.
A new-laid egg, with its molecule, &c.
in diameter; the last resembling in shape the oval red globules of
the blood in the bird, excepting in
colour. Besides the globules, there
is some fine oil, which appears in
drops, when the parts are immersed
in water. Oval globules and oil
are also met with in the yolk itself,
but in small proportion and devoid
of colour.
When the egg leaves the ovarium,
Fig.l47(1),theovarialyolk-baggives
way at the median line,and the yolk
drops into the commencement of
the oviduct. The yolk-bags are
exceedingly vascular, the outer
membrane of the yolk being con-
nected to them by vessels and fas-
ciculi of fibres, but being readily
separable from them. During the
first hours of incubation no change
is perceptible in the egg, but
about the seventh, the molecule is evidently enlarged, and a mem-
brane, containing a fluid substance, is observable. This membrane
is the amnion. At this time a white line is perceptible in the mo-
lecule which is the rudimental foetus; and even at this early period,
according to Sir Everard Home,
the brain and spinal marrow can be
detected. The areola has extend-
ed itself, and the surface, beyond
the line which formed its bounda-
ry, has acquired the consistence of
a membrane, and has also a dis-
tinct line by which it is circum-
scribed. This Sir Everard calls
the outer areola. In the space
betweeen these two areolae are dis-
tinct dots of an oily matter.
In twelve hours, the rudiments
of the brain are more distinct, as
well as those of the spinal marrow.
In thirty-six hours, the head is
turned to the left side. The cere-
brum and cerebellum appear to be
distinct bodies. The iris is per-
ceptible through the pupil. The
intervertebral nerves are nearly formed; those, nearest the head,
being the most distinct. A portion of the heart is seen. At
Fig. 147 P).
An egg, thirty-six hours after incubation.
FOETAL ANATOMY.
343
this period, under the inner areola, apparently at the termination
of the spinal marrow, a vesicle begins to protrude, which is seen
earlier in some eggs than in others. The white of egg is found to
be successively absorbed by the yolk, so that the latter is rendered
more fluid and its mass augmented. The first appearance of red
blood is discerned on the surface of the yolk-bag towards the end
of the second day. A series of points is observed, which form
grooves; and these closing constitute vessels, the trunks of which
become connected with the chick. The vascular surface itself is
called figura venosa or area vasculosa; and the vessel, by which
its margin is defined, vena terminalis. The trunk of all the veins
joins the vena portas, whilst the arteries, that ramify on the yolk-
bag, arise from the mesenteric artery of the chick and have hence
been called omphalo-mesenteric.
In two days and a half, the spinal marrow has its posterior part
inclosed: the auricles and ventricles of the heart are perceptible,
and the auricles are filled with red blood. An arterial trunk from
the left ventricle gives off two large vessels,—one to the right side
of the embryo, the other to the left;—sending branches over the
whole of the areolar membrane, which is bounded on each side by
a large trunk carrying red blood; but the branches of the two trunks
do not unite, there being a small space on one side, which renders
the circle incomplete. This Sir Everard Home calls the areolar
circulation.
In three days, the outer areola has extended itself over one-third
of the circumference of the yolk,
carrying the marginal arteries along
with it to the outer edge but dimi-
nished in size. The brain is much
enlarged; the cerebellum being
still the larger of the two. The
spinal marrow and its nerves are
most distinctly formed; and the
eye appears to want only the pig-
mentum nigrum. The right ven-
tricle of the heart contains red
blood: the arteries can be traced
to the head: the rudiments of the
wings and legs are formed, and the
vesicle is farther enlarged, but its
vessels do not carry red blood. It
has forced its way through the ex-
ternal covering of the yolk, and
opened a communication through
this Slit, by Which a part of the Egg, opened three day. after incubation.
albumen is admitted to mix itself with the yolk, and gives it a more
oval form. At this period, the embryo is generally found to have
changed its position and to be wholly turned on the left side.
In four days, the vesicle is more enlarged, and more vascular, its
Fig. 147
W.
344
GENERATION.—OF THE FOETUS.
vessels containing red blood. The optic nerve and pigmentum ni-
grum of the eye are visible. The outer areola extends half over
the yolk, with which a larger portion of the white is now mixed.
In five days the vesicle has acquired a great size, and become
exceedingly vascular; the yolk too
has become thinner, in conse-
quence of its admixture with more
of the albumen.
In^ix days, the vascular mem-
brane of the areola has extended
farther' over the yolk. The vesi-
cle, at this time, has suddenly ex-
panded itself in the form of a dou-
ble night-cap over the yolk, and
its coverings are beginning to in-
close the embryo, the outermost
layer being termed the chorion,
the innermost the middle mem-
brane. The amnion contains a
fluid, in which the embryo is sus-
pended by the vessels of the vesi-
cular membrane. The brain has
become enlarged so as to equal in
size the body of the embryo. Its
The two eyes equal the whole brain
in size. The parietes of the tho-
rax and abdomen have begun to
form; and the wings and legs are
nearly completed as well as the
bill. At this period muscular action
has been noticed.
In seven days, the vesicle,—hav-
ing extended over the embryo,—
has begun to inclose the areolar
covering of the yolk, and a pulsa-
tion is distinctly seen in the trunk
that supplies the vesicular bag
with blood. The pulsations were,
in one case, seventy-nine in a
minute, whilst the embryo was
kept in a temperature of 105°; but
when the temperature was dimi-
nished, they ceased,and when again
raised to the same point, the pulsa-
tion was reproduced. The muscles
of the limbs now move with vigour.
In eight days, the anastomosing branches of the vesicular circula-
tion have strong pulsation in them.
In nine days the vesicle has nearly inclosed the yolk.
Egg, five days after incubation.
vessels are distinctly seen.
Egg, ten days after incubation.
FOETAL ANATOMY.
345
In ten days no portion of the yolk is observable on the outside
of the vesicle.
The embryo being taken out of the amnion,—now become full
of water,—the thorax is found
to be completely formed, and
the roots of the feathers very
distinct.
The contents of the egg,
during the. formation of the
embryo, become much dimi-
nished in quantity, and the
void space is gradually occu-
pied by a gas, which was
examined by Mr. Hatchett,
and found to be atmospheric
air, deposited at the great end
of the egg between the
layers of the membranelining
the shell. Even prior to in-
cubation, there is always a
small portion of air in this
place, which is supposed to
be employed in aerating the
blood, from the time Of its Embryo ofthe egg, Fig. 147(6), showing the openingin the
,. , . . j ■% abdomen, from which portions of the vesicular and areolar
hrst acquiring a red COIOUr, membranes and turns of the intestines are protruding.
till superseded in that office m^edtwodiameters-
by the external air acting through the eggshell upon the
blood in
Fig. 147(8).
the vessels of the vesicular membrane,
with whicb it is lined.
Between the period of fourteen and
eighteen days, the yolk becomes com-
pletely inclosed by the areolar mem-
brane; and at the expiration of the
latter period the greater part of the
yolk is drawn into the body, as in the
marginal figure. At twenty days, the
chick is completely formed, the yolk
is entirely drawn in, and only portions
of the membrane belonging to the ve-
sicle are seen externally. The yolk-
bag has a narrow tube, half an inch
long, connecting it to the intestine,
eight inches above the openings of
the caeca into the gut.
The whole of these changes, which
in the viviparous animal are effected
within the womb of the mother,
take place in the incubated chick
, .r o ., i Embryo eighteen days old.—Half the natural
by virtue of its own powers; and 8 size.
Vol. II. 44
346
GENERATION.—OF THE FOETUS.
without any assistance, except that of the atmospheric air and
of a certain degree of warmth. In the course of incubation the
yolk becomes constantly thinner and paler by the admixture of
the white; and at the same time innumerable fringe-like vessels,
with flocculent extremities, of a singular structure, form on the in-
ner surface of the yolk-bag, and hang into the yolk. The office of
these is presumed to be, to absorb the yolk and to convey it into
the veins of the yolk-bag, where it is assimilated to the blood and
applied to the nutrition of the new being. Blumenbach states,
that in numerous and varied microscopical examinations of the yolk-
bag, in the latter weeks of incubation, he thinks he has observed the
actual passage of the yolk from the yellow flocculent vessels of the
inner surface of the bag into the blood-vessels which go to the
chick. He has, at all events, seen manifest yellow streaks in the
red blood contained in those veins. When the chick has escaped
from the shell, the yolk, we have seen, is not exhausted, but is re-
ceived into the abdomen, and as it communicates with the intestinal
tube, it is for some time a source of supply to the young animal,
until its strength is equal to the digestion of its appropriate food.
The highly vascular chorion is manifestly an organ of aeration, like
the placenta of the mammalia.
I. BEPENBENCIES OF THE F(E TUS.—These are the
parts of the ovum, that form its parietes, attach it to the uterus,
connect it with the foetus, and are inservient to the nutrition and
development of the new being.
They consist,—First, of two membranes, which constitute the
parietes of the ovule and which are concentric; the outermost
called the chorion, the innermost, filled with a fluid, in which the
foetus is placed, and called the amnion or amnios. Secondly, of
a spongy, vascular body, situate without the chorion, covering
about one-quarter of the ovule, and connecting it with the uterus,
—the placenta. Thirdly, of a cord of vessels,—extending from the
placenta to the foetus, the body of which is penetrated at the umbi-
licus, by the vessels,—called the umbilical cord or navel string.
Besides these dependencies, anatomists have described a vesi-
cle,—filled with a fluid supposed to be of a nutritious character,
and which has been assimilated to the yolk of the egg of oviparous
animals,—called the umbilical vesicle; and another vesicle, which
is only presumed to exist in the human ovum, because it is found in
that of other mammalia, called the allantois. It is a sort of elon-
gated bladder, between the chorion and amnion and communicates
with the urinary bladder by the urachus. These last organs con-
sequently belong more particularly to comparative anatomy ; and
were this not the case, the great dissidence, that prevails amongst
authors, regarding their structure and uses, would incline us to pass
them over without much notice. The other dependencies will re-
quire a more detailed description.
FOETAL anatomy.
347
1. The chorion or endochorion is the outermost of the mem-
branes of the ovule. About the twelfth day after conception, ac-
cording to Velpeau, it is thick, opaque, resisting, and flocculent at
both surfaces. These fiocculi, in the part of the ovum that corres-
ponds to the tunica decidua reflexa, aid its adhesion to that mem-
brane; but, in the part where the ovum corresponds to the uterus,
they become developed to constitute the placenta. At its inner
surface the chorion corresponds to the amnion. These two mem-
branes are, however, separated during the earliest period of foetal
existence, by a serous fluid; but at the expiration of three months,
the liquid disappears and they are afterwards in contact.
By many anatomists, the chorion is conceived to consist origi-
nally of two laminae; Velpeau, however, denies this, and asserts,
that he has never been able to separate them, even by the aid of
previous maceration.
As the placenta is formed on the uterine side of the chorion, the
membrane is reflected over the foetal surface of that organ, and is
continued over the umbilical cord, as far as the umbilicus of the
foetus, where it is confounded with the skin, of which it conse-
quently appears to be a dependence. As pregnancy advances, the
chorion becomes thinner, and less tenacious and dense, so that at the
full period, it is merely a thin, transparent, colourless membrane,
which is much more delicate than the amnion.
Haller and Blumenbach affirm it to be devoid of vessels; but,
according to Wrisberg, it receives some from the umbilical trunks
of the foetus, and, according to others, from the decidua. Dutro-
chet conceives it to be an extension of the foetal bladder.
2. The amnion lines the chorion concentrically. It is filled with
a serous fluid, and contains the foetus. In the first days of foetal ex-
istence, it is thin, transparent, easily lacerable, and somewhat re-
sembling the retina. At first it adheres to the chorion only by a
point, which corresponds to the abdomen of the foetus ; the other
portions of the membranes being separated by the fluid already
mentioned, called the false liquor amnii. Afterwards the mem-
branes coalesce and adhere by very delicate cellular filaments; but
the adhesion is feeble, except at the placenta and umbilical cord.
In the course of gestation, this membrane becomes thicker and
tougher; and, at the full period, is more tenacious than the chorion,
elastic, semitransparent and of a whitish colour.
Like the chorion, it covers the foetal surface of the placenta, en-
velopes the umbilical cord, passes to the umbilicus of the foetus, and
commingles there with the skin.
It has been a question whether the amnion is supplied with blood-
vessels. Haller maintained the affirmative, and asserts, that he
saw a branch of the umbilical artery creeping upon it. The fact
of the existence of a fluid within it and which is presumed to be se-
creted by it, is also greatly in favour of the affirmative. But, admit-
34S
GENERATION.—OF THE FOETUS.
ting that it is supplied with blood-vessels, a difference has existed,
with regard to the source whence they proceed; and anatomical in-
vestigation has not succeeded in dispelling it. Monro affirms, that
on injecting warm water into the umbilical arteries of the foetus, the
water oozed from the surface of the amnion. Wrisberg, however,
asserts, that he,noticed the injection to stop between the chorion
and amnion; and again, Chaussier obtained the same results as
Monro, by injecting the vessels of the mother.
The amnion contains a serous fluid, the quantity of which is in
an inverse ratio to the size of the new being; so that its weight may
be several drachms, when that of the foetus is only a few grains. At
first, the liquor amnii,—for so it is called,—is transparent; but at
the full period it has a milky appearance, owing to fiocculi of an
albuminous substance held in suspension by it. It has a saline taste,
a spermatic smell, and is viscid and glutinous to the touch. Vau-
quelin and Buniva found it to contain, water, 98.8; albumen, mu-
riate of soda, soda, phosphate of lime, and lime, 1.2. That of the
cow, according to these gentlemen, contains amniotic acid; but
Prout, Dulong, and Labillardiere and Lassaigne have not
been able to detect it. Prout found some sugar of milk in the
liquor amnii of the human female; Berzelius detected fluoric
acid in it; Scheele free oxygen; and Lassaigne, in one experi-
ment, a gas resembling atmospheric air; in others a gas composed
of carbonic acid and azote. The chymical history of this substance
is, consequently, sufficiently uncertain. Nor is its formation placed
upon surer grounds:—some physiologists ascribing it to the mo-
ther, others to the foetus;—opinions fluctuating, according to the
presumed source of the vessels that supply the amnion with ar-
terial blood. It has even been supposed to be the transpiration
of the foetus, or its urine. The reply to these views is, that we
find it in greater relative proportion when the foetus is small.
Meckel thinks that it proceeds chiefly from the mother, but that
about the termination of pregnancy, it is furnished in part by
the foetus. The functions, however, to which, as we shall see, it is
probably inservient, would almost constrain us to consider it a se-
cretion from the maternal vessels.
The quantity varies in different individuals and in the same in-
dividual, at different pregnancies, from four ounces to as many
pints. Occasionally, it exists to such an amount as even to throw
obscurity over the very fact of pregnancy. An instance of this kind,
strongly elucidating the necessity of the most careful attention on
the part of the practitioner in such cases, occurred in the practice
of a respectable London practitioner,—a friend of the author.
The abdomen of a lady had been for some time enlarging by
what was supposed to be abdominal dropsy: fluctuation was evi-
dent, and the case appeared to be unequivocal. A distinguished
accoucheur with a surgeon of the highest eminence were called
FOETAL anatomy.
349
in consultation, and after examination, the latter declared, that
"it was an Augean stable, which nothing but the trocar could
clear out." As the lady, however, was even then complaining of
intermittent pain, it was deemed advisable to make an examination
per vaginam. The os uteri was found dilated and dilating, and,
in a few hours after this formidable decision, she was delivered of
a healthy child, the gush of liquor amnii being most enormous.
After its discharge the lady was reduced to the natural size, and the
dropsy, of course, disappeared!
3. Placenta. This is a soft, spongy, vascular body, formed at the
surface of the chorion, adherent to the uterus, and connected with the
foetus by the umbilical cord. The placenta is not in existence during
the first days of the embryo state. At this period, the ovule is cover-
ed with the shaggy secretion or granulations by which the chorion
is united to the decidua reflexa, where this membrane covers it,
and by which it adheres to the uterus and forms the placenta, where
the decidua is wanting,—as it is supposed to be in one of the views
with regard to the decidua. The formation of the placenta is dif-
ferently accounted for according to those views. In the opinion of
some, the fiocculi, which are at first spread uniformly over the
whole external surface of the chorion, gradually congregate from all
parts of the surface into one, uniting with vessels, proceeding
from the uterus, and traversing the decidua, to form the pla-
centa;—the decidua disappearing from the uterine surface of the pla-
centa about the middle of pregnancy, so that the latter comes into
immediate contact with the uterus. In the opinion of others, the
placenta is formed by the separation of the layers of the chorion,
and by the development of the different vessels, that creep between
them. Again, Velpeau maintains, that the placenta forms only at
the part of the ovule, which is not covered by the decidua, and
which is immediately in contact with the uterus; and that it results
from the development of the granulations that cover this part of the
chorion; these granulations or villi, according to Velpeau, being
gangliform organs containing the rudiments of the placental vessels.
This is an interesting topic of general anatomy, but one on which
we are precluded from dwelling. In whatever manner originally
produced, it is distinguishable in the second month, after which it
goes on successively increasing. Prior to the full term, however,
it is said to be less heavy, more dense, and less vascular, owing to
several of the vessels, that formed it, having become obliterated and
converted into hard, fibrous filaments; a change which has been re-
garded as a sign of maturity in the foetus, and a prelude to its birth.
At the full period, its extent has been estimated at about one-
fourth of that of the ovum; its diameter from six to eight inches; its
circumference, twenty-four inches; its thickness from an inch to an
inch and a quarter, at the centre, but less than this at the circum-
ference; and its weight, with the umbilical cord and membranes,
from twelve to twenty ounces. All this is subject, however, to much
350
GENERATION.—OF THE FOBTUS.
Uterine surface of the plaeenta.
variation. It is of a circular shape, and the cord is usually inserted
into its centre. It may be
attached to any part of
the uterus, but is usually
found towards the fundus.
Of its two surfaces, that
which corresponds to the
uterus, is divided into ir-
regularly rounded lobes
or cotyledons, and it is
covered by a soft and
delicate cellulo-vascular
membrane, which, ac-
cording to Chaussier,—
who believes that the de-
cidua invests the whole
ovum,—is the decidua.
Wrisberg, Lobstein,
and Desormeaux, how-
ever, who consider that the decidua disappears from behind the
placenta about the fourth or
Fig. 149. fifth month, regard it as a new
membrane; whilst Velpeau
maintains that the decidua
never exists there.
The foetal or umbilical
surface is smooth, polished,
covered by the chorion and
amnion and exhibits the dis-
tribution of the umbilical ves-
sels, and the mode in which
the cord is attached to the
organ.
The following are the ana-
tomical constituents of the
placenta, as described by
anatomists. First. Blood-
FcEtal surface of the placenta. -■-»»»«#«
vessels, from two sources,—
the mother and the foetus. The former proceed from the uterus,
and consist of arteries and veins, of small size but considerable num-
ber. The vessels, which proceed from the foetus, are those that
constitute the umbilical cord;—viz. the umbilical vein, and the um-
bilical arteries. These vessels, after having penetrated the foetal
surface of the placenta, divide in the substance of the organ, so
that each lobe has an arterial and a venous branch, which ramify in
it, but do not anastomose with the vessels of other lobes. Second-
ly. Expansions of the chorion, which are described by some as
dividing into cellular sheaths and accompanying the vessels to their
FOETAL ANATOMY. 351
final ramifications;—an arrangement which is, however, contested
by others. Thirdly. White filaments, which are numerous in pro-
portion to the advancement of pregnancy, and which seem to be
only obliterated vessels. Fourthly. A kind of intermediate cellu-
lar tissue, serving to unite the vessels together, and which has been
regarded, by some anatomists, as an extension of the decidua ac-
companying those vessels. Lastly. A quantity of blood poured
into this intermediate cellular tissue, which may be removed by
washing.
In addition to these constituents, a glandular structure has been
presumed to exist in it; as well as lymphatic vessels; and Chaussier
and Kibes say nerves, proceeding from the great sympathetic of the
foetus.
The uterine and the foetal portions of the placenta are quite dis-
tinct from each other, during the two first months of foetal life; but
afterwards they constitute one mass. Still the uterine vessels re-
main quite distinct from the foetal; the uterine arteries and veins
communicating freely with each other, as well as the foetal arteries
and veins; but no direct communication existing between the ma-
ternal and foetal vessels.
4. Umbilical cord.—From the foetal surface of the placenta a
cord of vessels passes, which enters the umbilicus of the foetus, and
has hence received the name umbilical cord, as well as that of
navel-string. It forms the medium of communication between the
foetus and the placenta.
During the first month of foetal existence, the cord is not percep-
tible; the embryo appearing to be in contact, by the anterior part
of its body, with the membranes of the ovum.
In an embryo, a month old, Beclard observed vessels creeping
for a certain space between the membranes of the ovum, from the
abdomen of the foetus to a part of the chorion, where the rudi-
ments of the future placenta were visible. During the fifth week,
the cord can first be detected, at which period it is straight, short,
and very large,
owing to its con- Fig. 150.
taining a portion
of the intestinal
canal. It presents
also, three or four
dilatations, sepa-
rated by as many
contracted por-
tionsor necks; but
these gradually
disappear, the cord
lengthens and be-
comessmaller,and
occasionally it is twisted, knotted and tuberculated in a strangely in-
352
GENERATION.--OF THE FOETUS.
explicable manner, (Fig. 150.) At the full period, the length of thecord
varies; but, on the average, it is perhaps about twenty inches. It
is composed of three vessels,—the umbilical vein, two arteries of
the same name, of a peculiar jelly-like substance, and is surrounded,
as we have seen, by the amnion and chorion. The vessels will be
more particularly described hereafter. They are united by a cel-
lular tissue, containing the jelly ofthe cord, a thick albuminous se-
cretion, which bears some resemblance to jelly, and the quantity of
which, is very variable. In the foetus, the cellular tissue is continu-
ous with the sub-peritoneal cellular tissue; and in the placenta, it
is considered to accompany the ramifications of the vessels.
It has been already remarked, that Chaussier and Ribes have
traced branches of the great sympathetic of the foetus as far as the
placenta.
According to most obstetrical physiologists, when pregnancy is
multiple, the ova in the uterus are generally distinct, but contiguous
to each other. By others, it has been affirmed that two or more
children may be contained in the same ovum, but this appears to
require confirmation. The placenta of each child, in such multiple
cases, may be distinct; or the different placentae may be united into
one, having intimate vascular communications with each other. At
other times, in twin cases, but one placenta exists. This gives origin
to two cords, and at others, to one only, which afterwards bifur-
cates and proceeds to both foetuses. Maygrier, however, affirms
unconditionally, that there is always a placenta for each foetus; but
that it is not uncommon, in double pregnancies, to find the two
placentae united at their margins; the circulation, however, of each
foetus being distinct, although the vessels may anastomose.
II. OF THE FCETUS.—-The ovule does not reach the uterus un-
til towards the termination of a week after conception. On the seventh
or eight day it has the appearance referred
to in the case so often cited from Sir Eve-
rard Home; the future situations of the
brain and spinal marrow being recogni-
with the aid of a powerful micro-
On the thirteenth or fourteenth
day, according to Maygrier, the ovum
is perceptible in the uterus, and of about
the size of a pea, containing a turbid
fluid, in the midst of which an opaque
point is suspended,—the punctum saliens.
ovum and embryo, fifteen days The weight of this has been valued at about
ul"■ Divided integuments.-c, c. Divided
. ■'..,.. „ «nbs and intercostal muscles.—e, e. Lobes of
ObSCUre, in ltS phySlOlOgy, Of any Of thymus gUnd.-g,g, h,h. Lungs.-*. Right
,, c iU U J auricle of „the heart.—A. Right ventricle.—
the Organs Ol the DOdy. ri,o. Right and left lobes of the liver.-jft. Sto-
The thyroid gland, which has been JSfh5&£r T^^SSS^v^^
described in another place, and whose ^^^1.-^^^^: ?he
functions are equally obscure, is also collapsed umbilical cord.
largely developed in the foetus; as well as the supra-renal capsules.
360
GENERATION.—OF THE fcetus.
The lungs, not having received air in respiration, are collapsed
and dense, containing no more blood than is necessary for their nu-
trition. They are of a dark colour, like liver, and do not fill the
cavities of the chest. Their specific gravity is greater than that of
water,and consequently they sink in that fluid. On cutting into them,
no air is emitted, and no hemorrhage follows. The absolute weight,
however, of the lungs is less; no more blood, as we have seen, being
sent to them than what is necessary for their nutriment; whilst, after
respiration is established, the whole of the blood passes through them;
the vessels are consequently filled with blood, enlarged, and the
organs themselves increased in absolute weight. Ploucquet asserts,
from experiments, that the weight of the lungs of a full-grown foe-
tus, which never respired, is to that of the whole body, as 1 to 70;
whilst jn those, in which respiration has been established, it is as 1
to 35; the absolute weight being thus doubled. These numbers
cannot, however, be considered to afford a satisfactory average; the
exceptions being most numerous, but all show that, as might
be expected, the absolute weight is less prior to the establishment
of respiration. The subject is one of great interest, connected with
infanticide, and has been treated in a competent manner by Dr. T.
Beck in his Elements of Medical Jurisprudence,—decidedly, in
our opinion, the best medico-legal work in existence.
It is, however, in the circulatory system of the foetus, that we meet
with the most striking peculiarities. The heart is proportionably
larger and more conical than in the adult. The valve of Eustachius—
at the left side of the mouth of the inferior vena cava, where this vessel
joins the sinus venosus,—is larger than at an after period, and is sup-
posed to direct the principal part of the blood of that cava directly
through the opening which exists between the right and left auricle.
This opening, which is called the foramen ovale or foramen of
Botal, is in the septum between the auricles, and is nearly equal
in size to the mouth of the
inferior cava. It is situated
obliquely, and has a mem-
brane, forming a distinct
valve, and somewhat of a
crescentic shape, which al-
lows part of the blood of
the right auricle to pass
through the opening into
the left auricle, but pre-
vents its return.
The pulmonary artery,
instead of bifurcating as in
the adult, divides into three
branches;—the right and
A, A. Lungs.-B. Right auricle.-C. Leftauricle.-D. Right left going fo the lungS of
ri^us.016*"12, Pulm°nary artery-*. Aorta.-*. Ductus arte- the corresponding side,
FCETAL PECULIARITIES.
361
whilst the middle branch,—to which the name ductus arteriosus
has been given,—opens directly into the aorta; so that a great part
of the blood of the pulmonary artery passes directly into that ves-
sel. From the internal iliac arteries, two considerable vessels arise,
called the umbilical arteries. These mount by the sides of the
bladder, as in Fig. 156, on the outside of the peritoneum and per-
forate the umbilicus in their progress to the umbilical cord and pla-
cepta.
The umbilical vein, which is also a constituent of the cord, and
conveys the blood from the placenta to the foetus, arises from the
substance of the placenta by a multitude of radicles, which unite
together to form it. Its size is considerable. It enters the umbi-
licus, (Fig. 156;) passes towards the inferior surface of the liver, and
joins the left branch of the vena porta hepatica. Here a vessel arises
called the ductus venosus, which opens into the vena cava inferior,
or joins the left vena hepatica, where that vein enters the cava. A
part only of the blood of the umbilical vein goes directly to the
vena cava; the remainder is distributed to the right and left lobes
of the liver, especially to the latter.
The digestive apparatus exhibits few peculiarities. The bowels,
at the full period, always contain a quantity of greenish, or deep
black, viscid faeces, to which the term meconium has been ap-
plied, owing to their resemblance to the inspissated juice of the
poppy, (/M.jjxwy, 'a poppy.') It appears to be a compound of the secre-
tions from the intestinal canal and bile, and frequently contains
down or fine hairs mixed with it.
The liver is very large; so much so as to occupy both hypochon-
driac regions; and the right and left lobes are more nearly of a size
than in the adult.
The urinary bladder is of an elongated shape, and extends almost
to the umbilicus. The muscular coat is somewhat thicker and more
irritable than in the adult, and it continues to possess more power
during youth. The common trick of the schoolboy—of send-
ing the jet over his head—is generally impracticable in more ad-
vanced life.
From the fundus of the bladder, a ligament of a conical shape, called
the urachus, (Fig. 156,) ascends between the umbilical arteries to
the umbilicus; becoming confounded in this place with the abdominal
aponeuroses, according to Bichat, and forming a kind of suspen-
sory ligament to the bladder. It is sometimes found hollow in the
human foetus, but such a formation Bichat considers to be pre-
ternatural. In the foetal quadruped, it is a large canal, which
transmits urine to a bag, called allantois, placed between the am-
nion and chorion and presumed to be, in some way, inservient to
the nutrition of the foetus; but the notions on this subject are ex-
tremely vague and imprecise.
Lastly, the genital organs require some notice. The succes-
Vol. II. 46
362
GENERATION.—OF THE FQ3TUS.
sive development of this part of the system has given rise to
some singular views regarding the cause of the sex of the foetus.
During the first few weeks, the organs are not perceptible; but
about the termination of the fifth week, a small, cleft eminence ap-
pears, which is the rudiment of the scrotum or the vulva, accord-
ing to the sex. In the sixth week, an aperture is perceptible,
common to the anus and genital organs, in front of which is a pro-
jecting tubercle. In the seventh and eighth weeks, this tubercle
seems to be tipped by a glans, and grooved beneath by a channel
which extends to the anus. In the eleventh and twelfth weeks, the
perineum is formed and separates the anus from the genital or-
gans. In the fourteenth week, the sex is distinct; but there still
remains, for some time, a groove beneath the clitoris or penis,
which becomes closed in the former, and is made into a canal in
the latter.
The striking similarity between the male and female organs has
led Tiedemann to conclude, that the female sex is the male, ar-
rested at an inferior point of organization. In his view, every em-
bryo is originally female; the cleft, described above, being the
vulva, the tubercle, the clitoris; to constitute the male sex, the cleft
is united so as to form a raphe, the labia majora are joined to form the
scrotum, the nymphse to form the urethra, and the clitoris is trans-
formed into a penis. In support of this opinion Tiedemann as-
serts, that the lowest species of animals are almost all females; and
that all the young acephali and aborted foetuses, which have been
examined, are of that sex.
Others again, have affirmed, that the sexes are originally neuter,
and that the future sex is determined by accidental circumstances,
during the first week of foetal life; whilst Geoffroy St. Hilaire
maintains, that the difference of sex is owing to the distribution of
the two branches of the spermatic artery. If they continue in ap-
proximation, proceeding together,—the one to the testicle, the other
to the epididymis, the individual is male; if they separate,—the one
going to the ovary, the other to the cornua of the uterus,—the indi-
vidual is female. The degree of predominance of the cerebrospi-
nal system, he thinks, determines the approximation or separation
of the two arterial branches. This predominance being greater in
the male, the spermatic arteries are more feeble and consequently in
greater proximity; and vice versa.
Leaving these phantasies of the generalizing anatomist, on a sub-
ject on which we must, probably, ever remain in the dark, let us
inquire into the phenomena of the descent of the testes in the foetus.
In the early months of foetal life, the testicle is an abdominal vis-
cus, being seated below the kidney. About the middle of the third
month of utero-gestation, it is about two lines long, and is situated
FOETAL PECULIARITIES.
363
behind the peritoneum, which is reflected over its ventral surface
At this time, a sheath of perito-
neum may be observed, passing
from the abdominal ring to the lower
part of the testicle, and containing
a ligament, called gubernaculum
testis, which is considered to be
formed of elastic cellular tissue,
proceeding from the upper part of
the scrotum, and from the part of
the general aponeurosis of the thigh
near the ring, and of some muscular
fibres coming from the internal ob-
lique and transversalis muscles.
The head of the foetus in utero be-
ing the lowest part, the testis has ne-
cessarily to ascend into the scrotum,
and consequently some force must be
exerted upon it. This is supposed to
be effected by the contraction of the
gubernaculum testis. About the
Seventh month the testes are in pro- A. Testicle.—B. Peritoneal covering or tunica
, n .. t^. , -'— albuginea.—C. Peritoneum of the loins.—D. Pe-
greSS towards the SCrotum. .fclg. 1OO ritoneum descending before the testicle.—F. Pe-
exhibits one about to leave the ab-ritoneum^abdomen-
domen and enter the scrotum, into which it generally passes about
the eighth month. In this de-
scent, the organ successively
abandons one portion of the pe-
ritoneum to pass behind an-
other immediately below, until
the lowest part of the pouch,
formed by the peritoneum,
around the testicle, as in Fig.
159, becomes the tunica albu-
ginea or first coat; whilst the
portion of peritoneum, that de-
scended before the testicle, be-
comes, when the testicle has
fully descended, the second
coat or tunica vaginalis.
As soon as the testicle has
reached the lower part of the
scrotum, the neck of the pouch
approaches a closure, and this
is commonly effected at birth.
Sometimes, however, it re-
mains open for some time, the
intestines pass down, and congenital hernia is thus induced.
A. Testicle in the scrotum.—B. Prolongation of the
peritoneum.—C. Peritoneum lining the abdomen.—D.
Peritoneum forming the tunica vaginalis.—E. Cavity
of the peritoneum.—F. Kidney.
364 GENERATION.--OF THE FC3TUS.
Physiology of the Foetus.
In investigating this interesting point of human physiology, we
shall inquire into the functions, in the order of the classification we
have adopted of the functions of the adult. Over many of the topics
that will have to engage attention, the deepest obscurity rests; whilst
the hypotheses, indulged regarding them, have been of the most
fanciful and mystical character.
I. Animal functions.—The external senses in general are mani-
festly not in exercise during foetal life: of this there can be no
doubt, as regards the sense of sight; and the same thing probably
applies to the taste, smell, and hearing. With regard to tact,
however, we have the best reason for believing that it exists, par-
ticularly towards the latter periods of utero-gestation. The cold hand,
applied over the abdomen of the mother, will instantly elicit the
motions of the child. The brain and nervous system of the foetus
must, therefore, have undergone the development, necessary for the
reception of the impression made through the medium of the mo-
ther, to convey such impression to the percipient organ, and to ac-
complish perception.
The existence of most of the internal sensations or wants would
of course be supererogatory in the foetal state, where the functions, to
which they excite after birth, are themselves wanting. It is proba-
ble, that there is no digestion except of the mucous secretions of
the tube; no excretion of*fseces or urine, and certainly there is no
pulmonary respiration. It is not improbable, however, that in-
ternal impressions, originating in the very tissue of the organs, may
be communicated to, and appreciated by, the brain. We have strong
reason for believing, that pain may be experienced by the foetus;
for if it be destroyed by any sudden influence, in the latter periods
of pregnancy, death will generally be preceded by irregular move-
ments, which are manifest to the mother, and frequently lead her
to anticipate the result. Adelon asks, whether it may not be af-
fected, under such circumstances with convulsions, similar to those
that animals experience when they die suddenly, especially from
hemorrhage? It is impossible to reply to this question, but that the
child suffers appears evident.
The most elevated of the functions of relation—the mental and
moral faculties—would seem to be needless to the foetus, and conse-
quently little, if at all, exercised. Bichat and Adelon, considering
that its existence is purely vegetative, are of opinion that they are
not exerted at all. Cabanis, however, suggests, that imperfect es-
says may, at this early period, be made by virtue of the same in-
stinct that impels animals to exercise their organs prior to the pe-
riod at which they are really able to derive service from them; as
in the case, of the bird, which will shake its wings before they are
covered wfth feathers, and when yet incapable of bearing them.
NUTRITION OF THE FQ3TUS. 365
It is difficult to deny the foetus all intellectual and moral mani-
festation. This must doubtless be obscurely rudimental, but still
we may conceive that some may exist, if we admit, that the brain
is in a state for the perception of impressions, and that tact is prac-
ticable, whilst instinct is in full activity.
We find, moreover, that the power of motion, voluntary as well
as involuntary, exists certainly after the fifth month, and probably
much earlier, could it be appreciated. During the latter months of
utero-gestation, the motion of the foetus appears to be almost inces-
sant, and can be distinctly felt, by placing the hand upon the abdo-
men. At times, indeed, it is manifest to the sight. The cause of
these movements is by no means clear. It is probable, however,
that they are instituted for the purpose of inducing a change in po-
sitions which may have become irksome, and for assuming others;
for we have already remarked, that the foetus readily appreciates
any sudden succussion, given to it through the mother; hence that
it possesses tact; and, as we can readily understand, may experience
fatigue from the maintenance of an inconvenient posture. This im-
pression is conveyed to the brain, which sends out volition to the ap-
propriate muscles,and the position is changed. Allthisproves,thatthe
cerebral functions are exerted, but for a few definite objects only.
The function of expression is of course almost, if not entirely,
null in the foetus. There are cases upon record, however, where
children are said to have cried in utero, so as to be heard distinctly,
not only by the mother, but by those around her. Indeed, the ob-
jection, that an infant may respire before it is born, and yet not
come into the world alive,—in which case there will be buoyancy
and dilatation of the lungs,—has been seriously brought forward
against the docimasia pulmonum or lung-proof of infanticide. We
would not be considered as believing these cases to be mere fabrica-
tions, or that the phenomenon is impossible,—except, indeed, whilst
the membranes are in a state of integrity. When they have given
way, and the child's mouth presents towards the os uteri, breathing
may be practicable, and may have occurred; but very positive and
unexceptionable testimony is required to establish such an astound-
ing event.
II. Functions of Nutrition.—These functions are not as numer-
ous in the foetus as they are in the adult. Their object is, however,
the same;—the formation of the various parts of the organized ma-
chine, and their constant decomposition and renovation.
During the first few days of foetal existence, whilst the ovum
is within the ovarium or Fallopian tube, and for a short period after
its passage into the womb, the new being probably derives its
nutriment from the albuminous matters with which it is in contact
in the ovum, in the same manner as the egg of the oviparous ani-
mal obtains the nutriment necessary for its full development during
incubation, from the matters surrounding it. But when it has at-
tained the interior of the uterus, it is supposed that the ovum ab-
366
GENERATION.—OF THE FOETUS.
sorbs nutriment from the mother. Chaussier conceives, that
the ovule, on leaving the Fallopian tube, plunges into the midst
of the sero-albuminous substance, which is copiously secreted in
the uterus for the formation of the decidua, and that it nourishes
itself by absorbing a quantity of this by its external surface, like
the vegetable, and the lowest tribes of animals. The decidua, how-
ever, appears to be intended for a specific purpose, and is formed
even prior to the passage of the ovule into the uterus. This, with
the fact of the ovule containing nutritive matter within it for the
nutrition of the embryo, is sufficient to render the view of Chaus-
sier improbable.
The liquor amnii, in which the child is situated during the whole
period of utero-gestation, has been regarded by many physiologists
as concerned in foetal nutrition; but great dissidence has pre-
vailed with regard to the mode in which it is introduced. The
arguments, usually adduced in favour of this function of the liquor
amnii, are,—the nutritive nature of the fluid, young animals having
been fed upon it for several weeks,—the fact of its being more abun-
dant and richer in animal matter in proportion as the foetus is young,
—its continual contact with the foetus, whose surfaces, internal as
well as external, have been supposed to possess a greater absorbent
power in proportion to the nonage of the foetus,—and the fact of
foetuses, devoid of umbilical cord, having undergone their develop-
ment without the aid of a placenta.
The circumstance of the first developments being made in the
ovarium from the absorption of the nutritive matter surrounding the
embryo, is so far in favour of the foetus obtaining its nutriment from
the substances in contact with it, rather than by means of the ma-
ternal blood; and the view is favoured by the phenomena that oc-
cur in eggs hatched out of the body, where of course there can be no
farther communication with the mother.
The most forcible arguments, however, are those deduced from
the fact, which seems unquestionable, that neither the placenta nor
umbilical cord is indispensably necessary to foetal development.
Adelon disposes of this in the most summary manner; affirming
that " there is no authentic instance of a foetus devoid of umbilical
cord and placenta, attaining full uterine growth." The case is
not, however, got rid of so easily, and it environs this intricate
subject with additional difficulties. The kangaroo, opossum, and
wombat, breed their young without either placenta or umbilical
cord. The embryos are inclosed in one or more membranes, which
are not attached to the coats of the uterus, and are supplied with
nourishment, and apparently with air, from a gelatinous matter, by
which they are surrounded. Good has cited a case from Hoffmann
of a foetus born in full health and vigour, with the funis sphacelated
and divided into two parts; and another, from Van der Wiel, of
a living child, exhibited without any umbilicus, as a public curiosity.
One of the most singular cases, however, that has ever occurred,
NUTRITION OF THE FG3TUS.
367
was observed by Dr. Good himself in 1791. The labour was natu-
ral; the child, scarcely less than the ordinary size, was born alive;
cried feebly once or twice after birth, and died in about ten minutes.
The organization, both internal and external, was imperfect in many
parts. There was no sexual character whatever, neither penis nor
pudendum; nor any interior organ of generation. There was no
anus or rectum, no funis, no umbilicus. The minutest investigation
could not discover the least trace of any. With the use of a little
force, a small, shrivelled placenta, or rather the rudiment of a pla-
centa, followed soon after the birth of the child, without a funis or
umbilical vessels of any kind, or any other appendage by which it
appeared to have been attached to the child. In a quarter of an
hour afterwards, a second living child was protruded into the va-
gina and delivered with ease, being a perfect boy, attached to its
placenta by a proper funis. The body of the first child was dis-
sected in the presence of Dr. Drake of Hadleigh, and of Mr.
Anderson of Sunbury, to both of whom Dr. Good appeals for the
correctness of his statement. In the stomach a liquid was found
resembling the liquor amnii.
How could nutrition have been effected, then, in this case? Cer-
tainly not by blood sent from the mother to the child, for no appa-
ratus for its conveyance was discoverable; and are we not driven
to the necessity of supposing that the food must have been obtained
from the fluid within the ovum? This case,—when taken with the
arguments already adduced; along with the facts, that the embryo
is found at an earlier period in the uterus than the placenta, which
as we have seen cannot be detected till some weeks after concep-
tion; and that extra-uterine foetuses have frequently no placenta,
but obtain their nutriment from the surrounding parts,—seems to
constrain us to admit, that the liquor amnii may have more agency
in the nutrition of the new being than is generally granted. Pro-
fessor Monro, amongst other reasons,—all of which are of a nega-
tive character,—for his disbelief in this function of the liquor
amnii, asserts, that if the office of the placenta be not that of afford-
ing food to the embryo, it becomes those, who maintain the con-
trary doctrine to determine what other office can be allotted to it,
and that till this is done, it is more consistent with reason to
doubt the few and unsatisfactory cases, at that time brought for-
ward, than to perplex ourselves with facts directly contradictory of
each other. The case, given by Dr. Good since Professor Monro's
remarks were published, is so unanswerable and so unquestionable,
that it affords a positive fact, of full or nearly full foetal develop-
ment, independently of placenta and umbilical cord; and the fact
must remain, although our ignorance of the functions of the pla-
centa, be " dark as Erebus."
Amongst those physiologists, who admit the liquor amnii to be
a fluid destined for foetal nutrition, a difference prevails, regarding
the mode in which it is received into the system. Buffon, Osian-
368
GENERATION.—OF THE FffiTUS.
der and others consider, that it is absorbed through the skin. In
the foetal state, the cuticle is extremely thin; and, until within a
month or two of the full period, can be scarcely said to exist. There
is consequently not that impediment to cutaneous absorption, which
we have seen, exists in the adult. The strong argument, however,
which they offer in favour of such absorption is the fact, that the
foetus has been found developed, although devoid of both mouth and
umbilical cord; and Professor Monro, in opposing the function as-
cribed to the liquor amnii, refers to cases of monstrous formations,
in which no mouth existed, nor any kind of passage leading to the
stomach.
Others, as Boerhaave and Haller are of opinion that the fluid
enters the mouth and is sent on into the stomach and intestines; and
in support of this view, they affirm, that the liquor amnii has been
found in these viscera;—that it has been shown to exist in the sto-
mach and pharynx. Heister on opening a gravid cow, which had
perished from cold, found the liquor amnii frozen, and a continuous
mass of ice extending to the stomach of the foetus.
The physiologists, who believe that the liquor amnii is received
into the stomach, differ as to what happens to it in that organ. Some
suppose, that it is simply absorbed, without undergoing digestion;
others, that it must be first subjected to that process. According
to the former opinion, it is simply necessary, that the fluid should
come into contact with the mucous membrane of the alimentary
passages; and they affirm, that if digestion occur at all, it can only
be during the latter months.
Others, however, conceive, that the waters are swallowed or
sucked in, and that they undergo true digestion. In evidence of
this, they adduce the fact of meconium existing at an early period in
the intestinal canal, which they consider as evidence that the diges-
tive function is in action; and in farther proof of this they affirm,
that on opening the abdomen of a new-born infant, the chyliferous
vessels were found filled with chyle; which could not, they say,
have been formed from any other substance than the liquor amnii;
and lastly, that fine silky down has been found in the meconium,
similar to that which exists on the skin of the foetus, and which is
conceived to have entered the mouth along with the liquor amnii.
These reasons are forcible, but they do not explain the de-
velopment, in the cases above alluded to, in which there was no
mouth; and of course, they cannot apply to acephalous foetuses.
Moreover, it has been properly remarked, that the presence of me-
conium in the intestinal canal merely proves that digestion has
taken place, and the same may be said of the chyle in the chylife-
rous vessels: neither one nor the other is a positive evidence of the
digestion of the liquor amnii: both might have proceeded from the
digestion of the stomachal secretions. It has also been affirmed,
that the meconium exists in the intestines of the acephalous foetus,
and in those in which the mouth is imperforate. Lastly, with re-
NUTRITION OF THE FffiTUS.
369
gard to the down discovered in the meconium, it has been sug-
gested as possible that it may be formed by the mucous membrane
of the intestine, which so strongly resembles the skin in structure
and functions.
Others have supposed that the liquor amnii is received by the
respiratory passages, from the circumstance, that, in certain cases,
the fluid has been found in the trachea and bronchi; some presum-
ing, that it readily and spontaneously enters at the nostrils and
passes to the trachea and bronchi; others that it is forced in by the
pressure of the uterus; and others again, that it is introduced by
the respiratory movements of the foetus.
Views have differed in this case, also, regarding the action exert-
ed upon it after introduction;—some, presuming that it is absorbed
immediately; others, that it is inservient to a kind of respiration;
and that, during foetal existence, we are aquatic animals,—consuming
the oxygen or atmospheric air which Scheele and others have
stated to exist in the fluid.
It is scarcely necessary to seriously oppose these gratuitous specu-
lations. The whole arrangement of the vascular system of the foe-
tus, so different from that which is subsequently established, and the
great diversity in the lungs, prior and subsequent to respiration,
would be sufficient to refute the idea, had it even been shown, that
the liquor amnii always contains one or other of these gases, which
is by no means the fact. The case of the acephalous foetus is also
an obstacle to this view as strong as to that of the digestion of the li*
quor amnii.
As if to confirm the remark of Cicero—-"nihil tarn absurdum,
quod non dictum sit ab aliquo philosophorum,"—it has been ad-
vanced by two individuals of no mean pretensions in science, that
the liquor amnii may be absorbed by the genital organs or by the
mammas.
Lobstein supports the former view, Oken the latter. Lobstein
asserts, that the fluid is laid hold of by the mammas, is elaborated by
them, and conveyed from thence into the thymus gland, the thoracic
duct, and the vascular system of the foetus!
Of these various opinions, the one that assigns the introduction of
the fluid to the agency of the cutaneous absorbents appears to carry
with it the greatest probability. It must be admitted, however,
that the whole subject is environed in obscurity, and requires
fresh, repeated, and accurate experiments and observations to en-
lighten us.
But it may now be asked, with Monro, what are the nutritive
functions performed by the placenta? We have seen that vessels
pass between the mother and the maternal side of the placenta, and
that others pass between the foetus and the foetal side, but that the
two sides are so distinct, that we are justified in regarding them as
two placentas,—the one maternal, the other foetal,—simply united to
each other.
Vol. II. 47
370 generation.—of the fcetus.
At one time it was supposed, that a direct communication exists
between the maternal and foetal vessels, but this notion has been
lono- exploded. We have the most decisive evidence, that the con-
nexion is of the most indirect nature. Wrisberg made several ex-
periments, which showed that the fluid of the foetal circulation is
not drained when the mother dies from hemorrhage. It has been
shown, too, that if the uterine arteries be injected, the matter of the
injection passes into the uterine veins after having been effused into
the lobes of the placenta, and the same thing happens when the ute-
rine veins are injected. If, on the other hand, the injection be
thrown into the umbilical arteries or vein, the matter passes from
one of these sets of vessels into the other, is effused into the foetal
side of the placenta, but does not pass into the uterine vessels.
When, however, an odorous substance, like camphor, is injected into
the maternal veins of an animal the foetal blood ultimately assumes a
camphorated odour. Magendie injected this substance into the veins
of a gravid bitch, and extracted a foetus from the uterus, at the ex-
piration of three or four minutes: the blood did not exhibit the
slightest odour of camphor; whilst that of a second foetus, ex-
tracted at the end of a quarter of an hour, had a decidedly campho-
rated smell. This was the case, also, with the other foetuses. Such
communication may, however, have been owing to the same kind
of transudation and imbibition, of which we have spoken under the
head of absorption, and may consequently be regarded as entirely
adventitious; and the fact of the length of time, required for the
detection of the odorous substance, favours this idea; for if a com-
munication, of even an indirect nature, existed between the mother
and the foetus, the transmission ought certainly to have been effect-
ed more speedily.
The transmission of substances from the foetal to the maternal
placenta is yet more difficult. Magendie was never able to affect
the mother by poisons injected into the umbilical arteries and di-
rected towards the placenta; and he remarks, in confirmation of the
results of the experiments of Wrisberg, that if the mother dies of
hemorrhage, the vessels of the foetus remain filled with blood.
Another fact, that proves the indirect nature of the connexion
which exists between the parent and child, is the total want of corres-
pondence between the circulation of the fcetus and that of the mother.
By applying the stethoscope to the abdomen of a pregnant female,
the beating of the heart is observed to be twice as frequent as that
of the mother. Again, examples have occurred in which the foetus
has been extruded with the placenta and membranes entire. In a
case of this kind, which occurred to Wrisberg, the circulation con-
tinued for nine minutes; in one, described by Osiander, for fif-
teen minutes; in some, by Professor Chapman, for from ten to
twenty minutes; and in one by Professor Channing, of Boston,
and Dr. Selby, of Tennessee, where a bath of tepid water was
used to resuscitate the fcetus, for an hour. In other cases of a simi-
nutrition of the fcetus.
371
lar kind, where the child could scarcely breathe and was in danger
of perishing, the life of the placenta has been maintained by keep-
ing it in water of a temperature nearly equal to that of the body,
and the child has been saved. All these facts prove demonstra-
tively, that the foetus carries on a circulation independently of that
of the mother, and that whatever passes between the foetal and ma-
ternal vessels is probably exhaled from the one and absorbed by
the other, as the case may be. The fluid sent to the foetus is sup-
posed by some,—indeed by most physiologists,—to be the mater-
nal blood. Schreger, however, maintains that the communication
of any nutritious fluid from the mother to the foetus and vice versa
takes place by means of lymphatics, and not by blood-vessels; and
that the maternal vessels exhale into the spongy tissue of the pla-
centa the serous part of the blood, which is taken up by the lym-
phatics of the foetal portion, and conveyed into the thoracic duct.
The facts, previously brought forward, show, that the fcetus may
be developed without any umbilical cord or umbilicus; and those
we have just detailed, exhibit, that the foetal circulation is at all
events largely independent of that of the mother; whilst the posi-
tion, that the placenta is the medium by which nutritive matter of
any kind passes from the mother to the foetus and vice versa rests
upon singularly feeble and inadequate evidence. The functions,
which it appears to execute, will engage attention presently.
Lastly, Lobstein and Meckel suppose, that the gelatinous sub-
stance of the cord is one of the materials of foetal nutrition. This
opinion they found on the circumstance of the albuminous nature
of the substance, and the great size which it gives to the cord at
the early periods of foetal life, as well as on the great development
of the absorbent system of the foetus, proceeding from the umbili-
cus to the anterior mediastinum.
All these speculations regarding the various sources of nutritive
matter are sufficient evidence of the uncertainty that prevails op
this interesting topic; yet Magendie affirms, "that it appears cer-
tain, that the placenta imbibes from the mother the materials neces-
sary for the development, of the organs!"
Some of the most recent writers on the subject are of opinion,
that the sources whence the nutritive matter is derived varies at
different periods of gestation. Lobstein, for example, thinks,that
the venous radicles of the rudimental placenta obtain nutritious
fluids from the mother, prior to the formation of the arteries; but
that afterwards all circulation between the uterus and placenta
ceases; and the umbilical vesicle, (a small body of the size of a large
pea seated,as we have seen, in the umbilical cord between the chorion
and amnion, and supposed to communicate with the intestine, and to
contain a nutritive fluid,—but of the anatomy of which we know but
little,) the liquor amnii, and the jelly of the cord are the nutri-
tive materials. Meckel considers, that the placenta is in no case
372 GENERATION.—OF THE FOETUS.
the source of nutritive matter. He regards it as an organ for the
aeration of the blood; whilst nutrition is effected by the fluid of the
umbilical vesicle, at the commencement; by the liquor amnii till
mid-term; and by the jelly of the cord for the remainder of gesta-
tion. Lastly, according to Beclard, nutrition is accomplished,
during the first weeks, by the fluid of the umbilical vesicle; after-
wards by the liquor amnii, and the jelly of the cord; and, as soon
as the placenta is formed, by that organ.
It is manifest, however, that we cannot regard as nutritive mat-
ters those substances that are secreted by the foetus itself. It is
impossible, that any development could occur without the recep-
tion of materials from without. We have seen, that when the ovum
passes from the ovarium to the uterus, it contains within it a mole-
cule and fluids, which are probably destined for the nutrition of the
new being, and which afford the necessary pabulum for the in-
crease, that occurs between impregnation and the period at which
an adhesion is formed between the ovum and the inner surface of
the uterus. The mother, having furnished the nutritive material
in the ovum, she must continue to provide it in the uterus; and so
soon as a vascular communication is formed between the exterior of
the ovum and the interior of the uterus, nutritive elements are
doubtless received by the embryo;—for otherwise it would perish
from inanition. What then can be the nature of these elements? Do
they consist of blood, which is laid hold of by the foetus at this
early period, when no circulatory system is apparent; or are the
blood-vessels distributed to the membranes of the ovum, to enable
them to continue the secretion of that nutritive matter, which they
took with them from the ovarium, and which must necessarily have
had a maternal origin? The latter certainly is the more probable
supposition, and it is a strong argument in favour of the amnion
being supplied with blood from the uterus, rather than from the
foetus; for, if we admit it to be in any manner inservient to nutrition,
its production must be extraneous to the body which it has to
nourish. These observations apply equally to the jelly of the um-
bilical cord, which is probably secreted by the membranous enve-
lopes, and may consequently be regarded as a nutritive material
derived from the parent.
On the whole, therefore, it appears at least doubtful, whether the
foetus receives from the mother any nutritive fluid through the pla-
centa; whilst there is strong reason for believing, that, from the
very earliest period of foetal formation to the last, it is nourished
on secretions formed at the expense of the mother, and that these
are, essentially, the liquor amnii and.the jelly of the cord.
If we admit this, however, it is obvious, that the nutritive fluid,
when received into the system will have to be formed into blood
by the action of the foetus, in a manner, bearing some analogy to
what occurs in the adult, or in the simplest of living beings, in which
*■
NUTRITION OF THE F03TUS. 373
the nutritive fluid is absorbed at the surface of the body. Of the
mode in which such conversion is effected we are in the same dark-
ness, that envelopes all the mysterious processes which are esteem-
ed organic and vital; but that the foetus is capable of effecting it we
have irrefragable proof in the oviparous animal, where there can
be no communication, after the egg is laid, between the embryo and
the parent. Yet we find it forming its own blood from the yolk
surrounding it, and undergoing its full and regular development
from causes seated in itself alone.
Of those physiologists who consider that the mother sends her
blood to the placenta, to be taken up by the foetal vessels, all do not
conceive, that it is in a state adapted for the nutrition of the new being:
some are of opinion that the placenta or the liver, or both, modify
it, but in a manner which they do not attempt to explain. In favour
of such an action being exerted by the placenta, they state that it is
clearly the organ which absorbs the fluid, and that every organ of ab-
sorption is necessarily one of elaboration;—a principle which we
have elsewhere proved to be unfounded; and, moreover, that the
blood, conveyed to the foetus by the umbilical vein, differs essentially
in colour from that conveyed to it by the umbilical arteries,—a
fact, which we shall see, can be accounted for more satisfactorily.
In support of the view, that a second change is effected in the liver,
they affirm, that a great part of the foetal blood ramifies in the sub-
stance of that organ before it reaches the heart; a part only going
by the ductus venosus; and that the great size of the liver, during
foetal life, when its function of secreting bile can be but sparingly
exerted, is in favour of this notion.
The opinion, that some change is effected upon the blood in the
liver, is certainly much more philosophical and probable than the
belief of Haller, that the object of its passage through that organ
is to deaden the force with which the mother projects the fluid into
the foetal vessels. We have seen, that it is extremely doubtful,
whether she transmits any; and that if she does, the communica-
tion is extremely indirect.
M. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire appears also to think, that the
blood of the mother, which he conceives to be sent through the
placenta to the foetus, is unfitted for foetal life, before it has under-
gone certain modifications. The blood, according to him, which
leaves the placenta, proceeds in part to the liver and the remainder
to the heart. In the liver it forms the material of the biliary secre-
tion, or at least of a fluid, which, when discharged into the intes-
tines, irritates them, and provokes a copious secretion from the
mucous or lining membrane. This mucus, according to M. Saint-
Hilaire, is always met with in the stomach and intestines of the
fcetus; whilst the presence of meconium, and of other excrementi-
tious matters in the intestines, shows, that digestion must have taken
place. This digestion he considers to be effected upon the mucus,
374
GENERATION.—OF THE FCETUS.
secreted in the mannerjust mentioned; and, in support of its being in-
servient to sanguification, he affirms, that its quantity is too great for
the simple purpose of lubricating the parts; that mucus is the first stage
of all organic compounds; that it predominates in all young beings;
is the foundation of every organ; more capable of assimilation than
any other substance, &c. But independently of the whole of this
view being entirely hypothetical, it cannot be esteemed probable,
that the foetus is nourished by one of its own secretions. All se-
cretions must be formed from blood. Blood must, therefore, pre-
exist in the foetal vessels, and the process, indicated by Saint-
Hilaire, be unnecessary.
Allusion has already been made to the opinions of Schreger,
on the nutrition of the foetus. These were developed in a letter
written by him, in 1799, to Soemmering. He considers, that all
communication of nutritious matter between the mother and foetus
occurs through the lymphatics, which he has described as existing
in considerable numbers in the placenta and umbilical cord. The
red blood, flowing in the maternal vessels, is too highly charged
with carbon, and with other heterogeneous substances, he thinks,
to serve for the nutrition of the foetus. Its serous part, which is
purer and more oxygenized, is therefore alone exhaled. The
uterine arteries pour this serum into the spongy texture of the pla-
centa, whence it is taken up by the lymphatics of the foetal por-
tion. These convey it along the umbilical cord to the thoracic
duct, whence it passes into the left subclavian, vena cava supe-
rior, right auricle and ventricle, ductus arteriosus, aorta; and, by the
umbilical arteries, is returned to the placenta. In this course,
it is mixed with the blood, and becomes itself converted into that
fluid. When it attains the placenta, the blood is not poured into
the cells of that organ, to be transported to the mother, but it passes
into the umbilical vein, the radicles of which are continuous with
the final ramifications of the umbilical arteries. Lateral pores,
however, exist in the latter, which suffer fluids to escape, that can-
not be elaborated by the foetus, or which require to be again sub-
mitted to the maternal organs, before they are fitted for its sup-
port. These fluids, according to Schreger, are not absorbed by
the veins of the uterus, but by the lymphatics of that viscus, which
are so apparent in the pregnant state and have been injected by
Cruikshank,Meckel, &c. In his view, therefore, the conversion of
the serous fluid into blood, is chiefly effected in the lymphatic sys-
tem, and it has been a favourite hypothesis with many physiologists,
that those organs, regarding whose functions we are so profoundly
ignorant, and whose development is so much greater during intra-
uterine than extra-uterine existence,—as the thymus, and thyroid
glands, and the supra-renal capsules,—are, in someway, connected
with the lymphosis or haematosis of the foetus.
We have already referred to the conjectures, that these organs
RESPIRATION OF THE F03TUS.
375
are diverticula for the blood of those parts, the functions of which
are not exerted until an after period of existence. Broussais
makes the thyroid a diverticulum to the larynx; the thymus a di-
verticulum to the lungs, and the supra-renal capsules to the kid-
neys. Notwithstanding these ingenious speculations, however, our
darkness, with regard to the true functions of these singular organs,
is not the less impenetrable.
To conclude. The most plausible opinion, that we can form on
this intricate subject is, that the mother secretes the substances,
which are placed in contact with the foetus, in a condition best
adapted for its nutrition; that in this state they are received into
the system, by absorption, as the chyle or the lymph is received
in the adult,—undergoing modifications in their passage through
the fostal placenta, as well as in every part of the system, where
the elements of the blood must escape for the formation of the
various tissues.
With regard to the precise nutritive functions, executed in the
foetal state, and first as concerns digestion, it is obvious, that this
cannot take place to any extent, otherwise excrementitious matter
would have to be thrown out, which, by entering the liquor amnii,
would be fatal to many important functions, and probably to thevery
existence of the foetus. Yet that some digestion is effected is manifest
from the presence of meconium in the intestines, which is proba-
bly the excrementitious matter, arising from the digestion of the
mucous secretions of the alimentary canal.
Respiration, as accomplished by lungs, does not exist; and
we have already seen, that the idea of the foetus possessing
the kind of respiration of the aquatic animal is inadmissible. An
analogous function to the respiration of the adult however oc-
curs, as respects the changes effected upon the blood. It is pro-
bable, that the blood is sent to the placenta to be aerated there,
as it is in the lungs in extra-uterine existence. Such was the
opinion of Sir Edward Hulse, of Girtanner, Stein, and we
may say, such is the opinion of many of the most enlightened phy-
siologists of the present day. The chief arguments, adduced in
support of this opinion, are,—the absolute necessity for air to every
living being, animal or vegetable; the no less necessity, for a free'
circulation of blood along the umbilical cord to the placenta, to the
life of the foetus; the analogy of birds, in which the umbilical ves-
sels are inservient to respiration by receiving the external air
through the pores of the shell, so that if the shell be covered with
varnish, respiration is prevented and the chick dies.
The sensible evidences of these changes being effected by the
placenta are not like those, which we possess regarding the aera-
tion of the blood in its passage through the lungs of the adult,
where the venous, differs so essentially from the arterial blood. It is
indeed asserted, in works of anatomy, that " the effete blood of the
376
GENERATION.—OF THE FCETUS.
umbilical arteries becomes regenerated in the placenta, assumes a
brighter hue, and is returned to the foetus by the umbilical vein,"
but this is not in accordance with experiment and observation.
Bichat made numerous dissections of young pigs whilst still in
utero, and he uniformly found the blood of the arteries and veins
presenting the«ame appearance and resembling the venous blood
of the mother. Not the slightest difference was observed between
the blood of the aorta and that of the vena cava; nor between that
of the carotid artery and of the jugular vein. He made the same
observations in three experiments of a similar kind on the foetuses
of the dog. He also frequently examined human foetuses that
had died in utero, and always found the same uniformity between
the arterial and venous blood: hence he concludes, that there is
no difference between the arterial and the venous blood of the
foetus, at least in appearance. Similar experiments by Auten-
rieth furnished the same results. It is important to bear this
fact in mind, inasmuch as it may be received as one of the evi-
dences that a foetus has not respired.
The apparent identity, however, between the blood passing to
the placenta by the umbilical arteries and that returning by the
cord is not real. The slightest reflection will show, that they
must be essentially different. It is from the blood, carried by the
umbilical vein and distributed over the body, that all the organs
of the foetus have to derive the materials of their nutrition and de-
velopment; and being deprived of these materials the fluid must
necessarily be different in the umbilical arteries from what it is
in the umbilical vein. The researches of more modern che-
mistry have not been directed to the foetal blood, but Four-
croy analyzed it and found it differ materially from the blood
of the child that had respired. He asserts, that its colouring
matter is darker, and seems to be more abundant; that it is desti-
tute of fibrine and of phosphoric salts, and is incapable of becoming
florid by exposure to the influence of atmospheric air. Under the
head of circulation it was remarked, that the coloration of the
blood is perhaps of no farther importance than as indicating, that
the vital change of aeration has taken place in the lungs. In this
case, we have the vital change effected without any such colora-
tion. Yet how, it may be asked, is the modification in the blood
produced where no placenta and no umbilical cord exists? And
can we suppose that in such cases the aeration is effected by the
liquor amnii containing an unusual quantity of oxygen, as has been
presumed by some physiologists? These are embarrassing ques-
tions—more easily propounded than answered.
It is in the foetal circulation that we observe the most striking
peculiarities of intra-uterine existence. Of its condition at the very
earliest periods we know little that is not conjectural. We will,
therefore, consider it as it is effected during the last months of
utero-gestation. From the sketch already given of the circulatory
FOETAL CIRCULATION. 377
organs of the foetus, it will be recollected, 1st, that the two auri-
cles of the heart communicate by an aperture in the septum, called
the foramen ovale, which has a valve opening towards the left
ventricle; 2dly, that near the orifice of the vena cava inferior is
the valve of Eustachius, so situated as to direct the blood of the
cava into the foramen ovale; 3dly, that the pulmonary artery has
a vessel passing from it into the aorta,—the ductus arteriosus;
4thly, that two arteries, called umbilical, proceed from the inter-
nal iliacs to the umbilicus and placenta; and, lastly, that the um-
bilical vein from the placenta pours part of its blood into the vena
porta; and a part passes by the ductus venosus,—a foetal vessel,—
into the inferior cava.
The course of the circulation, then, is as follows:—The blood of
the umbilical vein,—the radicles of which communicate with those
of the umbilical arteries in the placenta,—proceeds along this vein
to the umbilicus, and thence to the liver. A part of this traverses
the ductus venosus, enters the vena cava inferior, and becomes
mixed with the blood from the lower parts of the foetus; the re-
mainder passes into the vena porta, is distributed through the
liver, and, by means of the hepatic veins, is likewise poured into
the vena cava- In this manner it attains the right auricle. Owing
to the arrangement of the valve of Eustachius, the blood passes
immediately through the foramen ovale into the left auricle,—
without being mixed with the fluid proceeding from the upper
parts of the body into the right auricle through the vena cava su-
perior. The left auricle is consequently as much developed as the
right, which it would scarcely be, did it receive only the blood
from the lungs. Were it nOt as large, it is obvious, that it would
be insufficient to carry on the circulation, when the whole of the
blood passes through the lungs, and is poured into it. after respira-
tion is established.
The above are the opinions of Wolf and Sabatier regarding
the use of the Eustachian valve. According to this view, if the
valve did not exist, the aerated blood, conveyed to the heart by
the ductus venosus, instead of being directed into the left auricle
through the foramen ovale, would pass into the right auricle, and
thence,—in part, at least,—into the right ventricle; from which it
would be transmitted, through the pulmonary artery and ductus
arteriosus, into the descending aorta; so that no part of the body,
above the opening of the duct into the aorta, could receive the
aerated blood, whilst much of that, which passed along the aorta,
would be returned to the placenta by the umbilical arteries. But
as the blood is directed into the left auricle by the Eustachian
valve, it passes from thence into the left ventricle, and is forced
by it into the aorta, which distributes it to every part of the sys-
tem, and thus conveys the regenerated fluid to every organ. Dr.
Wistar has also suggested, that, without this arrangement of the
Eustachian valve, the coronary arteries, distributed to the heart,
Vol. II. 48
378
GENERATION.—OF THE FCETUS.
would be unfit for supporting the life of that organ, inasmuch as
they would be deprived of a regular supply of revivified blood.
From the left auricle, the blood passes into the left ventricle,
and from the left ventricle into the ascending aorta and to the
upper parts of the body, from which it is brought back, by the
vena cava superior, into the right auricle; thence it is transmitted
into the right ventricle, and, by the contraction of the ventricle,
into the pulmonary artery. By this vessel it is sent,—the greater
part through the ductus arteriosus into the descending aorta, and
a small part to the lungs. From the lungs it is returned into the
left auricle by the pulmonary veins. Through the descending
aorta the blood, conveyed in part by the ductus arteriosus, and in
part by the contraction of the left ventricle, is distributed, partly
to the lower extremities, from which it is returned by correspond-
ing veins into the vena cava inferior, and partly by the umbilical
arteries to the placenta.
This view of the circulation supposes what is disputed,—
that the blood of the vena cava superior and of the vena cava
inferior does not undergo admixture in the right auricle; whence
it would follow, that some parts of the body receive a purer
blood than others,—the upper parts, as the head and neck,
receiving that which flows immediately from the placenta, whilst
the lower parts do not obtain it until it has circulated through the
upper. Under any view it is manifest, that it is not the whole of
the blood, which is distributed to the organ of aeration, as in the
adult, but a part only as in the batracia.
Bichat and Magendie contest, and we think successfully, the
explanation of Wolf and Sabatier, regarding the use of the valve
of Eustachius and the non-admixture of the blood of the two cavae
in the right auricle. In their opinion, the two bloods do commin-
gle; but, owing to the existence of the foramen ovale and the ar-
rangement of the valve of Eustachius, the left auricle is filled
simultaneously with the right; and, consequently, the same kind
of blood must be distributed to both the upper and lower portions
of the body. The uses of the foramen ovale and ductus arteriosus
are explained as follows. As the left auricle receives but little
blood from the lungs, it could furnish but a small quantity to the
left ventricle, did it not receive blood through the foramen ovale;
and again, as the lung is exerting no function, during the state of
fcetal life, the blood is sent along the pulmonary artery and ductus
arteriosus into the aorta, so that the contraction of both ventricles
is employed in propelling the blood along the aorta to the lower
parts of the body and to the placenta. Without this union of forces
it is conceived, that the blood could not be urged forward as far
as the placenta.
After all, then, the great difference between the fcetal and adult
circulation is,—that, in the former, a part of the blood only pro-
ceeds to the organ of sanguification; that the aerated blood is
MONSTROSITIES.
379
poured into the right auricle instead of the left; that, instead of
proceeding through the lungs, a part of the blood gets at once to
the left side of the heart, and the remainder goes directly from
the pulmonary artery into the aorta; that a part of the aortic blood
proceeds to the lower extremities, and the remainder goes to the
placenta, from which it is returned into the inferior cava.
With regard to the nutrition, (properly so called,) of the foetus,
it is doubtless effected in the same manner as in the adult; and
our ignorance of the precise nature of the mysterious process is
equally great. During the whole of foetal existence it is energeti-
cally exerted, and especially during the earlier periods. Soemmer-
ing has asserted, that the growth of the foetus fluctuates; that in
the first month it is greatest; in the second, less; in the third,
greater; less, again, in the fourth ; and then greater until the sixth,
when it diminishes until birth.
There are one or two singular circumstances, connected with the
nutrition of the foetus, which cannot be passed over without a
slight notice.
Owing to inappreciable causes, the different parts of the foetus,
or some particular part, may be preternaturally developed or be
defective, giving rise to what have been termed monstrosi-
ties. Three kinds of monsters may be considered to exist. The
first comprises such as are born with an excess of parts, as with
two heads on one trunk, two trunks to one head; with four arms
and four legs; twins with a band uniting them, as in the case of
the Siamese twins, &c. The second includes those in which parts
are defective, as acephali, anencephali, &c.; and the third, those
in which there is deviation of parts, as where the heart is on the
right side, the liver on the left, &c; where, in other words, there
is transposition of the viscera.
The hypotheses, that have been advanced to account for these
formations, as well as for those in which the parts are irregularly
developed, may be reduced to three; the others, that have been
indulged, having no probability in their favour. First. They
have been attributed to the influence of the imagination of the mo-
ther over the foetus in utero. Secondly. To accidental changes,
experienced by the fcetus at some period of uterine existence; and
Thirdly. To some original defect in the germs.
The first of these causes has been a subject of keen controversy
amongst physiologists, at all periods. We have seen, that the mo-
ther transmits to the foetus the materials for its nutrition; and that, to
a certain extent, the nutrition is influenced by the character of the
materials transmitted; so that if these be not of good quality or in
due quantity, the foetus will be imperfectly nourished, and may
even perish. Any violent mental emotion may thus destroy the
child, by modifying the quantity or quality of the nutritive matter
sent to it. Small-pox, measles, and other contagious diseases can
also be unquestionably communicated to the fcetus in utero; so
380
GENERATION.—OF THE FffiTUS.
that the life of the foetus is indirectly but largely dependent upon
the condition of the mother. But the maternal influence has been
conceived to extend much beyond this; and it has been affirmed, that
the excited imagination of the mother may occasion an alteration in
the form of particular parts of the foetus, so as to give rise to naevi
and to all kinds of mothers' marks, as they have been termed.
These may consist of spots resembling raspberries, grapes, &c;
or there may be deficient formation of particular parts,—and some
of the cases, that have been adduced in favour of their having been
induced by impressions, made upon the mother during pregnancy,
are sufficiently striking. There are numerous difficulties, how-
ever, in the way of accepting the cause assigned. If a child be
born with nsevi of any kind, the recollection of the mother is
racked to discover, whether some event did not befal her during
gestation to which the appearance can be referred, and it is not
often difficult to discover some plausible means of explanation.
Cases have occurred in which the mother, when a few months
advanced in pregnancy, has been shocked by the sight of a person
who had lost his hand, and the child has been born devoid of a
hand. A young female, a few months gone with child, visited
a brother in one of the hospitals of London who was wounded
in the side. His condition affected her extremely. Her child
was born with a deep pit precisely in the same part that was
wounded in the brother.
These are samples of the thousands of cases, that have been re-
corded, or that have occurred to different individuals. Similar
instances have even been related of the inferior animals. In the
extracts from the minute book of the Linnean Society of London,
an account is given, by Mr. George Milne, F. L. S., of the ef-
fect of the imagination of a female cat on her young. One after-
noon, whilst Mr. Milne and his family were at tea, a young fe-
male cat, which had arrived at the middle of gestation, was lying
on the hearth. A servant, by accident, trod very heavily on her
tail; she screamed violently, and, from the noise emitted, it was
evident, that a considerable degree of terror was mingled with the
feeling from the injury. From so common a circumstance no ex-
traordinary result was expected; but, at the full time, she dropped
five kittens, one of which was perfect, but the other four had the
tail remarkably distorted; and all distorted in the same manner.
Are we to consider these and similar cases of mal-formation
or monstrosities to be dependent upon the influence of the ma-
ternal imagination upon the foetus in utero; or are we to re-
gard them as coincidences, the cause being inappreciable, but
such as we find to give occasion to vicious organization, where
no coincidence with excited imagination can be discovered?
Under the head of generation we have combated the notion, that
the mother's fancy can have any effect during a fecundating copu-
lation. Let us see, then, what we have to admit in a case where
MONSTROSITIES. 381
a female is, we will suppose, four months advanced in pregnancy,
when she is shocked at the appearance of one who has lost his
arm, and the child is born with the like defect. It has been seen,
that the communication between the mother and the foetus is of
the most indirect character, and that no endeavours have succeeded
in throwing substances from one side of the placenta to the other;
that the circulation of the foetus is totally distinct from that of the
mother; and that she can only influence the foetus through the nu-
tritive material she furnishes—whatever be its character—and con-
sequently that such influence must be exerted upon the whole of
the foetus and not upon any particular part. Yet, in the suppositi-
tious case we have taken, the arm must have been already formed,
and the influence of the mother's fancy must have been exclusively
exerted upon its absorbents, so as to cause them to take up again
that which had been already deposited!
The case we have assumed is not environed with more difficulty
than any of the kind. It is a fair specimen of the whole. Yet
how impracticable for us to believe, that the effect can be in any
way connected with the assigned cause; and how much more easy
to presume, that the coincidence, in such cases, is accidental. Cases
of hare-lip are perpetually occurring, yet we never have the ma-
ternal imagination invoked; because; it is by no means easy to dis-
cover any similitude between the affection and extraneous objects.
Moreover, in animals of all kinds—even in the most inferior, as
well as in plants—monstrous formations are incessantly happening
where maternal imagination is out of the question.
As a cause of monstrosities, therefore, the influence of the ma-
ternal imagination has been generally regarded as an inadmissible
hypothesis. By many it has been esteemed ridiculous; yet it mani-
festly receives favour withSirEvERARDHoME,and isperhaps hardly
worthy of the strong epithets of condemnation that have been ap-
plied to it, although sufficiently incredible. The third hypothesis,
with regard to defective germs, we have already canvassed under
generation, and attempted to prove it insufficient.
The second, consequently, alone remains, and is almost univer-
sally adopted. Independently of all disturbing influences from
the mother, the foetus is known to be frequently attacked with
spontaneous diseases, such as dropsy, ulceration, gangrene, cuta-
neous eruptions, &c. Some of these affections occasionally destroy
it before birth. At other times, it is born with them; and hence
they are termed connate or congenital.
Where a part has been wanting, the nerve or blood-vessel or
both, proceeding to it have likewise been found wanting; so that
the defect of the organ has been thus explained; without our being
able, however, to understand the cause of the deficiency of such
nerve or blood-vessel.
In some of the cases of monstrosities a confusion of two germs
seems to have occurred. Two vesicles have been fecundated,
382
GENERATION.—OF THE F03TUS.
and subsequently commingled, so that children have been pro-
duced with two heads and one trunk, or with two trunks and one
head, &c. &c.
The animal temperature of the foetus cannot be rigidly deter-
mined. The common belief is, that it is some degrees lower than
that of the mother; and it is affirmed, that the temperature of the
dead foetus is higher than that of the living. The foetus must, there-
fore, possess the means of refrigeration. Edwards found, in his
experiments, that the temperature of young animals is inferior to
that of the adult; which is in accordance with the general belief
regarding that of the foetus in utero. In some cases, as in those of
the kitten, puppy and rabbit, if they be removed from the mother
and exposed to a temperature of between 50° and 70°; their tem-
perature will sink,—as happens to the cold-blooded animal,—to
nearly the same degree. The faculty of producing heat he found
to be at its minimum at birth; but it progressively increased, until
in about fifteen days the animal acquired the power in the same
degree with the adult. This was not the case, however, with all
the mammalia. It seemed to be confined to those animals that are
born blind; in which a state of imperfection probably existed
in other functions. It was the same with birds as with the
mammalia; birds, hatched in a defective state, as regards their
organs generally, have the power of producing heat defective;
whilst others, born in a more perfect condition, have the organs of
calorification more capable of exercising their due functions. The
opinions with regard to the temperature of the human infant vary.
Haller asserts, that it has less power of producing heat than the
adult, and such is the opinion of Despretz, Edwards, and the
generality of physiologists. The latter gentleman estimates it at
94.25° of Fahrenheit. On the other hand Dr. John Davy
affirms, that the temperature of young animals generally, and that
of a newly-born child, which he particularly examined, was higher
than in the adult. It is impossible to account for this discordance;
but the general results of experiments will be found to agree with
those of Edwards. The foetus certainly possesses the power of
forming or separating its own caloric; otherwise its temperature
should correspond with that of the mother, which, we have seen,
is not the fact.
That the secretions are actively exercised in the foetus is proved
by the circumstance, that all the surfaces are lubricated nearly as
they are subsequently. The follicular secretion is abundant, and
at times envelopes the body with a layer of sebaceous matter of
considerable thickness. Vauquelin and Buniva have asserted,
that this is a deposit from the albumen of the liquor amnii; but in
reply to this it may be urged that we do not find it except on the
body of the foetus. It is not on the placenta or umbilical cord, and
is most abundant on those parts of the foetus, where the follicles are
most numerous. The fat also exists in quantity after the fifth
FUNCTIONS OF REPRODUCTION.
383
month. The greatest question has been with regard to the exist-
ence, in the foetal state, of some of the secretions which are of an ex-
crementitious character. For example, by some, the urinary
secretion is supposed to be in activity from the earliest period of
uterine existence, and its product to be discharged into the liquor
amnii. Such is the opinion of Meckel, but it does not rest on
any basis of observation. The only circumstances, that in any
manner favour it, are the fact of the existence of the kidneys at a
very early period; and that at the full time, the bladder contains
urine, which is evacuated soon after birth. On analysis, this is
found to be less charged with urea and phosphoric salts than in
after life.
Of the meconium we have already spoken. It is manifestly an
excretory substance, produced, probably, by the digestion of the
fluids of the alimentary canal. Vauquelin analyzed the meconium
evacuated after birth, and found it composed of water, about two-
thirds; of a substance of a vegetable nature,but sui generis, about one-
third; mucus, a few hundredth parts, and a little bile. It appears,
consequently, to be less azoted than the excrement of the adult.
Lastly, the cutaneous perspiration is supposed to be a foetal
excretion, and to be poured into the liquor amnii; but although this
is probable, we have no positive evidence on the subject.
III. Functions of Reproduction.—These require no consider-
ation. They are inactive during the foetal state, except that the
testicles and the mammas appear respectively to secrete a fluid,
which is neither sperm nor milk, and is found in the vesiculas se-
minales in the one case, and in the lactiferous ducts in the other.
38-1
AGES.
OF THE AGES.
Under this head we have to include the modifications that oc-
cur in the functions during the life of man, from birth until disso-
lution. The different ages may be separated as follows:—Infancy,
comprising the period from birth till the second dentition;—child-
hood, that between the second dentition and puberty;—adolescence,
that between puberty and manhood;—virility, that between youth
and old age;—and old age.
Sect. I. Infancy.
The age of infancy extends from birth to the second dentition,
or until about the seventh or eighth year. By Hall6, and after
him by Renauldin, Rullier, Adelon, and others, this has been
again subdivided into three periods, which are somewhat distinct
from each other, and may therefore be adopted with advantage.
The one comprises the period between birth and the first denti-
tion,—generally about seven months; a second embraces the whole
period of the first dentition, or up to about two years; and the
third includes the whole interval, that separates the first from the
second dentition.
1. First period of Infancy. As soon as the child is ushered
into the world,.it assumes an independent existence, and a series
of changes occurs in its functions of the most sudden and surprising
character. Respiration becomes established, after the manner in
which it is to be effected during the remainder of existence; and the
whole of the peculiarities of fcetal circulation cease,—the organs
of these peculiarities being modified in the manner to be described
presently.
As soon as the child is extruded it begins to breathe, and at
the same time to cry. What are the agencies, then, by which
this first inspiration is effected, and this disagreeable impression is
made upon the new being at the moment when it makes its ap-
pearance amongst us ? This has been an interesting topic of in-
quiry amongst physiologists. A few of the hypotheses, that have
been indulged, will be sufficient to exhibit the direction which the
investigation has taken.
Whytt,—whose views were long popular, and still have sup-
porters,—conceived, that before birth the blood of the foetus is
properly prepared by the mother; and that when, after birth, it
no longer receives the necessary suppty, an uneasy sensation is
experienced in the chest, which may be looked upon as the appe-
tite for breathing, in the same manner as hunger and thirst are ap-
first period of infancy. 385
petites for meat and drink. To satisfy this appetite, the brain
excites the expansion of the chest, to prevent the fatal effects
that would ensue, if the lungs were not immediately aroused to
action. This appetite is supposed to commence at birth, owing to
the circulation being quickened by the struggles of the foetus at
that period, and to an additional quantity of blood passing through
the lungs, which excites them to action, and seems to be the im-
mediate cause of the appetite.
Haller ascribed the first inspiration to the habit which the
foetus has acquired, whilst in the uterus, of taking into the mouth
a portion of the liquor amnii; and he supposed, that it still con-
tinues to open its mouth, after leaving the mother, in search of its
accustomed food. The air, consequently, rushes into the lungs,
expands them; the blood is distributed through them, and a regu-
lar supply of fresh air is needed to prevent the blood from stag-
nating in its passage from the right to the left side of the heart.
Dr. Wilson Philip regards the muscles of inspiration as en-
tirely under the control of the will; and he thinks, that they are
thrown into action by the uneasy sensation experienced by the
new being, when separated from the mother, and having no longer
the necessary changes produced upon the blood by her organs.
Adelon thinks it probable, that the series of developments, oc-
curring during gestation, predispose to the establishment of respi-
ration. According to him, the lungs gradually increase in size
during the latter months; the branches of the pulmonary vessels
become enlarged, and the ductus arteriosus less; so that the lungs
are prepared for the new function they have to execute. In addi-
tion to these alterations, he conceives, that the process of ac-
couchement predisposes to the change; that, by the contractions
of the uterus, the circulation of the blood must be necessarily mo-
dified in the placenta, and consequently in the foetus,—for he is a
believer in the doctrine, that the foetus receives blood from the
mother by the placenta. Owing to this disturbance in the circula-
tion, more blood is sent into the lungs; and, when the child is
born, it is subjected to new and probably painful impressions.
" For instance," he remarks, "the external air, by its coldness
and weight, must cause a disagreeable impression on the skin of
the infant, as well as on the origin of all the mucous membranes;
and, perhaps, the organs of the senses being, at the same time,
suddenly subjected to the contact of their proper irritants, receive
painful impressions from them. These different impressions being
transmitted to the brain, they are reflected into the different de-
pendencies of the nervous system, and, consequently, into the
nerves of the inspiratory muscles: these muscles, thus excited,
enter into contraction, in the same manner as the heart is stimu-
lated to renew its contractions, during syncope, by inspiring a
stimulating vapour."
None of these views satisfactorily explain the true physiology
Vol. II. 49
386
AGES.
' of the first inspiration; nor is it probable, that any can be devised,
which has not its difficulties. That which has been embraced by
Dr. Bostock and Sir Charles Bell appears to us to be liable to
fewer objections than any we have seen; and to explain the pro-
cess, so far as is perhaps practicable, on mechanical principles.
The first respiratory act, according to them, seems to be purely
mechanical, and to result from the change of position which the
child undergoes at birth. From the mode in which it rests in
utero, every thing is d'one that position could effect, to diminish
the dimensions of the chest; and any change in this position must
have the effect of liberating the lungs from a portion of the pres-
sure which they sustain. The head cannot be raised from the
breast, nor the knees removed from the abdomen, without straight-
ening the spine, and the spine cannot be reduced to a straight line
without elevating the ribs, and permitting the abdominal viscera
to fall; but the ribs cannot rise, nor the diaphragm descend, With-
out enlarging the chest; and as the chest enlarges, the lungs, which
are the most elastic organs of the body, will expand their air-cells,
hitherto collapsed by external pressure, and the external air will
rush in.
The same cause is considered to account for the new circulatory
movement. The blood, which, in the fcetus, had passed through
the foramen ovale and the ductus arteriosus without visiting the
lungs, is solicited from its course by the expansion of the chest,
which draws the blood through the pulmonary artery as forcibly
as it does air through the windpipe. The blood, thus exposed to
the air in the lungs, becomes arterialized, and from this moment
the distinction between the arterial and venous blood is established.
The circulation, through the vessels peculiar to the fcetal condition,
now ceases, even without any ligature being placed upon the um-
bilical cord.
The sudden and important changes supervening in this manner,
guide us to the decision of an interesting medico-legal inquiry,—
viz. whether, in a case of alleged infanticide, the child has respired
or not;—in other words, whether it has been born alive or dead?
After respiration has been established, the lungs, from being
dark-coloured and dense, become of a florid red hue; are light
and spongy, and float on water; on cutting into them the escape of
the air in the air-cells occasions a crepitus, and a bloody fluid ex-
udes ; there is closure, or an approach to closure, of the foramen
ovale; the ductus arteriosus is empty, as well as the ductus veno-
sus; and the absolute weight of the lungs may be doubled.
Respiration having been once thoroughly established, the indi-
vidual enters upon the period of infancy, which has now to en-
gage our attention.
The animal functions during this period undergo considerable
development. The sense of tact is but little evinced, but it exists,
as the child appears sensible to external cold. At first the touch
FIRST PERIOD OF INFANCY. 387
is not exerted under the influence of volition, but towards the ter-
mination of the period it begins to be active. The taste is almost
always null at first. Adelon thinks, that it is probably exerted on
the first day as regards the fluids, which the infant sucks and drinks.
We have daily evidence, however, that at an early period of exist-
ence, the most nauseous substances, provided they are not irrita-
ting, will be swallowed indiscriminately, and without the slight-
est repugnance; but before the termination of the period we
are now considering, the taste becomes inconveniently acute, so
that the exhibition of nauseous substances, as of medicine, is a mat-
ter of more difficulty. The smell is probably more backward than
any of the other senses; the development of its organ being more
tardy, the nose being small, and the nasal sinuses not in existence.
In the first few weeks, sight and hearing are imperfectly exerted,
but subsequently they are in full activity. The internal sensa-
tions, being instinctive, exist; all those atjeast that are connected
with the animal and nutritive functions. Hunger and thirst ap-
pear during the first day of existence; the desire of passing the
urine and fasces is doubtless present, notwithstanding they appear to
be discharged involuntarily ; and the morbid sensation of pain is
often experienced, especially in the intestinal canal, owing to flatus,
acidity, &c. During the first part of the period the child exhibits
no mental and moral manifestations; but, in the course of a few
weeks, it begins to notice surrounding objects, especially such as
are brilliant, and to distinguish between the faces to which it has
been accustomed and those of strangers; awarding the smile of
recognition or of satisfaction to the former, the look of gravity and
doubt to the latter. Locomotion is, at this time, utterly impracti-
cable, as well as the erect attitude. The muscular system of the
child is not yet sufficiently developed, the spinous processes
of the vertebras are not formed, and it has not learned to keep
the centre of gravity—or rather the vertical line—within the
base of sustentation. The function of expression is at the early
part of the period confined to the vagitus or squalling, which in-
dicates the existence of uneasiness of some kind; but, before the
termination of the period, it unites smiles and even laughter to the
opposite expressions, and will attempt to utter sounds, which
cannot yet be considered as any attempt at conventional lan-
guage. Sleep is largely indulged. Soon after birth it is almost
constant, except when the child is taking nutriment. Gradually
the waking intervals are lengthened; but still much sleep is needed,
owing to the frail condition of the nervous system, which is soon
exhausted by exertion however feeble, and requires intermission.
After birth, the child has to subsist upon a different aliment from
that with which it was supplied whilst in the maternal womb. Its
digestion, therefore, undergoes modification. The nutriment is
now the milk of the parent, or some analogous liquid, which is
sucked in, in the manner described under the head of Bigestion.
3S8
AGES.
For this kind of prehension the mouth of the infant is well adapt-
ed. The tongue is very large, compared with the size of the body,
and the want of teeth enables the lips to be extended forwards and
to embrace the nipple more accurately and conveniently. The ac-
tion of sucking is doubtless as instinctive as the appetite for nutri-
ment, and equally incapable of explanation. The appetite appears
to be almost incessant, partly owing to the rapidity of the growth
demanding continual supplies of nutriment, and partly perhaps
owing to a feeling of pleasure experienced in the act, which is ge-
nerally the prelude to a recurrence of sleep broken in upon, appa-
rently, for the mere purpose of supplying the wants of the system,
or the artificial desire produced by frequent indulgence. Often we
have the strongest reason for believing, that the great frequency
of the calls of the appetite is occasioned by the habit, with many
mothers, of putting the child constantly to the breast; whilst in
those children that have been trained, from the earliest period of
existence, to receive the nutriment at fixed hours only, the desire
will not recur until the lapse of the accustomed interval.
Digestion is, at this age, speedily accomplished; the evacuations
being frequent,—two or three or more in the course of the day,
—of a yellow colour, something like custard, or curdy, and
having by no means the offensive smell, which they subsequently
possess. During the first days after birth they are dark and adhe-
sive, and consist of the meconium, already described. Young
mothers are apt to be alarmed at this appearance, which is
entirely physiological, and always exists. The respiration of
the infant is more frequent than in the adult, nearly in the
proportion of two to one, and it is chiefly accomplished by the
muscles that raise the ribs, on account of the great size of some
of the abdominal viscera, which do not permit the diaphragm to
be readily depressed. The stethoscope exhibits the respiration to
be also much more sonorous; so characteristic, indeed, is it in this
respect, that it has been called "puerile," by way of distinction.
It appears to indicate a greater degree of dilatation of the bronchial
ramifications, and, consequently, a greater admission of air than
occurs in after life. The circulation is more rapid; the pulsations
at birth being nearly twice as numerous as in the adult. Nutrition
is very active in the. development of the different organs. Calori-
fication becomes gradually more energetic from the time of birth.
The recrementitial secretions, as well as the excrementitial, are
as regularly formed as in the adult; but the products vary some-
what. The urine, for instance, is less charged with urea, and con-
tains benzoic acid; the perspiration is acidulous, &c. &c.
Adelon asserts, that these excretions are frequently insufficient
for the necessary depuration, and that nature, therefore, establishes
others that are irregular and morbid, in the shape of cutaneous
efflorescences, &c. These can scarcely be regarded as depurations,
unless we consider all cutaneous eruptions, that are connected with
SECOND PERIOD OF INFANCY.
389
gastric or digestive irritation, to be thus induced, which is more
than problematical; especially as most of them are neither pustu-
lar nor vesicular, and therefore, not accompanied by any sensible
exudation.
2. Second period of infancy, or first dentition.—This period
embraces the whole time of dentition, and is considered to include
the age between seven months and two years. In it, the external
senses are in great activity, and continually furnishing to the in-
tellect the means for its development, connected with the universe.
The internal sensations are likewise active. From these united
causes, as well as from the improved cerebral organization, the in-
tellect is more strengthened during this period than perhaps dur-
ing any other. The senses are continually conveying information,
and perception is, therefore, most active, as well as memory;
whilst imagination and judgment are feeble and circumscribed.
The faculty of imitation is strong, so that by hearing the spoken
language, and appreciating its utility, the child endeavours to pro-
duce similar sounds with its own larynx, and gradually succeeds,—
the greater part of its first language consisting of imitations of
sounds emitted by objects, which sounds are applied to designate
the object itself, in the manner we have seen elsewhere. The
affective faculties are likewise unfolded during this period, but
generally those of the selfish cast are predominant, and require the
most careful attention for their rectification. Even at this early
time of life, the effect of a well-adapted education is striking, and
spares the child from numerous inconveniences, to which unlicens-
ed indulgence in its natural passions would inevitably expose it.
The general feeling is, that the infant is not yet possessed of the
necessary intelligence to pursue the course that is indicated; but
it is surprising how soon it may be made to understand the wishes
of its instructor, and with what facility it may be moulded, at this
tender age, in almost any manner that may be desired. During
this period, the child is capable of standing erect and of walking.
Previous to this, these actions were impracticable, for the reasons
already stated, as well as owing to the weight of the thoracic and
abdominal viscera; to the spine having but one curvature, the con-
vexity of which is backwards; to the smallness of the pelvis, and
its inclination forwards, so that it scarcely supports the weight of
the abdominal viscera; and to the smallness of the lower limbs and
the feebleness of their muscles, which are insufficient to prevent
the trunk from falling forward.
These imperfections are, however, gradually obviated, and the
child commences to support itself on all-fours; a position assumed
much more easily than the biped attitude, owing to the centre of
gravity being situated low, and the base of sustentation being large.
In this attitude he moves about for some time, or his locomotion is
effected by pushing a chair before him, or by being steadied by
his nurse. Gradually he passes from place to place on his feet,
by laying hold of surrounding objects, and, in proportion as the
390
AGES.
bones and muscles become developed, and the obstacles to progres-
sion are removed, he succeeds in walking alone; but it is some time
before he is capable of running or leaping. Perhaps the average
period, at which the infant begins to walk, is about twelve months;
but we see great difference in this respect.
When once the infant is fairly on his legs, the whole of his wak-
ing hours is spent in incessant activity and amusement. His func-
tions of expression are commensurate with his intellectual deve-
lopment, which we have seen to be great in this period. Sleep,
which is now more interrupted, is still imperiously and frequently
demanded, the nervous system being devoid of that strength,
which it subsequently possesses, and therefore requiring repose.
One of the most important changes going on at this age concerns
the function of digestion. This is the process of dentition, which
usually commences about the seventh month, and continues till the
end of the second year at least. Prior to the appearance of the teeth,
mastication is of course impracticable; and the food, best adapted for
the delicate powers of the infant, is that afforded by the maternal
breast, or a substitute which resembles it as closely as possible. The
appearance, however, of teeth would seem to indicate that the infant
is about to be adapted for more solid aliment. As early as the second
month of utero-gestation, if the jaws be carefully examined, the
germs of the teeth are perceptible in their substance, under the
form of membranous follicles of an oval shape, attached by their
deep-seated extremity to avascular ana nervous pedicle, and by
their superficial extremity to the gum. The cavity of these folli-
cles, according IoBeclard, is at first filled with a colourless, lim-
pid fluid; but a kind of vascular and nervous papilla or pulp soon
forms in it, which commences at the deep-seated portion of the
follicle, proceeds towards the other extremity, and ultimately fills
it,—the fluid diminishing in proportion to the increase of the pulp.
About the termination of the third month, ossification begins, and
a little sooner in the lower than in the upper jaw. This consists, at
first, in a deposition of ivory matter on the surface of the pulp and
at its top; which goes on increasing in width until it covers the
whole of the dental pulp with a shell of bone. It augments also
in thickness at the expense of the dental pulp, which becomes
gradually less and less. When the bony shell has extended as far
as the neck of the tooth, the external membrane or sac of the tooth,
—for the follicle consists of two membranes—attaches itself close-
ly, but not by adhesion to the part. The inner membrane becomes
much more vascular, and the enamel is secreted by it. A thickish
fluid is observed to be poured out from the inner surface which is
soon consolidated into a dark, chalky substance, and afterwards
becomes white and hard.
At birth, the coronae of the incisors are formed; those of the
canine are not completed; whilst the molares have only their tu-
bercles. The root or fang is formed last of all. As ossification
proceeds, the corona of the tooth presses upon the gum, a portion
SECOND PERIOD OF INFANCY. 391
of the follicle being interposed, which is gradually absorbed, as well
as the gum, and the tooth issues.
The age, at which the teeth make their appearance, varies. Oc-
casionally, children have been born with them, whilst in other
cases they have not pierced the gum until after the period we are
considering. Generally, however, the middle incisors of the lower
jaws appear about the seventh month, and, subsequently, those of
the upper jaw; next the inferior and superior lateral incisors in
succession; then the first lower molares, and the first upper; next
the inferior and superior canine teeth, successively; and, lastly,
the second molares of each jaws.
The approximate times of their appearance are thus estimated
by Mr. Thomas Bell.
From five to eight months, the four central incisors.
From seven to ten, the four lateral incisors.
From twelve to sixteen, the four anterior molares.
From fourteen to twenty, the four canine.
From eighteen to thirty-six, the four posterior molares.
Fig. 160.
1. Front view of the temporary teeth.
392
AGES.
Dentition is necessarily a physiological process, but it is apt to
be a cause of numerous diseases. The whole period of its con-
tinuance is one of great nervous susceptibility,—so that the sur-
geon never operates during it unless when compelled,—and wc
can understand, that the pressure, exerted by the tooth on the
gum, and the consequent inflammation and irritation, may lay the
foundation of numerous diseases. More are doubtless ascribed to
the process than it is entitled to, but still they are sufficiently nu-
merous; and all require, in their management, the free division of
the distended gum, so as to set the presenting part of the tooth at
liberty.
Whilst the teeth are appearing, the muscular structure of the
body generally is acquiring strength, and the salivary organs are
described by anatomists as becoming much more developed. The
food of the child is now diversified, and it begins to participate in
the ordinary diet of the table. The excrementitious matters are
consequently altered in their character, particularly the alvine,
which become firmer, and acquire the ordinary faecal smell; the
urea is still, however, in the generality of cases, in less proportion
than in the adult. The other functions require no particular men-
tion.
The mortality, during this period, is great. The bills of mor-
tality of London show, that the deaths under two years of age are
nearly thirty per cent, of the whole number. In Philadelphia,
during a period of twenty years ending with 1826, the propor-
tion was rather less than a third. The cholera of infants is the
great scourge of our cities during the summer months, whilst in
country situations it is comparatively rare; and it is always found
to prevail most in crowded alleys, and in the filthiest and impurest
habitations. There is something in the confined and deteriorated
atmosphere of a town, which seems to act in a manner directly
unfavourable to human life, and of the young especially This
is not confined to man. It is applicable also to the animal.
Experiments were instituted by Jenner, and since him by Dr.
Baron, which show that a privation of free air and of their na-
tural nourishment has a tendency to produce disorganization and
death. Dr. Baron placed a family of young rabbits in a confined
situation, and fed them with coarse green food, such as cabbage
and grass. They were perfectly healthy when put up. In about
a month one of them died,—the primary step of disorganization
being evinced by a number of transparent vesicles in the external
surface of the liver. In another, which died nine days after, the
disease had advanced to the formation of tubercles in the liver.
The liver of a third, which died four days later, had nearly
lost its true structure, so completely was it pervaded by tubercles.
Two days afterwards a fourth died : a number of hydatids was at-
tached to the lower surface of the liver. At this time, Dr. Baron
removed three young rabbits from the place where their com-
CHILDHOOD.
393
panions had died to another situation, dry and clean, and to their
proper accustomed food. The lives of these were obviously saved
by the change. He obtained similar results from experiments of
the same nature performed on other animals.
3. Third period of infancy.—This requires no distinct consi-
deration ; the growth of the child and the activity of the functions
going on as in the preceding period, but gradually acquiring more
and more energy. Within this period a third molaris appears,
which is not, however, a temporary tooth, but belongs to the per-
manent set.
During the whole of infancy, the dermoid texture—both skin
and mucous membranes—is extremely liable to be morbidly af-
fected; hence the frequency of eruptive diseases, and of diarrhoea,
aphthae, croup, bronchitis, &c, many of which are of very fatal
tendency. Owing, also, to the susceptibility of the nervous sys-
tem, convulsions, hydrocephalus, and other head affections are by
no means infrequent.
Sect. II.—Childhood.
Childhood may be considered to extend from the seventh to
the fifteenth year, or to the period of puberty; and it is parti-
cularly marked by the shedding of the first set of teeth, and the
appearance of the second. It is manifest, that in the growth of
the jaws with the rest of the body, the teeth, which, for a time,
may have been sufficient in magnitude and number, must soon
cease to be so; hence the necessity of a fresh set which may re-
main permanently. The process for the formation of the permanent
teeth is similar to that of the milk or temporary teeth; yet it pre-
sents some remarkable points of difference; and it affords us an-
other surprising instance of the wonderful adaptation of means
to definite objects, of which we have so many in the human
body.
This process has been well described by Mr. Thomas Bell,—
in his recent work on the "Anatomy, Physiology, and Diseases
of the Teeth,"—an individual whose opportunities for observation
have been unusually numerous, and to whose zeal and' ability in
his profession, as well as in the prosecution of natural science, it
affords us pleasure to testify.
The rudiments of the permanent teeth are not original and inde-
pendent like those of the temporary. They are derived from the
latter, and continue, for a considerable time, attached to, and inti-
mately connected with, them.
At an early period in the formation of the temporary teeth, the
investing sac gives off a small process or bud, containing a portion
of the essential rudiments, namely, the pulp, covered by its proper
membrane. This constitutes the rudiment of the permanent tooth.
Vol. II. 50
394
AGES.
It commences in a small thickening on one side of the parent sac,
which gradually becomes more and
Fig. 161. more circumscribed, and at length
b assumes a distinct form, though still
connected with it by a pedicle. For
a time the new rudiment is contain-
ed within the same alveolus as its
generator, which is excavated by
the absorbents for its reception. It
o.-Peimanent rudiment given off from the is not, according tO Mr. BeLL, in
'T^rmane^mliment given off from the consequence of the pressure of the
temporary in a moiaris. new rudiment upon the bone, that
this absorption is occasioned, but by a true process of anticipation;
for he states that he has seen in the human subject, and still
more evidently in the foal, the commencement of the excavation
before the new sac was formed, and consequently before any pres-
sure could have taken place on the parietes of the socket. The
absorption does not indeed begin in the smooth surface of the
socket, but in the cancelli of bone immediately behind it. By de-
grees, a small recess is thus formed in the parietes of the alveolus,
in which the new rudiment is lodged, and this excavation con-
tinues to increase with the increasing size of the rudiment, whilst,
at the same time, the maxillary bone becomes enlarged, and the
temporary tooth, advancing in its formation, rises in
Fig. 162. the socket. The new cell is thus gradually separated
from the other, both by being itself more and more
deeply excavated in the substance of the bone, and
also by the formation of a bony partition between them,
as seen in the marginal figure, 162, which exhibits the
connexion between the temporary tooth and the perma-
nent rudiment, as it exists after the former has passed
through the gum. As the temporary tooth grows and
rises in the jaw, the connecting cord or pedicle elon-
gates, and although the sac, from which it is derived,
is gradually absorbed, it still remains attached to the neck of the
temporary tooth. The situa-
tion of each permanent rudi-
ment, when its corresponding
temporary tooth has made its
appearance through the gum,is
deeper in the jaw and a little
behind the latter, as repre-
sented in the marginal illustra-
tions of the upper and lower
jaw after the whole of the
temporary teeth have passed
through the gum. Figs. 163 and
164. From these it will be understood, how the upper part of the sac of
CHILDHOOD.
395
thepermanentrudiment,—being,by meansofthecord connected with
the gum,—gradually as-
sumes the same relation to Fig. 164-
the gum, as was origi-
nally sustained by the
temporary rudiment.
The ossification of the
permanent teeth com-
mences from the third to
the sixth month after
birth, for the incisors and
first molaris; about the
ninth month for the canine teeth; about three years for the second
molaris; at three years and a half for the fcturth ; and at ten years
for the fifth; but all this is liable to much variation.
The permanent teeth, during their formation, are crowded to-
gether in the jaw; but as soon as they have advanced to a certain
point, and can no longer be contained within their own alveoli,
absorption of the anterior parietes of those cavities takes place,
and the teeth are allowed to come in some measure forwards. In
consequence of such absorption it frequently happens, that not
only the socket of the corresponding temporary tooth, but that of
the tooth on each side is opened to the permanent one. Absorp-
tion now occurs in the root of the temporary tooth,—generally at
the part nearest its successor, and this gradually proceeds as the
latter advances, until the root is completely removed, when the
crown falls off, leaving room for the permanent tooth to supply its
place. It does not seem that this absorption of the root is pro-
duced by pressure on the part of the permanent tooth, as it often
happens, according to Mr. Bell, that the root of the temporary
tooth is wholly absorbed, and the crown falls out spontaneously,
long before the succeeding tooth has approached the vacant space.
As a general rule, however, the actions must be regarded consen-
taneous; and Mr. Bell thinks, that this absorption resembles that,
already referred to, for the formation of a new cell to receive the
permanent pulp, and that if may be termed, like it, a "process of
anticipation." In both instances, the existence, though not the
pressure, or even the contact, of the new body is necessary to ex-
cite the action of the absorbent vessels; and we accordingly find,
that in those cases, by no means unfrequent, in which the tempo-
rary teeth retain their situation in the mouth, with considerable
firmness, until adult age, the corresponding permanent ones have
not been formed."
The following are the periods at which the permanent teeth ge-
nerally make their appearance. They are extremely irregular,
however, in this respect, and the estimate must consequently be
regarded as a general approximation only.
396
AGES.
Anterior or first great molares, 6£ years.
Middle incisors,.....7
Lateral incisors, 8 «
Anterior bicuspids, or first lesser molares, - 9
Posterior bicuspids, or second lesser molares, 10
Canine teeth,......11 or 12
Second great molares, - - - - - 12 or 13
Third great molares or dentes sapientias, - 17 to 20
When these have all appeared, the set is complete, consisting
of thirty-two teeth, sixteen in each jaw,—the number of temporary
teeth having been only twenty. The accompanying figure repre-
sents the upper and lower permanent teeth in their alveoli or sock-
ets, the external alveolar plate having been removed to show the
mode in which they a»e articulated. Fig. 166 represents the same
teeth when removed from the socket.
Fig. 165.
Upper and lower teeth of the left side of the jaws.
Whilst the jaws are becoming furnished with teeth and increas-
ing in size, they undergo a change of form, and the branches be-
come more vertical, so as to favour the exertion of force during
mastication. When the teeth issue from the gums they are most
favourably situated for the act of mastication; the incisors are
sharp, the canine pointed, and the molares studded with conical
asperities; but, in the progress of age, they become worn on the
surfaces that come in constant contact.
ADOLESCENCE.
397
Fig. 166.
b c d e f g
a, a. Central incisors.—b, b. Lateral incisors.— c.c. Canine teeth.—d,d. First bicuspidati.—e, e, Se-
cond bicuspidati.-/,/. First molares.—g, g. Second molares.—A, h. Third molares or dentes sapientias.
During the occurrence of these changes, which embrace the
whole of the period we are considering, and extend, at times, into
the two next, the animal functions, especially that of sensibility,
become surprisingly developed, and the intellectual and moral re-
sults of a well adapted system of education are strikingly apparent.
The nutritive functions are likewise performed with energy, the
body not yet having attained its full growth; and, towards the
end of the period, the organs of reproduction commence that de-
velopment, which we have to describe under the next period.
Sect. III. Adolescence.
The commencement of this age is marked by one of the most
extraordinary developments that the frame experiences, and its
termination by the attainment of full growth in the longitudinal
direction. The period of the former of these changes is termed
puberty; that of the latter the adult age.
The age of adolescence has been considered to extend from
fifteen years to twenty-five in men ; and from fifteen to twenty-one
in women ; but this is only an approximation like the other divi-
sions of the ages, all of which are subject to great fluctuations in
individual cases.
During the periods we have considered, no striking difference
exists between the appearance of the male and female, except as
regards the generative organs; but about the age of puberty essen-
tial changes occur that modify the characteristics of the two
sexes in a manner which they maintain through the remainder of
existence; and these changes affect the whole of the economy to a
greater or less degree.
In the male, the skin loses more or less of its delicacy and white-
ness ; the hair becomes darker, the cellular tissue condensed, and
398
AGES.
the muscles more bulky, so that they are strongly marked beneath
the surface; the beard appears, as well as hair upon the pubes,
chest, and in the axillae. The different parts of the body become
developed in such manner that the centre of the frame now falls
about the pubes. The encephalon has increased in size, especially
at the posterior and inferior part,—the cerebellum, and has be-
come firmer. The ossification of the bones, in the direction of
their length, terminates towards the end of the period. The mus-
cles become more red and fibrinous, losing the gelatinous charac-
ter they previously possessed, and, in the animal, exhibiting those
striking changes which we see from veal to beef, from lamb to
mutton, &c. The larynx undergoes great augmentation, and the
glottis particularly is elongated and widened. The jaws complete
their growth, and the dentes sapientias appear, so as to make up
the full complement of sixteen in each jaw. The changes in the
nutritive organs are not great, consisting chiefly in their develop-
ment to correspond with the increased size of the frame. The
greatest modification is produced in the organs of reproduction,
which are now in a state to exercise their important functions.
The testicles, at the period of puberty, suddenly enlarge so as to
attain twice the diameter they previously possessed; and the se-
cretion of sperm is accomplished. The penis is also greatly in-
creased in size; and, according to Adelon, "becomes susceptible
of erection." This susceptibility, however, exists long before this
age. It may be noticed even in the first period of infancy. The
scrotum assumes a deeper colour. Such are the chief changes that
supervene in the male.
In the female, they are not quite so striking;—the general habit
remaining much the same as during childhood. The skin pre-
serves its primitive whiteness; and instead of the cellular tissue
becoming more condensed, and the muscles more marked, as in
the male, fat is deposited in greater quantity between the muscles,
so that the form becomes more rotund. New hair appears only on
the organs of reproduction and in the axillae, whilst that of the head
begins to grow more rapidly. The development of the genital
organs is as signal as in the male. The ovaries attain double their
previous dimensions; the uterus enlarges; and a secretion takes
place from it which has been elsewhere described—the menstrual
flux; the mons veneris and labia pudendi are covered with hair;
the labia enlarge, and the pelvis has its dimensions so modified as to
render labour practicable. At an early age, the long diameter of
the brim is from before to behind; but it now assumes the opposite
direction, or from side to-side; and the bosom, which, prior to this
age, oould scarcely be distinguished from that of the male, becomes
greatly augmented; fat is deposited so as to give the mammas their
rotundity; the mammary gland is enlarged; and the nipple of
greater size;—changes fitting the female for the new duties which
she may be called on to exercise.
ADOLESCENCE.
399
The functions undergo equally remarkable modifications, under
the new and instinctive impulse which animates every part of
animal life. The external senses attain fresh and peculiar activity;
the intellectual faculties become greatly developed, and this is the
period, during which the mental character is more modified and
improved by education than any other. It embraces the whole
time of scholastic application to the higher studies; and prior to
the end of the period, the male youth enters upon the avocation
which i3 to be his future support, and both sexes may become
established in life in the new relations of husband and wife, and of
parent and child. It is during this age, that the indescribable feel-
ing of interest and affection is experienced between individuals of
the two sexes; and that the boldness of the male contrasts so strik-
ingly with the captivating modesty of the tender female:—
" That chastity of look, which seems to hang-,
A veil of purest light o'er all her beauties."
The muscles having acquired their strength and spring, the severer
exercises are now indulged, and mechanical pursuits of all kinds,—
military or civil,—are undertaken with full effect. The expres-
sions participate in the altered condition of the mental and moral
manifestations, and indicate vivacity, energy, and enthusiasm. The
voice of the male acquires a new character, and becomes graver,
for reasons assigned elsewhere; whilst that of the female experi-
ences but slight modification.
The nutritive functions of digestion, absorption and respiration
experience but little change; but nutrition, strictly so called, is
evidently modified, from the difference which we notice in the
development and structure of the various organs. The muscles
contain more fibrine; the blood is thicker and richer in glo-
bules; and the excretions manifest a higher degree of animaliza-
tion. Urea has usurped the place of benzoic acid in the urine; and
the cutaneous transpiration has lost its acidulous smell, and become
rank and peculiar.
Lastly, the sexual functions are now capable of full and active
exercise, and appear to be intimately connected with the spirits,
energy, and development of many parts of the economy. If the
genital organs do not undergo the due change at puberty, or if the
testes of the male or the ovaries of the female be removed prior to
this age, considerable modification occurs. This is more manifest
in the male, inasmuch as the ordinary changes, that supervene at
puberty, are in him more marked than in the female.
The removal of the testicles, prior to puberty, arrests those
changes. The beard does not appear, nor the hair in the axillae or
on the pubes, as in the entire male; and if those animals, in which
the males are distinguished by deciduous horns, as the stag,—or by
crests and spurs, as the cock, be castrated before their appearance,
they never present themselves. If, however, they be castrated
400
AGES.
after puberty, they retain these evidences of masculine character.
The eunuch, likewise, who becomes such after the appearance of
the beard, preserves it, although to a less extent than usual.
The development of the larynx is arrested by castration, so that
the voice retains, with more or less change, the treble of the pe-
riod prior to puberty; and hence this revolting operation has been
had recourse to for the sake of gratifying the lovers of music.
In the progress of age, we find that, during the progressive evo-
lution of the organs, one set will be liable to morbid affections at
one period, and another set at another. In the early ages, the mu-
cous membranes and the head are peculiarly liable to disease; and
at the period we are now considering, affections of the respiratory
organs become more prevalent. It is, indeed, the great age for
pulmonary consumption,—that fatal malady, which, it was sup-
posed by Sydenham, destroys two-ninths of mankind. In the
female, whose proper feminine functions do not appear at the due
time or are irregularly exercised, the commencement,—and indeed
the whole of this period,—is apt to be passed in more or less
sickness and suffering.
Sect. IV. Virility or Manhood.
Halle has divided this age into three periods,—crescent, con-
firmed and decrescent virility. The first of these extends from
the age of twenty-five to that of thirty-five in the male, and from
twenty-one to thirty in the female; the second from thirty-five to
forty-five in the male, and from thirty to forty in the female. Nei-
ther of these will require remark, the whole of the functions
throughout this work,—when not otherwise specified,—being de-
scribed as they are accomplished in manhood. Owing to the par-
ticular evolution of organs, however, the tendency is not now so
great to morbid affections of the respiratory function. It is
more especially the age for cephalic and abdominal hemorrhage;
accordingly, apoplexy and hemorrhoidal affections are more fre-
quent than at any previous period.
In decrescent virility,—in which Halle comprises the period
of life between forty and fifty in the female, and between forty-
five and sixty in the male,—signs of decline are manifest. The
skin becomes shrivelled and wrinkled; the hair is gray, or white
and scanty; the teeth are worn at the top, chipped, loose, and
many, perhaps, lost. The external senses, especially the sight, are
more obtuse, partly owing to a change in the physical portions of
the organ, so that powerful spectacles become necessary, and partly
owing to blunted nervous sensibility. Owing to the same cause
the intellectual faculties are exerted with less energy and effect,
and the moral manifestations are more feeble and less excitable.
Locomotion is less active, owing to diminution in the nervous
power, as well as probably to physical changes in the muscles, so
that the individual begins to stoop,—the tendency of the body to
OLD AGE. 401
bear forwards being too great for the extensor muscles of the back
to counteract. The expressions participate in the condition of the
intellectual and moral acts, and are consequently less exerted than
in former periods.
The nutritive functions do not exhibit any very remarkable
change, and will even remain active until a good old age.
The functions of reproduction show the greatest declension,
especially in the female. The male may preserve his procrea-
tive capabilities much longer than this period, but in the fe-
male the power is, usually, entirely lost, the loss being indi-
cated by the cessation of menstruation. After this, the ovaries
shrivel, the uterus diminishes in size, the breasts wither, the skin
becomes brown and thick, long hairs appear on the upper lip and
chin, and all those feminine points are lost which were previously
i so attractive. The period of the cessation of the menses is liable
to many different disorders, which are the source of much annoy-
ance, and are frequently attended with fatal consequences. Prior
to their total disappearance, they become extremely irregular in
their recurrence, sometimes returning every fortnight, debilitating
by their frequency, and by the quantity of the fluid lost, and lay-
ing the foundation, in many cases, for uterine or other diseases of
a serious character. Cancerous affections of the mammae or labia,
which had been previously dormant or not in existence, now arise
or become developed, and at times with extreme rapidity. In con-
sequence of the great liability to such affections, this has been call-
ed the critical age, critical period, or critical time of life.
Sect. V. Of Old Age.
This is the age when every thing retrogrades. It is the prelude
to the total cessation of the functions, where the individual ex-
pires,—which is but rarely the case,—from pure old age.
This period, again, has been divided into three stages:—inci-
pient or green old age, reaching to seventy years; confirmed old
age or caducity, to eighty-five years; and decrepitude, from
eighty-five years upwards.
In incipient or green old age, the declension, which had oc-
curred in the period of decrescent virility, is now more marked.
The intellectual and moral manifestations exhibit more manifest
signs of feebleness; the muscular powers totter, and require the aid
of a support,—as well to convey a part of the weight of the body
to the ground as to enlarge the base of sustentation. The muscles
of the larynx participate in this general vacillation; the
"Bigmanly voice
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound,"
and is broken and tremulous.
Vol. II. 51
402
AGES.
The appetite is great, and the powers of digestion considerable,
but mastication is large-
ly deteriorated. In the
first place, the teeth fall
out, in consequence of
the constant deposition
of fresh layers in the
dental cavities which
ultimately close them,
and obliterate the ves-
sels that pass to the in-
ternal papillae for their
nutrition. As soon as
the teeth have fallen
out, the alveolar pro-
cesses, which support-
ed them, waste away
by absorption, and the depth of the jaw is thus greatly lessened.
On these accounts, the jaws only approach each other at the fore-
part ; the chin projects, and the angle of the jaw is thrown more
forward. As the teeth and the sockets disappear, the alveolar mar-
gins become thin and sharp,, and the gum hardens over them; the
chinand nose necessarily approach; (Fig. 168.) the lips fall in,and the
speech is inarticu-
Fig. 168.
late. We can thus
understand the pecu-
liarities of the mas-
tication of the aged.
They are compelled
to bite with the an-
terior portions of the
jaws; for this reason,
as well as owing to
the greater obliquity
of the insertion of
the levator muscles
of the lower jaw, but
little force can be ex-
erted; and, owing to
the too great size of
the lips, the saliva
cannot be retained.
Respiration is not as
readily accomplish-
ed, partly owing to the complete ossification of the cartilages of
the ribs, but chiefly to diminished muscular powers. The valves
of the heart, and many of the blood-vessels, especially of the extre-
mities, become more or less ossified, and the pulse is slow and inter-
OLD AGE.
403
mittent. Nutrition is effected to such a degree only as to keep the
machine in feeble action; and animal heat is formed to an inade-
quate extent, so that the individual requires the aid of greater ex-
traneous warmth. In many cases the powers of reproduction in
the male are now completely lost.
In confirmed old age, the debility of the various functions goes
on augmenting. The mental and corporeal powers almost totter
to their fall, and often a complete state of dementia or dotage exists.
Frequently, however, we are gratified to find full Intellectual and
moral enjoyment prevailing even after this period, with the pos-
session of considerable corporeal energy. The author has had the
honour to enjoy the friendship of two illustrious individuals of
this country, who have filled the highest office in the gift of a
free people, one of whom is now no more, but the other he trusts
destined to live for many years to come: both enjoyed, after
the lapse of eighty-two summers, the same commanding intel-
lectual powers and the same benevolence that ever distinguished
them.
In this stage, locomotion becomes more difficult; the appetite is
considerable, and the quantity eaten at times prodigious, the diges-
tive powers being incapable of separating the due amount of chyle
from the quantity of aliment which was sufficient in the previous
ages. Difficulty, however, sometimes arises in defecation, the
muscular powers being insufficient to expel the excrement. From
this cause accumulations occasionally take place in the rectum,
which may require the use of mechanical means, as injections, the
introduction of an instrument to break them down, &c. Genera-
tion is, usually, entirely impracticable, erection being impossible;
and during the whole of this and the next stage, the urinary or-
gans are liable to disorder,—irritability about the neck of the
bladder, and incontinence of urine, being frequent sources of an-
noyance.
Finally, to this stage succeeds that of decrepitude, so well de-
scribed by Shakspeare:—
" Last scene of all,
That ends this strange, eventful history,
Is second childishness, and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans every thing."
The loss of power, mental and corporeal, becomes progressively
greater; and in addition to the abolition of most of the external
senses,—especially those of sight and audition—the intellectual
faculties are, perhaps, entirely gone; all muscular motion is lost,
and paralysis requires constant confinement to the bed, or to the
easy chair; the excretions are passed involuntarily; sensibility be-
comes gradually extinct, and life finally flits away as impercep-
tibly as the twilight merges in the shades of night.
404
AGES.
Such is a brief description of the chief changes that befal
the body in the different ages. To depict them more at length
would be inconsistent with the object and limits of this ele-
mentary work. It is clear, that, although the divisions we
have adopted from Hall6, are entirely arbitrary, must run into
each other, and be liable to numerous exceptions;—certain well-
marked changes occur about the commencement or termination of
many of them, and singular diversity takes place in the successive
evolutions of organs: whilst some are predominant at one time,
they fall behind others at a previous or subsequent period; and
such changes may lay the foundation for morbid affections, at one
age in certain organs, which do not prevail at another. The
ancients, who believed that great mutations occur at particular in-
tervals,—every three, seven, or nine years, for example, as the
particular number might be at the moment in favour,—compared
these periods to knots uniting the different stages of life, and giving
the economy a new direction. These knots they called the cli-
materic or climacteric years, and they conceived the body to be
especially liable to disease at the periods of their occurrence. The
majority assigned them to the number seven and its multiples; and
the fourteenth and twenty-first years especially, were conceived to
be replete with danger. Others applied the term climacteric to
years resulting from the multiplication of seven with an odd num-
ber, and especially with nine: the sixty-third year being by almost
all regarded as the grand climacteric. The error, with the an-
cients, lay, in considering that the numbers exerted any agency.
Every one admits the influence of particular evolutions on health;
and at the present day, the word climacteric is generally restricted
to certain periods of life, at which great changes supervene, inde-
pendently of any numerical estimate of years;—such as the period
of puberty in both sexes; that of the cessation of the menses, or
the critical time of life in the female, &c.
Lastly, it need hardly be remarked, that the different ages we
have described, instead of extending through the protracted period
of eighty-five years and upwards, may be varied by original con-
stitution, climate, habits of life, &c. so that the stages may be
shorter than usual, and all the signs of decrepitude occur many
years earlier.
SLEEP.
405
OF SLEEP.
The difference between the two classes of animal and nutritive
functions is strikingly exhibited in the phenomena we have now
to consider. Whilst the former are more or less suspended, the
latter continue their action with but little modification.
The functions of sensibility, voluntary motion, and expression,
cannot be indulged for any length of time, without fatigue being
induced, and a necessity existing for the reparation of the nervous
energy which has been expended during their action. After a
time,—the length of which is somewhat influenced by habit,—the
muscles have no longer power to contract, or the external senses
to receive impressions; the brain ceases to appreciate; mental and
moral manifestations are no longer elicited; and the whole of the
functions of relation become torpid, and remain in this state until
the nervous system has been renovated, and adapted for the repeti-
tion of those functions, which, during the previous waking condi-
tion, had been exhausted. This state constitutes sleep; which, con-
sequently, may be defined—the periodical and temporary suspen-
sion of all or of most of those functions that connect us with the
universe. The suspension occurs in these functions and in these
only; and hence the consideration of sleep in many physiological
treatises has immediately followed that of the functions of rela-
tion.
The nutritive functions continue regularly in action from the
earliest period of foetal formation; before mental manifestations
exist in the embryo, and during sleep. For them there is no ces-
sation, and scarcely any declension of activity, until the decadency
of the frame affects them along with the whole of the machinery.
Sleep, in the language of poetry, has been compared to death; and
Dr. Good has stated that the resemblance between them is not less
correct upon the principles of physiology, than it is beautiful
among the images of poetry. " Sleep is the death or torpitude of
the voluntary organs, while the involuntary continue their accus-
tomed actions. Death is the sleep or torpitude of the whole."
Physiologically the difference appears to us considerable. Dur-
ing the whole of sleep a process of renovation is probably going
on in the organs of animal life, which adapts them for subsequent
activity, and contrasts signally with the state of annihilation that
constitutes death; hence the important difference between healthy
sleep, and the state of coma, induced by any morbid cause; from
which the patient is aroused languid and exhausted, instead of active
and recruited. The fcetus in utero is also described by some as
being in a perpetual sleep, until aroused by the new actions estab-
lished at birth. It is probable, however, that there are, even in
406 SLEEP.
this case, something like alternations of activity and suspension in
the nervous functions. We have seen elsewhere that they are
manifestly more or less exerted during intra-uterine existence;
nervous energy must therefore be expended; and renovation,—to
a much less extent, it is true, than in the new-born child,—be ne-
cessary.
Linn.e:us, under the term somnus plant arum, expresses a pe-
culiar state in the constitution of many plants during the night,
evinced by a change of position,—generally a drooping or folding
together of their leaves or leaflets; such a change being occasioned
by the withdrawal of the stimulus of light, and, probably, it has
been conceived, constituting a state of rest to their vital functions;
but it is obvious that there can be no similitude,between this con-
dition and that of the sleep of animals, which is confined to the func-
tions of relation,—functions that do not even exist in the vegetable.
The approach of sleep is indicated by signs that are unequivo-
cal, and referable to the encephalon. The great nervous centre of
animal life, feeling the necessity for renovation, an internal sensa-
tion arises in it, as well as in the whole of the nervous system
over which it presides, termed sleepiness, or the sensation, or
want, or desire of sleep, which, provided the waking state has
been protracted, ultimately becomes irresistible, and will draw on
sleep in spite/of every effort to the contrary. It is affirmed, that
boys, exhausted by exertion, dropped asleep amid the tumultuous
noise of the battle of the Nile; and the fatigued soldier has been
oftea known to sleep amid discharges of artillery. Noises will at
first prevent sleep, but the desire is ultimately so invincible, that
they cease to produce any effect. In the noisy inns of large towns,
where the perpetual arrivals and departures of travellers keep up an
incessant din and confusion, sleep may be for a time withheld, but
it ultimately supervenes, although the tumult may be even ten-
fold; and if the noise should, from any cause, suddenly cease, the
individual will probably awake. It is reported of the proprietor
of some vast iron-works, who slept close to them, notwithstanding
the noise of sledge-hammers, forges and blast-furnaces, that he
would immediately awake if any interruption occurred during
the night. This effect of habit is seen in the infant, which has
been accustomed to the cradle. The moment the motion and
noise of the cradle, or the sound of the nurse's voice,—if she has
been in the custom of singing the child to sleep,—ceases, it
awakes.
When the desire for sleep sets in vigorously, the animal functions
become more obtuse, until they progressively fail to be exerted.
The cessation does not occur in all simultaneously. The power of
volition is gradually lost over the muscles; the eyes cannot be kept
open; the upper eyelid falls, and if we attempt to raise it again, it
appears to be weighed down; the arms fall where gravity would
take them; the extensor muscles of the back, deprived of volition,
SLEEP.
407
cease to contract, and the head falls suddenly forward, occasioning
nodding, which rouses the brain to momentary action, to be again,
however, lost. If the individual be in the erect attitude, his limbs
bend under him; and if in the sitting posture, the head gradually
falls upon the chest; the extensors of the trunk no longer contract
with sufficient force to obviate its tendency to fall forwards; and
the attitude, unsupported, can no longer be maintained. The same
gradual suspension occurs in the muscular movements concerned in
speech and in the production of the voice, which becomes feeble,
confused, broken and ultimately lost. All the strictly voluntary
muscles have, in short, their action suspended, if we except the
orbicularis palpebrarum muscle, which, according to Broussais,
now contracts to close the eye and shut off the stimulus of light.
If we determine to resist the desire for sleep, we yawn' and
stretch, for the reasons elsewhere assigned, and endeavour to arouse
the functions to renewed activity. If the state of wakefulness has
not been long protracted, we are successful; but all our endeavours
fail, if the nervous system be so far exhausted as to render repa-
ration indispensable.
From the commencement of sleepiness, the action of the senses
is enfeebled, and gradually suspended. The sight yields first, the
closure of the eyelids preventing the organ from being impressed
by its special irritant. The smell yields after the taste; the hear-
ing after the smell; and, lastly, the touch sleeps; although the spe-
cial irritants may continue to reach the organs of these senses. All
the internal sensations, hunger, thirst, &c, as well as the morbid
sensation of pain, are no longer appreciated. The intellectual
and moral manifestations exhibit, from the commencement of the
feeling of heaviness, the languor which pervades the frame. The
will gradually ceases to control the functions that are under its
domain, until ultimately the power of volition is lost. In the less
perfect kind of sleep, or in slumber, the ideas flit in a disorderly
manner, constituting a kind of delirium; but when sleep is complete
the whole encephalic organ appears to be at rest, and perceptions
are no longer accomplished. •
The special irritants, applied to the external senses, excite no
sensation. Many physiologists affirm that the internal functions
of nutrition acquire more energy during sleep; but Broussais
properly disputes the affirmation, and maintains that the want of
action in the senses, muscles, and intellect, must necessarily occa-
sion diminished energy in the nutritive functions. During sleep,
circulation and respiration appear to be retarded; perspiration is
less active, and digestion more tardy than in the waking condition.
The difference in the last respect is so great, that, as Broussais re-
marks, the appetite recurs many hours before the usual time
where long watching is indulged, and an additional meal becomes
necessary; proving the truth of the old French proverb,—" qui
dort dine." Secretion, nutrition, and calorification are also less
408
SLEEP.
energetically performed than usual. Absorption, alone, according
to some is more active ; but there seems not to be sufficient reason
even for this assertion. This notion of the greater activity of the
nutritive organs is as old as Hippocrates, and has been ac-
quiesced in by almost all subsequent writers without examination,
especially as it seemed to show a kind of alternation and equipoise
between the respective periods of activity of animal and organic
life.
During sleep, then, all the animal functions are suspended, and
the body generally remains in a state of semiflexion, the one which,
as we have elsewhere seen, requires little natural effort. To this,
however, there are numerous exceptions depending upon habit.
The easiest position for the body is perhaps on the back. It is the
one assumed in extreme debility, when the prostration is so great
that the individual sinks down in the bed like a dead weight; but
the extensor muscles of the thigh and leg, under such circum-
stances, become fatigued, and relief is obtained by drawing the feet
upwards so as to elevate the knees. This is a common attitude in
the most debilitating maladies, and is often maintained until within
a short time prior to dissolution. Sleep can persist with the exer-
cise of certain muscles. Couriers, on long journeys, will nap on
horseback, and coachmen on their boxes. The author has seen a
servant boy erect and asleep in the intervals between the demands
for his services at the table.
During the first sleep, the suspension of the animal functions is
most complete; but, towards morning, some of them become less
asleep, or more excitable than others. The intellectual and moral
faculties are frequently inordinately active, giving occasion to
dreams, which, with some individuals, occupy a great portion of
the period allotted to rest. The sense of tact, too, is easily roused.
If we lie in a position which is disagreeable, it is soon changed;
the limbs are drawn away if irritated in any manner; the clothes
are pulled up, if the air is disagreeably cold, &c. The sense of
sight and the voluntary motions are least readily aroused, so that
those functions which fall asleep the last are most easily awakened,
and they gradually resume their activity in the order in which they
lost it.
After six or eight hours of sleep,—more or less according to
circumstances,—the individual awakes, not generally at once, how-
ever; a state of slumber, like that which preceded sleep, now suc-
ceeding it. The organs, which are the last to resume their acti-
vity, require to be excited to the performance of their functions.
The eyes are rubbed; stretching is indulged, which recals the
nervous influx to the muscles; whilst sighing and yawning
arouse the muscles of respiration, and compensate, in some mea-
sure, for the minor degree of aeration of the blood accomplished
during sleep. The urine is discharged, and the phlegm, that
may have collected in the air passages expectorated: these ex-
SLEEP.
409
cretions have accumulated during sleep, because, owing to dimi-
nished sensibility, the call for their evacuation has not been as
urgent. In cases of catarrh, accompanied by copious mucous secre-
tion, and in phthisis pulmonalis, the fluid will collect in surprising
quantity in the air-passages during sleep, and it is expectorated as
soon as the brain is sufficiently aroused to respond to the sensation.
When the individual is fully awake, the energy, with which the
animal functions are exercised, exhibits that the nervous system
must have entirely recruited during its state of comparative inac-
tion. The period of sleep, necessary for this purpose, varies in
different individuals, and at different ages. Some require eight
or ten hours; others not more than three or four; and others are
said to have been contented, throughout the whole course of along
life, with not more than one or two. Men of active minds, whose
attention is engaged in a series of interesting employments, sleep
much less than the lazy and the listless. The great Frederick of
Prussia, and the yet more great Napoleon, are said to have spent
a surprisingly short time in rest; but with respect to the latter,
the fact is controverted by one, who had the best opportunities
for observation. It is probable, however, that in these cases, the
sleep is more intense, and that such of the animal functions, as re-
quire rest indispensably, are completely suspended during the
whole period consigned to it. These are the functions of volun-
tary motion more particularly; the intellectual and moral facul-
ties requiring a much shorter period of repose, as is manifest by
their incessant activity during dreaming,—a condition which, with
some, continues through almost the whole night. The same indi-
vidual, too, will spend a shorter time in sleep, when strongly in-
terested in any pursuit, than in the monotonous occurrences of or-
dinary life, and when any subject occupies us intently, it will
frequently keep us awake in spite of ourselves; but, although the
period of sleep may be protracted much beyond the accustomed
hour by unusual excitation, the effect of the stimulus becomes in-
sufficient, and sleep comes on under circumstances which appear
most unfavourable to it. The lunatic affords us a wonderful ex-
ample of powerful resistance to sleep and fatigue, or rather of the
short period which is necessary for the renovation of the nervous
system, kept almost incessantly upon the stretch, as it is in many
of these distressing cases.
In infancy and youth, whilst the animal functions are extremely
active, the necessity for sleep is greatest; in mature age, where
time is more valued and the cares are more numerous, it is less
indulged; whilst the aged may be affected in two opposite ways;
they are either in a state of almost constant somnolency, or their
sleep is short and light.
Sleep has been regarded, by the physiologist, as complete, and in-
complete. The former is characterized by suspension of all the
animal functions; a state, the existence of which has been doubted
Vol. H. 52
410
SLEEP.
by many. Certain it is, that it can occur but rarely, as all the or-
gans must have stood in equal need of rest and renovation; and
none have preserved, from the preceding state of waking, a pecu-
liar susceptibility for action. The nearest approach to it occurs in
the first hours of repose; but after this it becomes incomplete;
some of the functions are not equally sound asleep, and conse-
quently respond to excitants with different degrees of facility;
whilst the various organs do not require the same time for repara-
tion, and therefore awake at different intervals; hence dreams
arise, which occur chiefly towards morning, or after the sleep has
become incomplete; that is,when some of the animal functions are
more or less actively, but irregularly, exercised.
Anciently, dreams were regarded as supernatural phenomena,
under the control of the children of Somnus or Sleep,—Mor-
pheus, Phobetor or Icelos, and Phantasos. These three chil-
dren, according to Ovid, were capable of transforming themselves
into any form; the employment of Morpheus being, to counterfeit
the forms of men; Phobetor imitated the likeness of brutes and
objects of terror; and Phantasos that of inanimate creatures.
" MonpHEtrs of all his num'rous train express'd
The shape^of man and imitated best:
The walk, the words, the gesture could supply,
The habil mimic and the mien belie;
Plays well, but all his action is confin'd,
Extending not beyond our human kind.
Another, birds, and beasts, and dragons, apes,
And dreadful images and monster shapes:
This demon Icelos, in heaven's high hall
The gods have named, but men Phobetoh call.
A third is Phantasos, whose actions roll
On meaner thoughts, and things devoid of soul:
Earth, fruits and flowers, he represents in dreams,
And solid rocks unmov'd, and running streams."
Garth's Ovid, {Mttam. lib. xi. fab. x.)
For a long time, dreams were supposed to reveal future events
by types and figures; as when Hecuba dreamed she had conceived
a firebrand, and Caesar that he should lie with his mother; which
was interpreted, that he should enjoy the empire of the earth,—
the common mother of all living creatures. Oneiromancy was,
hence, an encouraged art, and ministered largely to the credulity
and superstition of the people. Strange to say, there are yet those,
who look upon dreams to be typical and instructive, and conse-
quently supernatural! Mr. Baxter and Bishop Newton openly
maintained this doctrine. They divide dreams into two kinds,—
good and evil,—and conceive that two kinds of agents, good and evil
spirits, are concerned in their production; they consequently ac-
count for the one or the other sort of dreams, according as the one
or the other kind of agents obtains a predominancy! It is not
necessary to combat these views,—which must, of course, be as
applicable to animals as to man,—especially as they are univer-
DREAMS.
411
sally discarded. Dreaming is now properly considered to be an irre-
gular action of the brain, in which the great controlling power of the
will has suspended its agency, and allowed the memory and imagina-
tion unlimited sway,so that the most singularand heterogeneous ideas
are formed,—still kept, however, somewhat in train by the force of
association. At times, indeed, this influence is so great, that every
part of the dream appears to go on in the most natural and con-
sistent manner. We witness the scenes that have occurred during our
waking hours; and we seem to see, hear, walk, talk, and perform
all the ordinary offices of life. The mind reasons, judges, wills,
and experiences all the various emotions. Generally, the whole
process is confined to the brain, but, at times, the muscles
are thrown into action, and the expression of the feelings and
emotions occurs, as in the waking state. The dreamer moves,
speaks, groans, cries, sings, &c. and if the dream concerns the ge-
nerative function, the external organs respond, and emission
takes place in the male to such an extent, occasionally, as to
constitute a true disease, or to be the cause of such,—the
paroniria salax of Good, the gonorrhoea dormientium, or night
pollution of others. During the prevalence of a passion, too, the
nutritive organs, in which its effects are experienced whilst awake,
may be equally concerned during sleep. The respiration is
short and interrupted, and sighs, groans, or laughter, according
to the character of the emotion, are elicited; the heart beats with
more or less violence, and this state of excitement will often
continue after the individual has been completely aroused. The
nightmare, ephialtes, or incubus, affords us an example of suf-
fering as intense as could well be experienced during our waking
moments. A sensation of distressing weight is felt at the epigas-
trium, and of impossibility of motion, speech or even respiration:
the dreamer fancies that some horrible form, or some ferocious
being is approaching him, and that all chance of escape is precluded;
or that he is about to fall, or is falling, from a lofty precipice;
and the anguish which he suffers is indicated by loud groans, or
by such painful feelings, apparently in the organs to which the
emotions are referred, that he wakes. The ideas at these times
are even more vivid than during the waking condition; the
perceptions that predominate not being detracted from by extra-
neous impressions.
On many of these occasions, when we awake, the dream is
fresh upon the memory; and, by resigning ourselves again to
slumber, we can recal it, should it be of an agreeable character, or
dispel it altogether by rousing ourselves thoroughly.
On account of the greater vividness of the ideas during sleep,
and their freedom from all distraction, intellectual operations are
sometimes effected in a surprising manner; difficulties being occa-
sionally solved, which have obtained the mastery during waking.
To a minor degree, every one must have experienced more or less
412
SLEEP.
of this. Composition, poetical or other, is often effected with the
greatest facility; and a clue is occasionally afforded which leads to
the solution of previous difficulties. Cardan had a notion that he
composed one of his works during sleep. Condillac, who at-
tended greatly to this matter, remarked particularly that whilst
engaged, with his " Cours d'Etude" he frequently broke off a
subject, before retiring to rest, which he developed and finished
the next morning according to his dreams. Condorcet saw in
his dreams the final steps of a difficult calculation, which had
puzzled him during the day; and Dr. Gregory, of Edinburgh,
composed thoughts, and clothed them in words which were so just
in point of reasoning, and so good in point of language, that he
used them in his lectures, and in his written lucubrations. Vol-
taire, Lafontaine, Franklin, Coleridge, and others, have
made similar remarks; and events of the kind must have occurred,
in some shape, to almost every one. Dr. Good relates a singular
instance which happened to a friend of his, who, amongst other
branches of science, had deeply cultivated that of music, of which
he was passionately fond. He was a man of irritable temperament,
ardent mind, and most active and brilliant imagination; and " was
hence," says Dr. Good, " prepared by nature for energetic and
vivid ideas in his dreams." On one occasion, during his sleep,
he composed a very beautiful little ode, of about six stanzas, and
set the same to very agreeable music, the impression of which was
so firmly fixed in his memory, that, on rising in the morning, he
copied from his recollection both the music and the poetry.
In these cases the will must direct, more or less, the intellectual
process. It is scarcely conceivable that the train of reasoning
could go on so connectedly and effectively by association alone.
That the will can, in some degree, be kept awake, or in a condi-
tion susceptible of being readily aroused, is shown by the facility
with which we awake at a determined hour, and exercise a degree
of watchfulness during sleep; as well as by the facts, previously
mentioned, regarding the courier who sleeps on his horse, or the
coachman on his box.
There is a kind of dreaming, in which the sleep is more com-
plete than during ordinary dreams; where the body has, conse-
quently, less capability of receiving impressions, but where the
will has a certain degree of power over the muscles of voluntary
motion. This is somnambulism, or sleep walking. During the
continuance of this state, the individual can apparently see, hear,
walk, write, paint, speak, taste, smell, &c. and perform his usual
avocations, yet remain so soundly asleep that it is impossible to
awake him without making use of violence. Cases are on record,
and of an authentic nature, of individuals who have risen from bed
asleep, with their eyes closed, and have not only walked about the
room or house, going up or down stairs, finding their way readily
and avoiding obstacles, but have passed with safety through very
dreams.
413
dangerous places, as windows, or on the roofs of houses. They
have executed, too, yet more difficult feats; such as dressing
themselves, going out of doors, lighting a fire, bathing, saddling
and bridling a horse, riding, composing verses, &c. and executing
all the actions of life correctly, and even acutely; yet they
have been asleep during the whole of these acts. The eyes have
been shut, or if open, have been incapable of perceiving the
brightest light held before them; and the iris has not exhibited its
irritability by contracting, so that it is doubtful whether the ordi-
nary functions of the eyes are generally executed during somnam-
bulism; and the fact, of the serious accidents that occasionally befal
the sleep walker, is in favour of this conclusion. It must be re-
marked, however, that in the opinion of some physiologists the
sight is awake and employed, and there are cases which strongly
favour the idea.
The peculiarity of somnambulism is, that the train of thoughts
is always directed towards one point, and this so profoundly, that
notwithstanding the activity of the imagination, and the firm hold
it takes on the mind, no recollection is retained of the occurrences
during sleep, after the individual awakes, either spontaneously, or
by being forcibly aroused.
The causes of imperfect or incomplete sleep, and hence of
dreams, are various. The fact, already referred to, of the different
organs of the animal functions having their distinct periods of
waking and rest, would induce us to suppose, that it ought not to be
always equally profound and durable: yet there are individuals whose
sleep is nearly complete throughout; but they are not many. The
previous occupation of the sleeper exerts great influence. If it has
been of a fatiguing nature, all the faculties rest equally long and
soundly; but if the fatigue extends beyond the due point, a degree
of excitability of the brain is left which renders it extremely lia-
ble to be aroused. In this way we understand, why dreams should
bear upon subjects that have long occupied the mind in its waking
state; the tension of the mind by those subjects having left consi-
derable excitability, as respects them, and a disposition to resume
them under the slightest irritation.
The presence or absence of irritants—external or internal—ex-
erts likewise a great effect on the soundness of sleep, and the for-
mation of dreams. The stillness of night and the absence of light
are hence favourable to repose: the position, too, must be one de-
void of constraint; and the couch soft and equable, and especially
such as the individual has been accustomed to use. Sleep is im-
practicable in a badly-made bed; and every one must have experi-
enced the anti-soporific influence of a strange bed, the arrangement
of which, as to quantity, pillows, &c. differs from that to which
he has been habituated. It is not, however, by external irritants
that the sleep is usually disturbed. The state of the system itself
will react upon the brain, and give occasion to broken sleep, and to
414
SLEEP.
dreams of the most turbulent character. Irritations, existing in the *
viscera, are frequently the cause of dreams,—in children more es-
pecially; and a hearty supper, especially if of materials difficult of
digestion, will bring on the whole train of symptoms that cha-
racterize nightmare. In like manner, any thing that impedes the
action of the functions of respiration, circulation, &c. may occasion
the wildest phantasies.
All these internal impressions are more vividly perceived for
the reasons already stated. The nervous system is no longer ex-
cited by the ordinary impressions from the external senses; and if
these internal impressions are insufficient to prevent sleep alto-
gether, they may excite dreams.
During this incomplete kind of sleep, the external sensations are
not wholly at rest; particularly that of touch or tact, which, as it is
the last to sleep, is the first to awake. Impressions made on it will
excite the most exaggerated representations in the brain, in the shape
of dreams. The bite of a flea appeared to Descartes the puncture of
a sword: an uneasy position of the neck will excite the idea of stran-
gulation: a loaded stomach will cause the sleeper to feel as if a
heavy weight,—a house, or a castle, or some powerful monster,—
were on his stomach. Moreau de la Sarthe gives the case of a
young female, who, from the application of her cold hand against
her breast, when asleep, dreamed that a robber had entered her
apartment and had seized hold of her. Galen dreamed that he
had a stone leg, and, on waking, found that his own was struck
with paralysis. Mr. Dugald Stewart gives a similar case, to
show how an impression made upon the body, during sleep, may
call up a train of associated ideas, and thus produce a dream. A
gentleman, (Dr. Gregory,) who, during his travels, had ascended
a volcano, having occasion, in consequence of indisposition, to ap-
ply a bottle of hot water to his feet when he went to bed, dreamed
that he was making a journey to the top of Mount iEtna, and that
he found the heat of the ground almost insupportable. Sir Walter
Scott mentions an analogous instance, which was told him by the
nobleman concerned. He had fallen asleep, with some uneasy feel-
ings arising from indigestion, which brought on the usual train of
visionary terrors. At length, they were all summed up in the ap-
prehension that the phantom of a dead man held the sleeper by
the wrist, and endeavoured to drag him out of bed. He awoke in
horror, and still felt the cold, dead, grasp of a corpse's hand on his
wrist. It was a minute before he discovered that his own left
hand was in a state of numbness, and with it he had accidentally
encircled his right arm.
I/j again, the organ of hearing be wakeful, the dreamer may hear
an individual speak to him and may reply; so that occasionally se-
cret thoughts and feelings have been elicited. The author has him-
self replied several times connectedly in this manner; and he has
been able to lead on others, especially children,—whose sleep is
DREAMS.
415
often interrupted by the existence of irregular internal impressions,
—to answer a few times in the same manner.
In the explanation of the cause of dreaming, we have the most
plausible application of the theory of Gall regarding the plurality
of organs in the brain. Every explanation, indeed, takes for grant-
ed, that certain faculties are suspended whilst others are active.
Gall's view is, that, during sleep, particular organs of animal life
enter into activity; and hence, that the perceptions and ideas which
depend on these organs awake; but in such case their activity takes
place without any influence of the will;—that when one organ
only is in activity, the dream is simple;—the dreamer caresses the
object of his affection; he hears melodious music, or fights his ene-
mies, according as this or that organ is exercising its functions:—
that the greater the number of organs in activity at the same time,
the more confused or complicated will be the dream, and the
greater the number of extravagancies: that, when the organs are
exhausted by watching and labour, we generally do not dream
during the first hours of sleep, unless the brain is extremely irri-
table; but, in proportion as the organs get rid of their fatigue, they
are more disposed to enter into activity, and hence, near the time
for waking, we dream more and with greater vivacity. "Dream-
ing, consequently," he concludes, " is only a state of partial wak-
ing of animal life; or, in other words, an involuntary activity of
certain organs, whilst others are resting."
In many respects, the state of the mind, during dreaming, re-
sembles that in the delirium of fever, as well as in insanity. The
imagination and memory may be acting with unusual vivacity,
whilst the perceptions or the judgment may be most erroneous;—
at times the perception being accurate and the judgment-suspend-
ed, so that the individual will be most incoherent; whilst, at others,
the perceptions may be inaccurate and the judgment right, so that
the individual will reason correctly from false premises. As in
dreams, too, the delirious may have their ravings modified by im-
pressions made on the external senses. Sir Walter Scott cites
the case of a lunatic confined in the infirmary of Edinburgh, whose
malady had assumed a gay turn. The house, in his idea, was his
own, and he contrived to account for all that seemed inconsistent
with his imaginary right of property;—there were many patients
in it, but that was owing to the benevolence of his nature, which
made him love to relieve distress. He went little, or rather never
abroad,—but then his habits were of a domestic and rather seden-
tary character. He did not see much company, but he daily re-
ceived visits from the first characters in the celebrated medical
school of the city, and he could not, therefore, be much in want
of society. With so many supposed comforts around him, with
so many visions of wealth and splendour, one thing alone disturb-
ed his peace. "He was curious," he said, "in his table, choice
in his selection of cooks, had every day a dinner of three regular
416
SLEEP.
courses and a dessert, and yet somehow or other, every thing he
ate tasted of porridge." The cause of this was, that the lunatic
actually ate nothing but this at any of his meals; and the impres-
sion made upon his palate was so strong as to modify his delusion.
Nearly allied to dreams in its physiology, or more properly,
perhaps, pathology, is the subject of hallucinations, illusions, or
waking dreams, in which the mind may be completely sound,
and yet the cerebral or percipient part of the brain, concerned in
the senses, be so deranged as to call up a series of perceptions of
objects which have no existence except in the imagination. Such
hallucinations are constant concomitants of insanity, delirium, and
dreaming; but they may occur also when the individual is wide
awake, and in the full possession of his reasoning powers; he may
see the phantasm, but at the same time totally disbelieve in the
existence of any extraneous body. The most common illusions of
this kind affect the senses of sight and hearing.
It has fallen to the lot of the author to meet with some singular
and serious cases of this affection ; where, for example, the indivi-
dual, wide awake, has heard the doors of his house violently
slammed, his windows thrown up and down, the bells set a ring-
ing, himself subjected to personal violence; yet there has been no
slamming of doors, no throwing up and down of windows, no
ringing of bells, no personal violence; the whole has been an illu-
sion, a waking dream, and of this no one has been more entirely
aware than the sufferer himself.
One of the most impressive cases of this kind is that of
Nicolai, the eminent bookseller of Berlin, which has been detail-
ed by Dr. Ferriar, and by Dr. Haslam, in his " Medical Juris-
prudence, as it relates to Insanity"—a tract, reprinted in this
country, along with others, by Dr. Cooper. Nicolai laid his
case before the Philosophical Society of Berlin. He traced his
indisposition, for it was manifestly such, to a series of disagreeable
incidents that had befallen him. The depression, thus induced,
was aided by the consequences of neglecting a course of periodical
bleeding to which he had accustomed himself. This state of health
brought on a disposition to spectral illusions, and, for a time, he
was regularly haunted by crowds of persons entering his apart-
ment, and addressing him or occupied solely in their own pursuits,
until as his health was restored, they gradually disappeared, and
ultimately left him, entirely. Yet Nicolai, who was a man of
unusually strong intellect, was throughout satisfied, that they were
mere hallucinations.
The cases of this kind, now on record, are many and curious.
Every one engaged in extensive practice, or in frequent commu-
nion with the world, must have seen or heard of them. There are
none, however,which strike us as more extraordinary,and which are
at the same time more elucidative of the subject, than the two follow-
ing, related by Sir Walter Scott. The first of these was frequently
WAKING DREAMS.
417
related in society, and in the class-room, by an old preceptor of
the author, the late truly learned and accomplished Dr. James
Gregory of Edinburgh.
A patient of Dr. Gregory, a person of some rank, having re-
quested the doctor's advice, made the following singular statement
of his complaint. "I am in the habit of dining at five, and, ex-
actly as the hour of six arrives, I am subjected to the following
painful visitation. The door of the room, even when I have been
weak enough to bolt it, which I have sometimes done, flies wide
open; an old hag, like one of those who haunted the heath of
Forres, enters with a frowning and incensed countenance, comes
straight up to me with every demonstration of spite and indigna-
tion, which could characterize her who haunted the merchant
Abudah, in the oriental tale; she rushes upon me, says something,
but so hastily that 1 cannot discover the purport, and then strikes
me a severe blow with her staff. I fall from my chair in a swoon,
which is of longer or shorter endurance. To the recurrence of
this apparition I am daily subjected; and such is my new and sin-
gular complaint." The doctor asked, whether his patient had in-
vited any one to sit with him when he expected such a visitation.
He was answered in the negative. The nature of the complaint
was so singular; it was so likely to be imputed to fancy, or even
to mental derangement, that he shrunk from communicating the
circumstance to any one. "Then," said the doctor, "with your
permission, I will dine with you to-day, tete-a-tete, and we will
see if your malignant old woman will venture to join our com-
pany." The patient accepted the proposal with hope and gratitude,
having expected ridicule rather than sympathy. They met at din-
ner, and Dr. Gregory, who suspected some nervous disorder,
exerted his brilliant powers of conversation to keep the attention
of his host engaged, and prevent him from thinking of the ap-
proach of the fated hour to which he was accustomed to look for-
ward with so much terror. He succeeded in his purpose better
than he had expected. The hour of six came almost unnoticed,
and, it was hoped, might pass by without any evil consequence.
But scarcely had it struck, when the gentleman exclaimed, m an
alarmed voice,—"the hag comes again," and dropped back in his
chair in a swoon, in the manner he had described. The doctor had
him bled, and satisfied himself that the periodical illusions arose
from a tendency to apoplexy.
The second case is even more extraordinary. It was related by
the medical gentleman under whose care it fell, and of whom "I
can only say," says Sir Walter, " that if I found myself at liberty
to name him, the rank, which he holds in his profession, as well
as his attainments in science and philosophy, form an undisputed
claim to the most implicit credit."
This gentleman was called in to attend the illness of a person,
who stood high in a particular department of the law, which often
Vol. II. 53
41S
SLEEP.
'placed the property of others subject to his discretion and control,
and whose conduct was therefore open to public observation. He
had, for years, borne the character of a man of unusual steadiness,
good sense, and integrity. He was, at the time of the physician's
visit, confined chiefly to his chamber, sometimes to his bed; yet
occasionally attending to business, and exerting his mind, appa-
rently with all its usual strength and energy, in the management
of the weighty matters entrusted to him; nor did there, to a su-
perficial observer, appear any thing in his conduct, while so en-
gaged, that could argue vacillation of intellect or depression of
mind. His outward symptoms indicated no acute or alarming dis-
ease; but slowness of pulse, absence of appetite, difficulty of di-
gestion, and constant depression of spirits seemed to draw their
origin from some hidden cause, which the patient was determined
to conceal. The deep gloom, the embarrassment which he could
not conceal from his friendly physician, the brevity and obvious
constraint with which he replied to the interrogatories of that gen-
tleman, induced him to take other methods for attaining correct
information. He applied to the sufferer's family, to learn, if pos-
sible, the source of that secret grief which was evidently corrod-
ing him ; yet not the slightest clue could be discovered. He had
finally recourse to serious argument with the invalid himself,
urging to him the folly of devoting himself to a lingering and me-
lancholy death, rather than tell the subject of affliction, which was
thus wasting him:—
"There's matter in these sighs: these profound heaves
You must translate: 'tis fit we understand them."
He specially pressed upon him the injury he was doing his own
character, by suffering it to be inferred, that the secret cause of
his dejection and its consequences was something too scandalous
or flagitious to be made known; bequeathing, in this manner, to
his family, a suspected and dishonoured name, and leaving a me-
mory, with which might be associated the idea of guilt, which the
criminal had died without confessing. The patient, moved more
by this species of appeal than by any that had been previously
urged, expressed his desire to speak out frankly to the doctor.
Every one else was removed, and the door of the sick-room made
secure, when he began his confession as follows:—"You cannot,
my dear friend, be more conscious than I, that I am in the course
of dying under the oppression of the fatal disease which consumes
my vital powers; but neither can you understand the nature of my
complaint, and manner in which it acts upon me, nor if you did,
I fear, could your zeal and skill avail to rid me of it." " It is
possible," said the physician, "that my skill may not equal my
wish of serving you: yet medical science has many resources, of
which those, unacquainted with its powers, never can form an es-
waking dreams.
419
timate. But, until you plainly tell me your symptoms of com-
plaint, it is impossible for either of us to say, what may or may
not be in my power, or within that of medicine." "I may answer
you," replied the patient, " that my case is not a singular one,
since we read of it in the famous novel of Le Sage. You remem-
ber, doubtless, the disease of which the Duke D'Olivarez is there
stated to have died?" "Of the idea," replied the doctor, "that he
was haunted by an apparition, to the actual existence of which he
gave no credit, but died, nevertheless, because he was overcome
and heart-broken by its imaginary presence." "I, my dearest
doctor," said the sick man, "am in that very case; and so pain-
ful and abhorrent is the presence of the persecuting vision, that
my reason is totally inadequate to combat the effects of my morbid
imagination, and 1 am sensible I am dying a wasted victim to an
imaginary disease." The medical gentleman listened attentively
to his patient's statement, and avoiding, for the time, any opposi-
tion to the sick man's preconceived fancy, contented himself with
a more minute inquiry into the nature of the apparition with which
he conceived himself haunted, and into the history of the mode by
which so singular a disease had obtained the mastery of his imagi-
nation, secured, as it seemed to be, against so irregular an attack
by strong intellectual powers. The patient replied, that its ad-
vances had been gradual, and at first not of a Terrible or even dis-
agreeable character. To illustrate this he gave the following ac-
count of its progress.
" My visions commenced two or three years since, when I
found myself, from time to time, embarrassed by the presence of
a large cat,* which came and disappeared I could not exactly tell
how, till the truth was finally forced upon me, and I was com-
pelled to regard it as no domestic household cat, but as a bubble
of the elements which had no existence save in my deranged
visual organs or depraved imagination. Still I had not that positive
objection to the animal, entertained by a late gallant Highland
chieftain, who has been seen to change to all the colours of his
own plaid, if a cat happened by accident to be in the room with
him, even though he did not see it. On the contrary, I am rather
a friend to cats, and endured with so much equanimity the pre-
sence of my imaginary attendant that it had become almost in-
different to me; when, within the course of a few months, it gave
place to, or was succeeded by, a spectre of a more important sort,
or which at least had a more imposing appearance. This was no
other than the apparition of a gentleman-usher, dressed as if to
wait upon a lord-lieutenant of Ireland, a lord high commissioner
of the Kirk, or any other who bears on his brow the rank and
stamp of delegated sovereignty. This personage, arrayed in a
* It is singular that this animal has played a part in most of the cases of hallu-
cination that have attracted the author's attention.
420
sleep.
court dress, with bag and sword, tamboured waistcoat, and cha-
peau-bras, glided beside me like the ghost of Beau Nash; and
whether in my house or in another, ascended the stairs before me,
as if to announce me in the drawing-room; and sometimes ap-
peared to mingle with the company, though it was sufficiently evi-
dent, that they were not aware of his presence, and that I alone
was sensible of the visionary honours which this imaginary being
seemed desirous to render me. This freak of the fancy did not
produce much impression upon me, though it led me to entertain
doubts on the nature of my disorder, and alarm for the effect it
might produce upon my intellects. But that modification of my
disease had likewise its appointed duration. After a few months,
the phantom of the gentleman-usher was seen no more, but was
succeeded by one, horrible to the sight, and distressing to the
imagination, being no other than the image of death itself—the
apparition of a skeleton. Alone or in company, the presence of
this phantom never quits me. I, in vain, tell myself a hundred
times over that it is no reality, but merely an image summoned up
by the morbid acuteness of my own excited imagination, and de-
ranged organs of sight. But what avail such reflections, while the
emblem at once and presage of mortality is before my eyes, and
while I feel myself, though in fancy only, the companion of a
phantom, representing a ghastly inhabitant of the grave, even
while I yet breathe on the earth? Science, philosophy, even reli-
gion, has no cure for such a disorder; and I feel too surely, that
I shall die the victim to so melancholy a disease, although I have
no belief whatever in the reality of the phantom which it places
before me."
The physician was distressed to find that this visionary ap-
parition was so strongly fixed in the imagination of his patient.
He ingeniously urged the sick man, who was then in bed, with
questions concerning the circumstances of the phantom's appear-
ance, trusting that he might lead him, as a sensible man, into such
contradictions and inconsistencies as might bring his common sense,
which seemed to be unimpaired, so strongly into the field as to
combat successfully the fantastic disorder which produced such
fatal effects. "This skeleton, then," said the doctor, " seems to
you to be always present to your eyes?" " It is my fate, unhap-
pily," replied the invalid, "always to see it." "Then I under-
stand," continued the physician, " it is now present to your ima-
gination?" " To my imagination it certainly is so," answered the
sick man. " And in what part of the chamber do you now con-
ceive the apparition to appear?" the physician inquired. " Imme-
diately at the foot of my bed, when the curtains are left a little
open," answered the invalid; " the skeleton, to my thinking, is
placed between them, and fills the vacant space." " You say you
are sensible of the delusion," said his friend ; "have you firmness
to convince yourself of the truth of this? Can you take courage
WAKING DREAMS.
421
enough to rise and place yourself in the spot so seeming to be oc-
cupied, and convince yourself of the illusion?" The poor man
sighed and shook his head negatively. " Well," said the doctor,
" we will try the experiment otherwise." Accordingly he rose from
his chair by the bed-side, and placing himself between the two
half-drawn curtains, at the foot of the bed, indicated as the place
occupied by the apparition, he asked if the spectre was still visi-
ble? " Not entirely so," replied the patient, " because your per-
son is between him and me ; but I observe his skull peering above
your shoulder." The doctor resorted to other means of investi-
gation and cure, but without success. The patient sank into deeper
and deeper dejection, and died in the same distress of mind in
which he had spent the latter months of his life. The circum-
stances of his singular disorder were concealed, so that he did not,
by his death and last illness, lose any of the well-merited reputation
for prudence and sagacity, which had attended him during the
whole course of his life.
These are striking cases of the illusions that may occur during
even our waking moments; and they may, doubtless, account for
some of the stories of apparitions, of which so many are upon re-
cord. In the hypochondriac, we meet with all kinds of hallucination,
and it is one of the most striking of the symptoms of every variety
of insanity; but in the cases we have adduced, notwithstanding the
constancy and permanency of the illusion, the individual himself
has been entirely satisfied that the whole affair had no real exist-
ence. Had he believed in the existence of these phantoms, and acted
from a conviction of their reality, he might with propriety have
been deemed insane. An instance of this kind is told in the Me-
moirs of the Count Maurepas of one of the princes of the house
of Bourbon, who supposed himself to be a plant, and after having
fixed himself in the garden, called upon his servant to come and wa-
ter him. His belief argued unsoundness of mind, yet even here the
hallucination, we are told, appeared to be confined to this subject.
In youth, when the imagination is extremely vivid, we can call
up images in the mind at pleasure, varying them as we may think
proper. Similar illusions appear to have been experienced by the
poet Cowper:—
" Me, oft, has fancy, ludicrous and wild,
Sooth'd with a waking dream of houses, towers,
Trees, churches, and strange visages, express'd
In the red cinders, while with poring eye
I gazed, myself creating what I saw."
In the nervous, the delicate and the imaginative, uneasy sensa-
tions can be experienced, when and where the individual wishes.
After sedentary habits, long continued, the author has been able
to experience pain in any part of the system, where he has chosen;
aad to make it shift at pleasure from one organ to another.
In the cases of hullucination which we have given at length, as
422
SLEEP.
well as in every other kind, the cerebral part of the organ of sense
is directly or indirectly excited into action;—often by disease of
the brain, or of some distant organ which reacts upon it. Hence
it occurs as a precursor of apoplexy, epilepsy, or other cerebral
affection, or it may accompany or be aggravated by disorder of the
digestive function. It has been seen, that although the passions
or emotions are cerebral phenomena, they are felt in the nutri-
tive organs; and we can understand, how a disordered state of
those organs may react upon the brain, and call up all kinds of illu-
sions;—generally during sleep, but at times even during our wak-
ing moments. In this way, we account for the frightful dreams
that follow an overloaded stomach, or that accompany impeded
respiration or circulation. One of the most distressing symptoms
of hydrothorax or water in the chest, which interferes more or less
with both these vital functions, is the disturbed sleep, and the
frightful sense of impending danger, which nightly distress the un-
fortunate sufferer.
It appears, then, that in all cases of hallucination, occurring in
those of sound or diseased mind, asleep or awake, the cerebral or
percipient part of the organ of the sense concerned is irresistibly
affected, so as to call up the memory of objects, or to form others
which have no existence except in the imagination; but all this is
accomplished without any impression being made upon the exter-
nal senses from without, even when such senses appear to be most
actively exercised. In dreams this must manifestly be the case.
We see a friend long since dead; we parade the streets of a town,
which we have never visited; see, hear, feel and touch the different
objects. All this must be cerebral; and not less certainly, is it the
case in the hallucinations of insanity, or in those that occur in the
waking condition. The object we see is not in existence, yet it is
a regularly defined creation; a cat in one instance, a gentleman-
usher in another, and a skeleton in a third. It cannot depend upon
any depraved condition of the organ of sense, as in such case the
representation of the mind would be amorphous, irregular, or con-
fused; not a complete metamorphosis as is invariably the case. Yet
we are surprised to see Sir Walter Scott stale, that he thinks
" there can be little doubt of the proposition, that the external or-
gans may, from various causes, become so much deranged as to
make false representations to the mind; and that, in such cases,
men, in the literal sense, really see the empty and false forms, and
hear the ideal sounds, which in a more primitive state of society,
are naturally enough referred to the action of demons or disem-
bodied spirits. In such unhappy cases, the patient is intellectually
in the condition of a general, whose spies have been bribed by the
enemy, and who must engage himself in the difficult and delicate
task of examining and correcting, by his own powers of argument,
the probability of the reports, which are too inconsistent to be
trusted to."
waking dreams.
423
The explanation is poetic, but manifestly untenable.
A theory which has been offered to account for the various spectral
illusions, occurring in any of the modes we have mentioned, is, that,
in all the organs of sense, the mind possesses the power of retransmit-
ting, through the nervous filaments to the expansion of the nerves
that are acted upon by external objects, impressions which these
nerves have previously transmitted to the brain, and that the vi-
vidness of the retransmissions is proportional to the frequency
with which the impressions have been previously transmitted; that
these reproduced impressions are in general feeble in the healthy
state of the body, though perfectly adapted to the purposes for
which they are required; but in other states of the body, they ap-
pear with such brilliancy as to create even a belief in the external
existence of those objects from which the impressions were origi-
nally derived.
" When the mind," says a recent writer on this subject, " ac-
quires a knowledge of visible objects it is by means of luminous
impressions, conveyed to the sensorium from each impressed point
of the retina, through the corresponding filaments of the optic
nerve, and when the memory is subsequently called upon, by an
act of the will, to present to us an object, that has been previously
seen, it does it by retransmission along the same nervous filaments,
to the same points of the retina. In the first case, when the pre-
sence of the luminous object keeps up a sustained impression upon
the nervous membrane, the filaments which transmit it to the
brain are powerfully excited; but in the process of retransmission
by an effort of memory, the action of the nervous filaments is com-
paratively feeble, and the resultant impression on the retina faint
or transient. When the memory, however, is powerful, and when
the nervous filaments are in a state of high excitability, the im-
pression becomes more vivid; and, as in the case of spectral illu-
sions, it has the same strength and distinctness, as if it were pro-
duced by the direct action of luminous rays. In the one case, the
result of the impression and its retransmission to the retina is a
voluntary act of the mind, but in the other it is involuntary, the
controlling power being modified or removed, or the nerves being
thrown into a state of easy excitation by some unhealthy action of
the bodily organs."
According to this view, it is indispensable that the perception
in every case of illusion shall be referred to the nerves of the
organ, by which such perception is ordinarily effected; to the re-
tina, if vision be concerned; to the auditory nerve, if audition-and
so on. But this retransmission along the nerves appears to be
wholly unnecessary. When an impression is made upon a sen-
sitive surface, as we have elsewhere shown, sensation is not ac-
complished, until the impression has been conveyed to the brain
by an appropriate organ, and the brain itself has acted; and if we
interfere in any manner with the cerebral part of the function, per-
424
SLEEP.
ception is not effected. From the moment, however, that the ac-
tion of the brain has taken place, the idea formed can be recalled
by the exercise of memory: and we have no doubt, that this could
take place although the eyes were extirpated. The memory might
call up previous perceptions, when the functions of the retina are
entirely destroyed. Were it otherwise, it would be impossible for
those, who have lost their sight from paralysis of the retina, of
which many cases are constantly occurring, to call up any of the
scenes and images, of which the brain took cognizance prior to the
supervention of their blindness. In dreams, too, we exert every
one of the senses; some with the greatest activity. We see, hear,
taste, smell, feel; and, in addition to this, walk, run, fly, and exe-
cute the ordinary acts of life not only without apparent difficulty,
but with a facility, that surprises us. Yet can we suppose, that, in
all these cases, the feeling is actually produced by retransmission
along the nerves to the organ to which it is referred?
It has been asserted, that when examination is carefully made
it will be found that the images, recalled by the memory, follow the
motions of the head and of the eye; but that this is not the case
during sleep is manifest. The individual may remain precisely in
the same position, and yet he will seem to move about in all direc-
tions in his dreams; will appear to see objects behind as well as be-
fore; and in situations towards which it is impossible that the mo-
tions of his head and eye should be directed. Even in most of the
illusions of our waking hours, the remark ought to be reversed.
The encephalic action is the first of the links in the chain of phe-
nomena; and the motions of the head and the eye follow the images
recalled by the memory. When the unfortunate subject of one of
the cases of hallucination saw the gentleman-usher preceding him
into company and circulating amongst the assembled guests; as well
as when he observed the skeleton at the foot of his bed; the per-
ception had, owing to disease, so completely taken possession of a
part of the encephalic organ of vision, that the idea was constantly
in the mind; and volition being actively exercised, the head and
the eye were directed towards the phantasm. Yet the perception
was not so powerful, as to preclude the reception of impressions
from without, as was shown by the skeleton seeming to be shut
off by the body of the physician, so that the skull only was seen
peering above his shoulder.
Another fact, which shows that the whole phenomenon may be
entirely encephalic, is the occurrence familiar to the operative
surgeon, of a patient, whose lower limb has been amputated,
complaining of an uneasy sensation,as of itching, in a particular toe,
and in a particular part of a toe. This is at times a symptom of
an extremely distressing character. It is obviously impossible,
that, in this case, there can be any external impression made on the
part to which the feeling is referred; or that any retransmission
can occur from the brain; the limb having been removed from the
SLEEP. 425
body. Broussais asserts, that if a person tells you he suffers in a
limb which he no longer has, it is because he experiences irrita-
tion in the extremities of the divided nerve, but this, in no respect,
removes the difficulty. The sensation is referred to a part, which
has no existence except in the imagination.
But to return to sleep. We have said, that the object of sleep
is to repair the loss which the nervous system has sustained during
the previous condition of waking. This may consequently be re-
garded as the great exciting cause of sleep; but we have seen also
that certain states of the mind may postpone the usual period of its
recurrence. If, indeed, we allow the attention to flag, and suspend
the due exercise of volition, sleep can be indulged at almost any
hour of the day. In the same manner, any monotonous impression,
or action of the brain in thought; the rocking of a cradle to the
restless child; or the song of the nurse; the murmurs of a bubbling
brook, &c. may soothe us to rest. A like effect is produced by
substances, as narcotics, which, by a specific action on the nervous
system, prevent the ordinary sources of irritation from being ap-
preciated, as well as by certain morbid affections of the brain,—com-
pression, concussion, inflammation, &c. In these cases, however,
the sleep is morbid, and is an evidence of serious mischief,—often
of fatal disease; whilst true sleep is as natural as the waking state,
and is always—
"Man's rich restorative; his balmy bath,
That supples, lubricates and keeps in play,
The various movements of that nice machine,
Which asks such frequent periods of repair!"
Yet Haller, Hartley, and numerous others have supposed
that natural sleep is likewise dependent upon an accumulation of
blood or other fluids in the vessels of the head, pressing upon the
brain and thus impeding its functions. In support of this opinion,
it is asserted, that all the phenomena which attend the sleeping
state seem to prove a determination of blood to the head. The
face is flushed; the head is hotter; the skin more moist; and it is
generally during the night, or when first awake, that bleeding from
the nose and apoplexy take place: the frequency of erection during
sleep is affirmed to be owing to the pressure exerted on the cere-
bellum, which, in the theory of Gall, is the encephalic organ of
generation; and lastly, it.is argued, that narcotics and vinous and
spirituous liquors produce sleep by causing a similar congestion
of blood within the cranium. The case, by no means unique, of
the beggar whose brain was exposed, and in whom a state of drow-
siness was induced when the brain was pressed upon, which could
be increased by increasing the pressure, until at length he became co-
matose, has also been cited by Hartley and others. But all these
are cases of morbid suspension of the animal functions, and are no
Vol. II. 54
426
SLEEP.
more to be assimilated to true sleep, than the drowsiness, which
Flourens found to prevail in his experiments on animals when
the cerebral lobes were removed.
The believers in the hypothesis, that congestion of the vessels
of the brain is the cause of sleep, consider, that the heaviness and
stupor, observable in those who indulge too much in laziness and
sleep, are owing to the long-continued pressure injuring the cere-
bral organs. Other physiologists have assumed the opposite
ground, and affirmed that during sleep the blood is distributed to
the brain in less quantity, and is concentrated in the abdomen, to
augment the action of the nutritive functions; whilst Cabanis holds,
that during sleep, there is a reflux of the nervous powers towards
their source, and a concentration in the brain of the most active
principles of sensibility.
On all these topics our ignorance is extreme. We know nothing
of the state of the encephalon in sleep. Its essence is as impene-
trable as that of every other vital function. Dr. Bostock asserts,
that it is not more beyond our grasp than the other functions of the
nervous system. This we admit: he has indeed afforded us in his
own work indubitable evidences of our utter want of acquaintance
with the essence of all those functions.
The state of sleep is as natural, as instinctive, as that of waking:
both are involved in mystery, and their investigation, as Mr. Du-
gald Stewart has suggested, is beyond the reach of the human
faculties.
Reverie has been considered to resemble sleep, and, in its higher
grades, to be not far removed from the condition of somnambulism.
It is characterized by the attention or volition being directed so
intently towards particular topics, during wakefulness, that the im-
pressions of surrounding objects are not appreciated. Various grades
of this condition of the mind may be traced from the slightest degree
of absence or brown study, to a state of total abstraction, in which
the attention is entirely wound up, and riveted to a particular sub-
ject. Most persons must have experienced more or less of this,
when any subject of severe study, or any great gratification,
anxiety, or distress has strongly occupied the mind. If engaged
in reading, they may follow every line with the eye; turn over
leaf after leaf, and at length awake from the reverie, which had oc-
cupied the imagination, and find that not the slightest impression
has been made on the mind, by the pages which the eye had pe-
rused, and the hand had run over. If walking in a crowded street,
they have probably proceeded some way under the influence of
revery, moving the limbs as usual, performing various acts of vo-
lition, winding safely among the passengers, avoiding the posts
and other obstacles, yet so exclusively occupied by the conceptions
of the mind, as to be totally unconscious of all these acts of
their volition, and of the objects which they have passed, which
must necessarily have impressed their senses so as to regulate
SLEEP.
427
those actions, but, owing to the attention having been bent upon
other topics, the perceptions have been evanescent. In elucidation
of the power of a high degree of revery to render an individual
torpid to all around him, the case of Archimedes, at the time of
his arrest, has been quoted by writers. When the Roman army
had at length taken Syracuse by stratagem, which the tactics of
Archimedes had prevented them from taking by force, he was
shut up in his closet, and so intent on a geometrical demonstration
that he was equally insensible to the shouts of the victors, and the
outcries of the vanquished. He was calmly tracing the lines of a
diagram, when a soldier abruptly entered his room, and clapt a
sword to his throat. " Hold friend," said Archimedes, " one
moment, and my demonstration will be finished." The soldier^
surprised at his unconcern at a time of such extreme peril resolved
to carry him before Marcellus; but as the philosopher put under
his arm a small box full of spheres, dials, and other instruments,
the soldier, conceiving the box to be filled with gold, could not re-
sist the temptation, and killed him on the spot.
It is to the capability of indulging to the necessary extent in
this kind of mental abstraction, that we are indebted for the solu-
tion of every abstruse problem, relating to science or art, and for
some of the most beautiful conceptions of the poet. From indul-
gence, however, in such abstractions, a habit is often acquired,
which may be carried so far as to render the individual unfit for
society, and to give him a character for rudeness and ill-breed-
ing,*of which he may be by no means deserving. Some most
amiable and estimable men have, from long habits of abstraction,
contracted the disease, (aphelxia,) as Good has constituted it,
and have found the cure tedious and almost impracticable: at times,
indeed, it appears to have terminated in mental alienation.
The difference between this state and that of sleep is, that the
attention and volition are here powerfully directed to one object,
so as to be torpid to the impressions of extraneous bodies; whilst
sleep is characterized by a suspension or diminished exercise of
these faculties.
4
428
correlation of functions.
CORRELATION OF FUNCTIONS.
The wonderful and complicated actions of the frame are variously
correlated, to accomplish that astonishing harmony which prevails
in the state of health, as well as to produce the varied morbid
phenomena,—often at a distance from the part originally diseased,
—which characterize different pathological conditions. It is not,
therefore, simply as a physiological question that the study of the
correlation of functions interests the medical inquirer. It is im-
portant to him in the study of every department which concerns
the doctrine of the healthy or diseased manifestations, and the
modes adapted for their removal.
These correlations may be of various kinds;—physical, in which
the effect exerted is entirely of a mechanical character■; functional,
in which the action of one organ is inseparably united to that of
another, to accomplish a particular object; and sympathetic, in
which there is no physical action or direct catenation of functions;
but where an organ, at a distance from one affected, is excited to
irregular or regular action in consequence of the condition of the
latter.
In the description of the different functions, numerous opportu-
nities occurred for showing the influence, which organs, in the
immediate vicinity of each other, may mutually exert so as to
modify their functions. The action of the muscles,—particularly
those that contract the larger cavities, as the abdomen and
thorax,—on the parts with which they come in contact, must be
entirely mechanical. In this way, the diaphragm and the abdomi-
nal muscles act in vomiting and defecation. During the operation
of blood-letting, the flow of blood can be augmented by moving
the muscles of the hand; and it is probable that the constant mo-
tion of the muscles of respiration impresses a succussion on different
organs, which may aid them in accomplishing their functions, al-
though the effect of this is doubtless exaggerated. Every change
of position, either of the whole body or of a part, has, likewise,
some effect in modifying the actions performed by it or by neigh-
bouring organs, although such effect may not be easily appreciable.
A similar case of mere mechanical influence, which seems to be
important to the proper action of certain organs, is exhibited in
the pulsation of the different arteries. It has been seen, that a suc-
cussion is in this way given to the brain, which appears to be ne-
cessary to it; for, if this source of stimulation is in any manner
withdrawn, fainting is induced. Perhaps, however, the strongest
case that can be offered of modification of function by mechanical
CORRELATION OF FUNCTIONS.
429
causes, is that of the gravid uterus, which, by its pressure, gives
rise to numerous symptoms in other organs, that are often the
source of much annoyance during gestation.
The functional correlations or synergies are of much more
moment to the physiologist and pathologist Many of these have
also been described in the preceding history; a brief notice of them
will be all that is now requisite. For the maintenance of the healthy
function we know that certain conditions are necessary, and that
if these be modified, in the whole or in any part of the body, dis-
ease and death may be the result, even although the derangement
may, in the first instance, concern only an apparently unimportant
part of the frame ; the affection by correlation spreading gradually
to more and more essential organs and functions, until the disorder
is ultimately too great to allow of a continuance of the vital move-
ments. In this respect, man differs from an ordinary piece of hu-
man mechanism,in which the various parts are so adapted to each
other as to produce a certain result. If one of these parts be
destroyed, the whole machine may have its motion arrested. But
the effect is owing to the destruction of one part only, the others
remaining sound, whilst death, or the stoppage of the living ma-
chine, does not necessarily follow the destruction of any except a
few essential organs, and is generally owing to the derangement of
many. We shall find, indeed, that except in cases of sudden death,
it is extremely difficult to say which of the three truly vital organs
has first ceased to act; and that in all such cases death begins in one or
other of the organs essential to vitality, and soon extends to the rest.
The essentially vital organs are the respiratory, circulatory,
and the organs of innervation; but the great use of respira-
tion is to change the blood from venous to arterial; in other
words, to induce a conversion in it by its passage through the
lungs, without whioh it would be inadequate for the mainte-
nance of life in any organ; and the object of the circulation is,
to distribute it to the various parts of the frame as the grand vivi-
fying and reparatory material. If, also, the organs of innervation
be destroyed, the nervous influence is no longer conveyed to the
different parts of the frame; and as the presence of this influence
is everywhere indispensable, the functions may cease from this
cause; so that we may regard, as essential elements to the existence
of the frame and of every part of the frame, the proper supply of
arterial blood and of the nervous influence. In the production
and distribution, however, of these agencies, a number of func-
tions is concerned, giving rise to the correlation, which is the
object of our present inquiry. If, in any manner, the blood does
not meet with the due aeration, as in the ordinary cases of suffo-
cation, death supervenes, in the order elsewhere described; and if
a slight degree of aeration is accomplished, but still not enough for
the necessities of the system, instead of suffocation, the individual
dies more gradually: the functions fail in the same order; black
430 CORRELATION OF FUNCTIONS.
blood circulates through all the textures; hence lividity, especially
of those parts where the cuticle is extremely thin, as in the lips,
and wherever the mucous membranes commingle with the skin;
the blood gradually becomes inadequate to keep up the action of
the brain and nervous system generally, as well as to stimulate the
heart, and the individual gradually expires. If, again, the blood,
although properly converted in the lungs, is not duly distributed
to the organs, owing to the failure of the circulatory powers,—
either from direct or indirect causes,—the organs exhibit their
correlation in the same manner, and syncope or fainting, or positive
death, may be produced. Often, however, the stoppage of the ac-
tion of the heart is but for a short time. Owing to some painful
impression, sudden emotion, or other cause, the organ ceases to
contract, either suddenly,—when the person falls down as if
deprived of life,—or gradually, when the connexion of the
different functions, and the order in which they fail, is manifest.
Of this kind, of what the surgeon calls morbid sympathy or con-
stitutional irritation, we have a good example in the effect of
a trifling operation upon a delicate, and often upon a strong, in-
dividual. Bleeding will sometimes induce fainting, both directly,
by the abstraction of fluid from the vessels, so that the brain may
cease to act; and indirectly, when the quantity removed can-
not be presumed to have exerted any influence. Some, indeed,
will faint from the slightest puncture and loss of blood, or even
from the sight of that fluid. In these last cases, if the syncope
come on gradually, a feeling of great anxiety and oppression, occa-
sionally of vacuity, exists in the epigastric region; the perceptions
become confused, the sight obscured, tinnitus aurium and dizziness
supervene, the respiration is embarrassed, the face pale, the extremi-
ties cold, and the different parts of the body are covered with a cold,
clammy sweat, until ultimately loss of sensation and motion super-
venes, and the individual is temporarily dead; from which state,
however, he soon recovers in the generality of cases, provided he
is kept in the recumbent posture, so that the blood may readily
pass to the brain. On other occasions, the heart will not cease
its pulsations, but will continue to send blood, in undue quantity,
to the brain, so that all the above symptoms may ensue, except the
temporary privation of vitality. In consequence of the severe pain
induced by a displacement of two of the bones of the wrist, by a
fall from a carriage, the author remained a considerable time de-
prived of sight, and at the same time suffering from great anxiety,
yet the action of the heart never ceased, so as to induce complete
syncope.
The third vital function,—that of innervation,—when suspended
or diminished, draws on a train of pathological phenomena, in the
order described under the head of death; suspending'respiration and
circulation suddenly, if the cause applied be sufficient; more gradual-
ly, and with the symptoms characterizing apoplexy or compres-
CORRELATION OF FUNCTIONS.
431
sion of the brain, if the cause act in a minor degree. All the
three vital functions are consequently correlative, and so inti-
mately associated, that if a malign influence act upon one, the ef-
fect is speedily extended to the other.
Owing to the necessity for the blood possessing certain attri-
butes, the most important of which are obtained by its circulation
through the lungs, we can readily understand, that if the functions
of nutrition are not properly exerted, the composition of that fluid
may be imperfect, and disorder take place in various parts of
the frame from this cause. Thus, if digestion or the formation of
chyle be not properly executed, the blood is not duly renovated,
and may be so far impoverished, that the play of the functions
are interfered with. We have elsewhere shown, that if omni-
vorous man be restricted to one kind of diet he will fall off, and
become scorbutic, and that the affection will be removed by allow-
ing him diet of another kind;—vegetables, if animal food have in-
duced it, and vice versa. Enlarged mesenteric glands, conse-
quent, or not, on inflammation of the mucous membrane of the in-
testine, and the latter affection itself, are cases which may inter-
fere with chylosis, and consequently with the constitution of the
blood. In like manner, if nutrition and the various secretions are
not duly performed in the tissue of the organs, and especially if the
two great depurations,—the urinary and cutaneous,—be obstructed,
the blood may suffer, and although the due changes from venous
to arterial may be effected in the lungs, its character may not be
such as to adapt it for the healthy execution of the various func-
tions.
The humorists assigned too much importance to the condi-
tion of the humours in the production of disease; the solidists,
on the other hand, have denied it almost all agency. The
medium between these exclusionists is probably the nearest to na-
ture. The solitary fact of black blood being unfit to maintain the
vitality of any organ sufficiently exhibits its lethiferous influence.
How the arterial blood exerts its agency, independently of its action
as a fluid of nutrition, is beyond our knowledge. It appears to exert a
necessary action of stimulation, but in what manner, or on what
element, we know not: probably, however, its chief influence may
be on the nervous tissue, as the privation of arterial blood occasions
the immediate cessation of the action of the brain.
The second of the essential elements to the continued existence
of the frame and of every part of it is the nervous influence. In
the higher classes of animals, this is dispensed from three great
centres,—the encephalon, the spinal marrow, and the great sym-
pathetic. The presidency, however, may be fairly assigned, in
man and in the higher animals, to the first of these. If it fails,
death soon becomes general. This, however, is liable to great va-
riation in different animals, and likewise in different functions. In
man, if the nervous supply be cut off from any part, the part dies.
432
CORRELATION OF FUNCTIONS.
Physical integrity, continuity, and a due supply of arterial blood,
are necessary to the proper exercise of the nervous power. In a
former part of this work, the wonderful resistance to death, which
characterizes the amphibia, and the comparative independence of
each portion of the body, in some of the lower orders of animals,
were pointed out. The polypus can be divided into numerous
pieces, yet each may constitute of itself a distinct animal. The
snail,after decapitation,reproduces the head; and a similar repara-
tory power is possessed by other animals. We have elsewhere
seen, that volition is seated lower in the inferior than in the supe-
rior orders of animals; and that in man it is chiefly,—some say
wholly,—restricted to the encephalon.
It appears, likewise, that the dependence of the rest of the ner-
vous system on the great nervous centres is less in young than in
old animals. Edwards regarded the new-born child as resembling,
in many respects, the cold-blooded animal, and Redi, Rolando,
and Flourens, and Legallois found that the tenacity of life, after
decapitation, was much greater the nearer to birth.
The functions also differ with regard to their dependence upon
the encephalon. Disease may attack the animal functions and
suspend them for a considerable length of time,—as in apoplexy,
—before the organic functions are interfered with. This is a topic,
however, which will be discussed under the head of DEATH.
We may conclude, then, that "life," to use the language of a
gifted preceptor of the author,—M. Beclard,—"consists essen-
tially in the reciprocal action of the circulation of the blood and
innervation; death always following the cessation of such recipro-
cal action." But this conclusion is applicable only to animals; al-
though both circulation and innervation are admitted in the vege-
table by some physiologists. Legallois, from his experiments
deduced the unwarrantable inference, that " life is owing to an
impression made by arterial blood on the brain and spinal marrow,
or to the principle which results from this impression;"—a defini-
tion which would exclude the numerous animals of the lower
classes, as well as vegetables, which are deficient in both brain
and spinal marrow.
The conclusion of Beclard is the limit to our knowledge on
this subject. Yet some have endeavoured to discover which of
the two functions,—circulation or innervation,—holds the other in
domination. They, who consider the nervous substance to be first
formed in the foetus, ascribe the supremacy to it; whilst the be-
lievers in the earlier formation of the sanguiferous system look
upon it as the prime agent. We know no more than that both
" Maintain
With the mysterious mind and breathing mould
A co-existence and community."
In every important function of the body we find this correlation
SYMPATHY.
433
or catenation of organs existing; all working to one end, and all
requisite for its perfect accomplishment. How many organs, for
example, are required to co-operate in the elevated function of
sensibility! The encephalon, the seat of thought, receives by the
external senses the various impressions which act upon them
from without, and, by the internal sensations, such as arise in the
economy and are generally the indexes of the physical necessities
or wants. The intellectual and affective faculties enable us to ap-
preciate the various objects that occasion our sensations, and indi-
cate our social and moral wants: under their direction volition is
sent out, which acts upon the various muscles, and produces such
movements as may be required for carrying into effect the sugges-
tions of the mind. Between all these acts there is the closest cate-
nation.
In like manner, we observe the correlation between the animal,
and the nutritive, and reproductive functions. The internal sen-
sation of hunger suggests to the mind the necessity for a supply
of aliment; the external senses are called into action to discover
the proper aliment; when discovered, it is laid hold of by mus-
cular movements under the direction of volition, is subjected to
various voluntary processes in the mouth, and then passed on, by a
mixed voluntary and involuntary action, into the stomach. In like
manner, the desire for sexual intercourse may be excited in the
mind through the organs of vision or touch; the organs of gene-
ration are aroused to action, and the union of the sexes is accom-
plished by the exertion of muscles thrown into contraction by
volition. The same catenation is exhibited after a fecundating
copulation: menstruation, which was previously performed with
regularity, is now arrested; the breasts become developed; milk is
formed in them, and whilst the female suckles her child, unless
the period is unusually protracted, the nonexistence of the men-
strual function continues.
Almost all the phenomena of disease are connected with this
correlation of functions. Derangement takes place in one organ
or structure of the body, and speedily all those that are correlated
with it participate in the disorder. Hence, in part, arises the com-
bination of disordered nervous, circulatory and secretory function,
which characterizes general fever; and the various associated mor-
bid actions that constitute disease in general.
There is another kind of connexion which distinguishes the ani-
mal body from a piece of ordinary mechanism yet more than those
we have considered. In this, owing to an impression made upon
one organ, distant organs become affected, without our being able
to refer the transmission to mechanical agency, or to the associa-
tion of functions which we have just described. This kind of
association is called sympathy. A particle of snuff or other irri-
tating substance, impinging on the Schneiderian membrane, pro-
duces itshing there, followed by a powerful action of the whole
Vol. II. 55
434
CORRELATION OF FUNCTIONS.
respiratory apparatus,* established for its removal. The sneez-
ing, thus induced, is not caused by the transmission of the irrita-
tion through the intermediate organs to the respiratory muscles;
nor can we explain it by the mechanical or functional connexions
of organs. It is produced by this third mode of correlation:—in
other words, it is a case of sympathy.
Again, a small wound in the foot will produce locked jaw, with-
out our being able to discover, or to imagine, any greater connex-
ion between the foot and the jaw than there is between the foot
and other organs of the body. We say that it is caused by sym-
pathy existing between these organs, and, so long as we use the
term to signify the unknown cause of these connexions, it is well.
It must be understood, however, that we attach no definite idea to
the term; that it is only employed to express our ignorance of the
agent or its mode of action; precisely as we apply the epithet vital
to a process which we are incapable of explaining by any physi-
cal facts or arguments.
Of sympathetic connexions, we have numerous examples in the
body; at times, inservient to accomplishing a particular function;
but generally consisting of modifications of function produced by
the action of a distant organ. Of the sympathetic connexion be-
tween the parts of the same organ, for the execution of a func-
tion proper to the organ, we have an example in that between
the iris and the retina; the former will contract or dilate accord-
ing to the degree of stimulation exerted by the light on the lat-
ter; and the effect is greater when the light is thrown on the re-
tina than w'hen thrown on the iris itself.
A similar kind of sympathy exists between the state of the
mammae and that of the uterus, during pregnancy; although this
has been frequently referred to ordinary functional correlation or
synergy; but the connexion is sufficiently obscure to entitle it to
be placed under this division.
Sympathies of continuity are such as occur between various
parts of membranes that are continuous. For example, the slightest
taste or smell of a nauseous substance will bring on an effort to
vomit,—the whole of the first passages being unfavourably disposed
for its reception. In disease we have many examples of this kind
of sympathy. During dentition the child is subject to various gas-
tric and intestinal affections. If a source of irritation exist in any
part of the intestinal or other mucous membrane, no uneasy sensa-
tion may be experienced at the seat of irritation, yet it may be felt
at the commencement of the membrane or where it commingles
with the skin:—thus, itching at the nose may indicate irritation
of the digestive mucous membrane;—itching or pain of the
glans penis, stone in the bladder, &c. These facts prove that
in disease a sympathetic bond unites the parts concerned, and
such is probably the case in health also. We have the same thing
proved in the effect produced on the action of glands by irritating
the orifices of their excretory ducts. The presence of food in the
SYMPATHY. 435
mouth excites the secretion of the salivary glands, and that of
chyme in the duodenum augments the secretion of the liver. In
the same manner a purgative, as calomel, which acts upon the up-
per part of the intestinal canal, becomes a cholagogue; and duode-
nitis occasions a copious biliary secretion. These cases have, how-
ever, been considered by many, to belong more appropriately to
functional correlation, as it is presumable that the propagation of
the irritation from the orifice of the excretory duct takes place
directly, and along branches of the same nerves as those that sup-
ply the glandular organs. It is by this sympathy of continuity that
we explain the action of certain medicines. In bronchial irritation,
for example, the cough will frequently be mitigated by smearing
the top of the larynx by a demulcent,—the soothing influence of
which extends to the part irritated.
A variety of sympathy, differing somewhat from this, is the
sympathy of contiguity or contiguous sympathy, in which an
organ is affected by an irritation seated in another immediately
contiguous to it.
The association in action, between the lining membrane of the
heart and the muscular tissue of the organ, has been adduced as
an instance of this kind, and chiefly from the experiments of Bi-
chat and Nysten, which showed that any direct irritation of the
muscular tissue of the heart has not as much influence as that of the
membrane which line3 it. A similar association is presumed to
exist between the mucous and muscular coats of the alimentary
canal, and the same kind of evidence is adduced, to prove that thc
connexion is sympathetic.
Other instances of sympathy are,—the convulsive contraction of
the diaphragm and abdominal muscles in vomiting consequent on
the condition of the stomach, as well as the convulsive action of
the respiratory muscles in sneezing, coughing, &c.
The general uniformity in the motion of the two eyes has
been adduced as an additional instance; but Adelon has judi-
ciously remarked, that the evidence in favour of this view is in-
sufficient. For clearness of vision it is necessary that the luminous
rays should impinge upon corresponding points of the two retinas,
and should fall as nearly as possible in the direction of the optic
axes. For this purpose, the muscles direct the eyes in the proper
manner; and subsequently, from habit, the balls move in harmony.
We constantly hear, also, a fact adduced from pathology as an in-
stance of sympathy. A molar tooth is lost on one side of the jaw;
and it is found, perhaps, that the next tooth that decays is the cor-
responding molar tooth of the opposite side:—or a tooth has become
carious, and we find the one next to it soon afterwards in the course
of decay. These have been regarded as evidences of sympathy,
remote and contiguous. This is not probable. The corresponding
teeth of the two sides are similarly situated as regards the supply
of nerves, vessels, and every anatomical element; and experience
436
CORRELATION OF FUNCTIONS.
shows us that the molar teeth—and especially the second great
molares—decay sooner than the others. If one, therefore, becomes
carious, we can understand why its fellow of the opposite side
should be more likely to suffer. The opinion, that contiguous
teeth are likely to be affected by the presence of a carious tooth,
either by sympathy, or by direct contact, is almost universally be-
lieved, and promulgated by the dentist. Both views are probably
alike erroneous. If the inner side of the second molaris be de-
cayed, we can understand why the corresponding side of the
third should become carious, without having recourse either to
the mysterious agency of sympathy, or the very doubtful hypo-
thesis of communication by contact,—especially as the caries ge-
nerally begins internally. The contiguous sides of the teeth are
situated almost identically, as regards their anatomical elements;
and, consequently, if a morbid cause affects the one, the other is
the next likely to suffer, and is very apt to do so. Extracting the
diseased tooth prevents this, because it removes a source of irrita-
tion, which could not but act in a manner directly injurious on the
discharge of the functions of the tooth next to it.
The fact of the sympathy that exists between organs of ana-
logous structure and functions is familiar to every pathologist.
That of the skin and mucous membranes is the most intimate. In
every exanthematous disease, the danger is more or less dependent
upon the degree of affection of the mucous membranes; and the di-
rect rays of the sun, beaming upon the body in warm climates, in-
duce diarrhoea and dysentery.
Acute rheumatism is a disease of the fibrous structures of the
joints; but one of its most serious extensions, or metastases, which-
soever they may be called, is to the fibrous structure of the pericar-
dium. Barthez, a most respectable writer, gives a case of this
kind from Theden which is inexplicable, and probably of doubt-
ful authenticity. A patient, affected with paralysis of the right
arm, applied a blister to it, which produced no effect, but acted on
the corresponding part of the other arm. The left becoming after-
wards paralyzed, a blister was put upon it, which also acted upon
the other arm, not on the one to which it was applied!
Owing to this consent of parts, Broussais has established the
pathological law,—that when an irritation exists for a long time in
an organ, the textures that are analogous to the one which is dis-
eased are apt to contract the same affections.
As examples of the more distant kinds of sympathies, we may
cite the effect, produced upon the stomach by distant organs, and
vice versa. Amongst the earliest signs of pregnancy are nausea
and vomiting; loathing of food; fastidious appetite, &c. These
symptoms are manifestly induced by a sympathetic connexion be-
tween the uterus and stomach; inasmuch as they are not adventi-
tious, but occur more or less in all cases of pregnancy. Their ab-
sence, at least, is a rare exception to the rule. Hunger or dyspepsia,
SYMPATHY. —IMAGINATION.
437
again, impresses a degree of languor,—mental and corporeal,—
which is proverbial; whilst the reception of food and its vigorous
digestion give a character of energy, and buoyancy, greatly con-
trasting with opposite circumstances. In disease, too, we find sym-
pathies existing between the most distant portions of the frame,
and although these are not apparent to us in health, we are. per-
haps justified in considering, that an occult sympathy exists be-
tween them in health, which only becomes largely developed, and
obvious to us, when the parts are affected with disease. It is pro-
bable, too, that in the successive evolution of organs at different
periods of life, new sympathies may arise which did not previous-
ly exist or were not observable. The changes that supervene in
the whole economy at puberty strikingly illustrate this;—changes
which do not occur in those who, owing to malformation, are not
possessed of the essential parts of the reproductive system, or who
have had them abstracted prior to this period.
The effect of the intellectual and moral faculties on the exercise
of the functions of other parts is strongly evidenced, especially in
disease. The influence of the mind over the body is, indeed, a
subject which demands the attention of every pathologist.
In health, we notice the powerful effect induced by the affective
faculties upon every function. All these are caused by sympa-
thetic association with the brain; the action of the organs being in
a state of excitation or depression, according to the precise charac-
ter of the emotion. The'intellectual manifestations probably exert
their influence in a manner less evident, but not the less certain.
The effects of one of them, at least, on the bodily functions are re-
markable. We allude to the imagination; to which we can as-
cribe most of the cures that are said to have been effected by
modes of management,—often of the most disgusting character,—
which have been from time to time in vogue, have fretted their
hour on the stage and then sunk into that insignificance from
which they ought never to have emerged.
We have had occasion to allude to the excited imagination of the
maniac, the hypochondriac, and the nervous, and have remarked,
that hallucinations may exist in those of sound mind;—phantoms
created by the imagination; pains felt in various bodily organs,
&c; and we can hence understand, that, under particular circum-
stances, we may have actual disease produced in this manner; and,
at other times, the feeling,—which may be as distressing to the
patient,—of a disease, which has no existence except in the ima-
gination. It is to the effect produced by the imagination that we
must ascribe the introduction into medicine of magic, sorcery, in-
cantations, Perkinism, Mesmerism, Hohenlohism, and other off-
springs of superstition or knavery. The enthusiasm, that has at-
tended the application of these three last modes of acting upon the
imagination in our own times, is most extraordinary. Perkinism,
it is well known, is the product of our own soil. Its proposer,
438 CORRELATION OF FUNCTIONS.
Dr. Elisha Perkins of Connecticut, is represented to have been
a man of strict honour and integrity; but manifestly of an ardent
imagination, and unbounded credulity. Impressed with the idea,
that metallic substances might exert some agency on the muscles,
and nerves of animals, and be inservient to useful purposes as ex-
ternal agents, in the treatment of disease, he professed to institute
various experiments, until he ultimately fancied he had discovered
a composition, which would serve his purpose, and of which he
formed his metallic tractors. These consisted of two instruments,
one having the appearance of steel, the other of brass. They were
about three inches long, and pointed at one extremity; and the
mode of their application was to draw the points over the affected
parts in a downward direction for about twenty minutes each
time. The effects seemed to be miraculous. The whole class of
diseases on which the imagination is known to exert its efficacy;
rheumatism; local pains of various kinds, and in various parts; pa-
roxysms of intermittents, &c. &c. yielded as if by magic. The ope-
ration was termed Perkinism, by the Faculty of Copenhagen, in
honour of the discoverer; and institutions were formed in great
Britain and elsewhere, which were, for a time, regarded as sources
for the dispensation of health to multitudes of wretched sufferers.
Yet, in a very brief space of time, the enthusiasm and the institu-
tions died away; and no one, at the present day, believes, that the
effect was any thing more than an additional case showing the suc-
cess, that must ever follow, for a time, the efforts of quackery; and
exhibiting the total failure of the same agents, when deprived of
the mystery that had previously enthralled them. Whilst the de-
lusion, regarding Perkinism or tradoration, was at its height, Dr.
Haygarth determined to ascertain how far the effects could be as-
cribed to the power of the imagination. He, accordingly, formed
pieces of wood into the shape of tractors, and with much assumed
pomp and ceremony applied them to a number of sick persons,
who had been previously prepared to expect something extraordi-
nary. He not only employed them in nervous diseases, but in all
kinds of cases; and the effects were found to be most astonishing.
Obstinate pains of the limbs were suddenly cured. Joints that had
been long immovable, were restored to motion, and " in short,"
says Dr. Bostock, "except the renewal of lost parts, or the change
of mechanical structure, nothing seemed beyond their power to
accomplish."
The history of these operations leads us to be still more impress-
ed with the extensive influence, that may be exerted by the mind
over the body: they teach the practitioner the importance of
having its co-operation, whenever it can be procured; and the dis-
advantages which he may expect to ensue, where the imagination is
either arrayed against himself personally, or the plan of treatment
which he is adopting. The physician, who has the confidence of
his patient, will be successful—if he adopt precisely the same plan
SYMPATHY.
439
of treatment that would be pursued by one who has it not—in
cases where the latter would totally fail.
Again, pathology is invoked as affording us perhaps the best
evidences of the existence of extensive sympathetic relations be-
tween various parts of the frame, which are supposed to be con-
stantly going on unseen during health, but become developed, and
more obvious, in disease. The case, we have previously given, of
the general effects produced upon the system by local irritation of
a part, shows the extent of such association. An insignificant portion
of the body may become inflamed,and,if the inflammation continues,
the stomach is disordered,—as indicated by loss of appetite, nausea
and vomiting; the respiration is hurried, as well as the circulation;—
the senses are blunted; the intellectual and moral faculties obscured;
and languor and lassitude indicate the nervous irritation and con-
straint.
The moral consideration of sympathy does not concern us. It
is a subject,—and one of interest to the moral philosopher,—to ac-
count not only for these secret causes which attract individuals to-
wards each other, but which repel them, and occasion antipathies.
To a certain extent, however, it trends into the province of the
physiologist. The tender, susceptible individual, from observing
another suffering under pain, feels as if labouring under the same
inconvenience, and by a very rapid, yet complex, intellectual
process, constituted of numerous associations, may be so powerful-
ly impressed as to sink under their influence;—thus, the sight of
blood will so powerfully impress the mind, in this sympathetic
manner, that the individual may faint, and the vital functions
be for a time suspended. The sight and suffering of a woman in
labour will cause abortion in another; and hence the propriety of
excluding those, who are pregnant, from the chamber of the par-
turient female. Hysteric and convulsive paroxysms are induced
in a similar way; of which the convulsionnaires of all times
must be regarded as affording singular and instructive examples.
Lastly; the mysterious consent, which we observe between
various parts of the body, has given rise to some of the most strange
and absurd superstitions that can be imagined.
It was believed, for instance, almost universally in the 15th cen-
tury, that an intimate sympathy exists, not only between parts of
a body forming portions of one whole, but also between any sub-
stance that had previously formed part of a body and the body
itself: that if, for example, a piece of flesh was sliced from the arm
of one person and made to unite to that of another, the graft-
ed portion would accurately sympathize with the body of which
it had previously formed part, and undergo decay and death along
with it; and it was even proposed to turn this sympathy to account.
It was recommended, for instance, that the alphabet should be
traced on the ingrafted portion; and it was affirmed, that when any
of the letters, so traced, were touched, the party from whom the
440
CORRELATION OF FUNCTIONS.
piece of flesh had been taken would feel similar impressions; so
that, in this manner, a correspondence might be maintained.
Some went even farther than this, asserting, that such a miracu-
lous sympathy exists between the human body and all that has
previously formed part of it, that if we were to run a hot iron
into the excrement of any person, he would feel a sensation of
burning in the part, whence it had proceeded.
It was also a notion that grafts of flesh, united to another body,
die when the person dies from whom they have been taken. In
a recent work on animal magnetism, the case of a man at Brussels
is given, who had an artificial nose, formed after the old Taliaco-
tian method, which served every useful purpose, until the per-
son, from whom the graft had been taken, died, when it suddenly
became cold and livid and finally fell off. Tagliacozzi himself
lived in an era of superstition, when this belief in the synchronous
death of the parent and graft was universally credited; and the folly
has not escaped the notice of Butler:—
" So learned Taxiacotius from
The brawny part of porter's bum,
Cut supplemental noses which
Would last as long as parent breech;
But when the date of nock was out,
Oft dropped the sympathetic snout."
Little less singular was the superstition,—that the wounds of a
murdered person will bleed afresh, if the body be touched, ever
so lightly in any part by the murderer. This idea gave rise to the
trial by bier-right, which has been worked up by Sir Walter
Scott with so much dramatic skill, in one of his more recent no-
vels—St. Valentine's day, or the Fair Maid of Perth. The an-
nals of judicial inquiry furnish us with many instances of this gross
superstition, which still exists amongst the lower orders in some
parts of Great Britain, and probably also amongst the credulous
and uninformed of this country.
In the year 1688, a gentleman, of the name of Stansfield, was
tried at Edinburgh for the murder of his own father, and found
guilty. Having strangled him, he caused the body to be thrown
into water, to have it supposed that the death had been by
suicide. The appearances about the corpse, however, were such,
that both the faculty of physic and that of surgery gave it as their
opinion that the deceased had been strangled and not drowned. The
indictment in the case, amongst other things, remarks:—"That
upon the----day of November last, the said Sir James Stans-
field, coming from Edinburgh to his house at New Milns, and
going into his chamber to rest, about ten o'clock at night, and be-
ing alone in the room, under the credit, trust, and assurance of the
said Philip his son, and his own servants within his family; the
said Philip did consult with one George Tomson and divers
sympathy.
441
other persons how to murder him; and that, accordingly, they
did murder and strangle him in his bed-chamber; and, in the dead
of night, carried him from the said room, and threw him into a
pond near the house. That the next morning, when the body was
found, the said Philip caused it to be buried in haste, and refused
to stay till his friends and physicians viewed it. That the body,
being taken up again by authority, and inspected by surgeons, it
appeared to have been strangled and not drowned; and that his
nearest relations being required to lift the corpse into the coffin
after it had been inspected; upon the said Philip Stansfield
touching of it (' according to God's usual method of discovering
murder,' says the framer of the indictment) it bled afresh upon
the said Philip, and that thereupon he let the body fall, and fled
from it in the greatest consternation; crying,—Lord, have mercy
upon me! And that the said Philip being found by an assize to be
actor, art and part of the aforesaid crimes, one or other of them,
he ought to be punished, &c. &c." On this portion of the indict-
ment, the King's advocate remarked:—" That as to the body bleed-
ing, although several persons touched it, none of their hands were
besmeared with blood but the prisoner's; and that the body hav-
ing lain two days in the grave, in a cold season, the blood must
naturally be congealed. That the lifting about the body, and even
the incision that was made, causing no such effusion before, but
only of some water or gore, and should upon the prisoner's first
touching it begin to bleed afresh ! he must ascribe it to the won-
derful providence of God, who, in this manner, discovers murder,
especially since no natural reason could be assigned for it; and that
the horrible impressions it made on the prisoner, notwithstanding
his resolution to the contrary, might be urged as another argument
of his guilt."
A case of a similar character is given in the Annual Register
for 1767, as having occurred in our own country. It is contained
in the attestation of John Demarest, coroner of Bergen County,
New Jersey. The superstition, too, is noticed by many of the
older poets. Thus, Shakespeare, in his Richard III:—
" O! gentlemen, see, see! dead Henry's wounds
Open their congeal'd mouths, and bleed afresh!
Blush, blush, thou lump of foul deformity;
For 'tis thy presence that exhales this blood."
And Webster, in his tragedy of Appius and Virginia, publish-
ed about the middle of the 17th century:—
"See
Her wounds still bleeding at the horrid presence
Of yon stern murderer, till she find revenge."
It would be endless to enumerate the various superstitions that
prevailed, a few centuries ago, on topics more or less remotely
Vol. II. 56
442
CORRELATION OF FUNCTIONS.
connected with this subject. We pass on, therefore, to the interest-
ing, but abstruse, inquiry into the agents by which sympathy is
accomplished.
The opinions of physiologists have, from time to time, rested
chiefly;—on the membranes, the cellular tissue, the blood-vessels,
and the nerves; whilst there have been some, who, in the difficulty
of the subject, have supposed sympathy to be devoid of all organic
connexion; and others, again, have presumed, that all the parts,
we have mentioned, are concerned. The rapidity, however, with
which sympathies are evidenced, has led to the abandonment of
all those opinions; and the generality of physiologists of the pre-
sent day look to the nervous system as the great source and me-
dium of communication of the different irradiations, by which dis-
tant organs are supposed to react, in this manner, upon each other.
The rapidity, indeed, with which the various actions of the ner-
vous system are executed,—the apparent synchronism between
the reception of an impression on an organ of sense, and its per-
ception by the brain, as well as between the determination of the
will and its effect upon the muscle,—naturally attracted the atten-
tion of physiologists to this system as the instrument of sym-
pathy.
The modes, in which it is supposed to be accomplished, are:—
either by the parts, that sympathize, receiving ramifications from
the same nervous trunks, or from such as are united by nervous
anastomosis; or by the nervous irradiation emanating from one or-
gan, proceeding to the brain, and being thence reflected to every
dependency of the system, but so that certain organs are more mo-
dified by such reflection than others; hence the distinction into
what have been termed direct sympathies and cerebral sympa-
thies.
Of the direct sympathies we have already given some examples,
—as that between the mucous and muscular coats of the intes-
tines; and if our acquaintance with the precise distribution and
connexion of the various parts of the nervous system were more
intimate, we might perhaps explain many of the cases that are yet
quite obscure to us. The researches of Sir Charles Bell, re-
garding the nerves concerned in respiration, have thrown great
light on those associations of organs which we notice in the active
exercise of the respiratory function. It has been elsewhere shown,
that although the whole of the nerves, composing his respiratory
system, may not be apparently in action during ordinary respira-
tion, yet that when the function has been greatly excited, the as-
sociation becomes obvious; parts, that are remote in situation, are
combined in function, and all the nerves that animate them are
found to arise from the same column of the spine. The opinion of
Boerhaave, Meckel, and some others is, that all sympathies are
accomplished in this direct manner. On the other hand, Haller,
Whytt, Georget, Broussais, Adelon, and others, make the
SYMPATHY.
443
majority of sympathies to be produced through the medium of
the brain. Bostock indeed affirms, that the facts, adduced by
Whytt, are of such a nature as "to prove, that the co-operation
of the brain is essential in those actions which we refer to the ope-
ration of sympathy." In many cases this is doubtless the fact;—as
in sneezing and coughing; but there are others in which such co-
operation seems improbable. Something like sympathy exists in
the vegetable; in which if we admit, with some naturalists, a ru-
dimental nervous system, we have no reason for presuming that
there is any thing like a centre for the reception or transmission
of impressions.
We find that the properties of the vital principle are exemplified
by the formation of a body of a certain magnitude, form, structure,
composition and duration, and that this applies to all organized bo-
dies, vegetable as well as animal. Where such appearance of de-
sign consequently exists, we ought to expect that in the vegetable,
also, a harmony or consent must reign amongst the various func-
tions, tending to the accomplishment of that uniformity, which
enables us always to recognise the particular varieties of the vege-
table kingdom, and which has kept them as distinct, probably, in
their characters, as when first created by Almighty power. The
irritation of a single leaflet of the Mimosa pudica or sensitive
plant causes the whole leaf, as well as the footstalk, to contract.
Dr. John Sims irritated a leaflet of this plant, taking the greatest
pains to avoid moving any other part of the leaf; yet the whole
contracted and the footstalk dropped. In order, however, to be
sure, that mechanical motion, communicated by the irritation, had
no share in the contraction, he directed a sunbeam, concentrated by a
lens, on one of the leaflets, when the^leaf, again, contracted and the
footstalk dropped. Of this kind of vegetable irritability we have
many examples, some of which are alluded to under another
head. If, in the winter, the branch of a vine be introduced into a
hothouse, it will produce a luxuriant crop of leaves, blossoms and
fruit, the materials of which can only be derived from the ex-
citement of the roots produced by sympathy with the parts ex-
posed to the warm air: this will take place even during a frost, in
which situation the roots would have been in a torpid state, but for
the sympathetic influence developed in the parts above ground by
warmth. From these, and other facts of an analogous character,
Sir Gilbert Blane concludes, that the functions of living nature,
in all its departments, are kept up by a mutual concert and corres-
pondent accordance of every part with every other part, and that
it would be in vain to waste time in endeavouring to account for
them by groping among dark analogies and conjectures; and that
it is better to assume them as facts, on which are founded the ulti-
mate and inscrutable principles of the animal economy. We have,
certainly, much to learn regarding the agents of sympathies, and
the modes in which they are operated; but still we know enough
444
correlation of functions.
to infer, that in many cases, in animals, the nerves appear to be the
conductors; that the brain is, in others, the centre to which the
organ in action transmits its irradiations, and by which they are re-
flected to the sympathizing organ; and that,in others again, the effect
is caused in the absence of nervous centre, and perhaps even of
nerves, in a manner which, in the present state of our knowledge,
is inexplicable, and is, therefore, supposed to be essentially or-
ganic and vital,—epithets, however, as we have more than once
expressed, that merely convey a confession of our total ignorance
of the processes to which they are appropriated.
individual differences.
445
OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AMONGST MAN-
KIND.
The differences, which we observe amongst the individuals of
the great human family, are as numerous as the individuals them-
selves; but this dissimilarity is not confined to man or to the ani-
mal kingdom; the vegetable exhibits the same; for whilst we can
readily refer any plant to the species and variety to which it may
have been assigned by the botanist, accurate inspection shows us,
that, in the precise arrangement of the stalk, branches, leaves, or
flowers, no two are exactly alike. We shall not, however, dwell
on these trifling points of difference, but restrict ourselves to the
broad lines of distinction, that can be easily observed, and an at-
tention to which is of some moment to the physician. Such are the
temperaments, constitutions, idiosyncrasies, acquired differences,
and the varieties of the human species or the different races of
mankind. Of these, the last belongs especially to the natural his-
torian, and consequently will be but briefly noticed.
Sect. I. Of the Temperaments.
The temperaments are defined to be,—those individual differences,
which consist in such disproportion of parts, as regards volume and
activity, as to sensibly modify the whole organism, but without in-
terfering with the health. The temperament is, consequently, a
physiological condition, in which the action of the different func-
tions is so tempered as to communicate certain characteristics, which
may be referable to one of a few divisions. These divisions are by
no means the same in all physiological treatises. The ancients ge-
nerally admitted four,—denominated from the respective fluids or
humours, the superabundance of which in the economy was sup-
posed to produce them;—the sanguineous, caused by a surplus of
blood; the bilious or choleric, produced by a surplus of yellow bile;
the phlegmatic, caused by a surplus of phlegm, lymph, or fine wa-
tery fluid, derived from the brain; and the atrabiliary or melan-
cholic, produced by a surplus of black bile,—the supposed secretion
of the atrabiliary capsules and spleen.
This division was continued for ages without modification, and still
prevails, with one or more additional genera. The epithets have been
retained in popular language without our being aware of their parent-
age. For example, we speak of a sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, or
melancholic individual or turn of mind, with precisely the acceptation
given to them by the Hippocratic school,—the possessors of these tern-
446 individual differences.
peraments being presumed to be, respectively, full of high hope and
buoyancy; naturally irascible, dull and sluggish; or gloomy and low-
spirited. Metzger admits only two,—theirritable,(reizbare,) and
the dull or phlegmatic, (trage.) Wrisberg eight,—the sanguine,
sanguineo-choleric, choleric, hypochondriac, melancholic, bceo-
tian, meek, (sanftmuthige,) and the dull or phlegmatic. Ru-
dolphi also eight,—the strong or normal, the rude, athletic or
bceotian, the lively, the restless, the meek, the phlegmatic or dull,
the timorous, and the melancholic;—whilst Broussais enumerates
the gastric, bilious, sanguine, lymphatico-sanguineous, anemic,
nervous, bilioso-sanguine, nervoso-sanguinc, and melancholic.
It is obvious, that if we were to apply an epithet to the possible
modifications, [caused by every apparatus of organs, the number
might be extended much beyond any of these. Perhaps the divi-
sion most generally adopted is that embraced by Richerand, who
has embodied considerable animation, with much that is fanciful, in
his description. In this division, the ancient terms have been re-
tained, whilst the erroneous physiological basis, on which they
rested, has been discarded. A short account of these temperaments
is necessary, rather for the purpose of exhibiting what has been
and is still thought by many physiologists, than for attesting the
reality of many of the notions that are mixed up with the subject.
With this view, the temperaments may be divided into the san-
guine, the bilious or choleric, the melancholic, the phlegmatic,
and the nervous.
1. The sanguine temperament* This is supposed to be depen-
dent upon a predominance of the circulatory system; and hence is
considered to be characterized by strong, frequent, and regular
pulse; ruddy complexion; animated countenance; good shape, al-
though distinctly marked; firm flesh; light hair; fair skin; blue
eyes; great nervous susceptibility, attended with rapid successibi-
UtL as the French term it; that is,—facility of being impressed by
external objects and of passing rapidly from one idea to another;
quick conception; ready memory; lively imagination; addicted to
the pleasures of the table; and amorous. The diseases of the tem-
perament are generally violent; and are chiefly seated in the cir-
culatory system,—as fever, inflammations and hemorrhages.
The physical traits of this temperament, according to Richerand,
are to be found in the statues of Antinous and the Apollo Bel-
videre: the moral physiognomy is depicted in the lives of Mark
Antony and Alcibiades. In Bacchus, both the forms and the
character are found; and no one, in modern times, in M. Riche-
rand's opinion, can be found to exhibit a more perfect model of
it than the celebrated Duke De Richelieu;—amiable, fortunate
and valorous, but light and inconstant to the termination of his
brilliant career.
If individuals of this temperament apply themselves to labours
of any kind that cause the muscles to be greatly exerted, these
temperament.
447
organs become largely developed, and a subdivison of the sanguine
temperament is formed, which has been called the muscular or
athletic. This is characterized by all the outward signs of strength;
the head is small; the neck strong; the shoulders broad; the chest
large; the hips solid; the muscles prominent, and the interstices
well marked. The joints, and parts not covered with muscles, seem
small; and the tendons are easily distinguished through the skin, by
their prominence. The susceptibility to external impressions is not
great; the individual is not easily roused; but when he is, he is
almost indomitable. A combination of the physical powers, im-
plied by this temperament, with strong intellect, is rarely met
with.
The Farnesian Hercules is conceived to offer one of the best
specimens of the physical attributes of the athletic temperament.
2. The bilious or choleric temperament. This is presumed to be
produced by a predominance of the liver and biliary organs in gene-
ral. The pulse is strong, hard, and frequent; the subcutaneous
veins are prominent; the skin is of a brown colour,inclining to yellow;
hair dark; body moderately fleshy; muscles firm and well-marked;
the passions violent, and easily excited; the temper abrupt and im-
petuous; great firmness and inflexibility of character; boldness in
the conception of projects, and untiring perseverance in their ful-
filment. It is amongst the possessors of this temperament that the
greatest virtues and the greatest crimes are met with. Richerand
enumerates Alexander, Julius Cesar, Brutus, Mahomet,
CharlesXII, Peter the Great,CROMWELL, SextusV, and the Car-
dinal Richelieu. To these Good has added, Attila, Charle-
magne, Tamerlane, Richard III, Nadir Shah, and Napoleon.
The moral faculties are early developed; so that vast enterprises
may be conceived and executed at an age when the mind is ordi-
narily far from being matured. The diseases are generally com-
bined with more or less derangement of the hepatic system. The
whole of the characters, however, indicate that an excited state
of the sanguiferous system accompanies that of the biliary organs;
so that the epithet—cholerico-sanguine—might, with more pro-
priety, be applied to it. Where this vascular predominance does
not exist, whilst derangement is present in some of the abdomi-
nal organs, or in the nervous system, we have the next genus pro-
duced.
3. Melancholic or atrabilious temperament. Here the vital
functions are feebly or irregularly performed; the skin assumes a
deeper hue; the countenance is sallow and sad; the bowels are tor-
pid, and all the excretions tardy; the pulse is hard and habitually
contracted; the imagination is gloomy, and the temper suspicious.
The characters of Tiberius and of Louis XI, are considered to be
instances of the predominance of this temperament; and, in addition
to these, Richerand has enumerated Tasso, Pascal, Gilbert,
Zimmermann, and Jean Jacques Rousseau.
44S
individual differences.
4. The phlegmatic, lymphatic or pituitous temperament. In
this case, the proportion of the fluids is conceived to be too great
for that of the solids; the secretory system appearing to be active,
whilst the absorbent system does not act so energetically as to pre-
vent the cellular texture from being filled with the humours. The
characteristics of this temperament are:—soft flesh; pale skin; fair
hair; weak, slow and soft pulse; figure rounded, but inexpressive;
the vital actions more or less languid; the memory by no means
tenacious, and the attention vacillating; with aversion to both men-
tal and corporeal exertion.
Pomponius Atticus—the friend of Cicero—is offered as an ex-
ample of this temperament, in ancient times; Montaigne in more
recent history. The latter, however, possessed much of the ner-
vous susceptibility that characterizes the more lively temperaments.
Dr. Good suggests the Emperor Theodosius as an example in ear-
lier times; and Charles IV, of Spain,—who resigned himself almost
wholly into the hands of Godoy;—Augustus, King of Saxony, who ■
equally resigned himself into the hands of Napoleon,—and Fer-
dinand of Sicily, who surrendered for a time the government of
his people to the British,—as instances in our own day. It would
not be difficult to find, amongst the crowned heads of Europe,
others that are equally entitled to be placed amongst these wor-
thies.
5. The nervous temperament. Here the nervous system is greatly
predominant; the susceptibility to excitement from external impres-
sions being unusually developed. Like the melancholic tempera-
ment, this is, however, seldom natural or primitive. It is morbid
or secondary, being induced by sedentary life, sexual indulgence,
or morbid excitement of the imagination, from any cause. It is
characterized by small, soft, and, as it were, wasted muscles; and
generally, although not always, by a slender form; great vividness
of sensation; and promptitude and fickleness of resolution and
judgment. This temperament is frequently combined with some
of the others. The diseases, that are chiefly incident to it, are of
the hysterical and convulsive kind; or those to which the epithet
nervous is usually appropriated. Voltaire, and Frederick
the Great are given by Richerand as examples of this tempera-
ment.
Such are the temperaments, described by most writers. The
slightest attention to their reputed characteristics will show the im-
perfection of their definition and demarcation; so imperfect, indeed,
that it is extremely rare for us to meet with an individual, whom we
could unhesitatingly refer to any one of them. They are also sus-
ceptible of important modifications by climate, education, &c, and
may be so combined as to constitute innumerable shades. The man
of the strongest sanguine characteristics may, by misfortune, assume
all those that are looked upon as the indexes of the melancholic or
atrabilious; and the activity and impetuosity of the bilious tempera-
constitution. —idiosyncrasy.
449
ment, may, by slothful indulgence, be converted into the lym-
phatic or phlegmatic. It is doubtful, and more than doubtful, also,
whether any of the mental characteristics, assigned to the tempe-
raments, are dependent upon them. The brain, we have elsewhere
seen, is the organ of the mental and moral manifestations; and
although we may look upon the temperaments as capable of modi-
fying its activity, they cannot probably affect the degree of perfec-
tion of the intellect;—^its strength being altogether dependent upon
cerebral conformation. It is even doubtful whether the tempera-
ments can interfere with the activity of the cerebral functions. In
disease of the hepatic, gastric or other viscera we certainly see a
degree of mental depression and diminished power of the whole
nervous system; but this i$ the effect of a morbid condition, and
continues only so long as such morbid condition endures. Nor is
it probable, that any predominance of the nutritive functions could
induce a permanent influence on the cerebral manifestations. What-
ever might be the effect for a while, the nervous system would
ultimately resume the ordinary action which befitted its primitive
organization. Similar arguments to those have induced M.
Georget,—a young physician of great promise and experience in
mental affections, now no more,—to consider the whole doctrine of
the temperaments as a superstition connected with the humoral pa-
thology, and to believe, that the brain alone, amongst the organs,
has the power, by reason of its predominance or inferiority, to mo-
dify the whole economy.
That a difference of organization exists in different individuals is
obvious; it is upon this that differences in constitution are de-
pendent; but that there is an arrangement of the nutritive organs
or apparatuses, which impresses upon individuals all those mental and
other modifications known under the name of temperaments, is, we
think, sufficiently doubtful.
The constitution of an individual is the mode of organization
proper to him. A man, for example, is said to have a robust, or a
delicate, or a good, or a bad constitution, when he is apparently
strong or feeble, usually in good health, or liable to frequent at-
tacks of disease. The varieties in constitution are, therefore, as nu-
merous as the individuals themselves. A strong constitution is con-
sidered to be dependent upon the due development of the principal
organs of the body, on a happy proportion between those organs,
and on a fit state of energy of the nervous system; whilst the feeble
or weak constitution results from a want of these postulates. Our
knowledge, however, of these topics, is extremely limited, and con-
cerns the pathologist more than the physiologist.
Sect. II.—Of Idiosyncrasy.
The word idiosyncrasy is used, by many physiologists, synony-
Vol. II. 57
450 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES.
mously with constitution; but it is generally appropriated to the
peculiar disposition, which causes an individual to be affected by
extraneous bodies, in a way in which mankind in general are not
acted upon by the same agents. In all cases, perhaps, these pecu-
liarities are dependent upon inappreciable structure, either of the
organ concerned, or in the nervous branches distributed to it; at
times, derived from progenitors ; at others acquired,—often by as-
sociation,—in the course of existence. Hence arise many of the
antipathies to particular animate and inanimate objects, which we
occasionally meet with, and of which Broussais relates a singular
instance in a Prussian captain, whom he saw at Paris in 1815. He
could not bear the sight of a cat, a thimble, or an old woman, with-
out becoming convulsed, and making frightful grimaces. The as-
sociations must have been singularly complicated to occasion an an-
tipathy to objects differing so signally from each other. Wagner,
of Vienna, has collected a multitude of cases of idiosyncrasy; and
the observation of every individual, whether of the medical profes-
sion or not, must have made him acquainted with those peculiari-
ties, that render a particular article of diet, which is innoxious, and
even agreeable and wholesome to the generality of individuals,
productive, in some, of the most unpleasant effects.
Haller knew a person who was always violently purged by the
syrup of roses. A friend of the author is purged by opium, which
has an opposite effect on the generality of individuals. Dr. Paris
says he knew two cases, in which the odour of ipecacuanha always
produced most distressing dyspnoea. The author knew a young
apothecary, who could never powder this drug without the super-
vention of the most violent catarrh. A friend of Tissot could not
take sugar without its exciting violent vomiting. Urticaria or net-
tle-rash is very frequently occasioned, in particular constitutions,
by taking shell-fish. The same effect is induced on two young fe-
male friends of the author by eating strawberries; and similar cases
are given by Roose. M. Chevalier relates the case of a lady,
who could not take powdered rhubarb without an erysipelatous ef-
florescence showing itself, almost immediately, on the skin; yet she
could take it in the form of infusion with perfect impunity.
The above idiosyncrasies apply only to the digestive function.
We find equal anomalies in that of the circulation. In some, the
pulse is remarkably quick, upwards of one hundred in the mi-
nute; in others, it is under thirty. That of Napoleon is said to
have beaten only forty-four times in a minute. It may also be
unequal, and intermittent, and yet the individual be in a state of
health.
The senses offer us some of the most striking cases of this kind
of peculiarity. Many strong individuals cannot bear the smell of
the apple, cherry, strawberry, or that of musk, peppermint, &c.
Pope Pius VII. had such an antipathy to musk, that on one occa-
sion of presentation, an individual of the company having been
natural and acquired differences. 451
scented with it, his holiness was obliged to dismiss the party al-
most immediately.
The idiosyncrasies of taste are also numerous: some of these
cases of singular and depraved sense we have described under the
sense of taste. De jean gives the case of an individual of distin-
guished rank who was fond of eating excrement.
Certain animals, again, as the turkey, have an antipathy to the co-
lour of red ; and Von Buechner and Tissot cite the case of a boy
who was subject to epileptic fits whenever he saw any thing of a
red colour.
Occasionally, we meet with similar idiosyncrasies of audition.
Sauvages relates the case of a young man, labouring under intense
head-ache and fever, which could not be assuaged by any other
means than the sound of the drum. Rousseau asserts, that a young
Gascon was affected with incontinence of urine whenever he heard
the sound of the bagpipe; and the noise of water issuing from a
pipe threw Bayle into convulsions. The author has a singular pe-
culiarity of this kind, derived from some accidental association in
early life. If a piece of thin biscuit be broken in his presence,—
nay, the idea alone is sufficient,—the muscles that raise the left angle
of the mouth, are contracted, and this irresistibly.
The sense of tact is not free from idiosyncrasies. Wagner cites
the case of a person, who felt a sensation of cold along the back,
whenever he touched the down of a peach with the point of his
finger; or when the down came in contact with any part of his skin.
He was remarkably fond of the fruit, yet was unable to indulge his
appetite unless a second person previously removed the skin. Pro-
chaska relates the case of a person, who was affected with nausea
whenever he touched this fruit.
It is, of course, all important that the practitioner should be ac-
quainted with these idiosyncrasies, and so far the notion of " know-
ing the constitution,"—which is apt to be used to the prejudice of
the young practitioner or of any except the accustomed medical at-
tendant,—has some reason in it. It is the duty, however, of the
patient to put the practitioner in possession of Ihe fact of. such pe-
culiarities, so that he may be enabled to guard against them, and not
take that for morbid which is the effect of simple idiosyncrasy.
Sect. III. Of Natural and Acquired Differences.
The temperaments, constitutions, and idiosyncrasies may, as we
have seen, either be dependent upon original conformation, or they
may be produced by external influences; hence they have been
divided into the natural and acquired. Under the former head
are included all those individual differences, derived from pro-
genitors, which impress upon the individual, more or less of re-
semblance to one or both parents. It has been properly observed
by a recent writer, that the individuality of any human being that
ever existed, was absolutely dependent on the union of one particu-
152
individual differences.
lar man with one particular woman; and if either the husband or
the wife had been different, a different being would have been
ushered into existence. For the production of Shakespeare, or
Milton, or Newton, it was necessary that the father should
marry the identical woman he did marry. If he had selected any
other wife, there would have been no Shakespeare, no Milton,
no Newton. Sons might have been born of other women, but
they would not have been the same, either in mental or physi-
cal qualities. All this, however, enters into the question of the
effects of the influence of both parents on the foetus in utero, which
we have considered elsewhere. It was there shown, that the
influence exerted by the father is limited to the material which he
furnishes at a fecundating copulation, and that, it is probable, no
material modification is wrought by the mother after the union of
the two substances,—maternal and paternal,—which compose the
new being.
Amongst the natural differences, those that relate to sex are the
most striking. In a previous part of this volume we have described
the peculiarities of the sexual function in both male and female,
but the other important differences have not been detailed. All the
descriptions, when not otherwise specified, were presumed to apply
to the adult male. At present, it will be only necessary to advert
to the peculiarities of the female.
The stature of the female is somewhat less than that of the male,
the difference being estimated at about a twelfth. The chief parts
of the body have not the same mutual proportions. The head is
smaller and rounder; the face shorter; the trunk longer, especially
the lumbar portion, and the chest more convex. The lower extre-
mities, especially the thighs, are shorter, so that the half of the body
does not fall about the pubes as in man, but higher. The neck is
longer; the abdomen is broader, larger, and more prominent; the
pelvis has a greater capacity to adapt it for gestation and parturi-
tion. The long diameter of the brim is from side to side, whilst,
in the male, it is from before to behind; the arch of the pubis is
larger, and the tuberosities of the ischia more widely separated, so
that the outlet of the pelvis is larger than in the male; the hips are
broader, and, consequently, the spaces between the heads of the
thigh-bone are greater; the knees are more turned in, and larger
than in the male; the legs are shorter, and the feet smaller. The
shoulders are round, but the width across them, compared with that
of the hips, is not so great as in man; the arms are shorter, but
fatter, and more rounded; the same is the case with the fore-
arm ; the hand is smaller, and softer, and the fingers are more de-
licate.
The whole frame of the female is more slender; the bones are
smaller, their tissue is less compact, and the prominences and cor-
responding depressions are less marked; the subcutaneous cellular
tissue is more abundant, and filled with a whiter and firmer fat; a
similar adipous tissue fills up the intervals between the muscles, so
CHARACTERISTICS of the female.
453
that the whole surface is rounder, and more equable, than that of
the male; the skin is more delicate, whiter, better supplied with
capillary vessels, and less covered with hair; the hair of the head,
on the other hand, is longer, finer, and more flexible; the nails are
softer and of a redder hue; the muscles of the countenance are less
distinctly marked, so that the expression of the eye, and the emo-
tions which occasion elevation or depression of the angles of the
mouth,—laughing and weeping, for example,—are more strongly
marked. On the whole, the general texture of the organs is looser
and softer.
The above observations, however, apply to what may be termed
the standard female,—one whose natural formation has not been
interfered with by employments which are usually assigned to the
other sex. It can be>readily understood, that if the female has been
accustomed to the laborious exercise of her muscles, they may be-
come more and more prominent, the interstices between them more
and more marked, the projections and depressions of the bones
on which they move more distinct; the whole of the delicacy of
structure may be lost; and the skeleton of the female, thus circum-
stanced, may be scarcely distinguishable from that of the inactive
male, except in the proportions of the pelvis, in which the sexual
differences are chiefly and characteristically situated.
Many of the functions of the female are no less distinctive than
the structure. The senses, as a general principle, are more acute,
whether from original delicacy of organization, or from habit, is
not certain;—probably both agencies are concerned. The intellectual
and moral faculties are also widely different, and this, doubtless,
from original conformation; although education may satisfactorily
account for many of the differences observable between the sexes.
Gall is one of the few anatomists who have attended to the compa-
rative state of the cerebral system in the sexes; and the results of
his investigations lead him to affirm, that there is a striking differ-
ence in the development of different parts of the encephalon in the
two sexes, which he thinks may account for the difference observa-
ble in their mental and moral manifestations. In the male, the an-
terior and superior part of the encephalon is more developed; in
the female, the posterior and inferior; the former of these he con-
ceives to he the seat of the intellectual faculties; the latter of those
feelings of love and affection, which seem to preponderate in the
character of the female. We have elsewhere said, however, that
the views of Gall, on this subject, are not yet received as confirm-
ed truths, and that we must wait until farther experience and mul-
titudinous observations shall have exhibited their accuracy, or want
of foundation. Independently, however, of all considerations de-
duced from organization, observation shows, that the female exhi-
bits intellectual and moral differences which are by no means equivo-
cal. The softer feelings predominate in her, whilst the intellec-
tual faculties have the preponderance in man. The evidences and
454
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES.
character of the various shades of feeling and susceptibility, and
the influence of education and circumstances on these develop-
ments, are interesting topics for the consideration of the moral phi-
losopher, but admit of little elucidation from the labours of the
physiologist. The only inference, to which he can arrive, is, that
.the causes of the diversity are laid in organization, and become un-
folded and distinctive by education., The precise organization he
is unable to depict, and the influence of circumstances on the mind
it is scarcely his province to consider.
The function of muscular motion is, owing to organization, more
feebly executed. We have already remarked, that the bones are
comparatively small, and the muscles more delicately formed. The
energy of the nervous system is also less; so that all the elements
for strong muscular contraction are by no means in the most favour-
able condition; and, accordingly, the power the female is capable
of developing by muscular contraction is much less than in the
male. Her locomotion is somewhat peculiar,—the wide separation
of the hip-joints, owing to the greater width of the pelvis, giving
her a characteristic gait. The vocal organs exhibit differences
which account for the difference in the voice. The chest and the
lungs are of smaller dimensions; the trachea is of less diameter; the
larynx smaller; the glottis shorter and narrower; and the cavities,
communicating with the nose, are of smaller size. This arrange-
ment causes the female voice to be weaker, softer, and more acute.
The muscles of the glottis, and the ligaments of the glottis them-
selves, are apparently more supple, so as to admit of the production
of a greater number of tones, and to favour singing. The phenomena
of expression, as we have often remarked, keep pace with the con-
dition of the intellectual and moral faculties, and with the suscepti-
bility of the nervous system. As this last is generally great in the
female, the language of the passions, especially of the softer kind,
are more marked in her.
The functions of nutrition present, also, some peculiarities. With
regard to digestion, less food is generally required; the stomach is
less ample; the liver smaller, and frequently,—at least more fre-
quently than in the male,—the dentes sapientiae do not appear. The
desire for food at the stated periods is not so powerful; and it is
generally for light and agreeable articles of diet rather than for the
very nutritious; but the appetite returns more frequently, and is
more fastidious, owing to the greater sensibility of the digestive
apparatus. This, however, is greatly an affair of habit, and we have
more instances of prolonged abstinence in the female than in the
male. The circulation is generally more rapid, the pulse being less
full, but quicker. Of the seeretions, that of the fat alone requires
mention, which is usually more abundant and the product firmer.
The cutaneous transpiration is less active, and the humour has a
more acidulous odour. The urine is said, by some writers, to be
less abundant, and less charged with salts; whence, it is asserted,
acquired Differences. 455
there is less disposition to calculous affections. So far, however, as
we have had an opportunity for judging, it is secreted in greater
quantity, and this may partly account for its seeming to have a
smaller quantity of salts in any given amount; but the truth is, the
freedom of the female from calculous affections is greatly owing to
the shortness and size of the urethra, which admits the calculus to
be discharged with comparative facility; and it is a common obser-
vation, that where the males of a family, hereditarily predisposed
to gout, become, owing to their greater exposure to the exciting
causes, affected with that disease, the females may be subject to calcu-
lous disorders,—the two affections appearing to be, in sorr>e respects,
congenerous. For the reasons already mentioned, however, stone
rarely forms in the bladder of the female, and the operation of
lithotomy is scarcely ever necessary. The desire to evacuate the
contents of the bladder occurs more frequently in the female,
probably, in part, owing to habit; and, in part, to the greater mo-
bility of the nervous system.
In addition to these differences, as regards the secretions, the
female has one peculiar to herself,—menstruation,—which has
already engaged attention. In the progress of life, too, the glandular
system undergoes evolutions which render it especially liable to
disease. About the period of the cessation of the menses,—sooner
or later,—the mammae frequently take upon themselves a diseased
action, and become scirrhous and cancerous so as to require the or-
gans to be extirpated.
In the treatment of disease, these sexual peculiarities have to be
borne in mind. Owing to the greater mobility of the nervous sys-
tem in the female, she usually requires a much smaller dose of any
active medicine than the male; and, during the period when the
sexual functions are particularly modified, as during menstruation,
gestation, and the child-bed state, she becomes liable to various
affections, some of which have been referred to elsewhere; others
belong more appropriately to works on pathology or obstetrics.
The acquired differences, which we observe amongst individuals,
are extremely numerous. The effect of climate on the physical and
mental characteristics is strikingly exhibited. The temperate zone
appears to be best adapted for the full development of man, and it is
there that the greatest ornaments of mankind have flourished, and
that science and art have bloomed in exuberance; whilst in the hot,
enervating regions of the torrid zone, the physical and moral energy
are prostrated; and the European or Anglo-American, who has en-
tered them full of life and spirits, has left them after a few years
residence, listless and shorn of his proudest characteristics. Nor is
the hyperborean region more favourable to mental and corporeal
development; the sensibility being obviously blunted by the rigours
of the climate. The effect of locality is, perhaps, most signally exem-
plified in the Cretin, and the Goitreux of the Valais, and of the
456 individual differences.
countries at the base of lofty mountains in every part of the globe;
as well as in the inhabitants of our low countries, who are con-
stantly exposed to malarious exhalations, and bear the sallow im-
print on the countenance. It has seemed to the author, that, in the
Legislative Halls of Virginia, it has not been difficult to designate,
by this means alone, the inhabitants of the upper and of the lower
country.
Not less effective in modifying the character of individuals is the
influence of the way of life, education, profession, government,
&c. The difference between the cultivated and the uncultivated;
between the humble mechanic, who works at the anvil or the lathe,
and him whose avocation, like that of the lawyer and the physi-
cian, consists in a perpetual exercise of the organ of intellect; and
between the debased subject of a tyrannical government, and the
independent citizen of a free state,—
'^Lord of the lion heart and eagle eye,"
is signal and impressive.
To these acquired differences in individuals from extraneous or
intrinsic causes we must refer habit, which has been defined,—an ac-
quired disposition in the living body, become permanent, and as
imperious as any of the primitive dispositions. It is a peculiar state
or disposition of the mind, induced by the frequent repetition of
the same act.
Custom and habit are frequently used synonymously: but they
are distinct. Custom is the frequent repetition of the same act;
habit is the effect of such repetition. By custom we dine at the
same hour every day; the artificial appetite induced is the effect of
habit.
The functions of the frame are variously modified by this dispo-
sition, being at times greatly developed in energy and rapidity, at
others largely diminished. If a function be over and over again
exerted to the utmost extent of which it is capable, both as regards
energy and activity, it becomes more and more easy of execution;
the organ is daily better adapted for its production, and is so ha-
bituated to it, that it becomes a real want,—a second nature. It is
in this way, that we accustom the organs of speech, locomotion, &c.
to the exercise of their functions, until, ultimately, the most various
combinations of the muscular movements of the tongue and limbs
can be executed with surprising facility.
If, on the contrary, the organs of any function possess unusual
aptitude for accomplishing it, and we accustom ourselves to a minor
degree of the same, we ultimately lose a part of the aptitude, and
the organs become less inclined, and less adapted to produce it. By
custom, we may thus habituate ourselves to receive an unusually
small quantity of nutriment into the stomach, so that at length it
may become impracticable to digest more.
A similar effect occurs as regards the quantity of the special irri-
ACQUIRED differences.—HABIT. 457
tant, which we allow to impinge on any of the organs of sense. If
we accustom them to be feebly impressed, yet sufficiently so for the
performance of their functions, they become incapable of supporting a
greater quantity of the special irritant without indicating suffering.
The miner can see into the farthest depths of his excavations, when,
to the eye of one who has descended from the bright light of day,
all seems enveloped in obscurity. In this case, the sensibility of the
organ of sight is developed, to such an extent, that if the individual be
brought into even a feeble light, the impression is extremely painful.
The nyctalope is precisely so situated. His nervous system of
sight is so irritable, that, although he can see well in the night, he
is incapable of accurate discrimination by day. On the other hand,
exposure to intense light renders the sensibility of the visual ner-
vous system so obtuse that objects are not so readily perceived in ob-
scurity. The hemeralope, who sees in the day and not in the night,
and who is consequently the anthiteton of the nyctalope, has the
nervous system of vision unusually dull, and incapable of excite-
ment by feeble impressions.
It may be laid down, as a general principle, that if we gradually
augment the stimulus applied to any organ of sense, it becomes less
susceptible of appreciating minor degrees of the same irritant; so
that, in this way, an augmented dose of the irritant is progressively
required to produce the same effect. This is daily exemplified by
the use of tobacco,—either in the form of chewing, smoking, or
snuffing,—which becomes a confirmed habit, and can only be aban-
doned, without doing great violence to the feelings, by attention to
the principle deduced from practice,—that by gradually following
the opposite course to the one adopted in acquiring the habit,—that
is, by accustoming the nerve of sense to a progressive diminution
in the dose of the stimulus, an opposite habit may be formed, and
the evil be in this manner removed.
When by habit we acquire extreme facility in executing any
function, it may be executed apparently without the direct inter-
ference of volition. This is peculiarly applicable to the voluntary
motions. We have elsewhere shown, however, that, in this case,habit
only communicates the facility, and that there is no natural sequence
of motions, and, consequently, no reason, as in executing a rapid mu-
sical movement, why one movementofthefingersshouldfollowrather
than another, unless volition were the guiding power. Volition, as
Dr. Parr has remarked, is not an exertion of mind, but apparently a
simple impulse directed almost necessarily to an end; and it is
affected by custom, nearly like the organs of the body. Thus, a
sensation, which excited a perceptible exertion of volition will, in
time, produce it, and the correspondent action, without our being
sensible of its interference; and so rapid is this progress, that we
seem to will two ends or objects at the same time, though they are
evidently, when examined, distinct operations. But though by
custom we are no longer sensible of bodily impressions,or of the exer-
Vol. II. 58
45S
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES.
cise of volition, yet the corporeal organs in their several functions,
acquire, like those of the mind, peculiar accuracy of discrimination.
1 fie musician is not, for instance, sensible of his willing any one
motion; yet with the most exquisite nicety he touches a particular
part of the string, and executes a variety of the nicest and most
complicated movements with the most delicate precision.
It isa common remark, that" habit blunts the feeling but improves
the judgment." To a certain extent this is true; but the feeling is
not blunted unless the stimulant, which acts upon the organ of sense,
be too powerful and too frequently repeated. When moderately
exercised, the effect of education, in perfecting all the senses, is
strongly exhibited, as we have elsewhere seen. Sensations, often
repeated, cease to be noticed, not because they are not felt, but
because they are not heeded; but if the attention be directed to the
sensation, custom adds to the power of discrimination. Hence the
sailor is able to detect the first appearance of a sail in the distant
horizon, when it cannot be perceived by the landsman; and the same
kind of discrimination is attained by the due exercise of the other
senses. This greater power of discrimination is doubtless owing
to improvement in the cerebral or percipient part of the visual
apparatus; but we have no evidence, that the organ of vision has
its action necessarily blunted.
It has been presumed, by some physiologists and metaphysicians,
that the will, by custom and exercise, may acquire a power over
certain functions of the body that were not originally subject to it;
nay, some speculatists have gone farther, and affirmed, that all the
involuntary functions were originally voluntary, and that they have
become involuntary by habit. Stahl and the other animists, who
regarded the soul as the formative and organizing agent in animals,
asserted, that it excites the constant movements of the heart, and
of the respiratory, digestive and other nutritive organs, by habits so
protracted and inveterate, and so naturalized within us, that these
functions can be effected without the aid of the will, and without
the slightest attention being paid to them. Respiration, according
to them, is originally voluntary; but, by habit, the will becomes
spontaneity; so that there is no farther occasion to invoke volition.
Respiration goes on night and day, when we are asleep as well as
awake; and they regard as a proof, that the action was origi-
nally dependent upon free will, that we are still able to accelerate
or retard it at pleasure. They cite, moreover, the case of Colonel
Townshend, related in another part of this work, to show, that the
action of the heart is capable of being influenced by the will; and the
fact that it is accelerated or retarded under the different passions.
Condillac, Lamarck* and Dutrochet fantastically assert, that
• The views of this distinguished naturalist regarding the effect of habit on
organization, which he considers to tend to greater and greater complication, are
most singular and fantastic. It is not, he considers, the organs of an animal that
have riven rise to its habits; on the contrary, its habits, mode of life, and those of
its ancestors have, in the course of time, determined the shape of its body, the
ACQUIRED DIFFERENCES.--HAHIT. 159
the different instincts, observed to prevail so powerfully in animals,
are mere products of an acquired power transmitted through suc-
cessive generations.
The objections to all these views are,—that the functions in
question are as well performed during the first day of exist-
ence as at an after period, and are apparently as free from the exer-
cise of all volition. The heart, indeed, beats through foetal existence
for months before the new being is ushered into the world; and when,
if volition be exerted at all, it can only be obscurely. The case of
Colonel Townshend is strange, passing strange, but it is almost
unique, and the power of suspending the heart's action was pos-
sessed by him a short time only prior to dissolution. All the
functions in question must, indeed, be esteemed natural, and in-
stinctive, inseparably allied to organization; and hence differing
from the results of habit which is always acquired.
The opinion of Bichat, on the other hand, was, that habit influ-
ences only the animal functions and has no bearing on the organic
or nutritive. But this is liable to objections. We have seen, under
digestion, that if a bird, essentially carnivorous in its nature, be re-
stricted to vegetable food, the whole digestive economy is modified,
and it becomes habituated to the new diet. We know, also, that
where drains are established in any part of the body, they become,
in time, so much a part of the physiological condition of the frame,
that they can only be checked with safety by degrees.
In the administration of medicines, habit has always to be attend-
ed to. The continued use of a medicine generally diminishes its
power—hence the second dose of a cathartic ought to be larger than
the first, if administered within a few days. Certain cathartics are
found, however, to be exceptions to this. The Cheltenham waters
are one. The constitution, so far from becoming reconciled to
lead by habit, is rendered more and more sensible to its irritation.
Emetics, too, frequently act more powerfully by repetition. Dr.
Cullen asserts, that he knew a person so accustomed to excite vo-
number and condition of its organs, and the faculties, which it enjoys. Thus the
otter, the beaver, the waterfowl, the turtle, and the frog were not made web-
footed that they might swim; but their wants having attracted them to the water
in search of prey, they stretched out their toes to strike the water, and move
rapidly along its surface. By the repeated stretching of their toes, the skin,
which united them at the base, acquired a habit of extension, until, in the course
of time, they became completely web-footed.
In like manner, the antelope was not endowed with alight, agile form, in order
that it might escape by flight from the carnivorous animal; but by being exposed
to the danger of being devoured by lions, tigers, and other beasts of prey, it
was compelled to exert itself by running with great celerity; a habit, which,
in the course of many generations, gave rise to the peculiar slenderness of its
legs, and the agility and elegance of its form.
The cameleopard, again, was not gifted with a long flexible neck, because it
was destined to live in the interior of Africa, where the soil was arid, and devoid
of herbage; but, being reduced, by the nature of the country, to support itself
on the foliage of lofty trees, it contracted a habit of stretching itself up to reach
the high boughs, until its forelegs became longer than the hinder, and its neck so
elongated that it could raise its head to the height of twenty feet above the ground!
460
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES.
miting, on himself, that the one-twentieth part of a grain of tartar-
ized antimony was sufficient to produce a convulsive action of the
parts concerned in vomiting. As a general principle, however,
remedies lose their effect by habit, and this is particularly the case
with tonics; but if another tonic be substituted for a day or two,
and then the former be resumed, it will produce all its previous
effects.
Association, employed abstractedly, is a principle of the animal
economy nearly allied to habit. When two or more impressions of
any kind have been made upon the nervous system, and repeated
for a certain number of times, they become associated; and if one
of them only be produced it will call up the idea of the others. It
is a principle, which is largely invoked by the metaphysician, and
by which he explains many interesting phenomena of the human
mind, especially those connected with our ideas of beauty, or the
contrary; our likes and dislikes, and our sense of moral propriety.*
Darwin employed it to explain many complicated functions of the
economy; and he laid it down as a law, that all animal motions,
which have occurred at the same time or in immediate succession,
become so associated that when one of them is reproduced, the
other has a tendency to accompany or succeed it The principle
has, doubtless, great agency in the production of many of the phy-
sical, as well as mental, phenomena; but its influence has been over-
rated; and many of the consecutive and simultaneous actions, to
which we have referred under the head of correlation of functions,
take place, apparently, as well the first time they are exerted, as
subsequently. Sucking and deglutition are good cases of the kind.
Soon after birth, the muscles of the lips, cheeks, and tongue are con-
tracted to embrace the nipple, and to diminish the pressure in the
interior of the mouth; and as soon as the milk has flowed to the
necessary extent into the mouth, certain voluntary muscles are con-
tracted. These propel the milk into the pharynx, where its farther
progress is accomplished by muscles, associated or connected func-
tionally, but not in the sense we are now employing the epithet; for
here one action could not suggest another, according to the defini-
tion we have given of association, which requires that the acts
should have been executed previously. Many of the cases, in
fact, ascribed by Darwin and Hartley to the agency of this
principle, are instinctive actions, in which a correlation, as in the
* The effect of this principle is forcibly and feelingly expressed by one of the
most illustrious of British bards:—
" And slight withal may be the things which bring
Back to the heart the weight, which it would fling
Aside for ever: it may be a sound,
A tone of music, summer's eve, or spring,
A flower, the wind, the ocean, which shall wound,
Striking th' electric chain wherewith we're darkly bound;
And how and why we know not, nor can trace
Home to its cloud this lightning of the mind."
Childe Harold, Canto iv.
ACQUIRED DIFFERENCES.—IMITATION. 461
case of deglutition, exists, but without our being able to explain the
nature of such correlation, any more than we can explain other
complicated actions and connexions of the nervous system, of which
this is doubtless one.
Some of the most obstinate diseases are kept up by habit, or by
accustomed associated motions; and, frequently, the disease will
seem to continue from this cause alone. Whenever intermittent
fever, epilepsy, asthma, chorea, &c. have been long established, the
difficulty of removing the influence of habit, or the tendency to re-
currence, is extreme.
Lastly, the principle of imitation falls appropriately under this
section. It may be defined as—that consent of parts, depending on
similar organization, which, under the influence of the brain, enables
them to execute acts similar to those executed by the same parts in
another individual. Imitation, consequently, requires the action of
the brain; and differs from those actions that are natural or in-
stinctive to organs. For example, speech requires the action of
imitation; whilst the ordinary voice or cry is effected by the new-
born, and by the idiot, who are incapable of all observation, and
consequently of imitation. The mode in which speech is acquired,
offers us one of the best examples of this imitative principle,
if we may so term it. At a very early period, the child hears
the sounds addressed to it, and soon attaches ideas to them. It dis-
covers, moreover, that it is capable of producing similar sounds with
its own larynx, and that these sounds are understood, and are in-
servient to the gratification of its wants; and, in this way, speech,
as we have elsewhere seen, is acquired. The difficulty is to un-
derstand in what manner this singular consent is produced. Sir
Gilbert Blane has properly remarked, that the imitation of ges-
tures is, at first sight, less unaccountable than that of sounds; as they
are performed by members which are objects of sight, and would
seem therefore to be more readily transferable to the corresponding
parts of another person: but he probably errs, when, farther on, he
remarks, that when children begin to articulate, they first attempt
those letters, in the pronunciation of which the motions of the organs
are the objects of sight; such as the p and b, among consonants, and
the broad a, among the vowels, " giving occasion to a well-known
etymology, from the infantile syllables, expressive of father and
mother in all languages." We do not think that this explanation
is happy; and have elsewhere attempted to show, that the combina-
tion of letters, and the words referred to, are first enunciated, because
they are the easiest of'all combinations; and that the expressions of
mama, papa, &c. are employed long before the child has acquired
the power of imitation, and long prior to his attaching the meaning
to the words which he is subsequently made to adopt.
It is certainly singular how the child can learn to imitate
sounds, where the action of the organs concerned is completely
concealed from view. The only possible way of explaining it
is to presume, that it makes repeated attempts with its vocal ap-
462
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES.
paratus to produce the same sound which it hears; and that it re-
collects the sensation produced by the contraction of the muscles
when it succeeds, so as to enable it to repeat the contraction of the
muscles, and the sensation, at pleasure. This is, however, a case,
in which volition is actively exerted. We have others, where the
action occurs in spite of the individual, as in yawning. We see the
action in a second person, and, notwithstanding all our attempts to
the contrary, the respiratory organs are excited through the brain,
and we accomplish the same act. Nay, even thinking of the action
will be sufficient to arouse it. Of a like nature to this, is the sym-
pathetic contraction of the uterus, which comes on, where a preg-
nant female is in the lying-in chamber during the accouchement of an-
other, and to which we have referred under the head of Sympathy.
Many morbid phenomena are excited in a similar manner;—of
these, squinting and stammering are familiar examples.
Sect. IV. Of the Varieties of Mankind.
To determine the number of varieties, into which the great hu-
man family may be divided, is a subject which has been considered
to belong so completely to the naturalist, that we shall pass it over
with a brief inquiry.
If we cast our eye over the globe, although we may find that
mankind agree in their general form and organization, there are
many points in which they differ materially from each other. With
those forms, proportions and colours, which we consider so beautiful
in the fine figures of Greece,—to use the language of Mr. Law-
rence,—contrast the woolly hair, the flat nose, the thick lips, the
retreating forehead, advancing jaws, and black skin of the negro;
or the broad, square face, narrow oblique eyes, beardless chin, coarse,
straight hair, and olive colour of the Calmuck. Compare the ruddy
and sanguine European with the jet black African, the red man of
America, the yellow Mongolian, or the brown South-Sea Islander;
the gigantic Patagonian, or the dwarfish Laplander; the highly
civilized nations of Europe, so conspicuous in arts, science, literature,
in all that can strengthen and adorn society, or exalt and dignify
human nature, to a troop of naked, shivering, and starved New
Hollanders, a horde of filthy Hottentots, or the whole of the more
or less barbarous tribes, that cover nearly the entire continent of
Africa; and although we must refer them all to the same species,
they differ so remarkably from each other as to admit of being
classed in a certain number of great varieties; but, with regard to
the preeise number, naturalists have differed materially.
Whatever changes have been impressed upon mankind, can, of
course, apply only to the descendants of Noah. The broad distinc-
tions, we now meet with, could not have existed in his immediate
family, saved with him at the time of the deluge. They must ne-
cessarily have all been of the same race. None of our investigations
on this subject can, consequently, be traced back into antediluvian
VARIETIES OF MANKIND.
463
periods. Hence the point, on which the ark rested, must be looked
upon as the cradle of all mankind.
The question of the original residence of man has frequently en-
gaged the attention of the philologist. It is one which could be
answered positively by the historian only, but unfortunately the
evidence we possess of an historical character is scanty in the ex-
treme, and the few remarks, in the sacred volume, not sufficient to
lead us to any definite conclusion. As far back as the date of the
most remote of our historical records, which extend to about two
thousand years prior to the Christian era, we find the whole of Asia
and a part of Africa,—probably a large part,—peopled by different
nations, of various manners, religion, and language; carrying on ex-
tensive wars with each other, with here and there civilized states,
possessing important.inventions of all kinds, which must have re-
quired a length of time for discovery, improvement, and diffusion.
After the subsidence of the deluge, the waters would first recede
from the tops of the highest mountains, which would thus be the
earliest habitable; and in such a situation the family of Noah in-
creased, and thence spread abroad on the gradual recession of the
waters. The earliest habitable spot was probably the elevated re-
gion of middle Asia,—the loftiest in the world,—not the summits,
which would be unsuitable, in every respect, for human existence,
but some of the lofty plains, such as that, of which the well-known
desert Kobi or Schamo forms the highest point, and from whence
Asia sinks gradually towards the four quarters, and the great moun-
tain chains proceed that intersect Asia in every direction.
This has been suggested by Herder and Adelung as the cradle
of the human race. In the declivities of this elevated region, and
of its mountain chains, all the great rivers arise that flow on every
side through this division of the globe. After the deluge, it would
therefore soon become dry, and project, like an extensive island,
above the flood. The cold and barren elevation of Kobi would not
itself have been well adapted for the continued residence of our se-
cond parents, but immediately on its southern side lies the remark-
able country of Tibet, separated by lofty ridges from the rest of
the world, and containing within itself every variety of climate.
Although on the snow-capt summits the severest cold perpetually
prevails, summer eternally reigns in the valleys and well-watered
plains. The rice, too, the vine, pulse, and a variety of other pro-
ductions of the vegetable kingdom, which man employs for his nu-
trition, are indigenous there; and those animals are found in a
wild state, which man has domesticated and taken along with him
over the earth;—the ox, horse, ass, sheep, goat, camel, swine, dog,,
cat, and even the valuable reindeer,—his only friend and companion
in the icy deserts of polar countries. Zimmermann, indeed, as-
serts, that every one of the domesticated animals is originally from
Asia. Close to Tibet, and immediately on the declivity of this
great central elevation, is the charming region of Kaschemire, the
lofty site of which tempers the southern heat into a perpetual spring.
464
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES.
The probabilities in favour of the cradle of mankind having been
situated to the south of the elevated region of middle Asia are con-
sidered to be strengthened by the circumstance of the nations in
the vicinity possessing a rude, meagre and imperfect language, such
as might be imagined to have existed in the infancy of the human in-
tellect and of the world. Not less than two hundred millions of
people are found there, whose language appears to be nearly as
simple as it must have been soon after its formation. Kaschemire, by
reason of the incessant changes which it has experienced in ancient
and modern times, has, indeed, kept pace with the rest of the world in
the improvement of its language, but not so, apparently, with Tibet—
itsneighbour—andwithChina,and the kingdoms of Ava,Pegu,Siam,
Tunkin, and Cotschinschina. All these extensive countries and these
alone in the known world, according to Adelung, betray the im-
perfection of a newly-formed or primitive language. As the earliest
attempt of the child is a stammering of monosyllabic notes, so, says
that eminent philologist, must have been that of the original child of
nature; and the Tibetans, the Chinese, and their two neighbours to
the south continue to stammer monosyllabically, as they must have
been taught thousands of years ago in the infancy of their race.
" No separation of ideas into certain classes, whence arose the parts
of speech in cultivated languages. The same sound which denotes
joyful, signifies joy and to gladden,awA this in every person, num-
ber and tense. No art, connexion, or subordinate ideas are united
to the rude, monosyllabic root, thereby communicating richness,
clearness and euphony to their meagre tongue. The rude, mono-
syllabic, radical ideas are placed perhaps broken and detached from
each other, the hearer being left to supply the intermediate ideas.
As the monosyllable admits of no inflection, the speaker either
makes no distinction between cases and numbers, or he seeks for
aid, in cases of great necessity, in circumlocution. The plural he
forms, like the child, either by repetition,—tree, tree,—or by the
addition of the words much or more, as tree much, tree more. I
much or I more is the same to him as we."
From these and other circumstances Adelung infers, that these
monosyllabic languages are primitive and the honorable ancestors
of all others;* that the immediate descendants of Noah originally
occupied the favoured region, which has been described, and,
as population increased, spread into the neighbouring districts,
selecting, by preference, the near and charming regions of the
south, east, and west. Hence we find in the countries immediately
bordering on Tibet, the earliest formed states, and the oldest civi-
lization. History refers us to the east, for the primordial germs of
most of our ideas, arts and sciences, whence they subsequently
* This argument of Adelung is, however, more plausible perhaps than sound.
It has been correctly remarked by the distinguished Duponceau, that, in all lan-
guages, there is a strong tendency to preserve their original structure, and that
from the most remote period to which the memory of man can reach, a monosyl-
labic language has never been known to become polysyllabic, or vice versa.
VARIETIES OF MANKIND.
465
spread to the countries farther to the west,—to Media, Persia, and
western Asia. It is probable that from this part of Asia, the sons
of Noah,—Shem, Ham and Japheth,—branched off in various di-
rections so as to constitute the three distinct stocks, which are found
to have divided the old world from time immemorial. These
three are 1, the White, Caucasian, Arabico-European, or Euro-
pean; 2, the Olive, Mongolian, Chinese, Kalmuck, or Asiatic;
and 3, the Negro, Ethiopian, African, Hottentot, &c. each of
which has its own principal habitat;—the white being found
chiefly in Europe and Asia Minor, Arabia, Persia, and India, as
far as the Ganges, and in North Africa; the Mongol occupying the
rest of Asia, and having its focus on the plateaux of Great Tartary
and Tibet; and the negro race covering almost the whole of Af-
rica, and some of the isles of New Guinea, the country of the Pa-
pous, &c. The white or Caucasian variety are supposed to be the
descendants of Japheth, ("audax Japeti genus," Horace;) the
Asiatic of Shem ; whilst Ham is regarded as the parent of the un-
happy African.
These three races,—the Caucasian, Negro, and Mongolian,—are
alone admitted by Cuvier, whose classification will serve our purpose
as well as any of the others to which reference will be made presently.
1. The Caucasian race is chiefly distinguished by the elegant
form of the head, which approximates to a perfect oval. It is also
remarkable for variations in the shade of the complexion and colour
of the hair. From this variety the most civilized nations have
sprung. The name Caucasian
was given to it from the groupe
of mountains, between the Cas-
pian andtheBlack Sea,—tradi-
tion seeming to refer the origin
of this race to that part of Asia.
Even at the present day the
peculiar characteristics of the
race are found in the highest
perfection amongst the people,
who dwell in the vicinity of
Mount Caucasus,—the Georgi-
ans and Circassians,—who are
considered the handsomest na-
tives of the earth.
The marginal figure is given
by Blumenbach as a speci-
men of the Caucasian race, near
the original residence whence
the epithet is derived. It re-
presents Jusuf Aguiah Efen-
di, formerly ambassador from
the Porte to London.
The Caucasian race has been subdivided into several great na-
Vol. II. 59
466
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES.
tions or families:—1. The Arabs, comprising the Arabs of the de-
sert or the Bedouins, the Hebrews, the Druses and other inhabitants
of Libanus, the Syrians, Chaldaeans, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Abys-
sinians, Moors, &c. 2. The Hindoos on the European side of the
Ganges;—as the inhabitants of Bengal, of the coasts of Coromandel
and Malabar, the ancient Persians, &c. 3. The Scythians and
European Tartars, comprising also the Circassians, Georgians, &c.
4. The Kelts, a dark-haired race, the precise origin of which is
unknown, but presumed to be Indian. The descendants of this race
are the Gauls, Welsh, Rhaetians, &c. &c.; and, lastly, the Goths, a fair-
haired race, the ancestors of the Germans, Dutch, Swedes, Danes, &c.
That the time of the first peopling of the European countries
must have been very remote is exhibited by the fact, that at the
dawn of history, the whole of Europe, from the Don to the mouth
of the Tagus, was filled with nations of various physical characters
and languages, and bearing striking marks of intermixture and mo-
dification. At this period there were, in Europe, at least six great
nations. 1st. The Iberians with the Cantabri, in Spain, in a part
of Gaul, and on the coasts of the Mediterranean as far as Italy.
2dly. The Kelts in Gaul, in the British Isles, between the Danube
and the Alps, and in a part of Italy. 3dly. The Germani
or Goths, between the Rhine, the Danube and the Vistula.
4thly. The Thracians with the Illyrians, in the south-east of
Europe, and in western Asia. 5thly. The Sclavi, in the north:
and 6thly. The Fins in the north-east. It is not improbable but
that these different races migrated from Asia in the order we
have mentioned:—such is the theory of certain historians and phi-
lologers, and there is some reason for adopting it. They, who mi-
grated first, would probably extend their wanderings until they
were arrested by some invincible obstacle, or until the arrival of
fresh tribes would drive them onwards farther and farther towards
the west. In this way they would ultimately reach the ocean, which
would effectually arrest their farther progress, unless towards the
south and the north. The descendants of the ancient Iberians do
now actually occupy the west of Spain,—the residence probably of
their forefathers.
Nearly about the same time, perhaps, as the Iberians undertook
their migration, the Kelts, a populous tribe, migrated from some
part of Asia, and occupied a considerable portion of middle Europe.
To these succeeded the Goths, to the north, and the Thracians to
the south; whilst the Sclavi, the last of the Asiatic emigrants, wan-
dered still farther north. It is not easy to determine the precise
link occupied by the Fins in this vast chain of nations. They were
first known to history as a peculiar people in the north of Europe,
but whence they proceeded, or whether they occupied their posi-
tion to the north of the Germani from choice, or were urged on-
wards by their more powerful neighbours, we know not.
So long as there was sufficient space for the nations to occupy,
without disturbing the possessions of their neighbours, they proba-
VARIETIES OF MANKIND.
467
bly kept themselves distinct; but as soon as the land was filled, a
contest arose for the possession of more extensive or more eligible
regions; wars were, consequently, undertaken, and the weaker gra-
dually yielded their possessions, or their sovereignty, to the stronger.
Hence, at the very dawn of history, numerous nations were met
with, amalgamated both in blood and language;—for example, the
Kelto-Iberians of Spain; the Belgae or Kymbri of Gaul and Britain;
the Latins, and other nations of Italy, and probably many, whose
manners, characters, and language had become so melted into each
other as to leave little or no trace of the original constituents. The
Letti, Wallachians, Hungarians, and Albanians of eastern Europe,
are supposed to afford examples of such amalgamation, whilst the
mighty Sclavonic nation has swallowed up numbers of less powerful
tribes, and annihilated even their names for ever. This it is, which
frequently embarrasses the philological historian ; and prevents him,
without other evidence, from deducing with accuracy the parent
stocks or the most important components in ethnical admixtures.
2. The Negro, African, Ethiopian or Black man of Gmelin,
occupies a less extensive surface of the globe, embracing the coun-
try of Africa, which extends from the southern side of Mount At-
las to the Cape of Good Hope. This race is evidently of a less per-
fect organization than the last, and has some characteristics which
approximate it more to the monkey kind. The forehead is flatten-
ed and retiring; the skull is smaller, and holds from four to nine
ounces of water less than that of the European. On the other hand,
the face, which contains the organs of sense, is more developed, and
projects more like a snout. The lips are large; the cheek bones
prominent; the temporal fossae hollower; the muscles of mastication
stronger; and the facial angle is smaller;—the head of the negro, in
this respect, holding a middle place between the Caucasian and the
ourang-outang. The nose is expanded; the hair short and woolly,
very black and frizzled. Skin black. This colour is not, however,
characteristic of the race, as the Hottentots and Caffres are yellow.
The marginal figure is the
head of J. J. E. Capitein, se- Fig. 170.
lected by Blumenbach as
the representative of his race.
He was an intelligent negro,
and published several ser-
mons and other works in La-
tin and Dutch. His portrait
was taken by Van Dyk.
This case of great intelli-
gence in the negro is not
unique; and it exhibits what
may be expected from him
under favourable circum- r-
stances. In almost all situa-
tions in which he is found, it Nesr0 TOriety.
468
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES.
is in the state of slavery, and degradation, and no inference can be
deduced regarding his original grundkraft—as the Germans call
it—or intellectual capability under such circumstances. Haiti has af-
forded numerous examples of the sound judgment, and even distin-
guished ability, with which her sable inhabitants are capable of con-
ducting, not only the municipal, but the foreign concerns of a con-
siderable community. It must be admitted, however, that from or-
ganization, this race would seem to be, cseteris paribus, less fitted
for intellectual distinction than the Caucasian.
3. The Mongolian or Asiatic, Kalmuck or Chinese race, the
brownman of Gmelin,is recognised by prominent and wide cheek
bones; flat, square visage; small and oblique eyes; straight and black
hair; scanty beard, and olive complexion.
The marginal head is from Blumenbach. It is that of Feodor
Ivanowitsch, a Kalmuck, given by
Fig. 171. the empress of Russia to the heredi-
tary princess of Baden. He was edu-
cated at Carlsruhe, and was a most
distinguished painter at Rome. The
portrait was sketched by Feodor
himself.
The Mongols are spread over the
central and eastern parts of Asia, with
the exception of the peninsula of Ma-
lacca. They likewise stretch along
the whole of the Arctic regions, from
Russia and Lapland to Greenland,
and the northern parts of the Ameri-
can continent, as far as Behring's
Straits,—the Laplanders and Esqui-
maux being evidently of the same
race as the Koriaks, Kamtschadales,
Japanese, &c. of the Asiatic conti-
nent.
Such are the three varieties whence,
Mongolian variety. m the opinion of Cuvier, all the rest
may be deduced. Rudolphi and others have added to these the
race, which is peculiar to our own country, and has by some been
esteemed indigenous.
The American race or red man of Gmelin differs greatly in
stature, colour, and physiognomy in various parts of the continent,
but his medium height corresponds with thatof the European. His
colour is from a cinnamon-brown to a deep copper. The hair is
almost always black, straight and stiff. The features are large and
strongly marked, except the eyes, which are commonly deep-seated,
or sunk in large sockets. The forehead is generally low, somewhat
compressed at the sides, and slightly retreating. Facial angle
about 80°. Nose generally considerably raised from the face, some-
times arched; cheek bones high, and widely separated; angle
VARIETIES OF MANKIND.
469
of the jaw broad, and chin square. The accompanying head is
that of Ongpatonga, (Big Elk,) chief of the Omawhaw Indians,
and is taken from the American Natural History of the lamented
GODMAN.
Fig. 172.
American variety.
Other naturalists, as Blumenbach, Dumeril, Lawrence, &c.
add to these four varieties a fifth,—the Malay or Australian;—
the Tawny man of Gmelin, owing to the difficulty of referring
it either to the Caucasian Indian, or to the Chinese Mongolian,
situated in its vicinity. This Malay variety extends from Ma-
lacca to the most remote islands of the great Indian and Pacific
ocean, from Madagascar to the Maldives, inclusive; inhabits Su-
matra, Java, Borneo, Celebes, and the adjacent islands; the Mo-
lucca, Ladrones, Philippine, Marian, and Caroline groupes; New
Holland, Van Dieman's Land, New Guinea, New Zealand, and the
various islands scattered through the South Sea. It is termed Malay
because supposed to have proceeded originally from the Peninsula
of Malacca, and to have spread thence over the adjacent islands, a
supposition which is not confirmed by history: on the contrary,
according to Mr. Marsden, it is clearly demonstrated, that the Ma-
lays went from Sumatra to Malacca in the twelfth century. No
well-marked, common characters can be assigned to this variety;
for, under the term Malay, races are included which seem to dif-
fer materially from each other; so much so, indeed, as to induce
many naturalists to refuse the admission of the Malay as a distinct
470
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES.
variety. Their colour may be said to be brown, in various shades,
from a light tawny, to almost a black; the forehead is low and round;
the nose full and broad; nostrils wide; mouth large; hair thick, crisp,
and always black, as well as the iris. Fig. 119 exhibits an indivi-
dual of this race: it is the head of a New Zealand chief. Cuvier,
Rudolphi, Virey and others consider the Malay variety to be a
mixture of the Mongol of Asia and the negro of Africa.
In New Guinea, and the small islands around, the Papous are
found, who resemble the negroes yet more strongly; and similar
races are met with in the Archipelago of the Holy Ghost, and in the
isles of Andaman and Formosa. They are presumed to belong really
to the negro race, and to have descended perhaps from individuals
of that variety, who had wandered, or been driven, from their
original settlements. Some of them resemble the Guinea negro in
every particular.
Of late years, many other races have been added to those ad-
mitted by Blumenbach; especially by Messrs. Virey, Desmou-
lins, and Bory de Saint-Vincent. Virey admits two distinct spe-
cies, which he determines by the size of the facial angle. To the
one he refers all those in whom this angle is from 85° to 90°, in-
cluding three races:—the white, the tawny and the copper-co-
loured. As subdivisions of the first of these he distinguishes,—the
Indo-Arab, the Keltic, and the Caucasian; of the second, the
Chinese, the Mongolian Kalmuck, and the Ostiack Laplander;
and of the third the American or Caraib. To the second species,
in which the facial angle is only from 75° to 82°, he refers the dark-
brown, the black, and the blackish races; the first of which com-
prises the Malay or Indian variety; the second, the Caffre and
the Negro; and the third, the Hottentot and the Papous.
Desmoulins, from the state of the hair, the character of the fea-
tures, the arrangement of the teeth, the colour of the skin, and the
size of the facial angle,reckons eleven species, whom he denominates
after the countries they inhabit;—viz. the Kelto-Scythian Arab,the
Mongol, the Ethiopian, the Euro-African, the Austro-African,
the Malay or Oceanic, the Papous, the Oceanic Negro, the Aus-
tralasian, the Columbian, and the American. The seven first
of these are but subdivisions of the Caucasian, Mongolian, and ne-
gro divisions of Cuvier, and Desmoulins conceives, that an im-
proved acquaintance with anthropology may justify subdivisions in
the Columbian and American races, which he has separated. Bory
de Saint-Vincent adopts the same principles as Desmoulins, and
extends the species to fifteen, viz. the Japhetic, Arabic, Hindoo,
Scythian, Sinic, Hyperborean, Neptunian, Australian, Colum-
bian, American, Patagonian, Ethiopian, Caffre, Melanian, and
Hottentot.
We have briefly stated the various classifications of the naturalist,
to exhibit the vacillation, which yet exists on the precise num-
ber of races that should be admitted. Every division must neces-
sarily be arbitrary, and the individuals composing each variety are
varieties of mankind.
471
far from being alike. We find the greatest diversity, for example,
amongst the nations of the Caucasian variety, and even amongst
any of its subdivisions. The French can be distinguished from the
German, the Spaniard from the English, &c. and if we were to push
the system of subdividing, which appears at present to be fashion-
able, we might constitute almost every nation of the globe into a
distinct variety.
It has been an oft agitated question, whether all the varieties
amongst mankind must be regarded as belonging to the same spe-
cies,—the differences, which we observe, having been accomplished
by extraneous circumstances acting through a long succession of
ages ; or whether they must not be regarded as distinct species, ab
origine. By many, the discussion of this subject has been esteemed
not only unnecessary but profane, inasmuch as the sacred historian
has unequivocally declared that all mankind had a common origin.
We have already remarked, however, that this is not a question,
which concerns our first parents, but belongs exclusively to the
family of Noah ; for, in his descendants, all these varieties must ne-
cessarily have occurred. From the part of Asia, previously de-
scribed, his immediate descendants probably spread abroad to the
north and to the south, to the east and to the west; Europe being
peopled by the migratory hordes which proceeded towards the
north-west, and Africa by those from south-western Asia. These
migrations probably all took place by land, except in the case of
our own continent, where a slight sea-voyage, of not more than
thirty-nine miles, across Behring's Straits, even in frail vessels,
would be sufficient to transport the emigrants without much risk of
misadventure; and even this short voyage would be rendered un-
necessary during the winter season, the Strait being solidified into
a continuous mass of ice.
Europe probably received its inhabitants long before navigation
occurred to any extent. Subsequently, when a coasting trade was
first established,—to which the enterprise of nations would neces-
sarily be limited in the first instance, until by improved vessels and
a better system of management they were enabled to brave the ter-
rors of the ocean and undertake their adventurous voyages of dis-
covery,—many of the coasts, especially of the Mediterranean, re-
ceived swarms of emigrants, a circumstance which accounts for the
motley population observable, at an early period, in these regions.
Carthage, we know, was settled by the Phoenicians, and Southern
Italy and Spain, in this manner, received their, Greek colonies. Dr.
Copland has even expressed his belief in the view, that this con-
tinent was visited " by Phoenician navigators, the greater part of
whom settled in it, particularly in Mexico; and that the imperfect
navigation of that era prevented many of the adventurers, if not all
of th^em, from returning." The notion is, however, altogether hypo-
thetical.
The greatest difficulty has been,—to comprehend how the
472
individual differences.
Caucasian and Ethiopian varieties could have originated from the
same source. The other varieties of mankind, if we exclude the
negro, could be referred, without much hesitancy, to the same
primitive stock,—the changes being caused by adventitious circum-
stances operating for an immense period,—but it has seemed to
many naturalists impossible to suppose, that the characters of the
negro could, by any process, become converted into those of the
European, or vice versa.
The people of antediluvian times probably possessed but few
physical differences, constituting one large family, modified, per-
haps, to a certain extent, by circumstances, but not materially; the
two antithetical races,—the white and the black,—first arising in
postdiluvian periods. If we adopt this view, the question regarding
the difference of species between the white and the black varieties
requires no agitation. But how are we to explain the essential
differences, as to form and colour, which we notice amongst the na-
tions of the earth ?
In the infancy of anthropology it was asserted, that the white
races inhabit the cold and temperate regions of the earth, whilst the
tawny and the darker races are situated under a more vertical sun.
Within certain limits the sun is certainly possessed of the power of
modifying the colour. The difference between one who has been
for some time exposed to the rays of a tropical sun, and his brethren
of the more temperate climates, is a matter of universal observation.
The inhabitant of Spain is,in this way, distinguished from the French,
German, English, &c; and hence we can understand, why the
Southern Asiatic and African women of the Arab race, when con-
fined within the walls of the seraglio, are as white as the fairest
Europeans. There are many exceptions, however, to the notion
which has prevailed, that, there is an exact ratio between the heat
of the climate and the blackness of the skin. For example, at the
extreme north of Europe, Asia, and America, we find the Lap-
landers, Samoiedes, Esquimaux, &c. with the skin very brown,
and the hair and iris black; whilst in the vicinity of the Laplanders
are the Fins, people of large stature compared with the Laplanders,
with fair skins and bluish-gray eyes. In the same manner, to the
south of the Greenlander,—of short stature, brown skin, and dark
hair,—is the tall and fair Icelander. The Kelt of Wales, and of the
western coast of Ireland, of the north of Scotland, and of the west
of Bretagne, is still distinguished by his dark hair and eyes, from
the light-haired descendants of the Goth,—the German and the
Scandinavian. A number of distinct tribes exist in the interior of
Africa,—having a red or copper hue, with lank black hair, and in
the midst of the black varieties of their species. A similar fact
was observed by Humboldt in different parts of South America.
Again, the negro race is not always found in the torrid zone. On
our own continent none have ever been met with, except what have
been imported; and these, after repeated descents, have still retain-
varieties of mankind.
473
ed their original character; whilst, as we have seen, negroes are met
with in Australia under a climate as cold as that of Washington.
The fact of the slight mutation, effected by ages on the character of
a race, is strikingly shown by the circumstance to which we have re-
ferred elsewhere, that in some of the monuments of Egypt, visited by
Belzoni and Champollion, representations of the negro, presumed
to be upwards of three thousand years old, exhibit the features to ,
be almost identical with those of the negro of the present day. The
Jew affords an example of the same immutability, as well as the
Esquimaux, who strikingly retain the evidences of their Kalmuck
origin. Complexion, and, to a certain extent, the figure are doubt-
less modified by organization, but the essential characters of the
organization remain little if at all changed.
Volney has fancifully supposed, that the elongated visage of the
negro is owing to the wry face habitually made under exposure to the
rays of the sun. Independently, however, of the objection, that this
would be wholly insufficient to account for the striking peculiarities
of the negro head, it has already been remarked, that these pecu-
liarities do not exist amongst other races, inhabiting equally hot
climes; and that the negro himself is not confined to those climates,
and ought, consequently, to lose the museau or snout, when the
country is so cool as to render the wry face or moue unneces-
sary.
It may then, we think, be concluded, that the evidence, in favour
of the colour of the negro, of the red man, or of the tawny, being pro-
duced directly or indirectly by the solar rays, is insufficient to esta-
blish the point. Still its effects are considerable: in all cases,how-
ever, the children are born fair, and would continue so, if not ex-
posed to the degree of solar heat which had produced the change
in their progenitors.
In addition to the influence of temperature and climate, that of
food, and of different manners and customs has been frequently in-
voked, but without any precise results being deduced. The effect
of difference in manners and customs is shown in the result of do-
mestication on animals,—as in the case of the wild and the disciplined
horse; of the bison and the ox: which last is regarded as the bison in a
state of tameness. The precise causes of such modification we know
not. It is not confined to the animal, but is signally evidenced in
the vegetable. The flower of the forest, when received into the
parterre and carefully nurtured, will develope itself in such a man-
ner as to be with difficulty recognisable. The change seems to be
produced by variation in "climate and nutrition, but in what precise
manner we know not.
The powerful modifying influence of locality on the develop-
ment of the moral and physical powers has been more than once
referred to. Perhaps the most remarkable examples are met with
at the base of lofty mountains, particularly of the Alps, and in some
Vol. H 60
474
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES.
of the unhealthy districts of France especially. One of these is
cretinism, a singular case of malformation, with which we are hap-
pily unacquainted in the United States.
This is a state of idiocy, which is remarkable in its subjects be-
ing always more or less deformed, and in its appearing to originate
from local influences. The cretin has every characteristic of the
idiot; and, in addition, is often distinguished by a large goitre or
swelling of the thyroid gland; by soft, flabby flesh; and by shrivelled,
yellowish, or pale and cadaverous skins, covered at times with
filthy cutaneous eruptions. The tongue is thick and pendent; the
eyelids large and projecting; the eyes gummy, red and prominent;
the nose flat; the mouth gaping and drivelling; the face puffy, and,
at times, violet-colored, and the lower jaw elongated. In several
the forehead is broad inferiorly, and flattened and retreating above,
giving the cranium the shape of a cone rounded towards its smaller
extremity. The stature of the cretin is generally small, scarcely
ever exceeding four feet and a few inches; the limbs are frequently
malformed, and almost always kept in a state of flexion. All the
cretins are not affected with goitre. Some have large and short,
whilst others have thin, and long, necks. Like the idiot, the cretin
does not generally live long, scarcely ever surviving the thirtieth
year.
Authors have differed in opinion on the causes of this deplorable
condition. It is observed almost exclusively in the deep and narrow
valleys at the foot of lofty mountains, and in mountain gorges.
Hence it is common in that part of the Alps called the Valais or
Wallais; in the valley of Aost, La Maurienne, &c. It is met with,
too, at the foot of the mountains of Auvergne, the Pyrenees, the Tyrol,
&c. De Saussure, Esquirol, Fodere, Rambuteau, and all who
have had an opportunity of observing these miserable wrecks of
humanity, believe, that the great cause is the concentrated, moist,
and warm air, which prevails throughout almost the whole of the
year in the valleys and mountain gorges where it is found to exist.
After all, perhaps, the strongest arguments,—in favour of extra-
neous circumstances occasioning, in the lapse of ages, the different
varieties, which we observe in the great human family,—are those
derived from the changes that must have occurred amongst many
of the inferior animals. The dog, in its wild state, has always pretty
nearly the same characters; being covered with hair of the same
colour; the ears and tail, and limbs, having the same shape; and it
exhibits, apparently, the same powers and instincts; but on this
matter our knowledge, derived from observation, is necessarily
limited. Yet what a number of varieties are observed in the ani-
mal when it becomes domesticated; and how different from each
other, in shape, colour, character of skin and instincts, are the
spaniel, hound, greyhound, pointer, mastiff, terrier, cur, pug, lap-
dog, &c; differences certainly as great as between the varieties of
VARIETIES OF MANKIND.
475
mankind. These differences, it is presumable, may have been pro-
duced partly by the occurrence of accidental varieties, affecting per-
haps a whole litter,—male and female; so that if these again were
to be coupled, the variety, thus accidentally caused, may have become
permanent. Such accidental varieties occasionally occur in the hu-
man species, but they are soon lost, in consequence of the wise law
that prevents individuals, within certain degrees of consanguinity,
from marrying. It is by no means, uncommon, for example, for
different children of the same family, from some accidental cause,
to be born with six fingers. The author has met with two families
in each of which more than one individual was thus circumstanced;
and Sir Anthony Carlisle has detailed the remarkable case of a
family from this continent, where the superfluity extended, in the
case of a female, to two thumbs on each hand, and to six toes on
each foot. She married and had several children, who, in their turn,
became parents, and transmitted the peculiarity to their children to
the fourth generation. Now, if the members of this family had con-
tinued to marry in and in, a new race of individuals might have been
perpetuated, possessing the unnecessary additions in question. Under
existing laws and customs, however, it must always happen, that
where such a peculiarity exists in one parent only, it must soon be-
come extinct; yet, as we have seen, it may be pertinacious enough
to persist for some generations. Fortunately, also, it happens, that no
change which occurs accidentally in the parent after birth is liable
to be extended to the progeny. Were it otherwise, it will be at
once seen, the most strange and innumerable varieties of races would
exist. Where a limb had become distorted or amputated, a stock
of one-limbed animals would be formed; the docked horse would
propagate a mutilated colt; the operation of circumcision performed
on one parent ought to be sufficient for the whole of his descend-
ants, &c. -&C.
In addition to this mode of accounting for the great number of
varieties in animals of the same species, the influence of a difference
in manners and customs, which we have already considered, has
been invoked; and it has been conceived, that the effect of civili-
zation and refinement on the human race may be analogous to that
of domestication on the inferior animals. This kind of influence
is said to be particularly observable amongst the inhabitants of
Hindusthan, where, in consequence of the division into castes, the
same condition of life, and the same occupation are continued with-
out change through many successive generations. The artisans,
who are a superior class, are of a manifestly lighter complexion
than the tillers of the soil; and in many of the islands of Polynesia
the same difference exists between the classes as in Hindusthan.
The believers, then, in the Mosaic account of the creation, and the
deluge, must regard all the varieties of mankind to have descended
from the same family,—that of Noah,—and the different changes,
476
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES.
which have been impressed upon their descendants, to be results of
extraneous influences acting through a long succession of ages, add-
ed to the production perhaps of accidental varieties, which may
have occurred in the very infancy of postdiluvian existence,
when the intermarriage of near relations was unavoidable, and
when such varieties would necessarily be perpetuated. The race
of Ham appears to have been separated, if not wholly, at least in
part, from their brethren by the malediction of Noah; and whe-
ther we consider that a physical alteration was comprised in the
malediction, or that such alteration might occur accidentally, as in
the cases of those with supernumerary toes and fingers, the very
fact of intermarriage with the descendants of the other sons of Noah
being prevented by the curse pronounced on Ham, (for many com-
mentators read Ham for Canaan,) would necessarily lead to a per-
petuation of the adventitious modification.
But, it has been asked, if all mankind have descended from one
family, which of the varieties, now extant, must be regarded as
their representative. On this we have nothing but conjecture to
guide us. It has been supposed, by some, to be more probable, that
the changes, induced upon mankind, have been in consequence of a
progress from a state of barbarism to one of refinement, than the
reverse; and hence, it has been conceived, that the variety ought to
be considered primary, which, through all the vicissitudes of hu-
man affairs, has remained in the most degraded condition, and which
in its structure, differs most materially from the variety that has
uniformly enjoyed the greatest degree of civilization. Upon this
principle, the Ethiopian would have to be regarded as the type of
our first ancestors, and such is the opinion of Pritchard, and of Bos-
tock. Blumenbach, however, maintains the converse view. Bishop
Heber, again, suggests, whether the hue of the Hindoo, which is
a brownish-yellow, may not have been that of our first parents,
whence the transition, he thinks, to the white and black varieties
might be more easy and comprehensible. Philology occasionally
aids us in our historical deductions, but the evidence, afforded by
it, has to be received with caution. The Hebrew names, like all
original appellations, in perhaps all languages, are generally ex-
pressive, and therefore worthy of consideration in questions of this
nature. The Hebrew word Adam, (ens,) is not only the name of
the first man, but it signified man in the abstract, corresponding to
the Greek, xv6p&/7ro<;} and the Latin, Homo. We are told, in the
sacred volume, that, " in the day that God created man, in the like-
ness of God made he him ; male and female created he them ; and
blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they
were created." The word Adam is derived from a Hebrew root,
(oin,) signifying "to be red," and, accordingly, it is probable, that
his original hue was not that of what we term the white variety of
our species.
VARIETIES OF MANKIND.
477
The remarks we have already made render it unnecessary to in-
quire into the mode in which, according to the notion of Blumen-
bach, of Dr. S. S. Smith, or of Dr. Rush, the black colour of the
Ethiopian has been produced. Blumenbach imagined that the
heat of the climate gives rise to an excessive secretion of bile;
that in consequence of the connexion which exists between the ac-
tion of the liver and the skin, an accumulation of carbonaceous mat-
ter takes place in the cutaneous vessels, and that this process being
continued for a succession of ages, the black colour of the skin be-
comes habitual. Dr. Smith, of Princeton, had a similar opinion;
he thought, that the complexion in any climate will be changed to-
wards black, in proportion to the degree of heat in the atmosphere,
and to the quantity of bile in the skin; and, lastly, Dr. Rush, in one
of the strangest of the many strange views which have emanated from
that distinguished, but too enthusiastic, individual, has attempted
to prove, " that the colour and figure of that part of our fellow
creatures, who are known by the epithet of negroes, are derived
from a modification of that disease, which is known by the name of
leprosy."
The following are his deductions, from the " facts and princi-
ples" adduced in a communication, read before the American Phi-
losophical Society in 1792, and printed in the fourth volume of the
Transactions of that respectable body:—
" 1. That all the claims of superiority of the whites over the
blacks, on account of their colour, are founded alike in ignorance
and inhumanity. If the colour of the negroes be the effect of a dis-
ease, instead of inviting us to tyrannize over them, it should entitle
them to a double portion of our humanity, for disease all over the
world has always been the signal for immediate and universal com-
passion.
"2. The facts and principles which have been delivered, should
teach white people the necessity of keeping up that prejudice against
such connexions with them, as would tend to infect posterity with
any portion of their disorder. This may be done upon the ground
I have mentioned without offering violence to humanity, or calling
in question the sameness of descent, or natural equality of man-
kind.
" 3. Is the colour of the negroes a disease? Then let science and
humanity combine their efforts, and endeavour to discover a remedy
for it. Nature has lately unfurled a banner upon this subject. She
has begun spontaneous cures of this disease in several black people
in this country. In a certain Henry Moss, who lately travelled
through this city, and was exhibited as a show for money, the cure
was nearly complete. The change from black to a natural white
flesh colour began about five years ago at the ends of his fingers,
and has extended gradually over the greatest part of his body. The
wool which formerly perforated the cuticle has been changed into
478
INDIVIDUAL differences.
hair. No change in the diet, drinks, dress, employments, or situa-
tion of this man had taken place previously to this change in his
skin. But this fact does not militate against artificial attempts to
dislodge the colour in negroes, any more than the spontaneous cures
of many other diseases militate against the use of medicine in the
practice of physic. To direct our experiments upon this subject I
shall throw out the following facts,,
" 1. In Henry Moss the colour was first discharged from the
skin in those places, on which there was most pressure from cloth-
ing, and most attrition from labour, as on the trunk of his body,
and on his fingers. The destruction of the black colour was pro-
bably occasioned by the absorption of the colouring matter of the
rete mucosum, or perhaps of the rete mucosum itself, for pressure
and friction it is well known aid the absorbing action of the lym-
phatics in every part of the body. It is from the latter cause, that
the palms of the hands of negro women who spend their lives at a
washing tub, are generally as fair as the palms of the hands in
labouring white people.
"2. Depletion, whether by bleeding, purging, or abstinence, has
been often observed to lessen the black colour in negroes. The
effects of the above remedies in curing the common leprosy, satisfy
me that they might be used with advantage in that state of leprosy
which I conceive to exist in the skin of the negroes.
" 3. A similar change in the colour of the negroes, though of a
more temporary nature, has often been observed in them from the
influence of fear.
"4. Dr. Beddoes tells us that he has discharged the colour in
the black wool of a negro by infusing it in the oxygenated muriatic
acid, and lessened it by the same means in the hand of a negro
man. The land-cloud of Africa, called by the Portuguese Ferrino,
Mr. Hawkins tells us has a peculiar action upon the negroes in
changing the black colour of their skins to a dusky gray. Its ac-
tion is accompanied, he says, with an itching and prickling sensa-
tion upon every part of the body which increases with the length
of exposure to it so as to be almost intolerable. It is probably air
of the carbonic kind, for it uniformly extinguishes fire.
" 5. A citizen of Philadelphia, upon whose veracity I have per-
fect reliance,* assured me that he had once seen the skin of one
side of the cheek inclining to the chin, and of part of the hand in a
negro boy, changed to a white colour by the juice of unripe peaches,
(of which he ate a large quantity every year,) falling, and resting
frequently upon those parts of his body.
" To encourage attempts to cure this disease, of the skin in ne-
groes, let us recollect that by succeeding in them, we shall produce
a large portion of happiness in the world. We shall in the first
* " Mr. Thomas Harrison."
VARIETIES of mankind.
479
place destroy one of the arguments in favour of enslaving the ne-
groes, for their colour has been supposed by the ignorant to mark
them as objects of divine-judgments, and by the learned to qualify
them for labour in hot, and unwholesome climates.
" Secondly, We shall add greatly to their happiness, for however
well they appear to be satisfied with their colour, there are many
proofs of their preferring that of the white people.
" Thirdly, We shall render the belief of the whole human race
being descended from one pair, easy, and universal, and thereby
not only add weight to the Christian revelation, but remove a ma-
terial obstacle to the exercise of that universal benevolence which
is inculcated by it."
480
LIFE.
OF LIFE.
The knowledge of the mode in which the various functions
of the body are exercised constitutes the science of life. The
manifestations of life have consequently been considered already.
We have seen, that animal and vegetable substances, possess
the ordinary properties of matter, but that these properties are
singularly controlled, so that organized bodies, are prevented from
undergoing those changes that inevitably occur so soon as they
become deprived of vitality. The human body is prone to de-
composition. It is composed of substances extremely liable to un-
dergo putrefaction, and is kept at a temperature the most fa-
vourable for such change; yet so long as life exists, the play of the
ordinary affinities is prevented, and this constant resistance to the
general forces of matter prevails throughout the whole of existence,
even to an advanced old age, when it might be supposed the vital
forces must be enfeebled almost to annihilation. The case of
solution of the stomach after death, described in the first volume
of this work, is an additional and forcible evidence of such re-
sistance. So long as life continues in the stomach, the gastric
secretions exert no action on the organ, but, when life becomes
extinct, the same secretions act upon the stomach in the same man-
ner that they do upon ordinary dead animal matter. What, then,
is this mysterious power, possessed of such astonishing, such incom-
prehensible properties?
Our knowledge is limited to the fact above stated, that or-
ganized matter, in addition to the general physical and chemical
forces, possesses one other,—the vital force or principle, vitality
or life. This principle exists, not only in the whole, but in every
part, of a living body; and its existence is evidenced by the une-
quivocal signs afforded by the various functions that have been
considered, as well as by others to be presently described. Yet
it is not equally evinced in all organs: some appearing to be pos-
sessed of more vitality than others,—a result probably produced by
peculiar texture, as it would seem irrational for us to admit a dif-
ferent kind of vital principle, wherever its manifestations appear to
be modified.
Admitting the existence of this controlling principle, what, it
may be asked, are the functions through which it immediately acts
in keeping up the play of the living machine? It has been elsewhere
seen, that, in animals, the reciprocal action of innervation and cir-
culation are indispensable, and that if one of these functions be ar-
rested, the other quickly ceases. This is only applicable, however,
to animals; and it has been doubted whether it applies to all and to
LIFE.
481
every part of them, whilst to the vegetable it is altogether inappli-
cable, unless we regard it, with some physiologists, to possess
a rudimental nervous system. The function of sensibility exhibits
to us the mode in which the nervous system acts in connecting man
with the objects around him, through the agency of volition; but a
multitude of other acts take place within him, altogether unin-
fluenced by volition, and yet indispensable for the maintenance of
existence. These last acts are equally met with in the animal and
vegetable; and hence a division has been made, by Bichat, into
animal life, and organic life:—the former evidenced by those
functions that are peculiar to animals—sensibility and voluntary
motion—which require the presence of a great nervous centre, that
may receive from, and transmit to, the different parts of the body,
the nervous irradiation,—the necessary excitant of the different
functions:—the latter evidenced by those functions that are com-
mon to animals and vegetables, and are inservient to the nutrition
of the frame, as digestion, absorption, respiration, circulation, &c,
all of which go on without any direct exercise of volition; and oc-
casionally, it has been believed, independently of all nervous influ-
ence.
Physiologists may, indeed, on this point, be divided into two
classes:—they who consider that the whole of the organic func-
tions are under the government of the nervous influence; and they
who think that the nervous influence does not extend to all the or-
ganic functions, but only to the principal of them.
The supporters of the first opinion believe, that the agents, or
conductors of the nervous influence, are less and less dependent
upon the nervous centres, when such exist, the lower the animal is
situated in the animal kingdom, and the lower the function; but
they consider the nervous influence to be indispensable to every
living being, and to every part of such being. In support of this
opinion, they are of course compelled to believe, either that a ner-
vous system exists in the vegetable, or that there is a system
which appears to exert over every part of it an influence necessary
for its life, and which is, consequently, analogous to the nervous
system of animals. The organ of this influence is, by some bota-
nists, considered to be the medulla or pith; whence medullary
appendages set out, to be distributed to every part of the vegeta-
ble, and which are particularly abundant, in such parts as are
charged with very active functions,—as the flower. Brachet
maintains this idea, and compares the knots of the pith to the gan-
glions of the nervous system,—destruction of the pith, and especially
of these knots, occasioning the death of the parts, that receive their
filaments from them. Dutrochet, again, considers, that nervous
corpuscles exist in the pith of vegetables, which constitute the ru-
diments of a nervous system; only, in the vegetable, this system is
diffused, instead of being collected in a mass.
The believers in the earlier formation of the nervous system in the
Vol. II. 61
482
LIFE.
foetus will necessarily be in favour of this first opinion, and it would,
of course, be strengthened if the results of the experiments of Du-
mas on generation should be found correct, and if the spermatic
animalcules, which, according to him, are the agents of fecundation,
should be discovered to be the rudiments of the nervous system of
the new individual, a circumstance, which, however, is as doubtful
as the confirmation is difficult.
The supporters of the second opinion, that the nervous influence
does not extend to all the organic functions, assert, that it is chiefly ex-
erted on those functions which are of the highest moment,—the most
elevated in animality; that it is less and less in the inferior func-
tions, and ultimately ceases in the lowest acts,—those that imme-
diately accomplish nutrition and reproduction; and the arguments
they adduce in favour of their views are, that these lowest acts exist
in every living being—vegetable as well as animal; and that in the
superior animal, and in man, there are many parts which do not ap-
pear to contain nerves. They moreover consider the nervous sys-
tem as one superadded to living beings, not only for life, nutrition
and reproduction, but also, where necessary, for sensation, motion,
&c, and hence the prolongations or extensions of this system ought
to be sent to the organs of the internal or nutritive functions, for
the purpose of connecting them with the organs of the external or
sensorial functions; and that it is in these connexions only that in-
nervation consists. In this view, consequently, the nervous influ-
ence arises only from the necessity of connecting the organs; is
but an indirect condition of life; exists in the upper animals only,
and can in no way be invoked to account for vegetable life.
The last is, in our view, the most accurate opinion. We cannot
in the present state of knowledge, admit the existence of nerves in
the vegetable: certainly no such thing as a nervous centre is disco-
verable, and yet we find the most complicated acts of nutrition and
reproduction exercised by it, and the principle of instinct, we shall
find, as strikingly evidenced as in many animals. We are, there-
fore, irresistibly led to the conclusion, that the manifestations of
vitality are but little, if at all, connected with nervous influence,
and that the nerves are added, in the upper animals and functions, for
other purposes than that of directly communicating vital properties
to the part. This deduction will be found confirmed by the facts to
be hereafter mentioned, connected with the independence of the
vital property of irritability of the nervous influence.
We have elsewhere alluded to the similarity between the ner-
vous and galvanic fluids, and to the notion which has even prevailed
of the similarity if not identity between the vital principle and elec-
tricity, as well as to the strange views of endosmose and exosmose,
recently promulgated by Dutrochet, and which have been so hap-
pily commented on by Dr. J. K. Mitchell. The mode, in which
Dutrochet assimilates the phenomena of animal and vegetable life
to the actions of endosmose and exosmose, is as follows. It is known
life.
483
that the sap in vegetables ascends from the roots to the stalk; first, by
the action of the spongioles or terminal buds of the roots, which
are evidently organs for the absorption and impulsion of the sap; and
secondly, by the action of the leaves, which, by exciting an action
of transpiration and evaporation at the top of the plant,—the greater
in proportion to the warmth and dryness of the air,—exert a kind of
aspiration on the sap received by the spongioles. These spongioles
Dutrochet considers to be cellular organs containing organic
fluids in their interior; and, consequently, they cannot be plunged
into water, without the fluid penetrating by endosmose, not only
into their interior, but even as far as the top of the stalk. Hence,
according to Dutrochet, endosmose constitutes the action of ab-
sorption by the spongioles, and is the cause of the circulation of the
sap. It presides, also, over the development and nutrition, the
movements of composition and decomposition, of plants; for, as it
consists of two opposite electric currents, it not only conveys fresh
substances incessantly into the interior of the structures, and re-
moves a part of those existing there, but also induces constant chy-
mical modifications in the organic elements of parts;—every
electrical action modifying the chymical nature of matter, as every
chymical action induces a development of electricity. It is also the
agent of the secretions. The exhalation of vegetables is, according
to him, no more a simple physical evaporation than their absorption
is the effect of capillarity. It also is a phenomenon of endosmose.
He does not doubt, that capillarity, gravity, agitation by the winds,
&c. exert an influence on the functions of vegetables, but he con-
siders such influence to be accidental, and the true vital motor to
be the electrical agent. He regards the medulla or pith of vegeta-
bles to be to their organization, what the nervous system is to the
organization of animals, and to be intended to dispense everywhere
the vital activity, or electricity.
As the conditions of endosmose,—namely, a vesicular structure
and the presence of organic fluids denser than water in the vesicles,
—exist in animals as well as in vegetables, Dutrochet invokes a
similar influence in the case of the former as in that of the latter.
In the same manner, as it occasions the progression of the sap in
vegetables, it presides over the capillary circulation in animals, and
especially over the progression of the blood in the veins, as well as
over absorption, secretion, nutrition, &c. "All these actions, how-
ever, take place by filtration through permeable, organic mem-
branes,—all that has been said of the agency of the venous radicles
in absorption, and of the arterial radicles in exhalation and nutri-
tion, being, according to Dutrochet, physiological mythi. The
sanguineous system constitutes a cavity devoid of^outlet, and it is
by filtration through the parietes of the vessels, which constitute it,
that it receives, and parts with, its elements. In short, endosmose
is the essence of the life of animals, and as it is an electrical phe-
nomenon, electricity, Dutrochet concludes, is the motor of the
484
LIFE.
life of animals, as it is of that of vegetables. He, moreover, extends
his theory to pathology, asserting, that as endosmose is the vital act
par excellence and as it is a phenomenon of electricity, we may
conceive that diseases may consist in some defect in endosmose or
electricity, and that our therapeutical agents should be directed to
the modification of such endosmose. Inflammation, for example,
is, according to him, hyperendosmose.
It is obvious, that the foundations of a theory, so extensive in its
ramifications, ought to be tested by accurate, and repeated investi-
gation, and that no deductions can be considered established, until
this has been accomplished, and the base found to be impregnable.
This has not been done. On the contrary, many of the positions
have been seriously assailed by Poisson and Mitchell, and even
Dutrochet's own faith seems to have been shaken in his electrical
theory.
The system of Bachoue de Vialer on innervation appears to
rest on still less foundation. This, according to Adelon, is merely
an application of the electro-chymical law of Becquerel, that,
when two substances, made to communicate with each other by a
conducting wire, simultaneously exert a chymical action with a
third, a galvanic current is developed, which is always directed
from the substance in which this action is strongest, towards that in
which it is least. Now, says M. Bachoue, as the electric fluid is
always evidenced during chymical action, and as in every organ, a
simultaneous chymical action is constantly exerted by the trans-
formation of arterial into venous blood; whilst by means of con-
ductors,—the nerves,—the nervous centres communicate with every
part of the organism,—in each nervous cord, a constant galvanic
current must be established, proceeding from its central to its peri-
pheral extremity, or vice versa, according as the ehymical action,
whence this current emanates, predominates at the one or other
extremity. This current, according to M. Bachoue, determines
the play of each organ; and he explains, as follows, the mode in
which it effects the different functions. First. The circulation be-
ing continuous in animals, an agent, which is developed in a con-
tinuous manner in their interior, must be looked for, as the cause
of this function. This agent is the electric fluid, disengaged by the
chymical action exerted simultaneously by the blood on the ner-
vous centres, and on the organic tissues at the periphery; but as this
action predominates in the centres, the galvanic current resulting
from it is established from these centres towards the circulatory
organs, and consequently the action of the latter is excited. To
determine the current in this direction, nature occasions the af-
flux of blood to the ganglions of the great sympathetic to predo-
minate,—these ganglions being, in his view, the nervous centres,
that preside over the circulation. A greater chymical action is thus
induced in the ganglions, and of course a more marked centrifu-
gal galvanic current. This arrangement has likewise the advantage
LIFE.
485
of diminishing the conducting power of the nerves, in accordance
with the principle in physics, that the power of any body as a con-
ductor of electricity is less in proportion as such body exerts a more
powerful electro-motive action, whence it results, that the circula-
tion is freed as much as possible from the perturbations that might
otherwise be caused in it by the currents incessantly traversing the
other parts of the nervous system,—the cerebral and spinal nerves,—
with which those of the great sympathetic communicate. So that
the action of the circulatory organs is constantly provoked by the
centrifugal galvanic current, resulting from the chymical action ex-
erted by the blood simultaneously in the nervous centres, and in
the organs at the periphery of the body; whilst the uninterrupted
arrival of the blood in the organs constantly excites in them also
the chymical action necessary for the development of the electricity,
on which the continuity of the circulation is dependent. Secondly.
M. Bachoue accounts, in the same way, for the mechanism of the
sensorial functions. The contact between external agents and the
sensitive, nervous extremities, renders the chymical action constant-
ly produced by the contact of arterial blood there predominant;
hence the production of a galvanic current passing from the circum-
ference to the centre. This current excites the action of the brain
to accomplish sensation ; and the brain, excited by the process, be-
comes the seat of a more marked chymical action, which irradiates
another, and a centrifugal, galvanic current to the muscles, that
have to execute the movements.
According to Bachoue's theory, therefore, all the phenomena of
life are derived from a chymical action which gives rise to the de-
velopment of electricity. He likewise extends his system to pa-
thology. If the chymical action be comprised within due propor-
tions, all the phenomena of life are performed in health; if, on the
contrary, the proportions are inappropriate, disease results, which is
always dependent on preternatural chymical actions giving rise to
irregular galvanic currents.
The remarks, made regarding the views of Dutrochet, are
equally applicable to those of Bachoue. The very foundation, in-
deed, has been assailed by the experiments of M. Pouillet, at
the Hopital Saint Louis, of Paris, which contradict the existence of
these centrifugal or centripetal galvanic currents, developed in the
organs during the production of the vital phenomena.
In the introductory remarks to the first volume of this work, the
characters, which distinguish organized from inorganic bodies, were
pointed out. All the characters of the former result from the in-
fluence of the vital principle, which produces the body of a definite
magnitude, shape, structure, composition and duration. There is,
moreover, a power, possessed by bodies endowed with the living
principle, of being acted upon by certain stimuli, and thrown into
movement without the participation of the will. This has, indeed, by
486
LIFE.
some physiologists, been considered to be the sole vital property,—
with what truth we shall see hereafter. An inquiry into its mani-
festations will aid us materially in determining whether or not the
vital principle is effected directly through the medium of the
nerves, and will tend to confirm an opinion, which we have already
expressed on this subject.
Prior to the time of Haller the nervous system was looked to
as the great source of power in the body; and the contractile power
of the muscles,—described at length under the head of muscular
motion,—was considered to be wholly derived from the nerves,
which were supposed to transmit the power to the muscular fibre
as it was called for,—accurately regulating the quantity supplied.
Haller contended for a vis insita, a power of irritability or
contractility, essentially residing in the muscles themselves, inde-
pendently of any condition of the nervous system, and called into
action by stimuli, of which, in the case of the voluntary muscles, the
nervous influence is one, contributing, however, like all other stimu-
li, to exhaust it, instead of furnishing any fresh supply. We have else-
where shown that a muscle is capable of being thrown into con-
traction after a limb has been removed from the body, and for a
considerable period after the cessation of respiration, circulation,
and consequently of innervation, provided the appropriate stimuli
be applied, so as to excite the vis insita which remains attached to
the muscle for some time after dissolution; and if all the nerves,
supplying the limbs of a frog, be divided, and cut out close to the
place where they enter the muscles, the muscles will still retain their
contractility in as great.a degree as when the nerves were entire.
They who believe that the contractility of muscles is wholly
derived from the nervous system, maintain, however, that, in
such case, the stimulus may still act, through the medium of the
portions of nerves that must always remain attached to the muscle,
however carefully attempts may have been made to remove them;
and some have supposed that these nervous fibres may even con-
stitute an essential part of the muscular fibre. The most satisfac-
tory reply, that has been made to this argument, is the following
experiment of Dr. Wilson Philip. All the nerves, supplying one
of the hind legs of a frog, were divided, so that it became com-
pletely paralytic. The skin was removed from the muscles of the
leg, and salt sprinkled upon them, which, being renewed from time
to time, excited contractions in them for twelve minutes: at the
end of this time they were found no longer capable of being ex-
cited. The corresponding muscles of the other limb, in which the
nerves were entire, and of which, consequently, the animal had a
perfect command, were then laid bare, and the salt applied to them
in the same way. In ten minutes they ceased to contract, and the
animal had lost the command of them. The nerves of this limb
were now divided, as those of the other had been, but the excita-
bility of the muscles to which the salt had been applied was gone.
LIFE.
487
Its application excited no contraction in them. After the experi-
ment, the muscles of the thighs in both limbs were found to con-
tract forcibly on the application of salt. It excited equally strong
contraction on both sides. In this experiment, the excitability of
the muscles, whose nerves were entire, was soonest exhausted; and
hence Dr. Philip properly concludes, that the nervous influence,
far from bestowing excitability on the muscles, exhausts it like
other stimuli; and that the excitability or irritability is a property
of the muscle itself.
It seems, therefore, that this essential characteristic of living
bodies is a distinct vital property, not confined, as Haller sup-
posed, to the muscular structure, but existing over the whole
body. In favour of its not being dependent upon the nerves,
we have the fact of its presence in the vegetable as well as in the
animal. Many plants exhibit the power in a remarkable manner.
The barberry bush is one of these. In this flower, the six stamens,
spreading moderately, are sheltered under the concave tips of the
petals, till some extraneous body, as the feet or trunk of an insect
in search of honey, touches the inner part of each filament near the
bottom. The irritability of that part is such, that the filament im-
mediately contracts there, and consequently strikes its anther, full
of pollen, against the stigma. Any other part of the filament may
be touched without this effect, provided no concussion be given to
the whole. After a while, the filament retires gradually, and may
be again stimulated; and when each petal, with its annexed fila-
ment, is fallen to the ground, the latter, on being touched, shows as
much irritability as ever.
In another plant,—the Cistus helianthemum, dwarf cistus or
lesser sunflower,—the filaments, when touched, execute a motion,
the reverse of that of the barberry. They retire from the style and
lie down, in a spreading form, upon the petals.
Owing to the possession of this property, the Apocynum an-
drosaemifolium or dogs-bane is extremely destructive to insect life.
Attracted by the honey on the nectary of the expanded blossom,
the instant the trunk of the fly is protruded to feed on it, the fila-
ments close, and, catching the fly by the extremity of its proboscis,
they detain the insect until its struggles end in death, occasioned
apparently by exhaustion alone. The filaments then relax, and the
body falls to the ground.
These are only evidences, however, of particular psrts possessing
unusual degrees of irritability. The property exists in every part
of the plant, and, as in the animal, is the essential characteristic of
the principle of life.
Irritability or contractility forms a medium of communication
between the various parts of the living machine, and is excited
to action by extraneous influences. All its movements, how-
ever, appear to be dependent upon the action of appropriate stimuli,
and are, consequently, passively exercised.
488
LIFE.
There is a power which has been conceived to be nearly allied
to irritability, and is highly characteristic of organized bodies,—
vegetable as well as animal,—whose movements or impulsions are
active, and most varied. To this power, the term instinct has been
appropriated by Virey, Fleming, Good, and others. It is an ex-
tension of the ordinary acceptation of the term, but it enables us to
understand the phenomena better than where we restrict it to
those manifestations of man, or animals, that bear the semblance
of reason. It is this power, which, according to those gentlemen,
regulates the movements, that are requisite to obtain a supply
of food, to remove or counteract opposing obstacles, and to fly
from impending danger, or to repair injuries which may be occa-
sioned.
"In every organized system," says Dr. Good, "whether animal
or vegetable, and in every part of such system, whether solid or
fluid, we trace an evident proof of that controlling, and identifying
power, which physiologists have denominated, and with much pro-
priety, the principle of life. Of its cause and nature we know
no more than we do of the cause and nature of gravitation, or mag-
netism. It is neither essential mind nor essential matter; it is nei-
ther passion nor sensation; but though unquestionably distinct from
all these, is capable of combining with any of them; it is possessed
of its own book of laws, to which, under the same circumstances,
it adheres without the smallest deviation; and its sole and uniform
aim, whether acting generally or locally, is that of health, preser-
vation, or reproduction. The agency, by which it operates, is that
which we denominate or should denominate instinct, and the ac-
tions, by which its sole and uniform aim is accomplished, are what
we mean or should mean by instinctive actions; or, to speak
somewhat more precise^, instinct is the operation of the living
principle, whenever manifestly directing its operations to the health,
preservation, or reproduction of a living frame, or any part of such
frame. The law of instinct, then, is the law of the living principle;
instinctive actions are the actions of the living principle; and either
is that power, which characteristically distinguishes organized from
unorganized matter, and pervades and regulates the former, uniformly
operating by definite means in definite circumstances, to the general
welfare of the individual system or of its separate organs, advancing
them to perfection, preserving them in it, or laying a foundation
for their reproduction, as the nature of the case may require. It
applies equally to plants and to animals, and to every part of the
plant, as well as to every part of the animal, so long as such part
continues alive. It is this, which maintains, from age to age, with
so much nicety and precision, the distinctive characters of different
kinds and species, which carries off the waste or worn out matter,
supplies it with new, and in a thousand instances, suggests the mode
of cure, or even effects the cure itself, in cases of injury or disease.
It is 'the divinity that stirs within us' of Stahl, the vis medica-
INSTINCT.
489
trix naturae of Hoffmann and Cullen and the physicians of our
own day, &c. &c."
Of the existence of this instinctive principle, we shall adduce a
few examples from both the vegetable and the animal kingdom.
When the seed of a plant is deposited in the ground, under circum-
stances favourable for its development, it expands, and the root and
stem are evolved. The root descends into the ground, manifestly
not from the laws of gravitation, but owing to some inherent force,
inasmuch as it penetrates the earth which is of much greater spe-
dfic gravity than itself. The stem, too, bursts through the earth,
and rises into the atmosphere, notwithstanding that the air is of
much less specific gravity, until, having attained the height to
which the action of the vital principle limits it, its upward develop-
ment ceases. It rarely happens, however, that the root is capable
of procuring nourishment sufficient for its future development in
immediate contact with it. It, therefore, sends out numerous fila-
mentous radicles in all directions to search after food, and to convey
it to the proper organs. The number and direction of these filaments,
and the distance to which they extend, are regulated by the neces-
sities of the plant and the supply of the soil. A strawberry offset,
planted in sand, will send out almost all of its runners in the direc-
tion in which the proper soil lies nearest, and few, and sometimes
none, in the direction in which it lies most remote.
When a tree, which requires much moisture, has sprung up,
or been planted in a dry soil, in the vicinity of water, it has been
observed, that a much larger portion of its roots has been directed
towards the water, and that, when a tree of a different species,
and which requires a dry soil, has been placed in a similar situa-
tion, it has appeared, in the direction given to its roots, to have
avoided the water, and moist soil. When a tree, too, happens to
grow from seed on a wall, it has been seen, on arriving at a cer-
tain size, to stop for a while, and to send down a root to the ground.
As soon as this root has been established in the soil, the tree has
continued increasing to a large magnitude. The fact has been often
noticed with respect to the ash,—a tree, which, in consequence of
the profusion of its seed, is found more often scattered in wild and
singular places, than any other not propagated by the agency of
birds, or conveyed by the winds.
We find, in all cases, that if the roots of a plant, spreading in
search of nourishment, meet with interruption in their course, they
do not arrest their progress, but either attempt to penetrate the op-
posing body, or to avoid it by altering their direction. Dr. Flem-
ing states, that he has repeatedly seen the creeping root of the
Triticum repens or couch grass, piercing a potato, which had ob-
structed its course. It is well known, too, that roots will pass under
a stone wall or a ditch, and rise up on the opposite side.
The nearest approximation to these manifestations of instinct, in
Vol. II. 62
490
LIFE.
the animal, occur in the formation of the new being, and in the first
actions that take place after birth. From the moment of the admix-
ture of the substances furnished by the parents at a fecundating co-
pulation, there must be a principle existing in the embryo, which
directs the construction and arrangement of its organs after a defi-
nite manner, and always according to that peculiar to the species.
In the egg this is seen, as we have elsewhere described, in the most
distinct manner. The germ of the chick is surrounded, in the egg,
by the nourishment requisite for its formation. Organ after organ
becomes successively evolved, until the full period of incubation is
accomplished, when it breaks the shell. At this time it has, within
it, a portion of nutriment derived from the yolk drawn into the
body. This' supplies its wants for a short period; but it soon be-
comes necessary, that it should select and collect food for itself,
and we observe it throwing its various organs into action for the
prehension, mastication, deglutition, &c. of the food, as if it had been
long accustomed to the execution of these functions.
In the formation of the human foetus in utero the same instinctive
action is observable in the successive evolution of organs, and in the
limitation of the body to a determinate shape, size, structure, &c;
and when these requisites have been attained, the child bursts the
membranous envelope, and is extruded, to maintain thenceforth an
existence independent of the mother. More helpless, however, than
the young of the animal kingdom in general, the infant requires the
fostering care of the parent, for the purpose of supplying it with the
necessary nutriment, but as soon as food is conveyed to the lips, the
whole of the complicated process of deglutition is effected for the
first time, with the same facility as after long practice. As we des-
cend in the animal kingdom we find these inward actions constitut-
ing the instinct more and more largely exhibited. In the quadru-
ped, it is not necessary that the nipple should be applied by the
mother to the mouth of the new-born animal. It is sought for by
the latter, invariably discovered, and as invariably seized hold of,
by the appropriate organ of prehension—the mouth. The lips are
applied; the air is exhausted; and the milk flows, according to exact
principles of hydrostatics, but without the animal having the least
knowledge of the physical process which it accomplishes. Natural-
ists, indeed, assert, that before the calf has been more than half ex-
truded from the mother, it has been seen to turn round, embrace,
and suck the maternal teat.
As we descend still farther in the scale of creation, we discover
the manifestations of instinct yet more signally developed; until ul-
timately, in the very lowest classes of animals, the whole of the
functions are exercised much in the same manner as in the vegeta-
ble; and appear to be wholly instinctive, without the slightest evi-
dence of that intelligence, which we observe in the upper classes
of the animal kingdom, and pre-eminently in man. This, however,
INSTINCT.
491
applies only to the zoophyte; for, a short way higher up the scale,
we meet with apparent intelligence, united with instinct in a man-
ner that is truly surprising and mysterious.
Again, the similarity of the actions of the instinctive principle,
in the animal and vegetable, is exhibited by the reparatory power
which both possess when injuries are inflicted upon them. If a
branch be forcibly torn from a tree, the bark gradually accumulates
around the wound, and cicatrization is at length accomplished. The
great utility of many of our garden vegetables,—such as spin-
ach, parsley, cress, &c.—depends upon the possession of a power
to repair injuries, so that new shoots speedily take place where the
leaves have been removed: similar to this is the reparatory process,
instituted in the lobster that has lost its claw, and in the serpent de-
prived of its tail. These parts are reproduced as the leaves are in
the spinach or the parsley.
But few animals, however, possess the property of restoring lost
parts; whilst all are capable of repairing their own wounds when
not excessive, and of exciting a sanative power, when labouring un-
der disease. If a limb be torn from the body, provided the ani-
mal does not die from hemorrhage, a reparatory effort is establish-
ed, and if the severity of the injury does not induce too much irri-
tation in the system, the wound will gradually fill up, and the skin
form over it. To a lesser extent we see this power exerted in
the healing of ordinary wounds, and in cementing broken bones;
and although it may answer the purpose of the surgeon to have it
supposed that he is possessed of healing salves, &c, he is well aware,
that the great art, in these cases, is to keep the part entirely at rest,
whilst his salves are applied simply for the purpose of keeping the
wound moist; the edges in due apposition, where such is necessary,
and extraneous bodies from having access to it,—his trust being al-
together placed in the sanative influence of the instinctive power
situated in the injured part, and in every part of the frame.
It is to this power, that we must ascribe all the properties, assign-
ed to the famous sympathetic powder of Sir Kenelm Digby,—
which was supposed to have the wonderful property of healing
wounds, when merely applied to the bloody cloths of the wounded
person, or to the weapon that had inflicted the mischief. This pre-
paration, at one time, enjoyed the most astonishing reputation. It
was first employed at Florence in the commencement of the 17th
century, by a Carmelite monk, who had just returned from India.
The Grand Duke, hearing of the monk's marvellous cures, asked
him for his secret, which he refused, fearing that the Duke would
divulge it. Some time afterwards, Sir Kenelm Digby, having ren-
dered an important service to the monk, the latter, out of grati-
tude, communicated to him the composition of the powder; and Sir
Kenelm took the secret with him to England. An opportunity
soon occurred for testing its properties. A Mr. Howell, having
been wounded in attempting to separate two of his friends engaged
492
LIFE.
in a duel, was subjected to its employment. Four days after the
infliction of the wound, Sir Kenelm dipped one of Mr. Howell's
garters in a solution of the powder; and, immediately, it is as-
serted, the wound, which was previously painful, became easy;
but, as the garter grew dry, the pains returned, and were relieved
by a fresh immersion in the solution. In five or six days the
wound healed. James the first; his son, afterwards Charles the
second; the Duke of Buckingham, and all the principal personages
about the court were acquainted with the circumstances of the case;
and James, whose enthusiasm was not counterbalanced by much
judgment, and who was, withal, superstitious to the highest degree,
obtained the secret from Sir Kenelm, and himself operated most
astonishing cures. In no great length of time the composition trans-
pired, and, as in all similar cases, the charm evaporated with the
disclosure.
Dryden alludes to the superstition in his Enchanted Island,
where Miranda enters with Hippolito's sword wrapped up.
" Hip. O my wounds pain me. (~She unwraps the sword. J
Mir. I am come to ease you.
Hip. Alas! I feel the cold air come to me;
My wound shoots worse than ever.
Mm. Does it still grieve you? (~She wipes and anoints the sword. J
Hip. Now, methinks, there's something laid just upon it.
Mm. Do you find no ease?
Hip. Yes^ Yes; upon the sudden all this pain
Is leaving me.—Sweet heaven, how am I eased!"
The powder, employed by Sir Kenelm Digby, is asserted to
have been the sulphate of copper prepared in a particular man-
ner. Some affirm it to have been the ordinary green vitriol of
commerce.
The sympathetic ointments applied to the weapon were of va-
rious characters, containing the most absurd, disgusting, and inert
ingredients;—as we see in the following quotation from the Sylva
Sylvarum, or Natural History of Lord Bacon, whose great mind
was too frequently imbued with the superstitions and prejudices of
his age. The mode of managing the wound itself sufficiently ac-
counts for the good effects ascribed to the "cure by sympathy."
"It is constantly received and avouched, that the anointing of
the weapon that maketh the wound, will heal the wound itself. In
this experiment, upon the relation of men of credit, though myself,
as yet, am not fully inclined to believe to it, you shall note the points
following: first, the ointment, with which this is done, is made of
divers ingredients; whereof the strangest and hardest to come by,
are the moss upon the skull of a dead man unburied; and the fats of
a boar and a bear killed in the act of generation. These two last I
could easily suspect to be prescribed as a starting hole; that if the
experiment proved not, it might be pretended that the beasts were
not killed in the due time; for as for the moss, it is certain there is
INSTINCT.
493
great quantity of it in Ireland, upon slain bodies, laid in heaps un-
buried. The other ingredients are, the blood-stone in powder, and
some other things, which seem to have a virtue to staunch blood;
as also the moss hath. And the description of the whole ointment
is to be found in the chymical dispensatory of Crollitjs. Secondly,
the same kind of ointment applied to the part itself, worketh not
the effect; but only applied to the weapon. . Thirdly, which I like
well, they do not observe the confecting of the ointment under any
certain constellation; which commonly is the excuse of magical
medicines when they fail, that they were not made under a fit
figure of heaven. Fourthly, it may be applied to the weapon,
though the party hurt be at a great distance. Fifthly, it seemeth
the imagination of the party to be cured is not needful to concur;
for it may be done without the knowledge of the party wounded;
and thus much has been tried, that the ointment, for experiment's
sake, hath been wiped off the weapon, without the knowledge of
the party hurt, and presently the party hurt has been in great rage
of pain, till the weapon was reanointed. Sixthly, it is affirmed, that
if you cannot get the weapon, yet if you put an instrument of iron
or wood, resembling the weapon, into the wound, whereby it bleed-
eth,the anointing of that instrument will serve and work the effect.
This I doubt should be a device to keep this strange form of cure
in request and use; because many times you cannot come by the
weapon itself. Seventhly, the wound must be at first washed clean
with white wine, or the party's own water; and then bound up
close in fine linen, and no more dressing renewed till it be whole.
Eightly, the sword itself must be wrapped up close, as far as the
ointment goeth, that it taketh no wind. Ninthly, the ointment, if
you wipe it off from the sword and keep it, will serve again; and
rather increase in virtue than diminish. Tenthly, it will cure in
far shorter time, than ointments of wounds commonly do. Lastly,
it will cure a beast as well as a man; which I like best of all the
rest, because it subjecteth the matter to an easy trial."
The line in the above quotation, marked in Italics, is the key to
the solution of the whole mystery. It is, indeed, the practice
adopted at the present day in the treatment of incised wounds; and
to this, not to the influence of the sympathetic powder, or ointment,
it need hardly be said, must the whole agency be ascribed. The
wound was carefully defended from irritation by extraneous sub-
stances, and given up to that instinctive principle, which, we have
seen, repairs the injuries to which organized bodies are liable: and
it has been suggested that the result furnished the first hint,
which led surgeons to the improved practice of healing wounds
by what is technically called the first intention. It is to this
instinctive principle, so clearly evinced in surgical or external af-
fections, but not less actively exerted in cases of internal mischief,
that the term vis medicatrix naturas,has been assigned: and what-
ever may be the objections to' the views entertained regarding its
494
LIFE.
manifestations in disease, that such a power exists can no more be
denied than that organized bodies are possessed of the vital prin-
ciple. We have too many instances of recovery from injuries, not
only without the aid of the practitioner, but even in spite of it, to
doubt for a moment, that there is, within every living body, a prin-
ciple, whose operations are manifestly directed to the health and
preservation of the frame, and of every part of such frame.
So far, then, it is manifest, that the instinctive actions of the
animal and the vegetable are exerted according to the same laws,
and probably through similar organs. This, at least, applies to the
lowest of all animated beings, where the difference between them
and the vegetable is small indeed. It applies equally to the human
foetus, which can be considered but to vegetate during the greater
part of utero-gestation; and even for some time after birth, its actions
are purely instinctive, and differ but little from those of the vege-
table, except that, owing to the organization of its nervous system,
the acts are of a more complicated character. It is only when the
brain has become duly developed, and the external senses fully so,
that it exhibits so decidedly the difference between those acts which
it had previously accomplished instinctively, and the elevated phe-
nomena of sensibility, which man enjoys so pre-eminently, but
which are likewise possessed, to a greater or less extent, by the
whole animal creation.
It is the difficulty, which occurs in pointing out the exact dif-
ference between the manifestations of instinct and those of intelli-
gence, that has induced some individuals to deny to animals the
possession of the former. We have seen the mode in which the
principle is evidenced in the zoophyte and in the vegetable; and it
is but an extension of it, that we witness in the beings still higher
in the scale. Yet how wonderful and inexplicable are its operations;
and how forcible its impulsion in these minute animals that sur-
prise us by the ingenuity and forethought with which all their ac-
tions, for the preservation and reproduction of the species, are di-
rected ! Let us take a few examples, from the many afforded by
the insect tribe.
The cells of the ordinary honey-comb are intended for the larvae
of the different varieties of the occupants of the hive. These
cells are usually placed horizontally, with their mouths open-
ing towards the sides of the hive. The bottom of the cells, in-
stead of forming one flat square, is composed of three lozenge-
shaped pieces, so united as to make the cell end in a point; conse-
quently, the whole forms a hexagonal tube, terminating in a pyra-
midal cavity. If the two cells had been a single hexagonal tube,
intersected in the middle by a flat, instead of a pyramidal, division,
not only would the shape not have answered the purpose of the
bees, but more wax would have been expended in its construction.
Hence, it would seem, that both the body and the base of the tube
are the best adapted for their object; that the greatest strength and
INSTINCT. 495
the greatest capacity are obtained with the least expenditure of wax
in a hexagonal tube with a pyramidal base.
Reaumur, when inquiring into the habitudes of these industrious
animals, requested Koenig, an able mathematician, to solve the fol-
lowing question:—among all the hexagonal tubes, with pyramidal
bases composed of three similar and equal rhombs, to determine
that which having the same capacity, can be constructed with the least
possible quantity of matter? Koenig, not aware of the precise object
of Reaumur's inquiry* solved the problem, and found,—that if three
rhombs or lozenges were so inclined to each other that the great angles
measured 109° 26', and the little angles 70° 34', the smallest possible
quantity of matter would be needed. Maraldi measured the an-
gles actually formed at the bottom of a cell, and found that the
great angles gave 109° 28', and the little 70° 32'. All this, how-
ever, may be ascribed to blind instinct, proceeding uniformly in the
same tract, without any evidence of the admixture of reason; but
we have innumerable instances, in the same insects, to show, that
their operations are varied according to circumstances, and that in-
telligence is manifestly expended in the adaptation of their means
to definite purposes. Of this we will assign but one example. Hu-
ber, whose inquiries into this part of entomology have been singu-
larly minute and accurate, having had great ravages committed on
his hives by the sphinx atropos or death's-head moth, deter-
mined to construct a grating which should admit a bee but not the
moth. He did so, and the devastation ceased. He found, however,
that in other hives, not protected by his agency, the bees had
adopted a similar expedient for their defence; and these defences
were variously constructed in different hives. " Here, was a single
wall whose opening arcades were disposed at its higher parts; there,
were several bulwarks behind each other, like the bastions of our
citadels: gateways, masked by walls in front, opened on the face of
the second rows, while they did not correspond with the apertures
of the first. Sometimes a series of intersecting arcades permitted
free egress to the bees, but refused admittance to their enemies.
These fortifications were massy, and their substance firm and com-
pact, being composed of propolis and wax."
It would be endless, and beyond the design of this work, to enu-
merate the various evidences of intelligence, exhibited by the insect
tribe, in fulfilling the ends for which they have been destined by
the Great Author of nature; but there are one or two, which have
been recently given to the world in an interesting little volume,
entitled, The Natural History of Insects, which are such signal
instances of the union of instinct with intelligence, as to deserve
special mention.
A species of spider,—mygale cmentarm—inhabiting the south
oT Europe, constructs a cylindrical cavity more than two feet long,
in some sloping bank, calculated to let the water run off; the inside
is lined with a web of fine silk. But, in addition to the sagacity of
496
LIFE.
choosing a steep bank, and the luxury of furnishing its retreat with
silk, this spider is capable of constructing a regular door; for this
purpose, it joins and cements layers of clay or chalk with its gluti-
nous secretions, and thus contrives to make a door exactly circular,
and so nicely fitting into the aperture of the cell, as to prevent its
being distinguished by the casual observer from the surrounding
earth. But the most singular circumstance is yet to be told. The
sagacious creature fabricates a hinge of silk, which it invariably
fixes to the highest part of the aperture, so that it can very easily be
pushed open from within by the insect, and shuts by its own weight.
Thus barricadoed, the gallery furnishes a secure habitation for the
male and female, with twenty or thirty of their young. No noise
however loud, no thumping however violent, will bring the wary
insect out of its cell; but if the least attempt be made to force the
trap-door, the spider immediately runs to it, and fixing some of its
legs to the silk that lines the door, and the rest to the walls of the
cell, it pulls with all its might against the intruder. The fact has
been proved by lifting the door with a pin, when the counter tugs
of the spider, endeavouring to shut it, have been distinctly felt.
The water spider—aranea aquatica—is no less singular in its
habits, proceedings, and instincts. As soon as it has caught its prey
on the shore, it dives to the bottom of the water and there devours
it. It is, consequently, an amphibious animal, although seeming to
be better adapted for living in contact with the atmosphere than
with the water. " The diving-bell is a modern invention; and few
facts excite our wonder more than the possibility of a man's being
enabled to live and move at the bottom of the ocean. This triumph
of reason over the unfriendly element, however, was anticipated by
an insect,—the spider in question. This creature spins some loose
threads, which it attaches to the leaves of aquatic plants; it then
varnishes them with a glutinous secretion, which resembles liquid
glass, and is so elastic as to admit of considerable distention and
contraction. It next lays a coating of this same substance over its
own body, and underneath this coating introduces a bubble of air.
Naturalists conjecture, that it has the power of drawing this air in
at the anus, from the atmosphere at the surface of the pool, but
the precise mode in which it is separated from the body of the
atmosphere, and introduced under the pellicle covering the insect's
body, has not been clearly ascertained. Thus clothed, and shining
like a ball of quicksilver, it darts through the waters, to the spot in
which it had fixed its habitation; and, disengaging the bubble from
under the pellicle, it dexterously introduces it into a web formed at
the bottom. After repeatedly moving from the top to the bottom
of the water, and, at each journey filling its habitation with a fresh
bubble of air, at length the lighter, completely expels the heavier,
fluid, and the insect takes possession of an aerial habitation,—com*
modious and dry,—finished in the very midst of the waters. It is
about the size and shape of half a pigeon's egg. From this curi-
INSTINCT.
497
ous chamber the spider hunts, searching sometimes the waters, and
sometimes the land, for its prey, which, when obtained, is trans-
ported to this subaquatic mansion, and devoured at leisure. The
male, as well as the female, exhibits the same instincts. Early in
the spring the former seeks the mansion of the latter, and, having
enlarged it by the introduction of a little more air, takes up its abode
with its mate. About the middle of April, the eggs are laid, and,
packed up in a silken cocoon in a corner of their habitation, are
watched with incessant care by the female.
In all our reasonings, then, on the subject of instinct, we must be
compelled to admit, in the case of most animals at least, a union of
intelligence which strikingly modifies those actions,—the impulse
to which is doubtless laid in organization. The precise line of de-
marcation between instinctive acts and reason cannot, however, be
established, and this has led some philosophers to call in question
the existence of the former:—
" Tell me why the ant,
'Midst summer's plenty, thinks of winter's want,
By constant journeys careful to prepare
Her stores; and, bringing home the corny ear,
By what instruction does she bite the grain,
Lest, hid in earth, and taking root again,
It might elude the foresight of her care ?
Distinct in either insect's deed appear ^
The marks of thought, contrivance, hope, and fear.
It is owing to this union of intelligence with instinct, that we find
animals accommodating themselves to circumstances, so that if pre-
vented from adopting the habits that belong to the species, they
have recourse to others as similar as possible. Thus, if a bird is
prevented from building its nest in a particular situation, or from
obtaining the material which birds of its own species employ, it
has recourse to other materials and to another situation, as like those
that are appropriate to it as is practicable.
The rook usually and instinctively builds its nest on the summit
of the tallest trees: but Dr. Darwin,—who is one of those that call
in question the influence of instinct,—asserts, that m Welbourn
church-vard, a rookery was formed on the outside of the spire, and
on the tops of the loftiest windows. There had formerly been a row
or grove of high trees in the neighbourhood, which had been cut
down, and, in consequence, the birds exhibited the union of intelli-
gence with instinct, by building on the lotty spire and windows.
E like manner, the jackdaw, of Selbourn according to Mr. White
not finding a sufficiency of steeples and lofty houses, on which to
hang their nests in that village, accommodated themselves to cir-
cumstances, and built them in forsaken rabbit burrows.
Bv Stahl, and the animists in general, as well as by more re-
cent philosophers, the whole of the phenomena of instinct have
been referred to experience, so obscure as not to be easily traceable,
Vol. II. 63
498
LIFE.
but not the less certainly existent. The insect tribes, however, fur-
nish us with many cases where the young being can never see the
parents,and can, of course, derive no benefit from the experience of
its progenitors. Yet their habits are precisely what they have pro-
bably ever been: so uniform, indeed, as to compel us to refer them
to some constant impulse connected with their special organization,
and consequently instinctive.
In support of the existence of these natural impulsions, the com-
mon occurrence of a brood of young ducks, brought up under a
hen, has been adduced. These little beings, soon after they have
broken the shell, and contrary to all the feelings and instincts of
the foster mother, will seek the water, and suddenly plunge into it,
whilst the hen herself does not dare to follow them. By what kind
of experience or observation,—it has been asked,—by what train
of thought or reasoning has the scarcely fledged brood been able to
discern that a web-foot adapts them for swimming? Any experi-
ence they can have derived must have taught them to shun the
water, yet notwithstanding this, instinct points out to them the ha-
bitudes to which they are adapted, and its indications are obeyed in
spite of every kind of counter-experience.
Our own country affords us an example of singular instinctive in-
dustry in the Scarabaeus pilularis or tumble-turd, as it is vul-
garly called. These common and remarkable beetles appear in
April or May, and continue through the summer months, or till
about September, when they disappear, and no more is seen of
them until the following spring. Their constant employment,
for the perpetuation of their, species, is in providing appro-
priate nidi in which to deposit their eggs. This they effect by
forming balls of dung, in the middle of which they deposit
an egg. These balls are then buried in the earth, where they
remain until the approach of spring, when the young are hatched,
and make their way above ground. The industry and skill they
exhibit, in forming and rolling these balls, is astonishing. One of
the insects forces the ball onwards with his hind-feet, by raising
himself on his fore-feet, whilst its companion draws down the ball
on the opposite side with its fore-feet. In this manner, the ball is
rolled until they come to a place where the ground allows the
ball to be deposited, which is effected by the insect forming an
excavation under it, and letting it fall downwards. Catesby
says, that they convey their pellets three feet deep in the ground,
but they are certainly satisfied with a less depth in Virginia.
This insect has been considered peculiar to America. Aristotle
and Pliny, however, mention a kind of beetle, which rolls large
balls of dung with its feet backwards, and lodges within it,—to
protect them from the rigor of winterj—small worms, which be-
come its young.
Dr. Good has adduced the singular instance of instinct exhibited
by the Cancer ruricola or land-crab, an inhabitant of tropical
INSTINCT.
499
climes, and especially of the Bahamas. It is gregarious, and associ-
ates in large bodies, which seem to form an orderly society for the
most part in the recesses of inland mountains, though they regular-
ly once a year march down to the sea-side in an army of millions,
to deposit their spawn in the ocean. The time, embraced for this
expedition, is generally the month of May, when they sally forth
from the stumps of hollow trees, the clefts of rocks, and subterra-
neous burrows, in enormous multitudes. The whole ground is co-
vered, and no geometrician, it would seem, could direct them to
their destined station by a shorter route. No intervening obstacle
arrests them. If they meet with a house, they will rather attempt
to scale the walls than relinquish the direct path. Occasionally,
however, they are constrained to conform to the surface of the
country, and if it be intersected by a river, they pursue the stream
to its fountain head. In great dearth of rain they are compelled to
halt, when they seek the most convenient encampment, and remain
there till the weather changes. A like halt is made when the solar
heat is intense, and until the cool of evening, when they resume
their progress. The journey often takes up three months before
they reach the sea-coast. As soon as they arrive at the water, they
plunge in, shake off their spawn upon the sands, and immediately
direct their course back to the interior of the country. The soft
sand is an appropriate nidus for the spawn, and, under the influence
of the solar heat and of moisture, millions of little crabs are usher-
ed into being, and are seen crawling to the shore, and exploring
their way into the interior of the country; thus quitting their birth-
place, for a state of existence entirely opposite, to which no expe-
rience can have impelled them, and to which they are directed by
an irresistible impulse situated within them.
Instinct, then, is possessed by every organized body, animal and
vegetable; whilst intelligence is the attribute of those only that are
endowed with a certain nervous development. They are, therefore,
manifestly distinct;—the former predominating over the latter in
the lower classes of animals; whilst, in the upper classes, intel-
ligence becomes more and more predominant, until ultimately in
man it is so ascendant as to appear to be the main regulator of the
functions; indeed, some have altogether denied the existence of in-
stinct in man. Instinct is seated in every part of a living body; is to-
tally independent of the nervous system; occurs in the vegetable and
the zoophyte unprovided with nerves, or at least in which nerves have
never been discovered; whilst intelligence is always accompanied by
a nervous system, without which, indeed, its existence is incompre-
hensible. How can we, consequently, accord with those physiologists
who place the seat of instinct in the organic nervous system; whilst
that of intelligence is in the brain? Where is the organic nervous
system of the zoophyte, and a fortiori of the vegetable? Or how
can we admit the seat of the various instincts, with Gall, to be in
the brain, seeing that we have them exhibited where there is no
500
LIFE.
brain nor any thing resembling one. The acephalous fcetus under-
goes its full development in other respects, in utero, with the same
regularity, as to shape and size, as the perfect fcetus, and can we
deny it the existence of instinct?
Yet, in the upper classes of animals especially, many of the ma-
nifestations of instinct are effected through the nervous system,
which, in them, as we have elsewhere seen, seems to hold in con-
trol the various functions of the frame, and to be one of the two
great requisites for the existence of vitality. The instinctive action
in the appropriate organ, which gives rise to the internal sensations
of hunger, thirst, &c, is communicated to the great nervous cen-
tres by the nerves, and the brain responds to the impression, and
excites, through the medium of the nerves, the various organs into ac-
tion, which are calculated to accomplish the monitions of the instinct.
What is the nature of this instinctive property ? Of this we know
no more than we do of the principle of life, of which it is one of
the manifestations. It is equally inscrutable with the impondera-
ble agents, light, caloric, electricity, or magnetism, or with the
mode of existence of the immaterial principle within us, which
gives rise to the mental phenomena: we see it only in its results;
which are, in many cases, as unequivocal as those produced by the
agents just referred to. All, perhaps, that we are justified in con-
cluding is, with Dr. Good, that instinct is the operation of the prin-
ciple of organized life, by the exertion of certain natural powers,
directed to the present or future good of the individual, whilst rea-
son is the operation of the principle of intellectual life, by the ex-
ercise of certain acquired powers directed to the same object; that
the former appertains to the whole organized mass as gravitation
does to the whole unorganized; actuating alike the smallest and the
largest portions; the minutestparticles and the bulkiest systems; and
every organ and every part of every organ, whether solid or fluid,
so long as it continues alive; that, like gravitation, it exhibits, under
particular circumstances, different modifications, different powers
and different effects; but that, like gravitation, too, it is subject to
its own division of laws, to which, under definite circumstances, it
adheres without the slightest deviation; and that its sole and uni-
form aim, whether acting generally or locally, is thatof perfection,
preservation or reproduction.
In this view, reason demands discipline, and attains maturity;
instinct, on the contrary, neither requires the one, nor is capable
of attaining the other. It is mature from the first, and equally so
in the infant as in the adult.
The great cause of all those mysterious phenomena, which cha-
racterize living bodies, and distinguish them by such broad demar-
cations from the dead, has been a theme of anxious inquiry in all
ages; and has ever ended in the supposition of some special abstract
force, to which the epithet vital has been assigned, and which has
VITAL PROPERTIES.
501
received various appellations. Hippocrates designated it by the
terms p^cvs, and evo^ov; Aristotle styled it the animating or
motive and generative principle; Van Helmont, the archaeus;
Stahl, anima; Barthez, Hunter, &c. vital principle, &c. &c.
Yet, as Dr. Barclay has correctly observed, all physiological
writers,—ancient and modern,—seem to be agreed, that the causes
of life and organization are utterly invisible, whether they pass
under the name of animating principles, (Aristotle, Harvey, &c.)
vital principles, (Barthez,) indivisible atoms, spermatic powers,
organic particles or organic germs, (Buffon,) formative appeten-
cies or formative propensities, (Darwin,) formative forces, (Need-
ham,) formative nisus or bildungstrieb, (Blumenbach,)
pre-existing monads, (Leibnitz,) semina rerum, (Lucretius,)
plastic natures, (Cudworth,) occult qualities, or certain unknown
chymical affinities. " All seem agreed, that whatever they be, they
have been operating since the world began, and throughout the
world operating regularly, without intermission, in various places
at the same time. All seem agreed, that their modes of operation
are strictly methodical; that they seem to act on definite plans, and
actually exhibit specific varieties of chymical combination, and
mechanical structure, which human intelligence cannot compre-
hend, much less explain. From their mutual dependence, and
other relations subsisting between them, all seem to speak as if
they were subjected to one great cause, which regulates and har-
monizes the whole. All seem to speak of this great cause as if it
were eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent: whether it be the element
of fire, of air, or of water, or whether it be fate, nature, necessity,
or a God."
By virtue of this principle of life, every organized tissue is pos-
sessed of certain properties, to which the term vital has been as-
signed. Regarding the precise number of these properties, phy-
siologists are not agreed. Whilst some have reckoned many; others
have admitted but one.
All the functions, which we have hitherto considered, are under
the influence of life, and are products of the vital properties seated
in the tissues; but we do not consider them to be directly caused
by these properties. Digestion, for example, is executed by a se-
ries of organs, all of which are conducive to a certain result, the
aggregate constituting the function of digestion. The result of the
action of the salivary gland is very different from that of the liver;
yet both operations are vital, but modified by the different organi-
zation of the two glands. We do not, however, ascribe the differ-
ence to a difference in the vital properties of the glands. They
are probably the same in both; and are seated in the primary tis-
sues, of which all the more compound textures and organs are
built up. They are primary or fundamental properties of living
matter.
Stahl, having observed obscure, oscillatory movements, alter-
502
life.
nate contraction and expansion in certain parts of the body, either
during the exercise of a function, or on the application of some
external agent, conceived that every part of the frame is, at all
times, more or less susceptible of similar movements. These
movements he called tonic, their effect upon the organs tone, and
the property by which they were induced he considered peculiar
to organization, and termed it tonicity. This vital property, he
conceived, influenced the progression of the fluids in the vessels;
the phenomena of exhalation and absorption, and was totally dis-
tinct from the properties possessed by inorganic bodies.
Haller admitted two vital properties, very distinct from each
other, which seemed to him to be equally elementary. The
one of these is that by which a living part exhibits itself to be
sensible, or transmits to the sensorium an impression made upon
it, either by an extraneous body, or by its own internal and or-
ganic action. The other is that by which a part contracts in a
manner appreciable to the senses, either by the influence of the
will, or of some external or internal stimulus.
The first of these he considered to be a special vital property,
which he termed sensibility; and the second to be another pro-
perty, which he called irritability. Prior toTiis time, the word
irritability had been adopted by Glisson, who had noticed the
fact, that living matter was acted upon by irritations of various
kinds, in a mode nowise analogous to physical and chymical mo-
tions, and hence he concluded, that every organ of the human
frame possesses an inherent and peculiar force, which presides over
its movements, and is requisite for the exercise of its functions.
This force he called irritability. Von Gorter subsequently ex-
tended the views of Glisson, and applied them to the vegetable;
affirming irritability to be the sole vital property of all organized
bodies; vegetable as well as animal.
The acceptation, given to the term by Haller, was conse-
quently, more limited. He restricted it to those motions only of
parts which fall under the observation of the senses; such as the
contraction of the voluntary muscles, heart, &c. He made numer-
ous experiments on living animals, for the purpose of discovering
what parts are possessed or not of the two properties of sensibility
and irritability, and he concluded, that the former resides exclu-
sively in the nervous,—the latter in the muscular, system.
This celebrated theory, which formed so large a part of physio-
logical science at one time, and is still an interesting topic to the
physiologist, has been referred to in so many parts of this work,
as to require but few comments in this place. We have seen that
many of the parts, regarded by Haller as insensible, are acutely
sensible in disease, and that we cannot pronounce a part to be
positively insensible until we have applied every kind of irritant
to it without effect. We have elsewhere defined sensibility to be
an exclusive property of the nervous system; and have attempted
VITAL PROPERTIES.
503
to show that irritability is a property of the muscular tissue,—a
vis insita—totally independent of the nerves, but of which the
nervous fluid is an appropriate excitant.
As, however, the vital properties of sensibility and irritability
were restricted by Haller to the nervous and muscular systems,
they were regarded to be insufficient for the explanation of the
various living actions of the frame: the next step was, therefore,
to extend them to every part and to every tissue. It was found,
for example, that on investigating the most minute movements of
parts, these movements were always preceded by an impression,
to which they seemed sensible, and which appeared to excite their
actions. This general property, common to every living part, of
receiving an impression, was called sensibility; thus generalizing
the property, which Haller had restricted to perceptivity by the
mind. Every part was said to be sensible to the blood sent to it
for its nutrition. Again, every part was observed to move in con-
sequence of the impression it received, sometimes in an apparent
manner,—-as the heart; at others too slightly for its movements to
be recognised otherwise than by the results,—as in the case of the
glandular organs; but always in a manner special to organized
matter, and not analogous to any physical or chymical process.
This motion was, therefore, referred to another force, called
motility, which is nothing more than irritability generalized.
These two properties are alone admitted by most modern writers.
Every organ is said to feel and to move, after its manner, in the
performance of its function;—the stomach in digestion; the heart
in propelling the blood; the muscle in contracting, and the nerve
in transmitting sensitive impressions to the brain.
Many modern physiologists, whilst they admit the properties
of sensibility and motility, have reckoned a greater number of
vital properties; and this owing to their having observed that each
part has its own peculiar mode of sensibility and motility, and
when these modes have seemed to differ largely from each other,
they have elevated them into so many special, vital properties.
The chief modern theories on the vital properties are those of
Barthez, Blumenbach, Chaussier, Dumas, and Bichat. Bar-
thez admitted five, which we can do no more than enumerate:
sensibility, force of contraction, force of expansion or active
dilatation, force of fixed situation, and tonicity. Blumenbach
also admitted five;—sensibility, irritability, contractility, vita
propria or proper force of life, and nisus formativus, force of
formation or bildungstrieb. Dumas referred all the living
phenomena to four vital properties; sensibility, motility, force of
assimilation, and force of vital resistance.
The theory of Bichat on this subject requires a more detailed
notice. He also admitted five vital properties; organic sensi-
bility, insensible organic contractility, sensible organic con-
tractility, animal sensibility, and animal contractility.
504
LIFE.
First. Organic sensibility is the faculty possessed by every
living fibre of receiving an impression, or of being modified by
contact, so that the modification is restricted to the part that ex-
periences it, and is not transmitted to the brain. The term
sensibility was adopted by Bichat because already established,
and the epithet organic was added, to affirm, that it is the
exclusive attribute of organized bodies, and common to all.
This property is not only modified in each organ, as the difference
in their nutrition and functions demonstrates, but it adapts each
organ to its appropriate external stimulant, so that the salivary
gland shall be specially influenced by mercury; the upper part of
the small intestine by calomel; the lower by aloes, &c. &c. Its
exercise is continuous, involuntary, known only by its results, and
is more marked as we descend in the scale of animal life; whilst
animal sensibility is the contrary.
Secondly. Insensible organic contractility is the faculty posses-
sed by every living part, of moving in an imperceptible manner, in
consequence of an impression immediately received, without either
the mind having consciousness of the motion, the will participating,
or the brain in any manner directing it. We have an example of this
in the action of the stomach during digestion; and of every part of
the body on the blood sent to it for its nutrition. Bichat applied
the term insensible organic contractility to this property for the
following reasons;—contractility, because contraction is the kind
of motion which constitutes it; organic, because it is common
to all living beings; and insensible, because the brain has no
consciousness of it. Like organic sensibility, it is modified in
each organ. Its exercise is likewise continuous and involun-
tary; and it also exhibits itself more intensely as we descend
in the scale of beings. It always co-exists with organic sensi-
bility.
Thirdly. Sensible organic contractility is the same motive
faculty as the last, with this difference, that the movements induced
by it fall under the senses, and are recognised independently of
their results. This property is likewise modified in each organ;
its exercise is also involuntary, and it only differs from the last in
degree,—the movement that constitutes it being apparent. Thus,
the heart contracts independently of the will, but its motions are
not imperceptible, as in the cases which belong to the second vital
property of insensible organic contractility.
Fourthly. Animal sensibility is the property possessed by cer-
tain organs of transmitting to the mind, through the medium of
the brain, the consciousness of impressions which they have re-
ceived. It is sensibility in the restricted acceptation of Haller.
The epithet animal was given to it by Bichat to distinguish it
from the other variety of sensibility, which belongs to all orga-
nized bodies, whilst this is exclusively possessed by animals. The
whole of the attributes of this property have been detailed, at much
VITAL PROPERTIES.
505
length, in the first volume of this work. Fifthly. Bichat ad-
mitted a fifth vital property, under the name animal contrac-
tility, which comprised voluntary muscular contraction;—treated
of elsewhere as one of the functions of the body. It differs from
organic contractility, in its exciting cause not being seated in the
organ in which it is developed, that is, in the muscle, but in the
brain; and, moreover, whilst the other varieties of contractility
are irresistibly connected with, and proportioned to, the kind of
sensibility correspondent to them, this is not the case with animal
sensibility, and its play is never continuous.
From the distinction we have endeavoured to draw, between the
fundamental vital properties and the functions, it will be obvious,
that the ingenious division of Bichat is susceptible of farther cur-
tailment by analysis.
A vital property must be one possessed by all living bodies; it
is fundamental in the tissues, and differs according to the precise
structure of the tissue. It is found in the vegetable, as well as in
the animal. Neither of the two last properties of Bichat, how-
ever, corresponds with this definition. They do not exist in the
vegetable. They require not only a nervous system, but a brain
that can conceive and will. They are both, indeed, complicated
functions, and as such have been considered at great length, else-
where. By ultimate analysis, therefore, the five vital properties
of Bichat may be reduced to the two we have previously men-
tioned:—sensibility, and motility. Perhaps we ought to rest
satisfied with the admission, that every primary tissue is ca-
pable of being acted upon by appropriate stimuli, or is sensible;
and that it possesses the additional property of moving, in conse-
quence of such impression. Physiologists have, however, attempted
to simplify the subject still farther, and to reduce the vital proper-
ties to one only. Such is the view of Broussais, who considers
contractility to be. the fundamental vital property of all the tis-
sues. We have elsewhere shown, however, that even in the mus-
cular fibre it is by no means clear, that positive contraction of
the fibres occurs, and that the two extremities of a muscle are con-
ceived, by some late physiologists, to be brought into approxima-
tion by their fibres assuming a zigzag arrangement. In the pri-
mary nervous, and cellular tissues, the existence of such contracti-
lity is yet more doubtful.
Adelon, again, considers that sensibility is the only living
property that must be admitted. " Hitherto," he remarks, "phy-
siologists have separated the susceptibility of receiving the impres-
sion that excites the movement, from the faculty of producing it,
and have admitted two vital properties under the names sensibility
and motility. Supposing an instant, however short, between
the moment of impression, and that of the motion which follows
it, they have looked upon the act of receiving the impression as
distinct from that of moving in consequence of it. But these acts
Vol. II. 64
50G
LIFE.
are really but one. It is the movement executed by a part, in con-
sequence of an impression, which proves that the part has been
sensible to such impression. To feel, as Chaussier and Bichat
have remarked, is merely to vary the mode of existence in conse-
quence of an impression. It is merely moving in a manner which
is neither physical nor chymical. This is evident where the move-
ments are occult: without the results induced by these movements,
sensibility would not have been manifested." For these and other
reasons he concludes, that " the two properties, sensibility and mo-
tility, are reducible to one only, which may be called sensibility,
if desired, but which must carry with it the idea of motion, and is
the active, motive faculty of living matter." The term sensibility
is, however, unfortunate, in consequence of its conveying the no-
tion of mental perception, and of such acceptation having been re-%
ceived into physiology, as designating a function. It has, conse-
quently, been proposed to substitute the term excitability, insta-
bility, or irritability, but with the same signification. Rudolphi
prefers incitability, (E r r e g b a r k e i t,) as not liable to the ob-
jection that may be urged against the others, of having been em-
ployed in other significations. This incitability differs in the dif-
ferent organs and tissues; in the muscles it is termed irritability,
(Mus kelkraft, Reizbarkeit;) in the nerves, sensibility,
(Nervenkraft, Em pfindlichkeit;) and by some physio-
logists, iii the membranous parts it is called contractility, (S p a n n-
kraft, Zusammen ziehungskraft.)
Such are the phenomena which indicate the existence of the vi-
tal principle, and such the laws by which it seems to be governed.
By certain physiologists, it is considered to influence solids only;
by others, it has been considered to reside in the fluids also, and es-
pecially in the blood. The notion of the vitality of this fluid was
espoused by the celebrated John Hunter, and to him we are in-
debted for many of the facts and arguments, adduced in its favour,
and which have impelled the generality of modern physiologists to
admit its existence. The analogy of the egg had demonstrated
that life is not restricted to substances which are solid and visibly
organized. The fresh egg, like other living bodies, possesses the
ordinary counteracting powers communicated by vitality, and re-
sists those agents which act upon the dead egg as on other animal
substances deprived of the living influence. The fresh egg may be
exposed for weeks, with impunity, to a degree of heat, which
would inevitably occasion the putrefaction of the dead. During
the time of incubation, the egg of the hen is kept at a heat of 105°
for three weeks; yet, when the chick is hatched, the remaining
yolk is perfectly sweet.
The power of resisting cold is equally great. Hunter per-
formed several experiments, which show the power of the vital
principle in resisting cold, and the influence of cold in dimi-
nishing the energy of the vital principle. He exposed an egg to
LIFE.
507
the temperature of 17° and of 15° of Fahrenheit, and found that
it took about half an hour to freeze it. When thawed, and again
exposed to a cold atmosphere, it was frozen in one-half the time,
when exposed to a temperature of 25°. He then put a fresh
egg, and one that had previously been frozen and again thawed,
into a cold mixture at 15° ; the dead egg was frozen twenty-five
minutes sooner than the fresh. These experiments led to the le-
gitimate inference, that the egg possessed the principle of life, and
although fluid, must have enjoyed the properties, which we have
described as characteristic of vitality;—of being acted upon by
an appropriate irritant, and of moving responsive to such irri-
tation.
Similar results to those obtained with the egg followed analo-
gous experiments with the blood. On ascertaining the degree of
cold, and the length of time necessary to freeze blood taken imme-
diately from the vessel, he found that, as in the egg, a much shorter
period, and a much less degree of cold, were requisite to freeze
blood that had been previously frozen and thawed, than blood re-
cently taken from the vessel. The inference, deduced from this,
was, that the vitality of recent blood being comparatively unimpair-
ed, it was enabled to resist the cold longer than blood, whose vital
energy had already been partly exhausted by previous exposure.
The fluidity of the blood, whilst circulating in the vessels, has
been regarded as an additional evidence of its vitality. It is
obvious that such fluidity is indispensable, seeing that it has to
circulate through the minute vessels of the capillary system, and
that the slightest coagulum, forming in them, would lead to morbid
derangements. Yet the blood is peculiarly liable to become solid
by its constitution, and whenever it is removed from its vessels,
coagulates. This is not owing simply to the cessation of its circu-
lation, for if it be kept at the same temperature as in the living
body, and be made to circulate with equal rapidity through a dead
tube, it equally becomes solid. The cause, consequently, that
maintains its fluidity, is presumed to be the vital agency.
Another argument in favour of the vitality of the blood is
drawn from the facts connected with its coagulation,—facts,
which show, that the process is but little influenced by physi-
cal agents, and which have induced Magendie to infer,—with
many other physiologists, who are but little disposed to invoke the
vital agency,—" that the coagulation of the blood cannot be ascribed
to any physical influence, but that it must be esteemed essentially
vital, and as affording a demonstrative proof that the blood is en-
dowed with life." It has, indeed, been attempted to show, that
there are certain phenomena which demonstrate that the vitality
of this fluid increases or diminishes with the vitality of other parts
of the body. When blood is drawn from a vessel it does not in-
stantly coagulate or die; and, by observing the length of time con-
sumed in the process, it has been thought, that we might be, in
508
LIFE.
some measure, able to estimate the degree of vital energy it pos-
sesses. In diseases, where the vital action is exalted,—as in in-
flammation, the blood is found to coagulate much more slowly than
in a state of health, and the coagulation itself is more perfect,
whilst in diseases that are dependent upon a diminution of the
vital energy, the opposite is the fact; because, in the first case, it
is presumed, the blood possesses the vital principle in a higher de-
gree than natural, and consequently resists, for a longer period,
the influence of the physical agents to which it is exposed; whilst,
in the second case, it possesses the vital principle to a less degree
than natural, and therefore yields sooner to the influence of those
agents,—the coagulation, however, in all instances being analogous
to the rigidity of the muscles which takes place after dissolution,
and indicates the final cessation of vitality.
The buffy coat or inflammatory crust of the blood, called,
also, corium phlogisticum, and crusta pleuretica, is a circum-
stance connected with the blood's life, which has been invoked by
the supporters of this view of the subject. The terms are applied
to an appearance of the crassamentum, which is owing to its upper
portion containing no red particles, but exhibiting a layer of a buff-
coloured coriaceous substance lying at the top, owing to the red
particles, during coagulation, sinking to the lower portion of
the clot, before coagulation is completed; hence the colourless
state of the upper surface. At the same time, the whole of the
coagulated portion is much firmer than usual. The red particles,
in such case, have time to subside before the coagulation is com-
plete, which takes place more slowly than in health; and this is
conceived to be owing to the blood's possessing a higher degree of
vitality,—a view which is confirmed by some experiments of Mr.
Thackrah. These consisted in receiving blood, taken from the
vessels of a living animal, in a full and uninterrupted streamy into
different cups, and noting the time at which coagulation commenced
in each. Blood, for example, was taken from a horse at four pe-
riods, about a minute and a half being allowed to intervene between
the filling of each cup. In the first cup, coagulation began in eleven
minutes and ten seconds; in the second cup, in ten minutes and
four seconds; in the third cup, in nine minutes and thirty-five se-
conds; and in the fourth cup, in three minutes and twenty seconds.
In another experiment, blood was drawn into three separate cups,
from the veins of a slaughtered ox, the first of which was filled in
the first flow ; the second about three minutes afterwards; and the
third a short time before the death of the animal. Coagulation
commenced in the first cup in,two minutes and thirty seconds; in
the second, in one minute and thirty-five seconds; and in the third,
in one minute and ten seconds. In a similar experiment, coagula-
tion commenced, in the first cup, in two minutes and ten seconds;
in the second, in one minute and forty-five seconds; and in the
third, in thirty-five seconds.
LIFE.
509
Similar phenomena are found to occur in the human subject.
Blood, to the amount of about a pint and a half, was taken from
the arm of a female labouring under fever. A portion of this, re-
ceived into a cup on its first effusion, remained fluid seven mi-
nutes; a similar quantity, taken immediately before tying up the
arm, was coagulated in three minutes and thirty seconds. Of
blood, taken as in the last experiment, from the arm of a man, the
first portion began to coagulate in seven minutes; the last in four.
The vitality of the system, and with it the vitality of the blood,
being diminished by each successive abstraction of that fluid, it
coagulated or died sooner and sooner in proportion as it was pre-
viously more and more enfeebled.
It is obvious, however, that if these and other arguments lead to
a belief in the vitality of the blood, they are equally favourable,—
many of them at least,—to the life of the chyle; which, we have
seen, accurately resembles the blood in every property, except in
that of coloration; and if we admit the blood to be possessed of
life, a question arises, respecting the part at which the nutritive
substances, taken into the system, become converted into the nature
of the being they are destined to nourish, and receive the principle
of life. This must be either through the admixture of the fluids
poured out from the supra-diaphragmatic portions of the alimentary
canal, from those of the stomach or small intestine, or owing to
the mysterious and inappreciable action exerted by the chyliferous
radicles themselves, which separate the same fluid, chyle, from
every substance that may be submitted to their action.
These are the only fluids that have been suspected to be endow-
ed with vitality. None of the others exhibit analogous phenomena,
when exposed to similar agencies.
On the whole, we are led to the conclusion, that, the vital prin-
ciple animates both solids and fluids, but all that we seem to know
regarding it is—in the language of Dr. Barclay, "that all the
organisms of animals and plants are formed out of fluids, and that
in a certain species of fluid, secreted from the parent, and after-
wards inclosed in a very thin and transparent vesicle, there is a
living organizing principle, which also acts upon the fluid in a way
which we know not, forming out of it a regularly organized sys-
tem of solids, and forming not only the rudiments of that system,
but causing it afterwards to be nourished, and to grow through the
medium of fluids, which are moved and distributed under the in-
fluence of this organizing animating principle."
Our knowledge being limited to this category, we are compelled
to study life in its results or manifestations. These,as we have seen,
constitute the science of biology or physiology.
510 death.
OF DEATH.
It has wisely entered into the views of Providence, that the
existence of all organized bodies should be temporary. Yet we
find considerable difference amongst them, in this respect. Whilst
some of the lower classes of animals and vegetables are no sooner
ushered into being than a process of decay appears to commence;
others require the lapse of ages for their various developments and
declensions; and, as a general principle, those, in which the attain-
ment of growth has been slow, have the period of decrease pro-
portionably protracted; whilst, where maturity has been rapidly
attained, decay as rapidly supervenes.
The ages of man, we have seen, are numerous and protracted.
For a time, the parts of the frame, that are concerned in his deve-
lopment, unceasingly deposite the necessary particles by a process
as beautiful and as systematic, as it is mysterious, until ultimately
the growth, peculiar to the species and the individual, is attained.
At this point, the preponderance, which previously existed in the
action of the exhalants over the absorbents, appears to cease. All
is equality; but ere long, the exhalants fall off in their wonted
activity; the fluids decrease in quantity; the solids become more
rigid; and all those changes supervene that we have described
as characterizing the decline of life, and the approach of that phe-
nomenon which has now to be considered.
Death is the necessary, total, and permanent cessation of those
functions, by which the presence of life is characterized. This
cessation may happen at all ages, from accident or disease; a few
only ceasing gradually to live by the effects of age alone. Hence
a distinction has been made into that kind of death, which is
produced by the gradual wear and tear of the organs, and that
which cuts off the being prematurely from existence. The former
has been termed, by some physiologists, senile or natural, the
latter accidental. These differ considerably in their physiology;
and will, therefore, require a distinct consideration.
1. Beath from old age. The natural period of life is different
in different individuals. It varies according to numerous appreci-
able and inappreciable circumstances;—the original constitution of
the individual; the habits of life; the locality in which he maybe
situated, &c. Whilst some countries are remarkable for their lon-
gevity, others surprise us by the short period that is allotted for
the natural duration of life.
Blumenbach asserts, that by an accurate examination of numer-
ous bills of mortality, he has ascertained the fact, that a considera-
ble proportion of Europeans reach their 84th year, but that few
DEATH.
511
exceed it; whilst, according to Foder^, in the insalubrious region
of Brenne, in France, nature begins to retrograde, at from 20 to
30; and 50 years is the usual term of existence.
Haller noted one thousand cases of centenarians; sixty-two of
from 110 to 120 years; twenty-nine of from 120 to 130; and fifteen
who had attained from 130 to 140 years. Beyond this advanced
age, examples of longevity are much more rare and less sufficiently
attested; yet we have some well authenticated cases of the kind.
Thomas Parr was born in 1635; married when at the age of 120;
retained his vigour till 140; and died at the age of 152, from plethora
—it was supposed—induced by change of diet. Harvey dissected
him and found no appearance of decay in any organ. Henry Jen-
kins, who died in Yorkshire, in 1670, is an authentic instance of
the greatest longevity on record. He lived 169 years.
It would not seem, that the natural period of life has differed
much in postdiluvian periods. The Psalmist writes:—
" The days of our years are threescore and ten; and if by rea-
son of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour
and sorrow, for it is soon cut off, and we fly away." And when
Barzillai excused himself for not visiting the royal palace at
Jerusalem, he observed to the king:—
" I am this day fourscore years old, and can I discern between
good and evil? can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink?
can I hear any more the voice of singing men or singing women?
wherefore, then, should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord
the king?"
It is not easy to indicate the character of organization which is
most conducive to longevity and to health. It has been supposed,
however, and with some probability, that the state of the nervous
system is greatly concerned ; for the pathologist looks to this part
of the frame as the commencement of many fatal maladies.
Generally, the aged individual sinks silently to death, in the
manner we have described under decrepitude, totally unconscious
of all that surrounds him. At other times, however, he preserves
his sensorial powers to the last, and may be capable of locomotion;
until, owing to some oppression of one or other of the vital func-
tions during sleep, it becomes the sleep of death;—the elasticity
of the organs being insufficient to throw off the oppression and re-
sume their functions. At other times, a slight febrile irritation
will be the prelude to dissolution. The great characteristic of this
kind of death—as pointed out by Bichat in one of the best of his
excellent productions*—is, that animal life terminateslong before
organic life. Death takes place in detail;—the animal functions,
which connect the aged with the objects around him being anni-
hilated, long before those that are concerned in his nutrition.
Death, in other words, takes place from the circumference towards
* Eecherches physiologigues sur la vie et la mort.
512 death.
the centre, whilst, in accidental or premature death, thc annihila-
tion of the functions begins in the centre and extends to the
circumference. As vitality gradually recedes, in the aged, from
the exterior, one of the great centres of vitality—brain, heart
or lungs—stops for an instant. The powers are insufficient to re-
store the action, and total death necessarily ensues.
It has been an interesting inquiry with physiologists to deter-
mine the cause of death, thus naturally occurring. The opinions
have been various, but such causes as affect the three great vital
functions seem to be most entitled to consideration. These
have been supposed to be, First, ossification of the arteries, occa-
sioning an obstacle to the free circulation of blood in the parts;
Secondly, ossification of the cartilages of the ribs, and diminution
of the capillary system of the lungs, preventing sanguification;
and Thirdly, shrivelling and gradual induration of the nervous
system, ultimately rendering it unfit for innervation, &c. These
are the physical circumstances or changes, which may give occa-
sion to the final cessation of the vital phenomena, but, after all, the
difficulty remains,—and one that is insolvable,—to explain the cause
why these changes themselves occur in the organs essential to vi-
tality. We say it is insolvable, for until we have learned the na-
ture of life, which seems far beyond our comprehension in the
present state of our knowledge, it is obviously impracticable to un-
derstand the phenomena that arise from its gradual declension and
final extinction.
It is not common, however, for death to occur in this quiet and
gradual manner. Man is liable to numerous diseases, from the
earliest to the latest period of existence, many of which are of an
extremely fatal character. It was admitted by Sydenham, whose
estimate cannot be regarded as more than an approximation, that
two-thirds of mankind die of acute diseases; and that of the re-
maining one-third, two-thirds, or two-ninths of the whole, die of
consumption, leaving, consequently, only one-ninth to perish from
other chronic maladies, and from pure old age. How small, then,
must be the number of those that expire from decrepitude simply?
2. Accidental death.—This term has been used, by many phy-
siologists, to include all kinds of death that befal mankind in the
course of their career, and before the natural term ; the cause con-
sisting in the supervention of some accidental, organic lesion,
which arrests the vital movements before they would cease of
themselves. This kind of death differs essentially from that we
have been considering. The individual is here, perhaps, in the
full possession of all his faculties; his organs have been, previously,
to all appearance, in the most favourable condition for the pro-
longation of vitality, and his death, instead of being natural, and
unperceived in its approaches by the individual himself, is usually
forced and violent.
Every species of sudden death commences by the interruption
death.
513
of the circulation, respiration, or the action of the encephalon.
One of these three functions first ceases, and the others die in suc-
cession. Each will demand a few remarks.
1. Beath beginning in the heart.—When,—owing to fatal syn-
cope, to wounds of the heart or great vessels, or to the rupture of
an aneurism,—the heart is struck with death, the cessation of the
functions is speedy. Sensation and motion are lost; respiration is
arrested, and death occurs,—if the cause of the cessation of the
heart's action be suddenly smd sufficiently applied,—almost in-
stantaneously. The order, in which death takes place in the dif-
ferent organs, is as follows. The heart failing to propel its blood,
the brain no longer receives the necessary impulse for the conti-
nuance of its functions; it therefore ceases to act; the consequence
of this is the death of all those organs that receive their nervous
influx from it; all voluntary motion is annihilated, as well as the
action of the respiratory muscles. The mechanical phenomena of
respiration are, therefore, arrested ; and air is no longer received
into the chest. From this cause, then, the chymical phenomena
of respiration would cease, were they not previously rendered un-
necessary by the cessation of the heart's action. The phenomena
of nutrition and calorification,—the functions of the capillaries,—
yield last.
2. Beath beginning in the brain.—In this case, owing to the
loss of innervation,—as in severe injury done to the head, or in
the worst cases of apoplexy,—the sensorial functions first cease,
and the individual lies deprived of all sensation, volition, and men-
tal or moral manifestation. Respiration becomes progressively
more irregular and laborious, and ultimately ends. The order of
death is here as follows:—the interruption of the brain's action de-
stroys that of the voluntary and mixed muscles; the mechanical
phenomena of respiration therefore cease, and then the chymical.
This is followed by cessation of the heart's action, owing to the
united loss of nervous influx from the brain,—and to the blood
being no longer aerated in the lungs, but returned to it in a con-
dition not adapted for the maintenance of its contractility. To the
cessation of the heart's action succeeds the loss of the general
circulation ; and lastly, that of the functions of nutrition.
3. Beath beginning in the lungs.—The action of the lungs
may be destroyed in two ways: either the mechanical phenomena
of respiration may first cease, as in hanging, strangulation, &c,
where the air is prevented from reaching the lungs; or the chymi-
cal phenomena may be first arrested, as where air is breathed,
which does not contain oxygen, but yet can be respired for a
lfIn the first case, the order of death is as follows:—the mechani-
cal phenomena cease; to this succeeds cessation of the chymical
phenomena, owing to the supply of air being cut off; the blood is
Vol. II. 65
514
DEATH.
now returned to the heart without being aerated, and therefore un-
fit for supporting that organ in action. It continues to beat, how-
ever, for a time; black biood is consequently sent to the brain and
to every organ; the brain dies, and the other parts in succession.
Where the chymical phenomena first cease, the suspension of the
action of the brain follows for the cause already assigned; and the
mechanical phenomena of respiration are not arrested, until the
nervous influx is cut off by the death of that organ.
The immediate phenomena of death and the order of their suc-
cession are easily understood, where one of the great centres of vi-
tality is suddenly destroyed, either from accident or disease, but
where death does not follow immediately, and time is allowed for
a series of morbid phenomena to be established, the problem be-
comes much more complicated. Some organ or structure is first
deranged; and, owing to the intimate connexion, which we have
elsewhere seen to exist between the various functions, general de-
rangement or irritation follows, and the individual dies, worn out
by such irritation, but without our being exactly able to under-
stand on which of the great centres that dispense vitality, the ma-
lign influence has been exerted, or whether it may not have
affected all equally.
In inflammation of the brain, heart, or lungs, we may presume,
that the functions of these organs have been respectively an-
nihilated by the diseased action; and that as such functions are
essential to the existence of vitality, death may arise in the manner
we have already described; but we frequently find the bowels
affected with inflammation, or the peritoneum lining the interior
of the abdomen; and the case, if neglected, is as surely attended
with fatal consequences as the same morbid affection of the organs
termed vital; and this in a space of time so short, as not to enable
us to understand the nature of the mode of action of the lethiferous
agent. But that it must exert its influence on one or more
of the great centres of vitality is manifest. Perhaps in every
case, the heart yields first, not suddenly but gradually; the brain
failing to receive its due impulse, becomes progressively unfit for
transmitting the nervous influence to the muscles; insensibility
gradually supervenes, until it has attained such an extent, that no
nervous influence is sent to the respiratory muscles, when cessa-
tion of their action naturally ensues. Of the nature, however, of
the morbid condition of the heart, thus induced by disease, we are
totally ignorant. It is fashionable to say, that death is produced
by irritation, but this is merely concealing our deficiency of know-
ledge under a term, the explanation of the agency of which com-
prises the whole difficulty. Adelon thinks, that the brain gene-
rally gives way first in these cases; in consequence of which the
respiration is disturbed, the lung becomes engorged, the respira-
tion difficult, and death occurs as in a case of gradual asphyxia.
DEATH.
515
There is something extremely obscure in these cases. The author
has recently left the bedside of a deceased friend, fifty-one years
of age, where the intellectual manifestations and the nervous dis-
tribution to the muscles of voluntary motion were executed, even
vigorously, until a short time prior to dissolution. For several
days previously, the heart had acted feebly, irregularly, and inter-
mittingly ; and the chest had heaved laboriously, yet without the
existence of pain or the usual signs of inflammation, although sueh
had been previously present. In this case, the first source of mis-
chief was seated, probably, in the respiratory organs, and the diffi-
culty of transmitting the blood through them occasioned the failure
of the powers of the heart. Finally, its action ceased first, and the
other functions failed in due succession.
These remarks are chiefly applicable to death, as it arises from
the numerous acute affections, which are so fatal to mankind; but
it may occur also from those, that persist for a great length of time,
and destroy after months or years of morbid irritation, as in cases
of calculi of the bladder, enlargements of the viscera, &c. In these
cases, also, death must result ultimately from destruction of one
or other of the vital functions,—respiration, circulation or inner-
vation ; but in a manner so gradual, that it takes place nearly in
the same manner as in old age; except that, in all cases, it pro-
ceeds from the centre to the circumference; the great internal
functions first ceasing, and afterwards their dependencies,—a dif-
ference, which explains why we are justified in attempting means
of resuscitation in sudden death, whilst it would be the height of
absurdity to have recourse to them where,
"Like a clock worn out with eating time,
The wheels of weary life at last stand still."
The renovation could only be effected by the substitution of new,
for the worn out, machinery.
For some time before dissolution, both in death from old age
and from disease, the indications of the fatal event become more
and more evident. The speech grows embarrassed, the ideas are
incoherent, the hands, if raised by the effort of the will, fall inertly
into their former position, the laboured respiration occasions in-
sufficient oxygenation of the blood, and the distress excites an at-
tempt at respiration which the debility renders nearly ineffectual;
distressing yawnings and gaspings occur to remedy the defective
pulmonary action, and the whole respiratory system is in forcible
and agitated motion; the teeth at times gnashing, and convulsive
contractions occurring at the corner of the mouth. The heart be-
comes °radually unable to propel the blood with the necessary
force into the arteries, so that it ceases to reach the extremities of
the body,—as the hands, feet, nose and ears,—which grow cold, and
a cold clammy moisture oozes from the vessels. In experiments
516
DEATH.
on animals, the blood is found to be driven no farther than to the
feet; then to the groin; afterwards, it reaches only to the kidneys,
and a kind of reflux occurs through the space along which it had
previously been urged forwards. The flux and reflux now reach
no farther than the diaphragm, and gradually retreat, until the
blood flows back upon the heart itself, which now stops for a time,
and then makes an effort to free itself from the contained fluid.
The heart's action and respiration are imperfectly performed for a
few times at irregular intervals, till at length the contractility of
the organ is entirely gone. Respiration ceases by a strong expul-
sion of air from the chest,—often accompanied with a sigh or a
groan, and probably arising, partly from the relaxation of the in-
spiratory muscles, and still more from the elasticity of the carti-
lages of the ribs. Hence it is that, in common language, to expire
is synonymous with to die.
In cases of sudden death, the heart will continue to beat for some
time after innervation and respiration have entirely ceased. Un-
der such circumstances the left ventricle dies first, the obstruction
to respiration cutting off its supply of blood.
For some time immediately preceding dissolution, there is
usually a peculiar mixed expression of countenance,—a compound
of apparent mental and corporeal suffering,—which has given oc-
casion to its being called the agony. It is characterized by facial
indications, which were first well described by Hippocrates, and
from him called Fades Hippocratica. The nose is pinched, the
eyes are sunken, the temples hollow, the ears cold and retracted,
the skin of the forehead tense, the lips pendent, relaxed and cold,
&c. The eye, during this condition, especially when dissolution
approaches, is fixed and slightly elevated, being kept in that posi-
tion, according to Sir Charles Bell, by the power of the brain
over the voluntary muscles of the eye being lost, and the organ
,being given up to the action of the oblique or involuntary mus-
cles. In this view, the state is one of insensibility, not of suf-
fering.
Although, from the moment that respiration and circulation
permanently cease, the body may be regarded as unquestionably
dead, vital properties yet remain in some of the organs, the pre-
sence of which is an evidence that vitality has previously and re-
cently existed. The functions, which persist after the animal has
become dead to surrounding objects, are those that belong to the
organic class. Animal heat, for example, may still be elicited for
a time, in the internal organs more especially, and it may require
several hours, in death caused suddenly or speedily, by accident
or disease, before the whole body is cold. Absorption is, also, said
to have occurred after death, and the beard and hair to have grown;
it is more probable, however, that, in the last cases, the apparent
elongation may have been owing to the shrinking of the integu-
DEATH.
517
ments. The rectum is very frequently evacuated after dissolution;
and cases have occurred where a child has been born by the contrac-
tion of the uterus after the death of the mother. The most sensible
evidence, however, of the continuance of a vital property after dis-
solution, is in the case of the muscles, which, as we have mention-
ed in another place, can be made to contract powerfully on the
application of an appropriate stimulus, even for an hour or two
after death. The case, cited from Dr. Ure, under muscular mo-
tion, is full of interest in this and other respects. Nysten, from
his experiments, inferred, that the parts cease to contract in the
following order:—the left ventricle, the large intestine, the small
intestine, the stomach, the bladder, the right ventricle, the oesopha-
gus, the iris, the different voluntary muscles, and lastly, the auri-
cles, particularly the right auricle.
The body cools gradually at the surface and especially towards
the extremities, with a rapidity proportionate to the privation of
fluids, and the coldness of the atmosphere. Whilst refrigeration
is going on, the blood remains more or less fluid; and, owing to the
arteries emptying themselves, by virtue of their elasticity, of their
contained blood, the fluid generally accumulates in the venae cavae,
the auricles of the heart, and the vessels of the lungs. By virtue
of its gravity, it collects also in the most depending parts, occa-
sioning sugillations or livid marks, which might be mistaken for
bruises inflicted during life; but may be distinguished from them
by attention. It will be readily understood, that the situation of
the blood in the vessels may differ somewhat according to the
vital organ which first ceases its functions. If the action of the
heart stops, the lung is empty; if the lung or heart ceases, the lung
and the right side of the heart—with the vessels communicating
with it—are surcharged with blood, whilst the organs of the cor-
poreal circulation are almost empty.
During the progress of refrigeration, and especially soon after
death, the muscles are soft and relaxed, so that the limbs fall
into that position to which the force of gravity would bring
them; the eyes are half open; the lips and lower jaw pendent,
and the pupil dilated. When the body, however, is cold, the
blood is coagulated, and white or yellowish coagula exist, es-
pecially in the cavities of the heart, which were at one time
supposed to be morbid formations, and termed polypi. They
take the shape, more or less, of the cavity in which they are found.
Lastly, the muscles become firmly contracted, so that no part can
now be moved, without the application of considerable force; and,
in this state, they continue until the natural progress towards pu-
trefaction again softens their fibres. This has been regarded by
physiologists as arising, like the coagulation of the blood, from the
last exertion of that residue of vital power which the body retains
after the period of apparent dissolution. With more propriety,
518
death.
perhaps, it may be assigned to physical alterations taking place in
the organs, owing to the total loss of those powers, which were
previously antagonists to such changes.
It might seem from the previous enumeration of the signs of
death, that no difficulty could possibly arise in discriminating be-
tween a living and a dead body. Cases have, however, occurred,
where such difficulty has been great and perplexing. Many of the
signs may exist, and yet the person be merely in a state of sus-
pended animation; and in certain instances it has even been con-
sidered advisable to wait for the manifestations of the putrefactive
process, before the body should be consigned to the grave. The fol-
lowing case, given by Dr. Gordon Smith, strongly exhibits the
embarrassment that may occasionally arise. A stout young man
had been subject to epilepsy, which became combined with mad-
ness. On this account it was necessary to remove him to a privato
asylum in the neighbourhood of London, where he died suddenly,
in a violent epileptic paroxysm. The body was removed to the
residence of his friends, soon after death, when the necessary pre-
parations for interment were made. On paying attention to the
corpse it was found, that the limbs were quite pliable; that the eye
was neither collapsed nor glazed; and that the whole features re-
tained their full natural appearance as during life. A surgeon, who
for years had been in the habit of attending him, was sent for;
and although he could find no indications of vitality, he prudently
recommended that the interment should not take place until de-
composition had began to manifest itself. In the course of two
or three days, appearances still continuing the same, a physician
was called in, who concurred in the recommendation that had been
already given. Fifteen days from the supposed time of his death
had elapsed, when Dr. Smith's informant had an opportunity of
inspecting the body. At this time the countenance retained the
appearance described, but the eye seemed beginning to sink, and
some degree of lividity had commenced on the surface of the abdo-
men. The joints were still flexible. At this time a very eminent
professor of anatomy viewed the body, and considering the hesita-
tion that had prevailed to be altogether groundless, he appointed the
following day to examine it internally. The head was accordingly
opened, and a considerable extravasation of blood found in the
posterior part of the cranium, between the skull and dura mater
and between the membranes and substance of the brain. No serum
was detected in the ventricles; but the brain itself was remarkably
hard. This was sixteen days after death. On the following day,
the body was interred. A clamour now arose amongst the neigh-
bours, that he had been prematurely handed over to the anatomist.
The body was exhumed; an inquest was held; and the evidence of
the medical gentlemen demanded. The jury, of course, returned
a verdict of " apoplexy."
DEATH.
519
It may hence, become a matter of medico-legal inquiry to verify
the existence of death, in cases where doubt prevails, from the per-
son being in a state of apparent death,—natural or assumed.
Perhaps the most singular case on record, of suspension of two
of the most important of the vital functions, occurred to the dis-
tinguished John Hunter. In the year 1769, being then forty-one
years of age, of a sound constitution, and subject to no disease ex-
cept a casual fit of the gout, he was suddenly attacked with a pain
in the stomach, which was speedily succeeded by a total suspen-
sion of the action of the heart and of the lungs. By violent exer-
tion of the will he occasionally inflated the lungs, but over the heart
he had no control whatever; nor, although he was attended by four
of the chief physicians in London from the first, could the action
of either be restored by medicine. In about three-quarters of an
hour, however, the vital actions began to return of their own ac-
cord, and in two hours he was perfectly recovered. " In this
attack," says his biographer, Sir Everard Home, "there was a
suspension of the most material involuntary actions, even involun-
tary breathing was stopped; while sensation, with its consequences,
as thinking and acting, with the will, were perfect, and all the
voluntary actions were as strong as ever."
At one period it was universally credited, that substances could
be administered, which might arrest the whole of the vital func-
tions or cause them to go on so obscurely as to escape detection.
This erroneous popular notion is exhibited, in the description of
the action of the drug, administered by Friar Lawrence to
Juliet:—
" Take then this phial,
And this distilled liquor drink thou off;
When presently thro' all thy veins sball run
A cold and drowsy humor, which shall seize
Each vital spirit; for no pulse shall keep
His natural progress, but soon cease to beat.
No warmth, no breath shall testify thou lives!;
The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade
To paly ashes; the eyes windows fall
Like death, when he shuts up the day of life;
And in this borrow'd likeness of shrunk death,
Thou shalt continue two-and-forty hours,
And then awake as from a pleasant sleep."
Death may also be feigned for sinister purposes. The author
recollects a body having been brought in a sac to the house of
Mr. Brookes, the distinguished anatomist of London, the vitality
of which was detected by the warmth of a protruded toe. It was
that of a robber, who had chosen this method of obtaining admis-
sion within the premises.
The celebrated case of Colonel Townshend exhibits the power
occasionally possessed over the vital functions; and Dr. Cleghorn
of Glasgow knew an individual, who could feign death, and had
520
DEATH.
so completely the power of suspending or at least of diminishing
the action of the heart, that its pulsations were imperceptible.
Lastly, the character of the death, as to violence or gradual ex-
tinction, is often exhibited in the physiognomy of the dead.
Where it has taken place during a convulsion, or by agents that
have forcibly and suddenly arrested respiration or innervation, the
countenance may be livid, the jaws clenched, the tongue protruded
and caught between the teeth, and the eyes forced, as it were,
from their sockets; but usually in death from old age or even from
acute and tormenting disease, whatever distortion or mark of suf-
fering may have existed prior to dissolution, subsides after the
spirit has passed, and the features exhibit a placidity of expres-
sion, singularly contrasting with their previously excited condi-
tion. For effect, however, the poet and the painter suit their de-
scriptions of death to the character of the individual whom they
are depicting. The tyrant falls convulsed and agonized, whilst
the tender and delicate female is described to have progressively
withered, till
" At last,
Without a groan, or sigh, or glance to show
A parting pang, the spirit from her past:
And they who watch'd her nearest could not know
The very instant, till the change that cast
Her sweet face into shadow, dull and slow
Glazed o'er her eyes—the beautiful, the black,
Oh! to possess such lustre, and then lack."
Brnox, Don Juan, Canto IV.
Warwick's description of the frightful physiognomy of Duke
Humphrey,after death from suffocation, is scarcely overdrawn:—
" But see his face is black and full of blood;
His eyeballs farther out than when he liv'd,
Staring full ghastly like a strangled man:
His hair uprearM, his nostrils stretch'd with struggling:
His hands abroad display'd, as one that grasp'd
And tugg'd for life, and was by strength subdu'd.
Look on the sheets, his hair you see is sticking.-
His well-proportion'd beard made rough and rugged,
Like to the summer's corn by tempest lodg'd.
It cannot be but he was murder'd here:
The least of all these signs were probable."
King Henry VI. p. 2. Act. III.
How different is this picture from that of the countenance of the
young being, who has gradually sunk to death in the manner
above described. The beauty is unextinguished, and the paleness
and lividity of death have taken the place of the colours of life;
yet the wonted physiognomy may remain.
" Hush'd were his Gertrude's lips! but still their bland
And beautiful expression seem'd to melt
With love that could not die!" Cami>bei.l.
DEATH.
521
Perhaps one of the most beautiful and accurate pictures, drawn
by the immortal Byron, is his description of the serenity of coun-
tenance observable in most fresh corpses; an expression which, by
association, is deeply affecting, but not without its consolation to
the friends of the departed.
He, who hath bent him o'er the dead,
Ere the first day of death is fled;
Before decay's effacing fingers
Have swept those lines where beauty lingers:
And mark'd the mild, angelic air,
The rapture of repose that's there:
The fix'd yet tender traits, that streak
The languor of the placid cheek;
And but for that sad, shrouded eye,
That fires not,—wins not,—weeps not now:
And but for that chill, changeless brow,
Where cold obstruction's apathy
Appals the gazing mourner's heart,
As if to him it could impart
The doom he dreads, yet dwells upon:
Yes but for these and these alone,
Some moments, ay, one treach'rous hour,
He still might doubt the tyrant's power.
So fair, so calm, so softly seal'd
The first, last look by death reveal'd.
Vol. II.
66
INDEX.*
A.
Aberration of refragibility, 148.
-------- of sphericity, 148.
Abortion, II. 332.
Absence of mind, H. 426.
Absorption, II. 1.
---------accidental, H. 61.
---------cutaneous, H. 62.
---------of drinks, II. 17.
---------of excrementitial secre-
tions, II. 24.
——------internal, II. 58.
---------interstitial, n. 58, n. 166.
---------of lymph, II. 25.
---------of recrementitial secretions,
II. 24.
1 of solids, H. 166.
---------venous, II. 35, 53.
Abstinence, deaths from, 465.
■ effects of, 464.
Academia del cimento, experiments of
the, on the gizzards of birds, 428.
Acid, acetic, where found, 19.
----benzoic, where found, 19.
----lactic, where found, 19.
----lithic, where found, 17.
----muriatic, where found, 14.
■ nutritive properties of, 448.
-----oxalic, where met with, 19.
----phosphoric, where met with, 13.
-----sulpho-cyanic, where met with,
18.
-----uric, where met with, 17.
-----xanthic, where met with, 17.
Adipocire, how formed, 288.
Adipous exhalation, II. 206.
Admiration, expression of, 407.
Adolescence, age of, H. 397.
Affections, what, 252.
African race, II. 467.
Age, critical, II. 279, H. 401.
Ages, the, II. 384.
Air, atmospheric, properties of, H. 73.
---expulsion of, from the intestines,
513.
--- in the intestines, nature of the, 506,
511.
— in the stomach, nature of the, 499.
Albino, state of the eyes of the, 171.
Album grxcum, what, 509.
Albumen, where met with, 15.
1 concrete, where met with, 15.
------- liquid, where met with, 15.
------- nutritive properties of, 449.
Aliments, classification of, 447.
Alphabet, how formed, 389.
Anaphrodisia, H. 184.
Androgynous being, H. 256.
Angle, facial, 256.
-----occipital, 258.
Anguish with bodily suffering, expres-
sion of, 406.
Anhelation, II. 93.
Animalcules, spermatic, H. 267.
Animalculists, II. 306.
Animality, what, 7.
Animals and vegetables, differences be-
tween, 7.
------cold-blooded, what, H. 171.
------warm-blooded, n. 171.
Appetite, physiology of the, 461.
American race, H. 468.
Anatomie vivante, referred to, 27.
Antipathies, II. 439.
Apparatus, what, 26.
Arsenuretted hydrogen, effects of the
respiration of, H. 113.
Arteries, circulation in the, II. 139.
-------- described, II. 123.
—---- locomotion of, II. 154.
Asiatic race, H. 468.
Association, effects of, II. 460.
Atrabiliary capsules, II. 29.
Attitudes, 340.
--------- erect, 340.
---------horizontal, 347.
---------on one foot, 346.
--------- on the knees, 346.
--------- sitting, 346.
Audition, 113, 125.
Aura seminis, what, II. 267.
—---------insufficient for effecting
fecundation, II. 292.
Australian race, II. 469.
Axis, cerebro-spinal, 91.
Azote,effects of the respiration of, 11.112.
------protoxide of, respiration of the,
H. 110.
------source of, in the food, 443.
------where found, 13.
* II. refers to the Second Volume.
524
INDEX.
B.
Bearing a load, physiology of, 358.
Beastings, what, n. 337.
Belching, 517.
Bewegungssinn, what, 318.
Bier-right, II. 440.
Biffin, Miss, her case, 84.
Bile, colouring principle of the, 21.
—— secretion of the, II. 225.
----use of, in digestion, 505.
----yellow colouring principle of the,
18.
Biliary apparatus, II. 225.
Black man of Gmelin, II. 467.
Blood, agency of the, in health and dis-
ease, II. 159.
-----coloration of the, II. 199.
■ coagulation of the, II. 50.
-----fibre of the, II. 47.
-----forces that propel the, n. 148.
-----forces that retard the, II. 153.
-----globules of the, II. 40.
-----infusion of substances into the,
II. 161.
-----life of the, II. 52, II. 507.
red colouring principle of the,
17.
117.
transfusion of, II. 160.
velocity of the, II. 155.
venous, H. 39.
venous, inspiration of, II. 148.
weight of the, in the body, II.
Body, human, specific gravity of the,
354.
Bones, 289.
------spongy, use of, in olfaction, 107.
Borborygmus, what, 513.
Bosjesman female, generative organs
of the, H. 269.
---------------, nates of the, II. 208.
Brace, Julia, deaf, dumb and blind, 242.
Brain, convolutions of the, an index of
the mind, 261.
-----decussation of the, 306.
-----fatty matter of the, 18.
-----insensible, 63.
-----movements of the, 62.
-----the organ of the mind, 232.
-----a plurality of organs, 263.
■ protections of the, 42.
1 ratio of the weight of the, to
other parts, 254.
Byron, admiral, effects of prolonged
hunger on, 462.
-----lord's, picture of suffering from
shipwreck, 464.
Calcium, where found, 14.
Caloric, laws of, II. 170.
Cahridti of Chaussier, II. 183.
Calorification, II. 170.
--------seat of, II. 183.
theories of, II. 184.
Capillary circulation, II. 144.
Carbon, where found, 13.
Carbonic acid, effects of the respiration
of, II. 112.
oxide, effects of the respira-
tion of, II. 112.
Cartilages, 294.
Caseine, where met with, 17.
Catalini, Madame, her extent of voice,
398.
Catamenia, what, II. 279.
Caucasian race, II. 465.
Chabert, M., his resistance to heat, 79,
U. 180.
Cheese, nutritive properties of, 449.
Cheselden's case of the boy restored to
sight, 219.
Childhood, age of, II. 393.
Chinese race, U. 468.
Chlorine, where found, 14.
Chyle, description of the, II. 8.
where formed, 500.
Chylification, 500.
Chyliferous apparatus, II. 4.
Chylosis, II. 4.
Chyme, 476, 482.
Chymification, 476.
Circulation, H. 116.
---------in arteries, H. 139.
---------in birds, II. 163.
---------capillary, II. 144.
---------in fishes, II. 163.
---------in the heart, II. 129.
---------in insects, II. 163.
----——— in mammalia, II. 162.
---------in reptiles, H. 163.
---------in veins, II. 147.
Circulatory apparatus, II. 118.
Circumcision in the female, II. 270.
Clay, as an article of diet, 438.
Climacteric years, H. 404.
Coenaesthesis, 226.
Cold, effects of severe, II. 176.
Colouring matter of organs, exhalation
of the, II. 210.
Colustrum, what, II. 337.
Colours, accidental, 188.
—— complimentary, 189.
- harmonic, 189.
————- insensibility to, 210.
opposite, 189.
Combustibility, preternatural, II. 47.
Combustion, spontaneous, H. 47.
Commodus, his feats, 295.
Composition of man, 12.
Conception at different ages, II. 318.
' at different seasons, U.318.
INDI
Conception, physiology of, II. 288.
---------signs of, II, 317.
Concord, what, 124.
Condiments, 459.
Consonants, 449.
Contractility de tissu, 33.
---------par defaut d''extension, 33.
Cookery, effects of, 457.
Copulation, H. 285.
Corpus luteum, H. 295, n. 298.
Coughing, II. 89.
Cowper, Spencer, his case, 356.
Craniological system of Gall, 268.
Craniology, 267.
Cranioscopy, 267.
Cranology, 267.
Cretinism, H. 455, H. 474.
Cry, 384.
Crying of animals, H. 193.
Crypsorchides, H. 261.
Crypts, sebaceous, 73.
Cutaneous exhalation, H. 211.
Cutis anserina, 409.
Cutting, Margaret, her case, 382.
D.
Deaf, dumb, intelligence of the, 240.
----------and blind, 241.
Death, H. 510.
Declamation, 398.
Decreptitude, II. 403.
Defecation, 512.
Deglutition, 472.
--------- of air, 476.
Dentition, first, II. 389.
-------second, II. 393.
Depuration, cutaneous, II. 217.
---------urinary, H. 232.
Derivation, H. 148.
Desires, instinctive, 228.
Diastole of the heart, II. 130.
Diet regulated by the Egyptians, He-
brews, &c. 440.
----variety of, necessary for man, 445.
Differences, acquired, amongst man-
kind, H. 451.
---------individual, H. 445.
---------natural, H. 451.
Digestibility, comparative, of aliments,
455.
Digestion, 414.
-------- buccal, 470.
-------in the large intestine, 507.
-------- in the small intestine, 500.
-------- oral, 470.
------— physiology of, 460.
--------physiology of, of liquids, 514.
-------- physiology of, of solids, 461.
-------■ of the stomach after death,
493.
-------- theories of, 484.
sx. 525
Digestion, theories of, by chymical so-
lution, 486.
-------theories of, by coction, 484.
------- theories of, by fermentation,
485.
-------theories of, by maceration,
486.
-------theories of, by putrefaction,
484.
-------theories of, by trituration,
485.
Digestive organs, 474.
--------------of birds, 426.
--------------of ruminant animals,
424.
Dislodging a stake, physiology of, 358.
Diverticula, II. 157.
Docimasia pulmonum, H. 86.
Dragging a weight, physiology of, 358.
Dreams, H. 410.
------waking, n. 416.
Drinks, 450.
E.
Ear, external, physiology of the, 125.
----internal, physiology of the, 131.
----middle, physiology of the, 127.
----musical, 134.
----trumpet, 122.
Echo, 122.
Egg, incubation of the, n. 340.
Elasticity of tissue, 33.
Elements, inorganic, 3, 21.
--------organic, 4, 15.
-—■-----organic, containing azote,
15.
--------organic, not containing azote,
18.
Emboitement des germes, II. 311.
Emotions, 253.
------- instinctive expressions of the,
411.
Endosmose, 34, II. 482.
Engastrimism, 379.
Epigenesis, II. 302.
Epiglottis, use of the, in deglutition,
474.
Erection, II. 284.
Eructation, 517.
Ethiopian race, II. 467.
Evolution, doctrine of, II. 305.
Exhalants, H. 165.
Exhalations, n. 205.
--------- areolar, II. 211.
--------- external, II. 211.
Exosmose, 34, n. 482.
Expectoration, II. 91.
Expiration, II. 84.
Expression, 359.
—--------depressing, 403.
-- exhilarating, 403.
526
INDEX.
Extract of meat, 16.
Extractive of meat, 16*
Eye, achromatism of the, 169.
----accessory organs to the, 160,176.
----accommodation of the, to distances,
192.
----coats of the, 171.
----dimensions of the, 159.
----insensibility of the, to colours,
209.
----refracting power of the, 167.
----transparent parts of the, 150.
Eyes, corresponding points of the, 203.
---- unequal foci of the, 204.
F.
Face, muscles of the, 400.
Faculties, affective, 231, 252.
-------- emotive, 231.
-------- intellectual, 249.
--------intellectual and moral, phy-
siology of the, 247.
-------- mental, 230.
-------- moral, 252.
--------• of the heart, 231.
Faeces, properties of the, 509.
Fat, exhalation of the, II. 206.
----nutritive properties of, 449.
Fear, expression of, 406.
Fecula, nutritive properties of, 447.
Fecundation, H. 288.
Feeling, common, sense of, 226.
-------of life, 226.
Female, characteristics of the, II. 452.
------ standard, II. 453.
Fibre, what, 26.
-----albugineous, 25.
-----cellular, 24.
-----elementary, 24.
-----laminated, 24.
-----medullary, 25.
-----muscular, 24, 282.
-----nervous, 25.
—----pulpy, 25.
Fibres, primary, 24.
Fibrils with formative appetencies, H.
304.
Fibrine, nutritive properties of, 449.
-------where met with, 16.
Filament, what, 24.
Fish, poisonous, 454.
Flexors, preponderance of the, 339.
Fluid, nervous, 69.
-----of the human body, 26.
Flying, 357.
Foetal existence, II. 339.
Foetus, anatomy of the, II. 339.
------animal functions of the, II. 364.
■------calorification of the, II. 382.
------circulation of the, II. 376.
■------dependencies of the, II. 346.
Foetus, digestion of the, II. 375.
effect of maternal imagination
on the, II. 380.
-----expression of the, n. 365.
-----external senses of the, II. 364.
— increment of the, II. 352.
intellectual and moral faculties
of the, II. 364.
-----internal senses of the, II. 364.
-----motion of the, II. 365.
-----nutrition of the, II. 365.
nutritive functions of the, II.
365.
peculiarities of the, II. 358.
physiology of the, II. 364.
reproductive functions of the,
H. 383.
------respiration of the, II. 375.
secretions of the, II. 382.
Follicle, II. 195.
sebaceous, 73.
Follicular secretions, n. 221.
Food, animal substances used as, 450.
-----birds used as, 452.
-----Crustacea used as, 452.
-----effect of baking on, 458.
-----effect of boiling on, 457.
-----effect of broiling on, 458.
-----effect of cookery on, 457.
-----effect of frying on, 458.
-----effect of roasting on, 458.
-----fish used as, 454.
-----insects used as, 455.
-----molluscous animals used as, 454.
-----of man, 438.
-----prehension of, 467.
-----reptiles used as, 453.
vegetables used as, 455.
Force, vital, H. 480.
Forces, motive, seat of the, 297.
Foreshortening, 213.
Free-martin, 278.
Functions, animal, 41.
---------classification of the, 37.
--------- correlation of, H. 428.
---------nutritive, 414.
---------of man, 37.
---------reproductive, II. 251.
---------table of the, 38.
--------- vegetative, 7.
G.
Galvanism, effects of, on the dead body,
315.
Ganglions, nervous, 57.
Gas animale sanguinis, II. 45.
Gases, deleterious, II. 113.
-----irrespirable, II. 113.
permeability of tissues by, 35.
Gastric juice, 482, 487.
Gelatine, nutritive properties of, 449.
INDEX.
527
Gelatine, where met with, 15.
GemeingefUhl, 226.
Generation, H. 251,
-----■---- ab animalculo maris, II.
312.
---------animalcular, theory of, II.
312.
——------by spontaneous division, H.
256.
■ ----equivocal, n. 251.
---------fissiparous, H. 256.
---------gemmiparous, II. 256.
---------oviparous, II. 256.
---------ovo-viviparous, II. 257.
---------regular, H. 251.
---------spontaneous, H. 251.
---------theories of, II. 302.
---------univocal, II. 251.
---------viviparous, II. 257.
Generative apparatus, II. 258.
Genital organs of the female, II. 268.
----------- of the male, II. 258.
Germs, dissemination of, II. 310.
------encasing of, II. 311.
------vital, Darwin's notion of, n. 304.
Gestation, H. 325.
Gestures, 399.
Girandelli, Madame, her resistance-to
heat, 79.
Gland, described, H. 195.
Glandular secretions, II. 222.
Globuline of the blood, H. 49.
Gluten, nutritive properties of, 449.
Goitre, n. 28, H. 455.
Gras des Cimetiires, 288.
Growth of the body, n. 167.
Gum, nutritive properties of, 448.
Gustation, 87-
H.
Habit, H. 456.
Hjematosis, H. 66, H. 94.
Hair, 73.
Halitus of the blood, H. 45.
Hallucinations, n. 416.
Hand, advantages of the, as an organ of
touch, 83.
Harmony, what, 114.
Hawking, II. 90.
Hearing, immediate functions of, 133.
------improved by cultivation, 140.
------organ of, 113.
-------sense of, 113.
Heart, n. 119.
------a double organ, II. 117.
------circulation through the, II. 129.
.-----suction power of the, II. 148.
Heat, sense of, 73, 225.
Hematine, n. 48.
Hermaphrodism, II. 276.
Hermaphrodite, II. 256, II. 276.
Honeywell, Miss, her case described,
84.
Hunger, 226, 461.
Hunter, Mr. case of, *519.
Hybrids, doctrine of, II. 308.
Hydrogen, effects of the respiration of,
II. 111.
--------where found, 13.
-------- carburetted, effects of the
respiration of, II. 112.
I.
Idiosyncrasy, II. 449.
Illusions, mental, II. 416.
-------optical, 211, 222.
Imagination, effects of the, II. 437.
---------maternal, influence of the,
on the fcetus, II. 380.
Imbibition, 34, II. 56.
Imitation, effects of, II. 461.
Impressions, external, 239.
Impulses, cerebral, 302.
Incubation of the egg, II. 341.
Individualitatssinn, 226.
Infancy, II. 384.
-------first period of, II. 384.
------second period of, II. 389.
------third period of, II. 393.
Inorganic bodies, 1.
Inspiration, H. 84.
---------first, II. 385.
Instinct, II. 492.
Intellect, 248.
Iron, where found, 14.
Irritability, 312, II. 503.
Irritation, constitutional, II. 430.
Itching, 227.
J. *
Joints, 292.
Joy, expression of, 407.
K.
Kalmuck race, II. 468.
Kissing, 402.
L.
Labour, II. 332.
------premature, II. 232.
Lachrymal apparatus, 164.
Lacteals, II. 4.
Lactation, II. 336.
Language, 359.
—-------artificial, 386.
-----—- natural, 384.
■ origin of, 387.
Laughter, II. 92.
-------broad, 403.
■-------of animals, II. 93.
Leaping, 352.
LebensgefUhl, 226.
528
INDEX.
Lebemsinn, 226.
Lenses, various, 147.
Letters, how divided, 390.
Life, II. 480.
Light, 141.
-----colours and decomposition of,
147.
-----diffraction of, 206.
-----duration of the impression of, on
the retina, 224.
-----intensity of, 142.
-----reflection of, 143.
-----refraction of, 144.
-----velocity of, 142.
Likeness of child to parent, remai'ks on
the, II. 315.
Line, facial, 256.
----occipital, 258.
Liquor amnii, n. 348.
Locomotion, nervous system of, 300.
Locomotive influx, 300.
Longsightedness, 198.
Lungenprobe, II. 86.
Lymph, II. 29.
-----coagulable, II. 47.
Lymphatic apparatus, II. 25.
Lymphosis, II. 30.
M.
Magnesium, where found, 15.
Malaria, II. 75.
Malay race, II. 469.
Manganese, where found, 14.
Manhood, age of, II. 400.
Mankind, varieties of, II. 462.
Marks, mother's, II. 380.
Marrow, exhalation of the, II. 209.
Matiere extractive du Bouillon, 16.
Meat, effect of mode of killing on, 451
----influence of age on, 450.
----influence of food on, 451.
----influence of sex on, 450.
Mechanical principles, 324.
Meconium, II. 383.
Medulla oblongata, 50.
------spinalis, 51.
Melody, 125.
Membrane, nictitating, 163.
Menses, II. 279.
Menstruation, II. 279.
-----------vicarious, II. 281.
Milk, II. 338.
Mind, not proportionate to the state o
the senses, 240.
----seat of the, 280.
Miscarriage, n. 332.
Mitchell, the boy, case of, 241.
Molecules, organic, of Buffon, 303.
Mongolian race, H. 468.
Monorchides of the Cape of Good Hope,
II. 261.
Monstrosities, II. 379.
Moral acts, 247.
Morbus cseruleus, II. 50.
Motility, II. 503.
Motion, muscular, 282, 294.
-----voluntary, 282.
Motive apparatus, 282.
——— forces, seat of the, 297.
Movements, locomotive, 349.
---------partial, 347.
Mucilage, nutritive properties of, 448.
Mucous membranes, exhalation of the,
II. 220.
Mucus, where met with, 16.
Muscles, 282.
------analysis of, 287.
------colour of, 310.
------contraction of, 309.
------mixed, II. 79.
------relaxation of, 318.
------simple and compound, 337.
Muscular contraction, duration of, 320.
-----------------extent of, 323.
-----------------force of, 318.
-----------------velocity of, 321.
Musical tone, 124.
Muskelsinn, 318.
Muteosis, 399.
Myopy, 198.
N.
Nsevi materni, II. 380.
Nails, 73>
Natural bodies, 1.
-----state of man, 440.
Nausea, 519.
Negro race, II. 467.
Nerves, 52.
-----fatty matter of, 18.
-----pneumogastric, effects of the
section of the, on digestion, 495.
-----on respiration, II. 107.
-----sensible and insensible, 63.
Nervi-motion, Dutrochet's views of, 32,
H. 482.
Nervous system, 41.
Norma verticalis of Blumenbach, 259.
Nose, blowing the, II. 90.
----use of, in smell, 107.
Nutrition, II. 165.
Nutritive principle, peculiar, does not
exist, 443.
Nyctalopes, eyes of, 171.
O.
Odours, 101.
-----classification of, 104.
disengagement of, 101.
divisibility of, 103.
medicinal properties of, 105.
nutritious properties of, 105.
INDEX.
529
Odours, vehicles of, 103.
Oils, nutritive properties of, 449.
Oleine, where met with, 18.
Olfaction, 97, 106.
Onomatopoeia, 387.
Optic nerves, decussation of the, 158.
Organ, 26.
Organization, 5.
-----;-----compounds of, 4, 18.
Organized bodies, characters of, 1.
Organology, 267.
Osculation, 402.
Osmazome, nutritive properties of, 449.
---------where found, 16.
Ovarists, doctrine of the, II. 306.
Oxygen, respiration of, II. 109.
——— where found, 13.
P.
Pain, 230.
----bodily, expression of, 406.
Painting, a variety of expression, 413.
Palsy, theory of, 306.
Pancreatic juice, secretion of the, II.
223.
——^—-------use of in digestion, 506.
Pandiculations, II. 92.
Panspermia, II. 310.
Panting, H. 93.
Parturition, H. 332.
Passions, 252.
. expression of the, 411.
------seat of the, 237.
Pectoriloquy, 379.
Periosteum, 292.
Peristaltic action, 480.
Peristole, 480.
Perceptivity of plants, 9.
Perspective, 214.
---------aerial, 215.
Perspiration, II. 211.
Phosphorus, where found, 13.
Phrenologist, cerebral organs of the,
268.
Phrenology, 267.
Physiognomy, 407.
Physiology, general, of man, 12.
Picromel, where found, 20.
Pneumogastric nerves, effect of the sec-
tion of the, on digestion, 495.
___________-------on respiration, II.
107.
Poetry, a variety of expression, 413.
Point, visual, 197.
Potassium, where found, 15.
Power, sensorial, 281.
Pregnancy, II. 325.
._____----duration of, H. 330.
_________. signs of, n. 329.
Prehension of food, 358, 467.
------——of liquids, 515.
Vol. II. (
Presbyopy, 198.
Presentations, various, II. 335.
Principle, nutritive, peculiar does not
exist, 443.
Principles, mechanical, 329.
--------proximate of animals, 15.
Propelling a body, how effected, 358.
Property, hygrometric of tissues, 34.
-------physical of organs, 33.
--------vital, II. 501.
Protogala, II. 3S7.
Puberty, II. 397.
Pulse, doctrine of the, II. 157.
—---venous, II. 130.
Purgations, II. 281.
Pylorus, use of the, 478.
R.
Bacofnissement, 34.
Rage, expression of, 406.
Redman, II. 468.
Regurgitation, 517.
Rennet, 490.
Reproduction, desire of, II. 283.
-----------functions of, II. 251.
-----------instinct of, II. 283.
Respiration, II. 66, II. 79.
---------effects on the circulation,
n. 148.
--------of animals, H. 114.
---------of gases, II. 109.
Respirations, number of, II. 87.
Respiratory organs, H. 66.
Reverie, II. 426.
Rumination, 518.
Running, 353.
S.
Saliva, n. 222.
Sapidity, cause of, 90.
Sanguification, II. 94.
Savours, 89.
-----— classification of, 91.
Schurze of the Bosjesman female, II.
269.
Seasickness, 519.
Secretion, II. 195.
--------follicular, II. 221.
--------glandular, H. 222.
Secretory apparatus, II. 195.
Selbstgefhul, 226.
Self-feeling, 226.
Semen, secretion of, II. 266.
■------properties of, II. 267.
Seminists, II. 306.
Sensations, 41, 64.
--------external, 70.
--------internal, 228.
--------morbid, 229.
--------organic, 228.
Sense, muscular, 225, 318.
67
530
INDEX.
Sense of individuality, 226.
-----of locality, 226.
-----of life, 226.
-----of motion, 318.
---— pneumatic, 226.
-----sixth of Buffon, 225.
Senses, additional, 225.
—■---secondary instruments, 240.
Sensibility, 41, 64.
--------less in the lower animals,
235.
--------vital property of, H. 502.
Serous exhalation, II. 205.
---------------of the cellular mem-
brane, II. 206.
Sexes, differences between the, H. 452.
-----proportion of the, born, H. 318.
Sheep, fat-buttocked, II. 208.
Short-sightedness, 198.
Sighing, II. 91.
-------sound of, 384.
Sight, sense of, 140.
Silicium, where found, 14.
Singing voice, 398.
Sinuses, nasal, use of in smell, 107.
Skeleton, living, exhibited, 27.
Skin, 73.
----goose, 409.
Skull, 43.
Sleep, II. 405.
.----complete, II. 409.
-----incomplete, II. 409.
-----walking, II. 412.
-----want of, II. 406.
Slumber, II. 407-
Smell, 97.
-----acuteness of, in animals, 110.
----- acuteness of, in the blind, 112.
-----immediate function of the, 109.
-----improved by education, 112.
-----mediate functions of, 110.
-----nerves of, 108.
-----organs of, 97.
Sneezing, II. 89.
Sobbing, II. 93.
Sodium, where found, 14.
Solander, effects of severe cold on, II.
176.
Solids, 21.
-----compound, 25.
Somnambulism, II. 412.
Soul, seat of the, 280.
Sound, 120.
-----acute, malappreciation of, 137.
----- intensity of, 124.
-----reflexion of, 122.
-----sympathetic, 121.
-----timbre of, 124.
-----tone of, 124.
-----vehicle of, 120.
-----velocity of, 121.
Spaying, method of effecting, II. 291.
Spectra ocular, 189.
Speech, 386.
Sperm, n. 266.
Spermatic animalcule, II. 267.
Spermatists, IT. 306.
Spinal marrow, protection of the, 46.
-----------structure of, 51.
Spirits, animal, 68.
Spitting, II. 90.
Spleen, II. 245.
Spontaneity of plants, 9.
Squeezing, 358.
Squinting, 204.
Standing, 340.
Stansfield, case of, II. 440.
Starch, nutritive properties of, 447.
Stearine, where met with, 18.
Stethoscope, 123.
Stomach, digestion of the, after death,
493.
Stout, Mrs. her case, 356.
Strabismus, 204.
Straining, II. 88.
Structure, elementary of animal sub-
stances, 29.
Study, brown, II. 426.
Succus intestinalis, 503.
Sugar, nutritive properties of, 448.
-----of diabetes, 20.
-----of milk, 19.
Sulphur, where found, 14.
Sulphuretted hydrogen, effects of the
respiration of, II. 113.
Superfoetation, II. 323.
Supra renal capsules, II. 29.
Suspicion, expression of, 408.
Sweat, what, II. 211.
Swimming, 354.
Sympathetic, great, 57.
Sympathy, II. 433.
-------cerebral, II. 442.
--------direct, II. 442.
--------morbid, II. 430.
-------of contiguity, II. 435.
-------of continuity, II. 434.
Synergies, II. 429.
Synovia, II. 209.
System, 26.
-----nervous, of locomotion, 300.
Systole of the heart, H. 130.
T.
Tablier of the Bosjesman female, II. 269.
Tact, 73.
Taste, 87.
-----diversity of, in animals, 96.
-----immediate functions of, 95.
----- improvement of, by education,
96.
-----mediate functions of, 95.
INDEX.
531
Taste, organs of, 88.
Tapetum, 171.
Tattooing, II. 168.
Tawny man, II. 469.
Tears, 164.
-----secretion of the, II. 222.
-----use of the, 180.
Teeth, shedding of the, II. 393.
Temperament, athletic, II. 447.
■----------- atrabilious, H. 447.
■-----------bilious, H. 447.
-----------choleric, II. 447.
——------influence of, on the mind,
236.
.-----------lymphatic, II. 448.
.-----------melancholic, II. 447.
.-----------muscular, n. 447.
___________nervous, II. 448.
-----------phlegmatic, II. 448.
___________pituitous, II. 448.
__----------sanguine, H. 446.
Temperature, animal, n. 170.
-----------depressed, effects of, II.
175.
-----------elevated, effects of, H.
177.
___________of animals, table of, H.
172.
of bodies, H. 170.
Tractors, metallic of Perkins, II. 437.
Transpiration, cutaneous, II. 211.
pulmonary, II. 218.
Transudation, 34, II. 56
Travail, II. 333.
Tutamina cerebri, 42.
oculi, 160
Twins, proportion of cases of, II. 320.
U.
Understanding, 248.
Urea, where met with, 17.
Urinary organs, II. 232.
Urine, 511.
secretion of, II. 232.
Terror, expression of, 406.
Testes, descent of the, II. 362.
Thaumatrope of Paris, 224.
Thigh-bone, neck of, advantage of the,
344.
Thirst, 514.
-----sense of, 226.
Thymus gland, II. 28.
Thyroid gland, II. 28.
Tickling, 227.
Tingling, 227.
Tissue, 26.
-----albugineous, 25.
-----cellular, 24, 29.
------compound, 25.
-----laminated, 24.
------medullary, 25.
------muscular, 24, 30.
-----nervous, 25, 30.
------primary, 24.
------pulpy, 25.
Tissues, permeability of to gases, 35.
Titillation, 227.
Tone, 33.
Tonicity, 33.
________of Parry, II. 144.
Touch, 73, 79. .
.______immediate functions ot, 83.
______mediate functions of, 85.
______regarded the first of the senses,
84.
Townshend, Col. his case, U. 134.
Utero-gestation, II. 325.
Uvula, use of the, 472.
Varieties of mankind, II. 462.
Vasa vasorum, II. 38.
Vegetables and animals, differences be-
tween, 7.
Veins, II. 35.
-----circulation in the, II. 147;
Vena porta, II. 39.
Venous system, H. 35.
Ventrale cutaneum of the Bosjesman
female, II. 269.
Ventriloquism, 379.
Venus, Hottentot, II. 208.
Vestiges of the French, what, 115.
Virility, age of, II. 400.
Vis insita of Haller, 312.
---mortua, 36.
Vision, 140, 165.
______advantages of to the mind, 208.
direction of bodies appreciated
by, 211.
----distance appreciated by, 211.
----distinct, point of, 190.
—---distinct, requisites for, 187.
----,double, 201.
----erect, 185.
____immediate functions of, 208.
----■ improved by education, 225.
----indirect, 190.
----magnitude, appreciated by, 211.
mediate functions of, 211.
------motion, appreciated by, 218.
-----multiple with one eye, 206.
------nerves of, 173.
-----oblique, 190.
------organs of, 150.
.------phenomena of, 182.
------position, appreciated by, 211.
seat of, 183
------surface of bodies appreciated
by, 211.
Visual angle, 212.
Vital force, II. 480.
532
INDEX.
Vital principle, H. 480.
----properties, H. 501.
Vitality, II. 480.
Vocal apparatus, 360.
Voice, 360.
-----intensity of, 366.
-----native, 384.
-----quality of the, 378.
-----timbre of the, 378.
——— tone of the, 366.
Volition, seat of, 294.
Vomiting, 518.
-------at pleasure, 518.
Vowels, 390.
W.
Walking, 349.
Wants, 228.
Weeping, n. 93.
--------expression of, 404.
--------of animals, II. 93.
Whispering, 384.
Whistling, 384.
Writing, art of, 389.
Y.
Yawning, II. 91.
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cluding the new method of Mr. Swan. By
Usher Parsons, M. D., Professor of Anato-
my and Surgery. 1 vol. 8vo. with Plates.
" It is compiled and prepared with judgment, and is
the best and most economical companion the student
can possess to aid him in the pursuit of this delightful
department of his labors "—Bost. Med. % Surg. Jour.
"This is unquestionably one of the most useful works
on the preparation of Anatomical Specimens ever pub-
lished. It should be in the hands of every lover of
anatomy; and as.attention now is more directed to the
formation of museums, it will be found a very valuable
book. Nothing is omitted that is important, and many
new formula; are introduced, derived from the author's
experience, and from rare books, which he has had the
industry to collect."—JV. Y. Med. Journal, Aug. 1631.
A PRACTICAL GUIDE to OPERATIONS
on the TEETH. By James Snell, Dentist
In 1 vol. 8vo. with Plates.
"Those of our readers who practise in the department
of Surgery, on which Mr. Snell's essay treats, will find
some useful instructions on the mode of extracting
teeth."—Med. Qaictte.
"This is an excellent practical work, and will be
found generally useful."—Alltenceum.
" This is the best practical manual for the dentist we
have seen in the English language."—Gaz. of Health.
PRINCIPLES of PHYSIOLOGICAL MED-
ICINE, including Physiology, Pathology,
and Therapeutics, in the form of Proposi-
tions, and commentaries on those relating
to Pathology, by F. J. V. Broussais, &c.;
translated by Isaac Hays, M. D. and R. E.
Griffith, M. D. In 8vo.
"The present work will form an indispensable addi-
tion to the library of every physician. It is a very im-
portant and necessary companion to the Treatise on
Physiology as applied to Pathology, by the same au-
thor."—American Journal of Med. Science.
PRINCIPLES of SURGERY. By John Syme,
Professor of Surgery in the University of
Edinburgh. In 8vo.
HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY, illustrated by
numerous Engravings; by Robley Dungli-
son, M. D., Professor of Physiology, Pathol-
ogy, &c. in the University of Virginia, Mem-
ber of the American^ Philosophical Society,
&c. 2 vols. 8vo. *
" It is tha most complete and satisfactory system of
Physiology in the English language. It will add to the
already high reputation of the author."—American Jour-
nal of Med. Science.
" A work like this, so abounding in important facts,
so correct in its principles, and so free from errors aris-
ing from a prejudiced adherence to favorite opinions,
will be cordially received and extensively'consulted by
the profession, and by all who are desirous of a know-
ledge of the functions of the human body; and those
who are the best qualified to judge of its merits, will
pronounce it the best work of the kind in the English
language."—Silliman. t
"This is a work of no common standing, it is char-
acterized by much learning and research, contain*1 a
vast amount of important matter, and is written tr a
scholar and a man of taste. We think it will be placed
by general consent at the head of the systems of PL 'si-
ology, in the English language."—Transylvania Journ.
>
XVEEDZ
CINE.
The PRACTICE of PHYSIC. By W. P.
Dewees, M^ D. Adjunct Professor of Mid-
wifery, in the University of Pennsylvania,
2d edition, complete in 1 vol. 8vo.
" We have no hesitation in recommending it as deci-
dedly one of the best systems of medicine extant. The
tenor of the work in general reflects the highest honor on
Dr. Dewees's talents, industry, and capacity for the exe-
cution of the arduous task which he had undertaken. It
is one of the most able and satisfactory works which mod-
ern times have produced, and will be a standard authori-
ty."—London Med. and Surg. Journal, Aug. 1630.
DEWEES on the DISEASES of CHIL-
DREN. 5th ed. In 8vo.
The objects of this work are, 1st, to teach those who
have the charge of children, either as parent or guar-
dian, the most approved methods of securing and im-
proving their physical powers. This is attempted by
pointing out the duties which the parent or the guar-
dian owes for this purpose, to this interesting, but
helpless class of beings, and the manner by which
their duties shall berfulfilled. And 2d, to render
available a long experience to these objects of our
affection when they become diseased. In attempting
this, the author has avoided as much as possible,
" technicality;" and has given, if he does not flatter
himself too much, to each disease of which he treats,
its appropriate and designating characters, with a
fidelity that will prevent any two being confounded
together, with the best mode of treating them, that
either his own experience or that of others has sug-
gested.
DEWEES on the DISEASES of FEMALES.
4th edition, with Additions. In 8vo.
A COMPENDIOUS SYSTEM OF MID-
WIFERY ; chiefly designed to facilitate the
Inquiries of those who may be pursuing this
Branch of Study. In 8vo. with 13 Plates. 6th
edition, corrected and enlarged. By W. P.
Dewees, M. D.
The ELEMENTS OF THERAPEUTICS
and MATERIA MEDICA. By N. Chap-
jian, M. D. 2 vols. 8vo. 5th edition, cor-
rected and revised.
MANUAL of PATHOLOGY: containing
the Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Morbid Char-
acter of Diseases, &c. By L. Martinet.
Translated, with Notes and Additions, by
Jones Quain. Second American Edition,
12mo.
We strongly recommend M. Martinet's Manual to the
profession, and especially tojjuderft's; if the latter wish
to study diseases to advantaf^. they should always have
it at hand, both when ai ihe bedside of the patient, and
when making post mortem examinations."—American
Journal of the Medical Sciences, JVu. /.
CLINICAL ILLUSTRATIONS of FEVER,
comprising a Report of the Cases treated at
the London Fever Hospital in 1828-29, by
Alexander Tweedie, M. D., Member of the
Royal College of Physicians of London, &c.
1 vol. 8vo.
" In short, the present work, concise, unostentatious
as it is, would have led us to think that Dr. Tweedie was
a man of clear judgment, unfettered by attachment to
any fashionable hypothesis, that he was an energetic but
judicious practitioner, and that, if he did not dazzle his
readers with the brilliancy of theoretical speculations, he
would command their assent to the solidity of his didac-
tic precepts."—Med. Chir. Journal.
The ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, and DIS-
EASES of the TEETH. By Thomas Bell,
F.R.S., F.L.S. &c. In 1 vol. 8vo. With Plates.
" Mr. Bell has evidently endeavored to construct a
work of reference for the practitioner, and a text-book
for the student, containing a ' plain and practical digest
of thc information at present possessed on thc subject,
and results of the author's own investigations and expe-
rience.'" * * * "We must now take leave of Mr Bell,
whose work we have no doubt will become a class-book
on the important subject of dental surgery."—Medico-Chi-
rurgical Review.
" We have no hesitation in pronouncing it to be the
best treatise in the English language."—North American
Medical and Surgical Journal, JVV». 19.
AMERICAN DISPENSATORY. Ninth
Edition, improved and greatly enlarged. By
John Redman Coxe, M. D. Professor of Ma-
teria Medica and Pharmacy in the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania. In 1 vol. 8vo.
%* This new edition has been arranged wilh spe-
cial reference to the recent Pharmacopoeias, published
in Philadelphia and New-York.
ELLIS' MEDICAL FORMULARY. The
Medical Formulary, being a collection of
prescriptions derived from the writings and
practice of many of the most eminent Phy-
sicians in America and Europe. By Benjamin
Ellis, M. D. 3d. edition. With Additions.
" We would especially recommend it to our brethren in
distant parts of the country, whose insulated situations
may prevent them from having access to the many autho-
rities which have been consulted in arranging the mate-
rials for this work."—Phil. Med. and Phys. Journal.
MANUAL of MATERIA MEDICA and
PHARMACY. By H. M. Edwards, M. D.
and P. Vavasseur, M. D. comprising a con-
cise Description of the Articles used in
Medicine; their Physical and Chemical
Properties; the Botanical Characters of the
Medicinal Plants; the Formulae for the Prin-
cipal Officinal Preparations of the American,
Parisian, Dublin, &c. Pharmacopoeias; with
Observations on the proper Mode of combin-
ing and administering Remedies. Trans-
lated from the French, with numerous Ad-
ditions and Corrections, and adapted to the
Practice of Medicine and to the Art of Phar-
macy in the United States. By Joseph Too-
no, M. D. Member of the Philadelphia Med-
ical Society, and E. Durand, Member of the
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy.
"It contains all the pharmaceutical information that
the physician can desire, and in addition, a larger mass of
information, in relation to the properties, &c. of the dif-
ferent articles and preparations employed in medicine,
than any of the dispensatories, and we think will entirely
supersede all these publications in the library of the phy-
sician."—Am. Journ. of the Medical Sciences.
MEMOIR on the TREATMENT of VENE-
REAL DISEASES without MERCURY,
employed at the Military Hospital of the
Val-de-Grace. Translated from the French
of H. M. J. Desruelles, M. D. &c. To which
are added, Observations by G. J. Guthrie,
Esq. and various documents, showing the
results of this Mode of Treatment, in Great
Britain, France, Germany, and America.
PHYSIOLOGICAL MEDICINE, ANATOMY, &c.
HISTORY OF CHRONIC PHLEGMASIA,
OR INFLAMMATIONS, founded on Clin-
ical Experience and Pathological Anatomy,
exhibiting a View of the different Varieties
and Complications of these Diseases, with
their various Methods of Treatment. By
F. J. V. Broussais, M. D. Translated from
the French of the fourth edition, by Isaac
Hays, M. D. and R. Eglesfeld Griffith,
M. D, Members of the Am. Philosophical So-
ciety, Acad, of Nat. Sc, &c. &c. 2 vols. 8vo.
THE MEDICAL COMPANION, or FAMILY
PHYSICIAN : treating of the Diseases of the
United States, with their symptoms, causes, cure,
and means of prevention; common cases in Surge-
ry, as fractures, dislocations, &c.; the management
and diseases of women and children; a dispensato-
ry of preparing family medicines, and a Glossary
explaining technical terms. To which are added, a
brief Anatomy and Physiology of the Human Body,
showing, on rational principles, the cause and cure
of diseases. An essay on Hygiene, or the art of
preserving health, without the aid of medicine. An
American Materia Medica, pointing out the virtue
and doses of our medicinal plants. Also, the Nurse's
Guide. The 8th edition. By James Ewell, M. D.
In one large vol. 8vo.
*** This edition has undergone a complete revision,
and is brought up to the present time.
A TREATISE ON PHYSIOLOGY, Applied
to Pathology. By F. J. V. Broussais, M. D.
Translated from the French, by Drs. Bell
and La Roche. 8vo. Third American edi-
tion, with additions.
" We cannot too strongly recommend the present work
to the attention of our readers, and indeed of all those
who wish to study physiology as it ought to be studied,
in its application to the science of disease." " We may
safely say that he has accomplished his task in a most
masterly manner, and thus established his reputation as
a most "excellent physiologist and profound pathologist."
—North American Med. and Surg. Joum. Jan. 1827.
A TREATISE ON DENTAL SURGERY
Second edition, revised, corrected, and im-
proved, with new plates. By S. S. Fitch,
M. D. 1 vol. 8vo.
THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE, upon the
Principles of the Physiological Doctrine.
By J. G. Coster, M. D. Translated from
the French.
An EPITOME of the PHYSIOLOGY,
GENERAL ANATOMY, and PATHOL-
OGY of BICHAT. By Thomas Hender-
son, M. D. Professor of the Theory and
Practice of Medicine in Columbia College,
Washington City. 8vo.
PHYSIOLOGICAL PYRETOLOGY; or, A Trka-
tise on Fevers, according to the Principles of the
New Medical Doctrine. By F. G. Boisskau, Doctor
in Medicine of the Faculty of Paris. &c. &«•. r rom
the fourth French edition. Translated by J. R.
Knox, M. D. 1 vol. 8vo.
" Bnis^eau's Pyretoloey is not merely the most remarkable performance
Mill ha.'*, yet appeared among the disciples of Broussais, but i. realty the
Met "idI n/ost satisfactory exposition of the pjtholoyj'of Fevers w..,,,vh,ch
we are acquaiutal.,'-v4"«ncaji Journal of Medical Sciences, iSo. X.1V.
ON THE INFLUENCE OF VARIOUS PHYS-
ICAL AND MORAL AGENTS; Climate and Lo-
cality, Change of Air, Food, Clothing, Bathing, Ex-
ercise, Professions, &c., on Healthy Man: constituting
elements of private Hygiene, or the art of preserv
ing health. By Robley Dunglison, M. D., Profes
sor of Materia Medica, &c, in the University of
Maryland, Author of a Treatise on Human Physi-
ology, &c. &c. 1 vol. 8vo. (In the press.)
A TREATISE on PATHOLOGICAL ANATOMY.
By William E. Horner, M. D., Adj. Prof, of An-1
atomy in the University of Pennsylvania.
"We can conscientiously commend it to the members of
the profession, as a satisfactory, interesting, and instruc-
tive view of the subjects discussed, and as well adapted
to aid them in forming a correct appreciation of the dis-
eased conditions they are called on to relieve.''—American
Journal of the Medical Sciences, No. 9.
By the same Author.
A TREATISE on SPECIAL and GENERAL
ANATOMY. Third edition, revised and
corrected, in 2 Vols. 8vo.
THE HAND; ITS MECHANISM, AND
VITAL ENDOWMENTS, AS EVINCING DE-
SIGN. By Sir Charles Bell. 1 vol. 12mo. Being
a part of the Bridgewater Treatises.
SYSTEM of ANATOMY, for the use of Stu-
dents of Medicine. By Caspar Wistar.
Sixth edition, revised and corrected, by W.
E. Horner, Adjunct Professor of Anatomy
in the University of Pennsylvania. In 2
Vols. 8vo.
ELEMENTS of GENERAL ANATOMY,
or a description of the Organs comprising
the Human Body. By P. A. Beclard, Pro-
fessor of Anatomy to the Faculty of Medi-
cine at Paris. Translated by J. Togno.
TREATISE on SURGICAL ANATOMY.
By Abraham Colles, Professor of Anatomy
and Surgery, in the Royal College of Sur-
geons in Ireland, &c. Second American
edition, with notes by J. P. Hopkinson, De-
monstrator of Anatomy in the University of
Pennsylvania, &c. &c.
A TREATISE ON DISEASES OF THE
HEART AND GREAT VESSELS. By
J. R. Bertin. Edited by G. Bouillaud.
Translated from the French. 8vo.
ON THE INFLUENCE of ATMOSPHERE
AND LOCALITY; Change of Air and
Climate; Seasons; Food; Clothing; Bath-
ing ; Exercise; Sleep; Corporeal and Intel-
lectual Pursuits, &c. &c. on Human Health:
constituting Elements of Hygiene. By
Robley Dunglison, M. D., Author of a
Treatise on Human Physiology. 1 vol. 8vo.
BXX.B2CINE AND SURGERY.
A TREATISE on FEVER. By Southwood
Smith, M. D, Physician to the London
Fever Hospital.
•' No work has been more lauded by the Reviews than
the Treatise on Fevers, by Southwood Smith. Dr. John-
son, the editor of the Medico-Chirurgical Review, says,
' It is the best we have ever perused on the subject of
fever, and in our conscience, we believe it the best that
ever flowed from the pen of physician in any age or in
any country.' "—Am. Med. Journ.
An ESSAY on REMITTENT and INTER-
MITTENT DISEASES, including generic-
ally Marsh Fever and Neuralgia—compris-
ing under the former, various Anomalies,
Obscurities, and Consequences, and under a
new systematic View of the latter, treating
of Tic Douloureux, Sciatica, Headache,
Ophthalmia, Toothache, Palsy, and many
other Modes and Consequences of this gene-
ric Disease; by John Macculloch, M. D.,
P. R. S. &c. &c.
"In rendering Dr. Macculloch's work more accessible
to the profession, we are conscious that we are doing the
state some service."—Med. Chir. Review.
1 We most strongly recommend Dr. Macculloch's trea-
tise 10 the attention of our medical brethren, as present-
ing a most valuable mass of information, on a most im-
portant subject."—JV. A. Med. and Surg. Journal.
A PRACTICAL SYNOPSIS OF CUTANE-
OUS DISEASES, from the most celebrated
Authors, and particularly from Documents
afforded by the Clinical Lectures of Dr.
Biett, Physician to the Hospital of St. Louis,
Paris. By A. Cazenave, M. D. and H. E.
Schedel, M. D. Second edition.
" We can safely recommend this work to the attention
of practitioners as containing much practical informa-
tion, not only on the treatment, but also on the causes
of cutaneous affections, as being in fact the best treatise
on Uncases of the skin that has ever appeared."—Ameri
can Journal of the Medical Sciences, No. i.
LADY'S MEDICAL GUIDE. By Richard
Reese, M. D. 18mo.
of Baron Larrey.
LECTURES ON INFLAMMATION, exhib-
iting a view of the General Doctrines, Pa-
thological and Practical, of Medical Sur-
gery. By John Thompson, M. D., F. R. S. E.
Second American edition.
THE INSTITUTES AND PRACTICE OF
SURGERY; bein? the Outlines of a Course
of Lectures. By W. Gibson, M. D. Profes-
sor of Surgery in the University of Pennsyl-
vania. 4th edition, revised, corrected, and
enlarged. In 2 vols. 8vo.
PRINCIPLES OF MILITARY SURGERY,
comprising Observations on the Arrange-
ments, Police, and Practice of Hospitals,
and on the History, Treatment, and Anoma-
lies of Variola and Syphilis; illustrated with
cases and dissections. By John Hennen,
M. D., F. R. S. E. Inspector of Military
Hospitals—first American from the third
London edition, with the Life of the Author,
by his son, Dr. John Hennen.
"The value of Dr. Hennen's work is too well appreci-
ated to need any praise of ours. We v> pre only required
then, to bring the third edition before the notice of our
readers; and'having done this, we shall merely add, that
the volume merits a place in every library, and that no
military surgeon ought to be without it."—Medical Oai,
american journal op the medical
science-;*.
Published Quarterly.
And supported by the most distinguished Physician!
in the Unnod States, among which ure Professors
Bigelow, Channing, Chapman, Coxe, De Butts, De-
wees, Dickson, Dudley, Francis, Gibson, I lure,
Henderson, Horner, Hosack, Jackson, Macneven,
Mott, Mussey, Physick, Potter, Sewall, Warren,
and Worthington; Drs. Daniell, Drake, Emerson,
Fearn, Geddings, Griffith. Hale, Havs, Hayward,
Ives, Jackson, Moultrie, Ware, and Wright. It is
published punctually on the first of November,
February, May, and August. Each No. contains
about 280 large 8vo. pages, and one or more plates
—being a greater amount of matter than is fur-
nished by any other Medical Journal in the United
States. Price §5 per annum.
The following Extracts show the estimation
in which this Journal is held in Europe:—
"Several of the American Journals are before us. * * *
Of these the American Journal of the Medical Sciences
is by far the better periodical; it is, indeed, the best of the
trans-atlantic medical publications; and, to make a com.
parison nearer home, is in most reelects superior to the
great majority of European works of the same det-irip
tion."—The Lancet, Jan. 1831.
" We need scarcely refer our esteemed and highly eini
nent cotemporary, [The American Journal of the Medical
Sciences.] from whom we quote, to our critical remarks
on the opinions of our own countrymen, or to the princi-
ples which influence us in the discharge of our editorial
duties." " Our copious extracts from his unequalled pub-
lication, unnoticing multitudes of others which come be-
fore us. are the best proof of the esteem which we enter-
tain for his talents and abilities."—London Medical and
Surgical Journal, March, 1830.
"The American Journal of the Medical Sciences is one
of the most complete and best edited of the numerous
periodical publications of the United States."—Bulletin
des Sciences Medicates, Tom. XIV.
PATHOLOGICAL and PRACTICAL RE-
SEA RCHES on DISEASES of the BRAIN
and SPINAL CORD. By John Abercrom-
bie, M. D.
" We have here a work of authority, and one which
does credit to the author and his country."—North Amir.
Med. and Surg. Journal.
By the same Author.
PATHOLOGICAL and PRACTICAL RE-
SEARCHES on DISEASES of the STO-
MACH, the INTESTINAL CANAL, the
LIVER, and other VISCERA of the
ABDOMEN.
"We have now closed a very long review of a very
valuable work, and although we have endeavored to con-
dense into our pages a great mass of important matter,
we feel that our author has not yet received justice."—
Medico-Chirurgical Review.
A RATIONAL EXPOSITION or the
PHYSICAL SIGNS of DISEASES of
the LUNGS and PLEURA; Illustrating
their Pathology and facilitating their Diag-
nosis. By Charles J. Williams, M. D. In
8vo. with plates.
" If we are not greatly mistaken, it will lead to a better
understanding, and a more correct estimate of the value
of auscultation, than any thing that has yet appeared."
—Am. Med. Journal.
CABINET CYCLOPAEDIA,
CONDUCTED BY THE
REV. DIONYSIUS LARDNER, LL. D. F. R. S. L. & E.
M.R.I. A. P.L.S. F.Z.S. Hon.F.C.P.S. M. Ast. S. &c. &c.
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Sir WALTER SCOTT, Bart.
JOHN FREDERICK WILLIAM HERSCHEL,
Esq.
THOMAS MOORE, Esq.
J. B. BIOT, Member of the French Institute.
ROBERT SOUTHEY, Esq. Poet Laureate.
The Baron CHARLES DUP1N, Member of the
Royal Institute and Chamber of Deputies.
THOMAS CAMPBELL, Esq.
T. B. MACAULEY, Esq. M. P.
DAVID BREWSTER, LL.D.
J. C. L. SISMOIS DI, of Geneva.
Capt. HENRY KATER, Vice President of the
Royal Society.
The ASTRONOMER ROYAL.
DA VIES GILBERT, Esq. M. P.
S. T. COLERIDGE, Esq.
JAMES MONTGOMERY, Esq.
The Right Hon. T. P. COURTENAY, M.P.
J. J. BERZELIUS, oi Stockholm, F. R. S.( &c.
The Rev. G. R. GLEI3.
T. PHILLIPS, Esq. Prof, of Painting R. A.
Rev. C. THIRLWALL, Fellow of Trinity Colkfje,
Cambridge.
ANDREW URE, M. D. F. R, l\, &c. &c. <*c.
DR. LARDNERS
CABINET CYCEOPyEBIA.
VOLUMES PUBLISHED.
I. II.—HISTORY of SCOTLAND. By Sir Walter
Scott.
III. VI.—HISTORY of ENGLAND. By Sir James
Mackintosh. In 8 Vols. Vols. I. and II.
IV.—OUTLINES of HISTORY.
V —HISTORY of the NETHERLANDS. By T. C.
Grattan, Esq.
VII. VIII. XII.—HISTORY of FRANCE. By Eyre
Evans Crowe. In 3 Vols.
IX.—MECHANICS. By Caft. Kater and Dr.
Lardner.
X.—A PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE on the 0B:
JECTS, ADVANTAGES, and PLEASURES of
the STUDV of NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. In
1 Vol. By J. F. W. Herschel, Esq.
XI.—BIOGRAPHY of EMINENT BRITISH
STATESMEN.
XIII.—HYDROSTATICS and PNEUMATICS. By
Dr. Lardner.
XIV.—HISTORY of the PROGRESS and PRE-
SENT SITUATION of the SILK MANUFAC-
TURE.
XV.—HISTORY of the ITALIAN REPUBLICS.
By J. C. L. Sismondi.
XVI.—HISTORY of the PROGRESS and PRE-
SENT STATE of the MANUFACTURE of
PORCELAIN and GLASS.
XVII.XVIII. XX. XXI. XXII.—HISTORYofSPAIN
and PORTUGAL 5 vols.
XIX—HISTORY of SWITZERLAND.
XXIII—HISTORY of ENGLAND. By Sir James
Mackintosh. Vol. III.
Volumes in immediate preparation.
THE HISTORY OF IRELAND. By Thos.
Moore. Vol. I. is nearly ready, and the re-
mainder in progress.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Vol.4. Being a continua
tion of Mackintosh.
A PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE on the USEFUL
ARTS and MANUFACTURES. By the Baron
Charles Dupin, Member of the Institute of France
and of the Chamber of Deputies.
A HISTORY of the MOORS. In 3 vols. By Rob-
ert Southey, Esq.
LIVES of the MOST EMINENT LITERARY
MEN of ALL NATIONS. In 8 vols. By Scott,
Southey, Moore, Mackintosh, Montgomery,
Cunningham, and all the principal Literary and
Scientific Contributors to the Cyclopaedia.
GEOGRAPHY In 4 vols. By W. Cooley, Esq.
author of the " History of Maritime Discovery."
LIVES of the MOST DISTINGUISHED BRITISH
NAVAL COMMANDERS. By R Southey, Esq.
LIVES of the MOST DISTINGUISHED BRITISH
MILITARY COMMANDERS. By the Rev. G. R.
Gleig.
The HISTORY of GREECE. In 3 vols. By the
Rev. C. Thirlwall.
FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE: Com-
prising a view of the Invasion and Settle-
ment of the Barbarians. By J. C. L. De
Sismondi. Nearly ready.
" BOOKS THAT YOU MAY CARRY TO THB FIRK, AND HOLD
READILY IN YOUR HAND, ARK THE MOST USEFUL AFTER
ALL. A MAN WILL OFTEN LOOK AT THEM, AND BI
TEMPTED TO OO ON, WHEN HE WOOI.D HAVE BEEN
FRIOHTENED AT BOOKS OP A LARGER 8IZE, AND OF A
MORE ERUDITE APPEARANCE."—Dr. Johnson.
"We advisedly call the Cabinet Cyclopedia a great
undertaking, because we consider, that in its effects on
the tone and habits of thought of what is known by the
phrase, ' the reading public,' it will be, if carried through
in the spirit of its projection and commencement, one of
the most invaluable productions of modern literature. * *
"But these advantages, eminent as they undoubtedly
are, are not the sole nor the chief recommendations of
the Cabinet Cyclopaedia. Neither is it on the extreme
cheapness of the publication, nor the federal independence
—if we may so speak—of its several volumes, that we
rest our prediction of its influence on the tone of think-
ing of the present, and on the literature of the next gen-
eration—but on the promise, amounting almost to a moral
certainty, of the great excellence of its execution. A mul-
titude of persons eminent in literature and science in the
United Kingdom are employed in this undertaking; and,
indued, no others should be employed in it; for it is a truth
that the profound and practised writer alone is capable of
furnishing a ' popular compendium.'
" What parent or guardian that throws hiseye over the
list of its contributors but must be rejoiced by meeting
the names of those who are in themselves a guarantee
of intellectual and moral excellence?"—Literary Oaiette.
"The plan of the work appears well adapted to the pur-
pose it is proposed to fulfil—that of supplying a series of
publications, embracing the whole range of literature
and science, in a popular and portable form; while the
excellence of the execution is guarantied by the judgment
displayed in the selection of writers. The list of authors
employed in this ambitious undertaking comprises some
of the most eminent men of the present age."—Atlas.
" The Cyclopaedia, when complete, will form a valuable
work of reference, as well as a most entertaining and in-
structive library. It is an essential principle in every part
of it, that it should be clear and easily understood, and
that an attempt should everywhere be made to unite
accurate information with an agreeable manner of con-
veying it. It is an experiment to try how.much science
may be taught with little crabbed or technical language,
and how far the philosophical and poetical qualities of
history may be preserved in its more condensed state. It
possesses also the most indispensable of all the qualities
of a work intended for general instruction—that of cheap
ness. Whatever the plan might be, it was evident that
ihe grand difficulty of Dr. Lardner was to unite a body
of writers in its execution, whose character or works af
forded the most probable hope that they were fitted for a
task of which the peculiarity, the novelty, and even the
prevalent relish for such writings greatly enhance the dif-
ficulty. We do not believe, that in the list of contribu-
tors, there is one name of which the enlightened part of
the public would desire the exclusion.
" In science, the list is not less promising. The names
of the President, Vice-Presidents, and most distinguished
Fellows of the Royal Society, are contained in it. A
treatise on astronomy, by Herschel; on optics, by Brews-
ter; and on mechanics, by Lardner; need be only recom-
mended by the subjects and the writers. An eminent
Prelate, of the first rank in science, has undertaken a
noble subject which happily combines philosophy with
religion. Twelve of the most distinguished naturalists
of the age, Fellows of the Linnxan and Zoological So-
cieties, are preparing a course of natural history. Others
not less eminent in literature and science, whose names it
is not needful yet to mention, have shown symptoms of an
ambition to take a place among such fellow-laborerf,"—
Times.
" The topics, as may be supposed, are both judiciously
selected and treated with ability. To general readers,
and as part of a family library, the volumes already pub-
lished possess great recommendations. For the external
beauties of good printing and paper they merit equal com-
mendation."—Bait. American.
" The uniform neatness of these volumes, their very
moderate price, and the quantity of information which
they contain, drawn from the best and most attractive
sources, have given them deserved celebrity, and no one
who desires to jwssess such information, should hesitate
a moment to add them to his library."—Fed. Oaiette.
" This excellent work continues to increase in public
favor, and to receive fresh accessions of forc« to it* corps
of contributors. —Lit. Oazette.
LARDNERS CABINET CYCLOPAEDIA.
OF THE MANY WORKS WHICH HAVE BEEN LATELY PUB-
LISHED IN IMITATION, OR ON THE PLAN ADOPTED BY THE
SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE, DR.
LARDNERS CYCLOPAEDIA IS BY MUCH THE MOST VALUA-
BLE, AND THE MOST RECOMMENDED BY DISTINGUISHED
ASSISTANCE, SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY."
Edinburgh Review.
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. By Sip James
Mackintosh. In 8 Vols. Ill Vols, pub-
lished.
" I" tfie first volume of Sir James Mackintosh's His-
tory of Lngland, we find enough to warrant the antici-
pations of the public, that a calm and luminous philoso-
phy will diffuse itself over the long narrative of our Brit-
ish History."—Edinburgh Review.
" In this volume Sir James Mackintosh fully developes
those great powers, for the possession of which the public
have long given him credit. The result is the ablest com-
mentary that has yet appeared in our language upon some
of the most important circumstances of English History."
-Atlas.
" Worthy in the method, style, and reflections, of the
author's high reputation. We were particularly pleased
with his high vein of philosophical sentiment, and his
occasional survey of contemporary annals."—National
Oaiette.
"If talents of the highest order, long experience in po-
litics, and years of application to the study of history
and the collection of information, can command superi-
ority in a historian. Sir James Mackintosh may, without
reading this work, be said to have produced the best his-
tory of this country. A perusal of the work will prove
that those who anticipated a superior production, have
not reckoned in vain on the high qualifications of the
author."—Courier.
" Our anticipations of this volume were certainly very
highly raised, and unlike such anticipations in general,
they have not been disappointed. A philosophical spirit,
a nervous style, and a full knowledge of the subject, ac-
quired by considerable research into the works of pre-
ceding chroniclers and historians, eminently distinguish
this popular abridgment, and cannot fail to recommend it
to universal approbation. In continuing his work as he
has begun, Sir James Mackintosh will confer a great bene-
fit on his country."—Land. Lit. Oaiette.
"Of its general merits, and its permanent value, it is
impossible to speak, without the highest commendation,
and after a careful and attentive perusal of the two vol-
umes which have been published, we are enabled to de-
clare that, so far. Sir James Mackintosh has performed
the duty to which he was assigned, with all the ability
that was to be expected from his great previous attain-
ments, his laborious industry in investigation, his excel-
lent judgment, his superior talents, and his honorable
principles "—Inquirer.
" We shall probably extract the whole of his view of
the reformation, merely to show how that important topic
has been handled by so able and philosophical a writer,
professing Protestantism.—National Oaiette.
"The talents of Sir James Mackintosh are so justly and
deeply respected, that a strong interest is necessarily ex-
cited with regard to any work which such a distinguished
writer may think fit to undertake. In the present instance,
as in all others, our expectations are fully gratified."—
Gentleman's Magazine.
" The second volume of the History of England, form-
ing the sixth of Carey & Lea's Cabinet Cyclopedia, has
been sent abroad, and entirely sustains the reputation of
its predecessors. The various factions and dissensions,
the important trials and battles, which render this period
so conspicuous in the page of history, are all related with
great clearness and masterly power.'— Boston Traveller.
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. By Sir Walter
Scott. In 3 Vols.
" The History of Scotland, by Sir Walter Scott, we do
not hesitate to declare, will be, if possible, more exten-
sively read, than the most popular work of fiction, by the
same prolific author, and for this obvious reason: it com-
bines much of the brilliant coloring of the Ivanhoe pic-
tures of by-gone manners, and all the graceful facility of
style and picturesqueness of description of his other
charming romances, with a minute fidelity to the facts
of history, and a searching scrutiny into their authenti-
city and relative value, which might put to the blush
Mr. Hume and other professed historians. Such is the
magic charm of Sir Walter Scott's pen, it has only to
touch the simplest incident of every-day life, and it starts
up invested with all the interest of a scene of romance;
and yet such is his fidelity to the text of nature, that the
knights, and serfs, and collared fools with whom his in-
ventive genius has peopled so many volumes, are regarded
by us as not mere creations of fancy, but as real flesh and
blood existences, with all the virtues, feelings and errors
of common-place humanity."—Lit. Gazette.
BIOGRAPHY OP BRITISH STATESMEN\
containing thc Lives of Sir Thomas More,
Cardinal Wolsey, Archbishop Cranmcr,
and Lord Burleigh.
" A very delightful volume, and on a subject likely to
increase in interest as it proceeds. * * * We cordially
commend the work both for its design and execution. —
Lend. Lit. Gazette,
HISTORY OF FRANCE.
BY
EYRE EVANS CROWE, Esa.
In 3 vols.
" The style is concise and clear; and events are sum-
med up with much vigor and originality."—Lit. Gazette.
" His history of France is worthy to figure with the
works of his associates., the best of their day, Scott and
Mackintosh."—Monthly Mag.
" For such a task Mr. Crowe is eminently qualified.
At a glance, as it were, his eye takes in the theatre of
centuries. His style is neat, clear, and pithy; and his
power of condensation enables him to say much, and
effectively, in a few words, to present a distinct and
perfect picture in a narrowly circumscribed space "—La
Belle Assemblee.
"The style is neat and condensed; the thoughts and
conclusions sound and just. The necessary conciseness
of the narrative is unaccompanied by any baldness; on
the contrary, it is spirited and engaging."—Bait. Ameri-
can.
"To compress the history of a great nation, during a
perioil of thirteen hundred years, into three volumes, and
to preserve sufficient distinctness as well as interest in
the narrative, to enable and induce the reader to possess
himself clearly of all the leading incidents, is a task by
no means easily executed. It has, nevertheless, been well
accomplished in this instance."—JV. Y. American.
"Written with spirit and taste."— U. S. Gazette.
"Could we but persuade our young friends to give
these volumes a careful perusal, we should feel assured
of their grateful acknowledgments of profit and pleas-
ure."—JV. Y. Mirror.
" At once concise and entertaining."—Saturday Bui
letin.
THE HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS,
to the Battle of Waterloo. By T. C. Grat-
tan.
" It is but justice to Mr. Grattan to say that he has
executed his laborious task with much industry and pro-
portionate effect. Undisfigured by pompous nothingness,
and without any of the affectation of philosophical pro-
fundity, his style is simple, light, and fresh—perspicuous,
smooth, and harmonious."—La Belle Assemblee.
" Never did work appear at a more fortunate period.
The volume before us is a compressed but clear and im-
partial narrative "—Lit. Gaz.
" A long residence in the country, and a ready access to
libraries and archives, have furnished Mr Grattan with
materials which he has arranged with skill, and out of
which he has produced a raoBt interesting volume."—
Gent. Mag.
LARDNER'S
CABINET CYCLOPAEDIA.
' IT IS NOT EASY TO DEVISE A CURE FOR SCCH A STATE
OF THINGS (THE DECLINING TASTE FOR SCIENCE;) BUT
THE MOST OBVIOUS REMEDY IS TO PROVIDE THE EDU-
CATED CLASSES WITH A SERIES OF WORKS ON POPULAR
AND PRACTICAL SCIENCE, FREED FROM MATHEMATICAL
SYMBOLS AND TECHNICAL TERMS, WRITTEN IN SIMPLE
AND PERSPICUOUS LANGUAGE, AND ILLUSTRATED BY FACTS
AND EXPERIMENTS, WHICH ARE LEVEL TO THE CAPACITY
OF ordinary minds."—Quarterly Review.
LARDNER'S
CABINET CYCLOPAEDIA
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE ON THE OB-
JECTS, ADVANTAGES, AND PLEAS-
URES OP THE STUDY OF NATURAL
PHILOSOPHY. By J. T. W. Herschel,
A. M. late Fellow of St. John's College,
Cambridge.
"Without disparaging any other of the many interest-
ing and instructive volumes issued in the form of cabinet
and family libraries, it is, perhaps, not too much to place
at the head of the list, for extent and variety of condensed
information, Mr. Herchel's discourse of Natural Philoso-
phy in Dr. Lardner's Cyclopaedia."—Christian Observer.
" The finest work of philosophical genius which this
age has seen."—Mackintosh's England.
"By far the most delightful book to which the existing
competition between literary rivals of great talent and
enterprise has given rise."—Monthly Review.
" Mr. Herschel's delightful volume. * * * We find
scattered through the work instances of vivid and happy
illustration, where the .fancy is usefully called into action,
so as sometimes to remind us of the splendid pictures
which crowd upon us in the style of Bacon."—Quarterly
Review.
" It is the most exciting volume of the kind we ever
met with."—Monthly Magazine.
" One of the most instructive and delightful books we
have ever perused.'— U. S. Journal.
A TREATISE ON MECHANICS. By Capt.
Kater, and the Rev. Dionysius Lardner.
With numerous engravings.
"A work which contains an uncommon amount of
useful information, exhibited in a plain and very intelli-
gible form."—Olmsted's Nat. Philosophy.
"This volume has been lately published in England, as
a part of Or. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia, and has re-
ceived the unsolicited approbation of the most eminent
men of science, and the most discriminating journals and
reviews, in the British metropolis.—It is written in a
popular and in elligible style, entirely free from mathe-
matical symbols, and disencumbered as far as possible of
technical phrases."—Boston Traveller.
" Admirable in development and clear in principles, and
especially felicitous in illustration from familiar sub-
jects."—Monthly Mag.
"Though replete with philosophical information of the
highest order in mechanics, adapted to ordinary capaci-
ties in a way to render it at once intelligible and popu-
lar."— Lit. Gazette.
" A work of great merit, full of valuable information,
not only to the practical mechanic, but to the man of sci-
ence."—JV*. Y. Courier and Enquirer.
A TREATISE ON HYDROSTATICS AND
PNEUMATICS. By the Rev. D. Lardner.
With numerous engravings.
" It fully sustains the favorable opinion we have already
expressed as to this valuable compendium of modern sci-
ence."—Lit. Gazette.
" Dr. Lardner has made a good use of his acquaintance
with the familiar facts which illustrate the principles of
science."—Monthly Magazine.
" It is written with a full knowledge of the subject,
and in a popular style, abounding in practical illustra-
tions of the abstruse operations of these imporant sci-
ences."— U. S. Journal
HISTORY of the RISE, PROGRESS,
and PRESENT STATE of the SILK
MANUFACTURE; with numerous En-
gravings.
' It contains abundant information in every depart-
ment of this interesting branch of human industry—in
the history, culture, and manufacture of silk."—Monthly
Magazine.
" There is a great deal of curious information in this
little volume."—Literary Gazette.
HISTORY of the ITALIAN REPUBLICS;
being a View of the Rise, Progress, and
Fall of Italian Freedom. By J. C. L. De
Sismondi.
"The excellencies, defects, and fortunes of the gov-
ernments of the Italian commonwealths, form a body
of the most valuable materials for political philosophy.
It is time that they should be accessible to the American
people, as they are about to be rendered in Sismondi'a
masterly abridgment. He has done for his large work,
What Irving accomplished so well for his Life of Colum-
bus."—National Gazette.
HISTORY of the RISE, PROGRESS, and
PRESENT STATE of the MANUFAC-
TURES of PORCELAIN and GLASS.
With numerous Wood Cuts.
" In the design and execution of the work, the author
has displayed considerable judgment and skill, and has
so disposed of his valuable materials as to render the
book attractive and instructive to the general class of
readers."—Sat. Ev. Post.
" The author has, by a popular treatment, made it one
of the most interesting books that has been issued of
this series. There are, we believe, few of the useful
arts less generally understood than those of porcelain
and glass making. These are completely illustrated by
Dr. Lardner, and the various processes of forming differ-
ently fashioned utensils, are fully described."
OUTLINES OF HISTORY, from the earli-
est Records to the present time.
' To concentrate in one comparatively small volume,
a complete epitome of the entire history of the world,
ancient and modern, so treated as to present a correct
image of it, would fceom to be an object to be wished
for, rather than expected; the 'Outlines of History,'
however, realize this object."—Asiatic Journal.
The HISTORY of SPAIN and PORTU-
GAL. In 5 vols.
" A general History of the Spanish and Portuguese
Peninsula, is a great desideratum in our language, and
we are glad to see it begun under such favorable aus-
pices. We have seldom met with a narrative which
fixes attention more steadily, and bears the reader's
mind along more pleasantly."
' In the volumes before us, there is unquestionable
evidence of capacity for the task, and research in the
execution."—CA 5. Journal.
HISTORY OF SWITZERLAND.
"Like the preceding historical numbers of this valu-
able publication, it abounds with interesting details,
illustrative of thc habits, character, and political com-
plexion of the p««pie and country it describes; and af-
ford*, in the small space of one volume, a digest of all
the important facts which, in more elaborate histories
occupy five times the tpace."—Evening Post.
EDUCATION, &c.
ELEMENTS OF THE INTEGRAL CAL-
CULUS ; with its Applications to Geometry,
and to the Summation of Infinite Series, &c.
Revised and corrected by Michael O'Shan-
nessy, A. M. One vol. 8vo.
" The volume before us forms the third of an analyti
cal course, which commences with the • Elements of
Analytical Geometry.' More elegant text-books do not
exist in the English language, and we trust they will
speedily be adopted in our Mathematical Seminaries.
The existence of such auxiliaries will, of itself, we hope,
prove an inducement to the cultivation of Analytical
Science; for, to the want of such elementary works, the
indifference hitherto manifested in this country on the
subject is, we apprehend, chiefly to be ascribed. Mr.
Young has brought the science within the reach of every
intelligent student, and, in so doing, has contributed to
the advancement of mathematical learning in Great
Britain."—Presbyterian Review, January, 1832.
" We remember the time when such a work as this
would have been invaluable, and we do not think that
any late publication has superseded the necessity of it."
■—Spectator, September 34, 1831.
ELEMENTS OF THE DIFFERENTIAL
CALCULUS; comprehending the General
Theory of Curve Surfaces, and of Curves of
Double Curvature. Revised and corrected
by Michael O'Shannessy, A. M. One vol.
12mo.
" The whole Elements of the Differential Calculus,
comprehending all that is most valuable in the large
works of the most celebrated Analysts, are contained in
one volume, beautifully printed on a fine paper, and
neatly bound in cloth. It appears to be in every respect
well fitted for a Class.Book, and can scarcely fail to be
very generally adopted "—Presbyterian Review, Septem-
ber, 1831.
" There are no affected changes of method : there is
no parade of original plan, or of novelty of principle;
and yet there is much original matter, much original
reasoning, and, what is of more value than all questions
about originality in an elementary treatise, there is a
perspicuity, a unity of method prevailing in all its parts,
that renders it more than any book we have seen pecu-
liarly adapted to instruction.
" It is not, however, as an elegant and perspicuous
development of the first principles of the Calculus, mere-
ly, that we have admired, and therefore recommended
Mr. Young's little work. We have also found much to
commend in it of a more profound character—much that
we look for in vain in larger works, and indeed in all
English books.
"The paralogisms of some other writers, distinguished
ones too, are pointed out in the preface, and in the body
of the work; and many steps which have hitherto been
deemed unquestionable, have been shown by Mr. Young
to be altogether fallacious. We wonder, indeed, when
we see them pointed out, why they did not occur to our-
selves nor to any body else till now ; and we look upon
the aptitude displayed in these detections to be highly
characteristic of a mind which looks with a laudable
anxiety to the purity of the fundamental principles of
science."—Philosophical Magazine, October, 1831.
ELEMENTS OF PLANE AND SPHER-
ICAL TRIGONOMETRY; with its appli-
cations to the Principles of Navigation and
Nautical Astronomy, with the necessary
logarithmic and Trigonometrical Tables.
By J. R. Young. To which is added, some
Original Researches in Spherical Geometry.
By T. S. Davies, Esq. Revised and correct-
ed by John D. Williams. One vol. 8vo.
"In the Spherical Trigonometry, the fundamental
Theorems are laid down with great clearness and per-
spicuity, and the subsequent formula* are derived both
briefly and elegantly.
" We hope, therefore, that the account we have been
able to offer of this unpretending volume, will have the
effect of calling the attention of younger students, (and
still more of professional tutors,) to it, as a book emi-
nently calculated to insure an early intimacy with thc
practice as well as the principles of Trigonometry, and
of attracting the notice of Geometers generally to the
curious results that appear in the supplemental chapters,
and inducing them to attempt the extension of a branch
of science, which apparently admits of almost unlimit-
ed cultivation."—Philosophical Magazine.
A TREATISE ON ASTRONOMY. By Sir
John F. W. Herschel, F. R. S., &c. One
vol. 12mo.
"The present treatise is in no wise inferior to its pre-
decessor : it is characterized by the same agreeable and
elegant style, the same facility of illustration—added to
which it possesses unrivalled precision and accuracy of
demonstration. Avoiding, therefore, the abstruse nice
ties and the transcendental mathematics of the subject,
the author has nevertheless produced a volume calculat-
ed, we are fully persuaded, to impress upon his readers
the magnitude and importance of the science, and to in
itiate them in no mean degree into its mysteries Lit
Gazette.
A GEOLOGICAL MANUAL. By Henry
T. de la Beche, Esq., F. R. S., F. G. S.,
Member of the Geological Society of
France, &c. In one vol. 8vo., with 104
wood cuts.
"The management of the work is clever, while there
is great merit in the original remarks, and a vast fund
of information throughout."—Atlas.
" Mr. De la Beche's Geological Manual is the first and
best work of the kind, and he has performed his task
with a perfect knowledge of all that has been ascertain-
ed in Geology, and with considerable judgment and taste
in the manner of doing it. So much Geological science
was never before compressed in so small a space."—
Spectator.
" A work of first-rate importance in the science to
which it relates, and which must henceforth take its
place in the library of every student of Geology."—Phi-
losophical Magazine.
" Even those who cultivate this most fascinating
branch of science only in their Cabinet and Library,
will rind that they cannot be without it."—Jameson's
Edinburgh Philosophical Journal.
A COLLECTION OF ITALIAN COLLO-
QUIAL PHRASES, on every subject ne-
cessary to maintain Conversation, the whole
so disposed as considerably to facilitate the
acquisition of the Italian language. By an
Italian Gentleman. One vol. 18mo.
NOVELLE ITALIANE.—Stories from Ital-
ian Writers, with a literal, interlinear trans-
lation, on Locke's plan of Classical Instruc-
tion, illustrated with Notes. First American
from the last London edition, with additional
translations and notes. 1 vol. 12mo.
DIALOGHI DISPOSTI PER FACILI-
TARE LO STUDIO DELLA LINGUA
ITALIANA, Scritti m Francese da A. G.
Collot. Tradotti da F. Mancinelli Ro-
mano. One vol. 18mo.
THE NATIONAL SCHOOL MANUAL:
a regular and connected Course of Element-
ary Studies, embracing the necessary and
useful Branches of a Common Education. In
Four Parts, with a quarto Atlas. Compiled
from the latest and most approved Authors,
by M. R. Bartlett.
The plan of this work was the suggestion of the late
Governor Clinton, whose zeal and efforts in the cause
of our Public Schools, will be cherished with grateful re-
membrance to the latest posterity; and this work, so far
as it had advanced, up to the time of his lamented death,
received his favorable regard and patronage.
The object of the National School Manual, is to fur-
nish a System of instruction, for a thorough English ed-
ucation, in :t plain, practical, and progressive Series of
Lessons, collaterally arranged.
EDUCATION.
A New Abridgement of AINSWORTH'S
DICTIONARY, English and Latin, for
the use of Grammar Schools. By John
Dymock, LL D., with Notes, by Charles
Anthon. 1 vol. 18mo.
In this edition are introduced several alterations and
improvements, for the special purpose of facilitating
the labor and increasing the knowledge of the young
scholar.
GREEK and ENGLISH LEXICON. By D.
Donnegan. Abridged for the use of Schools.
In 1 vol. royal 18mo., containing above 800
pages.
This work is printed on a handsome distinct type,
and contains as much matter as many of the larger lexi-
cons ; but owing to the form in which it is printed, it is
sold at such price as to be within the'reach of all stu-
dents. It offers more advantages to the young student
than any other lexicon now in use. The vocabulary
is more extensive and complete—comprising not only
words found in the classics, but also such as are found in
the writings of Hippocrates and the Greek physicians.
The meanings attached to words by the several writers
are also given.
Words are given in alphabetical order in every poeti-
cal and dialectic variety.
The conjugation of verbs and flection of nouns are
more complete than in other lexicons;—the meanings
of words fuller and more correct—there being first a
primary and then a secondary meaning, each distin-
guished from the metaphorical and idiomatical. Phrases
are also given when they note any peculiarity in signi-
fication. The etymology of words is only omitted where
it is confused or disputed. There is nothing left out
which the young student would find necessary in study-
ing the classics, and which would enable him to under-
stand the true meaning of a word. In short, in this
work the essential advantages of a good Dictionary
are combined with those of a good Grammar—advan-
tages not found in any Greek and English lexicon now
used.
ELEMENTS of MECHANICS. By James
Renwick, Esq., Professor of Natural and
Experimental Philosophy, Columbia College,
N. Y. In 8vo. with numerous Engravings.
" We think this decidedly the best treatise on Me-
chanics, which has issued from the American press, that
we have seen; one, too, that is alike creditable to the
writer, and to the state of science in this country."—
American Quarterly Review.
ELEMENTS of OPTICS. By David Brew-
ster. First American edition, with Notes
and Additions, by A. D. Bache, Professor of
Natural Philosophy and Chemistry in the
University of Pennsylvania. 18mo.
"The author has given proof of his well-known in-
dustry, and extensive acquaintance with the results of
science in every part of Europe."—Monthly Mag.
" The subject is, as might be expected, ably treated,
and clearly illustrated."—U. S. Jour.
A TREATISE on HYDROSTATICS and
PNEUMATICS. By the Rev. Dionysius
Lardner, LL. D. F. R. S. &c. First Amer-
ican from the first London edition, with
Notes by Benjamin F. Joslin, M. D., Pro-
fessor of Natural Philosophy in Union Col-
lege.
"It fully sustains the favorable opinion we have al-
ready expressed as to this valuable compendium of mod-
ern science."—Lit. Gaz.
"Dr. Lardner has made a good use of his acquaintance
with thrt familiar facts which illustrate the principles of
science."—Monthly Mag.
" It is written with a full knowledge of the subject,
and in a popular style, abounding in practical illustra-
tions of the abstruse operations of these important
sciences."— U. S. Jour.
An ESSAY on MORAL CULTURE, ad-
dressed to Parents and Teachers. By M. M.
>• Carll. 18mo.
An ELEMENTARY TREATISE on AL-
GEBRA, Theoretical and Practical; with
attempts to simplify some of the more diffi-
cult parts of the science, particularly the
demonstration of the Binomial Theorem, in
its most general form; the Solution of
Equations of the higher orders; the Summa-
tion of Infinite Series, &c. By J. R. Young.
First American edition, with Additions and
Improvements, by Samuel Ward, Jun. 8vo.
"A new and ingenious general method of solving
Equations has been recently discovered by Messrs. H.
Atkinson, Holdred, and Horner, independently of each
other. For the best practical view of this new method
and its applications, consult the Elementary Treatise on
Algebra, by Mr. J. R. Young, a work which deserves our
cordial recommendation."—Dr. Gregory's edition of hut-
ton's Mathematics.
" For the summation of Infinite Series the author
gives a new and ingenious method, which is very easy
and extensive in its application."—Newcastle Mag.
By the same Author.
ELEMENTS of GEOMETRY; containing
a new and universal Treatise on the Doc-
trine of Proportions, together with Notes,
in which are pointed out and connected
several important errors that have hitherto
remained unnoticed in the writings of Ge-
ometers. Also, an Examination of the vari-
ous Theories of Parallel Lines that have
been proposed by Legendre, Bertrand, Ivory,
Leslie, and others.
" His observations on the theory of parallel lines, the
labor he has bestowed on the doctrines of proportion, as
well as his corrections of many errors of preceding Ge-
ometers, and supplying their defects, together with his
minute attention to accuracy throughout, may be justly
considered as rendering his performance valuable, espe-
cially to the learner."—Philosophical Magazine.
" We have never seen a work so free from pretension
and of such great merit. Various fallacies latent in the
reasoning of some celebrated mathematicians, both of
ancient and modern date, are pointed out and discussed
in a tone of calm moderation, which we regret to say i
not always employed in the scientific world."—Monthly
Magazine.
" This is a work of valuable information, the concep-
tion of a most enlightened mind, and executed with a
simplicity which cannot but carry the important truth
it speaks of home to the conviction of every under-
standing."— Weekly Times.
The ELEMENTS of ANALYTICAL GE-
OMETRY ; comprehending the Doctrine
of the Conic Sections, and the General
Theory of Curves and Surfaces of the sec-
ond order, with a variety of local Problems
on Lines and Surfaces. Intended for the
use of Mathematical Students in Schools
and Universities.
" If works like the present be introduced generally
into our schools and colleges, the continent will not long
boast of its immense superiority over the country of
Newton, in every branch of modern analytical science."
—Atlas.
THE ELEMENTS OF MECHANICS, com-
' prehending Statics and Dynamics, with a co-
pious Collection of Mechanical Problems, in-
tended for the use of Mathematical Students,
in Schools and Universities; with numerous
Plates. Revised and corrected by John D.
Williams. 1 vol. 8vo.
EDUCATION.
LESSONS on THINGS, intended to improve
Children in the Practice of Observation, Re-
flection and Description, on the System of
Pestalozzi, edited by John Frost, A. M.
The publishers request the attention of
teachers, school committees, and all who are
desirous of improving the methods of instruc-
tion, to this work, which is on a plan hitherto
unattempted by any school-book in this coun-
try, and which has been attended with extra-
ordinary success in England.
The following remarks on the work are ex-
tracted from the " Quarterly Journal of Edu-
cation."
" This little volume is a 'corrected and re-corrected' edi-
tion of lessons actually given to children, and, therefore,
possesses a value to which no book made in the closet
can lay claim, being the result of actual experiment.
The work consists of a number of lessons, divided into
live series; beginning with subjects the most easy and
elementary, it gradually increases in difficulty, each suc-
cessive step being adapted to the mind of the child as it
acquires fresh stores of knowledge.
" Every part of these lessons is interesting to the child,
both on account of the active operation into which his
own mind is necessarily called by the manner in which
the lessons are given ; and also by the attractive nature
of many of the materials which form the subject of the
lessons. In the first and most elementary series, the pupil
is simply taught to make a right use of his organs of
sense, and to exercise his judgment so far only as relates
to the objects about him; and accordingly the matter
brought before him at this stage, is such that its obvious
properties can be discovered and described by a child who
has acquired a tolerable knowledge of his mother tongue."
OUTLINES of HISTORY, from the Earliest
Records to the Present Time. Prepared for
the Use of Schools, with Questions, by John
Frost, A. M.
" The main object of the work is, by giving a selection
of interesting and striking facts from more elaborate his-
tories, properly and carefully arranged, with chronological
tables, to render the study of general history less dry and
repulsive than it has been heretofore. This, we think is
fully accomplished. Very great care appears to have been
bestowed on the selections, and in arranging the chrono-
logical tables, as well as in the classification of the his-
torical matter into parts and chapters. The work will
sufficiently recommend itself to all who examine it."—
Sat. Evening Post.
"To concentrate in one comparatively small volume, a
complete epitome of the entire history of the world, an-
cient and modern, so treated as to present a correct image
of it, would seem to be an object to be wished for, rather
than expected; the ' Outlines of History,' however, realize
this object."— Asiatic Journal.
"We consider that Mr. F has done a service to schools,
by the time and labor which he has bestowed upon this
work; the marginal dates will be found of great service,
but the chapters of questions upon the text, and upon the
maps, to illustrate the geography of the history, will es-
pecially recommend the work to^he attention of teach-
ers."— U- S. Gazette.
Philadelphia, July Kit A, 1831.
"The 'Outlines of History,' I consider an excellent
class-book of general history for the use of schools. The
questions added by Mr. Frost, are a most valuable auxili-
ary for the teacher as'well as the pupil. I shall use the
'Outlines' in my school, and cordially recommend it to
parents and teachers. S. C. WALKER."
Philadelphia, April 30th, 1831.
"Dear Sir,—I have just received a copy of your edition
of the 'Outlines of History.' From a cursory perusal, I
am disposed to give it a high rank as a school-book. So
well satisfied am I with the arrangement and execution
of the work, that I intend to put it immediately into the
hands of a class in my own school.
" Very respectfully, your obedient servant.
" Mr. John Frost." " LEVI FLETCHER.
FRENCH.
BY A. BOLMAR.
A COLLECTION of COLLOQUIAL
PHRASES on every Topic necessary to main-
tain Conversation, arranged under different
heads, with numerous remarks on the peculiar
pronunciation and use of various words—the
whole so disposed as considerably to facilitate
the acquisition of a correct pronunciation of
the French. By A. Bolmar. One vol. 18mo.
A SELECTION of ONE HUNDRED
PERRIN'S FABLES, accompanied by a Key,
containing the text, a literal and free trans-
lation, arranged in such a manner as to point
out the difference between the French and the
English idiom, also a figured pronunciation of
the French, according to the best French works
extant on the subject; the whole preceded by
a short treatise on the sounds of the French
language, compared with those of the English.
Les AVENTURES de TELEMAQUE
par FENELON, accompanied by a Key to
the first eight books; containing like the Fa-
bles—the Text—a Literal—and Free Trans-
lation ; intended as a Sequel to the Fables.
The expression ' figured pronunciation,' is above em-
ployed to express that the words in the Key to the French
Fables are spelt and divided as they are pronounced. It is
what Walker has done in his Critical Pronouncing Dic-
tionary ; for instance, he indicates the pronunciation of the
word enough, by dividing and spelling it thus, e-nuf. In
the same manner I indicate the pronunciation of the word
comptaient thus, kon te. As the understanding of the
figured pronunciation of Walker requires the student to
be acquainted with the primitive sounds of the English vow-
els, he must likewise, before he can understand the figured
pronunciation of the French, make himself acquainted with
the 20 primitive sounds of the French vowels. This any
intelligent person can get from a native, or from anybody
who reads French well, in a few hours.
A COMPLETE TREATISE on the GEN-
DERS of FRENCH NOUNS; in a small
pamphlet of fourteen pages.
This little work, which is the most complete
of the kind, is the fruit of great labor, and will
prove of immense service to every learner.
ALL THE FRENCH VERBS, both REG-
ULAR and IRREGULAR, in a small volume.
The verbs lire to be, avoir to have, parler to speak,
finir to finish, recevoir to receive, vendre to sell, se
lever to rise, se bien porter to be well, s'en alter to go
away, are here all conjugated through—affirmatively
—negatively—interrogatively—and negatively and i'»-
terrogativety—an arrangement which will greatly fa-
cilitate the scholar in his learning the French verbs,
and which will save the master the trouble of explain-
ing over and over again what may be much more
easily learned from books, thus leaving him more time
to give his pupil, during the lesson, that instruction
which cannot be found in books, but which must be
learned from a master.
NEUMAN'S SPANISH and ENGLISH
DICTIONARY. New Edition, in one vol.
I6mo.
(Sliemfotrg, Natural Htstorg, antr $lulosoi)hj>.
THE: CHEMISTRY OF THE ARTS, on the
basis of Gray's Operative Chemist, being
an Exhibition of the Arts and Manufac-
tures dependent on Chemical Principles,
with numerous Engravings, by ARTHUR
Ii. PORTER, M. D. late Professor *of
Chemistry, &-C. in the University of Ver-
mont. In 8vo. With numerous Plates.
The popular and valuable English work of Mr.
Gray, which forms the groundwork of the present
volume, was published in London in 1829, and de-
signed to exhibit a systematic and practical view of the
numerous Arts and Manufactures which involve the
application of Chemical Science. The author himself
a skilful, manufacturing, as well as an able, scientific
chemist, enjoying the multiplied advantages afforded
by the metropolis of the greatest manufacturing nation
on earth, was eminently qualified for so arduous an
undertaking, and the popularity of the work in Eng-
land, as well as its intrinsic merits, attest the fidelity
and success with which it has been executed. In
the work now offered to the American public, the
practical character of the Operative Chemist has been
preserved, and much extended by the addition of a
great variety of original matter, by numerous correc-
tions of the original text, and the adaptation of the
whole to the state and wants of the Arts and Manu-
factures of the United States. Among the most con-
siderable additions will be fottnd full and extended
treatises on the Bleaching of Cotton and Linen, on the
various branches of Calico Printing, on the Manufac-
ture of the Chloride of Lime, or Bleaching Powder,
and numerous Staple Articles used in the Arts of
Dying, Calico Printing, and various other processes
of Manufacture, such as the Salts of Tin, I^ead, Man-
ganese, and Antimony; the most recent Improve-
ments on the Manufacture of the Muriatic, Nitric,
and Sulphuric Acids, the Chromatis of Potash, the
latest information on the comparative Value of Dif-
ferent Varieties of Fuel, on the Construction of
Stoves, Fire-Places, and Stoving Rooms, on the Ven-
tilation of Apartments, &c. &c. The leading object
has been to improve and extend the practical charac-
ter of the Operative Chemist, and to supply, as the
publishers flatter themselves, a deficiency which is
felt by every artist and manufacturer, whose processes
f involve the principles of chemical science, the want
of a Systematic Work which should embody the most
recent improvements in the chemical arts and manu-
factures, whether derived from the researches of sci-
entific men, or the experiments and observations of
the operative manufacturer and artisans themselves,
CHEMICAL) MANIPULATION. Instruction
to Students on the Methods of perforin
ing Experiments of Demonstration or
Research, with accuracy and success. By
MICHAEL FARADAY, F. R. S. First
American, from the second London edi-
tion, with Additions by J. K. MITCHELL,
M.D.
" After a very careful perusal of this work, we strenu-
ously recommend it, as containing the most complete and
excellent instructions for conducting chemical experi
ments. There are few persons, however great their ex-
perience, who may not gain information in many impor-
tant particulars; and for ourselves, we beg most unequiv-
ocally to acknowledge that we have acquired many new
and important hints on subjects of even everyday occur-
rence."—.PAtiosoyAicai Mag.
" A work hitherto exceedingly wanted in the labora-
tory, equally useful to the proficient and to the student,
and eminently creditable to the industry and skill of the
author, and to the school whence it emanates."—Jour-
nal of Science and Arts.
GEOLOGICAL MANUAL, by II. T. De la
Beche, F. R. S., F. G. S., Mem. Geol. Soc.
of France. In 8vo. With 104 Wood Cuts.
ELEMENTS of PHYSICS, or NATURAL )
PHILOSOPHY, GENERAL and MEDI- £
CAL, explained independently of TECH- ^
NICAL MATHEMATICS, and containing
New Disquisitions and Practical Sugges-
tions. By Neill Arnott, M. D. Second
American from the fourth London edition,
with Additions by Isaac Hays, M. D.
" Dr. Arnott's work has done for Physics as much as
Locke's Essay did for the science of mind."—London Uni-
versity Magazine.
We may venture to predict that it will not be surpass-
ed."—Times.
Dr. A. has not done less for Physics than Blackstone
did for the Law."—Morning Herald.
" Dr. A. has made Natural Philosophy as attractive at
Buffon made Natural History."—French Critic.
" A work of the highest class among the productions of
mind."—Courier.
CUVLER'S ANIMAL KINGDOM, arranged
in conformity to its organization. Trans-
lated by H. M'Murtrie, M. D. 4 vols.
8vo.
Same work, abridged for the use of Schools,
&c. 1 vol. 8vo.
A FLORA of NORTH AMERICA, with
108 colored Plates. By W. P. C. Barton,
M. D. In 3 vols. 4to.
ARNOTT'S ELEMENTS of PHYSICS.
Vol. II. Part I. Containing Light and Heat.
" Dr. Arnott's previous volume has been so well receiv-
ed, that it has almost banished all thc flimsy productions
called popular, which falsely pretend to strip science of
its mysterious and repulsive aspect, and to exhibit a holy-
day apparel. The success of such a work shows most
clearly that it is plain, but sound knowledge which the
public want."—Monthly Review.
AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY, or NATU-
. RAL HISTORY of BIRDS, inhabiting
the UNITED STATES, by Charles Lu-
cien Bonaparte; designed 8 a continua-
tion of Wilson's Ornithology, Vols. I. IL
III and IV.
%* Gentlemen who possess Wilson, and are de-
sirous of rendering the work complete, are informed
that the edition of this work is very small, and that
but a very limited number of copies remain unsold.
A DISCOURSE on the REVOLUTIONS of
the SURFACE of the GLOBE and the
Changes thereby produced in the ANI-
MAL KINGDOM. By Baron G. Cuvier.
Translated from the Frer.cb, with Illustra-
tions and a Glossary. In 12mo. With Plates.
' One of the most scientific and important, yet plain
and lucid works, which adorn the age------Here is vast
Rid to the reader interested in the study of nature, and
the lights which reason and investigation have thrown
upon the formation of the universe."—Next Monthly Mag.
azine.
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