Circulation of the Blood 149 



those who take points for dispute from among them as 

 either not understanding the subject, or as unwilling to 

 look at things for themselves, and to investigate them 

 with their own senses. 1 



For my part, I believe that no other kind of attraction 

 can be demonstrated in the living body save that of the 

 nutriment, which gradually and incessantly passes on to 

 supply the waste that takes place in the tissues ; in the 

 same way as the oil rises in the wick of a lamp to be 

 consumed by the flame. Whence I conclude that the 

 primary and common organ of all sensible attraction 

 and impulsion is of the nature of sinew (nervus), or 

 fibre, or muscle, and this to the end that it may be 

 contractile, that contracting it may be shortened, and 

 so either stretch out, draw towards, or propel. But 

 these topics will be better discussed elsewhere, when 

 we speak of the organs of motion in the animal 

 body. 



To those who repudiate the circulation because they 

 neither see the efficient nor final cause of it, and who 

 exclaim, cui bono ? I have yet to reply, having hitherto 

 taken no note of the ground of objection which they 

 take up. And first I own I am of opinion that our first 

 duty is to inquire whether the thing be or not, before 

 asking wherefore it is ? for from the facts and circum- 

 stances which meet us in the circulation admitted, 

 established, the ends and objects of its institution are 

 especially to be sought. Meantime I would only ask, 

 how many things we admit in physiology, pathology, 

 and therapeutics, the causes of which are unknown to 

 us ? That there are many, no one doubts the causes 

 of putrid fevers, of revulsions, of the purgation of 

 excrementitious matters, among the number. 



Whoever, therefore, sets himself in opposition to the 

 circulation, because, if it be acknowledged, he cannot 

 account for a variety of medical problems, nor in 

 the treatment of diseases and the administration of 



1 Vide Chapter XIV. 



