m] of the New Physics. 83 



He also discussed in the same spirit the succus spirituosus 

 seminalis (Auber, under his supervision discovered in 1657 

 at Pisa the true structure of the testicle), the generation and 

 nutrition of both plants and animals, and even the nature of 

 several diseases. 



When we pass in review the various instances of the 

 firm, sharp, decided way in which Borelli laid hold, with his 

 physical methods, of a whole series of problems, taken from 

 nearly all parts of physiology, in dealing with which while we 

 can now see how often he went wrong, we must also acknow- 

 ledge how often he was right, how often he brilliantly hit the 

 mark, two reflections force themselves upon us. 



In the first place when we remember that Borelli's book 

 was published some fifty years only after the appearance of 

 Harvey's work, and that he appears to have been teaching 

 publicly much that is contained in it very many years before it 

 was published, we are impressed with the enormous progress in 

 physiology during the interval, a progress due in the main to 

 the development of the new physical mechanical mathematical 

 philosophy. 



In the second place when we consider the effect which a 

 perusal of Borelli's book has upon the reader now, we can 

 easily understand how he was a founder of a great school 

 which flourished long after him. He was so successful in his 

 mechanical solutions of physiological problems that many 

 coming after him readily rushed to the conclusion that all such 

 problems could be solved by the same methods. And as is 

 often the case, the less qualified, alike as regards mechanical 

 as well as physiological knowledge and insight to follow in 

 Borelli's path were the men of succeeding times, the more 

 loudly did they often proclaim the might of Borelli's method. 

 Thus there came in the times after Borelli a school, who 

 imitating and often mimicking Borelli, proposed to explain 

 all physiological phenomena by the help of mathematical 

 formulae and of hypotheses concerning forces and the shapes 

 and sizes of particles, the iatro-mathematical, or iatro- physical 

 school whom I shall frequently have occasion to mention in 

 succeeding lectures. 



6—2 



