INTRODUCTION 77 



branches of which proceed to the septum itself, to supply it 

 with nourishment? And what is especially worthy of notice 

 is this: if in the foetus, where everything is more lax and soft, 

 nature saw herself reduced to the necessity of bringing the 

 blood from the right to the left side of the heart by the foramen 

 ovale, from the vena cava through the pulmonary vein, how 

 should it be likely that in the adult she should pass it so com- 

 modiously, and without an effort through the septum of the 

 ventricles which has now become denser by age? 



Andreas Laurentius, 1 resting on the authority of Galen 8 and 

 the experience of Hollerius, asserts and proves that the serum 

 and pus in empyema, absorbed from the cavities of the chest 

 into the pulmonary vein may be expelled and got rid of with 

 the urine and faeces through the left ventricle of the heart and 

 arteries. He quotes the case of a certain person affected with 

 melancholia, and who suffered from repeated fainting fits, who 

 was relieved from the paroxysms on passing a quantity of 

 turbid, fetid and acrid urine. But he died at last, worn out by 

 disease; and when the body came to be opened after death, no 

 fluid like that he had micturated was discovered either in the 

 bladder or the kidneys; but in the left ventricle of the heart and 

 cavity of the thorax plenty of it was met with. And then 

 Laurentius boasts that he had predicted the cause of the symp- 

 toms. For my own part, however, I cannot but wonder, since 

 he had divined and predicted that heterogeneous matter could 

 be discharged by the course he indicates, why he could not or 

 would not perceive, and inform us that, in the natural state of 

 things, the blood might be commodiously transferred from the 

 lungs to the left ventricle of the heart by the very same route. 



Since, therefore, from the foregoing considerations and many 

 others to the same effect, it is plain that what has heretofore 

 been said concerning the motion and function of the heart and 

 arteries must appear obscure, inconsistent, or even impossible 

 to him who carefully considers the entire subject, it would be 

 proper to look more narrowly into the matter to contemplate 

 the motion of the heart and arteries, not only in man, but in 

 all animals that have hearts; and also, by frequent appeals to 

 vivisection, and much ocular inspection, to investigate and dis- 

 cern the truth. 



Lib. ix, cap. xi, qucit. 12. DC Locis AffectU. lib vi, cap. 7. 



