Mifcellanea Curiofa, 179 



guine a Vents influente rurfus diflenditur j a nullo 

 enim cordis motu, nifi tenfionem foam remittente, 

 & ab irruente J anguine Diaftole ejus libra tis adeo 

 viribus fuccedit, 



I have tranfcrifcfd the intire Paragraph, be- 

 caufe it contains his whole Hypothefis of the Dia- 

 ftole, and all the notice that he takes of it 

 through his whole Work. Bar how {lender fb- 

 ever this may prove, it is the molt iubftantial 

 that I have any where met with, except a late 

 one of Mr. Covope r* which is properly an Improve- 

 ment of this, and (hall be confider'd in the Se- 

 quel. 



But if Contraction be the fble Action of 

 thefe Fibres ( as this Great Man confefles it 

 to be) and as indeed it is of all Trfufcular Fibres, 

 I wonder how Co judicious a Writer came to flip 

 into fuch an Abfardity, as to call their Diftention 

 ( vulgarly but improperly call'd Relaxation ) a 

 Motion of Heftitution. For from the Nature of 

 thofe Fibres, and their difpofition in the Stru- 

 cture of the Heart, the natural State of the 

 Heart appears manifeftly ro be Tonical, and its 

 Dilatation a State of Violence ; and confequently, 

 the Conftri£Hon is the true motion of ^eftitution t 

 and the State to which it will fpontaneoujly re- 

 turn, when the Force is taken off, which is 

 the work of the Intercoftal Mufcles and Dia- 

 phragm. 



Thus we are left ftill to leek for the true 

 Caufe of the Diaftole* which leems to me to be 

 the main and mod difficult Phenomenon, re- 

 lating to the Heart and the Circulation of the 

 Blood. But in Mr. Cowpers ingenious Intro- 

 duction to his Anatomy of Humane Bodies, I 



N % find 



