(6o6) 
thefe mufcles, or movingjf^w, whichfoever they be,has any flri- 
fter cohefion than other vviih any of the adjacent parts , I concei- 
ved, I Height be allow'd the liberty to doubt oiiYi^Hyfothefis^tf'p^' 
cialiy ifl could futisfieniyfelf better by ano:her.- 
For inftead of thefe folutions there occurred to my thoughts a 
third way, which ( provided experience would countenance itj 
feenied more mechanically adjufted to folve the Ph^fiomcnon^viz. 
That thofe fibres, which have been efteemed anmUr^ might per- 
haps be ffiral^ and fo be continued down in one trad to the lowcft 
extremity of the inteftines 5 witha!, that their finalnefs, compared 
with thecompafs they fetch about the inteftine, might very eafily, 
I conceived, impofe upon any, who made not thofe refieftion^s, or 
tried not to unravel them^ their declination being, for that reafon,- 
not eafily difcerntble ; Which if true, it fecmed probable to me, 
that when either a bare motion fliall be imprefled on them at their 
beginning, or any fubftance impelled into them , they being to be 
f [jppoihd wJlatH^aturali moderatly tenfe , fo long as the moving 
t:aufecontinues,the motion muft be fucceffiveiy continued all along 
their trafls , and, that being in ambitum^ muft therefore, whilft it 
lafts, by abbreviating thefeyKtw, ftraiten the inteftine, and fo 
thruft forward what is contained in it, efpecia'ly if they proved to 
have a mufcular fabrick. The conjeflure as *tvvas not difrelifhed 
by theperfon to whom I propofed it, fogratified me the more for 
the feeming eafinefs of the performance ; Nature's operations be- 
ing the moft eafy and fimplethat can be imagined , though for that 
reafon very often, I doubt, overlooked. But the notion lay ^fitr- 
Vfzxd\o'[\g dormant^ till, about half a year fince,being revived by I 
know not what occafion, Iconfider'd 'twas too unphilofophical 
to acquiefce in bare fpeculation, when autopfy might be confulted^ 
and therefore I fet upon the experiment , which I firft made in a 
portion in the upper inteftines of an Ox^ which, by reafon ofchcir 
largenefs of proportion to thofe of moft other [pedes of animals, 
reem*d fitteft for the tryal;afterwards in thofe of Sheepand Calves, 
befide the repetition of it in Oxen, and not only in the fmaller in- 
teftines, but in t\\t colon and ccecHm alfo. The circumftances and 
refult of which tryals are as follows* 
To efFeft a due disjunflion of the membranes and fibres{vih\cYi I 
found 'twas hard , if not impoffible, for me to make while 'twas 
raw, ) I was fain to caufe the inteftine of Oxen to be boiled 5 or 
6 hours, of Sheep 4 ; whereby the compages of the parts was fo 
loofncd^ 
