§2 
the flimy humour is then difcharged out of the 
body; fo that [ obferved, that the f{permatic 
parts thenyfelves were rendered three times 
{maller in this {pecies of Snails, which is in- 
deed very worthy of obfervation. Salt therefore 
feems to me to be a matter proper for cleanfing 
the Snail, for by this means all its humours are 
difcharged. The infet might otherwife be 
rubbed over with fome purgative medicines, 
in order to try what effect they would produce; 
and, indeed, the fuccefs of fuch an experiment 
would be of fome ufe in the medicinal art. 
I have often refolved but have not had oppor- 
tunities to try it. I think that the act of 
purging in our inteftines is performed in the 
fame manner, that this effect is produced on 
the outfide of the Snail; for the acrid, pungent, 
and provocative ftimulus, irritates all the glan- 
dular parts of our inteftines; and thefe parts 
are fituated on the skin of the Snail, whereby 
they throw off and difcharge the humours 
contained in them ; and at the fame time wath 
away, as it were, every thing they find offen- 
five. This is manifect in the faliva, which is 
copjoufly difcharged from our falival dus, 
when any acrid and ftimulating remedies are 
held in the mouth. This any perfon may 
experience very clearly, if he chews the roots 
of pellitory of Spain. 
I cannot therefore agree that purging is pe- 
culiar only to a few particular medicines, which 
the practice has felected for that purpofe; or 
that particular humours are expelled from the 
body, by fuch as are commonly called {pecific 
purgatives ; as if thefe knew, from reafon and 
judgment, how to diftinguifh water from 
phlegm, and the latter from all other fuper- 
fluous humours ; and to fecrete this only, and 
throw it out of the body. Whereas, it is more 
agreeable to experience, that, that matter only 
is difcharged, wherewith the body abounds moft, 
and which is more than any other copious in its 
veffels at that time. If this be fo, it-will be fuffi- 
cient to obferve, in regardto purgatives, whether 
they be hot, dry, cold, or moift; nor will there be 
any further neceflity to load the memory with 
new-invented names and fictitious diftintions, 
Cee. 
The (BO Ook of N-ATU RE one / 
It is improper to put Snails into {pirit of 
wine, oil of :turpentine, or any other fuch 
liquors, in order to kill them ; and though I 
have fometimes killed other infeéts with the 
vapour of lighted fulphur, that they might re- 
main whole for the diffection; yet I have fancied’ 
the fitteft and beft contrivance for this purpofe, 
is to kill the Snail flowly, or by cegrees, by 
keeping it under the water. This method is 
attended with this great advantage, that the 
Snail never contracts its mufcular parts; which, 
on the contrary, are beautifully expanded : 
for the water penetrating into the orifice, of its 
glands, mixes with the flimy humour there, 
and, at the fame time, by dilating, furprifingly ex- 
pands the whole body. Hence I have found that 
many parts, which otherwife are hidden, or can- 
not be inveftigated, but by great labour, become 
vifible with great familiarity, as the aperture 
of the genital organs with the penis and uterus, 
the teeth alfo, and the form of the verge or 
extremity of the body, the glands and other 
parts are all rendered confpicuous on account of 
the water contained in them ; the Snails are, 
therefore, by this means, rendered fit for 
diffection. 
- Some curious perfons feed this kind of Snail 
in their gardens, and at their country feats, as 
I remember to have feen at the Hague and 
Culenburgh, in the kitchen gardens of the 
illuftrious counts Maurice and Waldeck; and 
in many other places, particular in grotto’s, 
which are adorned with fea productions. The 
propereft time for removing thefe Snails is in 
the winter, for then they lie clofe in their hells 
without motion, and are defended therein by a 
particular kind of operculum, or cover, formed 
by a hardened quantity of the flimy moifture 
vented for that purpofe, which very exadtly 
clofes up the entrance into the fhell. If they 
are to be fent from place to place in fummer, 
the beft way is to fend them wrapped up in a 
quantity of frefh herbage; when they are de- 
figned to be eat, they fhould be put into a 
bag, and chopped ftraw {cattered between 
them, by the pricking of which they are pre- . 
vented from creeping out of their fhells. 
= 
Sh mooi 
Of the internal parts of Snails; and firft of the heart, its auricle, the vena cava, 
and aorta. 
And alfo of the blood, and its perpetual circulation. 
Of the 
difference of the flimy humour from the blood. Of the cavities of the verge, 
and alfo of the facculus calcarius, or bag of alkaline matter. To which is added, 
a curious experiment, pertaining to the motion of the mufcles. 
S I have hitherto been taking a furvey 
of many of the external, and of fome 
of the internal, parts of the Snail, I propofe to 
go on now to a defcription of its fhell: but 
then it will be moft proper to difcourfe of that, 
after I fhall have defcribed thofe parts, from 
whence the fhell itfelf derives its nutriment 
and growth. As I have already gone through 
the examination of the principal internal parts, 
I fhall not confine myfelf rigidly here to the 
order ufually obferved by anatomifts, who 
commence their inquiries with the belly or 
head; they do this to get rid of thofe parts, 
which would firft taint ; but no noxious fubject 
is to be feared in this cafe, and the animal itfelf 
being fmall, I have chofen rather to treat firft 
thoroughly 
