An anatomical disquisition on the motion of the heart & blood in animalsHarvey, William
Science
An anatomical disquisition on the motion of the heart & blood in animals
Harvey, William
Blood -- Circulation
The kidneys were bedded in fat, and in themselves sufficiently healthy;
on their anterior aspects, however, they contained several small watery
abscesses or serous collections, one of which, the size of a hen’s
egg, containing a yellow fluid in a proper cyst, had made a rounded
depression in the substance of the kidney. To this some were disposed
to ascribe the suppression of urine under which the old man had
laboured shortly before his death; whilst others, and with greater show
of likelihood, ascribed it to the great regurgitation of serum upon the
lungs.
There was no appearance of stone either in the kidneys or bladder.
The mesentery was loaded with fat, and the colon, with the omentum,
which was likewise fat, was attached to the liver, near the fundus of
the gall-bladder; in like manner the colon was adherent from this point
posteriorly with the peritoneum.
The viscera were healthy; they only looked somewhat white externally,
as they would have done had they been parboiled; internally they were
(like the blood) of the colour of dark gore.
The spleen was very small, scarcely equalling one of the kidneys in
size.
All the internal parts, in a word, appeared so healthy, that had
nothing happened to interfere with the old man’s habits of life, he
might perhaps have escaped paying the debt due to nature for some
little time longer.
The cause of death seemed fairly referrible to a sudden change in the
non-naturals, the chief mischief being connected with the change of
air, which through the whole course of life had been inhaled of perfect
purity,--light, cool, and mobile, whereby the præcordia and lungs were
more freely ventilated and cooled; but in this great advantage, in this
grand cherisher of life this city is especially destitute; a city whose
grand characteristic is an immense concourse of men and animals, and
where ditches abound, and filth and offal lie scattered about, to say
nothing of the smoke engendered by the general use of sulphureous coal
as fuel, whereby the air is at all times rendered heavy, but much more
so in the autumn than at any other season. Such an atmosphere could
not have been found otherwise than insalubrious to one coming from the
open, sunny, and healthy region of Salop; it must have been especially
so to one already aged and infirm.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account