The Works of William Harvey M.D.: Translated from the Latin with a life of the authorHarvey, William
Science
The Works of William Harvey M.D.: Translated from the Latin with a life of the author
Harvey, William
Blood -- Circulation -- Early works to 1800; Embryology -- Early works to 1800; Physiology -- Early works to 1800
Towards the end of the fifth day or the beginning of the sixth, the head
is divided into three vesicles: the first of these, which is also the
largest, is rounded and black; this is the eye, in the centre of which
the pupil can be distinguished like a crystalline point. Under this
there lies a smaller vesicle, concealed in part, which represents the
brain; and over this lies the third vesicle, like an added crest or
rounded summit crowning the whole, from which the cerebellum is at
length produced. In the whole of these there is nothing to be discovered
but a little perfectly limpid water.
And now the rudiment of the body, which we have called the carina,
distinctly proclaims itself to be the spinal column, to which sides soon
begin to be added, and the wings and the lower extremities present
themselves, projecting slightly from the body of the maggot. The venous
conduits are, further, now clearly referrible to the umbilical vessels.
EXERCISE THE NINETEENTH.
_The fifth inspection of the egg._
On the sixth day the three cells of the head present themselves more
distinctly, and the coats of the eyes are now apparent; the legs and the
wings also bud forth, much in the way in which, towards the end of June,
we see tadpoles getting their extremities, when they quit the water, and
losing their tails assume the form of frogs.
In the chick, the rump has still no other form than is conspicuous in
animals at large, even in serpents; it is a round and slender tail. The
substance of the heart now grows upon the pulsating vesicle; and shortly
afterwards the rudiments of the liver and lungs are distinguished; the
bill, too, makes its appearance at the same time. Everything is of a
pure white colour, especially the bill. About the same epoch all the
viscera and the intestines are conspicuous. But the heart takes
precedence of all the parts; and the lungs are visible before the liver
or brain. The eyes, however, are seen first of all, by reason of their
large size and black colour.
And now, too, the embryo has a power of motion, and raises its head and
slightly twists itself, although there is still nothing of the brain to
be seen, but only a little limpid fluid inclosed in a vesicle. It is at
length a perfect maggot, only differing from a caterpillar in this, that
when worms are set free from their cells they creep about hither and
thither and seek their food, whilst the worm in the egg is stationary,
and, surrounded with its proper food, is furnished with aliment through
the umbilicus.
The viscera and intestines being now formed, and the fœtus able to
execute motions, the anterior portion of the body, without either thorax
or abdomen, is perceived to be completely open; so that the heart
itself, the liver and the intestines, are seen to hang pendulous
externally.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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