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Philosophical Transactions/Volume 3/Number 44

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PHILOSOPHICAL

TRANSACTIONS.


Monday, Februar 15. 1668/9.


The Contents.

A Continuation of the Answers to the Inquiries about Vegetation.Additional Answers to some of the former Queries of the same Subject.An Answer of M. James Gregory to M. Christian Hugens de Zulichem, touching his Book De vera Circuli & Hyperbolæ Quadratura.An Anatomical Account, left by Dr. Harvey, concerning that extraordinary old man, Tho. Parre.An Account of two Books.I. De VISCERUM STRUCTURA Exercitatio Anatomica MARC. MALPIGHII.II. EPHEMERIDES MEDICEORUM SYDERUM ex Hypothesibus & Tabulis Joh. Dom. CASSINI.An Alphabetical Table for the Tracts of the Year 1668.

A Continuation

Of the Answers to the Queries about Vegetation, formerly publisht.

In the next foregoing Numb. of these Papers there were Answers given to the thirteen first Queries of those, that were printed Numb. 40; and Answers promised to the rest of them in another Month; for which We shall choose this present February; professing ourselves obliged for the following Communications on this subject to the liberality of Dr. Ez. Tonge.

TO the 4th. Q. In the Change of the Nature of a Tree, the application of Juices is, in my opinion, not otherwise considerable, than from the scarcity, plenty, or goodness of the nourishment of such Juyces, not from the taste or relish in them. Yet probably hot nourishments, whether in Juyces or Earths, may digest the Sap, and consequently the Fruit better in Trees of flashy Fruit, than in others, and vice versâ. In the meantime to change the Taste of Fruit, the probablest way may be, though not very hopeful, to bore the Roots and the Body downwards and transverse, and to fill the holes with plenty of its own or some other Tree's Sap, in which some Aromatick substances have been strongly infus'd,

To the 15th.If no rain come to the roots of trees at all, nor other moisture, they will not grow; but if the points of the roots only be water'd, though all the rest remain dry (as it happens naturally in Firre-trees) they may grow very well. For the points of the roots shoot out yearly a sharp-pointed tender part, somewhat like the sharp bud on the end of a sprig, by which the root not only enlarges it self in the earth, as the Branch does in the air, but also receives its nourishment. And that tender part moves its self towards the best-moistned and the tenderest earth: So that to promote the growth of trees, 'tis very effectual to loosen the earth of trees about the points of the roots; and there also to minister nourishment or proper liquors; and this in trenches, where the amendment may remain, rather than above; throwing out the dead mould out of the trenches, and spreading it above to kill weeds.

To the 16th.The roots of Plum-and Lime-trees inoculated upon, will shoot out their buds, as I have experimented. I failed of success in the Walnut, in regard, I think, I had not well provided for what was necessary to keep the part inoculated from the moisture of the earth and rain. To make a successful tryal, suppose in an Alkermes-Oak (a delicate tree, and difficult to be otherwise inoculated upon;) Let the root, to be grafted on. be bared in the fall of the leaf, taken out of the earth, and at convenient distance from the Body of the tree, bow'd, and raised a foot above the earth, and then the points and fibres of the root carefully laid about with fresh earth, and water'd till they take well, and till the root rais'd in the air have a bark like that of a branch of a tree; which probably it will get in the next season of Inoculation. The Inoculation it self is made on the part raised, after the ordinary way. When 'tis done, let it be carefully covered with some soft wax (as is known) to defend it from the rain. It is to be stopp'd, and order'd in all things, as in other Inoculations

To the 17th.The arms of the roots of trees are to be cut for the advantage of their growth, according to the proportion they have to their Head and Body; or according to the design you have to encrease Wood or Fruit. For such roots as are more outward, feed Wood, such as are inward, the Fruit; as is above supposed.

To the 18th.The Depth of Trees to be set, should never be below the reach of the Suns heat, nor the goodness of the mould, and rather too shallow than too deep; forasmuch as they are apter to sink lower, than to raise themselves upwards, if they be out of the convenient reach of the Suns heat, the cause of pulsion and nourishment.

To the 19th.The Seeds of the Firr, Pine, &c. which bring up the shells of their seeds upon the heads of the first shoot, will either not grow at all, or difficultly, if the blunt end be put downwards, because in that posture it must turn it self, before it can emerge into the air; for the root is shot downwards at the sharp end. But it may very well grow, if set Horizontally.

To the 20th.Such Trees, as were mention'd formerly in the Answer to the first Querie, may grow, though no part of the Root be in the earth. And all such, as may be propagated by short sticks, cut off at both ends, and laid in the ground, as Mulberries, will do so. Some young plants, if their heads be kept moist, will live all Winter, if mild, though their roots be in the air, as I tryed in Seedlings of Apples and Crabs. Their roots, set afterwards in the Spring, grew and lived. The reason why some Plants grow in sticks, may be the softness of such wood, apt thereby to receive nourishment like a root, and to shoot out roots and fibres from themselves. But in some slips, taken from firmer-wooded trees, as Bayes, a moist temperate season is to be observ'd, and some stone, or chip of some wood to be closed to the-end of the slip, and set in the earth with it, which helps its rooting.

Additional Answers of Dr. Tonge to some of the Queries about Vegetables, printed in Numb. 43.

TO the 11th.I add, that the Sap (e.g.) of a large Walnut in the latter season of its running, i.e. when it yields no sap any longer in the Body or Branches at any time of the day, runs longer at the roots on the South or Sunny-side, than on the North or shady side.

To the 12th.Birch-trees bored in the Spring so late, in respect both of the year and day, that they have afforded no Sap at all at the body, have been found sometime after, to have issued such plenty of juice, as hath condensed in the hole to a stiff jelly. This I suppose to have risen not about Autumn, (as some conjecture) but in the heat of some day the same Spring, or in some extraordinary hot day following after that tryal, or the hole to have been made too late in the evening after the tree hath ceased to run for that day: Or else it hath in some favorable season run earlier than ordinary in the Spring following. But this is left to farther tryal; as also, Whether the sap in trees, e.g. in Maples, will not run some dayes sooner at the roots, than at body and branches; as they also run at roots some dayes longer than at body and branches.

To the 13th.As plenty of Rain can cause no more plenty of Sap than the pores of the root, body and branches will admit; which must stay some time to be digested, and converted into nourishment: So too much cold rain may by over-cooling hinder the Sap, by abating from the degree of heat necessary to pulsion of Sap into the root, and to the digestion in the tree; which is also in watering. On this ground it seems probable, that drawing Sap constantly from trees every year, will not hinder their growth in body, branches, leaves, nor fruit, to any great prejudice; for, pulsion will still supply juice into the emptied pores, till their capacity be filled.

It is possible also, that trees may grow better, and give more fruit, if the right art of drawing sap be found out for that end; as some persons grow fatter by often Bleeding. If plenty of Sap drawn from trees hinder at all, it seems probable, that it will hinder growth of fruit, leaves, or uppermost shoots in tops of trees, and yearly shoots in extreme parts. If by Observation this be verified, then hence we have a probable reason of Suckers robbing fruit, viz. because till the whole tree be filled of Sap, the fruit cannot be serv'd in the uttermost branches: wherefore not only Suckers, but all superfluous not-bearing Branches are to be carefully cut away before, or at the entrance of the Spring. Hence, also it is to be inquired, Whether there be not some peculiar seasons to cause timber, Branches and Fruit to increase; and whether the first season of the stirring of Sap be most proper to increase Roots, or the last; and in the middlemost season, when it reaches the top-most branches, properest for Fruit? Also, whether what they call Blasting, be not sometimes for want of supply of Sap at those seasons subject to blasting? And whether, by discreet watering and manuring, Trees that bear only some years, may be caused to bear yearly, which some Fruit-trees are observ'd to do in all soils, and others in some soils, and not othersome.

Quære also, if the soyle cause this diversity of fruitfulness by diversity of pulsion, and plenty of sap therein depending, what sort of soyl that is, and how it may be imitated by Art?

Quære farther, Whether pruning the roots, by diversifying the Pulsion, may not also promote the fruitfulness, by taking of those that lead immediately to wood, i.e. the shortest, and of the latter years shooting, and as it were the Suckers of the root, and leaving and nourishing those which feed fruit especially, which are suppos'd to be the longest, and of the former years shooting? And, whether cleaving roots so, as to cause new ones to spring from the inner part of the cleft, held open by a stone, do not help fruitfulness for this cause?

An Extract

Journal des Scavans of Novem. 12. 1668.
Of a Letter of Mr. James Gregory to the Publisher, containing some consideration of his, upon M. Hugens his Letter, printed in Vindication of his Examen of the Book, entitled Vera Circuli & Hyperbola Quadratura.

THe first occasion of the exchange of Letters on this Subject was given in the Journal des Scavans of July 2. 1668. to which a civil return was made in Numb. 37. of these Tracts: which having been judiciously animadverted upon in another Journal des Scavans, viz. of Nov. 12. l668. it was thought equitable here to make publick, what M. Gregory hath since imparted thereupon, out of a desire expressed by him, further to elucidate that controversie. Which how satisfactory it is, we leave to the intelligent to judge; professing, that we are no further concern'd in this contest, than to let the Sagacious Reader know the proceedings thereof, by referring him to the French Journals about what is said thereof on the one hand, and by delivering in these Papers, what comes from the other: which as 'tis intended to be done without any animosity or offence, so we desire the Candid Reader will pardon us for diverting him thus much by this dispute from what else he might justly expect in these Philosophical Occurrences. The Answer it self of M. Gregory, follows in the same language, wherein he thought fit to communicate it, viz.

Ex duobus Argumentis, quibus conatur Nob. D. Hugenius doctrinam meam evertere, primo quidem, responsionis fundamentum dedi in Proem. ad Geom. partem universalem: alterum autem provenit solummodo à Prop. II. non recte, opinor, ab Hugenio intellecta, quam tandem admitti: post Correctiones (ut inquit) a me factas. Ut autem, simul cum resolutione Objectionum, omnem evertam dubitandi rationem, ex admissa Prop. IIma. in forma conabor probare syllogistica, Nullam esse ratíonem Analyticam inter Circulum et diametri Quadratum: Præter Modum quippe et Figuram nil deest in hactenus à me publicatis, quin id integre demonstretur; quæ interim forma raro à Geometris exigitur. Dico itaque.

Si daretur ratio Analytica (seu ratio notis Analyticis exprimenda) inter Circulum et Diametri quadratum, tunc Circulus analytice componeretur ex Quadratis, inscripto & circumscripto. Sed posterius est absurdum. F. Sequela Majoris sic probatur;

Quantitas quæsita & determinata invenitur ex quantitatibus quibuscunque eam determinantibus, in ea ratione, seu relatione quam habet quantitas determinata ad dictas quantitates determinantes. Sed Quadratum inscriptum & circumscriptum Circulum determinant ideoque ex illis Circulus daretur in ea relatione, quam habet ad diametri Quadratum vel ejus semissem}}, h. e. si esset rario analytica inter Circulum & Diametri quadratum; ex dictis quantitatibus determinantibus analytice componereretur Circulus. Ex dictis enim quantitatibus omnia analytice componi possunt, quæ ad eas rationem habent analyticam.

Secundi syllogismi Minor est evidentissima. Major sutem est Axioma ab omnibus Geometris tacite admissum.

Minor syllogismi prioris sic probatur.

Eodem modo componitur Circulus ex Quadrato inscripto et circumscripto, quo componitur Quadrans Circuli ex Triangulo inscripto et Trapezio vel potius Quadrato circumscripto. Sed ex 11ma Prop. Quadrans circuli seu Sector non potest componi analytice ex Triangulo inscripto & Quadrilatero circumscripto. E.

Major est evidens. At poterit fortasse distingui Minor, dicendo; Propos. 11am veram esse in methodo Indefinitæ; sed posse esse falsam in methodis particularibus. At insto. Omnis methodus indefinita in methodos seu casus particulares est resolubilis. Sed hæc methodus indefinita, nempe quod Sector sit terminatio datæ seriei convergentis, in nullam particularem resolvi potest. Nulla igitur datur hic methodus paticularis. Major patet, quia quantitates æquales in se mutuo sunt resolubiles. Minorem ita probo; Si hæc Methodus indefinita resolveretur in aliquam particularem, resolutio fieret vel ab Analysi speciosa vel numerosa. Sed neutrum dici potest. E. Major patet ex sufficienti enumeratione. Minor sic probatur: Non ab Analysi Speciosa, quoniam hæc methodus indefinita ad eam est irreducibilis, ut patet ex Prop. 11ma; Non à Numerosa, quæ hic est interminabilis proindeque invariabilis.

In hanc ultimam distinctionem resolvitur 1a. Obj. Hugenii. Velim enim Nobiliss. Virum considerare, Omnem plenam Problematis solutionem esse Indefinitam. Nam methodi Particulares, cum sint Infinitæ, exhiberi omnes nequeunt; neque dirigi possunt à tenore Problematis, quippe illis omnibus communi: Jdeoque requiritur methodus Generalis seu Indefinita, Particularium directrix. Agnosco utique methodos Particulares casu sæpe inveniri absque ope Generalis, attamen fatendum est Geometris, nullam esse nec posse fieri Methodum Particularem, in quam resolubilis non sit methodus Indefinita. Si igitur methodus Indefinita omni resolutioni sit impervia (ut in Prop. 11ma est demonstratum) eodem modo omnes Particulares resolutionem etiam respuent; proindeque tam Definita quam Indefinita nullam compositionem agnoscit. Talis enim Compositio, qualis Resolutio.

Etiamsi prædicta, meo quidem judicio, abunde sufficiant, ne tamen ullus relinquatur cavillationi locus, 11mam nostram Prop. etiam in Definitis hic demonstrabimus. Sit ergo B. Polygonum intra Circuli Sectorem, 2B. Polygonum circumscriptum & priori simile; sufficit enim Polygonorum proportionem definire, ut Theorema definite demonstretur. Continuetur`
B 2B
C D
E F
G H
Z
a x
m
n
Series convergens ut sit ejus terminatio seu Circuli Secror Z. Dico, Z non posse componi Analytice ex Polygonis definitis 2B. Si fieri potest, eomponatur Z. Analytice ex Polygonis Definitis B, 2 B. sintq; duæ quantitates Indefinitæ a & x, e quibus componatur m eodem modo, quo Z componitur à quantitatibus B, 2B; Item eodem modo componatur n ex quantitatibus : quantttates m, n, non sunt indefinite æquales ex prop. 11ma. Si igitur inter m & n fingatur æquatio; a manente quantitate indefinita; æquatico inter m & n tot habebit radices seu quantitates in quas resolvitur x, quot quantitatum, inter se diversas rationes habentium, binarii sunt in rerum natura, quæ vices quantitatum a, x, subire possunt, h. e. quæ eandem quantitatem Analytice ex se ipsis componunt eodem modo, quo eadem quantitas componitur ex ipsarum media Geometrica , & ex media Harmonica inter dictam mediam Geometricam &x, nempe ita ut compositio sit eodem modo quo Z componitur ex B & 2B: atque ex Confectario Prop. 10mæ, omnes quantitatum binarii, rationes quoque diversas inter se habentium, B 2B, CD, EE, GH, &c. in infinitum, possunt supplere vices quantitatum a, x, quoniam Z eodem modo componitur ex B 2B, quo ex CD, EF, vel GH, &c. & proinde æquatio inter m & n radices habet numero infinitas. Sed omnis æquatio habet ad summum tot radices, quot habet dimensiones; & proinde æquatio intern m & n dimensiones habet numero infinitas, quod est absurdum; ideoq; Z seu Circuli Sector non potest Analytice componi ex Polygonis definitis, B, 2B. quod demonstrand. erat. Hinc manifestum est, Terminationem cujuslibet seriei convergentis, si non possit componi ex terminis convergentibus indefinite, nec posse componi definite; adeoq; evanescit simul cum nostra distinctione Objectio Hugenii prima.

Idem in Objectione sua secunda non videtur advertisse, me non solum in Prop. 11ma, sed etiam in toto meo Tractatulo intelligere per Extractionem radicum, Resolutionem omnium potestatum sive purarum sive affectarum; omnium quippe eadem est ratio, neque ulla imaginabilis est in demonstratione diversitas, sive Sector supponatur Radix alicujus potestatis puræ, sive affectæ ad puram irreducibilis. Nam si Sector eodem modo fiat ex primis terminis convergentibus quo ex secundis (ut in Confect. prop 10 est demonstratum) etiam omnes ejus potestates sive puræ sive quocunque modo affectæ eodem modo componitur é primis quo é secundis terminis convergentibus, quæ (in Analyticis exhibitæ, erunt æquales quantitates eodem modo Analytice compoisitæ ex primis quo ex secundis terminis convergentibus; quod est absurdum, nempe contra Prop 11mam admissam. Sensus igitnr integer Prop. 11æ est; Hoc Problema (E datis duobus polygonis complicatis, invenire Sectorem sive Circularem sive Hyperbolicum ab illis determinatum) non potest reduci ad ullam æquationem Analyticam.

In comparatione Hugeniana inter nostras methodos, agnosco, mens approximationes prop. 20æ. et 21æ. easdem esse cum Hugenianis, sed methodo mihi peculiari demonstratas. At meam approximationem in fine prop. 25æ non percipere videtur Hugenius, aliam interim fibi fingit: hanc primo meam non esse probat, déinde tamen eam cum sua comparat, victoriaque potitur. Sed lente hic festinandum.

Sit a Polygonum, Circulo vel Sectori inscriptum, c Polygonum inscriptum duplo plura habens latera, d autem fit Polygonum circumscriptum simile ipsi c. Ex 20ma prop. Sector est major quàm & 21ma,; Sector est minor quim git", inter quos terminos ii: maximis quatuor arithmetice continue proportionalium , nempe nostra approximatio; quam rigidissimis Hugenii censuris subjiicio. Hallucinatur autem Hugenis, quod Polygona a & d similia sumeret, cum debeant esse c & d, quæ duplo plura habent latera. Ne autem dicat, factam esse à me correctionem, consideret hanc approximationem non solum verbis prop. 25te, sed & praxi prop. 30 esse consonam, ubi approximationem prop. 21 ex ultimis smilibus Polygonis construo: ridiculum enim esset, illame e penuitimis minus præcifam dare, cum eadem operâ detur magis præcifa ex ultimis. At miror, cum Hugenius incidisset in meam Hyperbola approximuionem, quod eam non potuerit Circulo applicare; Nam in Hyperbola absque dubio 24te prop. approximationem ex ultimis similibus polygonis construxit: Omnis enim ad Circulum approximatio ex polygonis deducta, Hyperbolæ est etiam appiicabilis, & vice versa. Sed hoc non videtur animadvertisse Hugenius; alioqui in fine suarum Animadversionum non promitteret talem Hyperbolicam approximationem, de cujus applicatione ad Circulum nihil dicit. Quae aurem illic affirmat (side semet loquitur in plurali) transeant; si vero etiam de me adeo fidenter sibi persuadeat, falli ipsum putem, cum hæc eadem quadratura, de qua loquitur, antequam ab eo videretur, ad laboris dimidium à me sit reducta.

Ne autem Hugenii praxis Geometrica minus peritis videatur nostram superasse, ex nostra approximatione, ab Hugnio rejecta, sequentem praxin exhibebo.

In Fig. Hugeniana (quam vide infra) sit , , sitque ; eritque major, quam arcus ; differentia autem, in semi circumferentia minor erir quàm ipsius 1/3500, in triente minor quàm ipsius 1/40000, & in quadrante minor quàm ipsius 1/300000. Sed quoniam præcedens approximatio major est quàm arcus, aliam addamus eodem minorem. Sic minor erit quam arcus ABC; differentia autem in semi-circumferentia minor erit quam ipsius 1/1000, & in quadrante minor quàm ipsius 1/60000. Inter has approximationes sit maxima, penultima sex continue Arithmetice proportionalium, quæ minor erit quàm arcus, differentia autem, in semi-circumferentia minor erit quàm ejusdem 1/13000, et in quadrante minor quàm ejusdem 1/3000000. Sed hæc levia mihi videntur, cum possim Approximationes exhibere, quæ ab ipsa semi-circumferentia differant minori intervallo, quàm quælibet ejus pars assignata, neque nobis amplius apparent hæc mirabilia, cum demonstratio solida innotescat. Ad reliqua ab Hugenio publicata, cum à meo instituto sint aliena, nihil dico, nisi quod ipsa Hugenii dicta (non obstante exactissima sua, ut ait, materiæ hujus examinatione) à meæ Appendiculæ factis, ni fallor, longe superentur. Vale. Decemb. 15. 1668.

Figura Hugenii hæc est, quam ipse hoc sensu, licet Gal ice, sic explicat. Sit Arcus Circuli, qui non excedat semi-circumferentiam, ABC, cujus subtensa sit AC; & dividantur ambo in partes æquales per lineam BD. Ducta subtensa AB, capias inde 2/3, easque jungas inde ab A ad E in linea CA protracta. Dein, refecta lineæ DE parte decima EF, ducas FB, & tandem BG, ipsi perpendicularem: & habebis lineam AG æqualem Arcui ABC, cujus excessus tantillus erit, ut etiam tunc, quando hic arcus æqualis erit semi-circumferentiæ Circuli, futura non sit differentia 1/1400 suæ longitudinis; at quando non est nisi tertiæ partis circumferentiæ, differentia non erit 1/13000; et si non sit nisi quartæ partis, non differet nisi 1/90000 suæ longitudinis.

An Extract

of the Anatomical Account, written and left by the famous Dr. Harvey, concerning Thomas Parre, who died in London at the Age of 152 years and 9 moneths,

This Account is annexed to a Book, lately publisht in Latin by Dr. John Betts M. D. one of his Majesties Physitians in Ordinary, and Fellow of the London-Colledge of those of that Profession: In which Treatise (to touch that briefly) the Author endeavors to shew, that Milk, or something Analogous to it, is the universal nourishment of all living Creatures, and the immediate and whole Matter of Blood; whence, and from the three parts whereof, viz. the Butyraceous, Serous, and Caseous, and their various concoction in the Stomach, and constitution in the Veins, he would deduce the different nature of the Humors and Spirits composing the blood; as from the different Quantity and Quality of these, he would derive the whole business of Health, and Sickness, and the method of Cure.

But as to the Observations made upon the Person and Dissection of Thom. Parre, 'tis noted;

1. That he was a poor Countryman of Shropshire, whence he was brought up by the Right Honorable Thomas Earl of Arundel and Surrey, and that he dyed, after he had out-lived nine Princes, in the tenth year of the Tenth of them, at the age of 152 Years and 9 Moneths.

2. That being open'd after his death (viz. An. 1635. Novemb. 16.) his body was found yet very fleshy, his breast hairy, his Genitals unimpaired, serving not a little to confirm the report of his having undergone publick Censures for his incontinence; especially seeing that after that time, viz, at the age 120 years, he married a Widow, who owned, Eum cum ipsa rem habuisse, ut alii mariti solent, & usque ad 12 annos retroactos solitum cum ea congressum frequentasse. Further, that he had a large Breast, Lungs not fungous, but sticking to his ribs, and distended with much bloud; a lividness in his face, as he had a difficulty of breathing a little before his death, and a long-lasting warmth in his Armpits and Breast after it (which sign together with others were so evident in his Body, as they use to be in those, that die by suffocation.) His Heart was great, thick, fibrous, and fat. The bloud in the Heart blackish and dilute, The Cartilages of the Sternum not more bony, than in others, but flexile and soft. His Viscera very sound and strong, especially the Stomach; and it was observ'd of him that he used to eat often by night and day, though contented with old Cheese, Milk, course Bread, small Beer, and Whey; and which is-more remarkable, that he did eat at Midnight, a little before he died. His Kidneys cover'd with fat, and pretty sound; only in the anterior surface of them there were found some aqueous or serous (as 'twere) abscesses, whereof one was near the bigness of a Hen-egge, with a lowish water in it, having made a roundish cavity, impressed in that kidney: whence some thought it came, that a little before his death a suppression of Vrine had befallen him; though others were of opinion, that his Vrin was suppressed upon the regurgitation of all the Serosity into the Lungs. Not the least appearance there was of any Stony matter either in the Kidneys or Bladder. His Bowels were also found, a little whitish without. His Spleen very little, hardly equalling the bigness of one Kidney. In short, all his inward parts appear'd so healthy, that if he had not changed his Dyer and Air, he might perhaps have lived a good while longer.

3. The Cause of his death was imputed chiefly to the change of Food and Air; forasmuch as coming out of a clear, thin, and free Air, he came into the thick Air of London, and after a constant, plain, and homely Country-diet, he was taken into a splendid Family, where he fed high, and drunk plentifully of the best wines, whereupon the natural functions of the parts of his body were over-charged, his Lungs obstructed, and the habit of the whole Body quite disorder'd; upon which there could not but soon ensue a dissolution.

4. His Brain was found entire and ferme: And though he had not the use of his Eyes, nor much of his Memory, several years before he died; yet he had his Hearing and Apprehension very well, and was able even to the hundred and thirtieth year of his Age to do any Husbandmans work, even Threshing of Corn.

An Account of two Books,
I. De VISCERUM STRUCTURA Exercitatio Anatomica MARCELLI MALPIGHII, Philos. & Med. Bonon, &c., Bononiæ 1666, in 4°.

ACopy of this ingenious Book was transmitted by the Author himself to the Publisher, and there being as yet no other Copies of it in England, at least not among Stationers, some Account of the Contents thereof will, 'tis thought, not be unacceptable to the Curious, whilst either more of them be procured out of Italy, or the Book it self be reprinted here; which latter I now find actually a doing in 12. by Mr. John Martyn.

It contains 5. Dissertations: Of the Liver; the Exterior part of the Brain; the Kidneys; the Spleen; the Polypus of the Heart. Concerning the Liver, hefirst gives a summary Account of what hath been said of ix; then relateth what himself hath observed in that part, in all sorts of Living Creatures, finding it to have Lobes and to be a Glandul of that kind, which by Anatomists are called Conglomerate in contradistinction to the Conglobate; thirdly examines (very modestly) the reasons given by the Learned Dr. Wharton against 'its being a Glandul; fourthly, assigneth 'its office and Use, and making it no other, then that it separateth the Gall, and conveighs the same, by means of the porus biliarius, into the Intestins; notwithstanding all the Exceptions of De Bills, Deusingius, Sylvius &c, Whereunto he subjoyns also the great Use of the Gall (esteemed a kind of Excrement by the Vulgar) in performing the part of a necessary condiment and ferment in digestion; so that upon it's absence, or obstruction in the Liver, very dangerous diseases, and especially the Dropsy, must needs ensue.

Touching the Exterior part of the Brain (called by Anatomists Cerebri Cortex) he first inquires into the Nature of i'ts Substance, and finds it a Congeries of Glanduls, more conspicuous to be Inch in boyled than in crude Brains, and most discernable in Fishes and Birds: Where he alledges an Observation of a Stone found in the Brain, which was fashioned like the fruit of Mulberrys, conglobated and made up of many final kernels or grains, of ash-color, probably thus form'd by the petrified Cortex of the Brain, and so retaining the natural Shape of the Glanduls thereof. Next, he solveth the arguments of the above mentioned Dr. Wharton produced in his Book De Glandulis, against that Opinion. Further, explaining the Vessels of the Brain, and their Process, he affirms, that the whole Substance called the Medulla of the Brain and the After-brain, is a Heap of Fibres or Vessels, which from the Stock or Trunck of the Spinal marrow, by many Windings and Crinkles forme those Cavities and Involutions, to be found there, and are at last deeply implanted in the very Glanduls of the Brain: Where he teaches, that the whole Work of separation and deputation is perform'd by the inward structure of the Glanduls of the Brain, the Iuyce passing immediately out of them into the hollow and fistulous fibres, to be conveyed by a continued course into the subjacent parts to execute it's several offices, as is performed by the little Tubes or Pipes of Plants: adding for the illustration of the Original of the Spinal Marrow and the Nerves, that that Marrow is a Bundle of Nerves, which whilst makes up the Brain, divides it into two parts (by the circumvolutions of which the sides of the ventricles are formed) and terminates at last in the Cortex, wherein, and in whose Glandular grains the extreme roots of the Nerves, in the smallest size, are implanted. After this he proceeds to the use of the Cortex, and is of opinion, that by these little Glanduls there are separated and collected those particles, which Nature has design'd for Instruments of Sensation, and by which, when convey'd through the tubulous Nerves, the coherent parts are impregnated and swell'd, and the Animal made sensible of the operations of several Objects. Moreover he advances some consideration of his, upon the Learn'd Dr. Willis's Opinion about the Production of the Internal Sences by vertue of the Brains structure; and also upon his ascribing to those Bodies, he cals striata and radiosa, a twofold texture, whereof the one ascends, the other descends, for the perception of the impressions of Sensible Objects by the former, and the performance of Motions by the latter. Lastly, he takes notice that the famous Dr. Clisson hath derived the matter of the Nervous Iuyce through the nerves into the Brain, from the Glanduls of the Mesentery; and Fortius, from the Mouth and Intestins; whereas, since he has observed the Masse of the Brain made up only of a Glandular Cortex, and of Fibres proceeding from thence, together with the sanguineous vessels, and not yet found any cavities for receiving the Chyle, and conveying it into every part of the Brain; he therefore conceives, that all the Nerves are produced Out of the Brain and the Cerabellum, for this end, that they may carry down the juice separated in the very Glanduls; there wanting no sanguineous vessels, by which both sufficient matter may be furnisht, and the residue of the percolated Iuyce carri'd away again.

Concerning the Kidneys, he first relates, what hath been taught of them hitherto; and then delivers both his own observations about them, by a long use of the Microscope, end his deductions from them. He affirmes, that he hath always observed, the Kidneys to be also a Concrete of small Glandules, by injecting through the Emulgent Artery a black liquor, mixt with spirit of wine, and by cutting the Kidney's longways, and then finding, betwixt the Urinous Vessels and their interstices, very many of such glanduls which like litle apples are appendant to the Sanguineous, vessels, turgid with that black liquor. He adds, that, after many trials he at last found also connexion betwixt those Glandules and the Vessels of Urine. As to the Pelvis, he makes that nothing but an Expansion of the Ureter, as consisting of the same membrane and nervous fibres with the Ureter. Discoursing of the Use of the Kidney's he finds it difficult to explain, by what art and mechaniisme, Nature so copiously excretes by the Reins (whose glandular structure seems to be uniforme) a liquor which is compounded of Aqueous, Saline, Sulphury and other particles, and sometimes the relicks of imposthums, and other filth of the Body: Where he takes great pains, in some measure to clear that matter; adding thereunto the manner of the Stones generation in the Kidneys.

In the Exercitation about the Spleen, having premised, as before in the other parts, what has been hitherto publish't about it, he subjoyns what himself hath further observed therein: viz. That the whole body of the Spleen, however it may seem to be a substance made up of concreted blood, yet is indeed a complex of Membranes, fashion'd and distinguish't into little Folds and Cells, clearly to be seen by syringing into it store of Air by the Ramus splenicus, whereby the whole Spleen will become so turgid, as to swell into an excessive bigness; which if upon the exsiccation of the thus swelled part, it be presently cut, its whole masse will be found made up of Membranes, of the shape of the Cells in Bee-hives; as he affirms to have clearly seen in the Spleen of a Sheep and Hogg, and in that of a man. But then he adds, that through this whole membranous Body of the Spleen are copiously dispersed Clusters of Glanduls, or, if you will, Bladders, very plainly resembling Clusters of Grapes, appendant on the fibres, and the extremities of the arteries and nerves of that body. Coming to discourse of the Use of the Spleen, after he hath examined the various opinion of Anatomists concerning it, and declar'd his dissatisfaction therein, together with the reasons thereof, he does with great modesty as well as ingenuity offer his thoughts about it, viz. That, considering the whole structure of the Spleen, it seems to be designed for a new separation and mixture of the Iuices conveyed into it's Glanduls by the Arteries and Nerves, and then collected in the Cells; whereby and by it's stay there, the Blood receives such a further change, and is so much more exalted, that being convey'd by the Splenetick Branch into the neighbouring Liver and there refermented, it acquires a disposition, for an easy separation of the Gall there (which is supposed to be the chief work of the Liver.)

Touching the last subject of these Dissertations, which is of the Polypus of the Heart, the Author observes, after the recitation of other Writers opinions of the same, that those Excrescences grow and swell for the most part in the Right Ventricle of the Heart sooner than the Left, as they also do about the other veins of the Lungs and Head, from this cause, That the returning masse of the blood is now, by the long continued nutrition of the parts, and by transpiration, depauperated of the spirituous and finer particles, such as are the sulphurous and the red; and whilst it is freshly confounded with the Chile, and other liquors, yet different from the nature of bleu', the white and ragged parts thereof; being precipitated by the contiguity of those unlike parts, are in the large folds of the Hearts right ventricle or auricle, by their ruggedness and little chinks entangled; whence being associated to the like others, passing by, they grow into a greater bulk; as it happens in the generation of the stone in the Pelvis of the kidneys, or in the concretion of Tartar in water Conduits. But, besides this, the Author conceives, that the Polypus may be generated from other cause, since Experience evinces, that it is produced by poisonous potions, by malignant Fevers, caused chiefly by a miasma or corruption of the Air, and by the Plague, and other infectious Distempers; wherein it happens, that such steams or juyces are, by the corrupt ferments of the Viscera, mixt with the Blood, which disturb its texture. This our Author illustrates by some Experiments; whereof one is, that powring Oyl of Sulphur, or of Vitriol upon warm bloud it raiseth it, and by a kind of coction at last incrustates it: Another, that throwing pulverised Allum on it, it renders it black and adust. But that Niter, either pulverised or dissolved per deliquium, attenuats it, and renders it very florid; as also doth, Aqua vitæ, Sal gemmæ, Common Salt, Sal Armoniac, Sulphur, and Harts horn; which also for a pretty while hinder the coagulation of the bloud. And discoursing from hence of the causes, which in the Plague, &c. do coagulate the bloud, either in whole, or in part by generating Polypus's, he saith, that those causes ought to be taken from something analogous to Allum, Vitriol and the like, not from Nitee and Volatile Spirits, which should rather he used as remedies by re-fermenting and rendring fluid the bloud.

II. EPHEMERIDES MEDICEORUM SYDERUM, ex Hypothesibus & Tabulis Joh. Dom. Cassini, Bononiæ 1668. in thin-fol.

What Galilao Galilai undertook, after he had discover'd the Satellits of Jupiter, of giving an easy and sure way to know the Longitudes by a careful Observation of those Stars; Signior Cassini seems to have now performed more fully than others, by composing certain Tables, after 15 years Observations made with exactness of the motion of the said Satellits. These Tables are contain'd in this Book; and for the verifying of them, he hath added the Ephemerides of those Stars for the year lately elapsed, viz. A. 1668. Whereupon the Author hath been desired from hence, that, if he have calculated any more Ephemerides of them for any following years, he would oblige the Curious by timely publishing them for observation. Mean time the French Philosophers at Paris have acquainted us in the Journal des Scavans of Dec. 17. 1668. with the Observations made by them, to verifie the said Ephemerides, by a Telescope of 14 foot; which maybe of service to those, that have made observations elsewhere at the same instant and with the same accurateness, to know the difference of Longitude between Paris and the Place of their Observation.

Octob. 7. 1668. kor. 10. pom. 32 m. the first Satellit (call'd Pallas) entred upon the face of Jupiter.

Oct. 8. h. 8. 11. m. The 2d Satellite (call'd Juno) went out behind Jupiter.

Oct. 9. h. 8. 54. m the 2d. Satellite went out from the face of Jupiter.

Oct. 16. h. 10. 4. m. the 2d. Satellite entred upon the face of Jupiter.

Oct. 22. h. 10. 41. m. 33. sec. the first Satellite entred into the shadow of Jupiter.

Oct. 23. h. 8. 32. m. the first Satellite entred upon the face of Jupiter.

Nov. 12. h. 10 40. m. the 2d. Satellite entred into the shadow of Jupiter

Nov. 20. h 2. 38. m. 30. sec. after midnight, the 3d Satellite (call'd Themis) entred into the shadow of Jupiter.