went into all the cornets of the Room fcarching for meat, and having found fome bones,
he. fell a gnawing of them, with a ftrange avidity, as if this Liquor had caufed in him a great appetite. 4. Another Dog /into whofe veins fome Oyl of Tartar was injc&ed, did oat efcape fo well: For he complained much, and was altogether fwoln, and then died. Being opened,the Spc&ators were furprifed to find his bloud not curdled, but on the contrary more thin and fiorid than or dinary 5 which fcems to hint, that a too great fluidity of the bloud, as
the
let
wound being clofed, and the Dog
go,
lie
well as
its
Coagulation,
may
caufe death.
An
made
Account of fome Difcovcries. concerning tht Brain, and the Tongue, by Signior Malpighi, Proftpr ofHypck in Sicily.
1. He pretends to have difcovered, that the Exterior and foftcr part of the Brafo y doth not cover only the Corfu* callofum^ as hath been believed hitherto, but is alfo inferred into it in many places. He hath alfoobferved,
That
the Corfu* callofum
is
nothing but a Contexture of fm\Ilf tbns y
Fibres, he faith, are fo manifeft' in the Fen-
ifluing
from the Medulla
Spinalis^ and terminating in the faid. Exterior
part of the Brain.
And thefe
nicies ofFifbes brains, that
when they
are looked through they reprefent
the figure of an Ivory
Comb,
z.'XheUfe, which he afcrtbes to the Brain, is much different, he faith, from what hath been aillgned to it hithertp. He pretends, that as half, or at Icaft, a third of the bloud of an Animal is conveighed into the Brain,
fineffc Scrum oi this bloud is filtrated and then entring into the Fibres of the brain, through the exteriour part, Is thence conveighed into the Nerves which he affirms to be the reafon, that the Head Is fo often found full of water, when the Brain hath received a wound, or an alteration by fome diftemper. 3 He hath taken a particular care of examining the opiqu Nerve in divers Animals, it being one of the mod admirable productions in the Brain. Having therefore among other Fifibes differed the head of a Xh fhiasot Sword fifh, who hath a very big eye, he hath not obferved any confidefable cavity in the Optique Nerve, nor any Nervous Fibres $ but found 5 that the middle of this Nerve is nothing elfe,but a large Membrane folded according to its length in many doubles almqft. like a -F^and. inverted by the Dura Mater .Euftachio a famous Anatomift,had written fomething of this before, but obfeurely , and without mentioning the Animal, Ccc 2 wherein he had made this observation, 4. The
where yet
it
cannot be confumed, the
the fame thing Animals* but he found, that Fifhes alone have fuch a ftrumTerreprial For that of an Oi, F g, and other fuch Anifture of the Opiyte Nerve mals, is nothing but a heap of many (mall Fibres of the fame fubftance with the Brain, wrapped about with the Dura Mater, and accompanied with many little veffels with bleu J. Hence he draws the decifion of that great queftion among Anatomifts % Whether the Optique fc^erve be hollow trnot? For, faith he, it cannot beotherwife, but there muft be many cavities in this Nerve ; forafmuch as the fmall filaments, of which it is compofed,cannotbe foclofely joyned, that there ihould not be fome void fpace betwixt them. Tongue, the fame Anther hath difcovered m it rmny. 5. Concerning the little Eminences, which he calls Papillary, and believes to be the principal Organ of Taflt. * But here is not to be omitted the Obfcrvation of Fracaffati, importing, that as &/ the Tongue hath towards its point many Eminen- account givi of thisaifcom, by the means whereof it goes, as it were to mcetobje&s of Tap 5 (0 on the contrary, it hath many cavities towards its r<w, wherein it receives them. AH which cavitiesterminate in nerves, and fecm to ferve for Funnels to conveigh the aliment into them. Which maketh the Author think it very probable, that the fineft part of the aliment paffeth immediately from the Tongue into the Nerves, whence it comes to pafs, that Wine, being only taken into
4.
:
4
The fame Malftghi thought he fhould have met with
JZ%"\
is
7&o^gI^
the mouthy reftorcth vigour prefently.
An Experiment of Signior FracafTati upon 3 lorn
grown
cold
in a difli, that part which is beneath and 'tis vulgarappears much blacker, than that on the top thzfttperfides Melancholy bloud, and men are ly faid, that this black part of the bloud is wont to make ufe of this example to flicw that the Melancholy humor as
,
When any bloud is become cold
'tis
called, enters with the 3 others into the compofition
that this blackifh
of the bloud. But
Signior Fraca(fati maintains, that the bloud, which is underneath,
colour comes from hence,
is not expos' d to the Air, and not from a mixture of Melancholy: to prove which he affures, that upon its being exposed to the Air it changes colour, and becomes of a florid red. An Experiment as tape to try , as 'tti-wrioM.
S*we
