Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The works of John Hunter / edited by James F. Palmer. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
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![which is included nourishment. 2nd, Secreted, superfluous, and extra- vasated matter, whether natural or diseased. 3rd, The fat. 4th, That portion of parts which, being absorbed, causes the waste of parts, as muscles becoming smaller, bones lighter, &c. Although these two last effects were perhaps not expressly said to be carried on by absorption, either by the veins or the other system of vessels, yet we must suppose it was understood. So far the absorbents have been considered as an active part in the animal oeconomy; but, from a further knowledge of these vessels, we shall find that they are of much more consequence in the body than has been imagined, and that they are often taking down what arteries had formerly built up, thus becoming modellers of the body; and that they are also removing many diseased parts, which were beyond the power of cure. As these vessels are productive of a vast variety of effects in the ani- mal oeconomy, which are very dissimilar in their intention and effects, they may be viewed in a variety of lights, and admit of a variety of divisions. We shall first consider them under two views. 1st, As absorbing matter which is not part of the machine. 2nd, As absorbing the machine itself. The first is a well-known office of the absorbents, and is of two kinds : a, the absorption of exterior matter, in which may be ranked everything that is applied to the skin, as also the chyle; b, the absorp- tion of interior matter, such as many of the secreted fluids, the fat, the earth of bones, &c. It may be necessary to observe that I do not con- sider the fat and earth of bones as part of the animal, as they have no action within themselves, and have not the principle of life*. These actions of absorption are principally employed with a view to the nourishment of the animal, as also to answer many other purposes, as in the absorption of foreign matter, which is extremely extensive and is very important; for, besides its salutary effects, it is often the cause of a thousand diseases, especially from poisons ; all which is not to our present purpose. The second office of the absorbents which we are to consider is that of removing parts of the body itself, which may be of two kinds. The * [In regard to the earth of bones, we may observe that its particles are arranged in a determinate and specific manner—constituting an organized body in the most exten- sive acceptation of that word as distinguished from inorganic matter generally, and from the amorphous ossific depositions which sometimes occur in membranes, muscles, glands, tumours, &c., in which no definite structure is observable. The peculiar stra- tification and fibrous texture of bone may easily be observed by calcination. This being the case, are we warranted in saying that the earth of bones, forming an organ- ized part of the body, is not alive?]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21996623_0001_0282.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
