The anatomy of the absorbing vessels of the human body / by William Cruikshank.

  • Cruickshank, William, 1745-1800.
Date:
1790
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The anatomy of the absorbing vessels of the human body / by William Cruikshank. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    V Froperty of absorbing in Human Bodies. surface of the body, as well as an exhalation of similar matter. He asserted the same thing of all the internal surfaces and cavities: we find this doctrine summed up in the following words: “ Sapjtjj oAjiol £Jt xoiki?}? Ko,] J'rikov ») w? iY.'rvvocu xai ti(n7voov %7\qv TO (TW/xa.” _ The soft parts of the body attract matter to themselves both from within and from without; a proof that the whole body exhales and inhales.” One might suppose that Hippocrates here only meant, by exhaling and inhaling, expiration and inspiration from the lungs: but he says, oAov t« a-WjUa, which can never apply to the lungs; and Galen, as we shall see af- terwards, understands the word sKnrvoov, here used by Hippocrates, as sig- nifying absorption. Passages in Hippocrates, to be hereafter quoted, will also put this matter beyond all doubt. Galen himself speaks most decisively of the absorption in the human body; he, indeed, conceives it to be by an attraction; but he uses the same word when he describes the veins taking up fluids. His words are : ** Auo £t(Tiv o\y.yi<; to ptfi/ t»i Trpof to XBVOvf/.£vov ajcoAouSioo to oixeioTriTi ttoiottito? “ yiyvoy.svov^ BTipug fiv yxp uq raq (pva-aq o dip zrzpuq Si o' crtSvpoq xtto rr\q riptxxkuxq CTTKnrXTXi ktdou.” That is, “ There are two kinds of attraction; one which arises in consequence “ of a vacuum being formed, and the other from affinity in quality; for, “ in one way does the bellows attract air j and in another way is steel attracted by the magnet.” The Arabian physicians appear also to have been acquainted with this , property of absorbing in the human body; for we find them frequently ap- plying medicines to the surface of the skin, which were to produce their effects as expectorants on the lungs, as emetics on the stomach, as purga- tives on the intestines, or diuretics on the kidneys. It may here be urged, that this is no proof of their knowing any thing of absorption. The Chi- nese physicians, Kempher informs us, frequently apply remedies to one part of the surface of the body, which are intended to produce their ef- fects on a distant one ] but this depends on a dilferent principle from ab- sorption. They have conceived established connections between some parts of the body and certain others j and when they wish to produce an effect