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if the Stomach, or upper Part of the Guts were pricked, and so much of the Steant in them let out, that there fhould not go fufficient through the lacteal Veffels to force the Blood, or if the Ducts for the Steam or the lacteal Veffels, were stopped or cut, Circulation and Respiration would be that Moment at a stand, and the Air would prefs the greatest Part of the Blood into the Trunk. Perhaps if the Steam prefs too hard, the Blood will not fuc ceed in due Proportion. And if the Force of the Steam which drives what they call the Chyle, or indeed which drives itself, were not equal, or rather fuperior, to that Force which drives the Blood from the Veins, in the outward Parts to the Heart, the Chyle and Steam could not pafs into the Blood. When I name equal Force, I suppose, to open the Valves out of the Chyle Duct into the Vena Cava; the Steam by being ftopped there, and new Steam fucceeding, muft, though in a lon ger Time, be equal at certain Periods of Time, to the Force of the Blood which refifts, and fhuts the Valves when it opens them. And as the Steam governs the Motion of the Blood, Nature has contrived the Caufes which raise that Ferment which produces it, in fuch a manE 2 ner,

ner, that the more the Steam has to do, the more it encreases, and the stronger or fharper it grows: For as Exercise wastes the Steam, and at the fame time requires Supplies of it, and Nourishment in it, it encreases the Fermentation in the Stomach and Guts, which fend off those Supplies. If Obftructions in the Veffels, or the Viscoufness of the Blood hinder its going off, its Quantity and Heat being pent within, ftill raises the Fermentation, and fubtilizes or attenuates the Matter, and hinders the Excrements from going off by Stool, till the Steam remove those. Obftructions, and make the Blood move, or till fo much of the sharp Spirits or Salts are freed and raised, as to cut the Viscoufnefs of the Blood; and as foon as the Steam has free Paffage, the Fermentation by Degrees abates: If the Steam did not fucceffively melt, expand or thin the Blood, by mixing with it in the Arteries, as it returns cooled and thick out of the Veins, no Force whatever could circulate it, nor any crafs Matter could ever be fecreted out of it.

How

* And make a brisk Circulation. This is the true Do&trine of incicing and attenuating, for as foon as it has free Paffage, &c.

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How this Fermentation was at firft fet forward in created Man, whether this be that Breath of Life breathed into him; for whether thofe Words meant the Soul or what elfe, I undertake not to determine. But 'tis not difficult to conceive, how by Degrees, this Fermentation may be fet forward in the Stomach of an Infant in the Womb: For allow it be fupplied at the Navel, by the Blood of the Mother, fomething muft either pass in at the Mouth, or be fecreted at the Glands into the Stomach, whereby the Stomach and Guts must be kept diftended, or else they would be found lank, and the Cafe of the Belly ftraitened or contracted. And if there be any Thing iffued into the Stomach, that raised into Steam can push the Blood outward, the Compreffure of the Womb, will fupply the Ufe of that of the Atmosphere, to return the Blood inward. If Nature has contrived Apertures out of the Blood-Veffels into the Stomach, 'tis likely they make Secretions into the Stomach, when the Force of the Steam, grows weaker there, than the Force of the Preffure of the Atmosphere, whether those Apertures are defigned to fecrete Matter thither to keep in the Fire, and preferve Life when the Steam is most

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ly spent, or the Fluids moftly driven out, or to liquate the Meat, and digeft it in Defect of Drink, as the Crops of Birds do to the Corn there, or to fecrete Mat ter fo crafs or fo fibrous, that cannot be discharged outward, or any other Way, or to raise a Fermentation, or to affift in the Diffolution of the Aliment, or to refund Matter to be farther prepared by feveral Operations in the Stomach, till it be fit for nourishing the Parts, fupplying the neceffary Juices, or to what other Ufes, thefe and the Secretions made into the feveral Parts of the Guts are defigned, will hereafter be confidered.

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The Contrivance of the Frame, and Dif pofition of the Parts of our Bodies, fitted for fuch Motion by those Agents.

T HE Lungs and Heart, are cafed

round with an Arch of Bones, on the upper Side, and outwardly; with the Midriff on the lower Side, inwardly; to keep off Cold, or the Preffure of the Atmosphere, which would ftop all; if they could either cool or comprefs them too

much.

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much. The Stomach and Guts are pref fed by the Atmosphere without, and by the Extenfion of the Lungs, and Depreffion of the Midriff or Diaphragm within, which affifts the Force of the Steam, which iffues out of them into the Trunk. And the Arteries which bring the Blood outward, are all defended from the Preffure or Coolnefs of the Air, the great ones within the Trunk, the leffer with Flesh. The Blood mixed with Steam, runs very thin, and freely in them, because it is not liable to be condensed; and as they advance to the outward Parts, they are divided and branched smaller and fmaller, fo that the Blood comes to the Surface through infinitely fmall, capillary Veffels, fo fmall, that the Strength of the Skin is fufficient to keep off the Preffure and Coolness of the Air, and its Pores ftop the Blood, and only fuffers the Steam to pervade it. When the Steam has done its Office, and the Blood is admitted at fuch like fmall Apertures into the Veins, which lie near the Surface of the Body, it will be compreffed by the Atmosphere equally in all Parts, which will make the Blood flow that Way, where it meets with leaft Refiftance, which is towards the Heart, because each Aperture of the Val

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ves,

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