CHAP. VI.Of the Difference betweenManandQuadrupedsin theNervousKind.
Of the Difference betweenManandQuadrupedsin theNervousKind.
There is only one Difference more betweenManandQuadrupedsthat I shall take notice of, and that is the Nervous Kind: And because it would be tedious to insist upon many Particulars[a], I shall, for a Sample, insist chiefly upon one, and that is, of Nature’s prodigious Care for a due Communication and Correspondence between the Head and Heart of Man, more than what is in the four-footed Tribe. For this Purpose, besides the Correspondence, those Parts have by Means of the Nerves of thePar Vagum(common both to Man and Beast) there is a farther and more special Communication and Correspondence occasioned by the Branches[b]of theintercostal Pairsent from theCervical Plexusto the Heart, andPræcordia. By which Means the Heart and Brain of Man have amutual and very intimate Correspondence and Concern with each other, more than is in other Creatures; or as one of the most curious Anatomists and Observers of these Things saith[c], “Brutes are as ’twere Machines made with a simpler, and less operoseApparatus, and endowed therefore with only one and the same Kind of Motion, or determined to do the same Thing: Whereas in Man, there is a great Variety of Motions and Actions. For by the Commerce of the aforesaidCervical Plexus[d]he saith, The Conceptions of the Brain presently affect the Heart, and agitate its Vessels and whole Appendage, together with theDiaphragm. From whence the Alteration in the Motion of the Blood, the Pulse and Respiration. So also on the contrary, when any Thing affects or alters the Heart, those Impressions are not only retorted to the Brain by the same Duct of the Nerves, but also the Blood it self (its Course being once changed) flies to the Brain with a different and unusual Course, and there agitating the animal Spirits with divers Impulses, produceth various Conceptions and Thoughts in the Mind.” And he tells us, “That hence it was that the ancient Divines and Philosophers too, made the Heart the Seat of Wisdom; andcertainly (saith he) the Works of Wisdom and Virtue do very much depend upon this Commerce which is between the Heart and Brain:” And so he goeth on with more to the same purpose. Upon the Account of thisIntercostal Commercewith the Heart, being wanting in Brutes, there is another singularly careful and wise Provision the infinite Creator hath made in them, and that is, That by Reason both thePar Vagumand theIntercostaltoo, do not send their Branches to the Heart, and its Appendage in Brutes, therefore, lest their Heart should want a due Proportion of Nervous Vessels, thePar Vagumsends more Branches to their Heart than to that of Man. This as it is a remarkable Difference between Rational and Irrational Creatures; so it is as remarkable an Argument of the Creator’s Art and Care; who altho’ he hath denied Brute-Animals Reason, and the Nerves ministring thereto, yet hath another Way supplied what is necessary to their Life and State. But let us hear the same great Author’s Descant upon the Point[e]; “Inasmuch saith he, as Beasts are void of Discretion, and but little subject to various and different Passions, therefore there was no need that the Spirits that were to be convey’d from the Brain to thePræcordia, should pass two different Ways, namely, one for the Service of the vital Functions, and another for the reciprocal Impressions of the Affections; but it was sufficient that all their Spirits, whatever Use they were designed for, should be conveyed one and the same Way.”
Here now in theNervous Kindwe have manifest Acts of the Creator’s Design and Wisdom, in this so manifest and distinct a Provision for Rational and Irrational Creatures; and thatManwas evidently intended to be the one, as theGenusofQuadrupedswas the other.
FOOTNOTES:[a]Amongst these, I might name the Site of the Nerves proceeding from theMedulla Spinalis, which Dr.Lowertakes notice of. In Beasts, whose Spine is above the rest of the Body, the Nerves tend directly downwards; but in Man, it being erect, the Nerves spring out of the Spine, not at Right, but in Oblique Angles downwards, and pass also in the Body the same Way.Ibid.p. 16.[b]In plerisq; Brutis tantùm hâc viâ(i.e. by thePar vagum)& vix omnino per ullos Paris Intercostalis nervos, aditus ad cor aut Appendicem ejus patescit. Verùm in Homine, Nervus Intercostalis, præter officia ejus in imo ventre huic cum cæteris animalibus communia, etiam ante pectoris claustra internuncii specialis loco est, qui Cerebri & Cordis sensa mutua ultra citraque refert.Willis Nervor. descr. & usus, Cap. 26.[c]Id. ib.Dum hanc utriusque speciei differentiam perpendo, succurrit animo, Bruta esse velut machinas,&c.[d]That our great Man was not mistaken, there is great Reason to imagine, from what he observed in dissecting aFool. Besides, the Brain being but small, he saith,Præcipua autem discriminis nota quam inter illius & viri cordati partes advertimus, bæcce erat; nempe quòd prædictus Nervi Intercacostalis Plexus, quem Cerebri & Cordis internuncium & Hominis proprium diximus, in Stulto hoc valde exilis, & minori Nervorum satellitio stipatus fuerit.Ibid.[e]Id. ib. cap. 29.In quantum Bestiæ prudentiâ carent, & variis diversisque passionibus,&c.
[a]Amongst these, I might name the Site of the Nerves proceeding from theMedulla Spinalis, which Dr.Lowertakes notice of. In Beasts, whose Spine is above the rest of the Body, the Nerves tend directly downwards; but in Man, it being erect, the Nerves spring out of the Spine, not at Right, but in Oblique Angles downwards, and pass also in the Body the same Way.Ibid.p. 16.
[a]Amongst these, I might name the Site of the Nerves proceeding from theMedulla Spinalis, which Dr.Lowertakes notice of. In Beasts, whose Spine is above the rest of the Body, the Nerves tend directly downwards; but in Man, it being erect, the Nerves spring out of the Spine, not at Right, but in Oblique Angles downwards, and pass also in the Body the same Way.Ibid.p. 16.
[b]In plerisq; Brutis tantùm hâc viâ(i.e. by thePar vagum)& vix omnino per ullos Paris Intercostalis nervos, aditus ad cor aut Appendicem ejus patescit. Verùm in Homine, Nervus Intercostalis, præter officia ejus in imo ventre huic cum cæteris animalibus communia, etiam ante pectoris claustra internuncii specialis loco est, qui Cerebri & Cordis sensa mutua ultra citraque refert.Willis Nervor. descr. & usus, Cap. 26.
[b]In plerisq; Brutis tantùm hâc viâ(i.e. by thePar vagum)& vix omnino per ullos Paris Intercostalis nervos, aditus ad cor aut Appendicem ejus patescit. Verùm in Homine, Nervus Intercostalis, præter officia ejus in imo ventre huic cum cæteris animalibus communia, etiam ante pectoris claustra internuncii specialis loco est, qui Cerebri & Cordis sensa mutua ultra citraque refert.Willis Nervor. descr. & usus, Cap. 26.
[c]Id. ib.Dum hanc utriusque speciei differentiam perpendo, succurrit animo, Bruta esse velut machinas,&c.
[c]Id. ib.Dum hanc utriusque speciei differentiam perpendo, succurrit animo, Bruta esse velut machinas,&c.
[d]That our great Man was not mistaken, there is great Reason to imagine, from what he observed in dissecting aFool. Besides, the Brain being but small, he saith,Præcipua autem discriminis nota quam inter illius & viri cordati partes advertimus, bæcce erat; nempe quòd prædictus Nervi Intercacostalis Plexus, quem Cerebri & Cordis internuncium & Hominis proprium diximus, in Stulto hoc valde exilis, & minori Nervorum satellitio stipatus fuerit.Ibid.
[d]That our great Man was not mistaken, there is great Reason to imagine, from what he observed in dissecting aFool. Besides, the Brain being but small, he saith,Præcipua autem discriminis nota quam inter illius & viri cordati partes advertimus, bæcce erat; nempe quòd prædictus Nervi Intercacostalis Plexus, quem Cerebri & Cordis internuncium & Hominis proprium diximus, in Stulto hoc valde exilis, & minori Nervorum satellitio stipatus fuerit.Ibid.
[e]Id. ib. cap. 29.In quantum Bestiæ prudentiâ carent, & variis diversisque passionibus,&c.
[e]Id. ib. cap. 29.In quantum Bestiæ prudentiâ carent, & variis diversisque passionibus,&c.