Page:Philosophical Transactions - Volume 002.djvu/63

Rh blown afresh into it, I compressed with my fingers the Vena Cava and the Ductus Thoraticus together; but the wind, that was thrust into this Channel, shewed us, that it had another way to escape And indeed we saw as often as we did blow, that the Emulgent Vein was on the left side filled with wind, and that thereupon the body of the Vena Cava also filled itself from the Emulgent unto the Iliaques. 'This wind seem'd to us to come from the Left Kidney, and to insinuate it self into the Emulgent Vein, and thence into the Cava, The Right Kidney had been removed, so that we could say nothing of its communication with the said Ductus: That shall be for another time.

The Question was made, Whether the wind, that seem'd to enter into the Emulgent, and the Cava, did there enter indeed; or, whether it did not slide, betwixt the proper coat of this Vein, and that common one, which comes to it on the Peritoneum? This Question did oblige us to slit the Cava at the place of the Emulgent; and then blowing into the Ductus Thoracicus, we saw, that the wind, which had swelled the Emulgent, did escape at the opening, just now made in the Cava.

This Experiment made us judge, there was a communication of the Ductus Thoracicus with the Left Kidney, or at least with the Emulgent Vein, in the Body of this Woman. And to clear it the more, we made the following Experiment.

2. We lifted with the hand the Lungs, that filled the left Cavity of the Thorax, and having cleansed this Cavity with a Spunge, M. Gayant did blow into the Ductus Thoracicus, whilst I compressed the Vein and the Ductus with my fingers upon the third Vertebra, descending from the Back: And we saw the wind insinuate it self under the Pleura, by a trace, which raised it suddenly as often as we did blow, This trace appeared from the 4th Vertebra descending unto the Diaphragme, and made us conclude, that there was under the Pleura a Channel of Commerce coming from the Ductus Thoracicus, and passing to the Emulgent Vein by this Cavity of the Thorax. We could not doubt, but that this Channel, which passed under the Pleura; went as far as to the Kidney, because we saw, that the wind did get in on the side of the Kidney into the Emulgent Vein, and came out at the hole of the