Page:The Works of William Harvey (part 1 of 2).djvu/198

98 can the extremities be warmed in no way, save by circulation; the chilled blood, which has lost its spirit and heat, being driven out, and fresh, warm, and vivified blood flowing in by the arteries in its stead, which fresh blood cherishes and warms the parts, and restores to them sense and motion; nor could the extremities be restored by the warmth of a fire or other external heat, any more than those of a dead body could be so recovered: they are only brought to life again, as it were, by an influx of internal warmth. And this indeed is the principal use and end of the circulation; it is that for which the blood is sent on its ceaseless course, and to exert its influence continually in its circuit, to wit, that all parts dependent on the primary innate heat may be retained alive, in their state of vital and vegetative being, and apt to perform their functions; whilst, to use the language of physiologists, they are sustained and actuated by the inflowing heat and vital spirits. Thus, by the aid of two extremes, viz. cold and heat, is the temperature of the animal body retained at its mean. For as the air inspired tempers the too great heat of the blood in the lungs and centre of the body, and effects the expulsion of suffocating fumes, so in its turn does the hot blood, thrown by the arteries into all parts of the body, cherish and nourish and keep them in life, defending them from extinction through the power of external cold.

It would, therefore, be in some sort unfair and extraordinary did not every particle composing the body enjoy the advantages of the circulation and transmutation of the blood; the ends for which the circulation was mainly established by nature would no longer be effected. To conclude then: you see how circulation may be accomplished without confusion or admixture of humours, through the whole body, and each of its individual parts, in the smaller as well as in the larger vessels; and all as matter of necessity and for the general advantage; without circulation, indeed, there would be no restoration of chilled and exhausted parts, no continuance of these in life; since it is apparent enough that the whole influence of the preservative heat comes by the arteries, and is the work of the circulation.

It, therefore, appears to me that the learned Riolanus speaks rather expediently than truly, when in his Enchiridion he denies a circulation to certain parts; it would seem as though he had wished to please the mass, and oppose none; to have written with