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The differences of Parts: and first Hippocrates his diuision of Parts. CHAP. XVIII.
THE diuision of the diuine Senior, in his sixt Booke Epide. is of all other the most ancient, into 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that is, Containers, contained, & those that are impetuous: To vse the Martialists word, doe make impression. Alexander more plainely diuideth the body into 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. * 1.1 that is, into solid, humid, and spirituous partes. Wee diuide them into parts Nourishing, to be nourished, and impulsiue parts. The containing parts are solid, & such as are to be nourished. The name of solide I do not take as the common people do, for that which is hard and tight, or dense; nor for that which is contrary to rare & hollow, but with the best Philosophers, by solid I vnderstand that which is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 tale, that is, which is wholly full of it selfe, not of any other thing, or which hath a Nature, euery way like vnto it selfe. For solum and solidum in Latine, do come of the Greeke worde 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, by chan∣ging the aspiration into a hifsing, and so s. is set before 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉: and thus the fleshy parts al∣so may be called solid & containing parts. So the Heart, a fleshy entraile containeth in his right ventricle venal, in his left arterial blood. So the marowy substance of the brain, which hath in it many dens and cauities, containeth both humours and spirits. We call also all solid parts to be nourished, because whatsoeuer is solid, the same is similar, and the action of a similar part is Nutrition.
Contayned parts are the humors concluded or shut vp in their proper vessels and con∣ceptacles, as it were in Store-houses. Galen calleth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that is, humours, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, * 1.2 that is, such as are contained in the vessels, and dispersed through the whol body. Some had rather cal them 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Things deteyned, the better to signifie those things which are conteined within vs, as also which do preserue the substance of the part: and therefore we haue called them Nourishers, to restraine the word Humors to the Alimentarie, and not to include the Excrementitious. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that is, impulsiue or impetuous thinges, Fernelius referreth to the faculties of the soule, not to the spirits; but in my opinion he is in this out of the way. For * 1.3 though the spirits be conteyned, and haue proper conceptacles, to wit, the veynes, arteries and nerues, yet they are truly called impulsiue substances; and Hippocrates spake of the body & bodily things, & therefore not of the Faculties, which are but abstracted Notions. * 1.4 Now by the word Spirit, I do not vnderstand a wind, for these are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Bastard, or as Auicen termeth them Fraudulent spirits, whose violence is sometimes so great & fu∣rious, * 1.5 that they are the cause of many tumults in the houshold gouernement, or naturall constitution of the body, which is oftentimes miserably distressed with their furious gusts: read what Hippo. in his Book de Flatibus hath written of the power of winds. But by spirits we vnderstand the primary and immediate instrument of the soule, which the Stoicks cal∣leth * 1.6 the Band which tyeth the soule and the body. The force of these spirits is such, & so great the subtilty and thinnesse of their Nature, that they can passe suddenly through all parts, & do insinuate themselues through the fastest and thickest substances, as wee may perceyue in the passions of the minde, in sleepe and in long watchinges. By the ministerie of these spirits, all the motions of liuing creatures are accomplished, both naturall, vitall, and ani∣mall, and by these, life, nourishment, motion and sence, do flow into all the parts. Final∣ly, * 1.7 the motion of the spirits is perpetuall, both of themselues, and by another. By them∣selues, that is, they are mooued continually from an inbred principle both wayes, vpward and downward; vpward because they are light, downward toward their norishment. They are mooued by another when they are driuen, and when they are drawne. The vitall spi∣rits are driuen, when the heart is contracted, the animall when the braine is compressed. The spirits therefore are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 impetuous substances. They are fiery and ayery, and therefore very fine, subtle, and swift: so the seede although it be thicke and viscid, yet in a moment it passeth through the vessels of generation, which haue no conspicuous ca∣uities, and that because it is spirituous, or full of spirits.
There are also other differences of parts, according to Hippocrates in his Booke De∣veteri * 1.8 medicina, which are drawne from their substance, figure, and scituation. From the substance some are dense, others rare and succulent or iuicy, others spongie & soft. From the figure, some are hollow, and from a largenesse gathered into a narrownesse or con∣straint,