Mikrokosmographia a description of the body of man. Together vvith the controuersies thereto belonging. Collected and translated out of all the best authors of anatomy, especially out of Gasper Bauhinus and Andreas Laurentius. By Helkiah Crooke Doctor of Physicke, physitian to His Maiestie, and his Highnesse professor in anatomy and chyrurgerie. Published by the Kings Maiesties especiall direction and warrant according to the first integrity, as it was originally written by the author.

Whether the Skin performe any common and officiall action. QVEST. IIII.

MAny Physitians haue the same opinion of the vse and action of the Skinne which they haue of the vse and action of Bones. The Bones haue a com∣mon * 1.1 or official vse, so sayth Hippocrates, they giue the body stability, vpright∣nes and figure, but that they performe no common or officiall action. I ac∣count * 1.2 that a common action which is seruiceable either to more parts or to the whole creature. In like manner, the skinne hath indeed a common vse, because it coue∣reth the whole body, cherisheth it & tyeth it together, but it is not thought to performe a∣ny

officiall or common action. Galen speaketh very plainely, The skin (saith he) concocteth not, as the stomacke: it distributeth not as the Guts and the Veynes: it breedeth not bloud as the Liuer, it frameth not any pulsation as the Heart and the Artcries; it causeth not respiration, as the Lungs and the Chest, it mooueth not with voluntary motion, as the Muscles. Notwithstan∣ding all this, one common action may bee attributed vnto it, to wit, an Animall action. * 1.3 For although all sensation is passion, because to be sensatiue is to suffer, yet there is no sen∣sation without an action. The better learned Philosophers in all sensation doe acknow∣ledge a double motion, one Materiall, another Formall: the former motion is in * 1.4 the reception of the species (for we must craue liberty to vse our Schoole tearmes) the lat∣ter in an action; the first is in the Instrument by reason of the matter: the latter, by reason of the power is in the soule; the first is not the effectuating cause of sensation, but a dis∣position thereto: the latter is essentially sensation itselfe. Whereas therefore the skinne is apprehensiue of those qualities which strike or mooue the tactiue sense, and is thereup∣on esteemed the iudge and discerner of outward touching, it performeth vnto the whole creature not onely a common vse, but also a common or officiall action. Beside it hath an∣other * 1.5 priuate action, to wit, Nutrition, to which as handmaids do serue the Drawing, Re∣teining, Concocting and Expelling Faculties, & more then these hath no part in the body of man which serueth for the behoofe of the whole. Wee conclude therefore, that the skin besides his common vse and priuate action performeth to the body a common and of∣ficiall action, to wit, Sensation.

Notes

• * 1.1

  The common opinion.
• * 1.2

  Hip. lib. de na∣tu. ossium.
• * 1.3

  The common action of the skin is animal
• * 1.4

  How sensation is made.
• * 1.5

  The priuate action of the skin.