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AFTER the Womb hath received the Genital Seed, and by its heat hath shut them both up, curdled and coagulated together, from the first to the seventh day are generated many fibres, bred by a hot
motion, in which not long after, the Liver with its chief Organs is first formed. Through which Organs the vital spirit being sent to the Seed, within the tenth day forms, and distinguishes the chiefest members. This Spirit is let in through certain Veins of the Secondine, through which the Blood flows in and out, of which the Navel is generated. At the same time, in the clotted Seed there do appear three white lumps, not unlike curd∣led Milk, out of which arise the Liver, the Brain, and the Heart.
Presently after this, a Vein is directed through the Na∣vel, to such the thicker sort of the Blood that remains in the Seed, for the nourishment of the parts. This Vein is two-forked.
In the other branch of this Vein is a cer∣tain blood collected, out of which the Liver is first framed; for the Liver is nothing but a certain mass of Blood, or Blood coagulated, and hard∣ned to a substance: And here you may see what a com∣pany of Veins it hath, which serve both for the expul∣sive, and attractive faculty. In the other Branch are ge∣nerated those Textures of Veins, with a dilatation of o∣ther Veins, as also of the Spleen, and the Guts in the lower part of the Belly; by and by all the Veins like branches gathering into one Trunk, toward the upper part of the Liver, meet all in the Concave or hollow Vein. This Trunk sends other branches of Veins, to constitute the Diaphragme, others it sends into the upper part of the back-bone, seated about the Diaphragme, as also the lower parts, as far as the Thighs.
Afterwards the Heart with its Veins, directed from the Navel to that part of the Seed, and carried as far as the Back-bone, is formed.
These Veins suck the hottest, and most subtil part of the Blood, out of which the
heart is generated in the membrane of the heart, other∣wise called the Pericardium, being by nature thick and fleshy, according as the heat of the Members requires. Now the hollow vein extending it self and piercing the interior part of the right side of the heart, carries blood thither for the nourishment of the heart: From the same branch of this vein, in the same part of the heart arises another vein called by some the still vein, because it beats not with so quick a Pulse as the others do, ordain∣ed to send the most purely concocted blood in the heart to the lungs, being encompassed with two Tunicles like Arteries, But in the concavity of the left part of the heart arises a great beating vein, called the Aorta, dif∣fusing the vital spirit from the heart into all the beating veins in the body.
Under the said vein called the Aorta, in the conca∣vity of the heart, there is another vein called the vei∣ny Artery, which was therefore framed to carry the cool air from the lungs to temper the great heat of the heart.
Now there being many veins, which running from the concavity of the heart, are inserted into the lungs, therefore by these veins the lungs are also framed; for the vein which proceeds from the right concavity, pro∣duces a most subtile blood, which is turned into the sub∣stance of the lungs. By the great veins of the heart and liver the hollow vein, and the Aorta is the whole breast generated, and after that the arms, and legs in order.
Within the foresaid time, is generated the last and chief∣est part of this substance, that is to say, Brain, in the third little skin of this mass: For the whole mass of the Seed being repleat with vital spirits, that vital spirit con∣tracts a great part of the Genital moisture into one cer∣tain hollowness, where the Brain is formed; outwardly it is covered with a certain covering, which being baked and dried by the heat, is reduced into a bone, and so is the Skull made.
Now the Brain is so formed as to conceive, retain, and change the nature of all the vital spirits, whence are the beginings of Reason, and of all the Senses; for, as out of the Liver arise the Veins, out of the Heart arise the Arteries, so out of the Brain arise the Nerves of a more soft and gentle nature, yet not hollow like Veins, but sollid. These are the cheifest instruments of all the Sen∣ses and by which all the motion of the Senses are made by the vital Spirit.
After the Nerves, is generated by the Brain, also the pith of the back-bone, which cannot be called Marrow: For the Marrow is a superfluous substance begot out of the Blood, destined for the moistening, and for the strengthening of the bones: but the brain and pith of the back-bone take their beginning from the Seed, being not destined for the nourishing, or strengthning of the members but to constitute certain private and particu∣lar parts of the body, for the motion and use the Sen∣ses, that all the other. Nerves may take their begining thence; for from the pith of the back-bone, do arise ma∣ny Nerves, by which the body obtains both sense and motion.
Here is also to be noted, that out of the Seed it self are generated gristles, bones, tunicles, for the Veins of the Liver, the arteries of the heart, the brain with its Nerves: besides, the tunicles and pannicles, and the o∣ther coverings which the Infant is wrapt in. Now of the proper blood of the Birth, the flesh is formed; and what∣ever parts are of a fleshy substance; as the heart, the liver, the lights, Then are all these nourished by the menstrous blood, which is attracted through the veins of the Navel. This is all distinctly done from the con∣ception unto the eighteenth day of the first month, in all which time it is called Seed. After which it receives the name of Birth.
The Liver framed.
The Heart formed.