The Harveian oration : delivered before the Royal College of Physicians, October 18th, 1895 / by William Selby Church.

  • Church, William S., Sir, 1837-
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Harveian oration : delivered before the Royal College of Physicians, October 18th, 1895 / by William Selby Church. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    69/76 (page 65)
    Note t, p. 33. Dr. Adams, in liis preliminary discourse on the Hippocratic Treatises, vol. i, sect, ii, p. 110, prefixed to tlio Sydenham Society’s translation o£ Hippocrates, says of the author of the treatise Ilf pi Qvoioq naiSiov that he “holds that the foetus breath.es and is nourished by the umbilicus, which may be looked upon as an anticipation of the modern doctrine that the placenta performs the function both of a lung and an intestine.” On turning to the passage in the treatise I cannot see that this contention is borne out. The Greek is as follows :— “ Ei/ fujrpyaiv i) yovy tvtovaa iXkh anu rou ertu/iarog an, oKOjg av rat cvvapiog Tavnj ka! >/ nvo!]. Kni rd per npoiruv afmcprj >) nroi] yivirai. Kni rd aifia oXiyov ywpfu a no rrjg pijrpog, urorav de t) nvoi) ini nXtlov yivtrai paXXov f'X/cfi rd aipa Kal ini nXuov Karip- icirai ini rag pijrpag.” This passage, taken in connection with one which precedes it— “On df y) yovi) iv vpivi iffri rat nvo>)v i-xti rai licrco Kal i'^io kat av^trai vno ri}g pryrpog ruv a'iparog Kanovrag ini rag prjrpag,’' —seems to me to amount to nothing more than a bald and erro- neous statement that the foetus when within the membranes breathes. The Hippocratic treatise, lisp! <pvmog naidlov, is by all critics considered not to be a genuine work of Hippocrates, although it dates from a very early period. Note u, p. 33. We are very apt to forget how recent our knowledge of the chemical changes which take place in respiration is. John Hunter held nearly the same views of the vital spirit as Harvey, for he says, “I should consider life as a fire, or something similar, which might for distinction be called animal fire; ” and his opinion of how this fire is maintained is entirely erroneous, for he says, “Instead of something vivifying being taken from the air, the air carries off that principle which encloses and retains this animal