Ourselves, our food, and our physic / by Benjamin Ridge.

  • Ridge, Benjamin.
Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Ourselves, our food, and our physic / by Benjamin Ridge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    27/220 (page 15)
    flows in and out of it, simply changed from arterial to venous. It is evidently a great reservoir to supply the stomach and other organs. In some fevers it is much congested, iind in others much engorged ; in either state, or even when it does not act properly, inconvenience arises in the system, of which Thiust is the prevailing symptom. Those who seldom or never suffer from thirst, ai’c not subjects of fever or inflaimtia- tory actions, and seldom have anything the matter with the spleen. On the other hand, those who do suffer from con- tinued thirst, ai’c in consequence more liable to fever and inflammatory actions, and have splenetic disorders. I have therefore associated this organ >vith the phenomenon of Thikst. When it acts perfectly, I believe it supj)lies the bitter element of the bile; and as long as this is in due quantity in the system, thirst does not ensue; but where it is deficient, then thirst is present. Hence bitters will aDay thirst in the absence of the natural clement. These, then, are the uses of the abdominal organs or tisca-u, though wo have not quite done with them. However, we must proceed upon a broad principle and take the next cavity, the Chest, with its contents. The Heakt and Longs, togetheh avith the Circulation OF the Blood.—These organs are so mixed up in their functions, that I cannot speak of their uses mthout including also the circulation of the blood. The heart is divided into fom' cavities, the right auricle and ventricle, and the left aui’ielo and ventricle; the auricles being at the upper and the ventricles at the lower part. We wnll first take the blood as it enters the right auricle of the heart. From thence it goes into the right ventricle, which propels it into the lungs. It then comos from the lungs into the left auricle, descends from this to the left ventricle, which propels it all over the body. Simjile as these facts a])pcar, it took many hundreds of years to complete this knowledge satisfac- torily, and this was only done step by step at long infrrvals, the final discovery and completion of the circuit being made by our own Harvey, in the reign of Charles II. This ultimately threw an electric light on the path of ])hysiology, and led to the discovery of the absorbent vessels, known as lactcals, lym- phatics, &c., all which are engaged in the circulation and con- veyance of certain fluids of the body, transmitting them to their