The philosophy of natural history / by William Smellie ; with an introduction and various additions and alterations intended to adapt it to the present state of knowledge by John Ware.

  • Smellie, William, 1740-1795.
Date:
1824
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The philosophy of natural history / by William Smellie ; with an introduction and various additions and alterations intended to adapt it to the present state of knowledge by John Ware. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    digested. But we find, on the contrary, that the stomach which at one instant, that is, while possessed of the living principle, was capable of resisting the digestive powers which it contained, the next moment, viz. when deprived of the living principle, is itself capable of being digest A, either by the digestive powers of other stomachs, or by the remains of that power which it had of digesting other things. When bodies are opened some time after death, a consid- erable aperture is frequently found at the greatest extremity of the stomach. In these cases, says Mr Hunter, the contents of the stomach are generally found loose in the cavi- ty of the abdomen, about the spleen and diaphiagm. In many subjects, this digestive power extends much farther than through the stomach. I have often found, that, after it had dissolved the stomach at the usual place, the contents ofthe stomach had come into contact with the spleen and diaphragm, had partly dissolved the adjacent side of the spleen, and had dissolved the stomach quite through ; so that the contents of the stomach were found in the cavity of the thorax, and had even affected the lungs in a small degree. CHAPTER VII. OF THE TRANSFORMATION OF ANIMALS. The transformation of caterpillars, and of different kinds of worms, into winged insects, has long excited the attention, as well as the admiration of mankind. But the truth is, that every animal, without exception, undergoes changes in struc- ture, mode of existence, and external appearances. Mankind from their embryo state, to their final dissolution, assume many different forms. At birth, the form, symmetry, and organs of the animal are by no means complete. The head continues for some time to be disproportionally large; the hands and feet are not properly shaped ; the legs are crooked ; the hair on the head is short and scanty ; no teeth as yet appear; and there is not a vestige of a beard. In a kw months, how'ever,