THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF A LYON

BEfore the opening of our Lion, we carefully examined all its external Parts, according to the Method which we proposed to our selves, to observe in all the Descriptions of the other Animals. We found that the greatness of the Head, which is remarkable in this Animal, consisted chiefly in the extraordinary abundance of the Flesh which covered it, and in the greatness of the Bones which compose the Jaws. That the Breast likewise, which appeared large, was only by reason of the long and thick Hair which incompassed it, the Sternum being compressed, and much more pointed, than it is in most Horses and Dogs: And that by the same reason, the Tail seemed not to be of equal thickness from one end to the other; but by reason of the inequality of the Hair wherewith it was invironed, which was shorter to­wards the beginning, where the Flesh and Bones are thicker, and which grew longer as these parts grow lesser and lesser, towards the end. And that this long Hair which is about the Neck and Breast, did differ from that of the rest of the Body only in its length, having nothing resembling Man's Hair.

The Claws had no cases, as Pliny reports they have, to keep them from be­ing dulled by their walking; but it appears rather, that these Animals, as Plutarch and Solinus observe, do provide for that by retracting them between their Toes, by the means of the particular Articulation of the last Joynt, which was such, that the last Bone save one, by bending it self outwards, gives place to the last which is articulated to it, and to which the Claw is fastened to bend it self upwards and side-ways, more easily than downwards; being drawn upwards by the means of a tendinous Ligament, which fastens together the two last Bones in their superiour and external part only; and which suffering a violent distention when the Toe is bent inwards, extends this last Articulation, as soon as the Musculi flexores come to slacken, and strengthens the Action of the Musculi xetensores: So that the Bone which is at the end of every Toe, being almost continually bent upward, it is not the end of the Toes which rests upon the ground, but the Node of the Articulati­on of the two last Bones; and thus in walking, the Claws remain elevated, and retracted between the Toe, to witt, all those of the right Paws, towards the right side of every Toe, and all those of the left Paws, towards the left [Page 4] side; The bending of the Toes to walk being caused only by the Tendons of the sublimer Muscles and those of the lower Muscle never moving but when it is necessary to extend the Claws, which do proceed out of the Toes, when the last Joynt is bent downwards. This admirable Structure is not found in the great Toe, whose last joynt bends only downwards, because that this Toe rest's not on the ground being shorter than the rest, and having but two Bones as is usual.

It had fourteen Teeth in each Jaw, viz. four Incisores, four Canini, and six Molares. The Incisores were little, and the Canini very uneven, having two great and two small ones. The great ones which were an inch and half long, like the Tusks of a Boar, are those alone which Aristotle takes for Canini: But each of these great Canini was accompanied with another little one, which was at the side of the Incisores, and which left in the upper Jaw, be­tween it and the great one, as much void space on each side, as was neces­sary to lodg and insert the hook of the great Caninus of the inferior Jaw, in which there was likewise a space between the great Caninus and the first of the Molares designed to lodge the great Caninus of the upper Jaw, but which was much larger, to the end that the lower Jaw might be advanced forward upon occasion. The Molares were likewise very uneven, especially in the upper Jaw, where that which stood next the Caninus was as small as the Inci­sores. The other Molares were very large, having three unequal points, which represented as it were the flower de Lys.

The Neck was very stiffe, as Authors have remark't. But the Dissection has demonstrated to us in our Lyon, that this proceeded not, as Aristotle and Aelian have reported, from its having only one Bone, but rather for that the spinous processes of the Vertebrae of the Neck were very long, and bound with Ligaments so strong and hard, that it seem'd composed of one single Bone. Scaliger says that he had observed the same thing in the Dissection of two Lyons: And it is probable that Aristotle has so understood it, when in his Physiognomie he say's, that the Body of the Lyon is remarkable for the greatness and firmness of its Joynts.

The Tongue was rough and covered with a great many sharp points, of a Substance hard, and like to that of the Nails of Catts, whose bigness they al­so had: These points being hollow at their Basis, and crooked towards the throat. They were almost two lines in length, and towards their Basis had little round Eminencies, made of the fleshy skin of the Tongue.

The Eyes were clear and brisk after death, and through the Foramen of the Vuea was seen the bottom of the Choroides, which was as it were gilt. The Tunica Conjunctiva was black. It is probable that the reason of saying, that Lyons do Sleep with their Eyes open is that without shutting the Eye-lidds, they can cover them with a thick and black Membrane lay'd towards the great Cant'us which raising and stretching out it self towards the lesser, can extend it self over all the Cornea, as is observed in Birds, and especially in Catts, which have so great a conformity with the Lion, that we have found that there was some ground for the fable of the Alcoran, which says that the Cat was first born in the Ark by the sneezing of the Lion. For the particular structure of the Paws, Teeth, Eyes and Tongue, which we have observed in the Lion, is found to be common with the Catt; And the internal parts of these two Animals have the same conformity, altho' Albertus affirms the contrary.

[Page 5]At the first opening, the Skin seemed not to us extraordinary hard, nor impene­trable, as Cardan reports; but it was found strongly connected by a number of hard and nervous Fibres which proceeded from the Muscles and penetrat­ed the Panniculus carnosus.

The Oesophagus was not so large that the Lion could swallow, as some Au­thors tell us, the members of Animals all intire; for it exceeded not an inch and half in breadth, and was drawn together by the Foramen of the Dia­phragme after the usual manner, being not open and dilated, as it is in most Fishes and Serpents, which do easily swallow whatever enters into their Mouth.

The Stomack was eighteen inches long, and six broad, situated from the top to the bottom, inclineing a little to the right side, and rising towards the Pylorus. At the Superiour and Anteriour part there were two unequal Pro­tuberancies.

The Intestines were not very long, comprehending all together but twen­ty five foot, the Colon eighteen inches, and the Appendix of the Caecum three.

The Pancreas was like to that of Catts and Dogs, and the great Glandules of the Mesentery, which are by Asellius called Pancreas, were also like to those of these Animals.

The Liver in which we found seven lobes as in Catts, was of so dark a red, that it inclined to a black: It was also very soft. Its hollow part under the Gall-bladder was filled with choller diffused into it's Substance, and into that of all the Circumjacent parts; which was the sole Circumstance that gave us some suspition of the cause of this Animals death, which we judge to be the Di­sease, to which Pliny alone say's Lions are subject, and which he calls Aegri­tudinem fastidii: For whether this be understood of the mortal trouble which it conceives of its captivitie, as that Author expresses it, or that this signifies the disgust which kills him for want of eating, it is well known that the re­tention of the choller may cause either.

The Gall-bladder was seven inches long and one and a half broad. Its Struc­ture was very particular, being anfractous towards the Meatus Cholidochus, and as it were seperated into several cells: Catts have exactly the like.

The Spleen was a foot long, two inches broad, and half an inch thick. It was not so black as the Liver, notwithstanding that general rule which Ga­len gives of the colour of the Spleen, which he says is always blacker than the Liver, especially in Animals which are of a Temperament hot and dry, and which have sharp Teeth. So that there is great probability that this black­ness of the Liver was extraordinary in this Subject, and not natural. The Kidney was almost round, being three inches and a half in length to two and a half in breadth and thickness: It weighed seven ounces and two drachmes.

The Parts of Generation had this particular, that the Urethra was not crooked, but quite strait from the Bladder to the extremitie of the Penis; and that the beginning of the Ligaments, which with the Urethra do com­pose the body of the Penis, was very remote from the Prostatae, which are at the beginning of the neck of the Bladder: So that the Urethra, which in all contained eleven inches, extended not, being joyned to these Ligaments, the length of three inches and a half: Which made us to doubt of the truth [Page 6] of what Aristotle says concerning the Physiognomie of the Lion, to witt, that he has eminently, and above all other Animals, visible and apparent signes of the strength and perfection of his Sex.

The reason of this Structure appears to us to be founded on the extraordi­nary breadth of the Os pubis, along which the Urethra must descend from the Bladder, the bottom of which must pass over the Bones, to their inferior part, from whence ariseth these Ligaments which do compose the Penis. This Conformation makes the the Lion to piss backwards, and not by lifting up the Legg, like Doggs, as Pliny say's, and that he couples with the Lion­ness after the same manner as Camells, Hares, &c.

In opening the Thorax it was observed, that from all the Cartilages of the Sternum which had been cut, there came out two or three drops of Blood, which demonstrated that these parts are not so solid, as that their cavities should be imperceptible, as some Authors do think, seeing that they are penetrated by some Sanguinary Vessels, as is seen in all Animalls when young.

The Mediastinum was furnished with abundance of great vessels. The Membranes which composed it, and which were perforated like a net, were joyned, and left no space but towards the Diaphragme, on the right side of the Heart, where there was a very large and ample cavity. The same thing is observed in Catts.

The Lungs were found to have six Lobes on the right side, and three on the left. All the Annular cartilages of the Aspera Arteria made an entire cir­cle, excepting two or three under the Larynx, in which besides their great­ness, which was four inches in compass, there was not more than two lines which were not entire. The breadth of this Organ of the voice seem'd to us very capable of making the dreadful noise of its Roaring.

The Ductus lacteus Thoracicus was very small, and joyned to a long fillet of fat, which was extended to the whole length, and at the side of the body of the Vertebrae, it was two lines broad.

The Heart which was found dry and without water in the Pericardium, was in proportion much greater than in any Animal, containing six inches in length, and four in breadth towards the Basis, and ending in a very sharp point. Its Substance appear'd to us very soft, before it was opened; but it was discovered that this proceeded from its being lean, and hollow, its Ven­tricles being so ample, that the left one which descended into the Cuspis, left but two lines of thickness in the flesh which covered it at this place; to­wards the Basis it had but seven, and the Septum had almost as many. The Auricles of the Heart were so small, that the Right, which is the greatest, was not half an inch. The Structure of the Heart of Catts is not so particu­lar, for it is more obtuse at the Cuspis and fleshy than ordinary. The Pro­portion of the Branches which the Ascendent Aorta emitts was such, that the Carotides contained the same thickness as the left Subclavian, and as the re­mainder of the Right from whence they do arise; which is very considera­ble in respect of the smallness of the Brain. The same thing is observed in Catts, excepting that they have a great deal more Brains, in proportion to their Bigness.

The Brain exceeded not two Inches every way. It was included in a [Page 7] Cranium about half an Inch thick in the thinnest place, and almost an Inch in the Fore-head. The Crown was elevated like the Crest of an Helmet, to give rise to the Muscles of the Temples, which do cover the Two sides of the Crown of the Head, and in the middle of the fore-head do leave that Cavitie, which Aristotle in his Physiognomy adjudgeth to be peculiar to Lions. Every of these Muscles was five inches in length, four and a half in breadth, two in thickness, and Twenty Ounces in Weight. This Head thus Garnished with Flesh, and Composed of Bones so firm in their structure and Substance, made us to think that if the Bear, according to Pliny, has a Head so tender and weak that it may be Slain with a slight Blow, it is probable that it would be very difficult to stun a Lion; and that this was well known to Theocritus, who tells Hercules, that all that he could do to the Nemaean Lion with his Club, was to stun him, and that he could not kill him but by Strangleing him with his Hands.

The Bone which is found in Brutes between the Cerebrum and Cerebellum over the Satura Lambdoides, was an Inch and a half long, Ten lines broad, and Two thick, of a squarer Figure than that which is in the Scull of Cats, Doggs, &c,

The Glandula Pinealis was diaphanous, and so small that it exceeded not a line in length, and two Thirds of a line in breadth at its Basis.

The Optick Nerves appeared much thicker after their Conjunction than before: Which proceeded hence that the Foramina thro' which they do enter into the Orbita are not round, but like a slitt; which makes them broader by flattening them. Being past thro' the Foramen of the Orbita, they were extended to the Globe of the Eye, two Inches and a half in length. It was observed that the Cavity of this Orbita was not wholly fenced with a Bone on the inside, but that there was a hole towards the Temples, between the Apophysis of the Os Frontis, and that of the first bone of the Jaw, which were not joyned more than in Cats, Doggs, &c.

The Globe of the Eye was sixteen lines Diameter. The Cornea was a­bout the third part of a line in thickness at the middle, and grew thicker towards its Circumference; till it came to half a line, after the manner of the glasses in Spectacles.

The Iris was of that pale colour, which is called Isabella.

The Tunica Choroides appeared of a Gold-colour, and which had nothing of that Verdure, which most Authors do give to the Eyes of the Lion. The Reverse of the Anterior Vuea in the Place it lyes upon the Crystallinus, was all Black. The Crystallinus was found very flat, and its greatest Convexity, contrary to what is in other Animals, was in its anteriour part; which is also observed in the Eyes of Catts. The Figurs of the Crystallinus was such: that it seemed shrunk up having a Dent in the side, which made the Crystallinus of the left Eye, where this dent was the greatest, like the Forme of an Heart: But one of these Crystallinus's which began to be spoilt by a Glaucoma, made us to suspect that this was Praet ernatural, and particular to our Subject. The Aqucous Humour was found very abundant, so that it almost equal'd the sixth part of the Vitreous Humour. This abundance was Judged to be the cause of the clearness which remained in the Eyes after Death, which are obscured when the Cornea is dryed and contracted for want of this Humour, which keep's it extended.

[Page 8]The last Observation was, that considering the Season which was hot and moist, when this Dissection was made, and the disposition to Putrifaction which must needs be in the body of an Animal Dead of a Disease, and which all Authors report to have a breath so stinking, that it Infects whatever it approaches, to such a degree that other Animals do not touch the remainder of the Flesh whereof he has eaten; yet there appear'd nothing to us which denoted any extraordinary Corruption, its smell being less offensive than that of a Deer, which must be embowelled soon after it is killed: And altho' there were found some Wormes in its Flesh the fourth day, it was judged that they were ingender'd of Flyes, because that a piece of the Tongue wrapt up in Paper was dryed in the space of one night, and was grown very hard without any smell. Which made us conclude, that if the Lion is subject to a Feaver, it is not caused by the Corruption of Humours, and is only an Ephemera, altho' it is said that he has it all his life: This may cause a Belief that Choller is a Balsome in the body of Animals which resists Corruption, and which has this effect, that Lyons, in whom it is praedominant, do live a long time.

There was likewise made another reflection upon the smalness of the Brain of this Animal, of which Natural Historians do relate so many marks of Judgement and Reason; and by comparing it with the abundance of that of a Calfe, it was judged that the littleness of Brain is rather the sign and cause of a savage and cruel Disposition than a want of Judgment. This con­jecture was fortified by an other Observation which was made four dayes be­fore upon a Sea-fox, where was found hardly any Brain, altho' it was thought that the Sagacitie and Subtiltie which it hath, has given it this Name a­mongst Fishes, all the Kinds of which are generally ill provided of Brain, so that they have little disposition to the Society, and Discipline which Ter­restrial Animals are capable of.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF A LYONNESS.

BEsides the particular Character of the Sex of the Lionness, which is to have no long Hair about the Neck, there are observed several others, which are, that she has a longer Nose, a Head flatter at top, and Claws lesser than the Lyon.

This Lyonness was three foot high from the end of the fore Claws, to the ridge of the Back. She was about five foot long, from the extremity of the Nose to the beginning of the Tail, which was two foot and a half long.

The Claws which were at the end, and divided into several Fibres like those of Lyons, have been observed in this Subject with more care and exact­ness than in the others. It is observed that they are composed of a Fibrous and very compact Substance; in respect of each Fibre, but that these Fibres are easily separable one from the other; which happens, as it is easie to Judge, for want of the Moisture which should join, and glue them together; even as it is seen in Fibrous Wood, which cleaves not so easily before it is dry. Indeed this Lyonness, which was extraordinary lean, had Claws much easier to shoot out than the other Lyons which were younger and fatter. Thus the Root of the Claws, and the particular manner whereby we have found them fast­ened to the Bones of the ends of the Paws, has seemed to us to be principally to supply the humour which is necessary to these parts. For the Claw was not immediately fastened to the Bone by its whole Root: But there was a part thereof viz. the inside which was hollow, which was not knitt to the bone. This inside was filled with a competent substance between the Cartilage and liga­ment. This manner of connexion and fastening of these Claws seem'd to us to afford what ever is requisite to their use: For if all the Fibres, whereof these Claws are composed, had taken rise immediately from the Bone, they could not attract humidity enough to make that connection, which renders the Claws solid: And if they had been all fastened to the Bone by means of the Ligaments, they would not have been so strongly joyned, as when they are soddered without any thing between.

The Conformation of the Stomach was particular, and very different in this Subject, from that which we have found in other Lyons which we have dissected, where the Stomach was like to that of Doggs and Catts, having an ample and large Fundus towards the superiour Orifice, which alwayes grew les­ser [Page 14] and lesser towards the Pylorus; but this had the bottom parted in two in a manner like Animals which chew the Cud. This particular form of the Ventricle was found only in one of the four Animals of this kind which we Dis­sected, viz. two Lyons and two Lyonesses: For in the two Lyons, and the o­ther Lyoness, the Stomach was like that of Doggs. It is very true that the Stomach of the first Lyon had two Protuberancies in its upper part; but this was not considerable nor comparable to the division which made this Sto­mach double, and separated into two Cavities.

The Intestines contained in all twenty two foot four inches in length; the Rectum had but four inches, and the Colon two foot.

The Colon had no little cells, but only a straiter part, which divided it as it were into two parts, one of which was a little longer than the other. The Caecum was two inches long, and its Fundus upwards; and Orifice downwards. The Pancreas resembled that of Doggs.

The Mesentery was covered with livid Glands about the bigness of a Pea, all of an oval Figure. The Vessels were very apparent, and greatly dilated, and especially the Veins. There was very distinctly seen the Venae Lacteae, di­vided in different Branches, by which the Trunks were easily carryed to the Pancreas Assellii.

The Peluis of the Kidneys was filled with a reddish Glare, which might have caused a reflux of Serossity, of which there was found a great deal in the lower Venter and Thorax.

The Bladder was so small, that tho' it was extended as much as it was possi­ble by filling it with Air, it was not bigger than one of the Kidnys. Aristo­tle and Aelian do say that Lyons do seldome drink. And Albertus Remarks, that Lyonesses do not long suckle their Whelps, for want of that abundance of moisture, which is necessary to the generation of Milk.

The Liver had seven lobes, six great and one small one. One of the largest which are placed on the right side, was split in two, and dilated as it were to make room for the right Kidney, which was higher than the left, as is usually in Brutes. The Gall-bladder was Anfra [...]tuous, and formed like seve­ral Protuberances, as in the three other Subjects.

The Spleen was long, and like a Crescent. The branches of the Vas breve, which fastened it to the bottom of the Ventricle, were larger and more nume­rous than ordinary.

The Uterus was divided into two long Cornua as in Doggs. These Cornua were tyed and fastened by large Ligaments. At their extremity, adjoyning to and underneath the Testicles, there were some Appendices of an irregular Form, and as it were torn at the end, which were thought to be▪ the parts which modern Anotimists do call the Fringes of the Tuba Uteri in Wo­men: Which seems to justifie and clear the Antients from an Errour where­of they were accused. For this demonstrates that they had some reason to think that the Cornua Uteri in Brutes are the same thing with that called the Tuba in Women. For tho' the Cornua of Brutes be a hollow body, in which the Conception and Nourishment of their Young ones use to be made, and that the Tuba of Women appears solid and without Cavity, so that it is proper to receive the Seed, and make the Transcolation into the Fundus Uteri, by pos­sessing the place of the Prostatae, according to the opinion of Gallen; and that the Conception be generally made in the Fundus Uteri; yet it is very true to [Page 15] say that the structure and use of the Tuba in Women, and the Cornua in Brutes, have nothing essentially different; seeing that as there are some Ex­amples of the Conception made in the Tuba, we have some Observations which do manifest to us, that this Tuba has sometimes also an evident Cavi­ty. We have here put the Figure of the Uterus of a Woman, in which we found two apparent Cavities, which made some windings eight Lines long, and near two broad at their beginning, which from the Fundus Uteri did Pe­netrate into the Tuba.

At the end of each of the Cornua, a little below the Testicle, there was a long Body, of a Nervous Substance, which was taken for the Ligamenta Tere­tia: For it descended into the Groyne, and was there dilated like a Goose's Foot as in Women. Its original was only different in this, that in Women these Ligaments proceeded from the very Body of the Uterus, at the place where the Tuba began, a good distance from the Testicle. Soranus Writes, that he had seen in a Woman this round Ligament, which he calls the Cremaster of the Testicle of Women, which was fastened near the Testicle, even as we have Observed in our Lyonness.

The Mediastine was not pierced like a Net as in the first Lyon; but its Mem­brane was thick and continued.

The Lungs had seven Lobes, three of each side and one in the middle; Those of the right side were larger than those of the left: The whole Paren­chyma of the Lungs was scirrhous. The Vena Coronaria was very large; but the Heart was much less than in the two Lyons which have been dissected. The inside of the left Ventricle was scirrhous towards the mouth of the Ar­tery of the Lungs; and it seemed that the Lungs had communicated this Dis­temper to the Heart. There were two Polypus's, one in each Ventricle of the Heart. All the Basis of the Heart on the out side, was sirrounded with a fli­my Substance; which formed several unequal Protuberancies, instead of the Fat which is commonly found in this place.

The Tongue was armed, as in the Lyons, with great points like Claws; they were lesser, softer, and blunter.

The Ventricles of the Brain were very large; and the Cavity where the Falx enters, and which divides the Cere [...]rum in two, was likewise very deep, containing ten Lines. The Glandula Pinealis was exceeding small, not ex­ceeding a Line.

The Christalline Humour like as in Lyons, was more convex before than be­hind; which was not found in the other Lyonness, where it was flat and more convex behind. The Membrane, which is put into the bottom of the Eye, and laid on the Choroides, which we call the Tapetum, was of an Isabella Colour, intermixt with a brisk Greenish Blew. It was easily separable from the Cho­roides, which remained intire with its ordinary thickness, after that we had taken away the Membrane which forms this Tapetum.

The Optick Nerve was near the Axis of the Eye. In it's middle there was seen to appear a Foramen, which disappear'd when the whole Retina was layd on one side, and that it was not equally extended about the Optick Nerve on the Concavitie of the Choroides.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF A CAMELION

THere is scarce any Animal more Famous than the Camelion, its admir­able Properties have ever been the Subject as well of Natural as Moral Philosophy. The changing of its Colour, and the particular manner of feeding which is attributed to it, have in all Ages given great Admiration and Exercise to those that do apply themselves to the Knowledg of Nature: And those Wonders which Naturalists have related of this inconsiderable Animal, have made it to be the most Famous Symbole used in Rhetorick and Ethicks, to represent the base compliance of Courtiers and Flatterers, and the Vanity wherewith simple and light Minds do feed themselves. Its very name in Tertullian is the Subject of a Serious Meditation upon False-glory, and he proposes it as the Example of the Impudence of Cheats and Boa­sters.

It is not known truly why the Greeks have bestowed so fine a Name, upon so vile and ugly a Beast, by calling it the Little-Lyon, or Dwarf-Lyon accord­ing to Isid [...]re's Etymology. Gesner says, that it somewhat resembles the Lyon, without mentioning wherein. Panarolus would have it the Tail which is crooked at the end, as he says, like the Lyons: But the Truth is, that neither the Camelion nor the Lyon have a crooked Tail. It would be more probable to place the Resemblance on the Crest, which they both have on the Top of the Head, which makes a kind of Casque: But it appears on the Lyons Head only, when the Fle [...]h of the Musculi Crotophitae is cutt off, Licetus thinks that this Name was given it, because as the▪ Lyon Hunts and Devours other Animals, so the Camelion catches Flies; by the same reason that a little Worm which Hunts and takes Ants, as Albertus hath described, is called Formicaleon; and that a little Lobster, as Pliny and Athenaus report, is named Lyon, because it is of the same Colour.

The Camelion is of the kinde of four-footed Beasts, which do lay Eggs, as the Crocodile, and Lizard, which it sufficiently resembles, save that its Head and Back is not flat like the Lizards, who has likewise much shorter leggs, with which it cr [...]wls very fast along the ground: whereas the Camelion has longer leggs, and goes easily only upon Trees, where it delights it self much more than on the ground; because, that as it is sayd, it fears the Serpents, from which it cannot secure it selfe by flight, and that from thence it spies them, [Page 18] watching the opportunity when they do pass, or Sleep under him, to Kill them with his Foam which he lets fall upon them.

Belonius has observed two Species of Camelions, one whereof is found in Arabia, the other in Aegypt. Faber Lynceus adds a Third, which is in Mexico. That which we describe is the Aegyptian one; which is the greatest of all: For those of Arabia and Mexico, are not ordinarily more then six inches long, and ours which was brought us alive was in all, comprehending the Tail, eleven Inches and a half in length; Pliny is greatly mistaken, when he makes the Camelion as big as the Crocodile, which is the biggest of all Animals: or if he intends to compare it to the Land Crocodile, he deceives his Reader, for that is less known than the Camelion, and whereof no body has spoken but himself, or upon his Report. Salmasius attributes this Fault to the ill Translation which Pliny has made of the Book, which Democritus writ of the Camelion; in which, according to the Ionick Dialect, the Crocodile is called by the Name which commonly signifies the Lizard. The Head of ours was an Inch and ten Lines; from the Head to the beginning of the Tail, it was four Inches and a half; the tail was five; and the Feet were each two Inches and a half long. The Bulk of the Body was found different at several times: For sometimes it was two Inches from the Back unto the under part of the Belly; at other times it was scarce above an Inch, according as it swelled or contract­ed it self; this swelling and this contracting was not only in the Thorax and Belly, but it reached even to its fore and hind-legs, and its Tail. This par­ticular Circumstance, which Aristotle has observed, makes us to think upon what Theophrastes says of the Camelions Lungs, viz. That they do extend thro' the whole Body.

Now these contrary Motions of swelling and contracting are not done as in other Creatures, when to breath they dilate their Breast, and presently contract it successively and orderly; for we have seen it puft up above two Hours, during which time it abated a little, but very impreceptibly, and swelled again a little, but with this difference, that the Dilatation was more suddain and visible, and that by long and unequal intervals. We have like­wise seen it continue unswelled for a long space, and much longer than swelled. In this Condition it appeared so lean, that the Spine was sharp, as if by the extenuation of the Muscles which are without along the Verte­brae, the Skin was fastened upon the spinous and oblique Apophyses; which discovered three Eminencies. The Ribbs might be counted, and the Ten­dons of the fore and hind-legs appeared very distinctly to the Eye; But nei­ther the Vertebrae, like a Saw, which Gesner and Landius, do in Scaliger report were seen on the Back, nor the Pricks which Panarolus saith were placed there by Nature for its defence, appeared to us: how lean soever it grew, its back only remained sharp and keen, without being jagged or having any Points; the Apophyses of the Spine being square at the end, as in the generality of A­nimals. This lankness was known likewise when it turned its Body; for it seemed like an empty Sack that is twisted; which Tertullian, who was of the same Country with our Camelion, had very well observed, when he says, that this Animal was but a living Skin.

This Skin was very cold to the touch; and notwithstanding the great lankness I have been describing, it was impossible to feel the beating of the Heart, which was more secret and obscure than the motion of its Breathing. [Page 19] The Superficies of the Skin was uneven, and raised in little Eminencies like Chagrine, being nevertheless very soft to the touch, because that every Emi­nence was very smooth: These Eminencies or Grains were of a different size; the greatest part were like the head of a middle-sized Pinn, viz. The Grains which covered the fore and hind-leggs, the Belly and Tail: There were others somewhat bigger, of an oval Shape, upon the Shoulders and Head; and some of these large Grains were higher and more pointed, to witt, un­der the Throat, where they made a Row like Beads, which reached from the lower lipp to the Breast: The Grains which were upon the Back and Head, were joyned and heaped together, sometimes to the Number of Seven, some­times Six, Five, Four, Three and Two; leaving between these different heaps, some distances covered with other little Grains almost imperceptible, which were generally of a pale Red, and Yellowish like the bottom of the Skin which appeared between these parcels of Grains. This Ground changed not Colour till the Animal was dead, at which time the little Points grew white­ish, and the Ground whereon they were sowed, changed its Red into a Dark-Gray.

It has been since found, that all these Grains, as well the great as the little ones, were made by the Skin which swelled outward, being hollow on the in­side in the place of every Grain, like plates of Metal which are chaced or stam­ped; in part also thro' several little Pellicles very slender, and lying one upon a­nother, which increased the thickness of every Eminence; which were easily raised, when they were scraped with a Penn-knife. But all this would not make the Skin resemble that of a Crocodile, as Aristotle with most Authors would have it. For the Crocodile has upon its Back, very large thick Scales, proportionable to those under its Belly; and they are ranged one upon ano­ther; whereas the Eminencies of the Camelion's Skin, are spread without Or­der, and little differing in size.

The Colour of all the Eminences of our Camelion when it was at rest in the shade, and had continued a long time untoucht, was a Blewish-Gray, except­ing under the Paws, which was a White inclining to Yellow, and the Inter­val of the Heap of Grains, which was of a Pale and yellowish Red, as aforesaid: And it is probable, that the natural Colour of the Camelion's Skin, which ac­cording to Aristotle is Black, was in ours that Gray which covered the Skin all over when in Repose, and which remained on the inside of the Skin when excoriated: Though the out-side had sometime after its Death preserved, the Spots and different Colours which were there at the Minute it expired, but which were well near all obscured when the Skin was dryed.

Now this Gray which coloured all the Camelion exposed to the Light, changed when in the Sun; and all the places of its Body which were inlightened, in­stead of their Blewish Colour, took up a Brownish Gray, inclining to a Minime. The rest of the Skin which was not illuminated by the Sun, changed its Gray into several brisk shining Colours, which made Spots about half a Finger in bigness, which reached from the Crest of the Spine to the middle of the Back; others appeared likewise upon the Ribbs, fore-leggs and Tail. All these Spots were of an Isabella Colour, through the mixture of a pale Yellow, where­with the Grains were coloured, and of a brisk Red, which is the Colour of the bottom of the Skin which appears amongst the Grains.

[Page 20]The rest of this Skin not enlightened by the Sun, and which was of a Pal­er Gray than ordinary, resembleing Cloth made of Mixt-coloured Wooll: For some of the Grains were seen of a Gray somewhat Greenish, others of a Mini­me Gray, othrs of the common Blewish Gray, the ground remaining as be­fore.

When the Sun did not shine, the first Gray came again by little and little, and spread it self all over the Body, except under the Feet, which continu­ed of the same Colour, but a little Browner. And when being in this state, some of the Company handled it to observe something, there immediately appeared on its Shoulders, and fore-leggs, several very Blackish spotts about the bigness of one's Nail; which happened not when it was handled by those that lookt after it: Sometimes it was marked with Brown Spotts, which in­clined to a Green. We afterwards wrapped it up in a Linnen Cloath, where having been two or three minutes, we took it out Whiteish; but not so White as that of which Aldrovandus speaks, which was not to be seen, by becoming exactly like the Linnen on which it was layed. Ours, which had only changed its ordinary Gray into a very pale one, after having kept this Colour some­time, lost it insensibly.

This Experiment makes us question if it be true, that the Camelion takes all Colours except White, as Theophrastus and Plutrach report: For ours seemed to have such a disposition to receive this Colour, that it waxed pale every night; and when it was dead, it had more White than any other Co­lour. We did not find likewise that it changed Colour all over the Body, as Aristotle reports: For when it takes other Colours than its Gray, and disguis­es it self to go in Masquerade, as Aelian say's pleasantly, it covers only certain parts of its Body therewith.

Lastly, to conclude the Experiment of the Colours which the Camelion can take, it was lay'd on things of various Colours, and wrapped up there in; but it took not them, as it had done the White; and it took that only the first time it was made, although it was several times repeated on different [...].

In makeing these Experiments, we observed that there were a great ma­ny places of its Skin which grew Brown, but very little at any time. To be more certain thereof, we marked with little points of Ink those Graines which to us appeared most White when it waxed Pale; and we always found that when it grew Brownest, and its Skin spotted, those Grains which we had marked were alwayes less Brown than the rest.

Its Head resembled that of a Fish, being very closely joyned to the Breast, and by a very short Neck, which was covered on the sides, with two Car­tilagineous risings, which resembled the Gills of Fish. There was a Crest erect­ed just upon the Crown of the Head, and two other Crests over the Eyes, turned like an S longways. Between these three Crests there were two Ca­vitys along the upper part of the Head.

Its Nose made an obtuse Point; and there were two Edges which reach­ed from the [...]ye-brows to the end of the Nose, and which made it to resem­ble that of a Frogg. Aristotle says that it is like to the Choeropithecus, which is an unknown Animal, the Name whereof shews its derivation to be from an Ap [...] and Hog: But the Nose of our Camelion resembled neither that of the [Page 21] Ape, nor of the Hog: for the lower Jaw stands out farther than the upper, which is quite different from the snout of a Hog.

At the end of the Nose there was a hole on each side like a Nostril. Be­lonius seems to be of opinion that these holes do likewise serve for the Hear­ing; and that so rationally, that Alcmaeon sayd, by the report of Aristotle, that Goats do breath through the Ears, which is a thing Aelian says, ought to be be­lieved only by the Goat-heards, altho' Tulpius in his Observations assures us, that in Man himself there is found a passage which conveys the Air into the Mouth thro' the Ears. The truth is, that our Camelion had no other holes in the Head but these two Nostrils, through which it is probable it breaths, be­cause that its Mouth is commonly so closely shut, that it seems to have none, its two Jaws being joyned by an almost unperceivable Line, altho' Solinus Writes that its Mouth is always open: Which may make us to think that Soli­nus, and the genrality of those which have described the Camelion, never saw one alive; for they do make the Mouth open, which is not usual but [...] it is dead.

These Jaws are furnished with Teeth, or rather with a dentillated or in­dented Bone, which to us appeared not at all serviceable to it in eating; because that it swallowed the Flyes, and other Insects which it catched, without chewing them. Aelian says that it defends it self against the Serpent, by the help of a great Stick which it takes in its Mouth; and its probable that its Teeth may serve to hold it fast; but it is to be understood that it holds it cross-wise, to hinder the Serpent from swallowing him up, as it usually do's Frogs and Li­zards, whole: For there is no possibility of explaining this place of Aelian as Gesner and Aldrovandus do, who think that the Camelion makes use of this Stick as of a Buckler or Sword wherewith it defends it self against the Serpent, as a Fen­cer would do; for it is not nimble enough for that.

The Mouth was slit after a peculiar manner: For whereas other Animals have generally the opening of the Lips, much less than that of the Jaws; the Lips of our Camelion were slit beyond the Jaw the length of two lines, and this continuation of the slit descended obliquely downwards.

The Form, Structure, and Motion of its Eyes had something very pecu­liar. They were very large, containing above five lines in Diameter. They appeared Sphaerical, jutting out full half of their Ball, which was covered with one single Eye-lid made like a Cap pierced with a hole through the mid­dle, this hole not exceeding one line in breadth. Through this little hole the Pupilla which was brisk and clear, and surrounded as it were with a little golden Circle, was easily enough perceived, although Aristotle say's that this Circle cannot be discerned till after that the Eye-lid be taken away by Dissection. This Eye-lid was rough like the rest of the Skin; and when the body variegated it self into several Colours, making spots which were at different times of different Figures, those of the Eye always remained of the same sort; for the barrs or streaks tinged with that Colour which came o­ver the rest of the Body, parted from the hole of the Eye-lidd as from a Cen­ter, and were extended towards the Circumference like rays.

The forepart of the Eye was fastened to the Lid, which neither raised nor shut down it self as in other Creatures, who can give their Eye-lid a different motion from that of the Eye, for that of our Camelion could not remove it self, but the Eye-lidd followed its Motion. Which Pliny seems to express, [Page 22] but very improperly, when he says that the sight or Pupilla of the Camelio stirs not, but that it is the whole Eye which moves; for there is no Creature that stirrs the Prunella when all the rest of the Eye stands still. But what is more extraordinary in this motion, is to see one of the Eyes move whilst the o­ther remains immoveable, and the one to turn forward, at the same time that the other looks behind; the one to look up to the Skie, when the other is fixed on the Ground: And all these motions to be so extream, that they do carry the Pupilla under the Crest which makes the Eye-brow, and so far in­to the Canthi or Corners of the Eye, that the Sight can discer [...] whatever is done justly behind and directly before, without turning the Head which is fastened to the Shoulders. Aristotle, who has described the Camelion more exactly than any other Animal, has omitted this particular circumstance of this extraordinary motion of the Eyes, which in truth is not found in the Mexican Camelion: But it is probable that is not that which Aristotle has de­scribed. He has not also observed that this little hole of the Eye-lidd closes by enlarging it self cross-wise, even to the making one single slitt, which very ex­actly unites the upper part with the lower; for he says that the sides of that hole do never joyn together to close the Eye. Pliny and Solinus do likewise averr the same thing, and almost all Naturalists, who have only seen Camelions in the Books of these Authors.

That part of the Body which is called the Trunck, and which compre­hends the Thorax and Belly, was in our Camelion a Thorax alone, with scarce any Belly; which Aristotle hath better observed than Pliny, who say's that the Camelion's Breast is joyned to its Belly; for that is not peculiar to it, being so in all Animals, which have nothing between the Breast and Belly. But when Aristotle say's, that the Camelion's Breast as in Fish, is joyned to the Hypogas­trium, which is the lower Belly, he clearly shews that the Ribbs do descend as low as the Ilia, whereas other Animals have only the transverse Apophyses of the Loyns, the rest being Bone-less, and therefore by Hippocrates called Void.

Its four Feet were alike. They differed only in this that the fore­most were bent backwards, and the hindmost forwards, and it may be said that these are four Arms which have their four Elbows bending inwards, e­very one consisting as it were of a Humerus, articulated with two Bones like to a Radius and Cubitus. Solinus is mistaken, when he says that the Cameli­on's Feet are Joyned to the Belly; for in ours those behind were articulated with the Os Ischium, and those before were fastened to the Omoplatae.

The four Paws were every one composed of five Claws, and better resem­bled Hands than Feet. They, as well those before as behind, were divided in two; which made as it were two Hands to each Arm, and two Feet to each Leg: For though one of these parts had but two Claws, and the other three, yet they were as large as one another, the Claws, which were two and two being larger than those which were three and three. These Claws were closed together under one skin as in a Mittin, and were divided only in the last Joynt, to which the Nails are fastened. The disposition of these Paws was different, in that those that were before had two Claws outwards and three inwards, contrary to those behind, which had three outwards and two inwards.

With these Paws it caught hold on the little branches of Trees like a Par­rot, [Page 23] which to pearch it self, divides its Claws different from other Birds, who do always put three before and one behind, whereas the Parrot puts two be­hind as well as before.

The Claws which were a little crooked, and very sharp, and of a pale Yel­low, proceeded but half way out of the Skin; the other half was covered and hidden underneath: They were in all two Lines and a half long.

Its Tail well enough resembled that of a Viper, as Pliny observes, or that of a great Rat; which Marmol, who has Writ the History of Africa in Spa­nish, seems to intimate; when he compares this Tail with that of a Mole, be­cause that the small resemblance that there is between the Tail of a Camelion, and that of a Mole, must make us to think that Marmol, according to the Custome of the generality, of those who publish the Relations of what they have seen in Forreign Countries, has without distinction intermixt what he hath Read, with what he hath Seen; and that he has taken what he speaks of the Camelion's Tail, out of some Italian Author, because that Topo which in Spanish signifies a Mole, does in the Italian signify a Rat.

But the Tail of our Camelion was neither like to a Vipers or Rats, save when its swelling made it round; for otherwise it had all along the three E­minencies which are seen upon the Back, as aforesaid, which are the rows of the Spinous, and oblique Apophyses of the Vertebrae: Besides these it had like­wise two other rows made by the Transverse Apophyses. It always wound this Tail about the Branches, and it served him instead of a fifth Hand. When it walked it very rarely suffered it to trail on the ground, but kept it parallel to the places where it went.

Its Pace was slower than that of a Tortoise, and seemed very Ridiculous, in that its Leggs being not short, and incumbred like those of the Tortoise, but very looss and free, it carryed them with a kind of Gravity which seemed affected, because needless. Wherefore Tertullian saith, that one would think that the Camelion rather made as if it would walk than that it really did.

Some do think that this Gate is a Mark of the Timerousness, which is said to be very extream in this Animal. But because it is certain that Fear, when it is not great enough wholly to take away Motion, adds great Strength to that of the Leggs; into which it is beleived that it makes all the Heat and Vigour, which has left the Heart to descend. It is much more probable that this slowness is the effect of a great Praecaution, which makes it to Act circumspectly. For it seems that the Camelion chuses out places where it can best sett its feet; and when it climbs up Trees it trusts not to its Claws, tho' they are much sharper than those of Squirrels which do every where climb up so lightly: But if it cannot grasp the Branches by reason of their bigness, it seeks out the clefts or cracks which are in the Bark, to fasten its Claws therein.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF A DROMEDARY.

THis Animal here described we call a Dromedary, altho' the common practise be to give the name of Camel simply to that which like it has but one Bunch on the Back, and of Dromedary to that which hath two according to Soli­nus, but contrary to what Aristotle and Pliny, and the generality of Authors have Writt thereof, who do make two sorts of Camels: whereof one, which retains the Name of the Genus, has two Bunches, and is most commonly found in the Eastern parts of Asia, and is therefore called Bactrianus; it is also bigger and more proper to carry heavy Burdens: The other, which is Lesser, and fitter for the Course, and which for this reason is called Dromedary, has but one Bunch, and is most commonly seen in the Western Parts of Asia, viz. in Syria and Arabia. The Sieur Dipi an Arabian, who was present at our Dissection, informed us that the Camels of his country are like to Ours.

It was seven Foot and a half high from the Crown of the Head to the Feet; five and a half from the highest bending of the Back-bone, which is the Bunch; Six Foot and a half from the Stomach to the Tail, of which all the Knots or Vertebrae were fourteen Inches together; and all the Tail com­prehending the hair, two Foot and a half. The Head was One and Twenty Inches from the hinder-part to the Nose.

The Hair was of a Fawn-Colour inclining a little to an Ash-Colour. It was very soft to the touch, moderately Short, and somewhat shorter than an Oxe's, excepting some places, where it was longer, as on the Head, under the throat and on the fore-part of the Neck. But the longest was on the middle of the Back, where it was near a foot. In this place, although it was very soft and limber, it stood erect, so that it made the greatest part of the Bunch of the Back, which when this hair was pressed down with the hand, hardly appeared more Elevated than a Doggs or Swines, which are Animals that have not the Back Sunk, as Horses, Cows and Staggs generaly have. And indeed there are some Authors which do say, that the Dromedary is engen­dred of the Camel and Hogg. This is very repugnant to Aristotle, who asserts, [Page 38] that there is no Animal which hath the Back bunched like the Camel. Some Authors do say, that this Bunch is a Flesh peculiar to this Animal, which rises upon the Back over the Vertebrae, and which wasts away, when after a long abstinence from Food, it grows extraordinary lean. But we found not any appearance of this Flesh in our Subject, although it was not lean; and without this Flesh, the Bunch which was made only by the Hair, was much raised, as is seen in the Figure.

Besides these two sorts of Hair, viz. The long which was upon the Back, Head, and Neck, and the short which covered the rest of the Body; there was likewise a third sort at the Tail, which differed from the others, as well in bigness as Colour, being Gray and very strong, and altogether like the Hair of a Horse's Tail.

The Head was little in Proportion to the Body; the Nose was cleft like a Hare's, and the Teeth like to those of other Animals which do chew the Cud, having no Dentes Canini nor Incisores in the upper Jaw; although the Head wants the Horns which Nature has given and bestowed on the great­est of those which do chew the Cud. Cardan says that it has recompensed this defect of the Camel, by arming its Feet, which have Hoofs like those of Oxen, according to Pliny: But that is not found, for it has neither Horn nor Hoof on the Feet which can render them dangerous, each Foot being fur­nisht only with two little Nails at the end; and the Sole which is flat and broad, being very fleshy, and covered only with a soft, thick, and somewhat callous Skin, but very fitt and proper to travel in sandy Places, such as are in Asia and Africa. We thought that this Skin was like a living Sole, which wore not with the swiftness nor continuance of the March, for which this Animal is almost indefatigable: For when Aristotle says, that they are some­times forc't to defend, as it were, with Boots the Feet of those which are in the Armies; it seems to be not so much to ease them from the inconveniencies which they do undergo in travelling, as to prevent and keep off the Wounds which they might receive in the Warr. And it may be said that this soft­ness of Foot, which yeilds and fits it self to the ruggedness and unevenness of the Roads, do's render the Feet less capable of being worne, than if they were more solid; although Pliny thinks that it is not possible, that Camels can make long Journies if they are not shod: Its callous Knees are much harder, and do nearer approach the Solidity of the horny Hoof of other Animals.

Aristotle hath remarkt other Particulars in the Foot of the Camel, which we have not found there. He says that it is cleft in two behind, and in four before, and that the interstices are joyned by a Skin like the Feet of a Goose, which was not found in ours, whose Foot was only cleft at top, within four or five Fingers of the end; and this slitt was not joyned by a Skin, but un­derneath this slitt which is shallow and not very deep, the Foot was solid.

The Callosities of the Knees were six in Number, viz. one at each of the Joynts of the fore-leggs, the first and highest being behind, at the Part which is properly the Cubitus; and the second and lower of the two before, upon the Joynt of the Knee which represents the Wrist: Each hind-legg had likewise one on the first and highest Joynt, which is that before, and which is the true Knee.

[Page 39] Aristotle, who has observed but four of these Callosities, which he calls Knees, and who groundlessly reproves an ancient Author, which is Herodotus, for having made six, adds also a thing more strange, which is to say, that the Camel never bends its Leggs but in these four places: For the Truth is, that it bends them in Eight, like other Quadrupeds, and that there are only the two bendings which do supply the place of the Heel in the hind-leggs, which have no Callosities.

Having opened these Callosities, to observe their Substance (which is be­tween Flesh, Fat, and Ligament) we found that in some there was a heap of thick Pus; which made us to think as some Authors do report, that Camels are subject to the Gout; and we conceived that it might be, that our Dromedary had been tainted with this distemper, which was ended by a Suppuration.

Besides these six Callosities, there was a seventh much bigger than the rest, at the bottom of the Breast, firmly joyned to the Sternum, which had an Eminence in this Place. It was eight Inches long, six broad, and two thick. It was likewise very much suppurated, and it was judged that this Part was as susceptible of the Gout as the Articles or Joynts, because that its use being to support the whole Body alone whilst it was loading, couched upon the Ground, that hardship might make this Part capable of the weakness and heat which do attract the humors on the Joynts, and which do hinder that they cannot digest and disperse them. The great Sobriety which is remark­able in the Camel, and the incredible Fatigue which it generally suffers, do de­monstrate that the greatest hardships may produce the Gout, as well as Idle­ness and Debauchery.

Before we opened it to observe the inward Parts, we took notice that the Praeputium, which is very large and loose, covered not only the end of the Penis, but that it turned backwards; which may have given occasion to the Opinion of those, who have thought that the Camel pissed backward, like the Lyon, Castor, Hare, &c. whose Penis bends not forward.

The internal Parts are very like to those of the Horse. The Liver had three Lobes, two very large ones, in the middle and underneath which there was one which was lesser and pointed. The Ligament which held the Liver suspended was not fastened to the Cartilago Xiphoides, but to the center of the Diaphragme on which the Membrane of the Peritonaeum which covered it, had a lustre, which made it appear as it were all over gilded. The Gall was not contained in a Cystis, but spread over the Liver, in its Ductus Cholidochus.

The Ventricle which was very large, and divided in four, as in the other Animals which chew the Cud, had not that different Structure, which is ob­served within the four Ventricles called by Aristotle, [...]. They were only distinguished by some strait­enings, which made that the first Ventricle, which is large and vast, produced another very small one, which was followed with a third, some­what less than the first, but much longer; and this was followed by a fourth like to the second.

At the top of the second Ventricle there were several square holes, which were the Orifices of about twenty Cavities, made like Sacks placed between [Page 40] the two Membranes which do compose the Substance of this Ventricle. The view of these Sacks made us to think that they might well be the Reservatory's where Pliny says that Camels do a long time keep the Water, which they do drink in great Abundance when they do meet with it to supply the wants which they may have thereof in the dry Desarts where they are used to tra­vel, and where it is said that those which do guide them are sometimes forc't by extremity of Thirst, to open their Belly, in which they do find Water. There is likewise some reason to say, that the instinct which Aristotle and Pliny have observed to have been by Nature bestowed on this Animal, of always troubling and muddying with its Feet the Water which it would drink, might rather be to render it heavy, and consequently less fitt to pass speedily, and more capable of being a long time retained in its Stomach.

The Intestines were of four sorts. The first at the enterance of the fourth Ventricle were of a middle-size; they were six Foot long. The second were, as it were ruffled and contracted by several folds, as the Colon usually is by means of a Ligament which tacks it together, and makes it as it were divide into several cells. These were also of a middle-size, and were twenty Foot long: The last which were the smallest were Fifty six Foot long; the whole making eleven Toises; and there would have been found above thirteen, if those had been unfolded which were ruffled and contracted.

The Spleen was layd upon the left Kidney. It was Nine Inches long, four broad, and half an Inch thick.

The Penis, of which it is said, that Bow-strings are made, was Nineteen Inches long. It was very pointed at the end, which was bent, and made as it were a Hook of a cartilaginous Substance, without any appearance of the Balanus. The Extremity of the Ureter was a very small Mem­brane.

The Lungs had but one Lobe on each side. The Heat was of an extraor­dinary bigness, being Nine Inches in length, and seven in breadth: It was very pointed.

The Structure of the Tongue was remarkable, in that contrary to all Tongues which are all over asperated inward, by the means of abundance of little Eminencies which do tend inwards; one part of this Tongue had them from the in-side to the out-side; for the half towards the end which was very small, was rough as usually from the in-side to the out-side; but the other half near the Root which was very thick, had towards the middle a little Circle, like a Center amongst several Eminences, which covered all this se­cond half of the Tongue, and whose Points were all turned from this Cen­ter, making a roughness when we rubed them towards this Center. A­mongst these Eminencies there were others placed in two Rows, in a direct Line, five in each Row, which were Navils, formed by wrinkles folded round after a very delicate and curious Structure. The Figure explains this more clearly than the Discourse.

The whole Brain comprehending the Cerebellum, was but six Inches and a half long, and four broad. The Optick Nerve was pierced, according to its length, with a number of holes full of Blood. The Processus Mamillares were [Page 41] very large and hollow, having each two Ductus's or passages, the one of which appeared round, and the other like a Crescent, by a transverse Secti­on. The Glandula Pinealis was about the bigness of a small Filbert, and as it were composed of three other Glands, which left a dent in the middle.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF A BEAR.

THe bigness and thickness of the Hair, in which the whole Body of the Bear is hid after such a manner, that it seems to be but one lump, which hardly has any appearance of an Animal, has made it to be rightly called by Virgil Informe; but there is no one which do's not find it wholly Difforme, when the Skin being flead off, it's true shape and Figure may be seen, without any hindrance or obstruction. This deformity, just as that of the Ape, which is accounted the ugliest of all Creatures, is founded on the the ill resemblance which they both have, with the handsomest of all Ani­mals, by the general and ever true Rule, that the depravation of things the most perfect is the worst.

That which makes the Body of Man admirable, according to Galen's Opi­nion, is the structure of the Hands and Feet, which distinguishes his Body from that of other Animals, even as Reason makes the difference of Souls. This Structure is altogether extravagant in the Bear, in that having some­thing which in appearance, approaches that which makes the perfection of these Organs; it is found that in Truth, that which is most important in their conformation is depraved, or wholly defective in the Bear. Galen Re­marks two things, which are principally necessary for the conveniency of the use of these Parts, viz. In the Hand, that its five Fingers be generally di­vided into two Parts, having four of them joyned together, which are as it were of one sort, and a fifth Part which is so separated, to serve the princi­pal Action of the Hand which is to take hold; and in the Foot, that it is com­posed of the Heel of one side, and of the five Toes which oppose it on the o­ther, as the four Fingers of the Hand are opposite to the Thumb; to make the Step more sure and firm, by the different application of these two Parts, to the Figure of the things on which we tread.

Pliny, who has spoken of the resemblance which the Paws and Feet of the Bear have with those Parts of Man, has not well understood it, making it to consist in the Position of the Elbows and Knees, which he Reports to be in the Ape and Bear as in Man, and contrary to other Animals, who have [Page 44] the Knees behind and Elbows before: For the Truth is, that all Animals have these Parts turned after the same manner, whatever Aristotle may re­port thereof; and that what is there found different, proceeds from hence, that the Heels in Brutes are taken for the Knees, the Carpus or the Cubitus: Because that the Bone which makes the Heel of Man, is so lengthened in Brutes, that it is taken for the Legg, and that the Wrist, which in Man is composed of a connexion of eight small Bones, almost round, which is called Carpus, has in the generality of Brutes one of these Bones very long, and which is taken for the fore-legg, though it be properly one of the bones of the Carpus. So that the Leggs and Paws of the Bear are in this only as in Man, that they are fleshy, although Aristotle says that there is none but Man which has them so: That the Os calcis or Heel-bone is short, and makes a part of the Sole of the Foot: That there are five joyned together, and op­posed to the Heel, and that its Paw has likewise the Bones of the Carpus al­most even, and united like ours; but in its Paw it has no Thumb seperate from the four other Fingers, and the biggest of the five which do compose the Paw, and which has only that bigness which may make it to pass for a Thumb, is placed quite contrary to Mans, being on the outside, and in the place of the little Finger, even as on the Foot where the greatest Toe is also on the outside. As to the Foot it is not usually rested on the Heel, which by reason hereof is covered with Hair like the Legg, and has no Callosities, nor that kind of particular Skin which defends the Sole of the Foot, and which leaves its Print on the places where it has gone. On the contrary, its Paw has as it were a Heel, that Callosity which is in the palm of the Paw, being in­terrupted by the hairy Skin, to begin another Callosity a little higher. In a word, the Fingers of the Paw are likewise very ill shapen, and unfit for their uses, being great, short, and fastened to each other as in the Feet.

The Substance of these Parts is not less particular, nor less remarkable than their Structure. Pliny and Plutarch do report that it is an excellent Food; and Michael Herus says that in Germany they are even at present reserved for Princes Tables, at which the Paws of the Bear are served up salted and smoa­ked. We observed that this Substance good to eat, was a fatt Ligament, ve­ry white and delicate, about two Fingers thick, which was on the in-side of the Paws and Feet; and it is questionable, whether it be not probable that there may proceed some moisture from this Part, which has occasioned Aelian and Pliny to say, that the Bear Lives Forty Days by licking only its right Foot.

The Claws of the two Bears which we dissected, were fastened to the last Phalanx of the Toes after the same manner as in the Lyon, having by the particular Structure of this Article or Joynt, which we have described in the Lyon, the Faculty of holding its Claws elevated in its March to preserve the Points thereof; but it appeared that our Bears had neglected to use this Fa­culty, because that their Claws were half worne away. They were Black, and much lesser than in the Lyon, as might be judged by what remained. The manner how these Claws were worne, demonstrated that their Sub­stance was very different from that of the Lyon; for in the Lyons which we dissected, the Claws were also somewhat worne on one Paw, but as fibrous Wood would wear; whereas those of the Bear were like Iron: That is to say, that the Claws of the Lyon are composed of separable fibres, by reason that they [Page 45] are of an Heterogeneous Substance, and that the Claws of the Bear are of a more even and more compact Substance.

The Teeth were like to those of the Lyon, save that they were much less. Therefore it is said that it uses only its Paws to break the Netts and rend the Snares of the Hunters, because that the bigness and thickness of its Lipps hinders it from useing its Teeth. These Lipps have also a very extraordinary shape, the lower ones being wrinkled, and cut from the two corners like a Cock's- Combe.

The length of the whole Body, from the end of the Muzzle to the end of the Toes, was eight foot three inches; Five Foot and a half to the begining of the Taile, which was Five inches; and one foot five Inches to the hinder part of the Head, which was flat and made an angle with the bones of the fore-part Direct from the Sutura Lamdoides, at the middle of which abutted a Crest elevated like that of an Helmet, but much less than on the Lyon; and from whence the Crotaphitae, which did Likewise Cover the head, did also take their original, being a great deal less fleshy.

The Thorax was larger than in the Lyon, and also very long, being composed of fourteen Ribbs. The Neck was not Short in proportion to its breadth like a Hoggs, as Authors do report: for it had seven inches in breadth, and Nine in length: the great thickness of the hair which surrounds and inlarges this Neck, is that which makes it to appear short.

The Os Femoris or Thigh-Bone was proportionably longer than it gen­erally is in Brutes, and it was articulated with that of the Legg by means of a Rotula, which some Authors do say is found only in Man.

The Skin which was very hard and very thick on the Back, was found very thin and Delicate under the belly. The Hair was not so harsh and stuborn as in the Lyon and Wild-Boar, in some sort resembling Wool, more Frizled than the Goats, and much less than the Sheeps.

As for the internal parts of the Body, the Epiploon was very large but very lean, like all the rest of the body, which neither on the inside nor the out­side had one scrap of fat: which might be an effect of the distemper where­of it died, the natural constitution of the Animal being to be very fat, and the Winter being the Season in which it grows fattest.

The Liver was vastly great, and divided into seven Lobes, one of which was much less than the rest. The Cystis fellea was not half so big as in the Lyon: yet there was much gall diffused on the membranes of the circumjacent parts.

The Oesophagus which exceeded not fourteen lines in diameter, and inlarged not it self towards the superiour orifice of the Ventricle, was outwardly very fleshy to the Ventricle, which was extreamly small, although Aristotle affirms that the Bear has it very large as well as the hogg. Which he says (perhaps) with all other Authors, because that they have thought that the Bear being a great feeder, must needs have a large Ventricle. In our Subiects it was not a foot in length, and its greatest breadth, which was towards the Top, exceeded not Six Inches, and two and a half towards the middle, where it was contracted to inlarge it self again in a second Ventricle about three inches and a half, which was raised towards the Pylorus. The bottom of each Ventricle was hard and three lines thick, and five towards the Pylorus, which was also harder: Their internal Membrane was even, as it usually is, except that little [Page 46] roughness which we call the Velvet: But it somewhat resembled that of the Ventricle of Animals which Chew the Cud, by reason of several Eminencies which it had, like to those which do make the Reticulum and Echinos; but that these Eminencies had not in their shape the regularity which is observ­ed in those Animals,

As to the Intestines, it may be said that there was but one, because there appeared not the distinction which is observed in the generality of Animals, by the difference of their Colour, Substance, and Bigness. There was not likewise any sign of the Caecum no [...] its Appendix, no more than of the Wrin­kles, or Cells at the Colon. They were in all Forty Foot long: Where as those of the Lyon exceeded not Twenty five. This Uniformity of the In­testines may have been the cause of Theodorus Gazas putting, in the Trans­lation of Aristotles' Book, where he Discourses of the Intestines of the Bear, the Singular Intestinum for the Plural [...]; and it is probable that this particularity was unknown to Scaliger, when he reproved Theodorus for taking this Liberty.

The Spleen was small and thin, being not above six Inches long to two broad, and less than one thick.

The Structure of the Kidneys appeared to us very excellent and particular. Their figure was very long. They were five Inches and a half in length, and two and a half in breadth. The Membrana Adiposa, which was without Fat, being taken away, there appeared another very hard and very thick Membrane, which was not the peculiar one, fastned to the Parenchyma, but a Membrane which like a Sack contained fifty six small Kidneys, for they may be called so many Parenchyma actually separated from one another, covered with their proper Membranes, and joyned together in some places by Fibres and very thin Membranes, which were produced from that which inveloped them like a Sack. This connexion was principally of the little Kidneys which are in the Hollow part of this whole heap of Kidneys; For towards the Gibbous part, they were not linked together.

The figure of each little Kidney represented a large Basis on the out side, and were pressed together towards the inside of the whole Kidney, where they were fastened like a Bunch of Grapes. This Basis was in some Hexagonal, in the most Pentagonal, and in others Four-square. They were also diffe­rent in Size; but in the greatest part it was about the bigness of a middle­ing Chestnut, in some of a small Nutt. This Heap did represent a Pine-Apple, when Ripe.

Each of these little Kidneys was fastned, as it were by a Tail composed of three sorts of Vessels, which are the Branches of the two Emulgents and the Ureter, which entered thro' the Point of the little Kidney, which made a dent to receive them, as an Apple receives its Stalk, after the usual manner of the great Kidneys. These Branches were disposed so as that of the Artery was between that of the Vein and that of the Ureter, as Riolanus has observed, who beleives that these Vessells are thus seated, to the end that the Artery strikeing upon the Ureter, may Incessantly cause the Urine to run by its con­tinual beating.

The Truncks of the Emulgent Vein and Artery, which were not bigger than a Quill, were each divided into two Branches, and afterwards into several others, to Furnish and add one to every little Kidney, though there were sometimes [Page 47] two which seemed to be fastened as it were to one single Tail: But that appear­ed so, by reason that the two Branches which fastened them together did enter into the little Kidney presently after the Division. These Branches pe­netrated a little farther, and lost themselves in the Parenchyma, so that the notable Cavity which the Vessel had when out of the little Kidney quite dis­appeared; whether that happened by the almost infinite, and consequently imperceptible division, which is made in the little Branches, which disperse themselves through the Parenchyma, as Laurentius Bellius thinks it happens to the Emulgents of the Kidneys of Man; or that indeed these Vessels do not pass farther, according to the Opinion of Higmorus, and that the spongious Sub­stance of the Parenchyma presently sucks up and filtrates the Blood of the Ar­tery, to render it to the Vein pure, and separated from its serosity, which runs through the Papillae into the Pelves of the Ureter, like as Whey, when the Cheese curdles, leaves the buttery Part, and passeth through the Cheesy part; and even as the Lye which is poured upon the top of the Copper comes through the hole below, after haveing penetrated the linnen, without any Pipes which do carry and convey it thither.

The Formation of the Ureters was different from that of the Emulgent Vessels: For a little after its enterance into the Membrane, which like a sack shut up all the little Kidneys, it was inlarged, and its bigness which was about the size of a Quill, increased equall to that of a finger. It was after­wards divided into two branches of this same bigness, which produced others lesser, which supplyed a lesser to every little Kidney. This last Branch did ne­vertheless surpass in bigness the Branches of the Emulgent Vein and Arterie, which entered with it into the little Kidney, and it passed forwarder, and near­er to the middle, at which place it was divided into two, and sometimes into three branches. Every of these Branches inlarged it self a little, and at its extremity formed a Pelvis, which was filled with a Caruncle like a Nipple; and at the side of this Caruncle the Pelvis appeared pierced with three or four holes, which were only Sinuosities formed by the Membrane of the Pelvis, which was wrinckled on the in-side, making as it were other lesser Pelves, capable of receiving only the head of a Pin. These Papillae or Nipples, which were no bigger than a Grain of Wheat, exceeded in their Number those of the Papillae of an Ox's Kidney, which are as large as the end of ones Finger, but which are not in Number above Nine or Ten, whereas there was above a Hundred in every one of the Kidneys of our Bear: And it seems that Bar­tholinus had not examined this, when he writt that the Kidney of the Bear was like to that of the Ox, of New-born Infants, and of a Porpoise, which he dissected before the King of Denmark; for these Kidneys of which Bartholinus speaks, and to which he compares those of the Bear, have only slits in their Superficies, which makes them to appear at the first sight like unto those of the Bear, although in truth they have but one simple and continued Parenchy­ma, these slits penetrating not very deep; whereas the Fifty six small Kid­neys of the Bear were actually divided, and had every one all the parts of which the great Kidneys are composed.

It must be also, that those who like Pliny have reported, that the Penis of the Bear, so soon as it is Dead, grows hard like a Horn, have not seriously examined the Matter, and that they have not had either the Courage to in­form themselves, which is the Penis of the Bear when alive, or the curiosity [Page 48] of dissecting one when dead; for they would have found that this hardness is natural to this part in the Bear, as in the Dog, Wolfe, Squirrel, Weasel, and several other Animals, which have a Bone at the end of the Penis, as Aristotle observes. That of our Bears was five Inches and a half long, four Lines broad towards the Os Pubis, from which it was five Inches distant, and a little bended.

The Lungs had five Lobes, three on the right side, and two on the left. The two upper on the right side were very large; the third which was middling, was divided at its extremity into three Points. In one of our Bears, the two Lobes of the left side were exceedingly swelled; the superior which appeared whiteish, was puft up with a great deal of Wind: In the inferiour there was found a strange Body twice as big as ones fist, like to a Spunge steeped in Ink. In the other Bear, which was very young, the Structure of the Mediastinum was very particular, being pierced in several places with a great many holes of a Line and a half in breadth, and being in­terspersed with a great number of Vessels, which were above a Line in thickness, so that it wanted only the Fat to resemble an Epiploon.

The Heart which was six Inches long and four broad, was very solid at its Point, the Flesh whereof was an Inch thick; this Point was blunt and not sharp, as in the Lyon.

The Aspera Arteria had all its rings imperfect, and not intire as in the first of the Lyons which we dissected: But these Rings in our Bears, were much larger than in the Lyon, being above five Inches in the Circum­ference.

The Tongue was broad and thin, as in the Cat and Dog, and furnished at top with its little fleshy Points without any roughness.

The Cranium or Skull was not so brittle as Authors do report; it was found very hard under the Saw. It is very true that it was not above half the thickness of the Lyons; which we found to be six Lines at the thinnest place. The Bone which advanced on the in-side, and which separates the Cerebrum from the Cerebellum was also thinner, and of a more irregular shape than in the Lyon.

The Brain was in recompence four times as big, being four Inches in length, and as many in depth, to three in breadth; whereas the Lyon had but two every way. The Glandula Pinealis was very little, and almost imperceptible as in the Lyon.

The Eye was covered over with an internal Eyelid, which began at the great Canthus or corner tending somwhat down wards. It was strangely little: Its Ball was not above Five Lines Diameter, and was lesser than that of a Catt. The Chrystallinus was almost spherical; and that of the left Eye of the greatest and oldest of our Bears was spoiled by a Glaucoma which had made it white, and altogether opake, its situation was likewise very extraordinary, not being directly placed over the Aperture of the Uvea but drawn a side out of the Axis of the Eye, so that even before the dessection this was found out by a whiteness which appeared at the bottom of the aperture of the Pupilla in the inside, as if there had been a Cataract couched: and this was caused by the contraction of the Fibres of the Ligamentum Ciliare of one side, and by the extension or relaxation of those of the other; which seem'd to be made to leave a free passage for the usual Species through both the other humours; [Page 49] this distortion of the Crystallinus being probably caused after the same man­ner as it is seen to happen to the eyes of Children, which haveing been a long time couched in one place where they can only discern the light obliquely, do grow a squint by a disposition which the muscles of the eye do contract by use, and which changes that which is naturall to them, by the extension of the fibres of some, and by the contraction of others. This would make us to think that these Fibres of the Ligamentum Ciliare are capable of a contraction and voluntary dilatation, like to that of the Fibres of the muscles; and that this action may augment or diminish the convexitie of the Crystallinus, accord­ing as the need which the different distance of the objects may make it to have on the Eye to see more clearly and distinctly.

The extream leanness of our two Bears, deprived us of the means of making an experiment on their Fat, and of informing our selves of the truth of what Aristotle, Theophrastus, and Pliny do report thereof; that being kept all winter, it manifestly increases in bulk and weight; which being verified would con­firm the current opinion, that the Bear is of all Animals that in which the Facultie of growing is most powerfull; seeing that being at the begining of Life almost the least of all (for according to the report of Aristotle, and Pliny, it is hardly bigger then a Ratt,) yet it grows one of the greatest: and that though it hath been a long time suckled and feed with milk from a damme which eats nothing, (if it be true as Aristotle says, tha [...] the Bear brings forth its Cubbs when it is ready to shut up it self in its Den, where it remains for ty days without eating, and that afterwards the Bear dos annually continue a long space without takeing Nourishment,) it ceaseth not to grow so pow­erfully that according to Albertus, its growth like the Crocodile's lasts the whole course of its life, and continues even after its death, if what the ancients have writt concerning its Fat be true.

The Consideration of these particulars joyned with our Observations, made us to think that the Temperament of the Bear, which according to Aristotle is extreamly Humid, must be understood of an Humidity peculiar to Life, which is that which dos not easily dry, and which is the effect, not of the Crudity, such as is the superfluous Humidity of the Excrements, but of the perfection of the Concoction caused by the goodness of the Constitu­tion of the parts, which are capable of easily Converting all kind of Nourish­ment into good Juice, and of assimilateing and changeing it into their proper Substance, or of dissipating the greatest part thereof by the Imployment which they do advantagiously make of it for the exercise of their Funct­tions.

The Remark's, which our Observations on the Bear have afforded us of this perfection of Temper, are first, that an Animal which Eat's indifferent­ly of all sorts of Meat like the Bear, and which with the same Facility Di­gests raw Meats, Fish, Crabs, Insects, Fruits of Trees, Pulse and Hony, and that in a very small Stomach, and strait Intestines, and amongst which there is found no Caecum, must have a Wonderful Power for the Concoction; seeing that it is capable of supplying by the goodness of the Temper, that which is wanting in the Commodiousness of the Structure, which is found in the Organs which other Animals have to render these functions more perfect, and which to Digest a great deal of Nourishment, do keep it a long time in great Receptacles, and Convey it through a vast many wrinkles and [Page 50] anfractuosities, as we have Observed in the Camel, whose Intestines were al­most as long again as those of the Bear, comprehending above eleven Toises.

Secondly, the small capacity which is found in its Liver and Spleen to receive the Excrements, denotes also that the action of the Natural Heat is so well regulated, that it is not Subject to the Defects or Excesses, through which the Food being either Burnt, or but half Drest, the Bloud which is thereby ingendered hath need of being Purged and Cleared of abundance of parts which are incapable of Nourishing the Body. For as to the great Number of Kidneys, when even Nature had made it to Evacuate a greater quantity of Serosity, the abundance of this Excrement ought not to be Esteem'd a Sign of the weakness of the Heat, and imperfection of the Concoction; but rather an Effect of the little insensible Transpiration which is made in the Bear, by reason of the thickness of the Habitt of its Body, which is not fa­vourable. To which we may likewise add, that this want of Transpiration cannot be a Sign of the want of Heat, and of an Earthy weight; seing that how Masse, and Gross soever the Bear appears, there is scarce any Animal whose agility and vigour is more capable of shewing the abundance and Subtilty of Spirit which the power of Natural Heat is used to produce.

Thirdly, this so Powerful faculty which it has of growing, is the mark of a very perfect Humidity, seing that it renders the parts capable of extend­ing themselves, and s [...] of Augmenting their Grandure, without the least di­minishing of their forces. The Conjectures which we have drawn from our Observations, to make credible this extraordinary smallness reported by Authors of the Bear at its Birth and first Conformation, are grounded upon the littleness of its Eyes, by reason that the Eyes when the Formation is ap­parent, are commonly so bigg in Proportion to the rest of the Body, that each Eye surpasses in bigness all the rest of the Head, like as the Head do's vast­ly Exceed the bigness of the rest of the Body: so that supposing as it is rational, that the Eyes of the Bear were in the first [...] Proportionably as large to the rest of the Body as they have used to be, it is easie to Judge by the littleness which they have when the Bear is arrived at its growth, what was the smallness of its whole Body in the first Formation; or else it would be to suppose a thing incredible, viz. that its Eyes have not grown and increased proportionably to the rest of the Body, as in other Animals.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF FIVE GAZELLA'S OR ANTILOPE'S.

THe five Gazella's or Antilope's of which we do give the Description, were brought to us at divers times. There was one Male, three Females, and a Fawn, which was likewise a Female. The first which we dissected, which was the largest and oldest, was brought us with its Fawn, from the Park of Versailles, where it was told us, that they had been both killed by a­nother Male Gazella. We found that the left Shoulder of the Damme was all bruised, and that the Fawn had three Leggs broken. This made us to re­flect upon what Belonius says, that the Gazella is the Oryx of the Antients, which Oppian represents as an Animal strangely fierce and cruel: But we found not the other Marks, which according to Authors are peculiar to the Oryx; as to have one single Horn in the middle of the Fore-head, as Aristotle says; to have all the Hair turned towards the Head, according to Pliny; to have a Beard on the Chin, as Albertus; and to be strong enough to Fight Lyons and Tigers, as Oppian relates.

Our Gazella's had a very mild carriage, and it is said that these Animals grow not angry, unless when touched on their Horns. The Arabian Au­thors do call the Gazella Algazel, that is to say, a Goat; and it is most probable the Dorcas, or Lybick Goat, which is no other but the Strepsiceros or Wild-goat of Aegypt; although Scaliger pretends, that the Strepsiceros is a Species of Sheep. Aelian Reports, that the Lybick Dorcas is light of Foot, that its Belly is White, and the rest of the Body of a Fawn-colour; that the White and Fawn-colour along the Flanks is separated with a Black List; that it hath Black Eyes, and huge great Ears. The Strepsiceros, according to Pliny is an African Goat, which hath the Horns elevated on the Head, very pointed, [Page 54] incompast round with several wrinkles, and bended like the Branches of an Harp; or rather as Ioannes Cajus understands it, that they are bent sometimes outwards, and sometimes inwards, so that they do describe the Profile, and wreathing of a Guitterne: But it may be questioned whether the Lyrae of Pliny's Time were of this Form.

All these Marks being found in these five Animals which we dissected, it may be said, that the Strepsiceros, Dorcas, and Gazella are the same thing; for our Gazella is an Animal of Africk, which seems to be a good Runner, if it may be guessed by the length of the Leggs. It was about the bigness and form of a Wild-Goat, with Fawn-coloured Hair, except the Belly and Sto­mach, which were White, the Tail which was blackish, and a List som­what more Black, like as the rest of the Hair from the Eye to the Nose. The Hair better resembled that of a Wild-Goat, than that of a tame one, be­ing very short: Under this Hair the Skin was perfectly Black, and shining in that which was the oldest; in the others it was Grayish; and this Black­ness appeared very plainly in their Ears, which were large and not hairy on the in-side, where the Skin was Black and smooth like Ebeny, having only some streaks of Hair very White, more stubborn and longer than that of the Belly; These streaks or rows proceeded from the bottom of the Ear, and grew larger towards the Edges. The Eyes were large and black; the Horns were likewise Black, radiated cross-wise, fifteen Inches long, ten Lines broad at the Bottom, very pointed, pretty strait, but somewhat turned out­wards towards the middle, and which did afterwards bend inwards again, according to the shape of the Branches of an Harp, such as is seen in some Ancient Sculptures. Those of the Male were a little more bent backwards. In the Four Females they were round, but the Male had them somewhat compressed and flatted, which hindered them from being perfectly round; and it may be said that this roundness of the Horns has given to the Gazella amongst the Ancients the Name of Strepsiceros, which must rather signify Horns wreathed about, than bent as those of all other Goats usually are; this one sort of roundness being peculiar to the Horns of the Gazella, amongst the Goat-kind, (supposing it to be a Species of Goat) because that the other Horns of these Animals are of Angles and Planes, like those of all Sheep, ex­cept that of Candia, which hath round Horns, as Belonius observes, who says, that even in his time it was in the Country called Stripsoceri; which might well be the reason that made Scaliger to say, that the Strepsiceros is a kind of Sheep.

These Horns were hollow half way, and filled with a pointed Bone, which fastened them to the Head by the means of a Pericranium which covered it. This Pericranium was very hard, thick, and moistened with a great deal of Blood, like as the in-side of the Bone, which was spongious like the Diploe: The external Superficies of the Bone being very solid, and streaked with some Furrows according to its length, contrary to the Furrows of the Horns, which were transverse, as hath been declared. At the root of these Horns there was a Tuft of Hair longer than that of the rest of the Body.

The Nose was a little flattish like to the Goats, but yet more in the Male than in the Females, for its Nose was shorter, as it usually is in the gene­rality of Brutes, where the Males have the Head always rounder than the Females. [Page 55] The Palate was covered over with a very hard Skin, like long Scales. The Dentes Incisores, which were wanting in the upper Jaw, because that this Animal chews the Cud, were eight in the lower Jaw, very keen and of an unequal size; the two foremost being as large as the other six whose breadth went taper-wise, and being likewise a great deal larger at either end than towards their Root.

The Tail in the Females had long and Blackish Hair. It was flat at its Origine, and about two Inches large towards its first Knotts, and was con­tracted and reduced to one, at the place where there grew long Hair which hung down to the Hammes. The Tail of the Male had not this long Hair which in all the Females resembled that of a Mans Head; it was only a little longer than that of the rest of the Body and softer than that of the Tail of the Females.

The Fore-leggs upon the bending of the Knee were covered with Hair somewhat longer, and harder than on the rest of the Legg. It was layd and turned half on the right side, and half on the left, like the feather of a Horse; and in this place the Skin was a great deal thicker than elsewhere; which made it a kind of a little Cushion to kneel on, like the Callosities which are on the Knees of the Camel. The Gazella which Fabius Columna describes, better resembled the Camel than ours, for it had this place wholly deprived of Hair.

The Foot, which was a great way Cleft and fortified with two great Hoofs, besides the two little ones at the Heel, like the foot of the Wild-Goat, had this also resembling the feet of the Camel, that it rested half upon the Hoof, which only fortified the forepart, and half on the Skin, which in the hinder-part covered a round, and much thicker Flesh than is on the Feet of Staggs, Wild-Goats, and other Animals which have Cloven Feet. And this Flesh is probably more fitt to walk upon the Sands of Lybia, than on the Lands of other Countrys which are Stony, as we understood by the Feet of one of our Gazella's which was much swelled, for having been hurt in this tender part unprovided of a Hoof.

We Observed also that these Feet are Cleft after a particular manner, because that the two Hoofs, which might be moved a great way from one another, were joyned by a Skin which was very easily extended: Which made us to doubt whether the Gazella might not be the Animal which Aelian reports to be by the Greek Poets called Kemas, to which he gives a great many Marks which are seen in the Gazella, but amongst other things he says that its Feet, which are like to those of a Goat, are so Formed that they do help it to Swim. This Skin was shorter in the Feet of the Male, whose Hoofs opened not so much as in the Feet of the Females.

Our Gazella's had but two Teats, which had each but one Papilla. On the side and underneath the Teats there was in the Inguina or Groins two Cavities like Sacks not very deep, where the Skin was without Hair, as it is about the Papillae; but this Skin was not so sleek, being rough and like a Barley-Corn. These Cavities were filled with a Substance like Wax: Which may have occasioned the mistake of Ioannes Agricola Ammonius, who has taken the Civet-Cat for a Gazella, by reason of the Baggs which the Civet-Cat has to contain its Sweet Smelling Liquor; the Civet-Cat and Gazella being other­wise Animals altogether unlike, and these Cavities or Sacks which are seen [Page 56] in the Gazella, do much more resemble those which Hares have in the same place, than those of the Civet-Cat. The Male had these Cavities or Sacks as well as the Females.

All these Particular Circumstances which we observed in these Females, were only in three of our Gazella's; the fourth differed from the rest, in that it had no Cushion on the Knees, although the others much Younger had it; but it had not this place bare like that of Fabius Columna, which it other­wise resembled, by reason that it had this Black List along each Flanck, which Aelian has observed in the Lybian Dorcas: The Male had also this very List.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF A CHAT-PARD OR, CAT-A-MOUNTAIN.

'TIs thought that the Chat-pard or Cat-a-mountain is one of those Animals which are ingendred by the mixture of two different Species, and that it ought to be put in the number of the Novelties which Africk daily produceth; according to the Opinion of Aristotle, who giving the reason of the Fertility which Africk has for Monsters, says that the dryness of its Desarts compels the Savage Beasts to Assemble at places where there is Water: And he supposes that this meeting occasions these different Animals to couple, and ingender a new Species, when it happens that they are equal in size, and the time which they used to bear their young is not very different.

But according to these reasons of Aristotle, the Animal which we speak of seems not possible to be ingendred of a Leopard and a Cat, nor of a Cat and a Panther, which according to the most common Opinion is the Female Leo­pard, for neither the Stature of these Animals nor the times during which they go with Young are alike; the Leopard and Panther being Animals a great deal larger, and of a Species which carries its young much longer than Cats.

Our Chat-pard was but two foot and a half, from the end of its Nose to the beginning of the Tail. It exceeded not one foot and a half in heighth, from the top of the Back to the end of the Fore-claws: The Tail was but eight inches.

There was nothing in all its exteriour Figure which is not in a Cat, save that its Tail was not long enough in Proportion to the rest of the Body, whose Bulk did indeed surpass that of the largest Cats, but was also much inferiour [Page 62] to that of the Leopard and Panther. It had no long and slender Neck like those Animals? It was on the contrary in some sort shorter than the Cats; which we found to proceed in some measure from its extraordinary fatness.

But in this it seemed to us repugnant to the nature of the Leopard, which according to Gallen is the leanest of all Animals, unless it be supposed that our Chat-pard was ingendred of a Leopard and a Cat, and not of a Cat and a Panther; because it is observed that commonly when there is a mixture of Species, that which is thereby ingendred has more resemblance to the Damme than the Sire, especially in that which respects the Form and Habit of the Body.

The grosness of the body of the Hair, was proportionably of the length as it is in Cats, but it was somewhat shorter. The Colour which most pre­vailed all over the Body was of a Fox-red; only the belly and inside of the fore-legs was Isabella, the Throat and bottom of the lower Jaw was white. There were black spots all over, long ones upon the Back, and round ones on the Belly and Feet, at the extremity of which the spots were very small, and thickly seminated; on the Ears there were some very black streaks which crossed them; and in short, they wholly resembled those of a Cat. The Hairs of the Beard were shorter than those in Cats proportionably to the Bo­dy; and there was none on the Eye-brows and Cheeks, where Cats have them.

In opening the Belly there was found an extraordinary quantity of Fat, for all the intervals of the Muscles of the lower Venter were filled therewith; and under the Peritonaeum there was a piece which was bigger than ones Fist, which inclosed the Vena Umbilicalis. The two Skins or Coats of the Epiploon, which were likewise furnished therewith, did joyntly descend as usually, and reached into the Groin; and folding themselves under the Intestines, did em­brace and keep themselves suspended as in a Sack.

The Intestines were almost all of an equal bigness, and had two thirds of an Inch diameter. The Rectum and Colon exceeded the other in bigness only one third of an Inch. These two great Intestines together were twelve Inches long; the others from the Pylorus to the Caecum about seven foot. The Cae­cum was an Inch and a half in length, and two thirds of an Inch in its greatest thickness. It terminated in an obtuse point.

The Stomach, which was very great and large, had in the sinuosity, which is in most Brutes between the superiour and inferiour Orifices, a Membrane greatly loaden with Fat, which▪ joyned these two Orifices together, and which conducted the trunck of the Vena Gastrica to the bottom of the bend­ing, without touching the Membranes of the Stomach; the Vena Gastrica being in this Membrane after the same manner as the Vessels are in the Mesen­tery, and casting its branches into the Stomach as the Vessels of the Mesentery do cast them into the Intestines, or as the Vas breve produces them to insert them at the bottom of the Stomach, and in the Spleen.

The Pancreas was fastened, and run along the Duodenum and Ileum, and advanced not far underneath the Stomach.

The Spleen was four Inches long, and fifteen lines in its greatest breadth. It was of a dark-red colour, and its Figure very well represented that of an Oak leaf, being slit in several places.

[Page 63]The Liver was divided into six great Lobes, three whereof were indented in several places. Its Substance was soft, and seemed to be composed of seve­ral Glands, as we have already remark'd in the Liver of the Gazella. This was found by two different Colours which were seen in this Liver; the bot­tom being black and spotted with a clear and yellowish red. But these spots had not a regular Figure like those which have been observed in the Liver of the Gazella's.

The Gall-Bladder was in the greatest Lobe of those which were again divi­ded in two: its Colour inclined to Yellow. Its size was proportionable to that of the whole Animal, like as the Kidneys, whose proper Membrane was easily separated, altho' the Vessels which were numerously extended on the external Superficies of the Parenchyma▪ and which were very large and swelled, appeared through this Membrane, even as if it had been closely joyned to the Parenchyma: for these Vessels were so visible, that they seemed to appertain to this Membrane, altho indeed they were included in the sub­stance of the Kidney; which has been already remark'd in the young Lion.

As for the Parts of Generation they were very defective and imperfect; for except the Penis, Prostatae, and Caruncula which is in the Urethra, there appeared not the least sign or remain thereof. There was only a Vessel which might be taken for one of the Deferentia; but it was impossible to know certainly whether it was really one, because that there was no ap­pearance of Testicles, and it could not be discovered from whence it came. As to the other Spermatick Vessels, there could none be found, altho sought after with all possible care: for it was doubted whether they were not broken through carelesness, as it is probable Hofmannus did, when he Dissected a Woman in whom these two Spermatick Arteries were not found, although she had had several Children. To clear this doubt, the Vena Cava was pres­fed, and the Blood therein contained made to ascend from the Iliack branches to the Emulgent Veins. The same compression was likewise made on the left Emulgent, without getting out one drop of Blood, which was there very abundant, and free from coagulation. The great Artery was likewise tied a little below the Emulgent; and having blown into the Trunk there went not out any wind. 'Tis true, that having tied the Trunck above the divi­sion of the Iliack Arteries, the wind lost it self through the Superiour Mesen­terick, which was broken: but this branch being tied, the Air found no way out when blown, and when the whole Trunk was swelled up.

This defect of the Spermatick Vessels and other parts which are absolutely necessary for Generation, agreed very well with the abundance of Fat where­of this Animal was full, after the manner of all those which by an external cause have been rendred incapable of Engendring, and in which the remain­der of the nourishment could be imployed only to produce Fat.

This gave us some suspition that our Chat-pard might have been Castrated when young, according to the Custom which the Turks have followed, as much as they could, towards all the Males which they do keep in their Houses, where they do frequently nourish these Chat-pards, especially in Barbary, there being some appearance that the Spermatick Vessels might have been con­sumed and effaced by age, even as the Anastomoses of the Heart are in Ani­mals [Page 64] of a short time after their Birth, when these parts wanting Action and Use, do wax dry and utterly Abolish. But the truth is, that we found not any Cicatrice in the Skin of the Belly; and considering that the Umbilical Vessels do still remain, altho contracted, when they do no more execute the Functi­ons for which they were employed before the Birth; and that the Spermatick Vessels serving for other uses than Generation, have no reason to dry up for want of Imployment, when that, for which they were principally designed comes to cease, seeing that it is ordinarily seen that as they pass they shoot forth several branches for the nourishment of the adjoyning parts; we re­main in our former Opinion, that this defect of such important Organs must proceed from some other part, and that the Sterility which is common to some Animals which have been ingendred by the mixture of two different Species must have a particular cause in our Subject. For that which renders Mules Barren is not the defect of any of the Organs which are necessary to Generation, seeing that the difference which may be found in the Conforma­tion of the Matrix of Mares, and that of She-Asses cannot, as some pretend, be the occasion of Sterility; the Mare, in which something is wanting that is found in the She-Asse, being not deprived of any of the parts which are absolutely necessary to Generation, seeing that she ingenders; and the diffe­rence of the Organs which is between the Species of Horses, and that of Asses, hinder's not the Generation of Mules, which do proceed from the mixture of these two Species.

Therefore Aristotle, according to Empedocles, attributes this defect only to the Temper of these Animals, whose parts have contracted a hardness which renders them incapable of contributing to a new mixture; which this Phi­losopher explains by the comparison of Copper and Tin, which being sepa­rately very Ductile and Malleable to be imployed in different and several works, are no more in a condition of being weilded and receiving a new form, by reason of a brittle hardness and sharpness, which the Mass composed of these two Metals acquires, when they are melted together.

So that if it be true that the Lupi Cervarii or Ounces, which are thought to be engendred of the Wolf and Panther, as Mastives of the Leopard and Bitch, and the greatest part of the other Animals which are born by the mixture of two Species, cease not to be fertile; it must be thought that the Conformati­on of our Chat-pard was particular and accidental to it; and that the defect of the Parts which are wanting, and which made it incapable of Generation, proceeded not from this mixture of Species, which by changing the Confor­mation of the Parts could not corrupt it to the degree of rendring it useless to the Functions, and which is still less capable of making a Mutilation; but which may more easily cause a vice in the Temper, which is a consequence very na­tural from the mixture; and in fine, it is probable that if the Mule be the only Animal which the confusion of Species makes Barren, it must needs be that there is something particular in those which have ingendred it, which is not found in the others. 'Tis that which Aristotle has observed in the Horse and Asse, who hath both much less power for Generation, than all other Animals, seeing that in this Genus, which consists of those which are short-liv'd, and which ought consequently to be more readily engendred, the Females do carry their Conception a great deal longer, and have much more [Page 65] difficulty to give it its last perfection than others, by reason; as this Philo­sopher says, of the hardness of their Uterus, which is like an Earth which Drought and Aridity have made sterile.

For this being so, it is found that the Mule is Barren, not only by the ge­neral reason of the repugnance which is always found in the mixture of dif­ferent Species, but likewise by the particular defect which was in both of the Species which are assembled for Generation, and which have not sur­mounted that repugnancy so powerfully as Leopards, Dogs, and Foxes, which are Animals fertile enough; to transmit to their Posterity the powerful dispo­sitions which they have for Generation, notwithstanding the contrari [...]ty which the mixture of different Species may cause.

The Penis was extraordinary small, containing from the swelling of the Ischium, which is its Origine, to the end, but an Inch and half, and but a Line and half in Diameter. There was found no Bone.

The Diaphragme was very fleshy, and its nervous part very small. The Pericardium, in which there was no water, was exceeding close to the Heart; which happened perhaps by the swelling of this part, which after the man­ner of all things that do congeal, was puffed up: For this Dissection was made the eleventh day of Ianuary 1670. at which time was felt a greater cold than ever was known. The Ventricles of the Heart were filled with great plenty of congealed and hardened blood, which was not in the Veins, per­haps by reason of its little quantity, which easily thaws in the parts which must necessarily be much handled in the Dissection and Preparation thereof. The Heart was rounder and less pointed than in Cats and fierce Beasts, by reason, as it is probable, that the extraordinary distention and enlarging of the Ventricles had made the point to shrink towards the Basis.

The Lungs had eight Lobes, four on the right side, three on the left, and the eighth in the middle, in the cavity of the Mediastinum joyning the Dia­phragme.

The Os Frontis had two very large Sinus's, which were square and long, adjoyning to each other. There were two other Sinus's in the Os Occipitis: they were of a triangular form, and distant from each other, being of the right and left side of the Cerebellum. The Bone which separated these two Brains had two points.

The Brain was divided in two by the Falx which was very large, and which did enter very deep therein. The Anfractuosities were extended in length from the Cerebellum to the fore-part. At the place where the Glandula Pinealis usually is, there was found only a little point about the bigness of a pins point, which was taken for this Gland.

The Orbite of the Eye was whole and bonie all round, the Bones of the Temples and that of the Iaw being joyned: but the internal and upper part was open, insomuch that the Ball of the Eye touched the Muscles of the Temples.

The Ball of the Eye contained eleven Lines in Diameter through the mid­dle; the Cornea had nine. There was an Internal Eye-lid, which was seated in the great Canthus of the Eye, and which advanced towards the little one.

[Page 66]The Aqueous Humour, which was in exceeding great abundance, was not found congealed, although the Vitreous and Crystalline were hard Frozen: which demonstrates that this Humour is improperly called Aqueous, and that its Substance is rather Spirituous and as it were Aetherial; because that Con­gelation peculiarly belongs to Aqueous Liquors; those which are Fat and Oleaginous being capable only of Coagulation, even as those which are Spirituous and Aetherial do suffer neither Congelation nor Coagulation: So that it is probable that this Substance, which is lock'd up in the forepart of the Eye, has nothing of Water but the Transparency and Fluidity, because that it has need of an extraordinary thinness and Subtilty, to serve for the Refraction which must be made in the Crystalline, whose substance is thicker, by establishing the diversity of the Medium, which is necessary to this Ope­ration.

The Choroides was brown, and the Retina white. The Tapetum was also of a blewish white. In the place of the Optick Nerve there was observed a black point. The Nerve entered into the Eye almost directly over the mid­dle of the Tapetum. The Crystalline contained five Lines Diameter, and its Posteriour part was not so Convex as the Anteriour.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF A SEA-FOX.

IN this Fish we found all the marks by which Authors describe that which they do call the Sea-Fox, except some particularities which are pre­tended to have made it so named. For they do say that it has a great deal of resemblance with the Land-Fox, as well in its Tail, as in its Subtilty, Smell, and Tast of its Flesh: but none of the Company observed that it smell't otherwise than the Generality of Sea-fish. Its Flesh was found well tasted, to make it to be taken, (as it has been by some Authors,) for the Accipenser, or at least to make it unlike that of the Fox, which is known to be very ill; and it cannot be believed that this Animal can have a great deal of Subtilty, if it be true that the Brain contributes to it, for there was hardly any found in it. As for the Tail it is indeed very strange, but it nothing resembles that of a Fox.

The Sea-Fox is by Authors put in the unflat Cartilaginous Cetaceous Kind, which are called Galeodi. Their generical differences, are to have two Li­vers, five Bronchiae or Gills of each side, and pendent points at the Finns which are under the Belly, at the sides of the Navel in the Males. These Fishes are of six Species called Canicula, Acantias, Mustelus, Galexias, Asterias, and Alo­pecias, which is our Sea-Fox, whose Specifick difference, as to the Fi­gure, is taken from its Tail, which very perfectly represents a Sythe.

The length of this whole Fish was eight foot and a half, and its greatest breadth directly over the Belly fourteen Inches. Its Figure was such, that from the end of the Nose to about the middle of its whole length, it had the common form of a Fish: for it grew larger toward the Belly, and then it did contract, to the place where the Tail of other Fishes end. But there it is that his began, which was almost as long as all the rest of the Body, and made like a Sythe bent towards the belly. At the place where this Sythe began, there was a single Fin underneath, which Salvian reports to be at the top, [Page 70] where there was only an Eminence, which was an Articulation that made the Spine to bend in this place higher and lower more easily than in all the rest of the Body, where the Flexion was easie only to the right and left.

There were two Fins elevated on the Back, a great one in the middle, and another less towards the Tail, altho Aristotle, according to the report of Athenaeus, says that it has not any Fin on the Back. It had three Fins on each side. The two next the Head were large, and representing the wings of a Bird, which is the reason perhaps that induced Aristotle to say that there is a Fox, which like Batts, hath leather wings. These Fins were fifteen Inches long, and five broad at their Basis. Those which were at the middle of the Belly were of a middle size. They were at the side of the Navel, and had each a pendent point: which is proper to the Males in this sort of Fish, as it has been said. The last near the Tail were very small.

The Skin was sleek and without Scales; the Crests and Fins were hard, and composed of small Spines restrained by the Skin which covered them, the Colour of which was all over alike of a very dark-gray, blewish like Mud, and not white at the Belly, as in Salvian's Fox.

The Opening of the Mouth was five Inches, and armed with two sorts of Teeth. The right side of the upper Iaw, to the place where are the Canini of other Animals, had a row of sharp Teeth, hard and firm, being all of one single bone in the form of a Saw; but this bone was much harder than the other bones which are fastened with a Cartilage in these sorts of Fishes. The other Teeth, which were on the side of this and all the lower Jaw, made six rows throughout, and were moveable and fastned by fleshy Membranes. Their Figure was Triangular somewhat sharp, and their Substance much softer than that of the others which are like a Saw, especially in the inward rows, where they were very brittle and softer than the Cartilage, so that there were some which appeared only like an hardned Membrane.

The Tongue was all firmly fixed to the lower Jaw, and composed of seve­ral Bones strongly articulated to each other by a fibrous Flesh. It was fur­nished with a hard Skin, and covered with little shining points, which made it very rough from the inside outwards, and very sleek and smooth from the outside inwards. These points viewed with a Microscope were transparent as Crystal, and appeared to have three Lines in length, and one and a half at their Basis.

The Throat was very large, and the Oesophagus was not lesser than the Sto­mach, in which Authors do say that this Fish conceals its young when they are afraid, by swallowing them down to vomit them up again; and this is the reason which made Aelian and Plutarch to say, that the Subtilty which this Fish has to quit it self of the Hook which it has swallowed, is to spew it up with its Stomach, which as▪ Aelian reports, it can turn the wrong side outward: which is much more probable than what others do say, viz. that it proceeds to swallow the Line untill it has found a place weak enough to cut it with its Teeth; because it has no Incisores.

This Stomach was about fifteen Inches long, and five broad, terminating at the bottom in a very strait Pylorus, which was like a choaking, making the passage of the Stomach to the Intestine. This Ductus or passage, which ex­ceeded not three Lines in length, and one and a half in Diameter, was very [Page 71] smooth and slippery, even as the Oesophagus, but the inside of the Stomach was rugged, and like to that of Animals which chew the Cud, which is called Reticulum. In the Stomach there was found a branch of the Sea-plant called in French Varec, about five inches long, and a Fish of the same length with­out a Head, Scales, Skin, and Entrails, being all digested, except the Mus­culous Flesh, which was left entire.

After the Pylorus the Intestine was a little enlarged even to contain four Lines Diameter, for the length of five Inches, which may be taken for the Duodenum, which was afterwards dilated for the forming a great Intestine, which was about eighteen inches long, and three broad. Its inferiour part, which was smooth, and seven inches long, was the Rectum. The Superi­our which contained about thirteen Inches, had a very particular structure; for instead of the ordinary Circumvolutions of the Intestines, the Cavity of this was transversly interrupted with several separations composed of the Membranes of the Intestine folded inwards. These separations were near half an Inch distant from each other, and turned round like the shell of a Snail, or of a Stair-case with an open Newel: which is the reason, as it is easie to conjecture, why the nourishment stays, and is a great while in passing, altho the way be very short.

The Liver took up the whole length of the right side of the Belly. It was divided into two Lobes; which has made Authors to say that this Fish hath two Livers. The longest of these Lobes was twenty Inches, the other eigh­teen, each containing only five in breadth: its colour was reddish, and was streaked all along, and across by obscure Lines. The Gall was inclosed at the top of the great Lobe in the substance of the Parenchyma, and was not ga­thered into a Vesicle; but its colour only seemed to appear green through the Tunicle of the Liver. The two Lobes weighed five pounds and a half. The Vesicle had in the inside as it were leaves composed of its Tunicle: The Gall which it contained was found to have more of Acidity than Bitterness.

The Spleen was fastened to the bottom of the Stomach. It was double like the Liver, and terminating in two unequal points, the longest of which was five inches. Its Colour resembled that of the Liver, being only somewhat less dark, and less brown. Near the Spleen there was observed a part fasten­ed to the Intestine, which might be said to be the Pancreas, because that it was as it were Glandulous, but blacker then the Spleen.

Towards the Navel there was found a part shut up in the inside, about two inches long, and pointed at the end, which was judged to be the part which made the Sex, which was already discovered by the two points alrea­dy mentioned, and which Authors report to be found only in the Males.

The Bronchiae or Gills, which are five of each side, had this common amongst them that their Aperture, which is about two inches and a half, was inlarged almost as much again in the inside, to lap over a hole like to their Aperture: That wherein they differed, is that the three middle holes were greater, and provided on the inside with Bronchiae. The two last which are somewhat lesser, especially that which is most distant from the Head, had this particular, that they were smooth, and without those Foliages whereof the Bronchiae or Gills are composed.

[Page 72]The Heart had no Pericardium; but there was a Membrane like to that of the Pericardium which reinvested and inveloped the Aorta. The bigness of the Heart and its Figure resembled a Pullets Egg. Its Ventricle which was single as in most Animals which do not breath, had five valves, three Sigmoi­des at the mouth of the Aorta, and two Tricuspides at that of the Vena Cav [...]. The Heart had likewise one single Auricle very large, and the beginning of the Aorta was girt with a fleshy ring of ten Lines. The Aorta Ascendens ha­ving cast forth some branches for the Brain, was consumed, and near all lost under the Tongue.

The Head was a meer lump of Flesh, being covered with the Muscles of the Temples, which contained four Inches in thickness. The Cranium was not bigger than ones fist; it was near two fingers thick at top. This thick­ness was excavated by cavernous and unequal Sinus's. They were almost all empty, containing only a little mucous matter mixt with Blood. The Brain which was very small, and had but little Anfractuosity, was so soft and flab­by, that no Observation could be made on its Structure.

The Spinalis Medulla, which shot out all along through the Foramina or holes which are between the Vertebrae, Filaments of Nerves about the bigness of a pin, produced at the beginning of its Exit out of the Cranium, three Pair which were about a line and a half in bigness, two whereof divided themselves at the Temporal Muscles, and at those which do move the great fore-Fins; the third Pair run all along the Back-bone, always keeping the same bigness, although it continually cast into the Flesh little branches like those which proceed from the Medulla Spinalis.

The Eyes which were larger than those of an Ox were only demi-spherical, being flat before, and the Sclerotica making as it were a Cup. This Mem­brane was very thin, but so hard that it might rather pass for a Bone than a Membrane. On the contrary, the Cornea was so tender, that it was folded and sunk on the Crystallinus, which was perfectly Spherical, as it is generally found in Fishes; yet in one of the Eyes it was somewhat flatned.

The Anteriour Uvea was not black, nor very obscure in the inside, but only greyish, as it is on the outside, where it makes the Iris. The Choroides was of the same colour, and its ground had that lustre of Mother of Pearl which is in Terrestrial, Animals, and which we do call the Tapetum, but with colours less brisk. The Retina was adorned with Sanguinary Vessels very apparent.

This Fish was very Fleshy, and in several places we found Fat above an inch thick; which very much Fortifies the Opinion of Archestratus, who in Athenaeus averrs that the Sea-Fox is that Fish which those of Syracuse do call Cyna Piona, by reason of the abundance of Fat which it hath? which is con­trary to the Opinion of Epaenetus, who says in the same Author, that Carti­laginous Fishes have none.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF A LUPUS CERVARIUS OR LYNX.

SOme Authors have thought that this Animal was called Lupus Cervari­us, from its Figure and Colour, supposing that it has the shape of a Wolfe, even as it in some measure resembles the Stagg in the Colour of its Hair. This very Reason hath made others to think that it is the Thos of the Ancients, because Oppian reports that the Thos has the Form of its Sire which is the Wolfe, and Colour of its Damme which is the Leopardess. But the truth is that the Lupus Cervarius or Lynx has nothing which resembles the Wolfe; and the little resemblance which it takes from the Leopard or Stagg is so common to a great many other Animals, that it is more probable, as several Believe, that the Name of Lupus Cervarius is given unto it, be­cause that it hunts Staggs, as the Wolfe devours Sheep.

That which was Dissected had not the Nose long and pointed like the Wolfe, but blunt and short, which made it rather to resemble a Cat. The length of the whole Head was seven Inches, that of the Neck four: The rest of the Body contained twenty four Inches, without comprehending the Tail which had but eight; the whole amounting to three Foot seven Inch­es. The height from the extremitie of the Back to the end of the fore-paws were twenty Inches, and there were twenty three from the Os Sacrum to the extremities of the hind-Feet.

The fore-Paws had five Toes; the hind-ones only four. All these Toes were armed with Claws crooked, pointed, and articulated as in the Lions, Bears, Tigers and Catts which we have Dissected.

The Back was of a Fox-red, marked with Black Spots. The Belly and in­side [Page 76] of the Leggs was of an Ash-colour, speckled also with Black Spots, but differently; for the Spots of the Belly were larger, not so Black, nor so close to each other as those of the Back, Leggs and Paws, whose outside was red like the Back. The greatest part of the Hair, viz. that which appeared red, and that which appeared of an Ash-colour, was indeed of three Colours, having the root of a Dark-Gray, and the extremity White: But this White­ness of the extremity took up so little a portion of the Hair, that it prevent­ed not the seeing its principal Colour, which was that of the middle, and it made the whole Superficies of the Body to appear only as if it were powde­red. The Hair, which made the Black Spots, was but of two Colours, ha­uing no White at the end, and being only less Black towards the root, which nevertheless was Browner than that of the other Hair.

The Dentes Canini, which were four, were eight Lines long in the upper-Jaw; the two of the lower-Jaw but six. Between the Canini there were in each Jaw six Incisores, and those of the upper were likewise longer than those of the lower. There were ten Molares, five in each side, viz. two a­bove, and three below in each Jaw.

The Tongue was four Inches and a half long, and an Inch and a half broad. It was covered with Pricks as in the Lion and Catt. These Points from the tip of the Tongue to the middle were very hard and sharp, and were turned towards the root of the Tongue. Those which were from the root to the middle were turned contrary; and were blunter and soft­er.

The Ears, which greatly resembled those of a Catt, had each on the tip which was pointed, a Tuft of very Black Hair, which seemed to us to be a Character very particular to the Lupus Cervarius, to distinguish it from seve­ral other Animals which are described in the Histories of the Antients, as the Thos, Chaos, and Panther, which modern Authors have taken for the Lupus Cervarius; but in none of which has there been observed this Tuft, which Aelian reports to be at the end of the Ears of the Lynx, after the same man­ner as we found it in our Subject, and in other Lupi Cervarii which are in the Park of Vincennes.

It is very hard to conjecture why modern Authors have taken the Lupus Cervarius for the Thos of the Ancients, of which some, as Theocritus, have only reported it to be a kind of Wolfe; and others, as Homer, that it Eats Staggs: For it is pretended that this Author has in some measure described the Nature of the Thos, by compareing them to a multitude of Trojans, which pressing Ulysses in a Combate are put to Flight by Ajax, who comes to rescue them: But by this Comparison he gives us to understand that the Thos are weak, and Cowardly Animals, seing that being assembled to eat a Stagg which has been wounded by a Hunts-man, they do leave it to a Lion which unexpectedly comes upon them. For this reason they are by the Scholiast in­terpreted Pantheria, which are a kind of weak and timerous Wolfe. Aris­totle and Theocritus do likewise say, that the Thos resembles the Wolfe, that he is swift-footed, and leaps a great way, although he has short Leggs.

But there are other reasons to make us beleive that the Lupus Cervarius is not the Thos, which are much more powerful. For besides our not find­ing our Lupus Cervarius to have short Leggs, the other Marks also which the Antients do attribute to the Thos are wanting in it, having not [Page 77] the Figure of the Wolfe, as Aristotle and Oppian describe it, not being weak and timerous, as Homer represents it, not having another Colour in the Winter than in the Summer, nor being of the kind of Animals which do love Man, which do him no harm, and which do not avoid him: For it is known that these Characters, by which Aristotle and Pliny do represent the Thos, are not found in the Lupus Cervarius; and the greatest part are contrary to what we have observed in that which we Dis [...]ected.

There was only the changeing of the Hair which we at first thought to be so as Aristotle represents it in the Thos; because that the Hair of the Lu­pus Cervarius, which was brought to us towards the end of Autumne, was very different from the Hair of those we had seen in the Summer in the Park of Vincennes; these last having not their Backs Red, nor spotted with Black like ours, but only confusedly intermixt with Black, Gray, and Red: Be­sides that their Hair was short, thick, and course as in a Mas [...]ive, whereas our Lupus Cervarius had it long, soft, and fine like that of a Catt. But we at last found that this diversity in the Colour of Hair proceeded not from the alteration which happens to it according to the Seasons, but from the diffe­rence of the Species of the Lupi Cervari [...]: For there are some whose Back is Red, spotted with Black, which do come from Muscovia, such as was ours; and others which do come from the Levant and Canada, which have no Spots on the Back, such as are those which we have seen at Vincennes.

Therefore Authors do differ amongst themselves, and there are some which do even contradict themselves on this Opinion that the Thos is the Lupus Cervarius. For though Scaliger and Gaza do always interpret the Thos in Aristotle, Lupus Cervarius, which Gesner and Gillius do likewise in Aelian; yet Scaliger when he speaks of the Lupus Cervarius, say's that he thinks it is the Male Lynx, which may make us to think that he takes the Thos, Lynx, and Lupus Cervarius for the same Animal, conformable to the Explication of Petrus Crinitus, who interprets Thoes in Homer Lynces, and to that of Eustathi­us, who says that the Thos is no weak and timerous Animal, because that he judges the Thos to be the Lupus Cervarius, which indeed is strong and cou­ragious.

But Hermolaus on Pliny, says that he cannot sufficiently wonder at the er­rour of those who do take the Lupus Cervarius for the Thos: For the Species of the Wolfe, which is pretended to be the Thos, is a weak and timid Ani­mal, which is by Gesner, Gaza, and Niphus called Lupus Canarius, Lupus Ar­menius, and by the Scholiast of Homer Panther; and Oppian puts the Thos a­mong the little and inconsiderable Beasts, such as are Dormice, Sqvirrels, and Catts; which is confirmed by Hesychius, and seems to be very suitable to the Idea which Homer gives of the Thos.

So that it remains only to see whether our Lupus Cervarius, which has so little relation with the descriptions which the Antients do make of the Thos and Panther, has any more with what they have Writt of the Chaos and Lynx. Hermolaus makes no question that it is the Chaos of Pliny. And in­deed, when this Author speaks of the Lupus Cervarius, he reports the same thing thereof as he said of the Chaos, which is that Pompey shewed some in his Theater at Rome, which were spotted like the Leopard, and which had been sent from the Gaules, that is to say, a Northern Country, where the Lupi Cervarii, which have Hair like that of the Leopard are found in great plenty.

[Page 78]But the difficulty lies in what Pliny says that they had the Shape of the Wolfe; which we found not, as has been said, in our Lupus Cervarius. In­somuch that there remains only the Lynx, of which the Ancients do say no­thing which is repugnant to what we have seen in our Lupus Cervarius, in which we have likewise found all that they report of the Lynx.

For besides the lo [...]k of Black Hair which Aelian Remarks on the tip of the Ears of the Lynx, and which we have observed to be after the same manner in our Subject, which is a very particular Mark, we have likewise found that it has a short Nose like Aelian's Lynx, and it is known that the Lupus Cervarius is very cruelly bent after the hunting of Staggs, which Oppian Reports to be peculiar to the great Lynx; of which he makes a Speci­es different from the little one which Hunts Hares. For as to the Blackish Colour which Pliny gives to the Hair of the Aethiopian Lynx, he mentions it as a thing extraordinary. And in short as for what concerns its sight, which Pliny Reports to be more piercing than in any other Animals, we have Re­markt nothing which may obstruct, or hinder us from believeing our Lupus Cervarius to have had a very pierceing Sight; besides it is not very certain whether that which is reported of the sight of the Lynx must be understood of that of a wild Beast, or of a Man of that Name, who had a Sight so good, as Pliny affirm's, that he saw the Moon when it changed; or of an other, who, as Georgius Agricola explains it, had the repute of seeing thro' the Earth, be­cause that he knew how to discover where the most concealed Metals were.

As for what concerns the Inwards of our Lupus Cervarius, which was a Female, we found that it had a Stomach like to that of Cats, having nothing extraordinary either in its Structure or Bigness, which was proportionable to that of the rest of the Body.

The Spleen which was laid along the left part of the Stomach was of a Red­ish Colour. Its Length was seven Inches, and its Breadth but one. All a­long one of its sides, viz. that which was towards the Stomach, it had an Eminence which made an Angle.

The Epiploon, which covered and inclosed the Intestines, was like a Net­work of Cords of hard and solid Fat, whose void spaces were filled with Membranes pierced with an infinite number of little holes, so that as these Membranes were not capable of retaining Water like those of the Epiploon of Men and several other Animals. These Ropes of Fat did inclose and co­ver almost all the Vessels of the Epiploon.

The Intestines, which were of an equal bigness, contained altogether nine Foot and a half in length: which seem's to have been observed by Pliny, who speaking of Animals which have short Intestines, produces only two exam­ples, which are the Lupus Cervarius and Ducker. Yet we have already Re­markt in the Lyons that we Dissected, that their Intestines were not above three times longer than the whole Body, which is the proportion of the In­testines of the Lupus Cervarius. There was a Caecum, but it had no Appendix.

The Liver had seven Lobes, which were long and straight. The longest was five Inches, and the broadest two and a half towards the Basis. The Gall-bladder contained nine Inches in length, and not exceeding half a one in breadth.

The Pancreas Asellianum was three Inches long, and fifteen Lines in its greatest breadth. It had a Cavitie full of slimie and putrified Serositie, which was the occasion of an Abc [...]ss in the Center of the Mesentery.

[Page 79]The Kidneys were situated at an equal heighth opposite each to other. They were two Inches in length, and one in breadth.

The Matrix resembled that of Bitches and Cats. It contained four Inches and a half from the external Orifice to the Bifurcation of the two Hornes or Ductus's, which from the Bifurcation to their Extremitie where the Testicles were, contained each four Inches and a half in length. The Testicles were six lines long, and four broad: They were composed of several Glands.

The Lungs had seven Lobes like the Liver. They were almost all dryed up and friable through the extraordinary heat of the Blood, which was Blackt by adustion. This Blackness of the Blood had made the Heart livid, and tinged the Water of the Pericardium, so that it was Bloodie. The Heart was two Inches and a half long, and two Inches broad. The Auricles, Ves­sels and Valves were as in a Catt.

The Muscles of the Temples were large and strong, being eight Lines in thickness, and two Inches in breadth. This bigness seemed to us very con­siderable, to make dubious the beliefe which we had that the Lupus Cervarius is the Lynx of the Antients; because that when Galen speaks of the different size of the Muscles of the Temples in various Animals, he gives only three ex­amples of those which have them extraordinary small and feeble, which are Man, the Ape, and Lynx. But it is probable that Galen means the little Lynx of Oppian, which only hunts Hares, and not that which devours Staggs, which is the Lupus Cervarius.

The Sinus's of the Skull were very ample and open. The Bone which se­pertes the Brain from the Cerebellum was like to that which we have found in a Tiger, Fox, Dog, Cat, and a great many other Animals.

At the opening of the Skull the Anfractuosities of the Brain appeared thro' the Dura Mater, which was transparent. The external part and Substance of the Brain, which is called the Cortex, was very white and solid. The Glandula Pinealis was very small.

The Ball of the Eye was an Inch Diameter: It was almost Sph [...]rical, ex­cept the Cornea, which was raised somewhat more pointing.

The thickness of the Cornea, which was half a Line, was every where a­like. It was joyned as usually with the Sclerotica by the mutual Attenuati­on of the extremitie of the two Membranes, which being each in this place made like the Diamond-cut of a Glass, do so joyn themselves that both toge­ther are not thicker than each apart, because that the thinnest place of the one, which is its extremitie, lyes upon the thickest place of the other.

These Sloapeings were each two thirds of a Line broad. The Sclerotica, which was outwardly White, and inwardly somewhat Blackish by the touching of the Uvea, was very thin at the bottom, not being thicker than strong Paper. It was twice as thick at its extremitie towards the Cornea.

At the side of the Cornea there was a Membrane as in the Lyon, which serves for an internal Eye-lid which easily covered all the Pupilla when it was thrust over it. It was of a triangular Form. The two lesser sides were fastened to the Conjunctiva. The third, which was the largest, could slip and advance over the Eye to cover it.

The fore-part of the Iris was of a Yellow-colour mixt with a great many little red Lines, which were broken and of an unequal size. It was Black at the hinder part which lay upon the Crystalline.

[Page 80]The Aqueous Humour was very abundant, but somewhat muddie, being sullied by the dissolution of some part of the Black Substance which is fasten­ed to the Uvea.

The Crystaline was seven Lines diameter, and five thick, three of which made the Anteriour Convexitie, and two the Posteriour.

The Vitreous Humour was very Clear and Transparent.

The Tapetum of the Uvea, which was of a Blewish White, was pierced by the Optick Nerve, not at its extremitie, as it is seen in most Animals, but almost in its Center. The Optick Nerve had in its middle a Red point incline­ing to Black.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF A CASTOR OR BEAVER.

IT was so much the more necessary to observe nicely all the Parts of the Castor, because there has not hitherto been made an exact Description thereof; the Ancients having been almost wholly silent concerning this A­nimal, and the Moderns applying themselves more to speak of its Nature, than to examine the Structure of its Body.

That which was dissected at the King's Library was taken in Canada, about the River of St. Lawrence. It resembled an Otter, but was larger and bigger, and weighed above Thirty Pounds. Its length was about three Foot and a half, from the end of the Nose to the tip of the Tail, and its greatest breadth was near twelve Inches.

The Hair which covered its whole Body, except the Tail, was not every where alike; but there were two sorts, which were mingled together, and which differed in length as well as Colour. The bigger was about an Inch and half long, and as thick as the Hair of ones Head. Its Colour was Brown, somewhat inclining to a Minime or Soot-colour, but very bright; and its substance was firm, and so solid, that having cut it cross­wise there could not any Cavity be seen, even with the Microscope. The lesser was about an Inch in length; there was some much shorter than others; it seemed likewise more slender, and was so soft, that the finest down is not softer. The mixture of these two sorts of Hair so different is found in many Animals; but it is most remarkable in the Castor, Otter, and Wild-boar; and it seems that it is likewise more necessary for them: For these [Page 84] Animals being subject to wallow in the Mire, besides the short Hair which Nature has given them to defend them from the Cold, they had need of ano­ther longer Hair to receive the Mudd, and keep it from penetrating to the Skin.

Its Head was five Inches and a half long, from the end of the Nose, to the hinder-part of the Occiput, and five Inches broad at the place of the Bones which do make the Eminency of the Cheeks. This Proportion has made the Castor, to be by Herodotus, put amongst the Animals which he calls Tetra­gonoprosopa, that is to say, with a square Face or Head. Its Ears resembled those of an Otter; they were round and very short, covered with Hair on the out-side, and almost without any within.

It is said that this Animal delights to knaw Trees, and that it cuts them down to make its Damme or Hole withal; and indeed its Teeth were made after a manner very proper for it. At the end of the Nose it had four Incisores, two in each Jaw, like Squirrels, Rats, and other Animals which love to nibble. The lower ones were above an Inch long, but the upper were not above ten Lines, and slipped within the others, not being directly opposite to them. As to their shape, they were half round before, and very sharp at the end, which was cut bevelling on the in-side and out-side. Their Colour was White on the in-side, and on the outside of a brisk Red inclining to Yellow, almost like that of bastard Saffron. They were both about two Lines broad at the going out of the Jaw, and above a Line at their ex­tremity. Besides these Incisores, there were sixteen Molares, that is to say, eight in each side, four below, and four above. They were directly op­posite one to another, and had nothing particular.

As to the Eyes we could not examine them, because that the Rats, or some such Creatures had eat them.

The Structure of the Feet was very extraordinary, and sufficiently de­monstrated, that Nature hath designed this Animal to live in the Water as well as upon Land. For altho' it had four Feet, like terrestrial Animals, yet the hindmost seemed more proper to swim than walk with, the five Toes of which they were composed being joyned together like those of a Goose, by a Membrane which serves this Animal to Swim with. But the fore-ones were made otherwise; for there was no Membrane which held these Toes joyn'd together; and this was requisite for the conveniency of this Animal, which uses them as Hands (like Squirrels) when he eats. The Proportion of these Toes, their Situation, and the Shape of the Palm, do make these Paws wholly like Hands; and when Mathiolus says that they do differ from the Hands of an Ape, he evidently demonstrates that he has confounded the Castor with the Otter, which has the Toes of the fore-feet provided with Skins like those behind; which perhaps he has inferr'd from what Pliny says, that the Castor is altogether like the Otter, except the Tail. The length of the fore-feet was six Inches and a half from the Cubitus to the end of the great Toe; and three Inches from the beginning of the Hand to the extremity of the greatest Finger: those behind were longer, and contained six Inches from the extremity of the Heel to the end of the longest, which was the second Toe. Besides these five Toes, which were all furnished at the end with Nails cut aslope, and hollow in the inside like Pens, there was in the exter­nal Part of each fore and hind-foot, a little Bone which made an eminency, and which might have been taken for a sixth Toe, had it been separate and [Page 85] divided from the Foot; but as it was not, it seemed that it served only to add more strength and firmness to the Foot.

The Tail is that which has principally made the Castor to be reckoned in the number of the Amphibious: For it has not any resemblance with the rest of the Body, and seems to partake more of the Nature of Fish than of Terres­trial Animals. It was covered with an Epidermis composed of Scales, which a Pellicle joyned together. These Scales were about the thickness of Parch­ment, about a Line and half in length, and for the most part of an irregular Hexagonal Figure. Those on the upper part of the Tail were very little dif­ferent from those underneath; save that amongst some of the under ones there grew sometimes one, sometimes two, and sometimes three small Hairs, which were bent downwards, and exceeded not two Lines in length. As to the Colour they were of a Dark-gray inclineing to a Slate-colour; but in the joynts the Epidermis appeared of a Darker Colour. When the Skin of the Castor was flead, the Scales of the Tail fell off, but their Figure remain­ed imprinted thereon; and this part of the Skin, where the Scales were, be­came White, and of a Substance like that of the Skin of Fish as the Porpoise, or Sea-Fox. In dissecting the Tail we also found that the Flesh thereof was very Fat, and had a great deal of resemblance with that of Cetaceous Fishes.

As to the rest, the bulk and shape of the Tail was very remarkable. It was about eleven Inches in length, and at the root it exceeded not four Inches in breadth. From thence it went insensibly increaseing on each side to its mid­dle, where it was five Inches; and afterwards it lessened to the end, where it terminated in an Oval. On the contrary it was thicker towards its root than in all the rest of its length: For in this place it was near two Inches thick, and decreased by little and little towards the other end; so that in its middle it exceeded not an Inch in thickness, and was reduced to five Lines and a half at its extremitie. The edges of its Circumference were round and somewhat thick, altho' they were much thinner than the middle.

The Hole through which this Animal casts its Excrements was situated be­tween the Tail and Os pubis, about two Inches higher than the beginning of the Tail, and three Inches and half lower than these Bones. It was of an Oval Figure, about nine Lines in length and seven in breadth. The Skin a­bout it was Black and without Hair, and was easily contracted and dilated, not by a Sphincter as the Anus of other Animals, but simply like a slitt. This hole was common to the passage of the Urine as well as to that of other Ex­crements: For besides that the Anus or extremitie of the Rectum ended there­in, a little lower, in the Anteriour Part, there was seen to appear the extremi­tie of this Animals Penis.

At the sides of the inside of this common passage we observed two small Ca­vities, one in each side, where we endeavoured to introduce a Stylus; but we could not make it to pass from the inside of the Hole towards the out; and thro' the outmost Skin we perceived two Eminencies, which we afterwards found to be the Baggs or Bladders which do contain the Castoreum: And it being that which is most remarkable in this Animal, we examined it with a particular exactness.

Naturalists have spoken variously thereof. Some do Assert that the Casto­reum [Page 86] is lockt up in the Testicles of the Castor; and Aelian says that this Ani­mal knowing that Men do hunt it only to get this Liquor of so great use in Physick, tears off its Testicles when it sees it self closely pursued by the Hun­ters, and leaves them to them as for its ransom. Others are of Opinion that the Castoreum is not found in the Testicles of the Castor, but in the Bags par­ticularly designed to receive this Liquor.

To inform [...]us of the Truth, we stript our Beaver of its skin; and having taken it away, we discovered in the place where we had observed these Emi­nencies, four great Pouches fixed underneath the Os Pubis. The two first were placed in the middle, and higher than the two other. They both to­gether represented a kind of Heart, the top of which was about an Inch un­der the Os Pubis; and the sides, being circularly extended, did approach to re-unite themselves in the upper part of the common aperture. The greatest breadth of these two Pouches taken together, was a little more than two Inches; and the length from the top of each to the common aperture was likewise about two Inches. They appeared externally of an Ash-colour, streaked with several white Lines of the shape of those which are seen in the Saligot or Water-nut. Their outward Coat was without wrinckle or fold, and appeared clear and transparent, so that its Colour seemed to be borrowed of the Coat which was underneath. And indeed, having opened one of these Pouches, we found that the inward Coat was of an Ash-colour; that moreover it was fleshy, and that it had on the inside several wrinckles like to those of a Sheeps Maw, amongst which we found some remains of a greyish matter, which had a stinking smell, and which was there so strongly fastened that it seemed to be a part thereof. These wrinckles were extended into both these Pouches, which had communication one with the other, by a hole of above an inch, and were separated only at the bottom.

Underneath these first Pouches there were two others, one at the right, and the other at the left side; each of which had the Figure of a Pear somewhat flatted, or of a long green Almond. They were each two inches and a half in length, and ten lines in breadth. Their greatest breadth was towards the end farthest from the common Passage of the Excrements, and ended at the sides of this hole. These two Pouches were so placed, as that they joyntly formed with the said common hole the shape of a very open V, from the inside of which the two first Pouches raised themselves like a Heart, as we have already said.

These two lower Pouches were very streightly joyned with the upper, about the common hole; and it is probable that the matter of the Castoreum having begun to be prepared in the two upper Pouches, passeth into the other two there to be perfected, and to acquire more consistence, more oyli­ness, more smell, and a yellower colour, which appeared very little in the upper Pouches. The structure also of these Pouches were very different. It seemed that the lower ones were composed of Glands, like the Kidneys of young Animals: for in their exteriour surface there was a great number of small round Bodies, a little rising, and of a different size, the largest not ex­ceeding a middleing Lentile. They were all covered over with the Membrane which externally enveloped all the great Pouches, which is nothing else but a Continuation of the common Membrane of the Muscles.

[Page 87]Having opened several of these little Glandulous Bodies, we found that they were composed of a spongie Flesh of a whitish colour inclining to a red, and that they all had a considerable Cavity: so that it seemed as if they were so many little Pouches; but there was no Liquor in them, nor any other re­markable Substance.

We, judging by the Touch that there was some Liquor in the Pouches, of whose surface these little Bodies made a part, opened one at the bottom, keeping that of the other side to save the Liquor. Out of this hole there came a stinking Liquor, yellow as Honey, unctuous as melted Fat, and com­bustible as Turpentine; for it took fire being put to the flame of a wax-candle. We would have seen whether by squeezing there would not be a reflux of this humour into the upper Pouches, or into the common passage of the Ex­crements; but neither the one nor the other fell out.

Having afterwards emptied the Liquor of this second Bag we perceived that in its lower part there was a third Pouch about fourteen lines in length, and six in breadth, which was likewise full of Liquor, and so fastened to the Membrane of the second Pouch, that it could not be separated. It went sloaping to a point on the lateral part of the common hole; but we percei­ved not that there was any passage into the Cavities which we have spoken of in describing this hole; for we could make nothing go out that way. In the external surface of the third Pouch there were little glandulous Bodies like those which we observed in the second. In this third Pouch we found a Juice, yellower, more liquid, and better digested than in the others. It had also a different smell, and greatly resembled the yolk of an Egg, but its co­lour was somewhat paler.

Tho it was proposed in this discourse to speak only of the Observations made in the Dissection of the Castor, it will be no digression to relate what has been since written from Canada touching the Castoreum. It is reported that the Castors do use this Liquor to create themselves an Appetite when they have no Stomach; that they do get it out by squeezing with their Paw the Vesicles which do contain it; and that the Savages do therewith rub the Snares which they lay for these Animals on purpose to entrap them. Rondeletius had well observed that the Castors do frequently lick up this Liquor; but he speaks not of the particular uses which are told us that the Animal and Sa­vages make thereof.

But to return to the Pouches which contain the Castoreum, it is evident by the accurate Description which we have already made thereof, that they are not the Testicles of the Castor, as several Naturalists have imagined, whose Error will likewise more evidently appear, by what we shall after­wards speak of these Testicles.

Sextius, according to the relation of Pliny, derided those who believed that the Castor tears off his Testicles, when closely pursued by the Hunters, and said that it was impossible, because that this Animal hath the Testicles fastened to the Back-bone. But he confutes one error by another. For as Dioscorides has very well observed, the Testicles of the Castor are concealed in the Groins, and not fastened to the Back-bone. Nevertheless Amatus Lusita­nus and Mathiolus, who have both Commented upon Dioscorides, and who say that they have Dissected Castors in the presence of several Phisitians, do [Page 88] averr that they have found these Testicles so fastened to the Back-bone, that they had great difficulty to seperate them with a Launcet. Rondeletius runs into the same error, altho he has examined à little better than other Authors the Pouches from which the Castoreum is taken, but yet very negligently, not to perceive that they are four in number; for he reckons but two. There are some more Modern Authors who have not gone much farther than the other, contenting themselves with knowing that the Testicles are different from these Pouches; and have so ill understood Dioscorides, as to believe that when he says the Testicles of the Castor are hid in the Groins, he took the Pouches for them. But experience hath demonstrated to us that all these Authors are mistaken, if all Castors are like to that which we Dissected: for the Testicles were no more on the inside than the Pouches; they were only a little higher at the external and lateral parts of the Os pubis, in the place of the Groins, where we found them wholly concealed, so that they appeared not outwardly no more than the Penis before that the skin was taken off. Their Figure and Shape was very like to the Stones of Dogs, save that they were longer and lesser in proportion to their length. They were little more than an inch long; their breadth was half an inch, and their thickness some­what less. As to the Epididymis and all the Vessels necessary to Generation, they differed in nothing from those of Dogs.

The Penis appeared more singular to us. In its extremity instead of the Balanus it had a Bone fourteen lines long, and made like a Stylus, which was two lines broad in its basis, and suddainly straitning it self, ended in a point. There was this also remarkable, that whereas the Penis of Dogs re-ascends from the Os pubis towards the Navel, this descended downwards towards the passage of the Excrements, where it ended. It was, as we have said, con­cealed; so that before the skin was taken off we perceived it not, and we could not discern of what Sex this Animal was.

The better to examine these Parts, we opened the lower venter; and ha­ving traced the Spermatick Vessels to their Origine, we found them like to those of Dogs, and other Animals. We observed likewise that the Penis was laid upon the Rectum, and that it passed underneath the two first Pouches of the Castoreum, to which it was closely joyned: that moreover these Baggs received their Veins and Arteries from the Hypogastrick Veins and Arteries, there be­ing no appearance that there were other Vessels which could furnish the mat­ter whereof the Castoreum is formed, unless it be imagined that it is caused by the Uret which is improbable.

As to the other parts of the lower Venter the Muscles of the Abdomen, Peri­tonaeum, Stomach, and Bladder, had nothing remarkable, and their Structure was altogether like that of Dogs.

The Intestines had little considerable, except the Caecum, which was two inches and a half in breadth, and ten in length. It was unusually ranged on the left side underneath the Spleen, from whence it descended to the Cavity of the Ileum, and terminated in a round point, making an Appendix of an inch in length: It was that which made us to distinguish this Intestine from the others. Its Figure was not strait, but a little crooked, like the blade of a Scythe. In the concave part of this bending there was a Ligament, and in the convex another, both like to those which are commonly found in the [Page 89] Colon of Men; and these Ligaments were accompanied with Veins and Arte­ries which came from the Venae Mesentericae, and spread from space to space their branches into the Body of this Intestine.

Two fingers underneath the great end of the Spleen, there lay a little Sphe­rical Body very extraordinary, which appeared of the same Substance as the Spleen, altho it was remote from it; It was three lines Diameter.

The other Intestines were so little different from one another, that we could never distinguish the Colon. They were near twenty eight foot long: Having opened them we found in the inside eight Worms long and round, like to Earth-worms, three whereof were between seven and eight inches long, and the rest about four.

The Spleen was laid along the left side of the Stomach, to which it was fastened by eight Veins, and as many Arteries, which made so many Vas Bre­ve's. Its Colour was very Red: Its length seven inches, and its thickness almost equalled its breadth, which was about ten lines.

We observed nothing particular in the Liver, save that it was divided into five Lobes of the same Colour, as the Lobes of a Dogs Liver.

The Gall-Bladder was hid under the hollow part of the Liver between two of its Lobes. It was two inches and a half in length, and near an inch in breadth. All the lower Venter was overflowed with a diffused Choler, which had perhaps occationed the death of this Animal.

The Pancreas was nothing different from that of Dogs. Its length was ten inches, but it exceeded not two in its greatest breadth.

Though this Castor was very Fat, especially through the Belly and Tail, yet there was found very little in the Tunica adiposa of the Kidneys, and in the Epiploon. Each Kidney was an inch in thickness, near two in length, and as much in breadth at the middle.

The Cartilago Xiphoides was round, and fourteen lines broad; but very thin and pliable.

Having afterwards opened the Thorax we observed little difference between all the parts which were there inclosed, and those of Dogs. The Lungs had six Lobes, three on the right side, two on the left, and another little one which was in the Mediastinum near the Center of the Diaphragme.

That which was most remarkable in the Heart, is that the left Auricle was larger than the right; which is likewise seen in some other Animals, but not in Man, who on the contrary has the right Auricle of the Heart bigger than the left.

We the more carefully sought after the Foramen Ovale, which several Modern Authors have averred to be found in all Amphibious Animals, and even in Men, who do often dive and swim a long time in the water. But what exactness soever we used in the search, we could not discover that hole in the Heart of our Castor. It is true that as it had been several years penn'd up at Versailles, without having the liberty of going into the Water, it might be that this hole was closed up, even as it happens to the Foetus, after it is born, and has breathed sometime. Indeed it seemed that in this place there had formerly been a hole which was since grown up.

Under the Vena Coronaria we found the Valve called Noble, which fills the whole Trunck of the Vena Cava, and which was so disposed, that the Blood [Page 90] might easily be carried from the Liver to the Heart by the Vena Cava, but which is hindred from descending from the Heart towards the Liver through the same Vein.

The Heart was two inches and a half long from the basis to the point, and almost two inches broad.

In the Dissection which we made of the Brain, the Figure of the Sinus of the Dura Mater appeared to us very singular. The upper Sinus which came from the side of the Os Ethmoides divided the Brain into the right and left sides, and advanced in a streight line to the beginning of the Cerebellum, where be­ing arrived it was divided into two great branches almost in the form of a Y, which on the right and left did divide the Cerebrum from the Cerebellum. These two branches produced four others; two on each side, which by returning towards the hinder part of the Head, divided the Cerebellum into three unequal parts; that of the middle, which was the greatest, was ten lines in length, and five in breadth, and was Oval: the two other lateral ones were four lines and a half broad, and six long. The whole extent of the Brain was in its greatest length, from the Nose to the Temples, but an inch and eight lines, and an inch and half in its breadth.

Having raised the whole Body of the Dura Mater by the Anterior part we found no Falx under the great Sinus. There was only a little Cavity which was formed by the roundness of the Sinus, and under the Branches of that Si­nus there was seen to appear some prints of the like Cavities.

The separation of the Brain from the Cerebellum, was distinguishable only by those sorts of prints, which were not deep. The Cerebellum took up all the hindermost part of the Head. The Brain had but very little Anfractuosities; and its external part seemed rather White than Ash-coloured. The rest of the Brain was like to that of other Animals. The Mamillares Processus were very large; but the Optick Nerves were very small at their going out of the substance of the Brain, and they went joyned together after an extraordina­ry manner, by reason of the length of this Conjunction, which was seven lines; they were afterwards divided after the usual manner to go to the Eyes, which for an Orbita had only a bony Circle.

As to the Flesh of the Muscles and of all the rest of the Body, we found nothing particular save that the Flesh of the Tail, as we have already observ'd, was different from that of the other Parts.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF AN OTTER.

SOme Authors have confounded the Otter with the Castor, by reason of the great resemblance that is between these two Animals; but the ge­nerality do agree that they are different in several things. We have remar­qued some which we have not as yet heard spoken of; and there are likewise a great many Particularities which are attributed to the Otter, and which are pretended to be common to it with the Castor or Beaver, which we found not in our Subject.

Pliny, Belonius, and almost all the Natural Historians, do say that the Ot­ter and Castor are only different in the Tail, which is covered with Scales in the Castor, and which is Hair in the Otter. Georgius Agricola and Albertus do make the four-Feet of the Otter like those of a Dog. All the other Authors do report that it has them like to those of the Castor: we found neither the one nor the other in our Otter. Herodotus says that the Castor and Otter, even as the other Animals which he calls square-headed, have this in common, that their Testicles are proper to the Distemper of the Mother, and Brasavolus af­firms that they both have the same Virtue against the Epilepsie, Palsie, and all the Maladies of the Nerves: In which it appears that these Authors have made no distinction between the Pouches of the Castor and its Testicles, be­cause that the Pouches are only made use of in the Distempers of the Mother and Nerves. Aristotle has likewise attributed to the Otter a particularity which Pliny reports of the Castor, which he declares to be so inraged against Man, that when he bites him, he never quits his hold until he feels the Bone of the Parts which he has seized to crack under his Teeth.

The Greek word [...], from whence the word Lutra is derived, and which signifies a Bath or Bagnio, seems to distinguish it from the Castor, be­cause that it plunges only into Fresh-water, and never into the Sea, the water whereof is not proper to wash with, nor to make a Bath; and that the Castor goeth indifferently into the Sea and Rivers.

[Page 94]The size of the Otter, and the Proportion of its Parts, did also render it very different from the Castor that we Dissected; for the Castor was three foot and a half long comprehending the Tail; and the Otter had in all but three foot two inches, and its Tail was proportionably much longer; which made the rest of the Body lesser than that of the Castor. The Head of the Castor was five inches and a half from the Nose to the hinder part of the Head, and that of the Otter exceeded not four and a half. The fore-feet of the Castor were six inches and a half from the Cubitus to the end of the Toes, and those of the Otter not above five. The hinder-feet of the Castor were six inches from the Heel to the end of the Toes, and those of the Otter but three and a half.

This does likewise render our Otter very different from that which Belloni­us describes, in which he makes the Leggs to resemble those of a Fox, and on­ly different in this that they are bigger; unless he would be understood to say that they are bigger in proportion to their length: but the truth is, that in proportion to the rest of the Body they are a great deal shorter than a Foxes, being in this like to those of a Weasel, which has a long Body and short Leggs.

The hinder feet wholly resembled those of the Castor, having five long and slender Toes, not close together like those of a Dog, and the intervals had a skin, as in the feet of Geese. The fore ones were like those behind, and very different from the fore-feet of the Castor: For these toes were joyned by Membranes as those behind, excepting that the Membranes held them closer together; but they had not that resemblance which those of the Castor have to a Hand; the five Toes being equal, having each their three Phalanges, and the Pollex not being more separate from the other Toes than the rest are from each other.

The Nose, Eyes, and shape of the whole Head, did hardly render it diffe­rent from the Castor: The Teeth only were unlike, not being sharp, nor so strong as those of the Castor; which made us to think that Aristotle has mi­staken the Otter for the Castor, when he exaggerates, after the manner already shewn, the strange force of its Biting: for our Otter had not those four great and long Incisores which are particular to the Castor, and some other Animals, as the Hare, Squirel, and Rat; all the Teeth being made like those of the Dog or Wolf, and the Canini being, as is usual, longer than the incisores. So that these Teeth made all the resemblance that we found the Otter to have with the Dog, altho Bellonius reports that it has its Head, and Aelian calls it the River-Dog. The Ears which were little, as in the Castor, were lower than the Eyes, and situated near the lower Jaw.

The Hair was not half so long as that of the Castor, containing in that place of the Body where it was longest, but eight lines; whereas that of the Castor was eighteen. Its Colour was in some measure different from that of the Ca­stor, but not after the manner as Authors do express it: for they do report that the Hair of the Castor inclines more to Grey, and we have found the con­trary; our Otter having the Hair underneath its Throat, Stomach, and Belly much Greyer than it was in our Castor. The Hair of the Tail was shorter than upon the Body, but a great deal longer than on the Feet. The rest of the Hair viz. on the Head and Back, was of a Colour resembling that of the Castor, [Page 95] being of a dark Chesnut, and of two sorts, the one longer, Browner, Straiter, and thicker; the other shorter, grayer, more frizled, and softer.

To finish the Description of the outside, it remains to speak of a Particular very remarkeable, and which greatly distinguishes the Otter, not only from the Castor, but even from other Brutes, which is the extraordinary Formation of the exteriour Orifice of the Matrix, where we found the Nymphae and a Clitoris as in Women. The Clitoris, which was situated at the superiour part of the Nymphae, and beyond their junction, was three lines in length. It was composed of Membranes and Ligaments which inclosed a Bone two lines long.

The generality of the Parts which were seen by the Dissection, were yet more different from those of the Castor than the exteriour are. The Liver which contained but five Lobes in the Castor, had six in our Otter. The Spleen, which was Cylindrical in the Castor, and very small, not exceeding ten lines Diameter and seven inches in length, was flat in the Otter, being an inch and half in breadth and four and a half in length. But its Connexion was so particular that it was not only different from that of the Castor, but from almost all other Animals, in which the Spleen is generally fastened to the Stomach; whereas in our Otter it was at the Epiploon.

The Kidneys were three inches long and two broad. In the Castor they were not two in length: but the principal difference was in the Conformation which was so extraordinary, that it resembled that of the Kidneys of a Bear; those of the Otter differing only in the number of little Kidneys, whereof the one and the other are composed: for instead of fifty two little Kidneys which we found in the Bear, there were only ten in the Otter, which were sepera­ted one from the other, each having their Parenchyma, Vena, and Arteria Emul­gens apart, with a third Vessel, which was a branch of the Pelvis, which the dilatation of the Ureter produced, and ten branches of which went to each little Kidney one. These little Kidneys, besides a common Membrane that enveloped them, had store of Fibres which tied and collected them into a heap, which had a Figure somewhat longer than the Kidneys usually have; and there was one of these small Kidneys which was a little more separated from the rest, and which extended this Figure towards the top, so that this little Kidney might be taken for the Capsula Atrabilaria.

The Pancreas was composed of conglomerated Glands like that of the Ca­stor, and generality of other Animals, but they appeared more distinct and separate one from the other than usual.

The Lungs as in the Castor was composed of seven Lobes, six of which was equal in size, and the seventh very small, which seemed only an Appendix of the sixth.

We carefully sought in the Vessels of the Heart that Foramen Ovale which is thought to be in Animals, whilest they do remain without breathing in the Belly of their Damme, for supplying the use which is attributed to Respira­tion, which is, to assist the Circulation of the Blood which is made through the Lungs, by means of the dilatation, and compression of this part. We had formerly made this search in the Castor, because that some have thought that that Animal had need of this conformation of the Vessels of the Heart, to make it able to indure the cessation of Respiration which it undergoes when [Page 96] it plunges and dives a long time under Water; but we found not this Foramen open, nor that there were other Conveyances which might grant passage to the Circulation of the Blood than those which are in the Lungs. Yet the Truth is, that we observed some vestigia of this Aperture, which seemed to demonstrate that it had not been long closed: which appeared to us the more probable, for that we were assured that the Castor had been a long time shut up in his Hutt without having liberty to plunge into the Water, and that it might happen that this Foramen was stopped as it usually is in all Animals a little after their Birth, when the faculty which they have of breathing ren­ders this Foramen useless. But in our Otter we found not any appearance that there ever had been a Foramen which might grant passage to the Blood from the Vena Cava into the Arteria Venosa: and this sufficiently agrees with the Remarques which all Authors have made that the Otter is ever and anon forced to raise it self above the water to Breath; which the Castor does not, having a much greater facility of wanting Respiration for a considerable time.

The other Parts which have been carefully Dissected, have furnished us with nothing considerable, and which deserves to be remark'd.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF TWO CIVET-CATS.

AFter haveing made the Dissection of a Castor and Otter, an opportunity offered of joyning thereunto that of two Civet-Catts, which dyed the following Winter in the Parke of Versailles. We were very glad of being able to make the comparison of these two Species of Animals, because that they do agree in some Organs, which are very peculiar to them, which are the Receptacles in which there is collected a Liquor, whose Odour is re­markable, for being extreamly pleasant in the one, and very disagreable in the other.

We at first sought whether there was not some particular Reason of this diversity of Scent, but we found not that there was apparently any other than the diversitie of the Temperament of these Animals; for the one is hot and dry, drinks little, and inhabits hot and dry Countryes; the other lives sometimes in the Water, and sometimes on the Land: and as it has a great deal of humi­ditie, by reason that it participates of the Nature of Fish, it has not Heat enough to Concoct and perfect this humiditie. So that suppose that the good and bad Scent do's proceed from the Concoction or Cruditie which the Natural heat more or less Powerful operates on the Humours, the Castor, whose Natural heat is weakened, and as it were stifled by the abundance of its moisture, can only imperfectly Concoct it, and produce only a very un­pleasant Scent.

The two Civet-Catts of which we made the Dissection, were Male and Femal, but so like in all outward appearance, that there seemed no distincti­on of Sex; it being impossible without Dissection, to judge whether they were not both Females. For the parts which are proper to the Male, were hid and lockt up in the inside; and the Vessel or Receptacle of the Odoriferous Liquor, whose aperture has been taken by most of the Ancients for a mark of the Female, was alike in both the one and the other of our Civet-Catts.

From the Mouth to the begining of the Tail they were Twenty nine [Page 100] Inches long. The Tails of both had been cut. That which was the long­est contained ten Inches. The Feet were very short, especially those before, which from the Belly to the ground exceeded not five Inches. The Paws, as well those before as behind, had each five Toes, the least of which was inward like a Bear's; but this little Toe touched not the ground. Besides these five Toes there was a Spur which was armed with its Nail like the Toes. The Nails were black, strait and very little Pointed. The Sole was furnisht with a Skin very soft to the touch. The Ears resembled the figure and size of those of a Catt; but they were less Pointed, and smaller: The rest of the Head had nothing which participates of this Animal but the Beards, which are common to the generalitie of Carnivorous Animals. For the Head was strait; the Mouth long; the Tongue soft; the Eyes little, Black, troubled and long; the Dentes Canini short, and blunt, so that they did seem to have been broken: and it is probable that this Fierce and Cholerick Ani­mal do's ordinarily break its Teeth by biteing the Iron barrs of its Cage. The Neck was strengthened and fortified by Ligaments, and Muscles extraordina­ry strong. Bartholinus has observed that they are far more numerous in other Animals.

The Hair, which was short on the Head, and Paws, was very long on the rest of the Body, being four Inches and a half on the back, where it is longest. Amongest this long Hair, which was hard, harsh, and strait, was intermixt another shorter, softer, and frizeled like Wool, as in the Castor, but it was not so fine: It was all over of the same Colour, viz. a dark-Gray. The great hair was of three Colours, makeing Spots and Lists, some black, others White, and others Red. There were some of these Hairs which were of two Colours, being Black towards the middle, and White sometimes towards the Root, sometimes towards the other end. The four Feet were Black, as also the Belly and bottom of the Throat, contrary to the Nature of other Animals, which alwayes have the Belly and Throat of a lighter Co­lour than the rest of the Body, when all the Hair is not of the same Colour. The rest of the Body was intermixt with three Colours, amongst which. Black was the cheif. There were two great black Spots at the sides of the Mouth, which incompast the Eyes, and left the rest very white, excepting the Nose which was black. The Crowne of the Head, from the Eyes to the Ears was gray, by the mixture of the white and black which was in every hair, as has been said, all the ground being black, and the extremity white. The Ears which were all Black on the outside, and only Listed with White, were filled in the inside with a long white Hair. The Neck had on each side four Black Lists on a very White ground; and these Lists which began under­neath the Ears, descended obliquely towards the Stomach. The middle of the Back was covered with three Lists; the middle one was Black, and those of the sides Redish. The Shoulders and sides unto the Flanks were marked with a great deal of Black and little Red. The Flanks were equally streaked with Black and White, but these streaks were not so continued as those of the Neck; they were rather the spots which Pliny calls Eyes in the Panther, but few of which were single, the greatest part being joyned to each other. The Tail was Black at top, and mixt with a little White underneath.

The Aperture of the Pouch or Sack which is the Receptacle of the Civet, was underneath the Anus, and not under the Tail, as Aristotle places it in his [Page 101] Hyaena, which we together with Belonius judged to be nothing else but our Civet-Catt; or at least that our Civet-Cat is a Species of Hyaena. And this being so, it is very strange that this great Person, who reprehends Herodotus for being mistaken, when he thought that the Aperture of this Pouch was the part which denoted the Sex of the Female, and who excuses him upon this Account, that it is difficult not to be deceived, if the thing be not care­fully examined, should suffer himself to run into the same mistake, and write in several places, that the Anus and Parts of Generation in both Sexes are be­low the Pouch.

This Pouch was between the Anus and another little Aperture, from which it was two Inches and a half distant; but it was nearer the Anus. This Pouch was two Inches and a half in breadth, and three in length: Its A­perture which was a slit from top to bottom, was two Inches and a half. At the edges and in-side it was covered with a short Hair turned inwards, so that it was rough outward. By parting the two sides of this Aperture, the in-side was seen, the capacity of which would contain a small Pullat's Egg; the bottom thereof was pierced on the right and left side, with two Forami­na capable of receiving the Finger, which did each penetrate into a Sack, sup­ply'd with a White and Rough Skin like that of a Goose. The Eminencies which made this inequality, were pierced with as many Pores, out of which was made to come, when squeezed, the odoriferous Liquor, which the Arabians do call Zibet, which signifies Froth, and from whence is derived the Word Civet.

Indeed, this Liquor was frothy in coming out; which was known by this that sometime after it lost the Whiteness which it had at the first. It pro­ceeded, as far as we could judge, from a great number of Glands which were between the two Tunicles, of which the Sacks were composed.

The little Aperture which appeared underneath the great Pouch, was the entrance of a Ductus, in which the Penis of the Male was concealed; and the Female had such a Ductus, which was the Neck of the Matrix, whose internal Orifice was so strait, and so difficult to dilate, that it was very hard to make a little Probe to enter therein. The external Orifice was covered with two little Eminencies somewhat longish, which were joyned together, and made an Angle, underneath which there was a third Eminence which appeared to be the Clitoris.

At the opening of the Belly there was found under the Skin from the Os Pubis to the Navel, two Eminencies of hard Fat, an Inch broad and thick, and four long. They inclosed the Branches which do pass from the Hypogast­rick Veins and Arteries, into the two Sacks which do make the great Pouch, there to convey the Matter whereof the sweet-smelling Liquor is made, and which is there collected. Bartholi [...]us has very carefully searcht after, tho' not found, the particular Ductus's, which he thought to be necessary for the conveying this Matter: But our Opinion is that there needs no other than the Arteries, just as the Papillae, and Kidneys have no other which do convey to them the Matter of the Milk and Urine; there being a Faculty in the Glands, that are lockt up in the Sacks of the Receptacle of the Civet, which makes them to receive into the Arteries, that which is proper to be converted into odoriferous Liquor, even as the Glands of the Papillae do im­bibe the Matter which they do find in the Blood, proper to receive the Cha­acter of Milk.

[Page 102]These Vessels which went to the Bags of the Receptacle were very great in the Male; but could hardly be perceived in the Female. The Civet of the Male had also a stronger and pleasanter Odour than that of the Female. yet Authors do almost all say the contrary; and Quadramius in his Treatise of Theriaca preferrs the Civet of the Female to that of the Male, which he reports to be nothing worth, if not mixed with that of the Female. We found it not to be true that the Scent or smell of the Civet is perfected, after long keep­ing, nor that being new it had an abominable Scent, as Amatus Lusitanus re­ports; for its smell seemed no better to us after a year, than when we made the Dissection. Plutarch says that not only the Skin, but likewise the Flesh and Bones of the Panther have a good Scent; but we found not that the pleasant smell of the Civet was communicated to the inward parts; for it was the Hair only that had a good smell, and especially in the Male, whose Hair was so per­fumed, that the hand which had touched it did a long time retain a very plea­sant and agreeable smell: which seems to confirm and strengthen the Opinion of Scaliger, Mathi [...]lus, and several others, who do think that the perfume of the Civet-Cat is nothing else but its Sweat; so that it is gathered as Marmol affirms, from the Animals which do produce it, after they have been well chaced in their Cage; and that it is gathered not only from their Pouches, but like­wise from several other places, and especially from about the Neck: there being a probability that tho this Sweat proceeds indifferently from the whole Body, it gathers more abundantly in the Bags, and there grows to greater Perfection.

These Pouches or Bags had some Muscles, which Bartholinus mentions not, altho he has marked them in his Figures. Those which we found were dif­ferent from those which he represents, as well in Number as in Structure. He puts down four, which proceeding from the neighbouring parts, are joyn­ed to the Pouches. Those of our Civet-Cats were but three in number, of which there was one, which taking its Origine at one of the Pouches, went to in­sert it self to the other: the two others took their Origine from the lower part of the Ischium, and each came to be joyned to its Antagonist at the middle of the two Pouches, and was fastened to the Pouch over which it went to make this Conjunction.

It were easie for us to conjecture what ought to be the Action of these Mus­cles by their structure and scituation: for that which is common to the two Pouches, must be for their Constriction, by drawing one to the other; and those which do come from the Bones of the Ischium, do draw the two Pouches together, sometimes on the right side, sometimes on the left, according as one of the Muscles is contracted, whilst its Antagonist is relaxed. The use of these motions is very probably for the pressing and squeezing out the O­dorous Liquor, the retention of which is insupportable to these Animals, when by time it has acquired a picquant Acrimony, which excites them to squeeze it out: for it is observed that Civet-Cats do seem to have a restlesness which agitates and torments them, when they have gathered store of this Liquor, which they are constrained to let out.

The Epiploon was double and square as usually, but very great. It descen­ded to the Os pubis and was composed of rows of Fat which inclosed the Ves­sels. These rows or bands had each three Angles, and were joyned together by a texture of Net-like Fibres.

[Page 103]The Intestines were not very long, but especially the Intestina crassa, which all three together exceeded not six inches. On the contrary, the Spleen was extraordinary long, containing above six inches in length and two in breadth, and a quarter of an inch in thickness. The Colour thereof was livid, incli­ning to a Black.

The Pancreas was fastened to the Duodenum, and extended towards the Spleen. It was an inch in breadth, and four in length.

The Liver had five great Lobes, and a sixth lesser than the rest, situated in the middle of the lower part. Bartholinus reckons seven. The Liver of the Female was much paler than that of the Male, and it was marked with a great many spots of a darker Red.

The Situation of the Kidneys was such, that the right was higher than the left. They were both fastned to the Loins by a Membrane which we took for the Duplicature of the Paeritoneum, which held them together as they are in Men, and in some other Animals. Bartholinus thinks that this Membrane is that which is particular to them, and which immediately invelopes their Pa­renchyma, but he confesses that it was more easily separated than the proper Membrane used to be.

The Penis was situated between the two Pouches in a Ductus, as has been already declared. At its extremity it had a bone six lines long, one and a half broad at the narrowest place, and above two towards its extremity, where it was larger, and divided; so that it had as it were two heads, between which there was a void space like a Gutter, to give passage to the Urethra.

The Matrix was separated into two long Cornua, at the end of which were the Testicles, whose bigness scarce exceeded that of a great Pea, whose Figure they imitated, being almost round. These Cornua produced likewise beyond the Testicles, some Appendices of a fat and Membranous Substance, of an irregular Figure, which might be taken for the Fringes of the Tuba of the Matrix.

The Lungs had seven Lobes, three on one side, and three on the other, and and a lesser than the rest in the middle in the cavity of the Mediastinum near the Diaphragme. The Lungs of the Female was corrupted and filled with Stones.

The Heart was as in Dogs. The mouth of the Aorta was hardened, and as it were Cartilaginous: and there was a Fat which accompanied the Vasa Coronaria even into the substance of the Heart.

The Muscles of the Temples were very thick, and did cover as in the Lion the two upper sides of the Head. In the Os Frontis there were six Cavities or Sinus's separated from each other by Spongious and very thin Bones. The Cerebrum was divided from the Cerebellum by a transverse Bone, as in the ge­nerality of Brutes. Bartholinus has observed in a Civet-Cat a Bone which part­ed the Cerebrum in two, very different from this and all those which are com­monly found in Brutes in the inside of the Cranium; for it lay long-ways accord­ing to the Sutura Sagittalis.

The Glandula Pinealis was very small, and about the bigness of a little pins head.

The Aqueous humour of the Eye was muddied; which hapned as we thought, by the dissolution of the Black, wherewith the reverse of the Iris [Page 104] is besmeared. The Tapetum strongly inclined to White. Naturalists do say, that the Eyes of this Animal do shine in the night like those of Cats. The Crystalline was more convex inward than outward; but that which it had most remarkable, was an extraordinary hardness, which put us in mind of what Pliny says of the Eyes of the Hyaena, viz. that there are thence taken some Precious Stones called Hyaeniae.

This Particularity joyned to a great many others, which are found common to the Hyaena of the Ancients, and to our Civet-Cat, made us rather to incline to the Opinion of Belonius, (who thought that these are not different Ani­mals) than to that of Scaliger, Ruellius, Alexander Benedictus, Matthiolus, Leo Africanus, Busbequius, Aldrovandus, and almost all the Modern Authors, who would have the Civet-Cat to be unknown to the Ancients, and that it was a Species of Cat: for according to our Remarks, the length of the Head and Eyes of the Civet-Cat, the smalness of the Teeth and Feet, the harshness of its Hair, the softness of its Tongue, the blackness and rectitude of its Nails, and the hoarsness which all Authors have observed in its Voice, which ren­ders it more like to that of Dogs than Cats, are Characters wholly different from those which are seen in all the Species of Cats. But on the contrary, all that the Ancients have related of their Hyaena is found in the Civet-Cat, some Incredible and Ridiculous things only excepted; as to make Dogs silent by its Shadow, as Aristotle and Aelian report; to know how to imitate the Voice of Men, whom it calls by their Name, to intice them from their Habitati­ons, and devour them, as Pliny relates; and to have also Humane Feet, and no Vertebrae in the Neck, like the Animal which Busbequius takes for the Hyaena of the Ancients; which are Particularities, which Leo Africanus has not ob­served in the Animal which he proposes for the Hyaena.

For the Description of the Ancients, as to what concerns the exteriour Form, consists in three things, which are to resemble the Wolf by the Head, to have long staring Hair on the Back, and a particular Aperture under the Tail, besides the two which are commonly there in the Females of other A­nimals. The two first marks which we very distinctly discovered in our Civet-Cat, although, common to other Animals, have seemed to us very convincing, being joyned to the third, which is so particular, that it may be said that there is not known any Animal wherein is found the like. For the Aperture which Hares, Gazella's, and several other Animals have in this place, has nothing that resembles the extraordinary Figure of this which is in the Civet-Cat, and which Aristotle has very distinctly observed in the Hyaena which he describes, by saying, that this Foramen is like to the exteriour Orifice of the Matrix of a Woman.

The sole difficulty which occurs is that the Ancients have not spoken of the Scent of the Civet-Cat: which has made Gillius to think, that it was the Panther of the Ancients, and Castellus, that it was an Hyaena of a particular Species. But it must be considered that most Natural Historians have com­posed their Works upon the Report of others, and that there is reason to doubt, whether the Hunters who informed them of the Particularities of Animals, were not too gross and rude, as are the greatest part of the Savages which are addicted to this Exercise, to be capable of knowing the goodness of the Scent of the Civet-Cat, and in this resemble Beasts that distinguish not the [Page 105] differences of Odours, but as they do relate to eating and drinking; seeing that we do know that the smell of Civet is very disagreeable, and offensive to several when it is new, and not mix'd with other Perfumes: but especi­ally Country persons do not think that sweet Odours are pleasant, and do rather chuse the smell of Garlick and Pitch, than that of Incense and Benjamin; whence it is, that the Indians do call the Musk-Rat the stinking Rat. And now in Africa, according to the report of Gregorius a Bolivar, the Negro's which do gather the Liquor which the Civet-Cats have left on Stones and Truncks of Trees, do not know it by the smell, but only by a thick and Oily tenacity, which makes them to scrape the places where they do find it, with a design to extract the Odorous Liquor, which swims upon the water wherein they boyl what they have scraped.

This incapacity of judging of good Odours, whereof we do suspect the Hunters of the Ancients, do's otherwise appear very credible; because that Authors have writ, that of all Animals the Panther only had a good smell: for it is not probable that these Hunters were of this Belief, only because they never met with a Civet-Cat, Martin, Gennet, Musk-Rat, nor any of the Animals, which those who have a subtiler and nicer smell do reckon to have a good scent; but that the reason of this was the defect of their smelling, which was not the Sense they made use of to judge that Panthers had a good Odour, as Ae­lian avows, but only the thoughts that this must be so; this Opinion being founded only on the power which they saw that the Panther had of drawing Animals to it, which was supposed to be no other thing than a smell which was very pleasing and agreeable to them.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF AN ELK.

THis Animal, which is by all the Northern Writers called Animal Mag­num; by the Germans, Elland, and by the Modern Naturalists Alces, appeared to us at the first view not to be the Alce, which Caesar mentions in his Commentaries, and which Polybius, Solinus, Pausanias, and Strabo, have likewise described after him, because that our Elk was not found wholly con­formable to the Description which these Authors do give of the Alce. Yet when we consider, that they do not agree, and that the Descriptions which they do make of the Alce, are more different from one another, than that wherein they agree is different from our Elk; we thought that all these con­trarieties, which are found only in some partienlars ill explained, are not ca­pable of hindring our Belief that our Elk, and all the Alces of the Antients are the same thing.

For the Reason of the diversity of these Descriptions of the Antients is, that the Elk lives only in Countries where they had no Commerce. And Pausanias reports, that amongst all Animals, the Alce is the sole one that is unknown to Men, because that he suffers them not to approach him, by rea­son that he scents them at a great distance by the extraordinary subtilty of his smelling. But whether it be by this Reason, or by any other, it appears that Authors have very ill examined the Alce, which they have described. For some have reported, that it has Hair of different Colours, like the generali­ty of Goats; others, that it is all of one Colour, like the Camels; some do make it Horned; others without Horns; some do say that it has no Joynts in the Leggs, and so being unable either to lye down, or rise up, it sleeps lean­ing against a Tree, which the Hunters do saw half through, to make the Elk to tumble down, and to catch him; others, that this is not true of the Elk, but of another Animal called Machlis. All these particulars, how con­trary soever, are found in our Elk: which demonstrates, that these Descrip­tions are not different, because that they are of various Animals; but because that those which made them upon the report of others did not well understand [Page 108] what was told them. For it is true that our Elk had hair like a Camel, that is to say, all of one Colour over all the Body; and it is likewise held that the Hair of all Elks is of divers Colours, but it is at different Seasons of the Year. Indeed our Elk which was dissected in Winter had all the Hair of a Grayish Yellow, which is the Colour of the Camel; and the Northern Historians do say that it changes at Summer, at which time the Hair grows paler, as in Deer, whose Hair is paler in Summer than in Winter; and thus it is probable, that Caesar has reported that the Alce or Elk has Hair of two Colours, upon the relation of those which had seen it in Winter and Summer, and that this diversity having been ill explain'd, he understood it of that which he had re­marked in Goats, the generality of which have at the same time Hair of two Colours.

So when Caesar says that the Alce has no Horns, and which Pausanias at­tributes to it, they have both spoken true, because that it may be that Caesar's Hunters had mett only with Females, which have no Hornes; and that those of Pausanias's time had observed that the Males had Hornes.

As for what concern's the Leggs of the Elk, which are pretended to have no Joynts, altho some Authors report that there are Elk's in Moscovia, whose Leggs are Joyntless, there is great probability that this opinion is founded on what is reported of these Elks of Moscovia, as well as of Caesar's Alce, and Pliny's Machlis, that they have Leggs so stiff and inflexible, that they doe run on Ice witout slipping; which is a way that is reported that they have to save themselves from the Wolves which cannot pursue them; and likewise by reason of the stiffness of the blows which they do give with their Feet, which are so strong, that when they do miss the blow which they do level at some Beast, they do with their hind-feet break the Trees like Mushroom's, as Olaus Magnus reports, and that with their fore-feet they have often run the Hun­ters through.

In fine, that which demonstrates that from this diversitie of Descriptions, which is only in respect of some particulars, it ought not to be concluded that the Elk and Alce are two different sorts of Animals, is that the very Descriptions, which the Moderns do make of the Elk, do not agree together, and are not wholly conformable to what we have observed in our Subject. For some, as Erasmus, Stella, and Sigismundus, do report that the Elk has a Solid Foot like a Horse's, according to Pliny, who makes the Alce wholly to resemble a Horse, except in the Neck and Ears, which are otherwise propor­tioned; Menabenus also, and Ioannes Cajus, do give it a Beard like a Goat, and report that the rest of its Hair is not longer than a Horse's: which is not found in other Authors, nor in our Elk, whose Foot was Cloven, and altoge­ther like that of an Ox. Its Hair was also in every part, not only a great deal longer than in Horses, but it even proportionably surpassed that of Goats without any appearance of a Beard.

We found not that piece of Flesh which Polybius reports, after Strabo, to be under the Chin of the Alce, nor the hairs which some do make on its Neck, and which Gesner averrs to have seen in a figure of an Alce, which was sent to him by Sebastian Munster; but these two particularities being singular to each of these Authors, and no Person haveing spoken thereof save them, they ought not to prejudice the common opinion, which makes no difference be­tween the Alce and the Elk.

[Page 109]But that which more confirms this Opinion, is that all the particulars on which the Antients do agree, are found in our Elk; for they do all consent, that the Alce is an Animal near upon the Stature of the Stagg, which it like­wise resembles by the greatness of the Ears, and littleness of the Tail, as also by the Horns, which are not found in female Elks, nor in Hindes. They do also agree in this, that the Alce differs from the Stag in the length and colour of its Hair, in the greatness of its upper Lip, in the smallness of its Neck, and stiffness of its Legs.

Our Elk exceeded five Foot and a half from the end of the Nose to the be­gining of the Tail, which contained but two Inches in length. It had no Horns, because it was a Female; and the Neck was short, being as broad as long, which was Nine Inches; the Ears were Nine Inches in length and four in breadth; and there is reason to admire, why those who have thought the Alce of the Authors of late Times, which they do take for our Elk, was the Onager, or wild Ass of the Antients, are not grounded upon the resemblance of the Ears, which in their bigness do far surpass those of Staggs, Cows, and Goats, and which have none comparable, save those of Asses, which our Elk did better resemble by these Parts, than by the Hair, or Feet; al­though Scaliger affirms, that the Feet of the Elk are like to those of an Ass, and Stella and Sigismundus report, that there are some Elks whose Feet are solid; but there is ground to believe, if this is true, that it is a thing as singular to some Elks, as it is extraordinary to Horses to have a cloven Foot, and to Hoggs to have it solid, as Pliny reports, that these Animals have in certain Countrys.

As to the Hair, the colour of our Elks differed very little from that of the Asse, the Gray of which sometimes approaches that of the Camel, to which we have in this already compared our Elk; but this Hair was in some places very different from that of the Ass, which is a great deal shorter, and from that of the Camel which is a great deal finer. This Hair was three Inches long; and its bigness equalled that of the coursest Horse Hair. This bigness grew lesser toward the extremity which was pointed; and towards the root it was also staitened, but all at once, making as it were the handle of a Lance. This handle was of another Colour than the rest of the Hair, being diaphanous like the Bristles of a Hog. This transparent Part had at the extremity a little head or rotundity, which was the root; and it seems that this Part, which was finer and more flexible than the rest of the Hair, was so made, to the end that the Hair which was else where very hard, might keep close, and not stand an end. This Hair, cut through the middle, appeared in the Microscope spongy on the inside like a rush; which Gesner explains very ill, when he only says, that it is hollow. This Hair was long as a Bears, but straiter and closer, and all of one sort.

The upper Lip was great, and loosed from the Gums, but not so great as Pliny makes it in the Alce, when he says, that this Beast is forc'd to feed backward, to prevent his Lip from getting between his Teeth. And in the Dissection we observed, that Nature has otherwise provided against this inconveniency, by the means of two great and strong Muscles, which are particularly designed for the raising this upper Lip.

We likewise found the Articulations of the Legs strongly knit together by hard and thick Ligaments. Nevertheless it is true, that if one could believe what is reported of the Elk, that being very subject to the Epilepsie, when [Page 110] it is fallen into a Fit of the Distemper, it is Freed and Cured, by lift­ing one of his Feet unto his Ear, and that the Hoof of this Foot is an infallible Remedy for the Epilepsie. This Animal must have joynts far more supple than those of the Alce have appeared to them that thought it had none, and which we have not found in our Elk, or at least it is necessary that the Convulsions wherewith it is agitated being in this Condition, do make some very strange Efforts on the Ligaments of the joynts, to extend them so far beyond what they ordinarily are. But if Olaus Magnus has writ like an Hi­storian, and if it be not in Raillery that he says that of the two Claws which are at the end of each of the Elk's Feet, that alone which is on the outside of the right Foot, is proper to cure the Epilepsie, there must be supposed a much more admirable Dislocation; and it may be said that the Cure of this Distem­per, by the single touch of the Elk's Claw, when a Ring of it is worn, is not more strange, nor incredible than the Contorsion that must be conceived in this Foot, to make the Claw, (which is on the outside) to be put into the Ear: So that to understand what Olaus means, it is probable that his inten­tion was to deride the imaginary Vertue of the Elk's Foot, and that he has very prudently made use thereof. For being unwilling openly to declare his Opinion, which was contrary to that of the Vulgar, who love Specificks, amongst which the Claw of the Elk's Foot is the most Celebrated; and see­ing that they do not so much esteem the Physitians who do make Profession of using Remedies, as Instruments proper to worke some Cures, as those who do boast of Casting them, if I may so say, in a Mould, by Febrifuges, Anti­pleureticks, Antipodagricks, and Antepilepticks; This great Man explains him­self by a Figure, which leaves those who would be deceived in their Error, without scandalizing them, and which makes others to understand his mean­ing. For the Proverb being that the Eye must be rubbed only with the El­bow when it is sore, to signifie that it must not be touched at all; he has in­timated that there is no Claw of the Elk which infallibly cures the Epilepsie, by saying that there is none but that on the outside of the Foot which the Elk can put into its Ear, that can do it: for he adds this impossible qualifica­tion to a great many others which Authors do mention, and which are very difficult, but absolutely necessary, as it is said, to make this Remedy Operate: as to have been cut off with one blow of an Hatchet, the Animal being alive, on St. Giles's day, from a Male which is at Rut, and has not yet engendred; to manifest that the Impostors which would sell Elks Claws, have added all these difficult qualifications, to the end that those who have experienced the Claw of the Elk, which they made use of, to signifie nothing, may think that it is the want of some one of those Qualifications, which is certainly in that which the Merchant presents them.

Having made these Reflections on the firmness of the Ligaments of the Joynts of the Elk, we observed the Figure of the Eye, the great Canthus or Corner of which was slit downwards, a great deal more then it is in Stags, Fallow-Deer, and wild Goats, but after a fashion very extraordinary, which is, that this slit was not according to the length of the Eye, but made an Angle with the line which goes from one of the corners of the Eye to the other. The Dissecti­on discovered to us that this slit was proportioned to the Glandul [...] Lachrymalis, which was found to contain an inch and a half in length and seven lines in breadth.

[Page 111]The internal parts had something resembling those of an Ox, especially in that which concerns the four Ventricles and Intestines. Nevertheless these Parts had this particular, that the first and greatest Ventricle was partly inclo­sed by a Membrane like a Sack, which having abundance of Vessels might pass for the Epiploon; and that instead of the Glands and Fat, which is usually in this part, there was only towards the top some Bladders full of wind about the bigness of a Chesnut. The Intestines, which were forty eight foot long, had a Caecum without an Appendix, which was thirteen inches long, and five broad. It nearly resembled the Figure of a Man's.

The Liver was small, not exceeding one foot in length and seven inches in breadth. It was whole, without Lobes, and even without any appear­ance of the cleft which is over the Cartilago Xiphoides. It was so joyned to the Diaphragme, that it was impossible to separate it from its convex part without cutting it. It had no Gall-Bladder, and it was all over, and even to the bottom of its Parenchyma, of a gray and livid Colour.

The Spleen was likewise very small, being no more than eight inches long and six broad. The Substance of these two Viscera seemed very smooth and Homogeneous: but the Kidneys were in their external Substance spotted with two different Colours, which made it to appear rough like Chagrin, tho to the touch nothing felt rugged. They were not adherent to the Loyns by the Duplicature of the Peritoneum, but fastned only by their Vessels.

The Lungs were divided into seven Lobes, of which there was three on each side, and one at the middle in the Cavity of the Mediastinum. The in­feriour Lobes were each as big again as the superiour.

The Heart was seven inches long, and five broad. Its Figure was pointed, and from the basis to the point there was an Eminence obliquely turned like a Screw, which Eminence answered to the Separation of the two Ventricles, so that it seemed to be a fold of the external part of the right Ventricle upon the left. This Eminence, which is scarcely visible in the Heart of other Ani­mals, was extraordinarily apparent in this. The Septum and rest of the Pa­renchyma of the Heart, which environed the left Ventricle, had the thickness of an inch. The Rings of the Aspera Art [...]ria were imperfect.

The Brain, comprehending the Cerebell [...]m, was but four inches in length, and two and a half in breadth. The smallness of this part compared with the greatness of the Glandula Lacrymalis, (which, as has been said, was an inch long,) seemed to us as an Argument capable of confirming the Opinion of those who believe that the greatest part of the Glands which are about the Brain do not receive from it the Humidities, wherewith they usually are im­bued; but that they are brought to them by the Arteries, or by the Nerves, from which they do receive the Matter, whereof they do make the Lympha. The Curiosity which we had of exactly seeking out the Ductus's designed to receive and convey these Humours, which must be very visible in a part so extraordinary large, could not be satisfied, by reason of the corruption of our Subject, which had been kept so long, that all the Parts began to dissolve with Putrifaction.

The Substance of the Brain differed not from that of the Cerebellum, both being very white, and firm enough, notwithstanding the Corruption, to make it appear very sound, in an Animal so subject to some Distempers, whose [Page 112] seat is placed in the Brain: which according to Cardan, is colder, moister, and more Phlegmatick in this Animal than in any other.

The Glandula Pinealis was of an extraordinary size, exceeding three lines in length, like that which we found in the Dromedary; but its Figure was Conical as usually, whereas the Glandula of the Dromedary had the form of a Trefoile. This greatness, which to us seemed very considerable, in regard of the smalness of the rest of the Brain, made us to think that those who, following Erasistratus, do attribute to the different Formation of the Organs of the Brain the divers Operations of the interiour Senses, might fortifie them­selves in their Opinion by some such like Observations; considering that Lions, Bears, and other fierce and cruel Beasts, have this part so little, that it is almost imperceptible; and that it is very great in those which are timerous like the Elk, which is held to be so fearful, that it dies with fear, when it has recei­ved the least wound: and it is observable that he never recovers when he sees the smallest drop of his own Blood.

In the Brain we likewise found another part, whose bigness had relation to the smelling, which is more exquisite in the Elk than in any other Animal, according to the Testimony of Pausanias, as has been already declared: For the Processus Mammillares, which are thought to be the Organs of that Sense, were without comparison greater than in any Animal that we have Dissected, being above four lines in Diameter.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF A COATI MONDI.

THE Coati is an Animal of Brazile, which is variously described by Na­turalists; and their Descriptions do not exactly agree with what we have observed in ours: which may cause a belief that there are several Spe­cies of them. Deleri in his Voyage of Brazile gives it a Snout a Foot long, round as a stick, and as small at the beginning as towards the end, very like the Proboscis or Trunk of an Elephant, to which Margravius also compares this Snout: but in his Figure he makes it like that of our Coati, which had nothing of an Elephant's. Trunck but its mobility, which is scarce otherwise than that of a Hog. In the Kings Library, amongst a vast number of Ani­mals painted in Miniature with a great deal of exactness, there is the Figure of a Coati which some of the Society saw alive; which though it resembles ours, yet is different in some very considerable particulars, such as are the shape of the Teeth and Feet, which were very extraordinary in our Subject: but notwithstanding it is found to have sufficient resemblance to the Figure which Margravius, Laet, and Deleri have given thereof, and to that which is in the Kings Library, to make it thought to be a kind of Coati.

It was in all thirty five inches and a half; viz. six inches and a half from the end of the Snout to the hinder part of the Head, and sixteen inches from the Occiput to the beginning of the Tail, which was thirteen inches long. From the top of the Back to the extremity of the fore-Feet was ten inches; and there was twelve to the end of the hind-feet. Its Snout was very long, and movable like that of a Hog; but it was straiter and longer in proportion. Its motion was more evident than in the Hog, its Snout easily turning up­wards.

The four Paws had each five Toes, the Claws of which were black, long, crooked, and hollow like those of the Castor. The Toes of the fore-Paws were a little longer than those of the hind-Paws, which were like to those of the Bear, excepting that the whole sole was without Hair, wherewith the Heel [Page 116] of the Bear is covered. The Palms and Soles of these four Paws were cove­red with a soft and tender skin as in the Ape; and this softness of skin was the only thing which our Subject had of the Ape, to which we found it had no other resemblance, although it was given us for a Sagoin, which is a kind of Mon­ky: for its Tail, whose length in some sort resembled the Tail of the Apes, which are called Cercopitheci, was different therefrom in the length of the Hair, which is a great deal shorter in the Tail of Apes proportionably to their Body. The sole of the hinder-paws was long, having a Heel, at the extremity of which there were several Scales a line broad, and five or six long. They grew out behind, heaped together like a Marigold, when it closes it self at Night.

The Hair was short, rough and knotty. It was blackish on the Back, in some places of the Head, and at the end of the Paws and Snout. As for the rest of the Body it was mix'd with Black and Red, yet so that the bot­tom of the Belly and Throat was of a deeper Red in some places than in others. The Tail was covered with a Hair of these two Colours, which formed several Circles, or Knots, the one Black, and the other mix'd with Black and Red.

The Tongue was chop'd with several Fissures or Strokes, which made it to resemble the top of a leaf of a Tree.

The Eyes were very small, like a Pigs. The Ears were round like those of Rats; and covered at the top with a very short hair, but in the inside with a longer, and whiter.

There were six Incisores in each Jaw. The Canini were very large, especially those of the lower Jaw. Their Figure had something more par­ticular, not being round, blunt, and white as in a Dog, Wolf, or Lion, but sharp by the means of three Angles, which at the extremity formed a point sharp like an Aule. They were grayish, and somewhat transparent. The Gula was large, and cleft as a Hogs; and the lower Jaw was also as in a Hog, very much shorter than the upper.

Now there was not found any of these particulars in the Sagoin; and these two Animals having nothing common save the Country wherein they do breed, which is Brazile, we have found no Description in the Authors which have treated of the particular Animals of America Meridionalis, which fuites better to what we have observed in our Subject, than that of the Animal which Margravius and Laet in their Brazilian History do call Coati, which is a Genus whereof they do make two Species; the one has Red Hair all over the Body, and is simply called Coati; the other has only the Belly and Stomach of this Colour, which they do call Coati Mondi.

In the Description which these Authors do make of this Animal, the marks which we have there described, and which we have met with in our Subject, do all occurr except the Teeth and Scales, which are at its Heels, which they have not mentioned, and the Tail, which in their Coati's they do make much longer than the rest of the Body. But Laet reports that these Animals used to bite off their Tail, and that they do live on it some time, which at last they do wholly devour, and then die. It might be that ours so shortned his. They do likewise say that the Coati's have hands made like those of Monkies: which appeared not in our Subject, whose feet were otherwise very like to the Fi­gure which Margravius has inserted in his Book.

[Page 117]By the Dissection we found, that under the Skin, and between the Mus­cles there was a great deal of Fat, white and hard like Tallow. The Penis was hid in a passage an inch deep, and as much broad, whose Aperture was under the Belly, about four Fingers distant from the Anus. This Penis was provided with a Bone, whose length did in proportion exceedingly surpass that of the Bones which are found in the Penis of other Animals which have it. It was thick at both ends, and had a Figure resembling the Bone of a Pullets Thigh. Along the Penis there were two Veins very large▪ and full of Blood, which went to the Balanus. The Testicles were like to those of Dogs.

The Epiploon was very small. It had little Fat, and was a complication of Fibres and Fillets rather than a Membrane. It was not laid upon the In­testines, but tucked upon the Ventricle.

The Spleen was two inches and a half long. It was of a Dark-red at the side of the Stomach in its hollow part, and Blackish at the extremity in its gib­bous part. There was not observed any Vessels in the external Membrane of the Ventricle, except the Coronaria Stomachica, which appeared towards the upper Orifice, and soon disappeared, shooting forth a few Branches.

The Liver was somewhat blackish, and of a Substance very Homogeneous, without any appearance of Glands. It had seven Lobes, two great ones on the left side, and five other small ones on the right side. The Bladder was between the two upper Lobes.

The Pancreas, which was fastned along the Duodenum, inclining more to­wards the right Kidney than towards the Spleen, was very small. The Me­sentery was all filled with a very hard Fat, which inclosed, and almost concealed all its Vessels.

The Intestines contained in all seven foot in length. They were all of one thickness, and had nothing which might distinguish them from each other; there was no Caecum.

The right Kidney was a great deal higher than the left, so that two Lobes of the Liver covered it.

The Lungs had five Lobes; two on the right side, and two on the left, which were somewhat smaller; and a fifth in the Mediastinum.

The Heart, which resembled that of a Dog, had the right Auricle extreme­ly great. In the right Ventricle, and in the right Auricle, there was found a great deal of slimie matter, hardened.

The Musculus Crotophites, passing under the Zygoma, was fastned there. It was extraordinary fleshie, even to its insertion, which is made by a very large tendon, which was inclosed between two pieces of Flesh, much thicker than those which are generally found in this place, and which are thought to be there put to defend and strengthen the tendon of the Muscle of the Temples.

The Orbita was not Bony throughout, but it was supplied in the upper part, by a Crrtilaginous Ligament, which joyned the Apophysis of the Os Frontis to that of the first Bone in the upper Jaw.

The Bone which separates the Cerebrum from the Cerebellum, was as in Dogs. The Dura Mater was very adherent to the Cranium. The Sinus's of the Os Frontis were full of a matter like a fryable Fat. The Mamillares Processus were very large.

[Page 118]The Globe of the Eye exceeded not four lines and a half in Diameter. The Aperture of the Eye-lids was larger, and the Pupilla it self was not lesser than the whole Globe of the Eye. The Crystalline contained three lines in breadth, and two and a half in thickness, and was more convex inwards than outwards. This thickness of the Crystalline made the two other Humours to be less in quantity. The Choroides was all over of the same colour, viz. of a very brown-red, without any Tapetum, which is hardly ever wanting in the Eyes of other Animals.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF A SEA-CALF.

RONDELETIVS has observ'd that the Sea-Calfe is of two Species, one of which is found in the Mediterranean, and the other in the Ocean. But he makes no other difference between each of these two Species than the habit of the Body, which he reports to be fuller in the Sea-Calfe of the Ocean than in that of the Mediterranean, which is not so thick and short as the other. The Sea-Calfe whose description we make had more resemblance with this second Species than with the first.

It had a long Neck and the Head farther distant from the Shoulders than it is in the Calfe of the Ocean, so as it is represented in the figures we have of it; and the rest of the Body was likewise straiter. The Breast was broad by reason of the situation of the Omoplata, which were forwarder than they are in other Animals, which have the Breast Pointed and narrow when the Omoplata are backwarder. The whole Animal was twenty eight Inches in length from the Nose to the end of the hind-Feet, which according to the disposition that they Naturally have in this Animal, were extended and joyn­ed one to the other; having in this only the forme of a Fish's Tail, according to the Description of Aristotle, which is contrary to that of Rondeletius, who represents the Sea-Calf, as well that of the Ocean as of the Mediterrrnean, without hind-feet, and who reprehends Aristotle for reporting that this Animal has Toes on the hind-feet like to those of the fore-feet; so that it seems that Rondeletius has confounded the true Sea-Calfe or Phoca of the Ancients, with the Sea-Ox of the West-Indies which has no hind-feet, but only a misha­pen Fish-Tail, which it makes use of for Swiming, which it performes with a very great Swiftness, according to Clusius, who says that he saw one which the Hollanders had brought from the Indies.

The Sea-Calfe which we describe had not only two hind-feet, but besides that a Tail of an Inch and a half long, which Aristotle justly compares to the Tail of a Stagg. Tis true that the Toes of these feet were not so shaped nor [Page 121] so distinct as in the fore-feet, and that these two feet thus extended as they were, and joyned one against the other had rather the Forme of a Fishe's Tail, than that of the feet of Animals which have any, and which they commonly bend under the Belly. These feet were like to those of a Ducker, which cannot walk like other Birds, by holding their Body parallel to the ground, but which are forc't to go upright like man.

Aristotle says that the feet of the Sea-Calfe resemble Hands: his meaning is that the fore-feet of this Animal, in stead of the three parts which do com­pose the Arme of a Man, viz. the Arme, Cubitus, and Hand, have only the last correspondent to the hand of Man, so that this Part proceeds immedi­ately from the Breast. The Sea Ox of the Western Islands, which is a kind of Sea-Calf of a prodigious bigness, is there called Manaty; because that accor­ding to Oviedo's remarks, it has only the fore-feet, which by the Spaniards are in all Animals commonly called Hands. In our Subject the Brachium and Cubitus were inclosed and lockt up under the Skin which covered the Breast; and there was only the Paws which came outwards. These Paws thus clo­sed and contracted did not seem to us sufficient to serve the Female to im­brace her Young, as Oppian reports that she do's, when she carry's them to Sea: They did likewise appear, even as the hind-feet, fitter for swiming than walk­ing; altho' in truth, neither the one nor the other of these feet could well serve to walk conveniently. Aelian has observed, that the Females have a great care of carrying and frequently recarrying their Young Ones, some­times into the Sea, and sometimes on Land▪ it is probable, that this is to teach them to Swim, and walk, by a long Exercise, which produces a ha­bit capable of supplying the conveniences which Nature has denyed them. 'Tis likely that Homer calls the Sea-Calves Nepodes, by reason it may be said, that they do Swim with Feet, and walk with Fins, and not because they have no Feet, as Eustathius explains it. These Feet had Claws which were not so necessary for swiming as they are for walking. So that it seems, that Nature, who has made the Sea-Calf to live like the Castor, on Land and in the Water, has given Organs to each of these Animals to go with more or less ease, according as it has designed them to be more generally in the one or o­ther of these Elements; for the Sea-Calf, which is oftner in the Sea, than on Land, walks not with so much ease and facility as the Castor; and the Castor Swims not so easily as the Sea-Calf, because it goes into the Water on­ly to catch Fish, and makes not its common residence there.

For these very Reasons, the Heart and Lungs of the Sea-Calf have a par­ticular conformation, to inable this Animal to continue a long time under Water without breathing, as shall hereafter be explained; but the Castor which stays not long in the Water, has not this particular formation of the Heart; at least we have not found it in the two Castors which we dissected, the one whereof was of Canada, the other of France.

The Head was not short and round, as Rondeletius describes it, and its Nose was long enough to make it resemble the Head of a Calf. But the Eyes were not like those of a Calf, which has them full, and as it were standing out of the Head; for those of our Subject were hid, and as it were sunk into their Orbites, whose upper Edge was not raised, as it is in the Calf. Nevertheless thes [...] Eyes were large, containing fifteen Lines Diameter. There was an in­ternal Eye-lidd to cover the Eye; it was drawn up and hid in the great Can­thus.

[Page 122]Over the Eyes there wanted those long Hairs which Rondeletius and Seve­rinus do there place, and it only had some at the sides of the Nose, which were of a very peculiar Figure, being square and flatted with knots from space to space, and very close to one another, as it is represented in the Fi­gure.

Beyond the Eyes there were holes for the internal Ears as in Birds, and there were no external ones. Aristotle has observed that this is peculi­ar to the Sea-Calf, which among all viviparous Animals, is the sole one that has internal, and no external Ears.

The whole skin was covered with a short Hair, very like to that of the Land- Calf. Silvaticus dos [...]ill compare it to that of the Goat which is very long. Its Colour was between a Gray and Yellow, somewhat fainter towards the Belly than towards the Back, which was chequered with Spots, about the bigness of ones Nail, of a dark-red. Pliny reports that this Hair, a long time after that the Skin has been flead, retains such a simpathy with the Sea, that it follows its motions, and that sometimes it stares, sometimes is smooth, as the Sea swells or is abated by its flux and reflux. Severinus declares that he had seen this Miracle; but he expresses it with such excess, that it is the less credible. He says, that when the North-wind blows, the Hairs which were raised by the South-wind are not only laid, but do wholly disappear. Cardan affirms that this Property, which had passed for Fabulous, was found true in the Indies. Experience has demonstrated to us that this Miracle is never seen at Paris. For having kept and observed this Skin for several Months, we found that the Hair was in all weathers of the same highth and situa­tion.

The Skin was hard and thick. Pliny says that it is impossible to kill the Sea-Calf but by breaking its Head. The Historians of the West-Indies do re­port that the Skin of the Manati being Tanned is above an inch thick, and that thereof is made the Soles of Shooes.

The Teeth which were long and sharp in both the Jaws, were very unlike to those of the Calf, and do better resemble the Teeth of a Wolf. So that the Spaniards and Germans have reason to call this Animal the Sea- Wolf. Besides, the mild and heavie disposition of the Land-Calf has very lit­tle resemblance with that of the Sea-Calf, which Naturalists report to be Crafty, Bold, and Couragious, living on Rapine, having the Industry of As­sembling with its Kind, to attack the greatest Fishes, and strength enough to defend it self on Land against the Bear: which is hardly credible of the Calves of the Stature of ours, and can agree only with those which are ta­ken near England, which according to Gesner are as great as the Bears; or ra­ther with those whereof Gomara Oviedo, Pedro Ciesa, and the last relations of the Ant-Isles do speak, which are of a size so Prodigious, that there are found some twenty foot long and seven thick. But Names are most frequently given to Fish by reason of some resemblances that they have, as it is pretended, to cer­tain things, whether that Similitude be taken from their shape, or dispositions. Thus the Sea-Sheep has this Appellation, because it is white, and has crook­ed Horns like that of the Land; and the Sea-Calf is by some called a Wolf, by reason that it lives on Rapine. Nevertheless by this reason it should be called a Sheep, if compared to the Sea-Sheep; and the Sea-Sheep ought on the [Page 123] contrary to be called a Wolf, because that according to Aelian, the Sea-Sheep hunts the Sea-Calves, and devours them.

The Tongue was very like to that of a Calf, being large, flat, and smooth. It was forked, and cut in two at the end, as Aristotle has remarqued; but not double, round, and small, as in Serpents, and Lizards, as Pliny describes it.

The Larynx had a particular formation, the Epiglottis being proportiona­bly larger than in other Animals; it went half an inch in length beyond the Glottis, to cover it. It is probable that this is done more exactly to close the entrance of the Aspera Arteria, when this Animal eats his Prey at the bottom of the Sea, and to hinder the water from running into its Lungs.

The Ventricle was in form of an Intestine, which was contracted towards its two Orifices. Severinus describes it round like an Ostrich's Egg. The in­teriour Membrane was folded, and made several wrinckles. Severinus de­scribes it without wrinckles. These wrinckles from the Superiour Orifice to the middle of the Ventricle were waved, and from thence unto the Pylorus they were strait. This seems to have some resemblance with the Ventricles of A­nimals which chew the Cud, in which the wrinckles of the lower Ventricle are strait, and according to the length of the Ventricle; whereas in the upper they are transversal and oblique.

In the inside of the Ventricle there was found a round bottom of the Sea-herb called by the Sea-men Wreck, which is a kind of Fucus. This clue or bottom was of the bigness and shape of a Nut. It closed the upper Orifice of the Ventricle, insomuch that it seemed that this round lump had been push'd into this Orifice by the effort of an extraordinary compression, and by the contraction of the Ventricle.

The Liver had six Lobes, two great ones underneath and behind, and four small ones at the top and before. The Gall-bladder was between the great right Lobe behind, and the first of the small ones which are before of the same side. Belonius reports according to Aristotle, that the Sea-Calf has no Gall. Pliny would have it in the Breast; which agrees not with what he re­lates, that this Animal vomits up its Gall when pursued by the Fisher-men, by reason of the knowledge he has that he is taken only for his Gall, which is profitable for the Cure of several Diseases: for it would be impossible for him to vomit up this Gall which is in his Breast, it being incredible that he can un­derstand the intentions of the Fishermen: unless that this Sagacity be pecu­liar to it, and other Amphibia, such as are the Castor, Serpents, and Frogs, which this same Author reports to take care to get rid of the things for which they are sought after; so that the Castor tears off the Pouches wherein is con­tained the Medicinal Liquor of the Castoreum, the Serpents do swallow the precious Skin which they do cast at the Spring, the Frogs do daily vomit up certain Salutiferous Liquors which are ingendred in their Bodies, for fear of being killed for this Liquor.

The Kidneys resembled not those of the Otter, as Rondeletius says, because the Kidneys of the Otter are composed of several small separate ones, which have each their Emulgent Vessels and particular Ureters, as is represented in the Figure of the Kidneys of the Bear. The Kidneys of our Subject were more like to the Kidneys of the Land-Calf, being cleft at top only in their Surface by chops which did not sink very deep: but these chops were much more [Page 124] numerous than in the Land-Calf, and they made this Kidney to seem compo­sed of several Glands joyned together. These Kidneys did likewise differ from those of the Land-Calf, in that besides the great Pelvis which is in the gibbous part of that Kidney, there were several other small ones scattered in several places in the Substance of the Kidney, insomuch that it seemed that every of these small Pelves appertained to each of the little particular Kidneys of which the great one was composed, and that the Parenchyma of every of these particular Kidneys made but one single Mass. The Membra­na Adiposa of the Kidney was all interspersed with very visible Vessels, which made Rondeletius to say that the Emulgents enter not into the Cavity of the Kidney in the Sea-Calf as in other Animals, but that they are distributed over the whole Body of the Kidney. The greatest part of these Vessels in the left Kidney were the Branches, or rather the Roots of the Spermatick Vein, which by reuniting did form three great Branches, which the Trunck of the Spermatick Vein, that proceeds from the Emulgent, did by the way receive. This left Kidney was accompanied with a Succenturiatus, which was about the bigness of a Filbert, and immediately adhering to the Trunck of the Vena Cava.

The Lungs had but one Lobe on each side, which was only a little trans­versly cut through the middle.

The Heart was round and flat. Its Ventricles appeared very large, and its Auricles very small. The Trunck of the Aorta proceeded from the Heart two inches in length before it returned downwards. Underneath the great Aper­ture through which the Trunck of the Vena Cava conveyed the blood into the right Ventricle of the Heart, there was another which penetrated into the Arteria Venosa, and from thence into the left Ventricle, and afterwards into the Aorta. This hole, which is called the Foramen Ovale in the Foetus, makes the Anastomosis by the means of which the blood goes from the Cava into the Aorta without passing through the Lungs; and it is apparently for the same use that this passage is found in the Sea-Calf and Foetus, by reason of the ne­cessity which each have of living without respiration, viz. the Foetus whilst in the Womb of its Mother, and the Sea-Calf whilst under water. Which demonstrates that Respiration is necessary for the Circulation, and that the Blood which the Lungs have received from one of the Ventricles of the Heart by being dilated, is afterwards thrust into the other Ventricle by the compression of the Heart. And it is probable that the facility which the Sea-Calf has of Diving a long time under water, must rather be attributed to this particular formation of the Vessels of the Heart and Lungs, than to the small­ness of the Lungs, which is the reason that Pliny alledges.

Between these two holes which were in the Trunck of the Vena Cava, there was a Membranous separation made by a fold of the interiour Coat of the Vein.

In the Ventricles of the Heart, and in the Lungs, there was found great store of Blood. Pliny reports that these parts in the Sea-Calf do contain less blood than in other Animals. This blood being kept congealed very firmly.

Aristotle and Pliny do affirm that the Bones of the Sea-Calf are Cartilagi­nous: we found that they were real Bones very hard, especially those of the Cranium. The Dura Mater was fastned to the Skull, and redoubled to make [Page 125] the Falx. There was a bone between the Cerebrum and Cerebellum like as in Dogs and other Animals which do live by Rapine, and which do eat Flesh, and not Grass, like the Calf. This Bone was flat and pointed, and not round and massie, so as that which is found in the Head of the Lamantin, which is a kind of Sea-Calf of the West-Indies, and which is held to be a Bone which has a peculiar Vertue for dissolving the Stone of the Kidneys and Bladder.

The Sinuosities and Cavities of the Brain were as in the Calf: but there was more of the Cerebellum proportionably than there is in the head of a Calf; which is unusual in Fishes, which have very little Cerebellum. The Glandula Pinealis was two lines in length and little less in breadth. Natural-lists have observed that this Animal participates nothing of the Stupidity of Fishes, but that it equalls the most subtill Sagacity of Terrestrial Animals. Pliny testifies that there were shewn some at Rome which answered when they were called, and which with voice and gesture saluted the People in the Theatres. Gomara makes mention of a Manati, or Sea-Calf of the Indies of a prodigious size, which being tamed, did come when it was called by its name, and carried ten men upon its Back in a Lake where an Indian Prince kept it. Aldrovandus reports that he saw one which did Sing for the Christi­an Princes and not for the Turks.

The Crystalline was almost Sphaerical after the usual manner of Fishes, and the more convex part was before, contrary to what is usual. The whole Choroides was besmeared with a white and very opake substance. In the Re­tina there were three branches of blood-vessels, which did enter into the Eye with the Optick Nerve, and were spread over the whole Membrane. This Optick Nerve did enter into the middle of the Eye, and its entrance was di­rectly opposite to the Crystalline.

These two Remarks are favourable to the Opinion of those which do hold that the reception of the visual Species is made on the surface of the Retina and not the Choroides; because that the Vessels which being spread into the Retina are laid upon the Choroides, must, by reason of their Opacity, oppose the passage of the visual Species, and hinder them from going to the Choroi­des: which these Vessels do not in regard of the Retina because, that it covers them with its surface which terminates and locks up the Vitreous Humour. The Situation of the Optick Nerve which was found in the Axis of the Eye, and which by consequence did directly receive the visual Species, seems to de­monstrate that it is not the Choroides which receives the Species, see­ing that there is no Choroides at the principal place where the Species do fall; but that it is the Retina which is extended over the Optick Nerve as well as on all the other places on which the Species may fall.

The left Eye was contracted, and a great deal less than the right; and was found to have been hurt, the Humours being half suppurated. In the Eyes of this Subject there was not found the thousand Colours which Natualists report to be there observable.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF A BARBARY COW.

THis Animal was about the size of a Cow. Its Hair was of a Fox-red, paler towards the point than the root. It was a little shorter than it commonly is in Cows, and almost of the same bigness towards the point as the root: which is contrary to the Hair of Animals, which is most frequently bigger towards the root than towards the other end. Yet we have before re­marqued an irregularity opposite to this in the Hair of an Elk, which was a great deal smaller towards the root than towards the middle.

The disposition of the Body, Legs, and Neck made it better to resemble a Stag than a Cow, of which it had only the Hornes, which were in a great ma­ny things different from those of Cows. They were each of them a foot long, and took their rise very near one another, by reason the Head was in this part exceeding narrow. They were very thick, bent backward, black, wreathed like a Screw, and worn before and at top, so that the raised parts which formed the Screw, were there wholly effaced. The Tail was larger at its beginning than towards its end, after the manner of all the cloven foot­ed Quadrupeds of Barbary which we have Dissected. It exceeded not thirteen Inches in length comprehending a tuft of black hair three inches long, which it had at its extremity. The Ears were seated not at top of the Temples, and underneath the Horns as in Cows, but more backward: as for the rest they were like to the Ears of the Gazella, being covered in the inside with a white Hair in some places, the rest being bald, and discovering a skin perfectly black and smooth. The Eyes were so high and so near the Horns, that the Head seemed to have almost no fore-head.

The Teats were very little, very short, and only two in number: which rendred them different from those of Cows. The Shoulders were very high, making a bunch at the beginning of the Back. There was another bunch opposite to this of the Back, viz. at the bottom of the Sternum, like as in the Camel.

[Page 128]We found that all the particulars which are observed in this Animal were seen in the Bubalus which Aldrovandus describes, and the Figure of which was sent him by Horatius Fontana. There is only the bunch of the Sternum which neither Aldrovandus nor Fontana do speak of. It is probable that this Animal ought rather to be taken for the Bubalus of the Ancients, than the lit­tle African Ox which Belonius describes: for Aristotle compares the Bubalus to the Stagg. Aelian reports that it is very nimble footed; Oppian attributes to it Horns bent backward; and Pliny averrs that it altogether resembles a Calf and a Stagg. But there is not found any of these marks in the Animal which Belonius describes, and they all occurr in the Animal which we speak of, as may be easily demonstrated, if reflection be made on all the particulars be­fore remarqued. But it is no wonder that Belonius is deceived in attributing to his little Ox the name of Bubalus, seeing that Pliny testifies that even in his time this word and appellation was very equivocal, and that it was given to Animals which had no similitude with the Bubalus.

As for the inward parts, the Epiploon inclosed and covered the Ventricles. It was Composed of a Membrane very thin, but continued and not pierced. The Vessels were included in a thick Caul. Its Ligatures were fastned to the two last Ventricles, viz. from the Pylorus to the second Ventricle, to the up­per part which touches the Diaphragme, and from thence it extended over the two first, by bending it self towards the left side.

The Ventricles were in number four. The first and greatest was velveted with an infinite number of small Teats, which made the exteriour surface of the internal Membrane of this Ventricle, as it is in the generality of other Ani­mals which chew the Cud: but this Membrane was easily separable from the external as in the Gazella. The second Ventricle had its internal Membrane in form of Net-work; and this Net-work, as in Sheep, was nothing else but the Folds of this Membrane, which was looser than the external; and these folds were of different Figures, some Triangular, others Square, and others Pentagonal. The third, as usual had its internal Membrane much looser than the second, and the folds which it had were more raised, but they were all ranged long-wise, making as it were leaves indented. The Fourth, which alone was greater than the Second and Third together, was likewise filled with Leaves; but they were without indentures, and their Situation was transverse, as it were to stop and retain the Nourishment a longer time. Such a Structure has been observed in the Sea-Fox, where the Cavity of the In­testine was interrupted by Membranes transversly situated, and disposed like a Snail-shell or Newel of a winding Stair-case; and this very transverse Situa­tion of Leaves has been found in the Coecum of Apes, in the Colon of Hares, and Rabits, in the Colons and two Caecums of Ostriches, and in the Iejunum of Man: The Colour of this last Ventricle was very different from that of the others, being of a very darkred.

The Intestines were all together seventy and eight feet. The Caecum was eighteen inches long, and three broad. It had a Nervous Ligament, which nevertheless caused not any Cells.

The Pancreas was fastened along the little Ventricles. The Spleen was ten inches in length and four in breadth. It was half joyned to the Ven­tricle.

[Page 129]The Liver was round and without Lobes, Being only a little cleft before and behind. In the Trunk of the Vena Porta there was observed little Mem­branes in form of Valves, which half covered the holes of the branches which do carry the blood from the Trunck of the Porta into the Substance of the Liver, to hinder it from returning into the Trunck. These Valves which have not been yet seen in the Liver of any Animal, are very favoura­ble to the Pulsation, which Glisson attributes to the branches which the Porta casts into the Liver: for this pulsation, which he thinks to be communicated to them by the Arteries, which are joyned and fastened to them by the assi­stance of a Capsula, which incloses the Vein with the Artery: this Capsula ha­ving a particular motion of constriction, is not easie to conceive without these Valves; it being hard for the blood lock'd up in these Veins to form any pulsation when it is struck by the dilatation of the neighbouring Arteries, if not inclosed and retained by some adjoyning obstacle, such as is that of the Valves; otherwise it will necessarily flow back into the Trunck, and Branches which do convey the blood thither: for the impetuosity of the motion of this blood towards the trunck cannot supply this obstacle, as Glisson pretends, by reason of the weakness of the Tunicle of the Veins, which do bring this blood into the Trunck: for these Veins would have more need of a Capsula to be strengthned, than the branches which are in the Liver, the Parenchyma whereof might be sufficient to strengthen them. So that it seems that for want of these Valves, the beating would be much greater in the Branches which do convey the Blood into the Trunck of the Vena Porta, than in those which do distribute it into the Substance of the Liver; and that this beating must be as contrary to the motion of the blood contained in these branches, as advantagious to that which must be distributed in the Liver.

The Gall-bladder was at the extremity and on the edge of the hollow part on the right side. It was fastned to the Liver by its internal half, and the Membrane which made the outward half was thin, fine, and all folded, be­ing intirely void of Gall.

The Lungs had seven Lobes: the five upper ones were small; the two lower contained nine inches in length and five in breadth. They were fastned to each other towards the middle by a Membranous Ligament half an inch broad, and two thirds of an inch long.

The Rings of the Aspera Arteria which were imperfect, did leave the space of a fingers breadth without a Cartilage at the place towards the Back-bone, and which touches the Oesophagus. These Rings were of such a Figure, and so disposed, that their extremities flatned, and inlarged, did each form as it were two Wings or Auricles, which were laid one upon the other; so that for instance the lower Wings or Auricles of the first Cartilage were covered with the upper Wings of the second, which with its lower wings did like­wise cover the upper wings of the third, which did cover its lower wings with the upper ones of the fourth. This continued after the same manner in all the Cartilages of the Aspera Arteria, as is represented in the Figure, which alone can sufficiently demonstrate this extraordinary Structure. The residue of every Ring, which was the hardest part, was hollow in its middle, and left two eminencies at its sides. This conformation did in this place make the Aspera Arteria more rough than it generally is; because that the in­equality [Page 130] of the two different Substances which compose it, namely, the Mem­brane, and Cartilage which is found in all forts of Asperae Arteriae, this had over and above the inequality which the Cavities or Indentings, that were in each Ring, did make.

The Cornea in the Eye was of an oval Figure, as it usually is in other Cows. The Iris was Yellow, a little inclining to Red. The Crystallinus was more con­vexbehind than before.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF A CORMORANT.

THis Bird is called a Cormorant, that is to say Crow-Marine, because that it is generally all black, and is an Aquatick Animal. Gesner says that it is for this reason that it is by Albertus Magnus called Carbo aquaticus. Gaza is of Opinion that the Corax of Aristotle is this very Bird, not only by reason of the Greek Name, which signifies Crow, but likewise of the other marks by which this Philosopher designs it, which do perfectly agree with the Cormo­rant that we describe.

It was twenty seven inches from the end of the Bill to the extremity of the Tail, and three foot and a half from one end of the Wings expanded to the other. There are seen a great many larger on the Sea-Shore. Its whole Plumage was Black, or a very dark gray, somewhat greenish on the wings, except the Belly, and under the Neck, which were covered with white Fea­thers, the end of which was blackish: which made these white parts to seem spotted with brown, Gesner reports that in Switzerland these Cormorants which are there called Scharbi, that is to say Coals, have some of them white Bellies.

Under the great plumes which cover the Body, there was a gray down extremely fine and thick, as in Swans. Aldrovandus reports that the Skins of Cormorants are prepared like those of Vultures, and used to cover and warm the Stomach.

The Feathers which did garnish and adorn the Neck were very short, and those which did cover the Head much shorter: but they were very thick and small like Fringe. This demonstrates the Cormorant not to be the Phalocro­corax, which is so called; because it has no Feathers on the Head, and that Pliny is deceived, when he says that the aquatick Crow, which is the Cormo­rant, is naturally bald, and that this particularity has given it the name which it has amongst the Greeks. Bel [...]nius held the same Opinion. These Plumes upon the Head were four lines in length, strait, and staring. This made the Head to appear less flat than indeed it is, although it very much appeared so with these Feathers.

[Page 134]Towards the root, as well of the upper as lower Beak, there was a Skin without Feathers: it was likewise extended round the Eye. This Skin was Red. Aldrovandus reports that it is generally white, and Gesner makes it of a Saffron-Colour. This same Skin was extended under the Beak, upon the Cavity which is generally there. In this place it was of a Pale-yellow.

The Bill at the sides was Gray mix'd with Red, and Black at the top. It was three inches in length, from the opening to its extremity. It was crooked, and very pointed at the end. This Beak served him to catch Fish; but be­cause that he could only swallow them backwards, or sidewise, and could not conveniently swallow the Tail first, by reason of the Fins, Crests, and Scales, which hindred them from entring into his Throat, he used to cast them in the Air, to receive them with the Head first: which he does with so much dexterity that he never misses. This Bird is made use of for Fishing, by putting an Iron Ring at the bottom of its Neck, to the end that the Fish being received into the Oesophagus, which is very large, making a kind of Craw, might not enter into the Ventricle, and they might easily be made to cast them up.

In the Beak there was not any hole for the Nostrils, although in the Palate there was one large enough to permit the Vapours to rise up to the Organs of the Smelling.

The Eyes were small, and situated very near the Bill. Being shut, the line which the Eye-lids made, was somewhat more oblique than it generally is in Birds.

The Feet were short, not exceeding four inches from the Belly to the Ground, and there were seven to the end of the greatest Toe. These Feet were very black, and shining, covered with long, and strait Scales in the inside of the Foot, and on the middle of the Toes. These four Toes were webb'd together by some Membranes, which we have alrea­dy remark'd in a Scotch Goose. These Membranes were speckled like Chagrin. These four Toes, which were all of a row, went lessening from the great to the little one. The great and little one did make a right Angle, the great one being on the outside, and the little one on the inside. The two other Toes were likewise on the inside, between the great and little one; which is unusual in other two-footed Animals, especially Man, whose Foot has the great Toe inwards, and the others outwards: for this is so made to support and more firmly to settle the Body on the Feet, on which the Prominence or Protuberance which the toe has on the outside is necessary, to hinder it from bending on either side; but this prominence is wholly useless on the inside; because that the opposite Leg sufficiently supports the Body on that side. These Toes had sharp and crooked Claws: the greatest exceeded not five lines. Yet there was this remarkable in these Claws, that those of the second toe, which is next to the greatest, were serrate or toothed in each Foot, on the side to­wards the third toe. The great toe, which was three inches long, was composed of five bones or Phalanges, the next of four, the third of three, and the fourth, which is the least, of two. This last was an inch long. A­ristotle reports that the Cormorant is the only Ducker which Perches on Trees, and which makes its Nest there. We have observed that the Feet like those of our Cormorant, are more commodious for Perching than are those of other [Page 135] Duckers, though these feet can clasp the branches only with two of their four toes, namely, with the greatest, and least: but this little one is much larger than in other Palmipedes, which have the little toe behind so short, that it is only as a Spur, absolutely useless to gripe the branches.

The construction of the Foot of our Cormorant appeared to us not only more commodious than it is in other Palmipedes, in regard of the facility which is given it to Perch it self, but is also very advantagious for Swiming: for whereas other Palmipedes have only two Membranes which do joyn the three toes before, our Cormorant had three which webb'd the four toes toge­ther: for which reason these Birds do go under water with an incredible quickness. Gesner reports that the feet do sometimes serve them to catch the Fish, and that they do bring it to the Shore holding it with one foot, and swiming with the other. This particular use, viz. of having occasion to swim with one single foot, may make us to comprehend the reason of the extraordinary Structure of the Cormorant's feet: for if the toes and their Membranes which do form the foot, had been outwards, it would have been impossible for the Bird to go otherwise than by turning round when it swims only with one foot, as it happens to a Boat when rowed but with one Oar; whereas the toes being inwards, it happens that when the Bird swims with one single foot, it strikes the water exactly under the middle of the Belly, and makes not his Body to waddle on the one side or the other. Now this formation was so much the more necessary, as its feet are shorter: for if they had been longer, they would have had a facility which they have not to be turned obliquely under the Belly, to place the foot in the middle, and not to strike on one side more than on the other.

The Oesophagus was seated at the right side of the Aspera Arteria, under which it passed to reach the Ventricle. When it was puffed up by blowing on the inside, it was inlarged to above two inches in Diameter. Being come directly over the Bifurcation of the Aspera Arteria, it was turned on the left side, and was suddenly straitned, leaving for the upper Orifice of the Ven­tricle but one Aperture about the bigness of a quill. This contracting ap­peared not when the Oesophagus and Ventricle were blown up; for then they made only one single Bowel. This Ventricle was fleshy and Musculous to­wards the bottom; but it was Membranous in its upper part, perhaps to in­large and contract itself according to the need that it has for the swallow­ing Fishes, and for the inclosing them afterward in the Ventricle, where the concoction, which is begun in the Oesophagus, must be compleated: for the greatness of the Fish which these Birds are seen to swallow is a very strange and amazing thing.

The Ventricle and Oesophagus did seem of the same Figure and size, being viewed on the outside, after that both had been strongly puffed up by the wind which was forceably made to enter therein: but the Ventricle was nar­rower, and not so capacious on the inside, by reason ofo the thickness of the two Membranes, whereof it was composed, which together did make the thickness of two lines. The Pylorus was not opposite to the Superiour Orifice, as is commonly observed, but it was as it were fixed into the middle of the Ventricle, leaving the lower half hanging like a Sack. This lower part was fleshy, and as it were Musculous, like a Gizard; although [Page 136] this fleshie Membrane had neither the thickness nor hardness which is ordi­narily remarked in the Gizzard of Birds. And it is probable that this part was thus fleshie and Musculous, to serve to squeeze and more easily to make ascend towards the Pylorus that which is descended to the long and narrow bottom of the Ventricle, when the concoction of the aliment is there finished; the hard and Fibrous Flesh of the Gizards being made more strongly to com­press, and as it were to bruise the hard and dry grains which Birds do feed on, and not being necessary for those which do live only upon Flesh, or Fish like the Cormorant.

The external Membrane of the Ventricle was white, and appeared of two substances; its external part being Nervous and hard at top, and fleshie at bottom, as has been declared, and its internal part being quaggie, and mu­cous, so that it seemed that by the means of this internal part the two Mem­branes of the Ventricle were glued together. The internal Membrane, which was somewhat reddish, was Glandulous, and composed of an infinite num­ber of small Glands a line and a half long, and about the thickness of a great pin: these little Glands did touch each other, according to their length, and were fastened, and as it were glued together, by a substance resembling their own, but somewhat less firm, and slimie. Their extremities were more firmly fastend, viz. the lower ones which proceeded from the external Membrane of the Ventricle, and the upper ones which did adhere each to other, and did form the internal Superficies of the Ventricle; so that both the ends of the Glands did render this internal Superficies like Chagrin; which doth very well represent the Velvet of the great Ventricle of Ani­mals, which chew not the Cud, if it be imagined that the little long Teats which do compose this Velvet were joyned to each other, as conglomerated Glands generally are; whereas in Animals which chew the Cud, these little Teats are separated from each other, being only fastned to the inter­nal Membrane of the great Ventricle by their roots. In some Ostriches we have found the internal Membrane of the Gizzard of a Structure wholly like to this.

In the Superiour part of the Ventricle towards the Orifice, there were several Worms eight or ten lines long, and about the thickness of a midling pin. They were white and transparent, and in the middle of their body there was seen as it were a blackish Vein, going from the Head to the Tail which was more pointed than the Head, which was smaller than the mid­dle of the Body. At the bottom of the Ventricle there was a matter like to black blood half curdled. And it is probable that it was in effect from the blood which was fallen into this place, by reason of a blow which the Bird had received upon the head.

The Intestines were seven foot long. They had not those two Appen­dices which do form as it were two Coecums, which Belonius reports to be in all Birds. We found that these sorts of Intestines were likewise want­ing in an Eagle called Haliaetos, and some other Birds. All the Intestines of our Cormorant were of the same bigness, containing two lines diameter. They were inclosed with the Ventricle in an Epiploon, which Pliny averrs, not to be in these Birds. This Epiploon had a great deal of Fat, hard like [Page 137] Tallow. On the Ventricle and Gall-Bladler there was some of this Fat fastened, and separated from the Epiploon, which is a thing very particu­lar.

The Kidneys were lock'd up and separated from the other parts of the lower Belly, by the means of a Membrane which did cover them. They had an extraordinary Figure, not being divided into three Lobes as they generally are in Birds, but toothed like a Cock's Comb in their gibbous part. Aristotle says that Oviparous Animals, like Birds and Fish, have neither Kidneys nor Bladder, except the Sea- Tortois. We have not yet found any Bird that wanted Kidneys or Ureters. As for the Bladder, the truth is they have no other Receptacles for their Urine, but the extremity of the Rectum, which is commonly more dilated in Birds than in terrestrial Animals, and having sometimes a roundness like to a Bladder, as is seen in the Ostrich. The Camelion, which is no Bird, but yet ovi­parous, has likewise Kidneys and Ureters which do convey its Urine into the Pouch of the Rectum, as in Birds.

The Liver which was of a red as clear as Flesh-Colour, was small. It had three Lobes, two before, as is generally seen in other Birds; but the left was not half so large as the right: the third was under the left, al­most of its form and size. The whole Liver was seated on the right side. The Ventricle took up the left. The Gall-Bladder was separated from the Liver, being fastened there only by its Neck, as we have found it in Eagles: this is likewise observed in some other Birds. The bottom of this Bladder touched the Ventricle. It was an inch in length, and three lines lines in breadth.

The Spleen was an inch long, a line and a half thick, of a somewhat darker Colour than the Liver. Its Figure was Semicircular. It touched the left part of the Ventricle, but was not fastened by any apparent Vessels. It was very adherent to the Pancreas, which reached very far, after the usu­al manner of Birds, into the Sinuosity which forms the first fold of the Inte­stines. It was of a whitish Flesh-Colour: several Vessels did fasten it to the hollow part of the Liver near the Origine of the Gall-Bladder. Its in­sertion into the Intestine was near that of the Bladder.

The Aspera Arteria had its Rings intire. At the place where it was di­vided, in the Thorax, there was a great Bony and very hard Ring. There were two Muscles or Fleshie Ligaments, which did tie the Aspera Arteria towards t [...]e place where it enters into the Thorax. These Muscles, which in the generality of Birds do knit the Aspera Arteria to the Sternum, did in this joyn it to the Bladders of the Lungs, when being divided into several ten­dons, these tendons became Membranous and made as it were a Gooses Foot.

The Heart was shut up in a Pericardium where there was a clear and lym­phid water. It was almost round, its point being very blunt. Its Auricles were very little, especially the left: It descended not between the two Lobes of the Liver as in most Birds, the Liver being quite underneath its point.

The Tongue was very small, not exceeding three lines in length: It was double, having two points, one whereof, which was round and fleshie, did bend outwards; the other, which was Membranous and Cartilaginous, did tend toward the Larynx, which was hard and bony.

[Page 138]The Eye was but half an inch Diameter. The Cornea was of a transpa­rent and very brisk red, like to that curious Enamel which the French do call Rouge-clair. It is probable that this red proceeded from the extravasated blood between the two Tunicles, whereof the Cornea was composed: for these Tu­nicles were easily separable, and this Bird had been hit several blows upon the Head. The Crystalline was small, being scarcely a line in Diameter. Its Figure was Sphaerical, as it ordinarily is in Fish, perhaps by reason that this Animal ought to see clear in the water where it goes to catch its Prey. It was a little depressed before.

This Bird was killed at Sceaux, when being brought into the Kitchin of an Inne, he there flew at the Cook, whom he bit. One of his Wings was broken, and his Skull bent in, when brought to us.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF A CHAMOIS OR GEMP.

THe Chamois or Gemp which we describe was somewhat bigger than a Goat. It had longer leggs; the Hair in recompence was shorter. The longest, which adorned the Belly and Thighs, exceeded not four Inches and a half; on the Back it was much shorter. The Hair which did cover the Back and Flanks was of two sorts: For besides the great hair which did appear, there was a small one very short, and fine, hid underneath, about the roots of the greatest, as in the Castor. The Head, Belly, and Leggs had only the great Hair. At the places where this Hair was long, as at the top of the Head, on the Neck, Back, Flanks, and Belly, it was a little frizled, and waved as in Goats.

The Ridge of the Back, the top of the Stomach, the bottom of the Throat, Flanks, the Crown of the Head, and outside of the Ears, was of a dark Minime Colour. From the Ears to the Nostrills there was likewise a list of the same Colour, which surrounded the Eyes. The rest of the Hair was of a foul reddish white.

The Tail exceeded not three Inches in length. The Ears were five. On the inside they were bordered with a white Hair. The rest was smooth and of a dark Chestnut-Colour.

[Page 142]The Eyes were large: They had an internal Eye-lid which was drawn towards the little corner of the Eye: it was red. 'Tis perhaps upon this account that Al [...]ertus affirmes that the Chamois has Red Eyes. The upper Lip was a little Cleft, in the middle, as in the Hare.

The Hornes grew on the fore-part of the brow a little above the Eyes. The Colour thereof was black. They were round and ray'd in Circles and not like a S [...]rew. Oppian calls the Chamois Strepsiceros, that is to say an Animal with turned Hornes. Aldrovandus and Gesner do interpret this Equivocal word, and do upon good grounds believe that Oppian meant that these Horn's are turned and bent backward, and not turned like a Screw as they are in the Sheep of Candia which Belonius calls Strepsiceros. Indeed, the Hornes of our Chamois were turned backwards: but because he was young, they were not crooked as they are in the more Aged, in which they do grow so bending backward, and so Pointed, that it is reported that these Animals do tare their Skin in scratching themselves; and that it sometimes happens that they do there remain so intangled, that they cannot gett them out again; which is the reason that they are Famisht to Death. It is also reported that these hooks do serve to stay them when they do fall from the top of the Rocks on which they do love to run.

It is doubted whether the Chamois is the Animal which Pliny calls Rupicapra, or whither it is the Caprea; for Pliny says that there are two kinds of wild Goats. Ionston thinks that the Caprea of Pliny is the Chevreuil. Scaliger is of Opinion that the Caprea is the Chamois, and that the Chevreuil is the Ca­preolus which Votto explaining Columella distinguishes not from Caprea no more than Aldrovandus, who says that Caprea is in French called Chevreuil: so that Rupicapra, according to Scaliger, is a common Genus to Caprea and Ibex. yet it is probable that the Rupicapra of the Ancients is our Chamois, because Pliny says that the Rupicapra is different from the Dama, in that it has Horns turn­ed backward, and that the Dama, which is another Animal than our Doe, has them turned forward: and he moreover reports that the Caprea has branching Horns, which corresponds to the Chevreuil. Belonius pretends that the Chamois derives its name from the Greek word Kemas: but the description which Aelian gives of the Kemas, makes it appear very different from the Chamois: for amongst other things he says that the Kemas has Horns turned forwards. He likewise affirms that it has the Ears garnished with a very thick Hair, which was not found in our Chamois, as has been already remark­ed. Now Scaliger, who reasonably complains of the little exactness which the Ancients used to describe, and rightly distinguish Animals by their pro­per names, has himself greatly contributed to the confusion which is at pre­sent found in the names of all the Goat-kind, of which this is one. For be­sides the confusion which he makes of Caprea with Rupicapra, he likewise gives Aldrovandus and Gesner occasion to think that the Kemas, which he takes for the Chamois, is in French called Faon; and this Error of Scaliger pro­ceeds from his not making the distinction that there is between Kemas, ac­cording to its common signification, and Kemas, according to that in which the Poets do use it: for according to the first, it in truth signifies our Fawn; Kemas coming from [...], which signifies to sleep, or to be lain down, be­cause that the Fawns of Savage Beasts dare not to go out of the Dens and Ca­verns [Page 143] where they do sleep and are usually-layd: but according to the second signification which is particular to the Poets, as Aelian reports, it signifies an Animal wholly different from the Fawn of the Deer, and other Animals, which in French are called Faon.

Our Chamois had Incisores only in the lower Jaw, like other Animals which chew the Cud. They were eight in number, and uneven; those of the middle being a great deal larger than those which were at the sides, re­sembling those in the Gazella.

The Feet were cloven, and hollow underneath, and not filled with Flesh as in the Gazella; for the flesh was drawn inwards, so that each Claw made a print in the Earth like a Horse's, and the extremity of the horn, which bore upon the ground was very sharp.

The anteriour part of the Epiploon was fastned on the left side to the first Ventricle. In passing to the right side, it was joyned to the third: descend­ing from thence it went underneath the lower part of the first, and by re­ascending behind was fastened to the bottom of this first Ventricle; so that this Epiploon was not laid on the Intestines as it generally is.

There was three Ventricles. The first, which was the greatest, was com­posed of two Membranes, the interiour of which was Velveted, and might be easily separated from the external. The Second, which was the least, had some wrinckles raised on the inside, which did form different Figures, and composed as it were a Net. The Third, which was of a middle size, had dentilated leaves, such as are in the third Ventricle of Oxen. Bartholi­nus has found in the Chamois which he describes, that the two Orifices of the Ventricle, (for he speaks only of one) were very near each other; but in our Subject they were very distant, as the Figure demonstrates. The third Ventricle had a strange body, fastened to its interiour Membrane. This Body was composed of a hard Membrane, in which there was Gravel inclo­sed. Genser says that the Chamois uses to swallow Gravel to clear his Tongue and Throat, which are generally bedaubed with Pituita or Phlegm which takes away their Appetite. Besides this strange Body, which was natural­ly Clammy, there was a Ball, or glewy Bowl, but easily separable: It was of an Oval Figure, containing thirteen lines to ten. One of these ends was as it were cut, and this cut had a slight Cavity through the middle. This Ball was of a dark Olive-Colour. Velschius in his Treatise of the Balls which are found in the Ventricle of the Chamois, calls them German Bezoar. Cardan stiles them Cows-Eggs, by reason perhaps that these Balls are sometimes found in the Ventricles of young Cows, which has been observed by Pliny. Barth linus says that they are frequently found in Denmark in the Bellys of Horses and Sheep. He thinks that these Balls are made, either of the Hair which the Cows do swallow in licking themselves, or from the Wooll which the Sheep do eat from each other, when they do pass away the Winter in Snowie Moun­tains, where they can find no Grass.

The Ball which we found seemed not to be composed of Hairs, but of lig­nous Fibres: which was discovered by the inequality of these Fibres which were not of the same size, nor of an uniform Figure like as are Hairs. It must be likewise considered that these Balls are found in the Bellies of Horses, which are not Animals that do lick themselves, and in which they must be [Page 144] made of something else than Hair. Thus the generality of Authors, and amongst others Camerarius and Gesner, do think that these Balls are compo­sed of the residue of the Plants which the Animals have eaten, the hardest Fibres of which are undigested; and they do say that these Fibres are of the Plant Doronicum which some do judge to be a kind of Aconite: for tho' the leaves of the Doronicum be tender and soft, they have some nervous Fibres, almost like Plantain. Pliny seems to confirm this Opinion, when he averrs that the Chamois do's live on Poison as well as Quails: for tho Botannists are not agreed upon the poyson of the Doronicum, and some do question whether it is poison to Men, yet they do concurr that it is poison to most Beasts. It is thought that the Chamois does eat the Doronicum, to secure it self from the Vertigo, to which they might be subject when they do run upon the points of the high Rocks. Velschius asserts that these Balls are found only in the first, or second Ventricle: that which we found was in the third. Camerarius remarks that it is toward the Month of November that they grow there: our Dissection was made in December.

All the Intestines together, without comprehending the Caecum, were forty foot long. The Caecum was eight inches. The Colon exceeded not a foot.

The Spleen was round and flat like a Cake; it was eight lines thick in that half which adhered to the great Ventricle; the other half, which was not adherent, went lessening its thickness to the end which was very thin.

The Liver had three Lobes, two great ones and a little one. The Gall-Bladder was in the middle of the right Lobe. Amongst the Animals that have no Gall, Pliny ranks the Goat, of which the Chamois is a Species. That which Bartholine Dissected had none.

The Kidneys were two inches long. The Membrana Adiposa was not joy­ned and fastned as usually upon the body of the Kidney, but it left a vacant space between both. The same thing has been observed by Barth line in his Chamois. The top of the Memorana Adiposa of the right Kidney was fastned to the little Lobe of the Liver.

The Cornua Uteri were extraordinary long, and bent with several Folds and Circumvolutions. The Testicles were joyned to the extremity of the Cornua, which are properly the Uterus of Brutes. The Vasa praeparantia did cast forth some Branches, not only into the Testicle and Matrix, but likewise into the Bladder. The round Ligaments took their Origine at the sides of the Matrix or Ductus, and did descend as is usual into the Groin where they were dilated to make that which is called the Goose's foot.

The Lungs had eight Lobes, four on the right side, three on the left, and the eighth on the inside of the duplicature of the Mediastinum.

The Heart was long and pointed. Towards the point there was a callous, white, hard, and round Apophysis: it proceeded out of the heart about the bigness of ones little fingers end.

The Brain was large in proportion to the Body, containing two inches in breadth and three in length, comprehending the Cerebellum, The Anfra­ctuosities were more and more diversified than they commonly are in Brutes. Although the Cerebrum was divided into the right and left, by a long cavity as is usual, yet there was no production of the dura Mater, to make that which is called the Falx: there was only a line very little elevated, which an­swered [Page 145] to the cavity of the Brain. The Choroides was very much dilated by the affluence of the Blood, which had been retained in the Vessels whereof it is composed. The Glandula Pinealis was large, containing a line in Diame­ter. Its Figure was rounder than ordinary.

The Optick Nerve did enter into the Globe of the Eye out of the Axis, a great deal more towards the Brow than towards the Jaw. On the inside of the Globe of the Eye, it entred through the extremity of the Tapetum, which was brown of Colour.

The Crystallinus was more convex on the outside than on the inside. It was naturally divided in three on the Superficies of its interiour part. The Membrana Arachnoides was very thick and hard, so that it was easily separated from the Crystallinus.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF SIX PORCUPINES AND TWO HEDGE-HOGS.

THE Porcupine and Hedg-Hog, according to the Ancients, are Animals of one Genus, by reason of the Prickles wherewith they are both covered. The name of the Genus is [...], Echinus. The Porcupine is by the Greeks and Latins called Hystrix. The Hedg-hog is by Oppian Stiled [...] in Greek, minor Echinus in Latine, as if the whole distinction of these two Species consisted in only the difference of the size. Yet we have observed that the Animals of these two Species were likewise different in other things more essential, namely, in the Country where they do breed, in their Prickles, and in the Shape of the rest of their Body: for the Porcupine is bred in Afri­ca, the Hedge-hog is common in Europe; the prickles of our Hedge-hogs were shorter in proportion to their Body than those of the Porcupines; and the shape, as well as the use of these prickles, was also very different, even as their Feet, Nose, and all the inward parts.

The greatest of the six Porcupines which we here describe, was eighteen inches from the Nose to the extremity of the hind-feet extended. They all had over the Body a Bristle or great shining Hair, resembling in its grosseness Consistence, Figure, and Colour, the Bristles of a Boar; which has given to this Animal the Appellation of Hystrix, which comes from [...] that is to say Hogs-hair. And indeed this Bristle did better resemble that of the Hogg than of the Boar, in that it was not intermix'd with another shorter Hair, like to the downe which garnishes the root of the Bristle of the Boar; but it was every where of the same length and kind. It was above three inches long all over the Body, except the top of the Neck, where it was a foot [Page 148] long, and three times as big as any where else. These Bristles made as it were a tuft on the Head, of about eight inches, and mustaches about six inches long. The Bristles of this tuft was of a dark Chesnut Colour from the middle to the end.

Besides these Bristles there was likewise on the Back two sorts, of Prickles some stronger, thicker, shorter, and more pointed, the points whereof were keen, with two edges like an awle. Claudian puts these sorts of prickles on the head of the Porcupine, and says that they do supply the place of Horns: which we found not in our Subjects. The other prickles were a great deal longer and more flexible: they were a foot long, their points flatted, and weaker than the others. The shortest and strongest▪ were white toward the root, and of a dark Chesnut Colour at the end. The longest were white at the root and end; and in the middle they were chequered with black and white. All these Hairs and prickles were hard and shining in their surface: the inside was of a Substance white and spongious.

There was likewise another kind of prickles the end of which seemed to have been cut, the res [...] being hollow like a quill; but that which compo­sed this Tube was a great deal thinner than that of any quill. These Tubes or hollow Pipes exceeded a line in Diameter, and were three inches long: they were white and transparent like Pens, and rayed with little wrinckles long-ways. They were twelve in number, and laid upon the extremity of the [...]oecyx, somewhat [...]aised at the top. Their root was very small, not ex­ceeding the bigness of a Pin, although it was above six lines long.

Those prickles which were strongest and shortest, were easie to pluck out of the Skin, not being firmly fixed like the others: these the Animals are used to dart against the Hunters by shaking their Skin as Dogs do when they come out of the water, Claudian says elegantly that the Porcupine is himself the Bow, the Quiver, and the Arrow which he makes use of against the Hun­ters.

The Fore-feet had but four toes; the hind-ones had five, and were formed like those of a Bear, the great toe being outward. The whole Leg and Foot, as also the Belly, was covered with the great Bristles already mentioned, ha­ving only the sole unprovided thereof. These feet resembled not those of a Hog, as Albertus reports they do. We found likewise that the Nose of our Porcupine was not made like the Snout of an Hog, as it is represented by Claudian, to whom nevertheless the Porcupine must be well known, being born in Aegypt, where this Animal is very common. This Nose resembled that of an Hare, the upper Lip being cleft: the lower was likewise pierced, and made as it were a Case, in which were shut up the two Incisores of the lower Jaw. These Teeth as well as those of the upper Jaw were not unlike those of the Castor, being very long, and situated in such a manner that the keen part of the lower ones did not meet the cutting part of the upper ones, like a pair of Pincers, as in most Animals: but these parts did pass over each other like Cissars. The Molares in four of our Subjects were only six in each Jaw; the fifth had eight. They were short, standing not above a line and a half out of the Jaw-bone. They were cut at the top very smooth. By their cutting it appeared that they were not intirely solid, but that the Bone was as it were folded or leaved, having amongst the folds of the Bony Substance [Page 149] another blackish and Spongie one. These Folds were not only in the surface where they appeared, but they were through the whole Tooth, as was found after it was broken.

The Tongue was at its extremity covered over with several little bony Bo­dies like Teeth. The greatest were a line in breadth: their extremity was keen and divided by three rays or cuts, which made as it were four Incis [...]res.

The Ears were thinly covered with a very soft Hair: they resembled those of Man. In one of our Subjects they were found different in the upper part, which was pointed as the Ears of Satyrs are painted.

The Eyes were little as in the Hog, not exceeding four lines from one cor­ner to the other. The Situation of the corners of this Eye was very extra­ordinary, the great Canthus being much higher than the lesser.

Directly over the Os Pubis near the Anus, there was a tumour or swelling about the bigness of an Egg without Hair and Prickles. In the middle of this tumour, and near the Anus, there was a little hole less than that of the Anus. Albertus reports that the Porcupine has two Anus's, by reason perhaps of this second Aperture, which is designed for the Parts of Generation, which are not externally different in the two Sexes, almost as it is in the Ci­vet-Cat and Castor, the Penis of the Male being concealed in the Pouch, which was made to come out through the hole adjoyning to the Anus, when the Pouch was pressed.

The Skin being flead, on its internal surface appeared several wrinckles, Lozenge-wise, about two lines in bigness. The whole skin over the Back, and Flancks, was adherent to the Musculus carnosus, which was strong and fleshie, especially along the Back, at the place where the strong prickles are fastned. This Membranous Muscle had its Origine at the transverse and oblique Apophyses of the Vertebrae of the Neck. From thence it was extend­ed along the Vertebrae of the Back, and inserted it self into the Ossa innomi­nata being by the way fastned to the Vertebrae of the Spine. It was very ad­herent, not only to the skin, as has been already declared, but likewise to the common Membrane of the Muscles. On the internal surface of this Muscle there was a great company of Nerves which were laid and interwoven like a Net. The skin was not only stirred by these Muscles, as it is in the generality of Brutes, but it had likewise four others on each side separately to remove dif­ferent places of the skin, as the great skinnie Muscle is to remove the whole skin. These four Muscles proceeded from the Intercostals, where they had a large basis, which terminated on a little Tendon, like to the treble of a Lute. The Tendons of these four Muscles were inserted into the skin which covers the Ribs and Flanks.

The Cartilago Xiphoides was extraordinary large. The Epiploon which des­cended on the left side to the Groin, was firmly fixed in this place to the Pe­ritonaeum, and did not freely flow over the Intestines as usually. In one of the Subjects it adhered to the Bladder.

The Ventricle was almost round, although divided into three unequal Pouches. The middle one, which was the greatest, descended lower than the others. The superiour Orifice was very strait. It was in the middle, and directly over the great Pouch. The inferiour Orifice was mighti [...]y dila­ted, being an inch and a half broad; so that the Duodenum seemed to be a [Page 150] fourth Ventricle joyned to three Pouches, which did represent three others: but this Intestine was contracted to make the Iejunum, which was very short, and the Ileum yet more. The Coecum was very large: It was seven inches long and two broad towards the Ileum, terminating in a point, and making in its whole length the Figure of a Sythe. It had three Ligaments correspondent to its length, which did contract it, and make Cells as in the Colon of Man. The Ligament that was in the bending which this Intestine made, was very large; 'twas a part of the Mesentery, but was fastened to the Intestine only by one side; the rest was loose. The Colon had likewise some Cells, which were not so well seen as those of the Coecum, although there were two Ligaments to form them. This Intestine was strait: It was forty inches long; It was folded in two, and the two parts were strongly fastned to each other throughout their whole length.

The Liver was suspended and hung upon the Diaphragme, by a very large and Membranous Ligament, which proceeded from the Cartilago Xiphoides, and vertically descending, was inserted from the Fissure of the Liver to the middle of its gibbous part. It had seven Lobes, four great ones, two on each side of the Fissure, and three small ones, one of which was in the middle of the Fissure, fastned by a Membrane to the Vena Cava; the third was under­neath, between the four great ones. The two great Lobes of the left side were joyned together at their extremity by a very strong Membrane.

The Gall-Bladder was small, flat, and almost empty.

The Pancreas was very large being three inches and a half long, and six lines broad at the widest place.

The Spleen was different in our Subjects. There was one in which we found two Spleens. The largest, which was five inches long and ten lines broad, was fastned to the left side of the Ventricle, by the rami Splenici which do make the Vas breve: it was also fastned to the Epiploon. The other Spleen which was three inches in length and eight lines in breadth, was fix­ed to the Ventricle, without the appearance of any Vessels which did unite it. It was likewise joyned to the Epipl [...]on by the upper end, and to the Ileum by the lower end. In the other Subjects, where it was single as is usual, it was seven inches long and ten lines broad. It was immediately fixed by its up­per end to the upper part of the Ventricle, and by its hollow part to the left side of the Ventricle, by the means of the rami Splenici, which shot forth three branches into the Ventricle, and as many into the Spleen. The Ramificati­ons which went to the Ventricle were three inches long: those of the Spleen were only one. In one of our Subjects the Spleen, besides the Ligaments of of the Vas breve, and of the Membranes by which it was held to the Ven­tricle and Epiploon, had also a Ligament which did hang it to the Diaphragme. In all our Subjects the Spleen was of a very dark red, especially in its hollow part which regards the Ventricle, where it was almost black.

The Kidneys were double on each side, having a Succenturiatus a third part as big as the true Kidney. The true Kidney was two inches in length and one in breadth. It was very solid, not having any Cavity for the Pelvis. It had only on the outside a Cavity or depression in its anteriour part. The Parenchyma of the Succ [...]nturiatus was very different from that of the true Kid­ney, being more soft; It was likewise composed of two different Substances [Page 151] viz. the one fleshie and red, as in the true Kidney; the other glandulous and whitish; these two Substances were mixed together, so that this Kidney being cut, did shew as it were several rays which went from the Circumfe­rence to the Center, almost after the same manner as it is seen in the Cerebel­lum of Man. At the Center of this Kidney there was a Cavity capable of containing a midling Bean. The Vasa Emulgentia made an acute Angle with the Truncks of the Cava and Aorta, having their Origines much higher than the Kidneys, which seemed drawn downwards.

The Bladder was very large and thick, being composed of two Coats, which included between them a substance spongious and somewhat fleshie. In one of the Subjects, as it has been already declared, all the back part of it adhered to the inferiour part of the Epiploon, on which it was laid. The fore­part, which touched the Peritonaeum, was less fleshie. It was loose in this place without being joyned to the Peritonaeum.

The Testicles of the Males were long and narrow, containing only four lines in breadth and an inch and half in length. The Vasa Praeparantia were fastned to the inferiour part of the Testicle, and did form an Epididymis sepa­rated from the Testicle. This Epididymis was fastned to a Ligament, which passing into the Thighs, did seem to be made to strengthen the Testicle, and perform the Office attributed to the round Ligament of the Uterus.

The Parastatae were extraordinary great: they were two inches and a half long, and separated into three branches; and in some of our Subjects into five, like branches of Coral. At the end of the Penis there was a bone of an inch long.

In the Females the broad Ligament of the Matrix was strongly fastened to the Kidneys at the bastard-Ribs. The Testicles were of a Glandulous Substance, without any appearance of Bladders or Eggs.

The Nervous Center of the Diaphragme was so thin and transparent, that the Lungs were seen through. There were five principal Lobes, which were each divided into two. The Rings of the Aspera Arteria were not in­tire. The Trunck of the Arteria Venosa and its chief branches were of an extraordinary length. Having tied the Azygos in one of our Subjects, and put a small pipe underneath the Ligature, when it was blown, the Vena Ca­va swelled, beginning to swell through the Iliaca, by reason of the Commu­nication of one branch of the Azygos, which passing beyond the Diaphragme went to make an Anastomosis with one of the the branches of the Iliack.

The Heart was two inches in length from the Basis to the point, and four­teen lines in breadth through its middle between the point and the Basis, be­ing somewhat larger in this place than at the Basis: it was blunt at the end and the flesh of the left Ventricle was firm and hard. It had an Eminence which made it to appear winding like a Screw. The right Auricle seemed to be only a dilatation of the Cava. In one of the Subjects the two Auricles of the Heart were filled with a slimy, white, and very solid Substance, and the Ventricles with a black and congealed blood.

The Brain was almost like that of the Hog. There was no bone between the Cerebrum and Cerebellum.

The Globe of the Eye exceeded not four inches Diameter: it was almost Sphaerical. The Cornea was elevated like a demi-globe on another Globe [Page 152] formed by the Sclerotica. The Crystalline was likewise almost spherical in one of the Subjects, being more convex before than behind. In this same Subject, the Crystalline had as it were a Kernel, its internal part being hard after the manner of a Cartilage, and not less transparent than the rest. This Part thus hardened had not the Figure spherical like the whole Crystalline, but it was flat and lenticular. The optick Nerve entered at the middle of the Globe of the Eye. The Uvea was of a dark red; the Membrane which is applyed to the bottom of the Eye, and which we do call the Tapetum, was whitish, and disseminated with several little red Spots. This whitish Co­lour of the Tapetum made the hole of the Uvea to appear less brown than the Iris.

The two Hedg-hoggs which we dissected were Male and Female, they con­tained eight Inches from the Snowt to the end of the hind-feet extended, which were not above two Inches. The Nose in both was short and round, better resembling the Nose of a Dog, than the Snowt of a Swine; so that they were of that Species of Hedg-hog called by Mathiolus Canina, who makes two, viz. one which partakes of the Dog; and the other of the Hog; and this kind seems to be more common than the other, because that in English, the He­risson is absolutely called Hedg-hog, and in Dutch, Een ysere Verken, that is to say, a Hog covered and armed with Prickles.

They both had the Head, Back, and Flancks covered with Prikles. The Nose, Throat, Belly, and Feet were only interspersed with a very small and very white Hair. Hermolaus says that the Hedg-hog has Prickles all over the Body, except on the Nose and Paws; but we found this false in one of our Subjects, which had no prickls on the belly; but those on the Back and sides when it was heaped round, the Breech and Snowt approaching each other, did intirely cover the Belly.

The whole Animal was of one Colour; the Skin, Hair, and Prickcles being of a dark yellowish Gray. The Prickles were an Inch and a half long, and very different from those of the Porcupine; for they were somewhat flat­tish, and very like to the Prickles of the outward Shells of ChesNuts.

The Paws were composed of five Toes, of which there were three great ones in the middle, and two little ones, one on each side. They had long, pointed and hollow Claws, making the Figure of a Pen.

The Teeth were disposed in such a manner, that below there was only the Molares and Incisores. These last were but two, which were somewhat longer than the Molares. At the top there were no Incisores, but only two Canini, which left a vacancy in which the Incisores of the lower Jaw were lodged. The Canini which were longer than the Incisores, had each also a place to lye in, in the lower Jaw, between the Canini and Incisores, with an Interval for that purpose.

The Female had eight Teats, four on each side, disposed in two ranges along the Belly and Breast, the two highest being seated on the Pectoral Muscle.

Having taken off the Skin, there appeared a Musculus Carnosus, which as in the Porcupine was extended from the Ossa Innominata to the Ear and Nose, running along the Back-bone without being fastned thereunto; which shews that this Muscle serves not the Hedg-hog for the shaking his Skin like the Por­cupine, which darts his Prickles by this Action, but to bring its Head to its [Page 153] Breech, and to gather up the whole Body like a Ball; which the Hedge-Hog uses to do when it cannot save it self by flight: for being in this posture it is all over covered with its Prickles, and the Dogs know not how to take him without being Pricked. Pliny reports that if notwithstanding this Praecaution, he perceives himself in danger, he let's fly his Urine, which he knows to have the quality of vitiating his Skin, and making all his Prickles to fall off, as it were to deprive the Hunters of the Principal Fruit of their Labour, which is this Skin, which the Ancients had in great esteem, by rea­son that it served them for Brushes to clean their Cloaths.

The Liver had seven Lobes, one of which was divided in two. The Gall-Bladder was in the middle of the two upper Lobes, which were the greatest. Its Forme was Ovale. It was eight Lines long, very full and Blewish

The Venae Lacteae were White and very apparent in the Mesentery; and the Receptacle of the Chyle was great, ample, and full.

The Spleen was layd on the Ventricle, to which it was fastned, by twelve branches from the Vas Breve. It was long and cut like a Cock's Comb. The Pancreas to which it was fastned, had the same Forme: It differed ther­from only in Colour, the Pancreas being Whitish, and the Spleen of a Black­ish Red.

The Intestines were all alike in Substance and thickness. There was no Caecum. They contained all together four Feet in length.

The Kidneys were an inch long and eight Lines broad. They were of an Olive Colour, the right being situated higher that the left.

The Bladder was an inch and a half long and an inch broad.

In the Male the Testicles were in the Belly; which, according to Aristotle, is peculiar to the Hedg-Hog, which amongst all Quadrupeds that do ingender a perfect and living Animal, is the only one whose Testicles are inclosed in it, as in Birds. These Testicles had a very larg Epididymis, which received the Vasa Spermatica Praeparantia divided into four Branches, and which were se­parately inserted into them from the basis to the greater half of their length. This Epididymis was not separate from the Testicle, as in the Porcupine, but was therto fastned, all its length. The Vasa Spermatica Deferentia proceeded from the top of the Epididymis. The Testicle and its Vessels were tyed and suspend­ed by a Ligament which might passe for a Cremaster, because that it was a Membrane which appeared somewhat Fleshy near the Testicle. The rest of this Membrane was extended and inlarged after the manner of the broad Ligaments of the Uterus. It had a great many Vessels of which two of the cheif did make a very considerable Anastomosis, by crossing one another in the middle. They proceeded from the Vasa Spermatica Praeparantia, as from their Trunck, and were distributed through this whole Membrane, extended like the Wings of a Batt, as in the Uterus; so that considering the greatness and Number of these Vessels, which were not proportionate to the quantitie of the Nourishment which the Membrane might require, it might be pro­bably thought that the use of this Structure was, that the Arteria Spermatica might send to this Membrane a part of the bloud which it carryes to the Testicle, to be prepared in this great Number of branches; in which the re­mainder that cannot be imployed to the Nourishment of the Membrane seemed to be sometime retained, and perfected by this long retention, to be inabled afterwards to reflow into the Trunck of the Spermatick Artery, and to [Page 154] mingle with the bloud which go's into the Testicle; there being nothing to oppose this reflux, of which it is necessary to suppose the liberty into all the Arteries, which upon this account are destitute of the Valves which are found in the Veins: and the compression that the motion of Respirati­on causes to all the Viscera, b [...]ing a sufficient impulsive cause for this reflux.

On both sides of the Neck of the Bladder there were Pouches of a Substan­ce partly Glandulous, partly Membranous. They were very Yellow: Twas apparently the Parastatae. The Prostatae were a little underneath, of an extra­ordinary size, even as the Parastatae.

In the Female the Uterus was composed of a Neck and two Hornes. The Neck was composed of two Membranes: the external was thick and Fleshy, the internal was thinne, Membranous, and Nervous. The Hornes were unequal, the left being lesser than the right, in which there was a Foetus.

The Lungs had five Lobes, viz. three of a middle size at the right side, and two on the left, one of which was greater and the other lesser than all the rest. This little one, which the Cavitie of the Mediastine inclosed, was forked at the end. The Heart was almost round. The right Auricle was of a Red almost Black. The left was whitish.

The Globe of the Eye exceeded not two lines in diameter: it had an in­ternal Eyelidd. Of the three Humours of the Eye there appeared only the Crystalline, which filled up the whole Globe, without any appearance of the Aq [...]e us or Vitreous Humour. The Retina did immediately touch the Crystalline, and as it were [...]tick to it on that side towards the bottom of the Eye, as the Cornea did cover and touch it before. The Uvea was all over black, with­out the Tapetum; it did not likewise make any fold on the fore-part to forme the Iris; so that the Eye, when the lidds were open, did appear all Black.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF TWO SAPAJOUS AND TWO OTHER MONKEYS

THe Species of Apes are very numerous. Pliny reduces them under two Genus's, viz. those which have Tails, and those which have none. The Tail-less Ape is by the Latines simply called Simi [...]. Those which have a Tail are of two Species. The Latines have borrowed of the Greeks the names which they do give them: for some are called Cercopitheci, from the name of the Genus, that is to say, Tailed- Apes; others Cynocephali that is to say, which have a head like a D [...]g, by reason of the length of their Nose. The differences of Apes are taken in French, principally from their size; for the great ones are simply called Singes or Apes, whether they have a Tail or no; or whether they have a long Nose like a Dog, or a short one; and the little Apes are called Guenons or Monkeys.

The four Apes which we describe were of the Genus of the Cercopitheci, because that they had Tails. But their smalness permitts them to be ranged only under the Genus of Monkies.

They were but fourteen inches from the Crown of the Head to the begin­ing of the Tail, which was twenty inches; The Arm had four inches; from the Elbow to the end of the fingers, was six inches: the Thigh four and a halfe: the Leg five, and the Foot four, from the Heel to the end of the long­est Toe. They did likewise all agree in several other things, which are common almost to all Apes. viz. 1. That they had Hairs on each Eye-lid, which Aristole has observed to be peculiar to the Ape, among the Quadrupeds. These Haires according to Aristotle's observation, were so fine that it was hard to descern them.

2. That in the lower Jaw there was a Pouch or Sack on each side into [Page 158] which these Animals used to put what they would keep. 3. That the Teeth were very white, and like Man's, except the Canini, which were very long in the upper Jaw, and very strait in the lower Jaw, being without Point and differing from the Incisores, only in their being straiter and longer. 4. That the Feet were almost like the Hands, as they generally are in other Brutes, the Toes of the Feet being as long as those of the Hands; which is not in Man, whose Toes are two thirds shorter than his Fingers. The Feet of our Apes did indeed more resemble the Hands of Man than their own, by rea­son of the conformation of the great Toe, which resembled a Thumb, being long, slender, and a great way parted from the first Finger; whereas in the Hand or Paw, the Thumb was so short, and so close to the first Finger, that it seemed almost useless. 5. That the Parts of generation in three of our Subjects, which were Males, were different from those of Man, there being no Scrotum in two of these Subjects, and the Testicles not appearing by reason that they were hid in the fold of the Groyne. It is true that the third, which was one of the Sapajous, had a Scrotum, but it was so shrunk, that it did not appear. 6. That the Skin stuck close on the Buttocks.

The three Males differed only in Colour of their Hair. The fourth Sub­ject, which was a Female was of the Cynocephali kind; not having a flat Face like the others, but a Nose somewhat long like little Bolonia Dogs. Yet its long Tail did make it to be of the Cercopitheci kind like the others, whose dif­ferences amongst the Ancients were taken from the Colour of the Hair; the Cercopitheci simply called, being those which have but one Colour; and those which have several being called Cepi, that is to say Gardens, by reason of the diversity of Colours wherewith they seem to be flowered and Imbroidered, as [...]lian reports Pythagoras to have sayd.

The first of our Apes was of the first Species of the Cercopitheci, being all of one Colour, viz. of a Red somewhat inclining to a Green. This colour which was predominant, was only a little darker on the Back, and lighter on the Breast and Belly.

The second was of the second Species, because that besides the Greenish-Red colour of the Hair which covered the Back, the Hair which adorned the Belly, Breast, and inside of the Thighs and Arms was Gray.

The third and fourth were likewise more diversified with Colours: This Species is called Sapajou. These two Subjects were different, not only in colour and the various shape of their Spots, but also in the Forme of their Nose, which was long in the one, and flat in the other. The first, which was a Male, was white on the Belly, Stomach, Throat, on the inside of the Armes and Thighs, and on the Buttocks. All the Back from the Ompolatae to the Tail, was of a dark-Red. The Flanks, the outside of the Armes and Thighs, the Leggs and Crown of the Head were Black, and every black Hair had also little Red and White Spots, there being two Red Spots towards the end, and the half towards the root being white. On the Chin there was a white Picked Beard, an inch long. The Hair on the Back was an inch in length; about the Neck an inch and a halfe; it was in this place more Staring than in the rest of the Body, and made as it were a Ruffe. The Brow had a White list, on which a row of Black Hair was elevated like Eye-Brows. The Iris in the Eyes was of a Redish Yellow. The Pupilla was very large. [Page 159] The Head was round, with a kind of a flat Face, resembling the Visage of a Man with a short and Flat Nose.

The other Sapajou, which was a Female, had the Nose long inclining to the Cynocephali. Its Hair was of three colours, viz. Red, Gray, and a dark Chest-Nut. The Belly and Breast were mixt with Red and Gray. The Armes and Leggs were of a dark Chestnutt; the Back had the Chestnut and Red mixt together, so that in some places there was more Red, in others more Chestnut; which made great Spots almost as in Cats. It had neither the White on the Fore-head nor the Beard, as the other Sapajou.

The Ears of the first Sapajou were round and so small, that round the hole they were not extended above a line and a half, being intirely covered with the Hair. The Writers of Physiognomie, have thereon apparently Found­ed the Judgement which they do make of little round Ears, which they do put as a sign of a deceitful and Villanous temper, such as is the Apes.

Authors do not agree touching the internal parts of the Ape. Aristotle, Pliny and Galen do averr that they are wholly like to those of Man. Albertus do's on the contrary affirm, that as much as Apes are like to Man on the outside, so much are they unlike in the inside: So that there is no Animal, as he sayes, which has the intrails so different from Mans as the Ape. The Observations which we have made are repugnant to both these Opinions, which are both too extream. Yet we found that our Apes did more resemble Man in the ex­ternal parts than in the internal, and that there are more Animals which have the inward parts as like to those of Man as our Apes, than there are which do as much resemble Man, as our Apes do, in their exteriour figure.

The Rings or Holes of the Peritonaeum were as in Dogs; the Epiploon was different from that of a Man, in several things. 1st. It was not fastened to the Colon in so many places, having no connexion with the left part of this In­testine. [...]d. It had another Ligature which is not found in Man, viz. to the Muscles of the Abdomen by means of the Peritonaeum, which formed a Liga­ment, which we have observed in the Hinde of Canada. 3d. The Vessels of the Epiploon, which in Man proceed only from the Vena Porta, did neverthe­less in one of our Subjects come from the Cava, having there one of the Bran­ches of the Hypogastrica, which was united to the Branches of the Porta. 4th. In fine the whole Epiploon was without comparison greater than it ge­nerally is in Man, because that it did not only cover all the Intestines, which is rarely seen in Man, whatever Galen says, but it even inveloped them un­derneath, as it do's in several other Brutes; where it is frequently seen that the Epiploon is larger than in Man, especially in Animals which do run, and leap with a great deal of Agility; as if it were so redoubled under the Intest­ines, to defend them, with the rest of the Bowels, against the rude joults which these Parts do receive in running. It is true that the Membranes of the Epiploon were intire and continued as in Man, and not perforated like a Net, as they are in the generality of Brutes.

The Liver which is one of the principal Viscera, was very different from the Liver of Man, having five Lobes as in a Dog, viz. two on the right side, and two on the left, and a fifth layd upon the right part of the Body of the Vertebrae. This last was divided, making as it were two leaves. In one of our Subjects, the Substance of the Liver was speckled with several spots of a dar­ker [Page 160] colour than the rest, and of an Hexagonal Figure; which we have very frequently seen in Brutes, and never in Men. The Bladder was fastened to the first of the two Lobes, which were on the right side. It was an Inch long, and half an Inch broad; it had a great Ductus, which was immediate­ly inserted underneath the Pylorus: This Ductus received three others, which instead of that which in Man is single, and which is called Hepaticus; these three Ductus's had their Branches dispersed like Roots into all the Lobes of the Liver, so that the first had four Roots, viz. one in each of the three right Lobes, and one in the first of the left; the second and third Ductus had both their Roots in the second of the left Lobes; these Branches did run under the Tunicle of the Liver, so that they were apparent, and not hid in the Parenchyma, as they generally are. The Sapagou had this particularity in its Liver, that it was marked with a great many black Spots: which is unusual in other Li­vers that we have found spotted; for they are always of a lighter Colour than the rest of the Substance of the Liver: It is probable, that this blackness proceeded from the spongyness of these Parts, which being imbued with a greater abundance of Blood than the rest of the Parenchyma, did thereby ap­pear more dark.

The Ventricle did likewise differ from a Mans, its inferiour Orifice being ve­ry large and low; for it was not elevated so high as the superiour, as it is in Man; where it is not called inferiour by reason of its situation, but because it is thro' this Passage that the Ventricle is emptyed.

The Intestines were hardly more like the Intestines of Man than the other Parts. In the Sapajous they were in all but five Foot two Inches long, and in the other two Apes eight; they were almost all of the same bigness; the Ileon was in Proportion a great deal bigger than in Man. The Caecum had no Vermiform Appendix; it was very large, containing two Inches and a half in length, and an Inch Diameter at its beginning: It went pointing, and was fortified by three Ligaments like as the Colon is in Man, there to form little Cells: This conformation is wholly different from that of a Man's Cae­cum. The Colon had its Cells as usual, but it was not redoubled like an S, as in Man, being quite strait. It had not the contracting which separates it from the Rectum in Man. Besides the Cells there was observed some leaves on the in­side, like to those which are seen in the Colon of the Ostrich, and which we have lately remarked in the Iejunum of Man. These Leaves were transversely ex­tended, abutting on the Ligaments which are extended along this Intestine. It was thirteen Inches long, and an Inch diameter.

The Spleen was seated along the Ventricle as in Man, but its Figure was different in one of our Subjects, being made as the Heart is represented in Bla­zonry. Its Basis contained an Inch. The Pancreas had only its Figure which made it to resemble that of Man, its connexion and insertion being wholly particular; for it was strongly fastened to the Spleen, and the insertion of its Ductus into the Intestine, which in Man is always near the Porus bilarius, was two Inches distant therfrom.

The Kidneys had a Figure and Situation not less extraordinary. They were round and flat; their situation was more unequal than in Man, the right being much lower, in respect of the left, viz. half its bigness. The Gland called Capsula Atrabilaria was very visible, by reason that the Kidney was without Fat. This Gland was white, and the Kidney of a bright Red; its Figure was Triangular.

[Page 161] Aristotle says, that the generative Parts of the Ape do resemble those of the Dog. In our Subjects we found that they were different therefrom, as well as from those of Man; for in the Males, the Penis had no Bones, as it has in the Dog; and the Testicles, which in some of our Subjects were hid in the Groyn, without any Scrotum, as has been say'd, had a very particular Figure, being long and strait, and but one line in breadth and eight in length. In one of the Sapajous they were found of a Figure quite contrary, and al­most as remote from the Figure of those of Man, being perfectly round; they were shut up in a Scrotum, which joyned them close up to the root of the Pe­nis. The glandulous Prostatae were small; the Parastatae Cyrsoides were in re­quital very large; they contained an Inch in length; their breadth was un­equal, being four Lines towards the Neck of the Bladder, and a Line and a half at the other end, differing herein from those of Man, who has them slenderest near the Neck of the Bladder. They were composed of several little baggs, which opened into one another: the Caruncle of the Urethra was small, but very like to that of Man.

The generative Parts of the Female had also a great many things which rendered them different from those of Bitches, herein resembling those of Women; there were some of them likewise which were as in Bitches, and af­ter another manner than in Woman; for the exteriour Orifice was round and strait, as in Bitches, and the generality of other Brutes, and had neither Nym­phae nor Carunculae. The Neck of the Bladder had its hole otherwise than in Woman, being very far in the Neck of the Matrix, viz. towards the middle, at the place where its roughness began, which were seen only towards the ex­tremitie of the Ductus near the Internal Oriface. The Truncks of the Ma­trix were also different from those of Women, and resembling those of Brutes in that they were proportionably longer, and more redoubled by various turnings. The Clitoris had somthing more conformable to that which is seen in other Brutes that have it, than in that of Women, being proportion­ably greater, and more visible than it is in Women. It was composed of two Nervous and Spongious Ligaments, which proceeding from the lower part of the Os Pubis, and obliquely advanceing to the sides of these Bones, did unite to forme a third Body, which was ten lines in length. It was form­ed by uniting of the two first, which a very strong Membrane joyned to­gether, going from one of the Ligaments to the other, besides a hard and Nervous Membrane which inveloped them. They terminated at a Gland like to that of the Penis of the Male. The little Muscles, which were fastn­ed to these Ligaments, proceeded as usual from the tuberosities of the Ischi­um. These Ligaments were of Substance so thin and Spongious, that the wind penitrated, and made them easily to swell, when blown into the Net­work of the Veins and Arteries which is in this place. This Network was visible in this Subject, being composed of larger Vessells than they propor­tionably are in Women. It was situated as usually under the second pair of Muscles of the Clitoris. Its Figure was Pyramidal, ending from a very large Basis in a point, which run along the third Ligament to its extremity towards the Gland

[Page 162]The rest of the Parts of Generation were like to those of Women. The Neck of the Bladder had its Muscles as in Women: For there were a great Number of fleshy Fibres, which proceeding from the Sphincter of the Anus, were fastned to the sides of the Neck of the Uterus, and other such like Fibres which did come from the Sphincter of the Bladder to insert themseves at the same place. The body of the Uterus, its Membranes, internal Orifice, its Ligaments as well the Round as Broad, and all its Vessells had a conforma­tion intirely like to that, which these same parts have in Women. The Testicles, which were ten lines long and two broad, were as in Women, composed of a great Number of small Bladders, and fastned near the Mem­branes which are at the extremity of the Tubae and which is called their Fringe.

The Duggs resembled those of Women, as well in what respects their situation, which was on the Musculi Pectorales, as in what appartains to their composition, which consisted of a Glandulous Body, and a Teat.

At the place where the Vena Cava is divided to produce th two Iliacks, there was a Gland of the Figure and bigness of a middling Olive, containing five lines in length and three in breadth, Black on the outside, and much more on the inside. It was moistned with a Lymphatick Humour, wherewith its Spongious Substance was filled. In this [...]ame Subject, which was one of the two first Monkeys, there were two other such like Glands, but smaller, towards the Origine of the Crurals, one on each side.

At the opening of the Breast, there was found a great abundance of Water dispersed over its whole capacity. The Thymus was very large. The Lungs had seven Lobes, three on the right side, and as many on the left: the seventh was in the Cavitie of the Mediastine, as in the generality of Brutes. This again makes a Notable difference between the internal parts of the Ape and those of Man, whose Lungs have generally at the most but five Lobes, often­er but four, and sometimes but two. Vesalius affirmes that he never saw in Man this fifth Lobe, which he reports to be in Apes, supposing that they have but five. This great Number of Lobes of the Lungs clearly evinceth that Anatomists haue no reason to say that Brutes have the Lungs divided into more Lobes than Man, by reason that they have the Face and Breast turned towards the Earth, seeing that the Ape has generally the Face and Breast like a Mans.

The Heart was a great deal more Pointed than it usually is in Man: which is likewise a Character of Brutes. Yet in the interiour Superficies of its Ventricles it had that great Number of Fibres and fleshy Columns which are seen in Man.

The Uvula, which is in no other Brutes, was found in our Apes wholly re­sembling that of Man.

The Cranium had a Figure very conformable to a Mans, being round and somewhat flat at the sides, and wanting that Triangular Bone which sepa­rates the Cerebrum from the Cerebellum in most Brutes.

The Brain was large in proportion to the Body. It weighed two ounces and a half. The Dura Mater entred very far to Form the Falx. The An­fractuosities of the external part of the Brain were very like those of Man in the Anteriour part; but in the hinder part towards the Cerebellum, there was [Page 163] hardly any: They in requital were much deeper in proportion. The Apo­physes, which are called Mamillares, which are great Nerves that do serve to the Smelling, were not soft as in Man, but hard and Membranous. The Optick Nerves were also of a Substance harder and firmer than ordinary. The Glandula Pinealis was of a Conical figure, and its point was turned to­wards the hinder part of the Head.

There was no Rete mirabile: for the Carotides being entred into the Brain, went by one single Trunck on each side of the edg of the seat of the Sphenoides to pierce the Dura mater, and to be distributed as usually into the Basis of the Brain.

To finish the Description as well of the external as internal parts of the Apes which we dissected, by comparing them with those of Man, we have made an accurate search after all the Muscles of these Animals, which we found for the most part agreable to those of Man: So that we do here relate only those things which we found particular in our Subjects.

The Muscles of the Face, in that which participated of the Cynocephalus had a great deal of similitude with those of Doggs; and in the Apes, which had the Face flat like Man, it had nevertheless some Muscles like to those of Brutes: as amongst others the Masseter's and Crotophitae, which were a great­deal larger in proportion than in Man,

The Muscles of the Os Hyoides, Tongue, Larynx and Pharynx, which do most serve to articulate a word, were wholly like to those of Man, and a great deal more than those of the Hand; which nevertheless the Ape, which speaks not, uses almost with as much perfection as Man: which Demonstrates that speech is an Action more peculiar to Man, and which more distinguish­es him from the Brutes than the Hand; which Anaxagoras, Aristotle and Galen have thought to be the Organ which Nature has given to Man as to the wisest of all Animals, for want perhaps of making this Reflection. For the Ape is found provided by Nature of all these Marvellous Organs of speech with so much exactness, that the very three small Muscles which do take their rise from the Apophysis Styloides, are not wanting, altho this Apo­physis be extreamly small. This particularitie do's likewise shew that there is no reason to think that Agents do performe such and such Actions, be­cause they are found with Organs proper thereunto: For according to these Philosophers Apes should speake, seeing that they have the Instruments ne­cessary for speech.

In the Muscles of the Head and Neck there was nothing particular but the Flexores of the Head, which in Man are inserted into the Apophysis Mastoides: For they were fastned to the lateral and hinder part of the Os Occipitis, because that the Head of the Ape has no Apophysis Mastoides. Amongst the Muscles of the Armes there was only the Palmaris that had any thing remarkable. It was extraordinary large. The great Serratus, which in Man takes its rise only from the Omoplatae, did in our Subjects proceed likewise from the fourth, fifth, and sixth Vertebrae of the Neck.

The Musculus Rectus, which in Man reaches only to the Basis of the Ster­num, did ascend to the top, passing under the Pectoralis and little Serrtaus. It was fleshy only to the half of the Sternum, the rest being but a meer Tendon.

[Page 164]In the Thigh that of the Quadrigemini (which do serve to throw out the Thigh) called Pyriformis, was a great deal smaller than in Man; and in stead of taking its rise from the lower and external part of the Os Sacrum, it pro­ceeded from the Ischium near the Cavitas Cotyloides. The Muscles of the Buttocks had a Figure different from those of Man, being shorter, by reason that the Ossa Iliam Apes are much straiter than in Man. On the [...] Pso [...]e there were two other little Muscles, which are not found in Man. Every of these Muscles having the same Origine as the Psoas, did come by a long Tendon to insert it self into the upper and inward part of the Os Pubis.

Amongst the Muscles of the Leg, that of its Flexores, which is called Bi­ceps, had not a double Origine as in Man. It proceeded intire from the knob of the Ischium, and was inserted into the upper part of the Perona. This single Head was in requital very thick and strong.

The great Toe had Muscles like to those of a Mans Thumb, even as it has the Action thereof: Which is not in the Foot of Man, where the great Toe has Muscles very different from those of his Thumb, because that the Actions of these two parts are in Man very different.

To the History of the Muscles of the Ape might be added the Description of the Pouch, which they have in their Mouth. It was composed of Mem­branes and Glands, and of a great many Musculous and Carnous Fibres. Its situation was on the out side of each Jaw, reaching obliquely from the middle of the Jaw to the under part of its Angle, passing under a part of the Muscle called Latissimus. It was an inch and a half long, and almost as broad towards its bottom. It opened into the Mouth between the bottom of the Jaw and the bottom of the Gumme. Tis into this Pouch that Apes use to put what they would keep; and it is probable that the Musculous, Fibres which it has, do serve to shut and open it, to receive and put our what these Animals do there lay up in Reserve.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF A STAG OF CANADA AND HINDE OF SARDINIA

THe Stagg was very large, being four foot from the top of the back to the Ground. Its Hornes were three foot long, and the Brow-Antlers a foot; there were six on each Horne, which is the greatest number that Staggs do car­ry, according to Aristotle and Pliny; which nevertheless is not true in this Country, where are found Staggs that have them to Twenty two.

The whole Hornes were covered with a very hard Skin, and garnisht with a very thick and short hair, of the same Colour as that which covered the Body: it was turned in several places. Pliny very improperly calls this Hair, Feathers soft as Downe. This whole Skin had a great many Veins and Arteries filled with plenty of Bloud, which swelled them on the inside next the Horne, which was all furrowed to give place to the Vessels, after the same manner as the Cranium or Skull is fluted on the inside, according to the di­stribution of the Vessels of the Dura Mater. Gesner was of opinion that the furrows which are seen in the surface of the Horns of the Stagg, are made by Wormes which do ingender there in the Summer, and which do Eat it; which is altogether improbable. Pliny had not also well examined the Na­ture of the Hornes of the Stagg, when he says that they were like the Plant Ferula and the Reed: For the Stalks of these Plants, which are either hollow, or Pithy, do ill express the Soliditie which is peculiar to the Hornes of the Stagg.

Democritus has better Philosopized on the Generation of these Hornes: for he affirms that in the Stagg, because he abounds with Bloud and grows [Page 168] very Fatt at the beginning of Summer, Nature consumes a part of the Nour­shment where-with it is overcharged, by sending it thro some Vessels, which it has in a great Number and of a considerable thicknesse, to the place where the Hornes do grow. And indeed, it is a very surprizing thing to see the abundance of bloud which we found between the Hornes and the Skin which covered them, when by Fleaing off this Skin, the Tunicks of the Veins being very fine and small were broke in sunder,

This Observation made us to reflect upon the different Generation of the Hornes of Animals, which being of two Natures, namely some hollow, and others solid, have likewise two way's of growing: For those which are solid, and without Cavitie, like those of the Stagg, are immediately fastned to the Os Frontis from which they do seem to grow, this Bone being a great deal more rare and Spongious than in other Animals, as Democritus has observed. But if the first Origine or Germination of the Hornes of the Stagg do's proceed from any substance which comes out of the Bone, its increase depends cheifly on the Skin which covers it, and which affords it a great quantitie of Nour­ishment, thro the great number of Vessels contained in it.

Hollow Hornes like those Oxen are ingendered and do grow after a quite different manner: for they are not immediatly fastned to the Scull, but they have their Cavitie filled by a Bone which is an Appendix of the Os Frontis; and this Appendix even as the rest of the Scull is covered with the Peri­cranium by the means of which these Hornes do joyn to the Scull, and are ingendered and do grow from what they receive from the Vessels of the Pericranium: for on the Pericranium which fastens the Appendix of the Os Frontis there is a Crest, apparently made by the Transudation of a matter contained in the Vessels of this Membrane, which we found in the Cavity of the Hornes of the Gazellas incomparably greater, fuller of Bloud, and more numerous, than they are in the rest of the Pericranium which covers the other Bones of the Head. So that it must be understood that even as Solid Hornes do take their Nourishment and increase by their external Su­perficies, those which are hollow do take it at the internal: for when the first Crust begins to be hardned on the Production of the Pericranium, which covers the Pointed Appendices of the Os Frontis, by hardning almost after the manner as Nails do harden at the ends of the Fingers; between this first Crust and the Pericranium there is ingendered another which glues it selfe to the former and thrusts it forward; and thus there is successively ingendered several Crusts one upon another, almost after the same manner as Snail­shells, and Oyster-shells are ingendered and composed of several Laminae or Plates glued to each other. This is the reason that hollow Hornes are ge­nerally wrinkled and ruffled like shells, and that they are easily separated in­to several Leaves.

Aristotle has given some Idea of this manner of the Generatinn of hollow Hornes, in saying that there enters into their Cavity something hard, which springs from the Scull; which must be understood of the Bone which en­ters into the Cavity of the Hornes: But he speakes not of the Pericranium to which the Horne is immediately fastned, and from whence it is probable that it takes its Origine and Nourishment.

The Generation of hollow Hornes is likewise different from that of solid [Page 169] ones, by the different quality of the matter, which is more aqueous in hol­low Hornes, and more Terrestrial in solid ones. Hollow Hornes do easily sofen before the Fire, as not having their Concretion by the Exiccation and Consumption of the Aqueous parts, but by the Coagulation of a Matter which hath not a consistence so firm, without the cold which does harden it: and solid Hornes are of the Nature of the Bones from which they do proceed, being of a Terrestrial matter, which, according to Aristotle and Pliny, is hard­dened on the Head of Staggs by the heat of the Sun: Aristotle makes also a remark which demonstrates that the matter of Staggs-Hornes is Terrene, dry and of the Nature of Stone; for he sayes that there has been sometimes Staggs taken, on whose Hornes there was found Ivie, which had there taken Root as it do's on S [...]ones: and Naturalists have observed that the Ivie do's frequently grow in places where Staggs Hornes are Buried. This conjecture may be confirmed by the consideration of that excrescence which is peculiar to the Stagg, called Lachryma Cervi; which comes out, as it is said, from the great Canthus or Corner of the Eye, being strongly fastened to the Bone, out of which it grow [...]; according to Scaliger: for this excrescence is so like a Stone, that some do think it really is one, and that it grows not out of the Stagg, being very far from giving credit to what Authors report of its Generation, viz. that it comes out of the Corner of the Eye of the Stagg, when to cure it selfe of the Wormes which it has in its Intestines, it eats Ser­pents, and plunges into the Water up to the very Eyes. The Bone which is found at the Basis of the Staggs Heart, is likewise a Sign that this Animal do's exceedingly abound in a juice capable of being easily converted into a Bonie and as it were Stoney Nature.

The Intestines being taken all together, did measure Ninety six foot in length. The smallest contained sixty six foot, and the great ones without the Caecum twenty. The Caecum was one foot ten inches in length and six inches in breadth towards its Basis. It went lessening towards its Point as usual. This extraordinary length of the Intestines, which is proportiona­ble to the greatness of the Ventricle in Animals which do live on Grass, is not found in those which are fed with flesh; because that Grass, being not so easy to be changed into Bloud, and this Nourishment affording it less matter than flesh, it was necessary to have the Ventricles thus large, to con­tain a great quantity of Grass, and that the Intestines should be proportionably long, to make room for the Natural heat to operate a long time on the Nou­rishment retained and conducted thro long Turnings.

There were two Ventricles, a greater and a smaller, which seemed to be the Duodenum inlarged. The great Ventricle being blown was five foot round. It was composed of several other Ventricles heaped in one, by reason of four or five bunches which it had connected together by a Membrane which did joyn, and make them to forme to this Ventricle several Cells. On this Membrane there was another which did cover and lock up the whole Ventricle. This Membrane was fastened behind to the Ventricle; Be­fore it was joyned to it only at top, the rest being wholy separated, and greatly extended, by a great deal of wind which it shut up with the Ventricle and Intestines, which it also covered like an Epiploon. The upper part which co­vered the Ventricles was thin, and transparent, without Fat, Glands, or apparent [Page 170] Vessels: the part which descended to inclose the Intestines had some Vessels and Fat, but in a very little quantity.

The Spleen was round, thin, and wholly adherent to the great Ventricle. It was six inches Diameter. The Vessels which do make the Vas Breve were utterly imperceptible. The Gibbous and upper part was fastned to the Diaphragme by three strong Ligaments.

The Liver had but one Lobe, and was only Cleft before, and quite whole within. The right side was somewhat more extended that the left, and made a point towards the Kidney. There was no Gall-Bladder.

The Kidney was very large, being five inches long and three broad. There was no Ren Succenturiatus.

The Penis had no bone. The proper Membrane of the Testicle was im­mediately fastened to the Glandulous Substance, so that it was absolutely inseparable therefrom, and more than usual in other Animals. Over this Membrane were an infinite number of Blood-Vessels, some whereof were strait and as big as a Bodkin; others were undulated, and as it were frizled, very small, about the bigness of a Pin. The Glandulous Substance of the body of the Testicle was Yellow; that of the Epididymis of a pale livid Red. The Uniting of the Vasa Praeparantia was wreathed and confounded, and made a Tube about the bigness of ones Finger, which produced the Epididymis, which covered and imbraced the top of the body of the Testicle even as the Cup of an Acorne. This part resembling an Acorne did produce a body about the thickness of ones Finger, which descended along the body of the Testicle, being there fastened, and made towards the bottom a kind of a Teat, from whence it returned along the side opposite to that by which it descend­ed, and formed the Vas Deferens, which was about the thickness of a Swans quill.

The Lungs had seven Lobes, four on the right side and three on the left. The Heart was very large, almost round and soft, because that the Ventricles were very large. There was a Bone as usually in Staggs.

THE ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF TEN PINTADO'S.

THe Birds which we describe are a kind of Hen called Pintado, by reason of the exactness of the Figures which seem as if Painted on its Plumage; these figures not being irregular and as it were accidentally made, as in the generality of other Birds. Upon this very reason some of the Ancients made Choice of the Names which they have given to these Fowl: For by Varro and Pliny they are called Variae, and by Martial Guttatae, by reason of the white Spots wherewith their whole body is diversified and Speckled, as it were with several drops. Their Eggs are likewise Painted, and Chequered with white and black: thus this sort of diversitie is a thing Natural and perpetual to these Birds, which this particularity distinguishes from common Hens, which in the Genus of Birds are almost the sole ones, which have not the Plumage alwayes with the same Colours in their Species; Hens being indifferently white, black, gray, yellow, or mixt with all these colours. O­ther Authors have given to the Pintado's Appellations taken from the Coun­try where they do generally breed (which is Africa) by calling them Hens of Africa, Barbary, Numidia, Guinea, Mauritania, Tunis, Pharos, that is to say Aegypt. Margravius reports that in the Kingdome of Congo it is called Que­sele. Pliny relates that they are also called Meleagrides, because that according to the report of his time, they went annually from Africa into Baeotia, and come to beat themselves near the Tombe of Meleager, whose Story feigns that the Sisters were changed into these Birds. There are some which do think that the Meleagris is the Cocq-d'Inde or Turky-Cock; which shall be exa­mined in the Sequel.

The ten Pintado's whereof we have made the Dissection, were of the size, and almost the shape of an ordinary Hen. Some are of Opinion that they do better resemble the Partridge. But the length of their Neck, and Leggs, [Page 671] which did even surpass that of the Neck and Leggs of Hens, have made us to disapprove this Similitude: We only found that they had the Tail bent down-wards like the Partridg, and not held up like the Hen. But they have no Characteristick more particular of the Hen than the fleshy Ap­pendices which do hang down on both sides of their Jaws, which are not mett-with in any other Bird, and which even in the Pintado have something different from those which are in Hens; as shall hereafter be explained.

Their whole Plumage was only of two colours, viz. White and Black. The White was every where perfectly White: the Black was also in some places perfectly Black, but in the most it was faint, and inclining to a dark-Gray.

The top of the Neck instead of Feathers, was only garnisht with a black Down, which did better resemble Hair than Feathers. These Hairs being about two lines long, were turned upwards, contrary to the ordinary situa­tion of Hair and Feathers. In one of our Subjects, towards the hinder part of the Head, these Hairs were almost an inch long, and made as it were a Tuft. The under part of the Neck had little dark-gray Feathers markt with White. These Feathers went insensibly three inches in length and one in Breadth. The half of these Feathers, towards the root on both sides of the Quill or Stem, was garnished with Beards or branchings like grayish white Down, above half an inch long on each side. Each Down or Beard was dissheivelled, and divided as it were into several fine Locks or threads towards its extremity. Near the Quill or Stem the roots of each beard were joyned together by the Crochets or little Fibres wherewith the Beards or branchings of the feathers which do serve for flight, use to be fastened, and which are described in the Ostrich. The other half of these Feathers was composed of these same sort of Beards or Branchings, which are harder and firmer. They were of a dark-gray intermixt with white round Spots, two lines Diameter at the most. They by an equall order did make three rows on each side with six in each row; so that the sixth of every row, which was common to the opposite rank, whereof it did likewise make the sixth, did meet on the tail of the Quill or Stem. This Quill which was black, did grow white at the place of the mark or Spot, as if on a black Skin there had been thrown some drops of Aqua-Fortis, which had discolour­ed it: Which illustrates the thought of Martial, by whom the Pintado's are called Guttatae.

The Feathers of the Wing's were marked after another manner, have­ing two Sorts of Spots, some of which were round, and others long. These marks were white, an a dark ground of three different Kinds: for at the place where the Feather is covered with another Feather, this ground was simply dark-gray; In the rest of the Feather this ground was absolutely black at the Circle of the white Spot; the rest was mixt with white and black Speks.

Clytus Milesius Aristotle's disciple, who describes the Pintado in Athenaeus with great exactness, principally inlarges upon the particularities of the shape and colour of the Spots of these Feathers, and even to the having ob­served that the black which edges the Spots is reciprocally intermixt with the white in form of a Saw; which is very difficult to comprehend, if one [Page 177] sees not these feathers, or their figure: wherefore we have in our Figure exactly designed them.

The Tail as has been sayd, was a little bent down-wards as in Partridges. The Leggs were covered with little feathers layd, and as it were glued, up­on the Skin; they were of a dark-Gray and spotted with White like all the rest.

The Head had no Feathers; the upper Eye-lidd had only long black hairs, which were raised upwards. At the top of the Head there was a Crest, or kind of Casque, which Modern Authors do compare to the Bonnet of the Doge of Venise. This Crest is by Margravius called Mitella Cutacea. We found that it was only covered over at top with a dry and wrinkled Skin of a dark Fawn Colour, which was extended from the Beak to the hinder part of the Head which it covered, being cutt away over the Eyes. But the inside was of a Spongie Substance, softer than the Bone, and resembling, as say's Clytus, a flesh hardened and dryed like Wood: which may make one to think that D' Alechampius and Casaubon had no reason to correct the ancient ex­emplars of Athenaeus, where it appears that this Crest is [...], by putting [...]. instead of [...]: for altho the colour of this Crest resembles some sort of Wood, yet indeed its substance has more re­semblance with all sorts of Wood than its colour, because that the colours of Woods are much more different amongst themselves, than their Substan­ces. D'Alechampius is perhaps mistaken, when he say's that this Crest is peculiar to the Males; for we have found it in all our Subjects as well Males as Females.

The Eye was large and open; the Poet Sophocles, according to Pliny, averr's that the yellow Amber is made of the Tears which do drop from the Eyes of the Pintados, which are beyond the Indies.

The Beak was like to that of an Hen. In two of our Subjects we found, on the middle of the root of the Beak, a Tuft composed of twelve or four­teen threads four lines in length, and about the bigness of a small Pin, of co­lour and Substance like the Bristles of a Hog. On each side of the Beak a blewish Skin was extended towards the Eye, which it incircled, and grew black there. Belonius positively affirmes that it is White round about the Eye. This Skin made the Eye-lidds, and covered the two Appendices with a Substance half fleshy and half Cartilaginous: they hung down on both sides the Cheeks, being fastened to the upper Jaw, and not to the lower, as they are in Hens, and as Belonius has Painted them in his Pintado. We found them of different shapes in our Subjects: for in some they were Oval, in others square, in others Triangular. They were also of different colours. Margravius simply declares that they are Red. We observed that they were Red in the Females, and Blew in the Males; although all Authers do report that this Bird has not any exteriour Mark which makes the distinction of Sex. On this difference of Colours Columella grounds a distinction be­tween the African or Numidian Hen and the Meleagris, saying that the Afri­can Hen has its Appendices Red, and that the Meleagris has them blue: But there is no probabilitie that such a difference can constitute divers Species, seeing that these Colours may easily change in the very same Individual upon light occasions, as is observable in the Turky-Cock, in whom the Combe Waxes Red when he is Angry, and who has it generally blue.

[Page 178]At the side of these Appendices backward, there is plainly seen the hole of the Ear, which in other Birds is hid by the feathers which do adorn the Head; this hole was extraordinary little, perhaps by reason it is unco­vered.

The Feet, which, as has been say'd, were very high, were of a dark-gray. Some great Scales covered them before; and behind they had only a Skin made rugged by an infinite number of small Eminencies like those of Cha­grin. The three fore-Toes had, even to the third of their length, a Skin which joyned them together as in the Goose. The hind-Toe was short, and the Males had no Spurr behind the Foot.

After having made these remarks on the Pintado, and read what the An­cients have written of the Bird Meleagris, we think it very hard to be of the same Opinion with Turnerus, Belonius, Gesner, Aldrovandus, and all the Au­thors which have writt of these Birds, and which do hold that the Meleagris of the Ancients is the Turky-Cock, and not the African Hen, or Pintado; for it is easie to prove that whatever the Ancients have reported of the Bird Melea­gris is found in the Pintado, and that nothing of all this occurrs in the Turky-Cock, which on the contrary has some things particular which are not in the Meleagris of the Ancients. For the particularities which Clytus attributes to the Bird Meleagris, viz. the Crest of a Lignous Colour and Substance, the Beards or Appendices of the Cheeks, the numerous white Specks almost regularly and with Symmetry placed on the feathers, of the shape and size of a Lentill, the Leggs without Spurrs in the Male, and the perfect resemblance of the Male and Female, are seen in the Pintado and are not found in the Turky-Cock. What Pliny reports of the Bird Meleagris do's very well agree with the Pintado, but not at all with the Turky-Cock: for he say's that the Meleagris is a Bird that lives in Lakes and Rivers: now the Skin which the Pintado has between the Toes of the Feet in found only in Animals which do love and dilight-in Watry places, where it is known that the Turky-Cock takes no pleasure. In fine, in the exact Description which the Ancients have made of the Meleagris it is impossible, if it were the Turky-Cock, that they should omitt the remarkable and particular things which appear in the Turky-Cock, and which are not found in the Pintado, such as are the way of display­ing its Tail, of dragging its Wings against the ground, of extending and suf­fering the Combe on its head to hang, of having the Neck rough and whol­ly void of feathers, and of having a Lock of black Hair at the Breast.

As for what respects the Inward parts, we found the Oesophagus, as in most Birds, ranged on the right side of the Aspera Arteria. It was inlarged before its entrance into the Thorax, and made a Craw of the bigness of a Tennis Ball, when it was blown up; afterwards it was contracted to pass thro the Thorax. This contracted part measured two inches and a half in length. This whole Oesophagus was spread over with a great quantity of Vessels, which were not visible in the passage, which from the dilatation that we have ta­ken for a Craw passed to the Gizard; this passage being of a Substance hard­der, whiter, and more Nervous than the rest. The Gizard was as in the Hen. It was found for the most part filled only with Gravel. Its internal Mem­brane was very much plaited, and easily separable from the fleshy part. Its substance was like to white glue; so that this Membrane being separated from the Gizard, was easily dryed, and waxed hard and brittle like Glass.

[Page 179]The Intestines were three foot long without reckoning the two Caecums, which were each six Inches. The Duodenum was much larger than the o­thers, being above eight Lines. The Caecum's were not of a uniform breadth as in the generality of Birds, but did go inlarging. They were fastned by the Membranes of the Mesentery, and received vessels therefrom like the o­ther Intestines. There was no Pancreas.

The Liver was divided into two Lobes, which at the top had each a Ca­vitie to receive the point of the Heart The Cavity of the right Lobe was greater and deeper than that of the left, because that the point of the Heart was turned towards the right side. The lower extremitie of the Lobes was fastened to the Diaphragme, which descends from the top down­wards, and to the Bladders which the Lungs form in the lower Belly of Birds. In most of our Subjects the Liver was Scirrhous, and filled with a great quantity of hard yellow Grains, some as large as Pease, and others less. We found a Gall-bladder only in two of our Subjects. In the one it was nine Lines in length and six in breadth. It had a Ductus from its bot­tom, which was inserted into the Intestine near the Pylorus. In the other, it was an Inch and half long, and four Lines broad, being fastened to the hollow part of the right Lobe; and the Ductus was from its middle, and not from its lower extremitie, and inserted it self into the Intestine, four Fingers beneath the Pylorus. In the other Subjects which had no Gall-bladder, the ramus Hepaticus was there found very large and visible. It measured five Inches in length, and was inserted into the Intestine six Inches beyond the Pylorus.

Towards the upper part of the Gizard there was a body of an oval Fi­gure nine Lines long, and of a dark red Colour, and a firm Substance. It had connexion with the Trunk of the Vena Porta, with that of the Cava and Aorta, and with the Intestines and Ventricle, by some very visible bran­ches. Some Modern Authors have observed that Birds which have a fleshy Ventricle have no Spleen. Yet we are of Opinion that this body could be no other thing than a Spleen, as well by reason of these Connexions, as of the Sympathie which it seem'd to have with the Liver: because it was found that in all the Subjects where the Liver was Scirrhous, this part was after the same manner; altho' the hard and compact Substance of this body in the subjects where it was Scirrhous, and its Figure so regularly oval, might cause a belief that it was a Testicle: but there were two other round bodies, four Lines Diameter, couched on the Loyns, and fastened to the Trunks of the Vena Cava and Aorta, which were the true Testicles. In one of the Subjects these round bodies were single, and fastened on the place of the di­vision of the Iliacks.

The Air being blown into the Aspera Arteria it made all the Bladders to swell, which received the Air after it had passed thro' the Lungs, and of which there are some that do descend into the lower Belly of Birds; it is ob­served that the Pericardium was likewise blown up. This Remark may be of some Importance to discover the uses of Respiration, and the Advantages which the Air, being by this means introduced into the Thorax, may bring to the Heart, by the Compression it may there cause, by the Impression of its [Page 180] Qualities, by the reception of the Fumes which it incessantly exhales in the continual heat in which it is, &c.

The Membrane of the Pericardium was not just fit and fastened to the Heart as is usual, but was a great deal extended towards the Point, making a sack or Appendix half an Inch long. In one of the Subjects, this Appen­dix was a great deal longer; for descending between the two Lobes of the Liver, it went to be fastened to the Gizzard.

The Aspera Arteria, after having entered the Cavity of the Thorax, had two small Muscles which were knitt to its Anteriour part, and which turn­ing on the one side and the other somewhat downwards, were by seve­ral Fibres united to the Vessels of the Heart. These Muscles were each al­most an Inch long, round like a Cord, and about the thickness of two thirds of a Line. We have found these same Muscles in a great many Birds: in most they do fasten the Aspera Arteria to the Sternum.

The Lungs were of Spongious flesh, perforated with several little holes as bigg as the head of a small Pin, regularly placed as well full as empty, and covered with a very fine Tunicle. They were of a Pale-red inclining to Ash-colour, being two Inches and a half long, and nine Lines broad, and five thick.

The Heart measured an Inch and half in length, and an Inch in breadth towards its Basis; it was very pointed. The Aorta being come out of the left Ventricle, was turned directly forward being still in the Heart, and covered with the right Auricle; so that it seem'd to proceed from the right Uen­tricle, and crossed over in this place, to descend to the right side. For this same reason the left Carotide did likewise appear to come from the Heart, altho' it proceeded from the Trunk. The division of the Trunk of the A­orta which formes the Iliack Branches, was an Inch and half lower than the division of the Iliacks of the Cava. These Branches were a great deal lesser than those of the Cava. They served for Emulgent Branches, the Kidneys being there fastned. The Emulgent Branches of the Cava did likewise come from the Iliack Branches of the Cava; and after being joyned to the Kidneys, did pass forward, like as the Arteries. The same Trunk of the Aorta, after its division into the Iliack Branches, did continue, and descend even to the Anus, casting forth the several Branches to the right and left, to form the Crurals.

The Brain had nothing particular. It is only observed that there was two bony Apophyses about the bigness of a little Pin, and two Lines long, which proceeding from the two sides of the Cranium, did joyn, and make an Angle between the Cerebrum and the Cerebellum.

The Crystalline was more convex within than without the Eye.