Observations on morbid poisons, chronic and acute : the first comprehending syphilis, yaws, sivvens, elephantiasis, and the anomala confounded with them. The second the acute contagions, particularly the variolous & vaccine / by Joseph Adams.

  • Adams, Joseph, 1756-1818.
Date:
1807
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on morbid poisons, chronic and acute : the first comprehending syphilis, yaws, sivvens, elephantiasis, and the anomala confounded with them. The second the acute contagions, particularly the variolous & vaccine / by Joseph Adams. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    which, during a considerable part of the progress, lie anterior to the testis, and which, when the testis descends later in life, are very- apt to come down with it. It must then be admitted by all, that to produce part of this change in the situation of the testis, nature has provided certain laws, that only take place while that action con- tinues. The question that remains is, would any thing be saved if one part of the operation were performed by an action that is always going on, viz. that of the abdominal muscles ? On the contrary, the operation is only so much the more complicated ;* because, besides the directing of the testes in their passage through the rings, another process must be set up to prevent the escape of the intestines along with them. Thus it is that men incumber themselves, when they attempt to prescribe laws to the operations of nature, instead of recurring to facts, their series and order, and reasoning by induction from them. I have chosen to confine myself to this single fact, bee t use it is the more pointed from the two names it opposes to Mr. Hunter's, and because I have the printed authority of those names for all that is asserted. But though Baron Haller is certainly entitled to the highest respect for his genius, industry, and readiness of communi- cation, it must be admitted, that his physiology is often supported by reasoning on mere mechanical principles. Let me instance his account of the wasting of the thymus gland. Eadem a puhnonibus auctis elisa ah aorta nunc majori sensim evanescit.-f Is this the lan- * Causae rerum naturalium non plures admitti debere, quam quae et vera sint & earum phaenomenibus sufficiant. Dicunt enim philosophi natura nihil frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora. Natura enim simplex est & rerum causis superfluis non luxuriat.— Sir Isaac Newton's Principia. f Primae Lineae, dccccxxi. This chapter closes with an account of the elongation of the csecum, and the increased size of the feet, which are thus accounted for. Caecum in- testinum nascitur a faece ad dextra appendicular pondere suo deorsum nitente, & pedes insigniter augentur a sanguine a ligatis umbilicalibus arteriis vepulso, dcccclii.—Poetry is a most dangerous accomplishment for a philosopher !