The Anatomy of Melancholy

Subsection 4. Composite parts.

Composite parts are those we call organs, or instruments; they are internal or external. The principal external parts lie at the front or back. At the front are the crown and forepart of the head, skull, face, forehead, temples, chin, eyes, ears, nose, and so on; the neck, breast, chest, upper and lower abdomen, regions beneath the ribs, navel, groin, flank, and so on. At the back are the back of the head, back, shoulders, sides, loins, hipbones, sacrum, buttocks, and so on. There are also the joints, arms, hands, feet, legs, thighs and knees, and parts common to both front and back. Because these are obvious and familiar, I have listed them casually, and only the principal and larger ones: anyone who wishes may learn the rest from books on the soul.

The internal organs, which cannot be seen, are numerous, with various names, functions and classifications. The most notable division is Laurentius’s, into noble and lesser parts. Among the noble parts are three principal organs, on which all the rest depend and which they serve: the brain, heart and liver. Their positions determine three regions, or a threefold division of the whole body. First comes the head, containing the organs of sensation and movement and the brain itself. Through its nerves, the brain gives sensation and movement to the other parts, and serves, so to speak, as the heart’s privy councillor and chancellor.

The second region is the chest, or middle cavity, where the heart holds court as king and communicates life to the whole body through its arteries. The third region is the lower abdomen, where the liver resides as a specially appointed legate, together with the other organs that perform the natural functions of digestion, nourishment and expelling waste.

This lower region is separated from the upper by the midriff, or diaphragm. Some subdivide it into three cavities or regions: upper, middle and lower. The upper comprises the regions beneath the ribs, with the liver on the right and spleen on the left; from this region hypochondriacal melancholy takes its name. The second comprises the navel and flanks, separated from the first by the abdominal membrane. The last is the urinary region, itself subdivided into three parts. The Arab writers divide this region into two parts, the epigastrium and hypogastrium, upper and lower. They call the epigastrium mirach, from which comes the term mirachial melancholy, sometimes mentioned by them. I will treat these regions briefly and separately, beginning with the third, which contains the organs of the natural functions.

Meanwhile, readers, imagine that you have been brought into a sacred temple or majestic palace, as Melanchthon says, to contemplate not merely the material but the extraordinary art, workmanship and design of our great Creator. Properly considered, this is a pleasant and profitable subject for reflection.