The Anatomy of Melancholy

Next in order is the middle Region, or chest, which comprehends the vital faculties & parts: which (as I have said) is separated from the lower belly, by the Diaphragma or Midriffe, which is a skin consisting of many nerves, membranes: and amongst other uses it hath, is the instrument of laughing. There is also a certain thin membrane, full of sinews, which covereth the whole chest within, and is called Pleura, the seat of the disease called Pleurisie, when it is inflamed; some adde a third skin, which is termed Mediastinus, which divides the chest into two parts, right & left:

of this region the principal part is the Heart, which is the seat and fountain of life, of heat, of spirits, of pulse and respiration; the Sun of our Body, the King and sole commander of it: the seat and Organ of all passions and affections. Primum vivens, ultimum moriens, it lives first, and dies last in all creatures: Of a pyramidical forme, and not much unlike to a Pine-apple; a part worthy of admiration, that can yeild such variety of affections, by whose motion it is dilated or contracted, to stir & command the humors in the body: As in sorrow, melancholy; in anger, choler; in joy, to send the bloud outwardly; in sorrow, to call it in; moving the humors, as Horses do a Chariot.

This heart, though it be one sole member, yet it may be divided into two creeks right & Left. The right is like the Moone increasing, bigger then the other part, & receives bloud from Vena cava, distributing some of it to the Lungs to nourish them, the rest to the left side, to ingender spirits. The left creeke hath the forme of a Cone, & is the seat of life, which as a torch doth oyl, draws bloud unto it, begetting of it spirits & fire; and as fire in a torch, so are spirits in the bloud, & by that great Artery called Aorta, it sends vital spirits over the body, & takes aire from the Lungs, by that Artery which is called Venosa; So that both Creeks have their Vessels; the Right two Veines; the left two Arteries, besides those two common anfractuous ears, which serve them both; the one to hold bloud, the other aire, for several uses.

The Lungs is a thin spungy part, like an Oxe hoof, (saith Fernelius) the Town-Clark, or Cryer (one termes it) the instrument of voice, as an Orator to a King; annexed to the heart, to express their thoughts by voice. That it is the instrument of voice, is manifest, in that no creature can speak, or utter any voice, which wanteth these lights. It is besides the instrument of respiration, or breathing; & its office is to cool the heart, by sending ayre unto it, by the Venosal Artery, which veine comes to the lungs by that aspera arteria, which consists of many gristles, membranes, nerves, taking in ayre at the nose and mouth, and by it likewise, exhales the fumes of the Heart.

In the upper Region serving the animal faculties, the chief Organ is the Brain, which is a soft, marrowish, & white substance, ingendred of the purest part of seed and spirits, included by many skins, and seated within the skull or brain pan, and it is the most noble Organ under heaven, the dwelling house and seat of the Soul, the habitation of wisdom, memory, judgement, reason, & in which man is most like unto God: and therefore nature hath covered it with a skull of hard bone, and two skins or membranes, whereof the one is called dura mater, or meninx, the other pia mater. The dura mater is next to the skull, above the other, which includes & protects the brain. When this is taken away, the pia mater is to be seen, a thin membrane, the next and immediate cover of the brain, and not covering only, but entring into it.