Those who imagine it to be empty are altogether
mistaken; and they are led into their error by their observation of
lungs removed from animals under dissection, out of which organs the
blood had all escaped immediately after death.
Of the other internal organs the heart alone contains blood.
And the lung has blood not in itself but in its veins, but the heart
has blood in itself; for in each of its three cavities it has blood,
but the thinnest blood is what it has in its central cavity.
Under the lung comes the thoracic diaphragm or midriff,
attached to the ribs, the hypochondria and the backbone, with a thin
membrane in the middle of it. It has veins running through it; and the
diaphragm in the case of man is thicker in proportion to the size of
his frame than in other animals.
Under the diaphragm on the right-hand side lies the 'liver',
and on the left-hand side the 'spleen', alike in all animals that
are provided with these organs in an ordinary and not preternatural
way; for, be it observed, in some quadrupeds these organs have been
found in a transposed position. These organs are connected with the
stomach by the caul.
To outward view the spleen of man is narrow and long,
resembling the self-same organ in the pig.
Pages:
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56