Chap. XI.—Of the Intestines in Man, and Their Use.

It necessarily follows that I should begin to speak of the inward parts also, to which has been assigned not beauty, because they are concealed from view, but incredible utility, since it was necessary that this earthly body should be nourished with some moisture from food and drink, as the earth itself is by showers and frosts. The most provident Artificer placed in the middle of it a receptacle for articles of food, by means of which, when digested and liquefied, it might distribute the vital juices to all the members. But since man is composed of body and soul, that receptacle of which I have spoken above affords nourishment only to the body; to the soul, in truth, He has given another abode. For He has made a kind of intestines soft and thin,83    Rarum, i.e., loose in texture.   which we call the lungs, into which the breath might pass by an alternate interchange;84    Reciprocâ vicissitudine.   and He did not form this after the fashion of the uterus, lest the breath should all at once be poured forth, or at once inflate it. And on this account He did not make it a full intestine,85    Ne plenum quidem. Some editions omit “ne,” but it seems to be required by the sense; the lungs not being compact and solid, as the liver, but of a slighter substance.   but capable of being inflated, and admitting the air, so that it might gradually receive the breath; while the vital air is spread through that thinness, and might again gradually give it back, while it spreads itself forth from it: for the very alternation of blowing and breathing,86    Flandi et spirandi. The former word denotes the process of sending forth, the latter of inhaling, the air.   and the process of respiration, support life in the body.  

Since, therefore, there are in man two receptacles,—one of the air which nourishes the soul,87    Animam, the vital principle, as differing from the rational.   the other of the food which nourishes the body,—there must be two tubes88    Fistulas.   through the neck for food, and for breath, the upper of which leads from the mouth to the belly, the lower from the nostrils to the lungs. And the plan and nature of these are different: for the passage which is from the mouth has been made soft, and which when closed always adheres89    Cohæreat sibi.   to itself, as the month itself; since drink and food, being corporeal, make for themselves a space for passage, by moving aside and opening the gullet. The breath, on the other hand, which is incorporeal and thin, because it was unable to make for itself a space, has received an open way, which is called the windpipe. This is composed of flexible and soft bones, as though of rings fitted together after the manner of a hemlock stalk,90    In cicutæ modum.   and adhering together; and this passage is always open. For the breath can have no cessation in passing; because it, which is always passing to and fro, is checked as by a kind of obstacle through means of a portion of a member usefully sent down from the brain, and which is called the uvula, lest, drawn by pestilential air, it should come with impetuosity and spoil the slightness91    Teneritudinem domicilii.   of its abode, or bring the whole violence of the injury upon the inner receptacles. And on this account also the nostrils are slightly open, which are therefore so named, because either smell or breath does not cease to flow92    Nare; hence “nares,” the nostrils.   through these, which are, as it were, the doors of this tube. Yet this breathing-tube lies open93    Interpatet.   not only to the nostrils, but also to the mouth in the extreme regions of the palate, where the risings of94    Colles faucium. Others read “toles,” i.e., the tonsils.   the jaws, looking towards the uvula, begin to raise themselves into a swelling. And the reason of this arrangement is not obscure: for we should not have the power of speaking if the windpipe were open to the nostrils only, as the path of the gullet is to the mouth only; nor could the breath proceeding from it cause the voice, without the service of the tongue.  

Therefore the divine skill opened a way for the voice from that breathing-tube, so that the tongue might be able to discharge its office, and by its strokes divide into words the even95    Inoffensum tenorem, i.e. without obstruction, not striking against any object—smooth.   course of the voice itself. And this passage, if by any means it is intercepted, must necessarily cause dumbness. For he is assuredly mistaken, whoever thinks that there is any other cause why men are dumb. For they are not tongue-tied, as is commonly believed; but they pour forth that vocal breath through the nostrils, as though bellowing,96    Quasi mugiens.   because there is either no passage at all for the voice to the mouth, or it is not so open as to be able to send forth the full voice. And this generally comes to pass by nature; sometimes also it happens by accident that this entrance is blocked up and does not transmit the voice to the tongue, and thus makes those who can speak dumb. And when this happens, the hearing also must necessarily be blocked up; so that because it cannot emit the voice, it is also incapable of admitting it. Therefore this passage has been opened for the purpose of speaking. It also affords this advantage, that in frequenting the bath,97    In lavacris celebrandis.   because the nostrils are not able to endure the heat, the hot air is taken in by the mouth; also, if phlegm contracted by cold shall have happened to stop up the breathing pores of the nostrils, we may be able to draw the air through the mouth, lest, if the passage98    Obstructâ meandi facultate.   should be obstructed, the breath should be stifled. But the food being received into the stomach, and mixed with the moisture of the drink, when it has now been digested by the heat, its juice, being in an indescribable manner diffused through the limbs, bedews and invigorates the whole body.  

The manifold coils also of the intestines, and their length rolled together on themselves, and yet fastened with one band, are a wonderful work of God. For when the stomach has sent forth from itself the food softened, it is gradually thrust forth through those windings of the intestines, so that whatever of the moisture by which the body is nourished is in them, is divided to all the members. And yet, lest in any place it should happen to adhere and remain fixed, which might have taken place on account of the turnings of the coils,99    Voluminum flexiones.   which often turn back to themselves, and which could not have happened without injury, He has spread over100    Oblevit ea intrinsecus crassiore succo.   these from within a thicker juice, that the secretions of the belly might more easily work their way through the slippery substance to their outlets. It is also a most skilful arrangement, that the bladder, which birds do not use, though it is separated from the intestines, and has no tube by which it may draw the urine from them, is nevertheless filled and distended with moisture. And it is not difficult to see how this comes to pass. For the parts of the intestines which receive the food and drink from the belly are more open than the other coils, and much more delicate. These entwine themselves around and encompass the bladder; and when the meat and the drink have arrived at these parts in a mixed state, the excrement becomes more solid, and passes through, but all the moisture is strained through those tender parts,101    Per illam teneritudinem.   and the bladder, the membrane of which is equally fine and delicate, absorbs and collects it, so as to send it forth where nature has opened an outlet.  

0048A CAPUT XI. De intestinis in homine, eorumque usu.

Sequitur necessario, ut de internis quoque visceribus dicere incipiam: quibus non pulchritudo, quia sunt abdita, sed utilitas incredibilis attributa est, quoniam opus fuerat, ut terrenum hoc corpus succo aliquo de cibis ac potibus aleretur, sicut terra ipsa imbribus ac pruinis. Providentissimus artifex in medio ejus receptaculum cibis fecit, quibus concoctis et liquefactis, vitales succos membris omnibus dispertiret. Sed cum homo constet ex corpore atque anima, illud quod supra dixi receptaculum, soli corpori praestat alimentum: animae vero aliam sedem dedit. Fecit enim genus quoddam viscerum molle atque 0048B rarum, quod pulmonem vocamus, in quod spiritus reciproca vicissitudine commearet; eumque non in uteri modum finxit, ne effunderetur simul spiritus, aut inflaret simul. Ideoque ne plenum quidem viscus effecit, sed inflabile, atque aeris capax; ut paulatim 0049A spiritum reciperet, dum vitalis ventus per illam spargitur raritatem, et eumdem rursus paulatim redderet, dum se ex illo explicat. Ipsa enim vicissitudo flandi et spirandi, respirandique tractus, vitam sustentat in corpore.

Quoniam ergo duo sunt in homine receptacula, unum aeris, quod alit animam, alterum ciborum, quod alit corpus, ut flecti cervix, ac moveri facile possit, duas esse per collum fistulas necesse est, cibalem, ac spiritalem, quarum superior ab ore ad ventrem ferat, inferior a naribus ad pulmonem. Quarum ratio, et natura diversa est. Ille enim qui est ab ore transitus, mollis effectus est, et qui semper clausus cohaereat sibi, sicut os ipsum; quoniam potus, et cibus, dimota et patefacta gula, quia corporales 0049B sunt, spatium sibi transmeandi faciunt. Spiritus contra, qui est incorporalis, ac tenuis, quia spatium sibi facere non poterat, accepit viam patentem, quae 0050A vocatur gurgulio. Is constat ex ossibus flexuosis ac mollibus, quasi ex annulis in cicutae modum invicem compactis et cohaerentibus; patetque semper hic transitus. Nullam enim requiem meandi habere spiritus potest, quia is, qui semper commeat, demissa utiliter de cerebro membri portione, cui uva nomen est, velut occursu quodam refraenatur, ne aut teneritudinem domicilii cum impetu veniens attracta pestilenti aura corrumpat, aut totam nocendi violentiam internis receptaculis perferat. Ideoque etiam nares breviter sunt apertae, quae idcirco sic nominantur, quia per eas vel odor, vel spiritus nare non desinit, quae sunt hujus fistulae quasi ostia. Tamen haec fistula spiritalis non tantum ad nares, verum ad os quoque interpatet in extremis palati regionibus, ubi se colles faucium spectantes uvam tollere incipiunt in tumorem. 0050B Cujus rei causa et ratio non obscura est; loquendi enim facultatem non haberemus, si, ut gulae iter ad os tantum, ita gurgulio ad nares tantum pateret, 0051A nec procedens ex eo spiritus efficere vocem sine linguae ministerio posset.

Aperuit igitur viam voci divina solertia ex illa fistula spiritali, ut posset lingua ministerio suo fungi, et vocis ipsius inoffensum tenorem pulsibus suis in verba concidere. Qui meatus, si aliquo modo interceptus sit, mutum faciat necesse est. Errat enim profecto quisquis aliam causam putat, cur homines muti sint. Non enim (ut vulgo creditur) vinctam gerunt linguam: sed ii vocalem illum spiritum per nares quasi mugientes profundunt, quod voci transitus ad os aut nullus omnino est, aut non sic patens ut plenam vocem possit emittere. Quod plerumque natura fit; aliquando etiam casu accidit, ut morbo aliquo hic aditus obseptus vocem non transmittat ad 0051B linguam, faciatque de loquentibus mutos. Quod cum acciderit, auditum quoque obstrui necesse est; ut quia vocem emittere non potest, ne admittere quidem possit. Loquendi ergo causa patefactus est hic meatus. Illud quoque praestat, ut in lavacris celebrandis, quia nares calorem ferre non possunt, aer fervens ore ducatur; item, si forte spiramenta narium frigoris pituita praecluserit, per os auram trahere possimus, ne obstructa meandi facultate, spiritus stranguletur. Cibi vero in alvum recepti, et cum potus humore permixti, cum jam calore percocti fuerint, eorum succus inenarrabili modo per membra 0052A diffusus, irrigat universum corpus, et vegetat.

Intestinorum quoque multiplices spirae, ac longitudo in se convoluta, et uno tamen substricta vinculo, quam mirificum Dei opus est? Nam ubi maceratos ex se cibos alvus emiserit, paulatim per illos internorum anfractus extruduntur, ut quidquid ipsis inest succi, quo corpus alitur, membris omnibus dividatur. Et tamen necubi forte obhaereant, ac resistant, quod fieri poterat, propter ipsorum voluminum flexiones in se saepe redeuntes, et fieri sine pernicie non poterat, oblevit ea intrinsecus crassiore succo, ut purgamenta illa ventris ad exitus suos facilius per lubricum niterentur. Illa quoque ratio subtilissima est, quod vesica, cujus usum volucres non habent, cum sit ab intestinis separata, nec ullam habeat fistulam, 0052B qua ex illis urinam trahat, completur tamen, et humore distenditur. Id quomodo fiat, non est difficile pervidere, intestinorum enim partes, quae ab alvo cibum potumque suspiciunt, patentiores sunt quam caeterae spirae, et multo tenuiores. Hae vesicam circumplectuntur, et continent: ad quas partes cum potus et cibus mixta pervenerint, fimum quidem crassius fit, et transmeat, humor autem omnis per illam teneritudinem percolatur, eumque vesica, cujus aeque tenuis subtilisque membrana est, absorbet, et colligit, ut foras, qua natura exitum patefecit, emittat.