Zoonomia, Vol. I Or, the Laws of Organic Life   By: Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802)

OR,

THE LAWS

OF

ORGANIC LIFE.

VOL. I.

By ERASMUS DARWIN, M.D. F.R.S.

AUTHOR OF THE BOTANIC GARDEN.

Principiò coelum, ac terras, camposque liquentes, Lucentemque globum lunæ, titaniaque astra, Spiritus intùs alit, totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet. VIRG. Æn. vi.

Earth, on whose lap a thousand nations tread, And Ocean, brooding his prolific bed, Night's changeful orb, blue pole, and silvery zones, Where other worlds encircle other suns, One Mind inhabits, one diffusive Soul Wields the large limbs, and mingles with the whole.

THE SECOND EDITION, CORRECTED.

LONDON: PRINTED FOR. J. JOHNSON, IN ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD. 1796.

Entered at Stationers' Hall.

DEDICATION.

To the candid and ingenious Members of the College of Physicians, of the Royal Philosophical Society, of the Two Universities, and to all those, who study the Operations of the Mind as a Science, or who practice Medicine as a Profession, the subsequent Work is, with great respect, inscribed by the Author,

DERBY, May 1, 1794.

CONTENTS.

Preface. SECT. I. Of Motion. II. Explanations and Definitions. III. The Motions of the Retina demonstrated by Experiments. IV. Laws of Animal Causation. V. Of the four Faculties or Motions of the Sensorium. VI. Of the four Classes of Fibrous Motions. VII. Of Irritative Motions. VIII. Of Sensitive Motions. IX. Of Voluntary Motions. X. Of Associate Motions. XI. Additional Observations on the Sensorial Powers. XII. Of Stimulus, Sensorial Exertion, and Fibrous Contraction. XIII. Of Vegetable Animation. XIV. Of the Production of Ideas. XV. Of the Classes of Ideas. XVI. Of Instinct. XVII. The Catenation of Animal Motions. XVIII. Of Sleep. XIX. Of Reverie. XX. Of Vertigo. XXI. Of Drunkenness. XXII. Of Propensity to Motion. Repetition. Imitation. XXIII. Of the Circulatory System. XXIV. Of the Secretion of Saliva, and of Tears. And of the Lacrymal Sack. XXV. Of the Stomach and Intestines. XXVI. Of the Capillary Glands, and of the Membranes. XXVII. Of Hemorrhages. XXVIII. The Paralysis of the Lacteals. XXIX. The Retrograde Motions of the Absorbent Vessels. XXX. The Paralysis of the Liver. XXXI. Of Temperaments. XXXII. Diseases of Irritation. XXXIII. of Sensation. XXXIV. of Volition. XXXV. of Relation. XXXVI. The Periods of Diseases. XXXVII. Of Digestion, Secretion, Nutrition. XXXVIII. Of the Oxygenation of the Blood in the Lungs and Placenta. XXXIX. Of Generation. XL. Of Ocular Spectra.

TO

ERASMUS DARWIN,

ON HIS WORK INTITLED

ZOONOMIA,

By DEWHURST BILSBORROW.