Zoonomia, Vol. I

Zoonomia, Vol. I

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Zoonomia, Vol. I, by Erasmus
Darwin This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and
with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Zoonomia, Vol. I Or, the Laws of Organic Life
Author: Erasmus Darwin
Release Date: April 25, 2005 [EBook #15707]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK
ZOONOMIA, VOL. I ***

Produced by Greg Alethoup, Robert Shimmin, Keith Edkins and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

ZOONOMIA;
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._
* * * * *
HAIL TO THE BARD! who sung, from Chaos hurl'd How suns and
planets form'd the whirling world; How sphere on sphere Earth's hidden
strata bend, And caves of rock her central fires defend; Where gems
new-born their twinkling eyes unfold, 5 And young ores shoot in
arborescent gold. How the fair Flower, by Zephyr woo'd, unfurls Its
panting leaves, and waves its azure curls; Or spreads in gay undress its
lucid form To meet the sun, and shuts it to the storm; 10 While in green
veins impassion'd eddies move, And Beauty kindles into life and love.
How the first embryon-fibre, sphere, or cube, Lives in new forms,--a
line,--a ring,--a tube; Closed in the womb with limbs unfinish'd laves,
15 Sips with rude mouth the salutary waves; Seeks round its cell the
sanguine streams, that pass, And drinks with crimson gills the vital gas;
Weaves with soft threads the blue meandering vein, The heart's red
concave, and the silver brain; 20 Leads the long nerve, expands the
impatient sense, And clothes in silken skin the nascent Ens. Erewhile,
emerging from its liquid bed, It lifts in gelid air its nodding head; The
lights first dawn with trembling eyelid hails, 25 With lungs untaught
arrests the balmy gales; Tries its new tongue in tones unknown, and
hears The strange vibrations with unpractised ears; Seeks with spread
hands the bosom's velvet orbs. With closing lips the milky fount
absorbs; 30 And, as compress'd the dulcet streams distil, Drinks
warmth and fragrance from the living rill;-- Eyes with mute rapture

every waving line, Prints with adoring