La Fibre Première & son Elixir de Vie

The Economy of the Animal Kingdom, volume III, La Fibre, extraits:

Chapitre 8, no 142, pp. 78-79 ( cf. note 51 ): "Does it then seem wonderful to you that the eye cannot follow the presence and motion of this humor; that ligatures, wounds, punctions, suctions, air pumps, injections are of no aval to exhibit it before the eye; that by no skill can the cavities of the nerves be laid before the keenness of its vision? Truly he who attemps such things with this intention, knows not the nature of this vessels and of the liquor itself. But he who, on this account, denies the existence, in these little vessels, of cavities that flee the sight and elude the skill, is surely ignorant of therationale of our body in its origin, progress, operations and excretions; and knows not the structure of insects, nor gives heed to the phenomena which so manifestly occur in plants. Therfore, also gross is that error which recognizes the thickish lymph that trickles from the cut of an ox's tail, as that humor, which we have just described."

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Herman Boerhaaven, botaniste, médecin et chimiste néérlandais, 1668-1738

Chapitre 1, no 84, p. 21 ( cf. note 51 ): “This humor, by reason of its perfect simplicity, mobility and volatility, we call the spirit of the nerves, - a spirit which is natural, vital and animal.“

Herman Boerhaaven, botaniste, médecin et chimiste néérlandais, 1668-1738

Chapitre XV - XXVI, about The Simple Fibre, extraits: 

No 249, p. 163: “[...] [...] [...] For according to the description, this gland, like a little heart, is furnished with a minute ventricle or follicle and also with a certain superficial materia which constitute the body of the gland. This follicle and also the superficial structure is continued into the fibre and through the fibre. For the fibre is the continuation of the cortical spherule, like as the artery is a continuation of the heart. Hence this glandular or cortical surface must necessarily consist of fibrils the most delicate of all, co-ordinated together in the most exact manner.“

No 250, p. 163: “[...] [...] So that to this fibre can be applied the philosophical canon: That in the animal system, in that it is animal, there is nothing that is truly substantial except this fibre, and that the rest of the compositions consist of mere accidents (note de AC: “accidents“ signifiant “effets/conséquences“).“

No 251, p. 163: “Moreover it is proper to predicate of this fibre that it is the pathway of the determinationsof the soul, and, as it were, the ray of its intellectual light, and the veriest force of forces and form of forms in its kingdom. From which predicates it follows that animal nature herself and the state and condition thereof depends principally upon this fibre. [...]“

No 252, p. 164: suite à venir...