The Economy of the Animal Kingdom, Considered Anatomically, Physically, and Philosophically

By Emanuel Swedenborg, late Member of the House of Nobles in the Royal Diet of Sweden; Assessor of the Royal Metallic College of Sweden; Fellow of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Upsala, and of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Stockholm; Corresponding Member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg.

Translated from the Latin by the Rev. Augustus Clissold, M.A.

Paucis natus est. Qui populum aetatis sucae: multa annorum millia, multa populorum supervenient: ad illa respice, etiamsi omnibus tecum viventibus silentium ... [aliqua causa] indixerit: venient, qui sine offensa, sine gratia judicent. (SENECA, Epist. 79.)

Contents of First Volume (Part I.)

Introduction 1

Chapter I. The Composition and Genuine Essence of the Blood. 29

Chapter II. The Arteries and Veins, their Tunics, and the Circulation of the Blood. 116

Chapter III. On the Formation of the Chick in the Egg, and on the Arteries, Veins, and Rudiments of the Heart. 241

Chapter IV. On the Circulation of the Blood in the Foetus; and on the Foramen Ovale and Ductus Arteriosus belonging to the Heart in Embryos and Infants. 316

Chapter V. The Heart of the Turtle. 372

Chapter VI. The peculiar Arteries and Veins of the Heart, and the Coronary Vessels. 387

Chapter VII. The Motion of the Adult Heart. 460

Contents Of Volume Two (Part II.)

Chapter I. On the Motion of the Brain; showing that its Animation is coincident with the Respiration of the Lungs. 653

Chapter II. The Cortical Substance of the Brain specifically. 721

Chapter III. The Human Soul. 860

Index of Authors, List of Unverified Citations, Bibliographical Notices of Authors 1020

Appendix

386. Lastly, by this heart we are confirmed in the opinion, that it is the blood alone that opposes the valves, and removes them to one side, on which subject we shall speak in Chapter VII.; for instance, the two valves between the sinus of the venae cavae and the right auricle; the two valves pendulous from the septum of the auricles; and the two pendulous from each of the three arteries. From the lower part of the septum between the auricles, according to Morgagni, "two ... valves hung forward,... and their inclination was such that it was easy to conjecture, that when the ventricles contracted, the valves must be raised by the compressed blood, and compelled to shut the auricles." (n. 373.) The case is the same also with the semilunar valves of the veins in the body, which are subject to the action of the blood (n. 191), according to Wedelius, ¹ who shows that those valves do not act, but are only moved by the liquid; and assigns mechanical reasons why one only, or several, are present, and can be present. This again confirms the truth of the proposition (n. 190-198), that the venous blood is pressed and presses in every direction.

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