Archimedes Texts

340
to possess as much of the Cavity of the
Chest as the Lungs fill not up, being much
weaken'd, the external and contiguous
Air must necessarily press in at the open
Winde-Pipe into the Lungs, as finding
there less resistance then any where else a
bout it.

And hence (by the way) we may derive
a new assistance to judge of that famous
Controversie disputed among Naturalists
and Physitians, ever since Galens time,
some maintaining that the Chest, with the
contained Lungs, may be resembled to a
pair of Bellows, which comes therefore
to be fill'd because it was dilated: And o
thers pleading to have the comparison
made to a Bladder, which is therefore di
lated because it is fill'd. For as to the
Thorax, it seems evident from what has
been lately said, that it, like a pair of Bel
lows, happens to be partly fill'd with Air,
but because it was dilated: But as for the
Lungs themselves, who want Fibres to
distend them, they may fitly enough be
compar'd to a Bladder; since they are di
lated by being fill'd, namely, by that Air
which rushes into them upon the dilatation
of the Chest, in whose increased Cavity
it findes (as we freshly noted) less resist-