| Boyle, Robert New experiments physico-mechanicall, touching the spring of the air and its effects 1660 |
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ings) the Wound (perchance dilated by
those strainings) appear'd so great, that
the whole Stomack was found to have got
in by it into the left side of the Thorax.
And such also was the accident that hap
pen'd to a Noble Man, whom I remem
ber I have seen, and who is yet alive, in
whose Chest there has, for these many
years, remain'd a hole so great, that the
motion of his Heart may be perceiv'd by
it.
These (I say) and some other Obser
vations, I shall now forbear to insist on,
because I hold it not unfit, before we
come to consider the use of Respiration,
that we acquaint Your Lordship with an
Ingenious Conjecture, that was made at
the cause of the hasty death of the Ani
mals our Engine kill'd: namely, That it
was not the want of Air that destroy'd
them, but the Pressure of the innate Air
in the cavity of the Chest; as if the
Spring of this Air being no longer coun
terballanc'd by the ambient Air, was there
by become so strong, that it kept the
Thorax forcibly distended, and hinder'd its
wonted contraction; and so compress'd
the Lungs and their Vessels, as to obstruct
the Circulation of the Blood.
And this
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