Project Gutenberg's Popular Lectures on Zoonomia, by Thomas Garnett

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Title: Popular Lectures on Zoonomia Or The Laws of Animal Life, in Health and Disease

Author: Thomas Garnett

Release Date: January 8, 2009 [EBook #27748]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POPULAR LECTURES ON ZOONOMIA ***

Produced by R. L. Garnett

POPULAR LECTURES ON ZOONOMIA, OR THE LAWS OF ANIMAL LIFE, IN HEALTH AND DISEASE.

BY THOMAS GARNETT, M.D.

MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, LONDON; OF THE ROYAL
IRISH ACADEMY; OF THE ROYAL MEDICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH; HONORARY
MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE; FELLOW OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY;
MEMBER OF THE MEDICAL SOCIETY, LONDON; AND OF THE LITERARY AND
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF MANCHESTER: &c. &c.
FORMERLY PROFESSOR OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND CHEMISTRY IN THE
ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN.

LONDON:
FROM THE PRESS OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN:
W. SAVAGE, PRINTER.
PUBLISHED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE AUTHOR'S CHILDREN BY HIS EXECUTORS.
TO BE HAD OF MR. NICHOLSON, SOHO SQUARE, MR. PRICE,
WESTMINSTER LIBRARY, JERMYN STREET,
AND OF ALL THE BOOKSELLERS.
1804.

[FRONTISPIECE PORTRAIT]

THOMAS GARNETT. M.D.

L. R. Smith, del.
Lenney, sculpt.

Published Jan. 1, 1805, by the Executors, for the benefit of his orphan children.

ENTERED AT STATIONERS HALL.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE, AND HONOURABLE, THE MANAGERS OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN, THESE LECTURES, COMPOSED BY A MAN, WHO, IN HIS LIFE TIME, WAS HONOURED BY THEIR SELECTION, AS THEIR FIRST LECTURER; AND WHOSE INFANT FAMILY HAVE SINCE EXPERIENCED THEIR BENEVOLENCE AND PROTECTION, ARE, WITH PERMISSION, DEDICATED, BY THE TRUSTEES OF THE SUBSCRIPTION, IN FAVOUR OF THOSE ORPHANS. CONTENTS.

THE AUTHOR'S LIFE.

His early amusements. His apprenticeship to Mr. Dawson. His studies
at Edinburgh. In London. His establishment at Bradford. At
Knaresborough. At Harrowgate. His marriage. His lectures at
Liverpool. At Manchester. At Warrington. At Lancaster. At Glasgow.
His tour in the Highlands. The death of his wife. His engagement in
the Royal Institution. His resignation. His establishment in
Marlborough Street. His appointment as physician to the Mary-le-bonne
Dispensary. His death.

LECTURE I, INTRODUCTION.

Difficulties and advantages of a popular course of lectures. General view of the human frame. Bones. Muscles. Joints. Powers of the muscles. Brain and Nerves. Senses. Hypothesis of sensation. Galvanism. Distribution of the subjects of the course.

LECTURE II, ON RESPIRATION.

Air. Trachea. Thorax. Animal heat. Its uniformity. Chemical properties of the air. Combustion. Effects of cold.

LECTURE III, ON THE CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD.

Respiration partially voluntary. Heart. Circulation. Pulsation.
Hepatic vessels. Action of the arteries. Causes propelling the blood.
Varieties of the pulse. Changes of the blood. Harvey's merits.

LECTURE IV, ON DIGESTION AND NUTRITION.

Necessity of food. Structure of the viscera. Bile. Food of man. Gastric juice. Absorption. Assimilation. Lymphatics. Diseases affecting digestion. Advantages of temperance and exercise.

LECTURE V, OF THE SENSES IN GENERAL.

Sensation. Attention. Internal senses. Habit. Touch. Skin. Pain.

LECTURE VI, ON TASTE AND SMELL.

Tongue. Kinds of taste. Diseases of taste. Smell. Mucous membrane.
Odours. Smell in animals. Diseases of smell.

LECTURE VII, ON SOUND AND HEARING.

Production of sound. Medium. Ear. Hearing. Pendulums. Chords. Wind instruments. Tones. Velocity of sound. Music. Echo. Deafness.

LECTURE VIII, ON VISION.

The eye. Figure. Light. Vision. Accommodation to different distances.
Seat of vision. Erect vision. Single vision. Squinting.

LECTURE IX, ON THE LAWS OF ANIMAL LIFE.

Action of external objects. Excitability. Its laws. Action of light.
Of Heat. Of food. Sound. Odours.

LECTURE X, ON THE LAWS OF ANIMAL LIFE.

General laws. Sleep. Degrees of excitability. Health. Comparison with a furnace. Oxidation. Electricity. Hydrogen. Theory of muscular contraction.

LECTURE XI, OF THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF DISEASES.

Brown's theory. Sthenic and asthenic diseases. Debility. Sthenic depression of spirits. Scale of excitability. Fallacy of symptoms Effects of cold. Alcohol. Sthenic diseases.

LECTURE XII, ON INFLAMMATION AND ASTHENIC DISEASES.

Nature of inflammation. Distention of the arteries. Cure of ophthalmias. Asthenic diseases. Cold. Intemperance. Mental exertions. Classes of diseases. Cure. Oxidation.

LECTURE XIII, ON THE GOUT.

Effects of the gout. Gout not hereditary. Symptoms. Causes.
Affections of the stomach. Cure. Use of electricity. Diet.

LECTURE XIV, ON NERVOUS COMPLAINTS.

Predisposition. Classes. Sthenic kinds. Case of the author. Bad effects of wine. Asthenic kinds. Passions. Direct debility. Treatment. Torpor. Remedies. Exercise and temperance. Conclusion.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.

DR. GARNETT was born at Casterton, near Kirkby Lonsdale, Westmoreland, on the 21st of April, 1766. During the first fifteen years of his life, he remained with his parents, and was instructed by them in the precepts of the established church of England, from which he drew that scheme of virtue, by which every action of his future life was to be governed. The only school education he received during these early years, was at Barbon, a small village near his native place, to which his father had removed the year after he was born. The school was of so little consequence, that its master changed not less than three times during the space of seven or eight years, and the whole instruction he received, was comprehended in the rudiments of the English grammar, a small portion of Latin, and a little French, together with the general principles of arithmetic. His bodily constitution was from the beginning weak and susceptible; he was unequal to joining in the boisterous amusements of his companions, while from the liveliness of his disposition he could not remain a moment idle. To these circumstances we are, perhaps, to attribute the uncommon progress he made in every branch of knowledge to which he afterwards applied himself.

Whilst a schoolboy, the susceptibility of his mind, and a diffidence of character connected with it, caused him to associate very little with his schoolfellows: he dreaded the displeasure of his preceptor, as the greatest misfortune which could befal him The moment he arrived at home, he set about preparing his lesson for the next day; and as soon as this was accomplished, he amused himself by contriving small pieces of