“516. ANIMAL HYDRAULICS—ECCLESIASTES 12:6”

Animal Hydraulics—Ecc_12:6

There is one verse in Solomon’s description of man’s decline, which has attracted more attention and obtained larger illustration than any other part of it, and is well entitled to our separate consideration. “Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.” The silver cord is supposed to denote that resplendent white cord (the spinal marrow) which passes through the entire length of the backbone, and which, medical writers inform us, is much liable to be relaxed and weakened in old age, or a part thereof altogether broken in its functions, producing those paralytic affections, the tremors and debilities to which the aged are particularly liable. The golden bowl is thought to be the skull. But whence the epithet “golden?” This does not, however, always denote color, but is used as a term of excellence to express extreme importance and utmost value; thus appropriately indicating the exceeding preciousness of the bowl and its contents. Some, however, would rather refer us to the fact that there are two integuments that envelop the brain—the one, firm and opaque, surrounding the whole mass, yet though in contact not properly connected with it, but rather lining the skull; the other, soft, delicate, and transparent, closely attached to the brain, insinuating itself between all its convolutions, compacting and lubricating the whole. The golden bowl might be the common anatomical name for the integument, not only for its globular shape, but from its yellowish color, which bears a nearer resemblance to gold than any other part of the body. The name, as thus understood, would certainly, as Dr. Wardlaw remarks, exhibit much less of fancy and metaphor than those of severe and affectionate mother, Note: Dura mater and pia mater. which modern anatomy applies to these integuments.

The terms that follow—the pitcher at the fountain, the wheel at the cistern—if not also the two preceding terms, have been regarded by many through a larger reference to modern anatomical discoveries than we are quite prepared to admit, as involving a knowledge of the circulation of the blood. We know that this modern discovery has been claimed for the ancients, and is declared to have been known to Hippocrates, and some other physicians and philosophers. But the passages adduced from their writings in proof of this, will not bear out the interpretation given to them; and there never was yet any great invention or discovery, of which it has not been possible, by after-light, to discover some trace in ancient authors. We are not willing to fix the limit of Solomon’s knowledge. The question here is, not what Solomon knew, but what was sufficiently known to the people he designed to instruct, as to be intelligible through the veil of highly figurative language; and not even those who contend that the circulation of the blood was known, will affirm that this great fact was a matter of common knowledge. It was the custom of the sacred writers to speak in general conformity with the prevailing notions of their age on subjects of this kind; and we do not suppose that any departure was made from that rule for the indication of recondite and hidden truths, in a popular and poetical description, intended to suggest only general ideas, the accuracy of which has never been questioned.

Apart from any considerations respecting the circulation of the blood, the internal economy of the animal frame in regard to the instruments for the diffusion of blood through the body, could not but be known in a place where animals were continually slaughtered for sacrifice, and their internal organization exposed to the notice of educated and intelligent men. We are, therefore, disposed to assent to the conclusion, that the three large canals which proceed from the heart, and receive, like pitchers at a well, the contents of this spring, are denoted by the pitcher. In elderly men those grand conduits, that take the blood from the heart in order to diffuse it through the lungs, the liver, and all the organs and members of the body, become rigid, bony, and inflexible, whereby they are disabled from acting efficiently upon the blood by driving it into all the distant pipes of the system. Hence those languors, faintings, and sudden changes that usually occur in persons advanced in years.

The Human Heart with Great Canals

Under this view, the heart itself becomes the cistern, which receives and dispenses to the most distant extremities every particle of blood belonging to the body. This is rendered by old age unfit for service. Part of its substance, like the great canals just mentioned, degenerate into bony fibers, which are unable to execute their due action. For the heart propels the blood to the extremities by a contractile force; if this contractile power be abated by the hardness and inflexibility of the heart’s substance, the diffusion of the blood cannot properly be carried on, but momentary stagnations, sinking of spirits, and universal weakness must ensue; because this power of contraction, like the wheel of a water-engine, is the grand and principal cause of the diffusion of the vital fluid through all the numerous canals of the system. Indeed, from the very terms employed, it needs but little penetration to perceive, that the whole of these details are founded on, and illustrated by, one of the hydraulic machines in use in the time of the writer; and as these appear to be substantially the same as those that are now in use in the East, it may not be impossible to discover the one which is intended. On carefully reflecting upon all the machines of the sort which we have seen in different parts in operation for the purpose of raising water, the Sackiyeh, or Persian wheel, which is in use throughout South-Western Asia, appears to us to be the most illustrative of the terms employed.

The Taboot, or Egyptian Watering Machine

This machine consists of a vertical wheel, which raises the water in earthen pots, or leathern buckets, attached to cords, and forming a continuous series; of a second vertical wheel with cogs, fixed to the same axis; and of a large horizontal cogged wheel, which, being turned by a pair of oxen, or by a single beast, puts in motion the former wheels and pots. We have seen a machine of this sort at work every morning, nearly in front of a house in which we long dwelt on the banks of the Tigris, and were continually reminded by it of the passage now before us. The machine is usually of rude construction, and is said to produce a disagreeable creaking noise. The only other machine that can be supposed in any degree to correspond to the suggestions which this text affords, is the taboot, which is used only when the water is to be raised but a few feet. In some respects it resembles the Persian wheel—the chief difference being that the pots are not used, but the water is raised up to a large wheel with hollow joints or fellies. Both these machines afford illustrative suggestions, which will be apparent to the reader; but the taboot scarcely seems so clearly applicable as the sackiyeh.

Autor: JOHN KITTO