Anatomical Observations on the Lungs

emerging from the lobules, which enter into the opposite ones; the air is received and expelled by these membranes as if in wider spaces that have a mutual communication, so that the air can be compressed from one into another. Thus, these interstices are the same as the lung vesicles original: "vesiculæ". These are the air sacs or alveoli. Malpighi was the first to describe them accurately., yet they are transparent and extremely thin.

The interstices spread out in a manner determined by the placement of the lobules; in larger animals, these gaps almost equal the width of half a finger. I believe nature fashioned these not merely for the distinction and connection of the lobules, but perhaps so that the air trapped within them might compress the enclosed lobules from all sides. This would multiply the force of the pressure and, consequently, aid in the mixing of the substance of the blood. Furthermore, I have frequently observed vesicles in these interstices which are called hydatids original: "hydatides". From the Greek for "water drop." In 17th-century anatomy, this referred to fluid-filled cysts or small bladders found in tissue. in Greek. Likewise, in old animals and others killed by disease, I have seen certain black spots which mark the entire spread of the interstices like a thin, drawn-out line. I believe it probable that these are diversions and, as it were, drainage points original: "emunctoria". A term for organs or ducts that carry off waste from the body. of the smallest lobules; the same blackening is also detected in the lateral glands connected to the windpipe original: "asperæ arteriæ". Literally "the rough artery." This was the standard term for the trachea and bronchi due to the ridged rings of cartilage..

It is well known that a triple kind of vessel is spread through the substance of the lungs. However, their use has been various in the opinions of others; to describe the variety of these opinions at length and discordantly would be out of place here. Therefore, assuming the existence of the branches of the windpipe, the vein, and the pulmonary artery—which run through the entire substance of the lungs in a kind of equal branching—I thought it right to share only this with you: how one may achieve a clear and evident division of the vessels down to the smallest parts. Although this may be seen obscurely by others through a light scraping of the parenchyma The functional tissue of an organ, as opposed to the connective or structural tissue., it happened to me easily and with the greatest delight to gather this evidence. Therefore, let a small but slender and long lobe from the lung of a dog be taken. Once it has been emptied of all air by compression and exposed to the rays of the sun, it will reveal the ducts of the windpipe, as well as the branches of the artery, as they are empty of blood.