Anatomical Observations on the Lungs

original: "serous pa..." from previous page parts [pass into] the left ventricle The chamber of the heart responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to the rest of the body. from the compression of air that has been performed; medical practice also confirms this same point, for when the vessels of the lungs or the auricles The upper chambers of the heart, now more commonly called the atria. are obstructed, an irregularity of the pulse first emerges, and finally death follows. The lungs possess such great worth for the life of living creatures that this remains perpetually true: diseases, for the most part, either originate from the lungs themselves or, in the end, terminate in them.

These findings I have been permitted to assemble from observations made for anatomical use. I would have determined these matters with more certainty in some respects, had this labor not been concerned with things so minute and almost escaping the reach of sight. Malpighi is reflecting on the extreme difficulty of 17th-century microscopy; he was a pioneer in using the early microscope to see structures invisible to the naked eye. Attend me with your usual kindness, and may you live the years of Nestor. A classical reference to Nestor, the legendary King of Pylos from Homer's Iliad, who was famed for his great age and wisdom; it is a traditional scholarly wish for a long life.