224 



functional properties of the heart are assimilated from the blood 

 which is distributed by these vessels. 3rd, The action of the heart 

 continues after the blood has been abstracted and the circulation 

 lias apparently ceased, or after the heart is removed from the body. 

 The two last facts can be reconciled only by one of the following 

 alternatives: 1st, that the life of the heart may be assimilated from 

 blood in a state of rest, as long as it contains the elements of life; or, 

 2nd, that, owing to the contiguity of the mouths of the coronaries to 

 the cavities of the heart, blood is forced into these vessels by its 

 contractions; and that a slow or imperfect circulation is locally 

 maintained in the heart, although it has ceased elsewhere, and finally 

 ceases in this place also, either because the blood gradually coagu- 

 lates, or else because the elementary life of a given quantity of blood, 

 which has no source of renovation, becomes exhausted. 



18. Although there is no evidence, even of the weakest kind, 

 to shew that the life of the heart does assimilate from the blood in 

 its cavities, there is the evidence of analogy to indicate that such an 

 assimilation does not take place. This evidence arises from a fact, 

 currently received, that the spirit does not assimilate from venous 

 blood; which exclusively flows through the right side of the heart. 

 This conclusion leads us up to a wider view of the relations of blood. 



