226 THE VITAL CURRENT 



CHAPTER XXV. 



DEATH, OR CESSATION OF ORGANIC ACTION. 



r I ^HE cessation of the continuity of the vital 

 current is death, in whatever manner it may 

 be effected. There may be, however, a tempo- 

 rary suspension and renewal of continuity. 



" In the human system extinction takes place 

 in the following order," in the circuit of the peri- 

 odic motion : " It begins in the left ventricle and 

 ends with the left auricle of the heart, Galen's 

 itltimum moriens. After most kinds of slow 

 natural death, the arterial trunks and left side of 

 the heart are found to be almost or even com- 

 pletely empty, and the venous arteries to be full 

 of blood. There are certain kinds of sudden 

 death in which the vitality of the whole system 

 appears to be simultaneously destroyed, and the 

 blood remains in the vessels as it was in the 

 moment of decease." The muscles of man cease 

 to be irritable within a few hours after death. 



" There is reason to believe that the sympa- 

 thetic system constitutes the channel through 

 which the passions and emotions of the mind 

 affect the organic functions ; and this especially 

 through its power of regulating the calibre of the 

 arteries. 



