B. III.J THE HISTOEY OF ANIMALS. 55 



through the neck and shoulder, and meets the first division 

 of the vein by the joint of the arm ; the other portion ter- 

 minates in the hand and fingers ; and another branch ex- 

 tends from each part near the ear to the brain, where it 

 is divided into many small branches upon the membrane 

 which surrounds the brain. 



8. The brain never contains blood in any animal, nor does 

 any vein, small or great, terminate upon it ; but some of 

 the other branches that extend from this vein surround the 

 brain in a circle, and others, end upon the organs of sense 

 and the teeth in very small veins. In the same manner, 

 also, the branches of the smaller vein, which is called the 

 aorta, are divided : they are continued beside those of the 

 great vein, but the tubes are smaller and the branches less 

 than those of the great vein. 



CHAPTER IV. 



1. THE veins, then, are thus distributed in the parts above 

 the heart, but the part of the great vein which is below the 

 heart passes through the middle of the diaphragm, and is 

 united to the aorta and spinal column by membranous flaccid 

 passages. From this a short and wide vein passes through 

 the liver, from which many similar branches extend to the 

 liver, and disappear upon it. There are two branches of the 

 vein, one of which terminates upon the diaphragm, and what 

 is called the praecordia, the other returns through the arm- 

 pit to the right arm, and unites with the other veins near 

 the interior part of the elbow. For this reason physicians 

 treat certain diseases of the liver by venesection in this vein. 

 2. From the left of this there is a short and wide vein, 

 which reaches to the spleen, and the branches of this vein 

 are lost upon this organ, and another portion branching off 

 in the same way from the left the great vein passes up to 

 the left arm, except that the last-mentioned pass through 

 the liver, but this one through the spleen. Other branches 

 also separate from the great vein, the one to the omentum, 

 the other to the pancreas ; and from this many veins extend 

 through the mesenterium, and all end there in one great 

 vein, which passes through the whole intestine and the 

 Btomach, as far as the oesophagus ; and many veins branch 

 off from them around these parts. 



