H)6 



THE VITAL FUNCTIONS. 



tribution of the nutritious fluids elaborated by 

 the organs of digestion. This separation of 

 functions, again, leads to the introduction of 

 another system of canals or vessels, for trans- 

 mitting the fluids from the organs which prepare 

 them to the heart, as into a general reservoir. 

 In the higher orders of the animal kingdom, 

 all these processes are again subdivided and 

 varied, according to the species of food, the 

 habits, and mode of life, assigned by nature to 

 each individual species. For the purpose of 

 conveying clearer notions of the arrangement of 

 this extensive system of vital organs, I have 

 drawn the annexed plan (Fig. 265), which ex- 



hibits them in their natural order of connexion, 

 and as they might be supposed to apj^ear in a 

 side view of the interior of a quadruped. To 



