410 ANDROPHYSICS. 



minute or capillary vessels, from the ends of the arteries, would dis- 

 charge it more slowly. Nearly 200 arteries, or arterial branches, 

 have received distinct names ; and the veins are probably equally 

 numerous. The lungs, called in brutes the lights, are two in num- 

 ber, and occupy the greater part of the thorax, or upper cavity : the 

 left lung consisting of two lobes or divisions, and the right lung 

 consisting of three lobes, as it is the largest. They are composed of 

 membranous cells, which are permeable to gases, but not to the 

 blood ; and which receive the air inhaled by respiration. The blood, 

 is a fluid, consisting of water, fibrin, serum, and various salts ; and 

 receiving its red color from small globules suspended in it, which 

 separate when it coagulates. In the veins, it has a dark color : but 

 after circulating through the lungs, absorbing oxygen, and giving out 

 carbonic acid, it acquires a rich red color, and is then fitted for giving 

 nourishment, as, by means of the arteries, it pervades the whole ani- 

 mal system. This absorption of oxygen by respiration, is necessary 

 to animal life ; and its uniting with carbon in the blood is probably 

 one source of vital heat. 



The absorbent vessels, are small pellucid tubes, which occur in 

 all parts of the body, and which serve to absorb any superfluous 

 fluids, and convey them back to the blood ; thus relieving the several 

 parts, and contributing to the general nourishment. They are mostly 

 called lymphatic vessels; from their containing the lymph or ab- 

 sorbed fluid ; which has a slight rose or yellow color, and which, 

 when extracted, coagulates, like the blood. But those absorbent 

 vessels which convey the chyle from the digested food, and pour it 

 into the blood, are called lacteals ; from the milk-like appearance of 

 the chyle ; although they are similar, in structure and office, to the 

 other lymphatics. There are also lymphatic glands, in which seve- 

 ral of the vessels unite, and thence discharge the lymph by a common 

 reservoir. 



5. Splanchnology, is that division of Anatomy which treats of 

 the viscera, or entrails, occupying the interior parts of the body : but 

 we would here restrict the term to the viscera of the abdomen, or 

 lower cavity of the body ; excluding the lungs, which have already 

 been described. The stomach, next to the liver, occupies the upper 

 part of the abdomen ; and is a strong muscular vessel, presenting, on 

 its interior surface, small villi, or tubular points, for infusing the gas- 

 tric juice. The masticated food, passing from the mouth into the 

 pharynx, is forced, by muscular action, down the oesophagus, or 

 gullet; and enters the stomach, at its left end. It is there mixed 

 with the gastric juice; by the aid of which it is digested, or con- 

 verted into a soft pulpy mass, called chyme. The chyme then passes 

 from the right end of the stomach into the duodenum, where it re- 

 ceives the bile and pancreatic juice; by the action of which, a 

 liquid, resembling milk, is produced, called chyle : and while travers- 

 ing the jejunum and ilium, or small intestines, the chyle is absorbed 

 by the lacteal vessels, and conveyed into the blood. 



The name Adenology, has been applied to the study of the 

 glands, or organs of secretion : but as several of these belong with 

 the viscera, and with the organs of digestion, we shall here describe 



