344 NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



onward, the dimensions of the reservoirs are dimin- 

 ished, and the blood is accumulated upon the more 

 active heart, and is ready to answer the demands 

 of the system which that very activity requires. 

 The sensations at the heart exciting the respira- 

 tion, the chest is expanded, and the veins enlarged ; 

 and by the alternate suction and compression 

 upon those great veins, the heart is liberally sup- 

 plied. By this arrangement, then, there is ever 

 a correspondence preserved between the activity 

 of the body and the rapidity of the circulation. 

 For this is the sequence of actions: 1. We rise 

 into activity ; the blood, which was slowly cir- 

 culating, is pressed forward to the heart : 2. The 

 heart is distended and excited : 3. The sympathy 

 or bond of union between the heart and lungs 

 makes a call upon the respiratory action ; and the 

 decarbonization of the blood takes place more 

 rapidly : 4. The return of arterial blood from the 

 lungs to the heart is accelerated, and the heart 

 regulates the action of the arteries : 5. The in- 

 creased arterial action supports the exercise of 

 the muscular frame ; and, thus, there is a circle 

 of relations established arising out of that very 

 seeming irregularity of the veins : their position 

 and general condition ensure an acceleration of 

 circulation corresponding with the activity of the 

 muscular system. 



True it is, that, in comparing the branching of 

 the veins with the arteries, there seems to be, as 

 anatomists have taken pains to show, an appear- 



