OF THE VEINS. 345 



ance of clumsiness and irregularity in the former 

 compared with the latter ; but they have not in- 

 quired v^^hether there v^as a reason for this variety 

 — whether the distinction in the manner of a small 

 tube joining a larger, accords with the direction 

 of the fluid in these tubes or not — and yet this 

 is a question very naturally suggested, if we have 

 a firm conviction that in the natural body nothing 

 is formed imperfectly, or by chance. Accord- 

 ingly, it does appear that, in the distribution of 

 water-pipes, it is very necessary to attend to the 

 angle at which a small pipe joins a larger. If a 

 pipe be fixed into another contrary to the direc- 

 tion of the stream, the discharge into that lateral 

 branch from the larger tube will not only be much 

 smaller than what we might estimate by the dia- 

 meter of the tubes it should be, but in certain 



circumstances it will discharge nothing at all ; 

 nay, the water will be drawn from the lesser tube 

 into the greater. 



