118 VASCULAR SYSTEM. ' 



Q. Do the arteries manifest sensible organic contrac- 

 tility? 



Ji. They do not; irritation, in whatever way applied, 

 cannot excite it. Contractility of texture has been mis- 

 taken for sensible organic contractility. 



Q. Repeat the organic vital forces of the organs. 



/?. Sensible organic contractility; insensible organic 

 contractility and organic sensibility. 



Q. Do the arteries exercise the two last properties in 

 an eminent degree ? 



Ji. Only to obey the requisitions of nutrition; hence 

 these vessels are little liable to disease. 



Q. What is liable to be mistaken for inflammation in the. 

 arteries? 



t/#. A redness which spontaneously appears in them, 

 particularly in the cerebral arteries, after death. 



. Q. What would be the consequence if the arteries were 

 equally liable with other parts to disease? 



#. Inevitable destruction to the life of the part, and in 

 very many cases general death. 



Q. Are the arteries active or passive in this? 



*#. From th'e absence of sensible organic contractility it 

 may be supposed they are passive. 



Q. Can you assign reasons for believing in the activity 

 of the heart, and the passive state of the arteries in circu- 

 lating the red blood? 



*#. These reasons are, the entire difference in the vital 

 forces of the heart and arteries: affections of the arteries 

 do not disorder the pulse, but diseases of the heart do: the 

 artery always ceases to beat below a ligature, except by 

 anastomosis, and this pulsation is from the heart through 



