CAPILLARY SYSTEMS. 153 



Q. Considering the difference in capacity between the 

 general capillary circulation, and that composing the pul- 

 monary capillary system, how do all the blood of the 

 first and the chyle and the lymph, pass through the second 

 or pulmonary system? 



/?. Recollect first that all the fluids in the general ca- 

 pillary system are not blood; that much of the blood in 

 the capillaries is expended in the functions of the parts 

 through which it passes, as in secretion, exhalation, and 

 nutrition; that the course of the blood is irregular in the 

 general, but direct in the pulmonary capillary system from 

 the arteries to the veins; that the blood in the pulmonary 

 capillaries has no function to subserve; that blood flows 

 much more rapidly and uninterruptedly from the right 

 ventricle to the left auricle, because the course is shorter 

 and more direct, than from the left auricle through the 

 body to the right ventricle ; that the blood gains in time 

 of passage what is wanting in capillary space. 



Q. Why are the lungs so frequently inflamed? 



#. Because of direct exposure to irritation in respira- 

 tion, and because of their active sympathies with other 

 tissues, especially the skin. 



Q. Does the red or black blood become congested in 

 the lungs, in their inflammation? 



Ji. It is reasonable to believe that, from the sudden 

 manner in which extensive congestions appear in the lungs, 

 that the bronchial arteries could not supply them; it is there- 

 fore the black blood which accumulates in congestion. 



Q. How can this crowding of the lungs with sangui- 

 neous congestion be ascertained? 



.#. By percussion. 



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