296 THE LAWS OF ORGANIC 



" It must be obvious, that sooner or later an ac- 

 cumulation of blood, highly venous, must take 

 place in the arterial system." This is an asser- 

 tion without the least support. By accumula- 

 tion, we understand a heaping up, or adding to, 

 a condition which cannot occur in the arterial 

 system, from the intermixture of the venous 

 blood ; because it is impossible to destroy, or, in 

 any measure, change the relative proportions of 

 these fluids. The paroxysm he mentions ar- 

 rests, in the same ratio, the arterial and venous 

 blood, because respiration, on which they both 

 depend, has ceased to act. If the accumulation be 

 granted, how can this be modified, since no al- 

 terations can possibly influence the arterial or 

 venous system individually ? The incorrectness 

 of this opinion becomes more evident as we pro- 

 ceed. Let us suppose an individual with the 

 Casrulean disease to be perfectly easy ; his respi- 

 rations about twenty per minute, and his pulse 

 about seventy ; and let us still further suppose, 

 that the foramen ovale and the ductus arteriosus 

 are represented by the letters A and B, and the 

 regular passage between the right ventricle and 

 the lungs by C, we may state that the quantity 

 of blood which A and B transmit under these cir- 

 cumstances to be estimated at eight ounces in 

 the minute, and the quantity sent by C to be 

 oxygenated in the lungs at twelve ounces in the 

 same time. If, by exercise, or other causes, the 



