AND ANIMAL LIFE. 317 



cedes the abstraction of blood, or occurs during 

 its flow ; it more frequently takes place when the 

 object of the surgeon is nearly accomplished. 



CCCLXII. It is believed when an individual 

 faints during the act of bleeding, that it is be- 

 cause the blood has left the heart. I shall attempt 

 to show that it is because the blood has flowed to 

 the heart, and not from it. 



CCCLXIII. If the organs of the animal eco- 

 nomy were so finely adjusted as the common opi- 

 nions of mankind'on this subject would lead one to 

 believe, we could scarcely expect that one patient 

 would be able to lose sixty ounces of blood without 

 this loss being succeeded by syncope, when, in 

 another, the loss of two or three ounces is almost 

 instantaneously followed by this affection. It 

 seldom or never happens till a strong impression 

 be received by the sensorium, and subsequently 

 transmitted to the respiratory organs. The sur- 

 geon has no difficulty in ascertaining the symp- 

 toms which precede its occurrence ; the occasion- 

 al deep sighs, the irregular, inspiratory character 

 of the respiration, and the paleness or flitting co- 

 lour of the countenance, are a few of those 

 changes which indicate its approach. I have re- 

 peatedly said, that sighs and inspirations deter- 

 mine the blood upon the internal viscera : the na- 

 ture and preponderance of these acts have invari- 

 riably this tendency. 



