AND ANIMAL LIFE. 375 



In proof of the great increase of sanguineous 

 fluid to the system, I may observe that thora- 

 cic inflammations sometimes succeed the oper- 

 ation, or great irregularity in the functions 

 of those organs necessary to oxygenate and 

 circulate the blood, and the different symptoms 

 are generally relieved by depletion. I have al- 

 ready remarked, in the chapter on Torpidity, 

 CLXXXVI,that, by circumscribing the circle of 

 circulation, we enable the heart to act with 

 greater ease; but, in the instances which I 

 brought forward, we had a diminished quantity 

 of blood in motion ; but when we lessen the cir- 

 cle by the removal of a limb d we throw more 

 blood of a stimulating kind upon the internal 

 cavities, thereby exciting the heart to augmented 

 contractions^ the energy of whose effects are im- 

 mediately transmitted to the lungs and the whole 

 vascular system. These conditions act and re- 

 act, improving digestion and assimilation, in fine, 

 bestowing new life on the impoverished func- 

 tions of the body. In such instances it cannot 

 be denied that the relation between the cause 

 and effect is obvious, and the conclusion which 

 naturally flows from such premises is, that the 

 principle of life was weak or diminished when the 

 system was deprived of the necessary quantity or 

 quality of blood, and that this principle became 

 strong or increased when one or both of these pro- 



