AND ANIMAL LIFE. 389 



ments or labours : if not excited by conversa- 

 tion, he remains silent, fixed in thought, and 

 continually draws profound inspirations ; indeed, 

 we perceive occasionally a series of these acts, in 

 his frequent and deep sighs. I have repeatedly 

 stated that inspirations have the tendency to 

 bring a quantity of blood greater than what is 

 natural to the chest, and the truth of this opinion 

 is exemplified in the present case. I have also 

 observed in the first chapter, that, whenever the 

 lungs possess a quantity of blood greater than 

 what is natural, the chemical changes are ma- 

 terially diminished. The influence of grief pre- 

 vents the conditions essential to a perfect 

 oxygenation of the blood, as it brings to the 

 lungs an inordinate quantity of it, and, there- 

 fore, increases on the one hand the blood that 

 has to undergo chemical changes, without augr 

 menting on the other, to the same extent, the 

 proportion of air within the lungs to produce 

 these effects. 



CCCCLXII. From this explanation, it is clear 

 that the properties of the blood are deteriorated, 

 on account of the deficient chemical changes in 

 the lungs, or, in other words, that it is defective 

 in the principle of vitality, from the deficiency of 

 axygen. While a depressing emotion, like that 

 of grief, continues to occupy, or rather absorb 

 the attention of the mind, the blood is gradual- 

 ly losing its stimulating qualities ; the surface of 



