INCESSANT ACTION OF THE HEART. 83 



been' subjected to the action of the lungs, and conse- 

 quently unfit for nutrition, would get into the arteries, 

 and be distributed to the body. Sometimes, such a 

 communication does exist from birth, and from the pe- 

 culiar appearance of the subjects in which it takes place, 

 they are called blue boys. They seldom survive long ; 

 most of them dying in a few hours, though some have 

 lived two, three, and even seven, or eight years. The 

 effects of such a communication were strikingly illus- 

 trated in a patient who died a few years ago in one of 

 the Parisian hospitals, in whom it had been produced by 

 a disease of- the heart. At this time he was forty-one 

 years of age. His face was remarkably livid, the vessels 

 were injected with blood, his lips were unusually large, 

 and like the rest of his body, were of a deep blue color. 

 His respiration was laborious, his pulse extremely irreg- 

 ular, and he was unable to articulate two words in suc- 

 cession, without stopping to take breath. He was obliged 

 to sleep in a sitting posture, and was particularly remark- 

 able for his indolence. This indolence, joined to great 

 natural simplicity, was such that he could not do without 

 the assistance of his wife. He finally died from suffo- 

 cation. The lividity was occasioned by the dark venous 

 blood that had entered the arteries, and which, unable to 

 afford the necessary stimulus to the powers of life, pro- 

 duced his uncommon indolence. j 



Emily. The action of the heart is incessant, is it not, 

 enjoying no moments of repose or relaxation of duty, 

 like some of the other organs ? The mischief that would 

 follow an entire cessation of its action, is very obvious, 

 but I do not understand why such an arrangement was 

 necessary. 



Dr. B. Or in plainer language, why is the body made 

 just as it is made ? This is the legitimate extent of your 

 question when carried out. Now, that the body might 

 have been so constructed as that the circulating system 

 should have had its periods of repose, is perhaps possible. 

 That it might have been constructed without any circu- 



