84 SOURCE OF THE HEART*S POWER. 



lation at all, if the Great Architect had so pleased, is also 

 possible. But all this is none of our business. We are 

 to take the animal economy as we find it, and rest satis- 

 fied with the beauty and wonder which we observe. 

 That the constant action of the heart is necessary, is 

 certain ; how it is so constituted as to commence its la- 

 bours with the first visible signs of organization, and fin- 

 ish them only with the last moments of existence, with- 

 out causing a feeling of fatigue, is a question not so easily 

 answered ; but the fact is no more wonderful, than that 

 the stomach should act without giving the sense of fatigue. 



Emily. But does not the action of the heart cease 

 during fainting ? Such is my impression, and if the fact 

 be true, I see not how to reconcile it with what you have 

 said in regard to the disasterous consequences which 

 such an accident would produce. 



Dr. B. True indeed, its action may cease during 

 fainting fer a moment, and then be resumed ; but it is 

 only for a moment if the interval be protracted, the 

 blood coagulates in the vessels, and its motion is thus 

 effectually prevented. 



Emily. How then do those persons ever recover, 

 who for three or four days, have lain in a trance as it is 

 called, and apparently dead, for the least sign of life 

 cannot be perceived ? 



Dr. B. They were not in fact dead ; neither does 

 the heart, in such cases, entirely cease, though its ac- 

 tion is so feeble, that unless it be closely examined, it 

 will escape our notice, as has been the case in all these 

 instances. 



Emily. Still, there does appear something very sin- 

 gular about the action of the heart something altogeth- 

 er different from that of other organs. Pray, Dr. B., 

 whence does it derive the power which imparts such 

 astonishing constancy and accuracy to its motions. 

 This is inexplicable to me. 



Dr. B. Not only to you, but to physiologists, from 

 the earliest times, to whom it has always been a cause 



