92 MOTION OF THE BLOOD IN THE VEINS, 



Dr. B. Excepting the digestive system, no organ 

 possesses such close and extensive sympathies, as the 

 heart. The least degree of constitutional excitement 

 is propagated to the heart, and is manifested in a modi- 

 fication of its actions. Thus you may easily conceive 

 that the pulse should afford to the physician one of the 

 surest criterions in judging of the nature and severity of 

 disease. The circulation of the blood was discovered in 

 1620, by Harvey, and the immense advantages, which 

 this discovery has given to modern physicians, are of 

 more value than all the accumulated discoveries and ob- 

 servations of all his predecessors. 



Emily. Before quitting this part of the subject, I wish 

 to ask a question which 1 have been expecting all along 

 your explanations would render unnecessary. I want 

 to know if the heart is the seat of any of the passions, or 

 moral affections ; we hear every day you know, of a good 

 heart, a bad heart, a kind heart, an open heart, &c. 



Dr. B. Such indeed was the belief of the ancients, 

 and also of one or two modern physiologists, and though 

 the notion is exploded now, yet the language which it 

 gave rise to is still retained. It originated from the fact, 

 that in violent passions the heart is more or less affected 

 in consequence of its sympathy with the brain. The 

 heart does not seem to be endowed with common sensi- 

 bility, for Richerand a distinguished French surgeon, in 

 one of his operations, exposed the heart and touched it 

 with the handle of his knife, without the patient's expe- 

 riencing any sensation whatever. 



Emily. So far then as the seat of the feeling is con- 

 cerned, we may with equal propriety say of a person, that 

 he has agood, or a kind liver, as a good or a kind heart. 

 But please to resume your account of the circulation 

 which I so unceremoniously interrupted. 



Dr. B. I was about to follow the blood in its course 

 through the veins whose office it is, to convey it to the 

 respiratory organs. The veins are much more numer- 

 ous than the arteries, for arteries of a middle size are 



