166 CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD. 



must notice the care and solicitude with which the 

 blood vessels are in many cases disposed. 



A. A wound in an artery would be much more 

 dangerous than in a vein ; because the blood rushes 

 in the arteries with much greater force than in the 

 veins, which only return the blood to the heart. It 

 hence affords a striking evidence of a designing Prov- 

 idence, that the arteries lie deeper than the veins ; 

 and, where particularly exposed, run along in a 

 groove or a channel cut into the very' bone. In the 

 hands they pass down between the fingers, so that the 

 familiar accident of a cross cut in the finger, can 

 never separate one of them without cleaving the bone. 

 How came these vessels to take a course so secure 

 and defended ? What led them, more than the veins, 

 to shun exposed situation, where they would have 

 been liable to injury ? We know no other cause than 

 an Intelligence which perceived the danger to be 

 avoided. 



B. A kind provision for heedless children ! 



T. Kind for every one ; as no parts are so liable 

 to be wounded as the fingers. 



A. As the veins, which are the vessels that return 

 the blood to the heart, that is, all below the heart, 

 have to ascend, — the blood has to mount in a direc- 

 tion opposite to that of its weight. Here, therefore, 

 is the danger of a rejlow — or a tendency contrary to 

 the true circulation. Now, the universal provision 

 against the flowing of water in a direction opposite to 

 that desired, is a valve or flood gate. It is the same 

 in the present instance. There are a great number of 



