AND THEIR FUNCTIONS. 145 



is of great value in diagnosis. An account of this subject 

 may be read in a paper by Dr. J. Dudgeon in the Journal 

 of the Peking Oriental Society, vol. iii. No. 4 (1895), 

 pp. 555-565. He gives, by way of example, the "pulse" 

 of the large intestines, and says that the blood flowing to 

 these rises at the tips of the thumb and index finger, flows 

 up the back of the arm to the head, then down the face to the 

 lungs, and thence to the intestines, that two blood-vessels 

 are also given off to the ears and nose, and that deafness, 

 ringing in the ears, and pains behind the ears and in the 

 arms arise from the large intestines. Nothing is said about 

 blood-letting, but the general similarity between the views 

 of the ancient Greeks and the Chinese, as expressed above, 

 shows that these peoples, so far removed both in space and 

 time, have entertained similar ideas about the blood system. 



Returning to Aristotle's description of the blood-vessels 

 connected with the great blood-vessel, it is clear that, as 

 might be expected, he misunderstood what is now known 

 as the portal system of blood-vessels, some of which he 

 describes as if they passed directly into the great blood- 

 vessel. The veins from the spleen, pancreas, omentum, 

 and mesentery are not tributaries of the vena cava inferior, 

 but unite to form the portal vein which enters and breaks 

 up in the liver. 



Most of the rest of Aristotle's description of the blood- 

 vessels relates to the aorta and its branches. He states, but 

 incorrectly, that both the aorta and great blood-vessel are 

 unbranched as far as the kidneys, and then he correctly 

 follows the courses of these vessels, in so far as he says that 

 they cling more closely to the spinal column and that each 

 divides into two, just like the Greek A, but that the great 

 blood-vessel lies farther back than the aorta. 



He says that blood-vessels pass from the aorta to the 

 mesentery, and that no blood-vessel passes from the aorta 

 to the liver and spleen, but blood-vessels extend from both the 

 aorta and the great blood-vessel to the hips. Blood-vessels, 

 he says, extend to the kidneys from the aorta and the great 

 blood-vessel ; they do not pass to the hollow parts \j)elves] 

 of the kidneys, but are abundantly supplied to their substance. 

 From the aorta two other strong, unbranched ducts (poroi) 

 lead to the bladder, and others, having no connection with 

 the great blood-vessel, from the hollow parts of the kidneys. 

 Then follows a description, by no means clear, of tubular, 

 sinewy blood-vessels passing from the kidneys along the 



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