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THE HUMAN HEAET. 
BY ISAAC ASHE, B.A., T.C.D., L.M. 
HAKE ingenuity and yet simplicity of contrivance which the 
JL Creator so abundantly displays in every department of 
nature is, perhaps, nowhere so highly manifested as when He 
designs to provide for the existence and enjoyment of a sentient 
and conscious being- ; and doubtless it is to be anticipated, that 
as His creatures rise in the scale of conscious beings, so much 
the more abundant care would be bestowed in ensuring the 
welfare of their more highly endowed and more exquisitely 
sensitive frames. Accordingly, we have in Man the head of 
the terrestrial creation, the greatest amount and the most 
exquisite adaptation of contrivance, the highest evidence of 
design, and not only so, but of the beneficence and goodness 
of the Designer, and of His intention to render the human body 
in every respect a suitable and pleasant abode for the rational 
spirit destined for a. time to inhabit it. 
Hence, although there must always exist a considerable 
repugnance at first to the investigation of the structure of the 
body, yet, when this is overcome by the force of habit and pro- 
fessional duty, the beauties which are revealed in that structure 
are such as to fill with delight the thinking and intelligent mind 
which finds pleasure in witnessing the exquisite adaptation of 
means to the end which is to be accomplished. 
The organ whose structure we have selected as the subject of 
the present sketch is the heart, — one which has always struck us 
as a masterpiece of ingenious design, perhaps, not to be 
exceeded by any part of the body, even the eye or ear, and 
one whose beauties are less generally known than those of 
either of these organs. 
The heart, then, as all our readers know, is the principal 
means by which the vital fluid, the blood, is sent to every part 
of the body by a process of pumping quite analogous to what is 
seen in an ordinary forcing pump, though of much more 
delicate and perfect construction ; indeed, it seems highly 
probable that the principle of the forcing pump was borrowed 
from this organ. 
Now, what are the objects which have to be accomplished in 
this circulation of the blood, and how is the heart adapted to 
