281 TRANSLATIONS FROM CONTINENTAL JOURNALS. 
the great sympathetic nerve are the motors of the fibro-eells 
of the parietes of the arteries; that they maintain them in a 
state of permanent contraction and tonicity, and oppose an 
active resistance to the lateral pressure of the blood. Their 
section and segregation annihilate the nervous influx, and 
paralyse the elements of contraction in the same way as 
galvanization of the par vagum stops the movements of the 
heart, and galvanization of the abdominal fibres of the sym¬ 
pathetic nerve stops the contraction of the muscular fibres of 
the coats of the small intestines ( Pflueger .) This resisting 
power to the lateral pressure of the blood being neutralized, 
the arteries yield to it like india-rubber tubes, and the 
capillaries become gorged with blood. 
Artificial hyperhaemia presents the same characters as 
those produced by irritation; causing afflux of blood, increase 
of temperature, exudation, and no doubt also pain. Galva¬ 
nization of the trigemini nerves provokes increased secretion 
from the salivary and lachrymal glands [Ludwig). The 
activity of the exosmose is the result of the atony of the 
vessels of these glands [Kolliker). The primitive effect of 
the contraction of the arteries consists in opposing an obsta¬ 
cle to the circulation ; the blood then takes its course through 
the collateral branches, which expands in a direct ratio of 
the pressure exercised by the blood. The secondary dilata¬ 
tion caused by atony leads to the same results. The aggran¬ 
dising of the diameter of the vascular tubes, in which the 
blood flows in greater abundance, increases the impulse 
and quickens it. Physiologists are of opinion that the en¬ 
larging of an artery retards the current of the blood. If, 
however, the pressure under which the arteries are placed, 
and also the phenomenon of adhesion, which is less in the 
arteries of a large diameter than in lesser ones, are consi¬ 
dered, it will be perceived that the dilatation of an artery will 
tend rather to accelerate the circulation of the blood. This 
is in accordance with what takes place in the normal state of 
the circulation, in the aorta it being 400 to 1 to that of the 
capillaries. In congestion these last vessels become gorged 
with blood, the current of which becomes slow. On exa¬ 
mining this by the aid of the microscope, in artificially con¬ 
gested capillaries, we perceive that the currents are not uni¬ 
form, and the same division presents strong and feeble ones, 
which meet and check each other, and sometimes they retro¬ 
grade. These obstacles impede the free passage of the blood 
into the veins. The unequal or abnormal repartition of the 
blood does not imply an increase of the same : partial anaemia 
