ies should be tied in case
of hemorrhage, or should be destroyed by accident or operation.

THE BLOOD.

The various kinds of food, after being digested in the alimentary canal,
are absorbed and carried into the blood by the lymphatics, and by the blood
to the places where nutrition is required. The blood takes from all parts
of the body all that is no longer required, and carries it to the different
organs through which it is eliminated from the body. It contains within
itself all the elements which nourish the body.

The blood may be considered as a fluid holding in solution certain
inorganic elements and having certain bodies suspended in it. To facilitate
description, the blood may be considered as made up of the corpuscles and
the liquor sanguinis. The corpuscles are of two kinds, the red and the
white, the red being the more numerous. The color of the blood is caused by
the coloring matter in the red corpuscles, which are the oxygen carriers.
Both kinds are very minute bodies, which require the aid of the microscope
to recognize them. The liquor sanguinis is composed of water containing in
solution salts, albumen, and the elements of fibrin.

The lymphatics, or absorbents, are the vessels which carry the lymph and
chyle in the blood. They begin as capillaries in all parts of the body,
gradually uniting to form larger trunks. Placed along the course of the
lymphatic vessels are glands, in some situations collected into groups; for
example, in the groin. These glands are often involved in inflammation
arising from the absorption of deleterious matter.

Absorption is the function of the lymphatics. The liquor sanguinis passes
from the blood capillaries to supply nutrition to the tissues. All of the
liquor sanguinis that is not required is absorbed by the lymphatic vessels
and conveyed back to the blood by the lymphatic ducts. The lymphatics which
proceed from the intestines convey the chyle into the blood during
digestion. As a rule, the lymphatic vessels follow the course of the veins.
All the absorbent vessels convey their contents to the thoracic duct and
right great lymphatic vein, which empty into the anterior vena cava, where
the lymph and chyle mix with the venous blood, and thus maintain the supply
of nutritive elements in the blood.

THE PULSE.

As fully explained, the heart pumps the blood throughout the arterial
system. The arteries are always full and each contraction of the ventricle
pumps more