If these things be so, another point which I have already
referred to, viz., the continual passage of the blood through the
heart will also be confirmed. We have seen, that the blood passes
from the arteries into the veins, not from the veins into the
arteries; we have seen, farther, that almost the whole of the
blood may be withdrawn from a puncture made in one of the
cutaneous veins of the arm if a bandage properly applied be used;
we have seen, still farther, that the blood flows so freely and
rapidly that not only is the whole quantity which was contained
in the arm beyond the ligature, and before the puncture was made,
discharged, but the whole which is contained in the body, both
that of the arteries and that of the veins.
Whence we must admit, first, that the blood is sent along with an
impulse, and that it is urged with force below the ligature; for
it escapes with force, which force it receives from the pulse and
power of the heart; for the force and motion of the blood are
derived from the heart alone. Second, that the afflux proceeds
from the heart, and through the heart by a course from the great
veins; for it gets into the parts below the ligature through the
arteries, not through the veins; and the arteries nowhere receive
blood from the veins, nowhere receive blood save and except from
the left ventricle of the heart. Nor could so large a quantity of
blood be drawn from one vein (a ligature having been duly
applied), nor with such impetuousity, such readiness, such
celerity, unless through the medium of the impelling power of the
heart.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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