Amidst a mass of unprofitable speculation, the second Disquisition contains one or two gems of pathological observation, illustrating physiological conclusions. Desiring to set in a clear light "that the pulsific power does not proceed from the heart by the coats of the vessels, I beg here to refer to a portion of the descending aorta, about a span long in length, with its division into two crural trunks, which I removed from the body of a nobleman, and which is converted into a bony tube: by this hollow tube nevertheless, did the arterial blood reach the lower extremities of this nobleman during his life, and cause the arteries in these to beat.... Where it was converted into bone it could neither dilate nor contract like bellows, nor transmit the pulsific power from the heart to the inferior vessels: it could not convey a force which it was incapable of receiving through the solid matter of the bone. In spite of all, however, I well remember to have frequently noticed the pulse in the legs and feet of this patient whilst he lived, for I was myself his most attentive physician, and he my very particular friend. The arteries in the inferior extremities of this nobleman must, therefore, and of necessity, have been dilated by the impulse of the bloodlike flaccid sacs, and not have expanded in the manner of bellows through the action of their tunics. "I have several times opened the breast and pericardium of a man within two hours after his execution by hanging, and before the colour had totally left his face, and in presence of many witnesses, have demonstrated the right auricle of the heart and the lungs distended with blood: the auricle in particular of the size of a large man's fist, and so full of blood that it looked as if it would burst. This great distension, however, had disappeared next day, the body having stiffened and become cold, and the blood having made its escape through various channels.