Part 37

In youth, the abdominal system of black blood, like the general, is weak. It is towards the thirtieth or fortieth year, that it seems to be in its greatest activity; this is the age of gastric diseases, of hemorrhoids, and of melancholy, which is connected with the state of the liver.

In old age, the dilatation of the system of black abdominal blood is much less sensible than that of the preceding system; its vessels have nearly the same caliber as in the adult age; which supposes a less diminution in the velocity of the course of its blood, from the principles established above. It never becomes the seat of any kind of osseous incrustation, a phenomenon that evidently assimilates its common membrane to that of the veins, and distinguishes it in a peculiar manner from that of the arteries.

END OF VOL. I.

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Transcriber's Notes

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations in hyphenation, spelling and punctuation remains unchanged.

Italics are represented thus _italic_.

The large TABLE OF PHYSIOLOGY used curved braces to indicate groups. For clarity these have been replaced by rectangular braces. In addition, to fit within page width considerations, the first column of these tables has been transposed into individual table section headings.