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34 ESOTERIC ANTHROPOLOGY.
not direct the blood to the pregnant uterus, to nourish
the growing germ, nor to the broken leg, to furnish
an extra supply of bony matter.
For all this, some other power is needed ; a power
guided by intelligence, a power
which resides in the
nervous system, and which is intimately related to the
hidden principle of life. Who can comprehend this
power, which resides in vegetables, in all animals, and
supremely in man ? Later, I shall have much to say
respecting this power and its manifestations.
OF THE VEINS.
As the blood is sent, with- a vigorous impetus, from
the left ventricle of the heart, through a system of
dense, tough, cylindrical tubes, called arteries, over the
whole body, by the. branchings and ramifications of
these vessels, and the networks, or anastamosis, they
everywhere form with each other, until the great
branching tree or vine expands to millions of twigs and
hair-line tubes of microscopic fineness ; so. in order
that this same blood may be carried back to the heart,
there must, be other sets of minute tubes, venous radi
cles, gradually uniting and enlarging, until the blood is
poured through two great tubes, ascending and descend
ing into the right auricle. Both arteries and veins have
the power of expansion and contraction, and do expand
to accommodate unusual quantities of blood, and do
contract, to force their contents onward to their destina
tion. The large veins generally follow the course of
the arteries. In many parts, there are two veins ac
companying one artery ; but there are also many veins
winch are external, lying directly beneath the skin,