hemorrhage for the time is arrested. By this means, time is gained to adopt effectual measures to prevent its recurrence when he revives; at the same time, that opportunity is offered for the formation of coagula, which are not unfrequently sufficient of themselves to furnish a more permanent check to it. Unhappily he is rarely permitted to reap the benefit of this wise provision of nature. In the absence of the physician the fears of friends are increased by the faintness; and in most cases, we find that instead of taking the advantage of it for the security of the patient, every effort is made to remove it. Besides this, the coagula, which generally are disposed to form spontaneously, and which may always be made to form, by the aid of a little pressure judiciously applied upon the wound, are almost always carefully washed away, for the vain purpose of applying some fancied astringent.

Nor is this the only objection to applications of this sort. The articles thus used as astringents are most or all of them highly stimulating, and when applied in such a manner to a recent wound, are very likely to add a violent inflammation to the evils already existing. A piece of salted pork, directly from the pickle, has been inserted by a fond mother and an affectionate wife, between the lips of a recent wound, to stop the bleeding. The consequence, as might have been anticipated, was a violent inflammation, which nearly cost the patient his life, and made him a cripple the remainder of his days.

I have been thus particular in speaking of this subject,. because, although it is exceedingly important that correct measures should be adopted before there is time for a physician to arrive, there probably are very few cases where the ordinary practice is so bad. In my own experience, I have had occasion to see a man who had just died of a haemorrhage, which might have been arrested by the simplest means, if they had been properly applied. The blood flowed from a single orifice, and nothing more was necessary than to have pressed a finger upon the wound, until professional

assistance could be obtained. But this, obvious as it should seem to be, was not thought of, and the time was consumed in placing his feet in water until he died.

Besides the danger from immediate haemorrhage, there is another circumstance, by which the importance of a wound may be modified, in consequence of an injury to a large artery. If a blood vessel is to be tied by the surgeon, the wound is necessarily not a little irritated by the operation, and a greater degree of inflammation is the consequence. This result is of the more importance, if the wound happen to be situated near one of the large joints. This danger is scarcely, if at all, diminished, when the blood ceases to flow spontaneously at the time the injury is received. The wound in the artery will not heal (unless the vessel be quite a small one), but an aneurism forms in the adjacent parts; which, if left to itself, will go on increasing until it burst, and, probably, destroy the patient. At best, the patient is obliged to undergo the painful operation of tying the artery, and recovers his health only after a long course of pain and suffering; and in some cases the operation is not successful, and the patient dies. Suppose a wound to have been given in a criminal manner, and a considerable artery injured, the wound in other respects being a slight one. An aneurism forms; the usual operation is performed, at a suitable time, in a skilful manner, but without success, and the person dies. It will then become a question of serious difficulty to decide how far the author of the wound is guilty of the death. This, however, is a question which cannot be definitely settled upon general principles, as much must depend upon the peculiar circumstances of each individual case. If the fatal termination is directly the effect of the wound, the author of it is, of course, as much answerable for the consequence as if the death had been produced by an injury to any other of the organs of the body. But when a long course of disease had intervened, of which the wound. was but a remote cause, the case might perhaps admit of more doubt.

As every part of the living body receives its support from

the blood vessels, so is it also supplied with branches of the nerves, which are equally necessary to enable any organ to perform its functions. The large branches of the nerves are not so numerous, as those of the blood vessels, and consequently they are less frequently wounded; nor is a wound of them generally attended by consequences so immediately alarming. Still the functions of the nervous system are of too much importance to be interrupted in any considerable part, without a serious disturbance to the system; and the effects of the interruption ought not to be disregarded in estimating the importance of the wound by which it was caused.

It is sufficiently known that the nerves are the medium of communication between the brain and all the other parts of the body; as well as the means by which impressions are transmitted from the mind to the body. It is peculiarly by the nervous system that the several parts of the human body are connected together into one complete animated being. The nerves go out, in considerable trunks, either directly from the brain, and pass down the neck, or indirectly through the spine of the neck and back from the spinal marrow, and, by their subdivisions, supply every part, however minute, with a portion of nervous influence. These trunks, like those of the arteries, are placed as securely in their course to the several organs, as the nature of the parts through which they pass will permit.

When a nerve is divided, not only do the parts by which its branches are supplied, suffer from the loss of their portion of the nervous influence, so that they are, in a great measure, cut off from the rest of the body, but the whole system suffers materially from the shock given to it by the violence. The extent of the injury, of course, depends upon the size of the nerve and the importance of the part which it supplies. Spasms and convulsions are not very unfrequently produced by wounding a nerve. And it is a curious circumstance, that the effects, produced by a partial division of a nerve, are more violent than when the division is complete.

The solid parts of the human body are made up of several

varieties of structure; and these vary considerably among themselves, in respect to the facility with which they are restored to health, when injured. This gives us another circumstance, which is to be taken into the account, in estimating the importance of wounds. Those parts which heal with the most readiness, recover from injury with the least danger to the system in general, and are the least likely to leave any permanent injurious effects. In general, wounds of the muscular parts heal more easily than any others. Those of membraneous and tendonous parts heal with more difficulty, and produce a more serious effect upon the general system. The bones and cartilages are still slower in recovering themselves; especially when an injury of one of these is complicated with a wound of the soft parts connected with it. A compound fracture, for instance, is one of the most dangerous accidents to which we are liable; while a simple wound, or bruise, of the muscular parts, scarcely excites any attention.

The circumstances, which I have mentioned, relate only to the visible, sensible properties of the living body. But there is a property that is wholly invisible, and distinguishable only by its effects, which exercises a very important influence upon the functions of the living system, both in health and disease. I allude to that property which is called by physicians Sympathy.

The several organs of the body perform separate and distinct functions, each in a great measure peculiar to itself. They are not indeed altogether independent of each other in these actions; but their connexion, so far as their situation and structure are concerned, is in many cases extremely distant. Were there no other relation between them, their functions would be but an irregular series of chance operations; without any dependence of one part upon another, or any provision for apportioning the activity of one to the wants occasioned by that of another.

Happily we are not left to any such confusion in the actions of the several parts of our body. There is a relation

between them, by which, without any cognizance on our part, the several organs are made to act in concert. No one organ, however independent it may seem to be in its structure and situation, ever performs its part, without reference to the state and the wants of others. There is a mutual dependence and affinity between them. With widely different offices to perform, and scattered over the whole human frame, they are all brought into one entire being. This is what we call SYMPATHY. The relation between the several parts of the human body, is of two kinds;-the one, that which exists between each individual part and the rest of the body taken together as a whole; the other, that which operates between several distinct parts, separately from their influence on the rest of the body. In both these respects, there is a great difference in the different parts of the human body, in the degree to which they are subject to the influence of Sympathy. A very slight action in some parts will excite a corresponding action, either in the whole system, or in the organ with which it is associated; while in others a much stronger action will produce very little effect, except where it originated. The means by which this relation, so interesting in itself and so important in its effects, is maintained, are but imperfectly known. Some have attributed it to a common origin of the nerves which supply such organs as are more intimately connected. Others ascribe it to the influence of a particular nerve which goes down from the head into the chest, and is there very extensively connected by its branches with the other nerves which supply the organs seated in the chest and the abdomen; and which is therefore called the sympathetic nerve. But there are parts, more or less connected by sympathy, whose nerves have no common origin, except as they all proceed directly or indirectly from the brain, and to which the branches of the sympathetic nerve do not extend. It is undoubtedly true that this connexion is, in some sense, dependent upon the nerves: but it is probably upon the nervous system as a whole, rather than upon any particular part, or any peculiar situation of the nerves themselves.