Zoonomia, Vol. I

lar membrane consists of cells, which resemble those of a sponge, communicating with each other, and connecting together all the other parts of the body.

5. The arterial system consists of the aortal and the pulmonary artery, which are attended through their whole course with their correspondent veins. The pulmonary artery receives the blood from the right chamber of the heart, and carries it to the minute extensive ramifications of the lungs, where it is exposed to the action of the air on a surface equal to that of the whole external skin, through the thin moist coats of those vessels, which are spread on the air-cells, which constitute the minute terminal ramifications of the wind-pipe. Here the blood changes its colour from a dark red to a bright scarlet. It is then collected by the branches of the pulmonary vein, and conveyed to the left chamber of the heart.

6. The aorta is another large artery, which receives the blood from the left chamber of the heart, after it has been thus aerated in the lung