A _double-action_ force-pump is seen in Fig. 177, making an upward stroke. Both sides of the piston are here utilized, and the piston rod works through a water-tight stuffing-box. The action of the pump will be easily understood from the diagram.
known is the _heart_. We give in Fig. 178 a diagrammatic sketch of the system of blood circulation in the human body, showing the heart, the arteries, and the veins, big and little. The body is supposed to be facing the reader, so that the left lung, etc., is to his right.
[Illustration: FIG. 178.--A diagrammatic representation of the circulatory system of the blood.]
The heart, which forces the blood through the body, is a large muscle (of about the size of the clenched fist) with four cavities. These are respectively known as the right and left _auricles_, and the right and left _ventricles_. They are arranged in two pairs, the auricle uppermost, separated by a fleshy partition. Between each auricle and its ventricle is a valve, which consists of strong membranous flaps, with loose edges turned downwards. The left-side valve is the _mitral_ valve, that between the right auricle and ventricle the _tricuspid_ valve. The edges of the valves fall together when the heart contracts, and prevent the passage of blood. Each ventricle has a second valve through which it ejects the blood. (That of the right ventricle has been shown double for the sake of convenience.)
The action of the heart is this:--The auricles and ventricles expand; blood rushes into the auricles from the channels supplying them, and distends them and the ventricles; the auricles contract and fill the ventricles below quite full (there are no valves above the auricles, but the force of contraction is not sufficient to return the blood to the veins); the ventricles contract; the mitral and tricuspid valves close; the valves leading to the arteries open; blood is forced out of the ventricles.
are of two kinds--(1) The _arteries_, which lead the blood into the circulatory system; (2) the _veins_, which lead the blood back to the heart. The arteries divide up into branches, and these again divide into smaller and smaller arteries. The smallest, termed _capillaries_ (Latin, _capillus_, a hair), are minute tubes having an average diameter of 1/3000th of an inch. These permeate every part of the body. The capillary arteries lead into the smallest veins, which unite to form larger and larger veins, until what we may call the main streams are reached. Through these the blood flows to the heart.