Pulmonary Veins. -- From this net-work of arteries and air sells the radicals of the pulmonary veins arise, and, coalescing into larger and larger branches, at length accompany the arteries and return the blood to the left auricle of the heart in a purified condition. The pulmonary arteries and veins differ from the same vessels in the other parts of the body, since the former conveys the innocent blood, and the latter arterial blood.

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I stopped on this short paragraph as I approach some larger sections. This segment again makes a reference to the word "net-work" in a style that is now out dated. The next section takes us into Breathing and then lung capacity.

Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:

• Composition of the Chest
  
  

  Composition of the Chest– the chest is composed of bones, cartilages, and ligaments.  Its natural form is that of a cone diminishing upward; and it affords lodgment of the heart, lungs and large blood vessels.  Its walls are formed posteriorly by the seven dorsal bones of the spinal column, and the ribs as far as the angle, the sides by the body of the ribs, and front by the ribs, the costal cartilages and the breast bone.

  This section is about as exciting as you’d expect from a medical textbook.  It’s almost unique in the fact that it has no items comments or issues that don’t seem like they would appear in a medical textbook.  Some of the descriptions seem rather basic, but even that’s a bit of a stretch to find something unique about this section.

• Lead Palsy
  
  

  Lead Palsy. — under some special circumstances, not at present well understood, extremely minute amounts of lead in water may prove injurious. Thus, for example, Dr. Angus Smith speaks of cases in which lead paralysis, or palsy, was apparently produced by water containing only 1/100TH of a grain of lead to the gallon.

  I’d like to veer off the topic of lead poisoning for a second and just meditate on the fact that until I engaged in reading this section of the book, I had not taken the time to learn the definition of ‘palsy’

  Is is actually an alternative to the word paralysis, and might even be a slang term or abbreviated version of the word.  My own apathetic ignorance as it relates to this word, which to my ears in 2008 even sounds a little politically incorrect, speaks to a decrease in the threat of cerebral palsy even though paralysis (palsy) is still a real problem as a result of injuries.  I might be more in tune with seeking a car insurance quote than fearing for the potential of developing palsy as a result of lead poisoning.

• The Complete Organs and Structures
  
  

  The Complete Organs and Structures — the muscles which give form and shape to the body would be powerless and strands of movement and devoid of the bones of the skeleton.  Thus we see that every organ and structure was formed with direct reference to the accomplishment of a certain definite object.  Hence, the bones form framework, to protect the delicate organs of mind, respiration, circulation, digestion and excretion, to serve as levers on which the muscles may act to produce motion, and to preserve the form and shape of the body; the muscles, such as we observe in this plate, give form, shape and symmetrical proportions to the body, and produce its varied motions; by means of the brain we think, feel and act; the nerves of the eye take cognizance of external objects, and convey their impressions to the brain; the auditory nerve distinguishes sounds; the olfactory nerve identifies and separates the different odors brought into contact with it, and sentient nerves of the skin are fully impressed with the touch of external objects, carry the impression of their character and size to the brain, and the motor nerves carry the commands of the will to the muscular system, at the behests of the mind may be obeyed and carried out; the heart receives that in pure blood from all parts of the body, and sends it to the lungs to be purified, then receives it back again and forces it with enormous power even unto the most remote and my new part of the system; arteries and veins are made for the express purpose of conveying the “pabulum of life” from the heart, and to carry vitiated and poisonous fluid to the heart; the lungs throw off the carbonic acid in the venous fluid and replace it by oxygen; the stomach, by and with the aid of the salivary, biliary, pancreatic and intestinal juices, digest the food and transforms it into blood; the kidneys are designed as filters, to aid in the purification of the blood; thus we observe that the various tissues and organs of the body at each their own special use in the human economy, and their exact and definite function to perform; and as a result of the sum total of the proper required performance of all these different functions, we have not only harmony and health, but happiness of mind, soul and body as well.

  In case you were counting there are exactly 3 periods in this diatribe.  That last sentence is a doozy and probably one of the longest run-on sentences I’ve ever seen in print.  It goes on and on and on!  The grammar in this section is so distracting that it’s almost impossible to find other interesting aspects about this section.

  I will note that I was somewhat surprised to see Dragon Naturally Speaking correctly translate “pabulum of life.”

  This is a concept I believe that dates back to the era of the Royal Society.  If I understand it correctly the pabulum of life refers to that type of substance or matter that can generate heat or energy through digestion.  Ergo if you eat a cheeseburger, cheeseburger is the pabulum of life because it creates energy and heat in your bodily system so to say.  Here is an excerpt quoted from Theory of the Earth Part 4 that provides the phrase in context,

  IT is the nature of animal life to be ultimately supported from matter of vegetable production. Inflammable matter may be considered as the pabulum of life. This is prepared in the bodies of living plants, particularly in their leaves exposed to the sun and light. This inflammable matter, on the contrary, is consumed in animal bodies, where it produces heat or light, or both. Therefore, however animal matter, or the pabulum of life, may circulate through a series of digesting powers, it is constantly impaired or diminishing in the course of this oeconomy, and, without the productive power of plants, it would finally be extinguished.

  The inclusion of this phrase leads me to hypothesize (after reading this book too much into my words become a little heavier than normal) that this book which I believe a one-time event published in London probably included writers if not editors that were well-versed and the discussions and debates of the day from the Royal Society.  As this book was published in 1916, it’s also very likely that the Royal Society studies had become extremely dogmatic and in some ways were probably factionalized amongst the various philosophers and budding scientists of the day.