SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT 881 ies instead of the so-called end arteries in vital or gans so much more important than the limbs? If the dorsal artery of the thumb becomes plugged or divided, anastolposis with the princells poUicis on the other side prevents this finger from suffering any loss of blood supply; on the other hand, if one of the ganglionic branches of the middle cerebral artery becomes plugged, nature is unable to do for the brain what it did for the thumb and apoplexy with

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... h or worse is the result. The most vital spot of the brain is thus laid bare to a bit of natural negligence which even the smallest toe does not suffer. During starvation the different ways in which the body metabolism econo mizes . the food supply is often remarkable. Neverthe lesSl, in a starving child, nature will allow the food to • be used for the growth of the skeleton before supplying the vital orgaus dying of hunger, and the bones ignorant of the greed grow longer up to the very point of death.