CIRCULATION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21248, 30 July 1932, Page 7 (Supplement)

CIRCULATION

How often when you have felt cold has somebody said to you: " What a poor circulation you must have? " The word " circulation " means " a / travelUng / round and round." So, when the blood does not travel rouncl the body fast enough to keep you warm, something is wrong with what is called your •" circalatory system." Young people rarely feel the cold badly, i; because they have the energy to run about quickly enough to keep their blood moving at the right pace; old people, who have little energy and cannot move quickly, suffer a great deal in cold weather.. The'circulatory system is made up of four principal parts: The heart, which is the body's pump, and drives the blood round the body; the arteries, which are tubes or blood vessels carrying the blood from the heart to every part of the body; the veins, which are similar tubes, carrying the blood back to the heart; and the capillaries, which are a network of the finest possible tubes, joining the ends of the smallest arteries to the beginnings of the smallest veins. The word " capillary " comes from a Latin word, " capillus," meaning a hair. Now you will see at once why the capillaries havo been given this name. They are so fine that they are no thicker than a hair—in fact, they are much finer, because in a grown-up person thoy do not measure Tnoro than l-2000th of an inch in diameter.