Chapter 10: Blood

Blood is the "river of life" that surges within us. It transports everything that must be carried from one place to another within the body-nutrients, wastes (headed for elimination from the body), and body heat-through blood vessels. For centuries, long before modern medicine, people recognized that blood was vital (some believed "magical"), and its loss was always considered to be a possible cause of death. In this chapter, we consider the composition and function of this life-sustaining fluid. The means by which it is propelled throughout the body is discussed in Chapter 11.