It is believed that the passage of the sap in plants is conducted in a manner precisely similar to that of the blood in man, from the regular contraction and expansion of the vessels; but, on account of their extreme minuteness, it is almost an impossibility to be certain upon this point.

This, my lords, might have been thought a sufficient contraction of those privileges which your ancestors transmitted to you, and the commons needed to have desired no farther concessions from this assembly, since this was a publick confession of a subordinate state, and admitted either that part of our ancient rights had been given up, or that we were at present too much depressed to dare to assert them.

" Not is a contraction for ne wat, know not.

Rorie is the contraction of Roderick.

These impressions may now overflow into other centers, from which spasmodic discharges of nerve energy may be liberated, which passing to the muscles, throw them into violent and spasmodic contraction.

The right leg will be raised and thrown forward with a jerk, owing to the contraction of the quadriceps muscles.

Open the left eye, the field becomes brighter and smaller (contraction of pupil); close the left eye, after an appreciable time, the field (now slightly dull) is seen gradually to expand.

In stammering, spasmodic contraction of the diaphragm interrupts the effort of expiration.

The throbbing of an artery against the finger, occasioned by the contraction of the heart.

A sudden, violent, and involuntary contraction of one or more muscles.

Substances used to produce a contraction or shrinking of living tissues.

The contraction of the heart, by which the blood is expelled from that organ.

Vaso-motor nerves cause contraction and relaxation of the blood-vessels.

The firm contraction of his lips brought lines even across his plump cheeks.

Here we have a blunder for the contraction, 'God 'ild you'perhaps a common blunder.]

'Susmariosep: A common exclamation: contraction of the Spanish, Jesús, María, y José, the Holy Family.

Taking the mysterious letters on the last page, "Nella [Greek: ph d ph n r] la B," he says: "La B. is the contraction for La Buffa,[80] one of the characters in the play; and the enigmatic letters, simply substituting the names for the letters themselves, read thus,' Nella fi-deltà fi-ni-ro la buffa,' which is good enough Italian for an anagram, meaning 'I will end trifling in fidelity.'

Contraction of vues(tr)a merced, 'your grace.']

H ha, contraction of hace.

She instantly became feverish and parched with thirst, and, by morning, was speechless from the contraction of her tongue and of her lips.

This struggle, this crisis which alarms you so much, is no more than a simple case of systole, a cosmic contraction, tumultuous, but regulated, like the folding of the earth crust accompanied by destructive earthquakes.

I follow you when you say no post-mortem contraction would have caused such an alteration in the position of the body.

The contraction of his brows had become a scowl of mystification.

Then her face relaxed, the expression was one of pitiful despair, and that expression gave way to a sense of nausea, expressed by a quick contraction of the eyes.

Thus we trace the rhythmic beating of the pulse to the systole and diastole of the heart, and we note a similar alternation in the contraction and relaxation of all our muscles.