ASCENDING

ASCENDING,in Anatomy, is applied to such Vessels as carry the Blood upwards, or from lower to higher Parts of the Body. See BLOOD and VESSEL. The Ascending Aorta, Aorta ascendens, is the superior Trunk of the Artery, which furnishes the Head. See Aorta. The Ascending Cava, Vena Cava Ascendens, is a large Vein formed by a Meeting or Union of, the two Iliacs of one Side, with those of the other. See CAVA. Many of the ancient Anatomists, call this the descending Cava; as imagining that the Blood descended from the Liver by this Vein, to supply the Parts below the Diaphragm. But the Moderns have shown that it has a quite contrary Use, and serves for the Conveyance of the Blood from the lower Parts to the Head; whence its Appellation Ascendent.