Ar'tery, the name of the tubular vessels that convey blood from the heart. There are two sets of arteries: (1) The great aorta, springing from the left ventricle of the heart and reaching by numerous subdivisions and branches all the tissues of the body. (2) The pulmonary artery, springing from the right ventricle of the heart and branching through the lungs. The former is the systemic, the latter the pulmonary system. The pulmonary artery, of course, carries venous blood. The arteries are elastic, and, when filled with blood, are stretched and exert a steady pressure on that fluid. This causes them to force most of the blood on into the veins after death, and led the ancient anatomists to believe that the arteries were air tubes and the veins only blood vessels. The arteries and veins are connected by capillaries. The aorta was named by Aristotle.