The mataphor of the circulation of blood around the body has often seemed a useful way of conceiving social and economic processes. In the 18th and 19th centuries it shaped investigations into a wide range of issues: national and international trade, colonization, urban development, education, sanitary reform, crime and detection, the interpretation of signs, sexuality. Drawing on literary and non-literary texts, this book examines the power the metaphor gave to writers and social theories, and the imaginings it made possible.