The caudal heart of the eel ... / by Thomas Wharton Jones.

  • Thomas Wharton Jones
Date:
[1867?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The caudal heart of the eel ... / by Thomas Wharton Jones. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    attenderem ad magnara arteriam in cauda jacentem, ibi protrusio sanguinis, a corde facta, multo erat vehementior ” might be admitted as having reference to the phenomenon of the transmission of the drops of red blood or agglomerations of red corpuscles in rapid succession along the caudal vein, opinions may perhaps differ, but certainly all will agree with me that no one could have been led by the words to suppose that Leeuwen- hoek was speaking of a heart in the tail of the eel. Had it been the caudal heart to which Leeuwenhoek refers, however, and not merely the branchial heart of the fish, he would, no doubt, have commented on the peculiarity of its position in the tail, and expressed as much admiration, at least, as he does at the general phenomena of the circulation in the fins of the eel, when he says, unwilling to reserve to himself so beautiful a sight, he invited several “ Viri gravissimi” to come to see it—amongst others the celebrated Christian Huyghens. These gentlemen, he tells us, “ often exclaimed that they could not have believed anything more curious could have met their eye or been better demonstrated.” Explanation of the Plate. PLATE XXXV. Fig. 1. The caudal artery and its ramifications, the caudal vein and its two tributary trunks with their radicles, and the caudal heart, as seen in a small eel under the microscope. No capillaries are represented. A. The caudal artery, the ultimate ramifications of which are seen distri- buted in straight lines corresponding with the direction of the rays of the caudal fin. B. The great caudal vein formed by the junction of the two tributary trunks C and D. The radicles of these trunks are seen parallel with the straight ultimate arterial ramifications. E. The caudal heart communicating, by an opening provided with a valve, with the smaller tributary caudal venous trunk D, near where it joins the larger tributary caudal venous trunk C to form the great caudal vein B. The smaller tributary venous trunk D, from the place where the caudal heart opens into it to its junction with the larger tributary trunk C, to form the great caudal vein B, is seen filled with the lymph-stream just propelled into it from the heart, whilst in the great caudal vein the lymph, still under the influence of the heart’s force, has so far displaced the blood as to flow for some distance in a colourless stream on one side of the vessel. Fig. 2. A diagrammatic view of the caudal heart, and the lymph-stream from it, with the drops of blood or agglomerations of red corpuscles which issue, one from
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