Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Heart / by John Reid. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
11/46 (page 11)
![1 IK ART. endered it more complicated. We will find hat considerable differences in these respects nay exist between different hearts and between iifferent parts of the same heart, which, to udge from the perfect regularity with which all ts functions proceeded before death, must be ;onsidered as perfectly healthy; and it is from his want of uniformity in the different parts of ipparently healthy hearts that we can in some measure account for the discrepant statements on this subject which exist in the works of the most celebrated and accurate anatomists. IViickness oj' the walls of ttie several cavities vf the heart.—The left auricle is somewhat thicker than the right, and the left ventricle very considerably thicker than the right. Bouil- iaud* found the average thickness of the walls of the left auricle in four healthy hearts to be 1^ lines, and that of the right auricle to be 1 line. Lobstein has rather strangely stated :that the right auricle is twice the thickness of the left. He makes the thickness of the right auricle to be 1 line, and that of the left to be only \ line. Laennec reckons the relative proportion of the thickness of the left ventricle to the right as rather more than 2 to 1. Bouillaud found the average thickness of the right ventricle at its base in a great number of cases to be 2^ lines, and that of the left ventricle at the same part to be 7 lines. Xruveilliierf states the proportionate thickness of the right to the left ventricle as 1 to 4, )or even as 1 to 5. According to Soemmerring,| Ithe relative thickness of the two ventricles •is as 1 to 3. Andral§ states that in the adult ithe thickness of the left to the right ventricle .■is as 2 to 1, but in infancy and in old age iiit is as 3 or 4 to 1. M. Bizot has lately published the results 5of the careful measurements of the healthy bheart in one hundred and fifty-seven indivi- Jduals of all ages.y The greater part of these 'Observations were collected at La Piti^, under ilthe auspices of Louis. According to M. Bizot, lithe heart goes on increasing in all its dimen- -sions—length, breadth, and thickness—up to : the latest periods of life. The growth is, 1 however, more rapid before twenty-nine years ; than after that age. While, then, the muscles ' of animal life are diminishing in size in ad- ■ vanced life, the heart is still increasing in bulk. The heart of the male is, on an average, i larger than that of the female at all the different < stages of life. M.. Bizot remarks that the longitudinal section of the left ventricle is fusiform, the thickest part being situated at the junction of the superior third with the ■ middle thirdThe thickness of this ventricle - goes on increasing from youth up to advanced - age. The following are a few of the measure- • Traite Clinique des Maladies du Coeur, t. i. -p. 53. 1835. t Anatomie Descriptive, t. iii. p. 17. t Do Corporis Humani Fabrica, t. v. iAnatomic Palhologique, t. ii. p. 283. Memoircs dc la Socictc Medic. d'Observation I do Paris, t. i. p. 262. 1836. T Op, cit. p. 269 and 284. ments of the thickness of the walls of the ventricles given by M. Bizot. Left ventricle, male. Age, ' Base. Middle part. Apex, 1 to 4 years 3 lines. 2f5 lines, l-fj, line. 50 to 79 years .. m „ c;20 A,-erage from 16 \ .fi, ,,9 to 79 years .. S ^ '^-^ TS2 7> 135 5 4i 013 45 SI 51 1 2 25 2T Left ventricle, female. 1 to 4 years .... 2-^ lines'. 2| lines, l-^j. lines. 50 to 89 years .. 4^ Average from 16^ ^3 to 89 years ., ) ' Thickness of right ventricle.—The thickest portion of the right ventricle is not placed, as M. Bizot remarks, at the same point as in the left. In the right ventricle it is at the base of the heart, 4 lines below the tendinous ring. The thickness of the walls of the right ventricle, unlike the left, remains more nearly stationary at the different periods of life. They are, however, a little thicker in advanced age than at an earlier period of life. Right ventricle, male. Age. Base. Middle part. Apex. 1 to 4 years fo line, line. ^% line. 30 to 49 years .. lf| „ l.fj „ 50 to 79 years ,. 2-,'g „ l^s » Average from 16^.„3 . gg to 79 years .. S ™ Right ventricle, female. 1 to 4 years .... l-p^ line. | line. I] line. 30 to 49 years . . li| „ li? „ 50 to 79 years . „ 1} „ Average from 15 ) -2 ^7 6„ to 59 years .. i ^ » ^a? » fk » Care was taken to make all these measure- ments at points where there were no columuEe carneae. The thickness of the septum ventriculorum, according to iMeckel, is 11 lines at its base. Bouillaud obtained the same results in the only case in which he appears to have measured the thickness of the septum. M. Bizot has given measurements of the ventricular septum at six different periods of life, from which I have selected the following. Male. Female. Age. Middle part. Middle part. 1 to 4 years S-jL lines. 2| lines. 16 to 29 years... 50 to 79 years.., The thickness of the septum ventriculorum goes on increasing iit^tlwekTiess^ from infancy to an advanced period of life. Relative capacities of the several cavities.— The most conflicting statements exist upon this point, and we find it perfectly impossible to come to any satisfactory decision. Each cavity of the heart is supposed, when mo- derately distended, to contain rather more than two ounces of fluid. The auricles may be safely said to be of less capacity than the ventricles; and this disparity is strikingly marked in the larger animals, as the horse and ox. The right auricle is generally allowed to be larger than the left, and the difference, 4-1^ ^3 411 K. 3](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21908503_0013.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
