On the necessity for contracting cavities between the venous trunks and the ventricles of the heart : on the use of venous sinuses in the head, on the wonderful provision made for the transition from the foetal to the breathing state, on palpitation, on death, and on life, with reflections on the treatment of animals / by John Walker.

John Walker

Date:: 1799

Credit: On the necessity for contracting cavities between the venous trunks and the ventricles of the heart : on the use of venous sinuses in the head, on the wonderful provision made for the transition from the foetal to the breathing state, on palpitation, on death, and on life, with reflections on the treatment of animals / by John Walker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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[ 23 ] for®, or feven without that, ftimulant matter enter the blood) through the medium ef the nerves, thofe of the organs of the animal functions fympathifing with thofe of the ftomach ; and thus paffing to vital organs the ftimulating efFcdds which begun in an organ (lefs delicate) of the na¬ tural funddions. c. This kind of palpitation is a throbbing which reft, ferenity, eafe and temperance remove. D. a. The fame effedds are often produced fcy ceitain dil'eafes of the py- rexial clafs, of which pain, &c. are parts. b. Difeafes of other claffes may produce pyrexial fy.mptoms ; may affect the circulation of the blood in the fame way. c. In all thefe cafes it is evident, that the malady, which occaftons the morbid irregularity in the circulation, mud be removed, in order to pro¬ duce a cure ; and in this there in aft be effedded a change in the general fyftem. Palpitations, Jlricily fo called. All the inftances cf palpitation, yet mentioned, may be countered a* throbbings produced by difturbed circulation. 25. a. There are others which feem to be rather the caufe. than the effedd, of difturbed circulation, and which are perhaps more ftriddly palpi¬ tations, than thofe already mentioned. b. Under thefe the pulfe may be violent, weak, unequal, intermit¬ tent. c. Such arc thofe which arife from malconformation, or difeafes in the heart or its veffels, by conftriddions, amplifications, polypi, offifications, See. d. Under thefe the balance may be loft between the ven¬ tricles themfelves, as well as between the ventricles and ft- nufes. <?. May both thefe kinds of palpitation be alfo produced, even mechani¬ cally, by impeded refpiration, by diftenfion of ftomach, by derangement of other vifeera ? f‘ Palpitations, ftriddly fo called, appear to be produced alfo by nervous afteddions, where mind is not concerned, as from vveaknefs alone, fiom ipafmodic affedtions, if indeed the heart be not always added upon in thefe cafes through the organs ef the animal funddions. Perhaps fpafm does not ever take place in parts not fubjedded to the will, which is probably the cafe with the ftomach, and the whole alimen¬ tary canal, with the urinary bladder and vifeera in general, as well as with the heart, and all the veffels concerned in the circulation. Are not rumination and all voluntary eruddations effedded, entirely, by fuch voluntary difpofition of the diaphragm and the mufeies of the trunk, as by the law of determination forces air or aliment from the ftromach through the cardia, which ftimuiates the oefophagus to the neceffary in¬ verted motion ? If they were effedded by contraddion of the ftomach a- lone, that mixus which is made ufe of to produce them would not have place; but the diaphragm and mufcles»of the thorax and abdomen would be as tranquil as in ordinary deglutition. That the mufcular fibres of the urinary bladder are not at all under the eontroul of the will, appears evi-

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