Report on the progress of human anatomy and physiology in the year 1844-5 / [Sir James Paget].

  • James Paget
Date:
1846
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the progress of human anatomy and physiology in the year 1844-5 / [Sir James Paget]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    trunk of the artery crosses the crico-thyroid membrane and reaches the oppo¬ site side. It gives branches to the larynx through the crico-thyroid membrane, to the middle lobe of the thyroid gland, to the lobe of its own side, and when it crosses over, to that of the other side also, and very often to the isthmus of the gland.* Capillaries. Observations on the development of the capillaries in tadpoles and the tails of youug tritons by Platnerf indicate, as some others have done, that new capillaries are formed by outgrowths from old ones. First, capilla¬ ries are seen which have abrupt blunt closed ends ; some of these have no trace of prolongation, but many exhibit a very thin, long outrunner which is gradually lost sight of; and in some cases it may be seen how two such thin canals as these unite and form one arch, which gradually increasing becomes a new capillary loop. At first this is filled by finely granular matter, and is too small to admit blood-corpuscles. It soon acquires distinct walls, but the nuclei found on fully developed capillaries are subsequent formations. Feins. Henle described generally the differences of structure of veins in different parts of the body according to the degree in which the longitudinally fibrous coat is developed; that in some it is hardly discernible, in others strongly marked; but he did not indicate the veins thus differently condi¬ tioned. The result of many dissections by Dr. Norman CheversJ is that, as a rule subject to but few exceptions, the deep-seated veins of the trunk have their proper or middle coat (wherein I suppose he includes all between the striated coat and the external cellular coat) composed almost entirely of cir¬ cular fibres ; while in the external and superficial veins there is in the same situation a strong internal layer of longitudinal fibres, and a thinner layer of circular fibres next external to it. Venous pulse. Two cases of pulsations in the veins of the back of the hand, coincident with the pulse of the arteries, are recorded by M. Martin-Solon.§ Both occurred in patients who had been largely and repeatedly bled for pleuro¬ pneumonia. M. Poiseuille, in a discussion on the essays, referred to cases re¬ cently recorded in a thesis by Condret, in which the persons presenting the venous pulse were strong young men with full arterial pulses [| RESPIRATION. Structure of the lungs. Some interesting points in the anatomy of the lungs are determined by the investigations of Mr. Rainey.IF The airpassages he divides * For the practical deductions from these anatomical facts I must refer to the original paper. f Muller’s Archiv, 1844, Heft v. J Medical Gazette, Aug. 8, 1845. § Bull, de l’Academie de M^decine, Nov. 1844, pp. 102-116, || All the physics of the circulation are well discussed by Bergmann in his article, “ Kreislauf des Blutes,” in Wagner’s Handworterb. der Physiologie. There is an exposition of the theory of the wave-movement of the blood in the arteries, and of the mechanism of the pulse, by Dr. H. Frey, in Muller’s Archiv, 1845, H. ii, iii. His essay is in full support of the theory as commonly received: against it there are, an anonymous very clever essay “ On the Cause of the Pulse,” in the Medical Gazette, July 11, 1845, and one with the same title by Dr. Thomas Williams, in the same, July 25, 1845. The opinions in these two essays differ in degree rather than in kind. It seems to me that the existence of what may be justly termed a wave of blood raised by each contraction of the ventricle, is quite certain : the main question is, how far does the first wave extend? None of the essays answer this question; and it is not possible to give an answer which shall be always true, for both the breadth and height of the wave must, in different cases, depend on very many variable conditions, of each of which we can as yet obtain only an uncertain estimate. Other works of more or less interest in the anatomy and physiology of the circulatory system are,—Parchappe, Sur la Structure . . . du Coeur; Paris, 8vo, 1844. Pliny Earle, Observations [with extensive statistics] on the pulse of the Insane; in the American Journ. of Med. Science, January 1845. Norman Chevers, On the effects of obliteration of the Carotid Arteries ; in the Medical Gazette, Oct. 31, 1845. Bouisson, Sur les lesions des artfres fessiere et ischiatique; in the Gazette Medicale, Mars 1845, containing measurements of the exact relative positions of these vessels. Prevost et Lebert, Sur le developpement des organes de la circulation . .. du poulet; in the Annales des Sc. Nat., t. i, 1845. Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. xxviii, p. 581, 1845.