On the chemistry of the blood, and other scientific papers / by L.C. Woolridge ; arranged by Victor Horsley and Ernest Starling ; with an introduction by Victor Horsley.

Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the chemistry of the blood, and other scientific papers / by L.C. Woolridge ; arranged by Victor Horsley and Ernest Starling ; with an introduction by Victor Horsley. 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.

    57/434 (page 45)
    ON TEE FUNCTIONS OF TEF VENTRICULAR NERVES OF TEE MAMMALIAN EE ART 1 In the descriptions of the cardiac nerves given in anatomical text-books, mention is made of branches which pass across the auricle on to the ventricle.2 So far as I am aware, the functions of these nerves have not hitherto been discussed in physiological literature, and this is certainly partly due to the fact that, in spite of their size, they are invisible until special methods are employed. After Professor Ludwig had shown me a means of rendering them visible in any animal that had been recently killed, and had thus enabled me to become acquainted with their origin and distribution, I determined to investigate their physiological functions. Before recording the results of this research, I will relate the issue of the anatomical observations, which were carried out on dogs. The nerves which go to the heart and to the large vessels may unite in their course with others of the same side to form a plexus or they may also join those of the other side as well. Accord- ing to the place where they terminate, they may be classified into nerves of the large vessels, auricular nerves, and nerves which continue on to the ventricles either before or after giving off branches to the auricles. In accordance with the object of this research, the anatomical remarks will be chiefly confined to the ventricular nerves. The fact that the mammalian ventricles are surrounded with 1 [Translated from Du Hois' Archiv, 1883, p. 522.] 2 These accounts are mainly based on the observations of Lee (Philosophi- cal Transactions, London, 1849) and Schlkarewski (Gottvnger Nachrichtai, 1872, p. 426). The former has given a careful description, accompanied by excellent illustrations, of the ventricular nerves in man, and, so far as my experience goes, this system is identical with that of dogs.