The Croonian lectures on some points in the pathology of rheumatism, gout and diabetes : delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, London, March 30, April 1, 6, 1886 / by P. W. Latham, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P.
- Peter Wallwork Latham
- Date:
- 1887
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The Croonian lectures on some points in the pathology of rheumatism, gout and diabetes : delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, London, March 30, April 1, 6, 1886 / by P. W. Latham, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.
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![n.] and C,,H become detached more or less from each other, and by hydration (by which heat is developed) form substances— glycollic acid and lactic acid—which are readily oxidised, more readily than the amido-acid glycocine which is also formed. The oxygen, tliough conveyed in larger quantities than normal by the increased blood-supply to the tissue, is completely used up in oxidising into carbonic acid and water, the glycollic and lactic acidst which have been formed; the excess of lactic acid and the glycocine are unoxidised and pass into the circulation. Now, in a normal or healthy state of things, the irritating or stimulating cause acting on the vessels and nerves of the skin being re- moved, reaction would be set up there; the cutaneous vascular area, acted upon by the lactic acid, would dilate, and consequently the vessels of the muscular area would contract; and this latter contraction would be increased by the stimulating effect of the glycocine, or some resulting morbid product, which, being a morbid product, would stimulate some portion of the nervous system. We should naturally expect that, under the normal state of things, it would so act upon the nervous system as to check the further formation of the morbid material. This could be done by stimu- lating the vaso-motor nerves connected with the vessels of the muscular area, and causing their contraction. We have such an example of stimulation, though in a different direction, in the effect of carbonic acid on the respiratory centre. A closer illustration may perhaps be found in what results from the injection of bile (which contains glycocine) into the blood. This is at once followed by increased arterial tension. But the closest analogy may be found in the effects produced on the system by what is simply a form of vegetable uric acid, namely Caffeine J. In mode- rate doses, this increases the heart's action both by its direct effect on the organ, and also by_exciting contraction of the arteries ; the blood pressure and the frequency of the pulse are both intensified. X Compare the formula) for uric acid and caffeine ou pages Gl and 122.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21445278_0061.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
