On the properties of the arterial and venous walls / by J.A. MacWilliam.

  • John Alexander MacWilliam
Date:
[1901]
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: On the properties of the arterial and venous walls / by J.A. MacWilliam. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    [From the Proceedings of the Royai, Society, Vol. 70.] On the Properties of the Arterial and Venous Walls.* By J. A. Mac William, M.D., Regius Professor of Physiology in the University of Aberdeen. Communicated by Sir M. Foster, See. RS. Received October 24,—Read November 28, 1901. ' c (From the Physiological Laboratory of the University of Aberdeen.) Post-mortem Contraction of Arteries. So long ago as 1891 I noticed that the excised carotid artery of a recently-killed ox exhibits a strongly-marked and long-persisting con- traction of its muscular wall. The phenomenon is, of course, most easily studied in the arteries of the' larger animals. In this investiga- tion I have examined arteries from thirty-five oxen and a considerable number of horses, sheep, cats, and men. When the carotid of the ox or horse is exposed immediately after death, it is found to be soft and flaccid, and more or less flattened in section, with a large bore, usually 5—6 mm. On exposure to the air, cooling, manipulation, cutting, &c, the artery speedily becomes rigid and contracted; the tube becomes circular in section, and its calibre is greatly reduced, e.g., to an internal diameter of 2—3 mm., or less. The artery becomes so stiff that a piece 7 or 8 cm. long may * A statement of the chief conclusions arrived at in this investigation was com- municated to the Physiological Society (at Edinburgh) on July 20, 1901.