On the tonicity of the heart and arteries / by W.H. Gaskell ; communicated by Michael Foster.
- W. H. Gaskell
- Date:
- 1880
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: On the tonicity of the heart and arteries / by W.H. Gaskell ; communicated by Michael Foster. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![1880.] On the Tonicity of the Heart and Arteries. c. If the acid solution has brought about a condition of nearly absolute relaxed or atonic standstill, then removal of the acid by salt solution does not improve the beats, and does not raise the tonicity, but immediately the alkaline solution is sent through, the tonicity begins to rise, and the beats are strengthened until the ventricle passes into the condition of systolic or tonic standstill. d. The reverse case is also true ; although salt solution sent through after the alkaline solution will very gradually bring the ventricle from the contracted to the dilated condition, yet the lactic acid solution produces the same effect with much greater rapidity. e. These very dilute alkali and acid solutions do not produce their effects by permanently injuring the cardiac muscle, for in either case it is possible to restore the beats to their original strength and character by sending the artificial blood solution through. 4. Certain alkaloids act in this respect in the same manner as alkalies, others as acids. a. Digitalin or antiarin in artificial blood solution or in normal salt solution produce exactly the same effect upon both the beating ventricle and the non-beating apex as the alkaline salt solution. b. Blood solutions containing muscarin and pilocarpin gradually diminish the force of the beat without necessarily slowing the rate of x’hythm until the ventricle stops beating in a condition of relaxation, as in the case of lactic acid solutions; at the same time the beats show all the characters of the atonic beat. c. Atropin acts in the same direction as alkalies, but only raises the tonicity to a slight extent, at least with the dilute solutions hitherto employed. 5. The tonicity of the muscles of the smaller arteries is increased by alkalies and lowered by acid solutions. This is concluded from the action of the alkaline and lactic acid solutions upon the vessels of the mylohyoid muscle, upon the rate of flow from the abdominal vein when the solutions are sent through the legs alone and upon the mesenteric vessels. In all cases with the alkali solution the arteries contract, the rate of flow diminishes or ceases altogether, and as long as the alkali solution is passing through the contraction remains; with the lactic acid solu- tion, on the other hand, the arteries dilate to their full extent, the rate of flow is markedly increased, and no constriction takes place unless the alkaline solution be again sent through. The author reserves for another occasion a fuller description of his results, as well as a discussion of their bearings. I JIARRISON AND SONS, PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY, ST. MARTIN’S LANE.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22454226_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
