A treatise on the diseases of the heart and great vessels : and on the affections which may be mistaken for them : comprising the author's view of the physiology of the heart's action and sounds, as demonstrated by his experiments on the motions and sounds in 1830, and on the sounds in 1834-5 / by J. Hope.

  • Hope, James, 1801-1841.
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the diseases of the heart and great vessels : and on the affections which may be mistaken for them : comprising the author's view of the physiology of the heart's action and sounds, as demonstrated by his experiments on the motions and sounds in 1830, and on the sounds in 1834-5 / by J. Hope. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    to escaped me; namely, that the movements of the ventricles with their corresponding sounds continued perfect while the auricles ivere motionless. The following queries were circulated to the individuals pie- sent a few days previous to the experiments. They were seve- rally read after each of the three experiments, and the answers were the conjoint dictation of the party, partly during the expe- riments, and partly at the successive recapitulations. 1. Do the ventricular systole, the first sound, the impulse, and the pulse coincide ? A. They coincide perfectly, except that sometimes there ap- peared to be a barely appreciable interval between the impulse or first motion of the ventricle (as seen, and also felt with the fingers interposed between the apex and the ribs) and the pulse in the radial artery under the shoulder. Remark.—The interval alluded to was ascribed to the distance of the artery from the heart. In more remote arteries it is pro- portionably greater, and in those near the heart it does not exist at all. This subject had, I believe, been examined experimentally by Dr. Stokes and Mr. Hart, of which I was not aware. The fact is now well ascertained. The Dublin Committee of the British Association, Aug. 1835, have illustrated it by a very pretty experiment on a calf. A tube having been introduced through a puncture in the left ventricle, and one of the mesenteric arteries having been ex- posed and opened, the jet from the ventricle was observed to precede the jet from the arteries, by an interval easily appre- ciable. The femoral artery was opened, and a similar observa- tion was made. (Exp. ].) 2. Do the ventricles expel the whole, or a part only, of their contents; and what is their state during the interval of repose ? Are they full or empty ? A. The ventricles not being transparent, it is not demonstra- ble whether they expel the whole of their contents; but the di- minution of their volume by the systole is not in general so great as to convey that impression. During the interval of repose they are full, being restored to that state by the diastole. By fulness, is not meant distention, this being au ulterior degree.