The influence of mechanical factors on lymph production / by E.H. Starling.

  • Ernest Starling
Date:
[1894]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The influence of mechanical factors on lymph production / by E.H. Starling. 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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    lymph formation in the light of the researches I have quoted, and come to the conclusion that transudation from the blood is brought about by an activity (in Folge einer activen Thatigkeit) of the cells of the capillaries. These authors further suggest that under many circum- stances the flow of lymph is regulated by nervous influences and cite the experiments already made in Heidenhain’s laboratory on this point. Thus Ostroumoff had shown that stimulation of the lingual nerve gives rise to a marked oedema on the side of the tongue of which the nerve is stimulated, and Rogowicz describes a somewhat similar effect on the lips on stimulation of the Ansa Vieussenii. Heidenhain in fact had ascribed the “pseudomotor” effect of stimulating the lingual nerve after dividing the hypoglossus to the increased flow of lymph that was produced at the same time into the tongue, and does not even regard the fact that the pseudomotor effect could be obtained after the death of the animal as militating against this explanation. Unfortunately hardly any of these researches could be regarded as absolutely decisive and their interpretation would depend largely on personal predilection. Thus the flow of lymph on stimulation of the lingual nerve is associated with active hyperaemia of the tongue. Rogowicz obtained results on the leg which also were compatible with the filtration hypothesis. On the other hand the enormous variations observed in different experiments and by different experimenters lead Tigerstedt and Santesson to the opposite conclusion. All these experiments however were made on parts from which there is, under normal circumstances, no flow of lymph while the parts are at rest, and the facts that, to get any lymph at all for comparative measurement, we have to knead or passively move the limb, and that, in most experiments, curare has to be administered at intervals, introduce very considerable sources of error into the observations. Influenced by these considerations, Heidenhain some years later carried out a series of experiments on the lymph-flow from the thoracic duct . In these he investigated : first, the effect of changes in the blood-pressure and mechanical interference with the circulation on the lymph-flow, and secondly, the influence of the injection of various substances into the blood. In his latter part of the research, he confirms and amplifies the suggestion which was put forward in Rogowicz’ paper, viz. that there exist substances which have a specific action in increasing the transudation from the blood-vessels, just as diuretics increase the * Pjluger's Archiv, Vol. xlix. p. 209.
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