On the nature and treatment of the diseases of the heart : containing also an account of the musculo-cardiac, the pulmo-cardiac and the veno-pulmonary functions / by James Wardrop.

  • Wardrop, James, 1782-1869.
Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the nature and treatment of the diseases of the heart : containing also an account of the musculo-cardiac, the pulmo-cardiac and the veno-pulmonary functions / by James Wardrop. 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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    functions become disturbed, and various alterations neces- sarily take place in the distribution of the blood. If, for example, from any alteration of structure, the blood cannot readily pass from the right auricle into the right ventricle, or from the right ventricle into the pulmonary artery, it will be naturally anticipated that either of these changes will produce some irregularity in the distribution of the venous blood. So, also, when., if either the left auricle or the left ventricle cannot propel the blood in its natural current, or with its usual velocity, a variety of symptoms will arise from a disturbance in the circulation of the arterial blood, H«irt alone On Contemplating the structure and function of the to cireuMe' Central Organ of the circulation, for the purpose of elucidating the blood. ^^xq nature of its various diseases, it is essential that our researches should not be limited to the function of the heart alone, but that such inquiries should be extended to those organs which are intimately associated with the heart, and which materially contribute to the circulation of the blood. Though it may be strictly true that the blood flows in a circle, and that the heart, like a syringe, has sufBcient mus- cular power to propel the vital fluid throughout the whole system, there are other physical conditions necessary for the due performance of that important function—conditions to which we must constantly refer in all our pathological re- searches. Variatiom of It is not only indispensable that a certain quantitv of the Bupplv of , , J , blood to dif- blood be sent to every part of the body, but that the supply ferent organs i i to the difterent organs be variously modified. In some it is requisite that such supply be always equal and uniform, whilst in others it is necessary that on certain occasions the quantity of blood be either diminished or increased. Supply to tiie Of the first of these conditions there is an example in the formiraiti, for the due performance of whose functions the supply of blood must be always uniform ; and of the other we have tothesto. an illustration in the stomach, to which viscus, during the machvaries, pj.Q(,ggg digggtion, the quantity of blood is more or less increased. Another illustration of a temporary change iu the quantity