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

    14/636
    turning round rapidly, in swinging, and sea-sickness should be experienced in some persons and not in others. Having arrived at the conclusion that these various phe- nomena are intimately connected with the great function of the circulation of the blood, further observations convinced me that each of them is an instinctive act, employed for performing a specific purpose in the economy, some for in- creasing and others for diminishing the quantity of blood within the thoracic cavities, according as modifications in its quantity are required, or an adjustment necessary in the different organs for the due performance of their respective functions. My attention was no less arrested when contemplating the influence which the almost constant movements of the body produce both on the respiratory and circulating organs. I was led to inquire how the action of the heart and lungs is increased by violent exercise : how persons can, by a process of training, acquire the power of using their muscles, until the muscular energy is exhausted, without causing breathlessness or a sense of sufiFocation ; in what the art of diving consists ; and, finally, how diseases of the heart are caused by inordinate muscular exertions, as well as by violent mental emotions. In pursuing these investigations, I was conducted step by step to establish three important functions—functions con- nected with the circulation of the blood, which had hitherto been overlooked by physiologists. First, that the muscles, besides being the active organs of locomotion, powerfully influence the circulation in the arte- ries as well as in the veins, and thus perform the important office of increasing the quantity of arterial as well as of ve- nous blood within the cavities of the heart. Secondly, that the lungs, as a reservoir, regulate the sup- ply of blood to the heart, so as to prevent congestion within the heart's cavities. Thirdly, that the subcutaneous veins likewise perform the office of a reservoir, and prevent congestion of blood withm the pulmonary vessels.