Practical observations on diseases of the lungs and heart / By Archibald Billing.

  • Billing, Archibald, 1791-1881.
Date:
MDCCCLII. [1852]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical observations on diseases of the lungs and heart / By Archibald Billing. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    April 1833, as well as an extract from my essay. Mr. E. L. Bryan published a similar theory (Lancet, January 1833); but when he became acquainted with my priority, he very candidly wrote an acknow- ledgment, together with a critique on the “ Deport of the Dublin Committee of the British Association” (Lancet, Dec. 20, 1835, and Feb. 27, 1836).* In giving the above explanation to my class, I was in the habit of exemplifying how the sound was produced, by a strip of paper about two inches lone: and half an inch wide suddenly stretched, the sound of which was heard all over the theatre. Dr. Hope subsequently mentioned, in his Appendix, 1835, his having applied a piece of tape for a similar purpose, and yet denominated my opinion “erro- neous,” and remained unconvinced. Dr. Hope instituted a number of experiments, as is a simple, imsophisticated explanation of the causes of the heat and sounds of the heart; and you will find that the morbid signs are all explicable as alterations of these.” The analogy of the mode of producing sound just alluded to is perfect. When sound is produced by the membrane of a drum or tambourine, it is done by a blow; but the sound of the partridge- call is elicited by the pull of the string, the knot of which is always in contact with the membrane; and, moreover, this membrane is, in its ordinary state, flaccid, not tight like a drum-head,—so that the sound is produced by bringing it from a state of relaxation to tension, as is the case with valves. * Mr. E. L. Bryan’s statement is,—“ Any flexible solid sud- denly brought from a state of relaxation to a state of tension vibrates, and its vibrations are sonorous or not — 1.1. audible or not—according to its physical structure. At the commencement of the systole of the ventricles their auricular valves are flapped into play; at the instant of their closure, the whole substance of the ventricles and the valves are suddenly brought into a state of ten- sion, and then consequently vibrate.”