The valvular structure of the veins, anatomically and physiologically considered, with a view to exemplify ... the wisdom, power and goodness of God, as revealed ... in Holy Writ. The Warneford prize essay, for the year1838 / by Thomas Clarke Roden.

Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The valvular structure of the veins, anatomically and physiologically considered, with a view to exemplify ... the wisdom, power and goodness of God, as revealed ... in Holy Writ. The Warneford prize essay, for the year1838 / by Thomas Clarke Roden. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    In like manner, the veins are said to be devoid °^it1l't’yTrn,a' irritability, because no irritability is evidenced on the application of various stimuli, mechanical or chemical, except such as may be the effect of pain or fear, or of the action of chemical agents on the texture of the vessels, or their contents. It is true, that the terminations of the venae cavae, (whose structure is obviously muscular, as derived from the auricle,) claim an exception from this general representation. The veins are likewise possessed of a peculiar 5th, insen- property, termed insensible contractility, or tonic traetility. power; the influence of which is particularly in- strumental in aiding capillary circulation. It would be foreign from the subject of this Essay, of the pa- to enter largely into the pathology of the venous system ; it may, however, be remarked, that veins, like all other living structures, are subject to dis- ease. The complexion of the respective diseases of arteries and veins, is, like their structure, distin- guished by marked peculiarities. The veins take on inflammation much more readily than the arteries, whether from surgical operations, or diseased action. But the promptitude with which a wound caused by phlebotomy is agglutinated and cicatrized, materially distinguishes it from a similar incision of an artery ; and herein we behold a most providential result; since, if this were not the case, that operation, which is, as it were, the surgeon’s right hand in the treatment of many diseases, would be detrimental or destructive, and consequently impracticable.