scholarly journals XX. A letter to Martin Folkes, Esq; President of the Royal Society, from Cromwell Mortimer, M. D. Secr, of the same, concerning the natural heat of animals

1744 ◽  
Vol 43 (476) ◽  
pp. 473-480
Keyword(s):  
Blood Vessels ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Circulation Of The Blood ◽  
Medical Writers

Sir, Since the complete and full Demonstration of the Circulation of the Blood in Animals by our illustrious Countryman the great Dr. Harvey , the Generality of medical Writers have attributed the natural Heat of Animals to the Motion of the Blood in the Blood-vessels, or rather to an Attrition of all the Fluids in the Animal arising from it; which Fluids, from the later Discoveries by Injections and Microscopes, are found to move in conical Canals communicating one with another near the Apices , or where the Arteries are the narrowest, soon afterwards growing wider and wider, when the same continued Canals obtain the Name of Veins, and convey back the Fluids they contain to the Heart.

IV. Postscript to a paper “On the ganglia and nerves of the heart.”

1849 ◽  
Vol 139 ◽  
pp. 47-48
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Left Ventricle ◽  
Blood Vessels ◽  
Coronary Arteries ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Posterior Surface ◽  
Anterior Surface ◽  
Entire Surface ◽  
Naked Eye ◽  
Nervous Structure

Since the communication above referred to was presented to the Royal Society, I have made a very minute dissection in alcohol of the whole nervous system of the young heifer’s heart. The distribution of the ganglia and nerves over the entire surface of the heart, and the relations of these structures to the blood-vessels and muscular substance, are far more fully displayed in these preparations than in any of my former dissections. On the anterior surface, there are distinctly visible to the naked eye ninety ganglia or ganglionic enlargements on the nerves, which pass obliquely across the arteries and the muscular fibres of the ventricles from their base to the apex. These ganglionic enlargements are observed on the nerves, not only where they are crossing the arteries, but where they are ramifying on the muscular substance without the blood-vessels. On the posterior surface, the principal branches of the coronary arteries plunge into the muscular substance of the heart near the base, and many nerves with ganglia accompany them throughout the walls to the lining membrane and columnse carneæ. From the sudden disappearance of the chief branches of the coronary arteries on the posterior surface, the nervous structure distributed over a consider­ able portion of the left ventricle is completely isolated from the blood-vessels, and on these, numerous ganglionic enlargements are likewise observed, but smaller in size than the chains of ganglia formed over the blood-vessels on the anterior surface of the heart. In the accompanying beautiful drawings, Mr. West has depicted with the greatest accuracy and minuteness the whole nervous structures demon­strable in these preparations on the surface of the heart. But the ganglia and nerves represented in these drawings constitute only a small portion of the nervous system of the heart, numerous ganglia being formed in the walls of the heart which no artist can represent. It can be clearly demonstrated that every artery distributed throughout the walls of the Uterus and Heart, and every muscular fasciculus of these organs, is supplied with nerves upon which ganglia are formed.

Leeuwenhoek and other Dutch correspondents of the Royal Society

1989 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-207 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Great Pleasure ◽  
Circulation Of The Blood

On 7 September 1688 the Dutch microscopist Antoni van Leeuwenhoek finished a letter to the Royal Society in which he demonstrated the circulation of the blood in the external gills of young frog’s larvae, in the tail of older larvae and in the ends of the toes of young and adult frogs (1). Although this letter was not published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, as so many of his letters were, Leeuwenhoek himself considered his discovery one of the most important he ever made. He even took care to have the letter published in his own Dutch vernacular before sending it to the learned society in London, this letter being the last to be published separately by him. (2) Leeuwenhoek, whose writings generally were emotionally rather reserved, this time took no pains to hide his enthusiasm: Nay, I saw this movement as clearly as I, or anyone else, could ever imagine the whole propulsion of the blood from the Heart, and the transition of the Arteries (at the place where they join up together) into the Veins. Although I contemplated this sight many times to my exceedingly great pleasure, I did not want to keep it only to myself, but I showed this circulation of the blood to five prominent Gentlemen, who declared to me that they had never yet seen anything of mine that was so worthy of being beheld. (3)

scholarly journals VIII. On the structure, relations, and development of the nervous and circulatory systems, and on the existence of a complete circulation of the blood in vessels, in myriapoda and macrourous arachnida.—First series

1843 ◽  
Vol 133 ◽  
pp. 243-302 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Complete System ◽  
Comparative Anatomy ◽  
The Body ◽  
Circulation Of The Blood

The increasing importance that is daily attached to the study of the comparative anatomy of the Invertebrata, and the interest with which every microscopic exami­nation of structure is now regarded, as assisting to elucidate the great problems of life in the higher animals, have encouraged me through several years to prosecute a series of investigations, in the articulated classes, on two of the most important portions of the body,—the nervous and circulatory systems. These investigations have afforded me, from time to time, some interesting results, part of which, on one of these structures, I have already had the honour of communicating to the Royal Society. I now propose to communicate the results of my examinations of both these structures, and to illustrate their development, and the relations which they bear to each other, in some of the principal classes, commencing, in the present paper, with the Myriapoda and Arachnida. The objects to which my attention has been directed in this paper are three:— First , the minute anatomy of the nervous system in the Myriapoda and Macrourous Arachnida, more especially with regard to the structure of the cord and its ganglia, and the means which these afford us of explaining the physiology of the nervous system, and the phenomena of the reflected movements in articulated animals. Secondly , to demonstrate the existence of a complete system of circulatory vessels in the Myriapoda and Arachnida. Thirdly , to show the identity of the laws that regulate the development of the nervous and circulatory systems in these Articulata, and their dependence on the changes which take place in the muscular and tegu­mentary structures of the body, as I formerly showed in regard to the changes in the nervous system of insects.

XXV.—The Anatomy of a Fœtal African Elephant, Elephas africanus (Loxodonta africana). Part II. The Body Muscles

1928 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 609-642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nellie B. Eales
Keyword(s):  
Weak Solution ◽  
Blood Vessels ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Loxodonta Africana ◽  
African Elephant ◽  
The Body ◽  
Internal Organs

In the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Vol. LIV, Part III, No. 11, 1926, the author published an account of the anatomy of the head of an African Elephant fœtus, 21 cms. in length. The present paper deals with the voluntary muscles (except those already described) of the same fœtus. The author intends to prepare later an account of the skeleton and internal organs, so that a complete description of the anatomy of this rare specimen will be available.The section which treats of the head will henceforward be referred to as Part I; the present paper, therefore, becomes Part II.The body muscles were investigated under the Zeiss Binocular Dissecting Microscope, and the work was facilitated by rapid staining with a weak solution of saffranin. Owing to long preservation, the muscles, nerves, and blood-vessels of the specimen were quite colourless. The saffranin gave a certain amount of differentiation which lasted for several hours, and the advantage of the method is that the colour disappears entirely when the specimen is put back into the store jar between one working period and the next.

scholarly journals II. The Croonian Lecture, on some physiological researches, respecting the influence of the brain on the action of the heart, and on the generation of animal heat

1811 ◽  
Vol 101 ◽  
pp. 36-48 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Vessels ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Spinal Marrow ◽  
Animal Body ◽  
The Brain

Having had the honour of being appointed, by the President of the Royal Society, to give the Croonian Lecture, I trust that the following facts and observations will be considered as tend­ing sufficiently to promote the objects, for which the Lecture was instituted. They appear to throw some light on the mode, in which the influence of the brain is necessary to the conti­nuance of the action of the heart; and on the effect, which the changes produced on the blood in respiration have on the heat of the animal body. In making experiments on animals to ascertain how far the influence of the brain is necessary to the action of the heart, I found that when an animal was pithed by dividing the spinal marrow in the upper part of the neck, respiration was immediately destroyed, but the heart still continued to contract cir­culating dark-coloured blood, and that in some instances from ten to fifteen minutes elapsed before its action had entirely ceased. I further found that when the head was removed, the divided blood vessels being secured by a ligature, the circulation still continued, apparently unaffected by the entire separation of the brain. These experiments confirmed the observations of Mr. Cruikshank and M. Bichat, that the brain is not directly necessary to the action of the heart, and that when the functions of the brain are destroyed, the circu­lation ceases only in consequence of the suspension of respira­tion. This led me to conclude, that, if respiration was produced artificially, the heart would continue to contract for a still longer period of time after the removal of the brain. The truth of this conclusion was ascertained by the following experiment.

On the sources and nature of the powers on which the circulation of the blood depends

1837 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 64-64
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Blood Vessels ◽  
Thoracic Cavity ◽  
Muscular Power ◽  
Voluntary Motion ◽  
Circulation Of The Blood ◽  
Arteries And Veins

In the first part of this paper the author discusses the opinions which ascribe the powers that maintain the circulation in the veins to the elasticity of the heart, the resilience of the lungs, and the dilatation of the thoracic cavity in the act of inspiration. He shows experimentally that the circulation continues unimpaired when all those causes have ceased to operate; and that the very structure of the veins, the coats of which are so pliable as to collapse by their own weight, when empty, renders it impossible that the motion of the blood could be maintained in them by any cause corresponding to a power of suction in the heart. The latter part of the paper is occupied by an inquiry into the sources and nature of the powers which really support the circulation of the blood. The capillaries, he observes, maintain the motion of their blood long after the heart has ceased to beat; this motion not being immediately affected even by the entire removal of the heart; but being accelerated, retarded, or arrested, according as the action of the capillaries is increased, impaired, or destroyed, by agents of which the operation is wholly confined to the vessels themselves. As the destruction of the heart does not immediately influence the motion of the blood in the capillaries, so the action of this organ, when in full vigour, can produce no motion of the blood in the capillaries, when these vessels are themselves deprived of power. Experiments are related with the view of proving that the arteries and veins, and more particularly the latter, are also capable of carrying on the blood they contain, even in opposition to the force of gravitation, with the greatest ease, and without the aid of any extraneous power. With regard to the nature of the power exerted by the blood-vessels, the author shows that the capillaries are as readily influenced by stimulants and by sedatives, as the heart itself; and that the arteries and veins may also be made to obey the action of stimulants ; and further, that the power of the vessels bears the same relation to the nervous system as that of the heart, which is peculiar, and very different from the relation subsisting between that system and the muscles of voluntary motion. From the whole of the facts and experiments stated in this paper, the author deduces the conclusions, that the circulation is maintained by the combined power of the heart and blood-vessels, and that the power of both is a muscular power.

scholarly journals VI. Account of a peculiarity in the distribution of the arteries sent to the limbs of slow-moving animals; together with some other similar facts. In a letter from Mr. Anthony Carlisle, surgeon, to John Symmons, Esq. F. R. S

1800 ◽  
Vol 90 ◽  
pp. 98-105 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Vessels ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
British Museum ◽  
The Body ◽  
Lower Limbs ◽  
Upper Arm ◽  
The Press ◽  
Slow Moving ◽  
The Common ◽  
Muscular Branch

Dear Sir, The Maucauco you have been so obliging as to give me for the purpose of dissection, has proved a subject of considerable interest. This animal, the Lemur tardigradus of Linnæus, was injected, with a view to exhibit the course of the arteries; and they present a very unusual deviation from the ordinary arrange­ment of this class of blood-vessels in animals generally. Before I had leisure to inquire further into this peculiarity, I presented a drawing of the appearances to my friend Dr. Shaw, of the British Museum, for the purpose of being made public in his work of natural history, now in the press. Since that time, I have, through Dr. Shaw’s assistance, been enabled to investi­gate this subject somewhat farther; and, if you consider the following account in any degree worthy the attention of the Royal Society, I shall receive an additional honour by its pro­ceeding through your hands. The Lemur tardigradus , in its injected state, accompanies this paper; and, for the kind of preparation, the vessels are filled with more than ordinary success. The arteries alone are injected; and the peculiarity of their arrangement is to be observed in the axillary arteries, and in the iliacs. These vessels, at their entrance into the upper and lower limbs, are suddenly divided into a number of equal-sized cylinders, which occasionally anastomose with each other. They are exclusively distributed on the muscles; whilst the arteries sent to all the parts of the body, excepting the limbs, divide in the usual arborescent form; and, even those arteries of the limbs which are employed upon substances not muscular, branch off like the common blood-­vessels. I counted twenty-three of these cylinders, parallel to each other, about the middle of the upper arm; and seventeen in the inguinal fasciculus.

scholarly journals XXVI. On the sources and nature of the powers on which the circulation of the blood depends

1831 ◽  
Vol 121 ◽  
pp. 489-496
Keyword(s):  
Blood Vessels ◽  
Royal Academy ◽  
External Surface ◽  
Internal Surface ◽  
Constant Attention ◽  
Animal Economy ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Circulation Of The Blood

It is remarkable that, notwithstanding the great importance of the circulation in the animal economy, the length of time which has elapsed since its discovery, and the constant attention it has obtained, there is hardly any department of physiology respecting which there appears to be greater uncertainty and contrariety of opinion than the sources and the nature of the powers on which this function depends. I propose in the following paper, by comparing the principal facts on the subject, and by such additional experiments as seem still to be required, to endeavour to determine these points. Much has lately been written and many experiments have been made with this view, and it has become customary to look for the causes which support the circulation to other sources beside the powers of the heart and blood-vessels. It has been supposed that what has been called the resilience of the lungs, that is, their tendency to collapse, by relieving the external surface of the heart from some part of the pressure of the atmosphere, is a principal means of causing it to be distended with blood, the whole weight of the atmosphere acting on its internal surface through the medium of the blood which is thus propelled from the veins into its cavities ; and in this way it has been supposed that the motion of the blood through the whole of the venous part of the circulation is maintained. A similar effect has been ascribed to the act of inspiration, which it is evident must operate on the same principle; and this opinion has even been sanctioned by the Report of a Committee of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris *, and in this country by men whose authority is deservedly high ; and the effect of these causes, it is asserted, is increased by the elastic power of the heart itself.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document