General Anatomy, Applied to Physiology and Medicine, Vol. 2 (of 3)Bichat, Xavier
Science
General Anatomy, Applied to Physiology and Medicine, Vol. 2 (of 3)
Bichat, Xavier
Human anatomy; Human physiology
I take for example the organs that have one of their surfaces free from
adhesion, because the state of the capillary system is more easily
distinguished in them; but the others present the same phenomenon; we
shall see that the cellular texture, certain fibrous organs, &c. &c.
examined comparatively, on the one hand in animals that we dissect
alive, on the other in an inflammatory state or after fine injections,
present a much less number of vessels in the first, than the second
case.
It can then be established as an incontestable fact, that in many of
the organs of the animal economy, the general capillary system is,
in the ordinary state, entered in part by blood, in part by other
different fluids, that appear to be white.
The proportions vary singularly; thus the capillary system of the
serous membranes contains hardly any blood as I have said; that of the
skin more; the mucous surfaces still more, &c. But whatever may be the
relation, the difference is not less real in the capillary system.
Perhaps also there are always in this system empty vessels, destined
to receive fluids under certain circumstances; thus the urethra, the
excretory ducts in certain cases, the orifices of the lacteals in the
intervals of digestion, contain nothing. It is difficult to conceive
of the rapidity of the passage of the blood in the capillaries of the
face, and in those of other parts of the skin, if these vessels contain
a fluid, which is to be displaced by the blood. However, nothing but
what is founded upon experiment can serve to decide this question.
_Of the Organs in which the Capillaries do not contain Blood._
These organs are less numerous than the preceding. They are the
tendons, the cartilages, the hair, certain ligaments, &c. Dissected in
a living animal, not a single drop of blood escapes from these organs,
and yet there is no doubt that capillaries exist in them; oftentimes
very fine injections demonstrate them there. Inflammation, also,
frequently fills these capillaries with blood. Into the hair, this
fluid enters in the plica polonica, &c. The non-vascular appearance
of these organs in the living body, is illusory; it is because their
fluids are divided into very small streams, the circulation of them is
more slow, and their colour different from the blood, that we cannot
perceive them.
II. _Difference of Organs in respect to the number of their
Capillaries._
Though the capillaries exist every where, yet they are more or less
numerous in the different organs; in making fine injections, it is easy
to be convinced of this. What anatomist has not been struck by the
prodigious number of vessels in this way developed, upon the skin, the
serous surfaces, the cellular texture, &c. compared with those in the
fibrous organs, in the muscles even, &c.?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account