Finally, that the pulses of the arteries are due to the impulses
of the blood from the left ventricle, may be illustrated by
blowing into a glove, when the whole of the fingers will be found
to become distended at one and the same time, and in their
tension to bear some resemblance to the pulse. For in the ratio
of the tension is the pulse of the heart, fuller, stronger, and
more frequent as that acts more vigorously, still preserving the
rhythm and volume, and order of the heart's contractions. Nor is
it to be expected that because of the motion of the blood, the
time at which the contraction of the heart takes place, and that
at which the pulse in an artery (especially a distant one) is
felt, shall be otherwise than simultaneous: it is here the same
as in blowing up a glove or bladder; for in a plenum (as in a
drum, a long piece of timber, etc.) the stroke and the motion
occur at both extremities at the same time. Aristotle, [Footnote:
De Anim., iii, cap. 9.] too, has said, "the blood of all animals
palpitates within their veins (meaning the arteries), and by the
pulse is sent everywhere simultaneously." And further, [Footnote:
De Respir., cap. 20] "thus do all the veins pulsate together and
by successive strokes, because they all depend upon the heart;
and, as it is always in motion, so are they likewise always
moving together, but by successive movements." It is well to
observe with Galen, in this place, that the old philosophers
called the arteries veins. I happened upon one occasion to have a
particular case under my care, which plainly satisfied me of the
truth: A certain person was affected with a large pulsating
tumour on the right side of the neck, called an aneurism, just at
that part where the artery descends into the axilla, produced by
an erosion of the artery itself, and daily increasing in size;
this tumour was visibly distended as it received the charge of
blood brought to it by the artery, with each stroke of the heart;
the connexion of parts was obvious when the body of the patient
came to be opened after his death. The pulse in the corresponding
arm was small, in consequence of the greater portion of the blood
being diverted into the tumour and so intercepted.
Whence it appears that whenever the motion of the blood through
the arteries is impeded, whether it be by compression or
infarction, or interception, there do the remote divisions of the
arteries beat less forcibly, seeing that the pulse of the
arteries is nothing more than the impulse or shock of the blood
in these vessels.
CHAPTER IV
OF THE MOTION OF THE HEART AND ITS AURICLES, AS SEEN IN THE
BODIES OF LIVING ANIMALS
Besides the motions already spoken of, we have still to consider
those that appertain to the auricles.
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