On the use of the sphygmograph in the investigation of disease / by Balthazar W. Foster, M.D.

  • Foster, Balthazar Walter, 1840-1913.
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the use of the sphygmograph in the investigation of disease / by Balthazar W. Foster, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    strong tension simulates slightly that of senile change; but it is easy to discover if any of the causes of increased tension are acting. In the investigation of Aneurisms, we shall find that the sphygmograph can aiford us much valuable service, by showing us in the pulse-trace the modifi- cations in the movement of the blood produced by the diseased condition.* These modifications are in- timately dependent on the seat of the tumour, its size relatively to the vessel with which it is con- nected, and the elasticity of its walls. We may, following the arrangement of the French author, consider, first, aneurism so situated on an artery that the pulse can be observed on the vessel below the tumour; and secondly, aneurisms affecting the aorta. The beat of an artery, when carefully felt below an aneurismal tumour which implicates it, is found to present unusual characters; it is weak- ened, and generally retarded. These changes are due chiefly to the fact that the blood has to traverse a sac whose elasticity much modifies the movement of the fluid, as Marey has proved by artificially pro- ducing the conditions in a series of experiments. By means of the sphygmograph, we obtain traces which point out that modifications of the pulse occur both in its form and force. In the pulse collected on an artery below an aneurism, we observe the changes which are the result of the transforming influence of the elasticity of the sac : the movement of the blood in the vessel approaches rather to that which is nor- * Vide (in Lancet, Jan. 20th, 1866) a case in which valuable in- formation was gained from a consideration of pulse-traces by Drs. Sanderson and Anstie.