St. Landry democrat., 1879-11-15
Watching One's Blood.
AN INGENIOUS METHOD BY WHICH
THE CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD
CAN BE OBSERVED.
nineteenth Century. ]

klueteentn century,
An ingenious method has just been
devised for actually observing tho cir
culation of the blood Of man. HltIler-
to, except in the case Of Purkinle's ex-
pertinent, in which IN observer can see
the circulation of his own retinal blood
vessels, the evidence OF circulation in
the human subject has been entirely
circumstantial, derived from facts OF
structure OF circulatory organs. and
from the manner in which the blood
flows from severed arteries and veins.
But by means Of a simple arrange
meut, invented by DR.. C.: Huter, OF
Griefswald, it is now possible to wit
ness the actual flow Of blood in the
blood vessel of another person., and
that with sufficient accuracy to detect
any abnormality in the circulation, and
30 to obtain invaluable assistance in
the diagnosis of disease.
In DR.. Hutcr's arrangement the pa
TENTS head is fixed i'll frame some
thing like that used by photographers,
on which is a contlivance for support
ing q microscope and lamp. The lower
lip is drawn out and fixed by means Of
clips on the stage Of the microscope,
with its inner surface upward; strong
light is thrown on this surface by a
condenser, and the microscope, provl
ded with n low power objective, is
brought to bear upon the delicate net
work of vessels. which can be seen III
, the position indicated, even with the
naked eye.
The appearance presented is, at first,
rs il the vessels were filled with red
injection. But by focusing a small
superficial vessel the observer is soon
able to distinguish the movement Of
the blood stream, rendered evident by
the speck like red corpnscles. the flow
of which, in the corkscrew like capil-
larics. is said by Hutcr to be especially
beautiful. The colorless corpuscles are
distinsuishablc as minute white specks,
occurring now and again in the course
of the red stream. Besides the pheno-
mena of the circulation, the cells OF
pavement epithclium lining the lip, and
/ their neuclei, can readily be distin-
| c,lished, as we'll as the apertureS OF
mucous glands.
Besides the normal circulation, va
rious pathological conditions can be
observed. BY a pressure quite INSULT
cient to cause pain, the phenomena OF
! blood staSnation-the Stoppage Of the
flow, and the graceful change in color
! of the blood from bright red to purple
are seen. \ momentarv stopping is
also produced by touching the lip with
ice, more enduring stasis, by certain
reagents, such as glycerine or ammonia
Hutcr states that he has already
proved the great use Of chciloangios-
copy" as he cal Is the new process, ir
his medical practice. The variation il
the blood flow and in the diameter OF
the vessels, tho crowding together OF
the red corpuscles, the increasing il
number of the white corpuscles, oc'
curing in certain diseases, all these
may be observed readily and exactly
1t will, indeed, be at once obvious how
great is the Importance OF a method
like this, by which an actual obscrva
ton of the circulation is made possible
especially when it is borne in mind thai
even the rough and ready method OF
feeling the pulse affords valuable i'll
dication of the state Of health.