The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-12-18
STUDY BLOOD PRESSURE
NOVEL RESEARCH AND EXPERT.
mENTs IN BOSTON HOSPITALS.


tho Treatment Of Medical and sursl-
cal casos-Thsir interesting Aspect
Also from a Physiological Stand
point.
Research upon the blood pressure IL
human beings, on a scale broader and
moro thorough than any work OF this
kind yet done In America has just be
gun in the Massachusetts General
hospital here. The subject has been
studied Ter several years in Europe,
but It Is only recently that the impor-
lance Of blood pressure observations.
both In surgical and in medical cases.
has begun TO take a firm place In the
theory Of medicine.
DR.. Richard Q. Cabot Of the Harvard
medical school, who directs the new
inquiry en- the medical side. is we'll
known In the profession for his stud
les on the blood. BY the methods Of
pressure observation. he has already
made a striking contribution to our
knowledge CT the therapeutic action
OF alcohol in fever cases. showing the
surprising fact that in such cases the
supposed stimulating effect Of alcohol
is practically nothing.
The results of the studies have
rather lessened the importance Of the
feel" OF the pulse to the physicians
finger, replacing that test with an ex-
act method which tells mere than the
most skilful touch Variations of
| blood pressure indicate. somewhat as
barometric changes mark the varia-
lions in the weather. the fuctuating
conditions Of healthy activity and
| comfort, and this is to be had only
through the maintenance Of an ade-
quate blood pressure. The conditions
which govern blood pressure have
been learned by such studies as are
now going on. These conditions are
primarily the pumping force Of the
heart; the elastic properties Of the ar
teries, and their muscular fibres,
whose action Is controlled by the
nerve station in the great bulb Of the
brain, called the vaso-mctor centre.
Research has shown that the integrity
OF this last element is the most impor-
tant Of the three. and this discovery
has had very striking results. to be
prese 5liy mentioned, in the field OF
surgery.
For comprehension of the matter. a
word should be added on the operation
OF the circulatory system. 1t Is in
brief system Of elastic tubes under
the constant tension OF the arterial
elasticity, modified by the action of
the muscular arterial fbres. as these
are directed by the vaso-motor centre,
from which go out impulses which re-
lax, contract. or maintain in any par
ticular state of tension or laxness the
muscular coat Of the arteries. The
elastic coat Of the arteries is brought
into play by the periodic on-fow OF
blood from the heart Being elastic
the arteries expand under the pressure
: Of this flow, and as the valves Of the
veins prevent back flow Of the blood
through the arteries, the elastic walls
Of the latter send forward in a fairly
even flow through the capillaries, thu
blood received at each stroke of the
heart pump, between each stroke AM
the next.
. The evidence pressure studies give
OF the action Of drugs lies in the fact
, chiefly, that fatigue of the vaso-moto
!, centre by the ordinary work of eacl
day, and still more through the at
: tacks of disease. tends to reduce tn,
blood pressure and produce, at thu
. best, a sense Of WEAKNESS and fac
Here comes in an interesting bit o
every day therapeutics. Men, it i
known, take readily to five o'clock tea
; And the explanation as given by al
: English eXperimenter is that tea act
e on the yaso-motor centre as a stimu
= liant, causes contraction CT the arteria
y muscular coat, and restores the bloc
7, pressure to the normal from which fa
u tigue tends to reduce it,
= Imperfection of instruments has in
. terfered with the success Of previou
blood-pressure studies. The instr
% ment used by DR.. CADET is a new on
designed to register both maximum
- and minimum p9essUres. from whic
J, the significant mean pressure ma
- easily be calculated In principle,
y is an elastic tube, to be placed aroun
y the upper arm and inflated with a
= until the pulse cannot be felt by til
= finger below it. In this state the a
- in the tube-bandage is Of the san
- tension, or pressure, as the maximum
pressure of the blood in the cor