Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-09-25
THE CONTROL OF LIFE
POWER OVER BIoopePREssuRE
IT'S APPROPRIATION.
Research Going On In Bdsson Hospitals
New Methods ADDED to Their
mometer and Pulse Count.
From the Boston Transcript.

From the Boston Transcript.
The practice of medicine Is undergoing
radical changes which bring it constantly
nearer to being an exact science. Recent
discoveries point to the control Of blood
pressure as almost the equivalent Of con-
troll over life. The study of blood pressure
has suddenly become Of foremost impor-
lance. and it's results, as they are beginning
now to be established, throw light on many
obscure problems of theory and practice.
The field to be explored is very wide, and
what it has already yielded indicates the
rich return that will come from more thor
ough exploiting.
Boston's great hospitals-the City and the
Massachusetts General-are just now the
scene Of the broadcast and most significant
research yet done in America upon this sub
ject The name, blood pressure, seems to
link the matter to barometric charts and
hydraulics. and such an association Is. in
a rough way, good comparison for Illus
trating the nature of observations which
have already shown their great value and
physicians counting the pulse and taking
the temperature Of the patient. To these
and the latter procedure is comparatively
recent addition to medical science-is now
added new means of indicating a patients
condition. and means that promises to be
of far greater general value than the other
two combined 1t is difficult, indeed. to ex-
press at all compactly the directions in
which observa tons Of blood pressure throw
light on the condition and method of opera
ton of the bodily mechanism. A few Of the
many questions to which 1t furnishes at
least a partial solution may suggest some
thing OF the fascinating facts it discloses.
Seeking for the Cause.
Why is o'clock tea, which sounds very
feminine. SO much appreciated by men?
Why is a cold bath refreshing? Why do we
feel languid in hot weather? Why do we
give alcohol to sick and ailing persons, or
tonics such as strychnine? At the Massa-
ohusetts General Hospital. where sick peo-
pie abound, and in places outside where he
can secure healthy people of all ages as
subjects, DR.. Richard c. Cabot of the Har-
ward Medical School has just begun a series
OF blood pressure observations on the ''medi-
cal SIDE" as physicians put it, for the set
tIement OF just such questions as these.
That Is. he is studying the blood pressure
OF sick persons whose cases demand drug
treatment rather than surgery. His work
on healthy persons belongs to what may be
more properly called the physiological side.
DR.. Cabot has recently done some important
work In tracing the effects Of alcohol on
fever patients. The results, which he found
quite opposed to his prepossessions. throw
new and important light on that admins
tration of alcohol. in whisky. brandy and
wines on which so many invalids and their
friends and physicians have rested as upon
a firm rock-the Idea that they were doing
something, stimulating the patient, and
helping him toward recovery. The fact that
.169 observations. mostly in cases Of ty-
phoid fever. showed the effects Of alcohol to
be- so far as stimulation of the heart and
raising of the blood pressure went, practi-
cally MIL hints at the surprising overhaulinR
OF our idea of therapeutics which this new
research is certain to involve Another set
or researches Is going on in the General
oil md % fh1H t.
to test in surgical cases the soundness of
certain propositions advanced by Dr. George
Grille Of Cleveland and DR.. Harvey Cushing
of Baltimore. DR.. Grille, after a series Of
very brilliant experiments on animals, lead
ing to similar ones on human beings, has
advanced IDEAS which promise to change
radically the management of surgical cases.
To understand these. as well as the sub
note some things about blood pressure in
healthy persons and the way In which, it is
measured.
Register Of Pressure.
As already suggested. the circuIatory ap-
paratus is very peculiar hydraulic system
the fluctuations of whose flow and pressure
mark. in some such way as the barometer
marks weather changes, the condition Of
the body. To recapitulate what most of US
know and have forgotten, the circulatory
system comprises the heart-a muscular,
double-acting pump; the arteries, constant
ly branching and subdividing; and the
oapillaries. the minutest ramifcations of
the arteries. which pervade all the body
tissues and gradually converge into the
veins. which are the return pipes to the
heart. Blood pressure, as we are now
concerned with 1t, is the pressure of the
blood in the arterial side of the circulation.
Primarily. this is due to the flow sent for
ward by the heart. But the arteries are
elastic not rigid tubes, and their elasticity
adds the second element in maintaining
the blood pressure. The sudden on-flow
due to the hearts beat is familiar to us in
the pulse. Now this beat. besides sending
the blood outward through the arteries,
stretches them. AS the blood Is prevented
by ingenious valves in the veins from push
ing backward through the arteries, series
of beats puts them into a state Of contin-
uous tension. the elasticity of their walls
urging forward between beats the volume
OF blood they receive at each stroke of the
pump. This elasticity is more marked in
the smaller arteries which approach the
capillaries. and as they multiply and grow
smaller the blood flows on pretty steadily,
the flow being maintained by this constant
PRESSURE of the elastic arterial walls.
If this were all. the study Of blood pres
sure would relate mainly to the heart ac-
ton. and the nerves which control 1t. But
In addition to the elastic tissue Of the ar
teries. there Is a more or less complete
equipment Of muscular f1bers, whose action
Is finally dominated by the central nerve
station in the great bulb at the base Of the
brain. the vaso-motor center. From this
center go out nerve impulses which may
contract or relax the muscular coat OF the
arteries or maintain them In any particular
state. of tension or laxity. This nerve oen-
ter Is Influenced in various ways by many
drugs. by effort of any kind mental or
muscular, by fatigue, or even by what we
should count the most trivial emotions and
sensations The refined methods Of modern
research make 1t possible to trace the ac-
ton Of drugs by observing the blood pres
oil xrytf ~ 9TH otcyoo
DR.. Cabot's researches upon alcohol, to
correct and extend our knowledge of medi-
cation.